Chapter 37

Waiting was the worst.

Subsequent news from the Sekania came rarely and each was more disturbing than the previous one. Nailan didn't seem to care. It was not the forced coldness of Lin-Si which deep down, but authentic ignorance, sometimes even boredom. If she had fear of Zarkin somewhere, it was extremely well hidden.

Kalena wasn't happy with the fact that Zarkin's lover lived in their home, but she did not talk with him about it. As long as Nailan stayed away from the workroom, basement, and several other private rooms, she tolerated her presence.

Kalena had rarely stayed home anyway. After the news of the war, she spent almost every spare moment in the palace. She pretended to accept Galaspiael's order but wanted to secure a place in the military ranks. She tried to convince Jun to take her with him, but he refused. And Miella - the only woman in the Silver Guard besides Kalena categorically did not agree to the idea of ​​substitution.

The Silver Guard was the only unit that accepted women in its ranks. If Kalena wanted to get into a regular army, she would have to dress up as a man, which she planned to do. She already got men's clothes and planned to cut her hair later, so that Galaspiael would not become suspicious.

Because the king purposely canceled her training, she spent most of the day with him now. He returned to studying a book about enchantment which he abandoned a long time ago, hoping that this time he would master this forgotten art.

Kalena even let him exercise on herself. She wondered what the enchantment of life energy would look like. She expected pain, the impression of something breaking into her body, but felt nothing like that. When Galaspiael put his hands on her shoulders, she felt as if waking from an unusually long sleep. After each such attempt, she was rested and happy.

"I don't understand. It looked different," he said, reaching for a jug of clean water. "I felt that I had hurt Gyeul a lot."

"Well, for me it's very nice," she replied with a smile, stretching and laying on the floor. "I think if you did it every evening, I wouldn't have to sleep at all. I feel so... calmed."

"And I feel exhausted," Galaspiael breathed heavily. "I guess I'm just transferring my energy to you. Some progress in the end, but why so tiny?"

"What did you want to do?"

"To feel your energy and tie it with mine, and then make it flow. I didn't try to send you power."

"Maybe it's because I'm alive? When you connected with Gyeul and sent your energy to him, he was dead."

As soon as she said these words, it got really cold even though it was still sunny outside. Kalena almost screamed in fear as the wooden shutter opened loudly and hit the walls. Galaspiael froze with the cup in his hand.

"He has become bolder than usual for several days," the king confessed. "He comes here to scare me. Sometimes he haunts me in the dreams, but I can defend myself. He wants to feast on my fear. When I'm alone, it's easy to get my thoughts astray."

"He shouldn't be allowed here! Why isn't he staying in the Forbidden Zone?"

"He stays. However, he can move to any place using his powers. Don't think of him as a man, because he has ceased to be a long time ago. Fortunately outside the Zone, his abilities are limited, but he's still powerful."

The most difficult task the king undertook was to get rid of the demon inhabiting the Forbidden Zone. Galaspiael wanted to do it with enchantment, but even if he would have mastered it, he had no idea how to achieve this goal. He kept putting it off for other plans because his terrible ancestor was extremely calm. Recently, however, Gyeul has again reminded everyone of his existence.

"Maybe we have to look for advice somewhere?" She suggested. "We often think that the Conspiracy destroyed the entire culture before the war, but from time to time we find a scroll or book from ancient times."

"Even if something like that had survived, we don't know where to look for it," Galaspiael replied sadly "

Mastering the enchanting to be able to match with Gyeul will take at least a dozen years, judging by what we've achieved so far... and to think that in the past these skills were common. The minds of our ancestors were much more receptive and open than ours. Gyeul was the greatest man of his times and you can't forget that. Even then the people were afraid of how much knowledge he had."

"Maybe before getting rid of him, we should force him to share the secret of eternal life?"

"Life?" Galaspiael repeated, and the corners of his mouth trembled slightly. "This is not life. He pretends to be alive and knows it well, which is why he is so desperate to leave the earth. And to be honest I doubt anyone persuades him to reveal this secret.

*

Zarkin wondered why Jun had told him to come to the Guardsmen training room so late at night.

