It was true, the young princess with hair that white as a clean sheet and Chrystal blue eyes, and her lips look soft as cotton was engaged to the hair as gold as the shining sun, eyes with burning with flames and with an expression that could freeze with one gaze. Both of them ended their engagement after what happened at the banquet.
After hearing that Nosam's parents found another proposal from another faraway country, Cleon's heart stopped. He could not believe the words that were coming from her mouth. Cleon quickly grabbed her hands and placed his lips on her forehead, then whispered,
"Let's run away…"
Nosam was startled and refuse his offer, but Cleon did not take that as a no so, he picked up Nosam, and kept her on top of a horse that was brought to him by his closest friend and the great general's son Msamaki. He looked at Cleon with concern,
"Are you sure about this majesty?"
Cleon placed his hand on Msamaki's shoulder and smiled gratefully,
"Thank you, my friend."
Msamaki climbed on top of the black horse and went off with Nosam as they rode towards the city and quickly left the noble's lands. Both of them ended up near a distant village.
Luckily the people who lived in the village had never seen the new King, so both of them lived peacefully for at least a year.
Sadly the kingdom Slevaria caught up where princess Nosam was hiding. He quickly gave the newborn baby to Cleon, as they shared a final kiss as they part ways. Cleon had no choice but to walk back to his kingdom without anyone knowing about his disappearance. The palace staff was amazed by Cleon's return, the high priest demanded Cleon to kill the baby, but he refused. He made little Jumoke grow up hidden from the whole world because of his unique appears and powers.
-Present-
Julian looked at Cleon with pitiful glams as he stared down at the balcony watching small children playing around the waterfall.
"As a king, I should keep my county safe…and, the same goes to you as well you're majesty. We all had our tough stories but, the more time we waste, we lose more time and, the darkness will sallow your kingdom and, we will lose so many lives as well."
Cleon looked over at Julian with amazement. He stood up straight and asked Julian to follow him.
Cleon took Julian to the royal study and closed the door from behind. He took out the world map and spread it on his desk. He points at the Xaya kingdom,
"That's your land and, this is mine."
The map turned to water and started to turn into different figures.
A couple of figures formed into Julian's father's army and appeared on the table and, the other half formed into Cleon's father's army appeared on the opposite side. The war was brutal and, a lot of people died, but Cleon's clan's people died the most, but because of Cleon's father's leadership, Julian's father couldn't take over their land. Making Julian's father sallow deep into his dark world, then the water formed into the Aqua stone,
"You see this stone, Julian…this stone gives our land its power so we can keep on serving…if we lose this stone, we will all die."
Julian sternly looked at Cleon,
"If you don't give up this stone now…your land will lose its energy, and the darkness will sallow your stone whole!"
He sighed and turned the map back to its original form. He put the map aside and placed his hand on Julian's shoulder,
"The music of the mermaid's bouquet is tonight. We will discuss this matter afterward."
Cleon walked past Julian, leaving him flustered in anger.
The night came in a blink of an eye. The ballroom got filled with guests from royalty to nobles to commoners. The maids helped Amber wear her clothes. She entered the ballroom because it was too crowded. Amber head to the backyard and near the flower garden and sighed. Jumoke peeked at Amber, making her jump a bit. She looked at Jumoke and laughed softly,
"What are you doing here?"
Jumoke laughed softly and sat next to Amber as her eyes went from the tip of Jumoke's shoes up to his neck. She was confused because if Jumoke is all dressed but, shouldn't he be with his father. When Amber tried to pop up the question, Jumoke cut off her,
"I can't show my face at the ball because of my appearance…if they find out I'm not completely from their clan. They would banish my father and kill me."
Amber was startled a bit when she was about to ask what he meant. Jumoke got up and looked at Amber and smiled softly,
"I can help you find the aqua stone but, we need to find King Julian."
Amber nodded and grabbed Jumoke's shoulders and lean down,
"Stay here. I will go ahead and find Julian."
Amber quickly walked towards the palace when she heard soft singing coming from a distance; It's like the wind humming its melody. Amber took in a deep breath, but she felt like she has tied up in one place. She looked around to find no one and nothing around her but, she was unable to move. Amber struggled none stop but couldn't break free from the tight grip. She heard a soft hum whispered into her ear. She quickly looked back to find no one. Fear started to trembled her entire body.
She looked up to find human hybrid spiders above her, tones of them surrounding the entire palace. She lowered her head, and clenched her jaw, started to find a way to get away from these demonic creatures. She then heard soft footsteps approaching her. She looked over her shoulder to see Jumoke looking at the beats with fearful eyes. He looked at Amber as she screamed at him,
"RUN!"
Julian looked at the open door; he then looked at Cleon,
"What is the 'music of the mermaids' mean?"
Cleon looked at Julian and chuckled as he held his golden wine cup in his hand,
"Oh, It means, every year when the mermaids sing, the stone's power grows stronger, making our rivers and waterfalls flow and give us a rich harvest."
Julian gripped his fist and yelled at Cleon,
"Get everyone to safety!"
Cleon laughed softly and tried to avoid everyone's attention being on them.
"What are you talking about, King Julian?"
Julian narrowed his eyes at the door and asked Bruno for his sword. He looked at Bruno and gave him a nod. Bruno looked at Julian and looked at Cleon,
"You're majesty, please hurry up and please send your strongest troupe!"
Cleon looked at Bruno in confusion as they heard huge thud noises outside as one of the guards barged inside while breathing heavily,
"YOU'RE MAJESTY! MONSTER THERE-"
Before he could finish his sentence, a large spider leg piece through his chest, making him cough blood and collapse onto the ground, this made everyone inside scream and panic. Cleon looked at the dead body in horror. He ordered general Msamaki to send their best troupes to the fight. Cleon asked the other nobles to stay calm. He asked Amara to keep every calm and take them to safety. Cleon and Bruno rushed outside to see a pool of blood and dead bodies,
"Jumoke…"
He muttered softly and started to find his son while the grounds were in a war zone. Jumoke hugged Amber, who got freed from those spider webs and, her entire body was covered in blood and bruises. Amber looked at Jumoke, who was crying and shivering. Amber gripped onto her sword tightly, protecting her from the dangerous webs that were spitted at them.
Julian spun his sword and sliced the creatures in half, turning them back to their smoke form. Julian panted and stabbed the ground and starts to catch his breath.
"No matter how many we killed…they won't stop coming back…"
Bruno looked at the creatures whose cold-bloodedly killing innocent people. Bruno grabbed his book and started to chant some spells. Roots began to break out from the ground, thorny vines started to wrap around the creatures but none of those worked. They always found a way to come back. Julian lowered his head, trying to figure out what to do. He looked closely at the creatures and found a weak spot.
"Found you"
He smirked mischievously.