"You! Why do you look like that?!" Vaughn couldn't believe his eyes.
He was looking forward to seeing a gentle, beautiful girl. What he saw was something beyond his imagination. Although Zenia did not do something extreme to make herself hideous, she still looked ugly. She looked ordinary that no one would suspect it was her all along. Her new appearance deviated so much from how she usually looked like.
It was the first time that Vaughn had known a woman to use makeup to make herself ugly instead of beautiful. He just hoped that it wouldn't bring any side effects like making it permanent.
'Even if you turn into a very ugly hag I will still love you with all my heart.' Vaughn sighed and cried inside.
"Do you like it?" Zenia gave a sweet smile that nearly grossed out Vaughn. The smile and that face should not go together.
"Well…"
"This is a perfect cover-up. We need to be careful. I don't know what goes on in the mind of that crazy lady. She's giving me the creeps." Zenia had goosebumps just thinking about what happened at the night market.
"Where's the rest of the stuff?" Vaughn was puzzled when he realized that Zenia was not holding anything.
"Oh, I put them in a pack."
"Where's the pack?"
"It's on my back."
Vaughn nodded and rode his silver steed. Zenia looked around as if looking for something.
"Where's the horse I'm going to use?"
"There's no more time to buy another horse. We need to ride together."
Zenia's eyes widened. "Won't your horse be tired?"
"No, he won't. We will be walking most of the time to reach Solaria. We can think of something about the horse you will use once we reached our destination. For now, this will do."
"Okay." Zenia suddenly jumped her way to the back of the horse. She held onto Vaughn's waist.
"Let's go." Vaughn nudged his silver steed to move and he smiled warmly.
After fifteen minutes, two familiar figures emerged from the corner of the stable. They were none other than Luhikemees Pudustjalaga and Karmja Pikmees.
"Boss, I don't see the black horse." Karmja Pikmees told his boss as he looked between the slits of the stable.
"What!?" Luhikemees Pudustjalaga hurriedly peeked and confirmed everything.
"When did he leave?"
"What should we do now boss?"
"We better get out of here. I think I saw someone following us earlier."
Just when they were about to take their leave, their mouths were stuffed with a cloth to muffle their cries. The shadow guards knocked out the two men and dragged them to a carriage.
"Take them to the Ninth Prince."
* * * * *
In the Anisen Manor, the brothers Zander and Zekiah were still at odds with each other.
"You're telling me that you can't clearly remember the plan?" Zekiah was already fuming mad at Zander.
Even though Zekiah was a lot younger than Zander, he was way more intelligent and cunning. He had always been respectful toward Zander, but not if it involved Zenia's welfare.
"I know it's my fault, okay? I should have paid more attention to what Zenzen was saying. It's your fault too for not being there at our meeting." Zander tried to defend himself as he shifted the blame to Zekiah.
"You're blaming me now? Who said such outrageous things to Mother? If not for you, Mother wouldn't have punished me. It's a good thing that she let me out when Zenzen was about to leave."
Zander looked at Zekiah and hated him even more. He would like to punch him, but couldn't. Zander could see the face of Zenia on Zekiah, and he just couldn't bear to hit that face. Zekiah knew that for a fact and was actually enjoying such an advantage.
"You know, I believe that you're still a little kid trapped in a grown man's body. I couldn't see what the dumb king saw in you and made you second in command of the entire military."
"One more word of insult from your mouth and I swear I will send you flying right this minute." Zander's face was already darker than the clouds outside.
A blinding flash of lightning streaked across the dark clouds followed by the roaring sound of thunder. The brothers looked at each other in the eye, neither of them planned to yield to the other.
"If anything happens to Zenzen because of your incompetence, I promise you that even mother and father wouldn't know what happened to you." Zekiah's words seemed nothing but an empty threat, but Zander knew that he meant it.
A fire incident happened in the Anisen household when Zander was only fifteen. All the servants were killed and they were trapped in a room. It was Zenia who saved them, but the burnt mark on her left shoulder and half of her back would always remind them of that tragic day.
They searched everywhere to find someone who could remove the unsightly scar on Zenia's body. They tried all the elixirs, salves, balms, and anything that may help remove or lighten the scar. They even sought some help from a soothsayer hoping to find a way to erase the remainder of that gruesome event.
When Zenia turned sixteen, she told her family to just give up. For her, the scar was not something she should be ashamed of. It was a battle scar, a trophy for her heroic deed at a very young age. Her family could do nothing but respect her decision.
On Zekiah's eighteenth birthday, he got a lead on the instigator of the fire. Zander and his men discovered the mutilated body of a man and he knew that it was the leader in the Anisen Manor fire incident from years ago. Somehow, he felt that it was Zekiah who did it.
He was not sure how his little brother did it, but he knew he was the one who had done the gruesome killing. The hatred of the killer could be seen on the way the body was cut into pieces. The man suffered a slow and painful death. The jagged cut was clearly made by a blunt knife.
Zekiah no longer had the patience to talk to Zander. He turned around and walked to the door.
