Everyone at home hadn't yet swallowed the story of K'rar's humiliation of the governor's son Tuncay when he dropped a bigger rock on them at dinner that Saturday evening. That he had been invited to attend the banquet the following day at the governor's. Even Hleb, who hardly spoke a word at dinner, froze. Phylla spoke first.
'What banquet?'
'Market vendors' banquet, maybe.'
'The king's banquet. I will be at the governor's all day tomorrow.'
'Who invited you, K'rar? Who?'
K'rar threw into his mouth a spoonful of cauliflower and chicken stew.
'Tuncay. The governor's son.' K'rar said. Everyone was bewildered, and that's what he wanted.
'Don't go,' Phylla said, 'he's trying to humiliate you.'
'No, you should go,' Hleb said, 'he already turned himself into a laughingstock in the market. He can't turn the king's banquet into his own private showdown.'
'Oh who cares? You are going to dine with the king!' Rubi said loudly, 'that means a lot of things, and the least is that you will stand out because of your looks.'
'Oh, yeah. Use it well, man. Use it well.' Chio said. K'rar whispered into his ear,
'She might be there too. She's from one of the richer families.'
The king was already at Governor Onder's residence, having arrived the day before. Activities would begin very early, including an early morning hunting expedition in the woods of Iscalan, in which the king and the governor, and some of their men, would compete to strike down the most wild ducks. K'rar had no reason to be early, but Daghan had asked him to be at the residence all day long, to get used to aristocratic idiosyncrasies before the said aristocrats are with him in the same place at the same time. When he had said that, K'rar had almost laughed at the irony. Nonetheless K'rar was early, having secured a horse from Ziha's family to gallop the nearly two miles between Namsang and the Iscalan Township.
The governor lived in a lofty residence. Nothing K'rar hadn't seen, but it was still a long time since he last saw a residential of this resplendence. The first governor of Alhanan, who had set up the mansion, had intentionally chosen to raise it in this remote area because of its scenery. It was the only governor's residence in all the provinces that was not located in the province capital, which would be Daager for Alhanan. Because of this, there would be many guests from the capital coming to Iscalan, because the king wouldn't dock anywhere else but the governor's.
K'rar wasn't coming to the residence for the first time, though he had never been this close to the place. He had only seen the front gate from afar with snooping boys. The residence was on a hill, like K'rar's palace back in Korazin that provided a beautiful view of most of Iscalan and the sea. K'rar had to ascend up a paved ring road on the hill to come to the high walls of the estate. Today, even very early in the morning, there was heavy armed security deployment at the gate. The first light of the day was just expanding over the land, and a good number of men were already outdoors setting up transport for the king and his hunting party in the compound, which K'rar could see through the open gate. One of the security personnel quickly approached K'rar on his horse, and scrutinized him for several seconds. K'rar saved him the trouble by saying,
'I am a guest. I'm with Prefect Daghan of Iscalan.'
'Where's the invite, son? Just show me the invite.'
K'rar had no explanation for this. Daghan had said nothing about a formal invite. He was about to begin stammering, and the sentry ready to frisk him away, when Daghan himself appeared from the interior and said to the sentry,
'Hey, leave him! He's invited.' Daghan then handed the sentry an invite card.
'You were about to embarrass me, man,' said K'rar to Daghan as they climbed the arced steps into a smaller gate next to the main one.
'Well I asked you to come early because I would be there. But I will be joining the hunting party later, so you'll have to stay here and make new friends.'
'The compound's empty,' K'rar said, looking at a long queue of carriages along the wall to his left, parked in an avenue, and their horses detached. K'rar could easily make out those belonging to the royal family, 'but there are several carriages here.'
'Of course. They belong to lords and ladies and filthy-rich merchants, who are here for fun. You can't wake them up this early.'
'Okay. Should I go and join them in their beds?'
'Look around, son,' Daghan laughed, 'get used to the place.'
K'rar obliged, and undertook a tour around the place. There wouldn't be anything too fantastic, but he still took his time.
