Ethan's soldier brought our friend in front of his tent where people were eagerly waiting to meet the accused. Wildfire walked with full glory and ignored all the attention thrown towards it. Once Wildfire came and stood in front of Ethan, he moved forward and scrutinised the horse. He looked closely at the collar he was wearing and his eyes were scrunched showing he was trying to figure out something unusual. It is scary how I can tell what Ethan is thinking just by looking at his expressions. I went and stood by his side. People had already made their assumptions about my relationship with the king and the young prince, so I was not afraid of rumours anymore. "What is it?", I asked trying to find what actually caught his attention. "Look, the collar has no buckle or knot. And it is too small to actually get in there otherwise.", Ethan pointed out. He was right. But then how did this collar actually end up in his neck? "Bring the knife!", Ethan ordered one of his soldiers. The soldier brought the knife from the goods area. Ethan took the knife and placed it under the collar. "We need to remove the collar.", he said and started to cut the collar. After a few seconds, the collar was in Ethan's hands. "We should let the horse have some water now.", I said looking at Wildfire who was staring at the waterfall. Ethan nodded and the guard holding onto our dear friend took him to the water body to quench his thirst. Ethan went inside his tent to get a better look at the collar. I wanted to follow him, but I walked in the opposite direction towards Aiden's tent. The royal priest was waiting there for the sun to align with some other celestial body and then declare the perfect time to bury the prince's body. I had just a few more minutes to be near him, and I wasn't planning to miss out on them.
Inside the tent, the air was full of grief and sorrow. You could sense the depressed and sad breeze. I went near the bed and sat beside the prince. The priest was busy writing something on a cloth and then he kept it on the ground and left to observe the sky again.
I picked up the scroll and read what the priest had written. The scroll had detailed information about the prince's death. And at that very moment, it hit me the third time today that Aiden was prince Lee for them. I kept the scroll down and looked at the lifeless body in front of me. "What happened to you? How did you die Aiden?", I asked. This statement was less of a question to Aiden but more of a mystery I needed to solve. Suddenly a gush of wind took one corner of the cloth with itself and revealed the unrecognisable face. I looked away trying my best to protect my thoughts from having a memory of this gory view. Without looking I tried to search for the missing end and after a little searching, I found it. Putting the cloth back in its place I finally looked back, not realising my eyes were full of tears. The priest came back inside and said, "It is time.". The damn of emotions inside me finally broke as these words left his mouth. But rather than flooding my cheeks I sucked inside the pain and nodded. I asked the guard to inform the king, that his presence has been requested by the priest.
A few minutes later Ethan entered the tent and even though he had a straight face I could sense the roller coaster of emotions taking twists and turns inside his heart. He looked at me and I nodded looking away. None of us was ready to say goodbye to Prince Lee aka Aiden, but we had no other choice. To see him again we had to bury these remains. The body was kept on two wooden logs, which had some carvings on it. The carving was done by the priest and he said it will result in the prince's soul returning to heaven. The moment they picked up his body something fell near the other end of the bed. I bent down and saw that it was a pendant. I picked it up and held it tightly in my hands. It was Aiden's chain with a pendant that had his name, Lee written on it. I hid it inside my sleeves.
Whatever happened next didn't get registered in my memory or even thoughts. It was all a blur. They buried the body and after that everyone said some prayers, people cried and then everyone went back to pack their stuff. We needed to keep moving. While packing my stuff my eyes were searching for Aiden. I expected him to return this era as the prince of heaven and help us out, but no one came. Ethan was found doing the same. We both caught each other waiting for Aiden a lot many times, but all in vain. Once we were on the go, I couldn't help but wonder, will he never return? Doesn't he care about how we are handling his war without him? Is he angry with me for not saving him? But I had no answers and the hope to find the answers was vanishing as well. Maybe some people don't leave to return. Maybe this time I had to suffer and fight his war, and win this war for him. I had the guilt of not keeping my promise, and the only way to wash this guilt off and meet him again was by completing this era's mission for him. And I intended to do this at any cost.