Princess of the Damned (16 page)

“
It doesn’t matter who she loves.”

“
As long as she stays where you can see her?
” The beast chuckled at him mockingly. “
For now, my prince. As soon as you become King of this god forsaken nation, she will have to return home. It is a far, far away place that a human like you can never reach.
”

Sayan threw a punch at him, but the beast dodged it. He was just as fast in his human form as he was in his beast form.

“
Return to your warm bed, my prince. You are no longer needed here.
”

Sayan clenched his fists and exited the tent.

Northern Borders, 954

“
Let me through!
I have an urgent message from the Capital City for his highness!”

The guards at the gate let the messenger through, after showing his pass. The messenger rushed into the tent and knelt down on both knees. He presented the documents with both of his hands.

“
The Western King has been assassinated in the middle of the night. His son, Prince Ce, has ascended the throne.”

“
What is so urgent about that?” The General asked.

“
The new Western King has declared war on us and has sent his army to invade. They have captured four cities to the west and they are coming to the Capital City!”

“
They have captured four cities already?” The General walked around the desk to face the messenger directly. “Why was I not informed of this earlier? They couldn’t have captured four cities already! We have only been away from the capital for four months!”

“
His Majesty… At first, His Majesty said that he could handle it himself.”

“
And now he is seeking reinforcement, after losing four cities?! We can’t move sixty thousands soldiers to the capital city overnight. Plus, we need soldiers here to protect the borders! What is His Majesty thinking?”

“
Now is not the time to get angry, Malin.” Sayan said to his general. “How far are they from Capital City?”

“
They should be three days from Capital City, your highness.” The messenger replied.

“
Malin is right, reinforcement may be too late. How many soldiers are being mobilized?”

“
They have about fifty thousand heading toward Capital City, your highness.”

“
There are only fifteen thousand soldiers at there!” The General shook his head. “Defeat is inevitable.”

“
We have lost many soldiers while defending the other four cities. His Majesty is seeking reinforcement from the other five cities to the east, but the nobles are refusing to send troops. They do not trust His Majesty’s judgment with the lives of their men.”

“
Either way, those nobles are just going to surrender to whoever wins anyway. It looks like they are betting on the Western Prince.”

“
Two Kings were assassinated around the same time frame. This is more than suspicious.” Sayan pondered. “I wonder who is pulling the strings.”

“
Are you curious?” Lilan appeared behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He still hadn’t gotten used to her appearing and disappearing all of the sudden yet. “If you really want to know, my prince, then I will confess. I am responsible for both of their deaths.”

Sayan and the General sharply turned to her.

“
The Southern King hired me to get rid of his enemies for him.” Lilan said. “He paid me plentiful for their heads too.”

“
Why would he hire you?” The General asked.

“
I am not talking to you.” She shot the general a disdainful look. Her eyes softened again when she looked up at Sayan. “Have you ever heard of the Trader’s Guild? It is the network that I have governed for centuries now. I gained power, wealth, and influences by private contracts with the clients. There are different levels of affiliates, but I make contracts with kings and the highest ranked nobles. That is how I will make good on my promise to help you.”

“
Yes, I have heard of your guild.”

“
I am telling you this because I want to renegotiate our deal, my prince.”

“
What do you want in addition to me? A side dish?”

“
I want you to get rid of that eyesore of a woman of yours.”

“
Nala?”

“
It’s impossible to kill her, unless you decapitate her head. I find that to be a challenging task, especially when she has that powerful half-breed and that traitorous beast protecting her. That half-breed destroyed my palace without so much as lifting a finger. Send her away to some god forsaken place. I want you never to see her again.”

Sayan chuckled after he heard the terms. “Is that all that you want?”

She smiled at him. “I knew you would agree!”

“
Our agreement terminates here. If you don’t mind, I have urgent business to deal with right now.”

“
What? Have you been listening? Do you know what I am offering you?”

“
You offer me Phasia, and I decline.”

“
For that woman?”

“
Let me just clear one thing up with you. I can get Phasia by my own strength. The only reason I took up your offer is because you promised the least amount of time and that would avoid many unnecessary loss of lives. If you want Nala to be part of our deal, then I am not interested in doing business with you any longer.”

She growled at him.

He turned to the General. “I will ride to Capital City by myself first. Send twenty thousand soldiers as reinforcement as soon as you can. If you cannot, I will understand. It may be too late by then anyway.”

“
I will watch you with open eyes, Sayan!” Lilan screamed at him. “I will watch you die before your dreams are fulfilled and I will take great pleasure in doing so! You can never do it without my help!”

“
We shall see now, wont we?” Sayan exited the tent.

He paused when he saw Nala standing in front of the camp. The black beast was behind her. Her pale green eyes stared at him and then quickly trailed to the side. He didn’t have to ask her how much of it she heard. He had no time to talk to her right now. He was racing against time to Capital City.

“
Wait,” Nala called him back.

He turned around to look at her. “Yes?”

“
Take us with you.”

When she said us, she refers to herself and the beast.

“
I’m going alone.” He started walking again.

She ran after him. “Fai can get us to the city in a third of the time, maybe even less.”

The beast can be useful. “He I can take, but you are staying here.”