The guests in the residence numbered up to 30, not including the ones that would arrive later in the day. The halls of the interior were teeming with life as servants rushed to prepare breakfast for the royal family, and guards getting logistics for the hunting exercise, which was first on the day's agenda. In three adjacent rooms in the east wing on the top floor, the princess Shaniz, her cousin Bekka and her little brother Asa, had slept. Shaniz was an early bird, and a light sleeper. She was awoken by the light din in the corridors outside her door. Shaniz was looking forward to returning to Zadok in the comfort of the palace. She was getting tired of constant traveling. The family had now visited eight of the nine provinces on the itinerary including Alhanan, and she had grown tired of it already. There was a monotonous routine of activities, including banquets, the king's visitation of the major towns with the family, and a boring performance in an arena. She could not find a reason for her being part of this, not even the queen's lame explanation that this would expose her better to the king's subjects. Everything that took place was about the king and queen anyway. Besides, Shaniz was not one to parade herself. She was not as outspoken and public as her older sister, Princess Remi, although most everyone in the palace in Zadok agreed that Shaniz was by far the most beautiful of all the king's children. She was more like her cousin Bekka, and for this reason she spent lots of time with Bekka.
When she was tired of hating all these things in her mind, she threw the duvets away from herself, and sat up. The sunlight was visible from behind the curtains on the large windows, and she proceeded there to unfurl them and let it in. Her attendant had set up the little things she needed to get herself ready, and was standing in the room with her when she was finished.
'Breakfast will be ready in an hour's time, Your Highness.'
Shaniz hated that too, that title. The two attendants at home in Zadok had stayed back. They addressed her by name, Princess Shaniz. Shaniz acknowledged that update, and returned to the window to look at the compound below. The first time it had been just some men preparing horses and carrying supplies on wagons, nothing new. This time, as her eyes swept across the compound, they spotted something that was unusual, and stopped. There were two people talking next to a stationary wagon of hay. One of them was an auburn-haired gendarme owing to his garb, a normal thing in Alhanan. The other made Shaniz stop what she was doing, putting on her earrings. It was a boy, dressed well, in a light green robe and trousers under it, and a leather bag around his shoulder that blotted his look. But the boy's hair was black. Black. She swirled around and summoned the maid,
'Hey, come here, Arma. Quick.' The maid obliged, 'who is that boy, right there, by the hay?'
'The one with…black hair? I'm not sure, Your Highness. I will find out.'
'No. I'll find out myself.'
'How does he have black hair?'
'Right? Look, many others are evidently talking about him.' K'rar was indeed strange to all those who saw him. The princess was herself blonde, as was the rest of her family. Xaxanika had brown-haired people, even silver-haired Forkish, that is, the northern tribes Fimron and Andria. There were brunettes and Alhanan redheads and brown-haired fellows etcetera, but neither Shaniz nor the other guests had ever seen a person with jet-black hair. Nor someone with as dark a complexion as K'rar, but this the princess could not spot from her window.
It was soon the hour for breakfast, which the governor's men had organized as a buffet in the hall on the ground floor. Princess Shaniz came down with her cousin Bekka, but she was hardly listening to her talk. Her eyes were moving quickly across the hall to catch a glimpse of the strange creature, and Bekka had to pinch her cheek to bring her back to the present.
'What's the matter with you, Shaniz?'
'Huh? Nothing.'
Bekka scoffed,
'Let's just go and eat. I'm famished.'
All 30 guests were in the hall partaking of the breakfast, but others were coming in. A long queue of tables had been set up just next to the spiral staircase down which the girls were descending, and the courses of the breakfast were set up on the tables. In the hall, round tables had been set up, and the ones in the center were clearly meant for the king and his family and the host and his family. Servants directed the girls to take one of these tables, as they would be served. Asa and Remi joined them soon. Remi came with the governor's son, and they seemed to be getting along. Shaniz was still keeping an eye out for K'rar, when the queen came to their table.
'Howdy, girls!' she said. She was wearing a hat and a cape for hunting.
'Mother, are you also going to hunt?' Shaniz said.