Although the boy had access to it for a long time, he rarely trained there. If he didn't prepare any poisons, he practiced archery in the garden near Kalena's house.

"You're still running away, but I finally caught you." The captain smiled triumphantly as Zarkin crossed the threshold and entered the room. "You are always staying quiet, doing something on your own, you do not draw attention and I forgot about you."

"I am not quiet at all, you just keep on training others instead of me."

"The king told me to pay special attention to preparing the guardsmen for war. Everyone should be in the best shape because now you will perform much more dangerous tasks than before."

"I understand why you spend so much time here now. But I don't need to know how to fight with a sword, I'm an archer."

"I'm not going to teach you fencing. We will focus on increasing your accuracy. When you shoot, aiming takes you a long time."

"What's wrong about that?" Zarkin snorted. "It's not easy to aim well. I don't like shooting fast, it's a  waste of arrows."

"Fast doesn't have to mean shoot blindly. Your skills are good. However, the trained and more experienced archer needs less time to aim than you. But, it's normal, you're not doing well, you're just getting started."

"Are you trying to insult me? I've been practicing for several years and I'm doing much better than I did at the beginning," Zarkin fell silent, seeing that Jun was pleased seeing how he managed to upset him. "But if you want to help me, I am grateful."

"Perfect. Show me what you can do and I will assess if there is a need to involve Zei in it or maybe I can handle it myself."

"What?! Is he supposed to teach me?" The boy rolled his eyes. From the beginning, he considered the second guard archer to be his rival, although he never openly admitted it.

"He's better than you."

"In what way better? He's old and can't see on one eye. He won't stand the hour training, I will learn more on my own than with him."

"So prove it and stop snapping your tongue!" Demanded the captain. Zarkin took an arrow from his quiver and aimed it. He wanted to do it faster than before, but he didn't hit the center of the shield. He pursed his lips and looked at Jun.

"It was just a warm-up."

"Shoot like always."

"You said I was supposed to learn how to shoot faster."

"Yes." Jun nodded. "Nobody will be waiting for you on the battlefield. But show me what you've mastered so far, don't try anything new."

This time Zarkin hit right in the middle, but he aimed much longer. He tried to get the right spot, and the presence of Jun, looking at his hands, was distracting. Encouraged, he set a new goal, beyond the shield. Another arrow flew out with a whistle and stuck between two spears standing against the opposite wall.

"You've heard praise about your skills many times, I don't like to repeat myself," the captain muttered as the boy looked at him expectantly.

"Even the king admired me. Her Majesty's courts often ask me to show off" he admitted immodestly. "I've already got used to the fact that it impresses people. They are shocked at how easily I can kill."

"Oh?" Jun mocked. "In that case, we don't need to teach you anything. I have noticed before that you have no respect for life, if you become better than you are now, you might get crazy."

"To be honest, I don't think shooting faster would be useful, but I don't lose anything by agreeing to this training. I might get crazy, but you'll have a good archer. At most, I will die in the war and a new one will be found."

Jun laughed but then turned serious and looked Zarkin in the eye.

"You talk too lightly about death, young friend. You will get her attention very quickly."

"I'm not afraid of death," he replied equally seriously. "I'm not afraid to watch others die or kill. Nor am I afraid to die because when you die, everything becomes indifferent."

"And to think that I've always had you as such a gentle young man! You have more to do with Zei than you think. You'll like him if you stop seeing him as just a rival who needs to be defeated."

*

Preparations for war were underway throughout Kagolania. Galaspiael said that even when official mobilization letters were sent, the Sekanians once again tried to take diplomatic action, but with no results. It couldn't be delayed any longer.

Kagolanian dynamite was no longer a secret. The production was moved from Kalena's house to another place, which quickly turned into a real factory.

It was supposed to be an ordinary, easy battle, but the king was preparing for it as if he were not to return. The tasks he entrusted to his guards were like the last will.  He gave Kalena some of his projects, asking if she could find time to try to finish them. Then he completely lost interest in anything not related to the war and mentioned it almost every time.

He also entrusted Kalena with a small task in Velikania and arranged everything so that she had to leave just on the day the army marched out of the capital. Kalena knew that he had done it on purpose so that she would have no way to get into the army.