“
What makes you think it’s safer here than where you are going?” She asked. “You may be forgetting something – I am immortal.” She mouthed a word and pulled the heavy blade from thin air. She handed the blade over to him. “Take me with you.”

Nala was right
about Fai traveling much faster on flat land.

They cut through the air with the ground gliding beneath them. They hunched low to lower wind resistance, because their combined weight kept shifting to the back. There wasn’t time for a saddle to be made.

“
Aren’t you tired, Fai? You have been running for hours. You can stop if you are tired.”

“
If a mount can’t even handle a few hours of riding, can you still call yourself a mount?”

Fai let out a low growl.

“
Don’t anger him, he is helping you!” Nala elbowed him. “Besides, Fai wasn’t intended to be a mount. You two will have to ride out into battles together, so you should learn to get along. I don’t want either of you to get hurt.”

“
I prefer horses.” Sayan replied.

“
The beast is more crazed about killing than anything else. He’s nothing more than a wild beast.”

“
You are the one to talk, Sayan!”

“
What about me?”

She let out a long sigh. “Must I get started about you?”

“
I can stand a few verbal attacks. It won’t kill me.”

“
Ever since you were a child, you’ve lived with a set of principles. You have a weird sense of justice. You put on a façade of calmness, but you actually have a very impulsive personality. You plan ahead, but you still just do whatever jumps into your mind that minute and hope the rest will work itself out. Your patience is as thin as a layer of ice and people haven’t got a clue when you are going to break.”

“
Enough, Nala. That actually hurt a little bit.”

“
You don’t like people to point out your flaws either, huh?”

“
Where should I start with you then? You are a dancer on stage and in real life. You are actually not that great of a dancer, but you are compellingly smarter. You like to dance in the dark and use other elements to draw attention away from your techniques and you enhance the overall beauty of the dance. You are emotionally challenged, although I don’t know where the line is for you. However, to make up for it, you are remarkably sharp at reading people. You have no common sense in certain aspects of your life and you are incredibly stubborn.”

She frowned. “All I heard from that was ‘you are not that great of a person, but you get by anyway, because you are as slippery as an eel’.”

He tried to hold back a laugh and failed miserably. He hadn’t been able to laugh in a while. “I don’t recall saying that.”

“
But you meant it.”

“
There, the Black City!” Sayan pointed at the wall formation in the distant cliff. They had arrived at the city just before nightfall. “The red army is still a day away. That will give us some time to prepare the soldiers for the attack.”

“
Sayan…”

“
Yes?”

“
Promise me that you will survive this battle.”

He shuffled her hair as she used to shuffle his. “Don’t sound so gloomy all of a sudden.”

Fai ran across the thin bridge and leaped onto the top of the city wall. The soldiers guarding the wall were paralyzed by the sight of the beast. They were both terrified and confused when they saw their prince mounting it. The city streets were almost empty, making it ideal for Fai’s movement. Normally, these streets would have been crowded with people. Tonight was different. These next few nights may be the last peaceful nights this city will ever know.

Fai reached the palace’s gate. Sayan jumped off the beast and helped Nala down to her feet. She quickly pulled the hood over her head to avoid anyone recognizing her. The guards were frightened by the beast, but they performed their duty and opened the gate for their prince.

“
Where is His Majesty?” Sayan asked when he saw the face of the captain of the palace guard.

“
He is in the meeting room at the moment, your highness.” The Captain replied, although his eyes were glued on the black beast.

“
May I borrow your cloak, captain?” Nala asked while keeping her head low.

The captain quickly removed his cloak and handed it over to her. She thanked him and then placed the cloak over the beast’s shoulders.

“
It will be more convenient from here on if you change.” Nala said to Fai.

The soldiers blocked their eyes with their forearms when they saw a bright flash of light. When they dared to open their eyes again, their prince, his companion, and the beast were already gone.

Nala and Fai stopped in front of the meeting room and allowed Sayan to go in alone. Sayan closed the door behind him and then knelt to his King.

“
Your Majesty, I came as soon as I was summoned.”

The King pushed his chair back and strode to him. “Sayan! Thanks the gods you’ve came so soon! We got news that that bastard Ce will attack at in two days.”

“
Two days, Your Majesty?” It was sooner than he had anticipated.

“
Did you bring all of the soldiers at the borders back with you?”

Sayan shook his head. “I came back alone, Your Majesty.”

The King stared at him with a confused expression on his face. “You came back alone? You came back alone?!”

The nobles in the room whisper among each other.

“
It will take at least six continuous days on foot from the border to the capital.”

“
You are so insanely stupid!” The King placed a foot on Sayan’s shoulder and pushed him back. “You can’t even do something simple! I need soldiers to protect me! What is one man like you going to do?”

“
General Malin will send twenty thousand soldiers as reinforcement as soon as he can. They should arrive in ten days.”

“
Ten days is too late!” The King shouted. “Send a messenger to Malin and tell him to send at least forty thousand. They will have to walk nonstop to make it here in time.”

“
The soldiers will be too exhausted to fight, Your Majesty!”

“
Silence! Make yourself useful and try to stop the Red Army from reaching my capital.”