'Of course. Like I said, Alhanan will be different. There will be a boat ride by the sea, too.'
'We have boat rides on the river,' said Bekka, referring to the Bizkek River.
'The river isn't the sea, Bekka. Cheer up, girls.'
'I'm staying back. I'll be out when the Union Games preparations start,' said Shaniz.
'Okay, let me know when you change your mind.'
It was not long before Shaniz finally saw K'rar by the food queue. He was in line with the same gendarme she'd seen him with, and when he filled his plate, he went all the way to the back and sat with a group of other gendarmes, some of whom had traveled with the king's procession. When the meal was almost over, and guests were starting to stand and leave, Shaniz stood up too, and pulled her silk scarf squarely over her shoulders, and walked away from her table. Her maid followed her.
The gendarmes at K'rar's table were talking about the upcoming Union Games, or Federation Games, and about how Alhanan had performed so poorly in the last rounds. Magritte saw the princess standing by the table first, and he stopped giggling like an idiot to stand up and bow. K'rar stood up a second later than the others. He was not used to standing up for someone.
'Good morning, officers,' Shaniz said. The men all sent back the greetings, but K'rar remained silent, and she saw this, 'hey, why do you not greet me?'
'My apologies, Your Highness.'
'Forget it. Why are you sitting with older men?'
K'rar thought about it before saying, 'They were my ticket to the residence. They're my friends.' He listed all the names of the five men with him.
'And what is your name?'
'K'rar von Caspar.'
'Caspar?'
'No, Your Highness. You have to say von Caspar if you say my last name.'
'Okay. What does it mean?'
'It means son of Caspar. He was my father. Your Highness should just call me K'rar.'
'Well, then, K'rar. In all the other provinces I've been to, I haven't met someone my own age, except of course, my cousin Bekka. And I have never met someone of your loos. Where are you from?'
'To be honest, Your Highness…'
'I prefer you call me Princess Shaniz, K'rar von Caspar. I want to liberate you from this gerontocracy,' she smiled at the men to indicate the jest in the statement, 'will you take me around?'
'I do not…' K'rar was saying, when Magritte trampled on his shoe under the table, 'Of course, Your High…I mean, Princess Shaniz.' K'rar stepped away from the table and into the space. Shaniz was gazing at him intently. She then moved her fingers through his hair. K'rar wore a confused face.
'So, K'rar, how do you have black hair? You don't look like the rest of your friends.'
'Yeah. I am a bit different. I was, uh, I was born this way. Princess, I don't know this place. It is my first time.'
'I know that,' she said, and tugged on his arm to start walking toward the exit, 'and it makes this more interesting. None of us have been to this place.' Her guards, a couple of them, left their posts to follow her. Their job was to follow her when she was outdoors. Within the residence, or the palace in the capital, the royal children would move with just their maids or manservants.
The princess stopped on the steps going into the compound, and turned around to look at K'rar,
'What's in the bag?'
K'rar opened the flap and revealed that it was a couple of books, a quill, and a small phial of ink.
'Books?' Shaniz said, 'you brought books to a party?'
'I wanted to get some information from the governor's library later on.'
'It blots your outfit.'
'I hadn't noticed.' K'rar was still feeling uneasy, and she caught on, and shook her head.
'Are you shy in my company, or are you not interested in being with me?'
'Ah, none of that. It's just that I am the last guest on the list and I'm the one talking to the princess of the kingdom.'
'Let's go out to the back, then. There's more things to see there.'
K'rar had already been there but he didn't mind getting away from the numbers in the front compound.
'You said Caspar was your father. Does that mean…'
'Yes, he died.'
'Oh, that's bad. And your mother?'
K'rar took some time to answer this,
'I don't know about her. We were separated last year.' K'rar did not want to narrate his story to the princess, at least not this early. Still, she reminded him of his other princess friend, Helga, and for a moment he was nostalgic. He didn't realize he was staring at Shaniz until he returned to the present, and Shaniz had her brows raised to indicate she had caught him sneaking a look at her.