"Zenzen said to meet her at Tissuria's capital before her wedding day. That's all I can remember. I am trying to recall the rest, but couldn't." Zander suddenly uttered.
Zekiah paused and replied without looking back. "Those are enough for me to know what she wanted to do. Timing is very important to sister and I've learned a lot from her. We will set off after mother and father's departure. I will pose as her and you and your men must escort my carriage. Whatever happens during our journey, just let it be. Leave the rest to me and meet me at the gate of Tissuria's capital. Sister will meet us the next day." Zekiah started walking once more.
"How did you know what she wants to do with just a few sentences?" Zander was truly perplexed.
"We share a bond that's deeper than you know. I can't explain, but I strongly believe that it is what she wants to do." Zekiah left Zander who clenched his fist so hard until the veins begin to bulge.
* * * * *
Vaughn and Zenia finally reached the two-pronged road and stopped moving. They had a very smooth journey. No one suspected that they were the two eye-catching men that stayed in the famous inn for a few days.
"What now?" Zenia asked Vaughn who was thinking whether they should stop somewhere to rest.
"Do you want to rest first or keep moving? We need to move slowly as we ascend and then walk when the road becomes steep."
"We should move forward. Any place for taking a break is just the same. We have our sleeping bags so it won't be a problem. We are still uncertain whether no one followed us."
Vaughn nodded in agreement and nudged his steed to move forward.
"Are there any ferocious beasts in Solaria?"
"There's none, why did you ask?"
"Oh nothing, I was just thinking whether we need to sleep on a tree."
"Did you sleep on a tree before?" Vaughn was quite surprised to hear himself asked such a question.
"Yeah, it's nothing new. Zekiah and I used to sleep on the tree whenever Mother was angry at us." Zenia answered casually as if it's something that one can do every day.
Vaughn wondered about the kind of childhood that Zenia had. He only began to closely monitor Zenia's every move when he turned sixteen after he completed an important training.
They saw a caravan up ahead, and Vaughn had decided to join them. They stopped for a while and Zenia took out the hooded cloaks from her backpack and handed one to Vaughn.
"You need to sit in front of me."
"Why?"
"Because we need to ask their permission to join them. I will tell them that we are family."
"Okay."
They wore their cloaks before they joined the caravan. Zenia sat in front and Vaughn nudged his silver steed to move to the direction of the caravan.
"Good evening sir, may we please join your caravan? My wife and I will feel much safer with so many people around." Vaughn greeted one of the men.
Zenia wanted to protest but decided to keep quiet. The last thing they wanted to do was arouse suspicion. 'So he meant husband and wife and not brother and sister.'
The man looked at the duo and shook his head. 'Poor man, he is good looking but the wife is…'
"Of course you can join us. Where are you headed to?"
"We are on our way to Solaria. I heard that the place is good for a pregnant woman."
Zenia almost choked when she heard Vaughn uttered every word without batting an eyelid.
"Congratulations to you, sir. I hope your child is as beautiful as you." The man's sincerity could be felt in his words.
Vaughn chuckled when he sensed that Zenia became stiff. He could imagine her words, 'What do you mean by that? Do I look that ugly in your eyes?'
The man avoided Zenia's eyes. He knew that the woman was glaring at him. It was not his fault that he was born with a frank personality. He couldn't help feeling sorry for the husband. Zenia knew that she did not look as good as she did, but she did not think that she became ugly because of her disguise. It was… just average.
After a few minutes, they heard the sound of galloping horses that took the route leading to Lunaria. Vaughn suspected that it was Damien's group. They were in a hurry and it made him think.
'It looks like they are in a hurry to reach Tissuria's capital. Did something happen?'
Before he left, Vaughn instructed his people not to send any message to him. He was afraid that the Left Minister's group might suspect something.
"It looks like the Ninth Prince is heading to the inn. Will there be another bounty?" One of the men in the caravan informed his companion.
Zenia and Vaughn heard him, and they listened closely.
"Yeah, I heard he lost a black horse that the king gave him. It's very important to him. I wonder what kind of horse is it."
"Who knows, these royals are all the same everywhere you go. They don't give a damn for the common people."
"Including the Crown Prince?"
Zenia listened more attentively when she heard the man mentioned the Crown Prince. Vaughn felt the shift of body weight as Zenia tried to lean forward. He smiled.
'Are you that curious about me, my wife?'
"No! The Crown Prince is different, and you should know that by now. He might do certain things using unconventional ways, but he always cares about his people. I really wish that King Tarendino would just abdicate the throne and pass it to Prince Vaughn already.
"Shh, be careful with your words. Someone might hear you."
The two men kept quiet through the rest of the journey. Zenia's impression of Vaughn had improved greatly.
Somewhere in Ishelon, Zekiah began to prepare for the forthcoming journey. His mother and father were set to leave in two weeks. He already packed the things that he might need as well as the important things that Zenia had left.
At night, he paid an old friend a visit. He was Old Moe who helped Zekiah forge a unique sword. Zekiah himself designed it. He was there to commission Old Moe to create another weapon for him. The rain had stopped and he saw the burning bonfire near Old Moe's place and it reminded him of that dreadful day once more.