They set off together, but later she was supposed to turn south. The king and the retinue were to go to the sekanian-madegaldian border. Along the way, troops from other cities were to join, so the army was constantly increasing in numbers.

They reached the first stop. When Galaspiael told his men to stop and he rode aside, Kalena knew it was time to say goodbye.

"Your path leads that way," he said quietly, pointing to the path on his right. "When you pass the message to the king, you can come back and... don't think about it. At least try not to torment yourself. Maybe go to Yagn-Sho or..."

"I'll be home," she said, "it can't stay empty when Zarkin leaves. I will wait there for you"

"I know you will."

Kalena's eyes filled with tears. She wanted to embrace him, but she knew she couldn't. The official gesture of farewell seemed cold and inappropriate, but it was the only thing they could do

"Please, take care of yourself," she whispered, and her voice broke.

"Please, don't mourn me as if I were already dead."

"Don't worry Kalena." Jun approached them. "I promise you that the Silver Guard will not allow anything to happen to His Highness."

Galaspiael smiled and touched her necklace.

"I remember when I gave it to you. Confession Day in Yagn-Sho. It's nice that you still have it."

It was hard for her not to cry, but she managed. She did not believe when Galaspiael said he was not afraid or reassured his subjects and repeated how easy the battle would be. She had the impression that it would not be like that... From what she remembered, no battle was easy. There were always some losses.

War has never been easy.

Moving towards Velikanian capital Kalena felt so bad that at some point she had to stop. She had the irresistible impression that she had made a terrible mistake and soon something terrible would happen and she should be in a completely different place.

She should not go to Velikania... or Madegald should not declare the war on Sekania. Or she should turn back and fight with all her might to follow Galaspiael. The awful feeling intensified and made her sick. Her intuition screamed.

The last three years have passed almost carefree. She knew what was going on in the world, Zarkin told her about what he had seen in Madegald but in Kagolania everything remained calm. The war was like a scary story, repeated from mouth to mouth. Everyone was afraid of it, but it wasn't real.

And suddenly everything became real so painfully.

Kalena did not want to move on, so her trip to Velikania was extended by a whole day.

Jin-Si was not forewarned of her arrival, servants reported it to her. She stopped Kalena after she gave the message to the royal adviser and headed for the exit gate.

"I'm so glad you are here! I hate him!" She shouted and wiped her swollen eyes.

"Who do you hate?"

"Seth! He left me alone and went to this stupid war. I hope he won't come back! No man has humiliated me so much! I thought he loved me and he was lying all the time! It wasn't until yesterday that he said who he really was."

"You have known for a long time that he is a Madegaldian prince," Kalena stepped away. "I wrote to you about that, remember? Haven't you talked to him about it since then?"

"No. I wanted him to confess and waited a long time. I told myself that maybe he had a reason, that he is ashamed or afraid, and he... at the last moment before his departure!" The princess took a deep breath and pursed her lips into a narrow line. "He'll help his brothers who think he's a traitor. And he promised he would never leave me! He said he would fight with prince Darmeon for my hand and I stupidly believed him... but not anymore."

Kalena tried her best to remain calm.

"Well, if he is a prince, he could compete with him when he returns."

"Oh, you don't understand, do you? He may even be an emperor, I don't care. We are over! Not only did he keep his secret until the end, now he is going to fight against Galaspiael. When the war is over, he won't be able to show up here or in Kagolania anymore!" she broke off, seeing that Kalena was worried. "Will you stay?"

"I should probably come back," she replied. "Zarkin will be leaving soon, and I will stay at home alone, I feel terrible about it."

"I get you. I would like to go and fight too, but I'm a little scared. Wouldn't you be afraid if you were to go?"

"I'm much more afraid of sitting idle. If I could take part, I wouldn't worry so." Kalena snorted. "The king asked me to join a group of people whose task was to save his life, and when I was most needed, he told me to stay at home. What stupidity! Why was I in this guard?!

They said goodbye quickly. Kalena was in a hurry, but she wondered what she would do after the return. The easiest way would be to rebel and go alone to Sekania, but she knew that she would also be needed in Kagolania.

She had to go home and think things through.