'Are you checking me out?' she said. K'rar's heart missed a beat.
'What? No, I'm not.'
'It's okay. I saw you first. I knew I was going to spend today with you.'
Shit.
'What? Why?'
They had come to the right side of the mansion, and were standing between two short hedges on a paved walkway. Athwart, more than a hundred meters away, was the stable, in which many of the horses were kept.
'Race me to the stable,' she said, 'on three. One. Two…' she bolted. She was slow, even after K'rar allowed her a four-second head start, wondering why she chose running of all activities. When he overtook her she yelled, 'wait for me!'
'You took off on two. That's uncouth.'
'Ah, I knew I didn't have a chance,' she was trying to catch her breath. She was still holding her knees when K'rar saw the face of the guy he didn't want to meet. Tuncay. Like before, he was skulking around the compound with Luuk.
'You! How are you here?' the two punks approached him, made their bows to the princess, and Tuncay went on, 'who invited you?'
'Prefect Daghan,' said K'rar, 'look, I don't want any trouble…'
'Neither do I, man,' said Tuncay, 'still, one cannot forget what you did to me,' he paused, 'where did you learn it?'
'I was trained in combat since I was eight.'
The punks, and Shaniz, dropped their jaws,
'No way. Who trained you? How come your little friends are just zanies?'
'I did not grow up with them.'
Tuncay nodded,
'Well, look. Let's erase our slate. Start anew, how about that?'
K'rar was skeptical.
'I never had a problem. You came after my friends. But I'm good, there's no need for that clean slate you're talking about.'
'Perhaps there is. Would you care to join my hunting party? If you haven't got one already. We're setting off for the wood.'
'I am keeping the princess company.'
'Alright, then. Enjoy yourself. I intend to see you again though.'
K'rar sighed when they left. The day was still new, but it felt very long, very artificial. He was unsure about how he felt being among aristocrats who had no idea that he ranked higher than them all, only equal to Sargios.
'Did you say you beat him, in a fight?' the princess wanted to know.
'Yeah.'
'Well, you're a mystery after I've only met you a few minutes. While your peers were schooling, you were training in combat.'
K'rar closed his eyes, 'It's complicated.'
'Tell me. All of it.'
K'rar saw no danger in doing so, so they walked about as he told the same story for the umpteenth time. Still he left out the usual details. When he finished several minutes later, having been interrupted with questions, they were sitting on a park bench by themselves. He was so used now to telling the story that he knew what questions were likely to be asked and how to answer them. In his story, he was just an unfortunate boy who fled with his family from a horde of malicious marauders, and who along the way had learned to do combat, ended up on a ship that was shipwrecked at the Ervean meridian. He finalized with an unadulterated Klaadia story.
'Another land. Wow. It is hard to believe.'
'It's not a fairy tale,' he gave her a kori too, and showed her a map he had drawn detailing the nine nations of Moab, and a flag of Korazin.
'Well, you have to find a way to get back. Right?'
'There is no way. No one crosses the meridian, and even if it wasn't there, it is way too far for any of the vessels I've seen here. The fishermen have never ventured that far, it's just a legend to them, to you.'
But the girl did believe the story, in spite needing further convincing beyond K'rar's outlandish outlook and the kori coins.
'There must be a way, K'rar. That naiad must have known so. If Ihanga prevented her from killing you…'
'How do you know it is Ihanga?'
'Why. He's the Most High.'
'Well, he isn't giving me any clues. How is it you don't think my story is crazy? Even the naiad.'
'Did you make it up?'
'No,' said K'rar quickly. But he had made up most of it. In fact the naiad was the only real thing in his whole story.
After almost half the day, K'rar happened to warm up to the princess, who disallowed him from leaving her. She was enjoying herself. Soon, the guards reminded her that the king wanted the entire royal family to attend the performances, and K'rar thought he was finally free from her. But he realized after she was gone that he was actually enjoying her company.
Much later in the day, the activities were coming to a close, and K'rar couldn't get into the governor's library. He was just preparing to leave the corridor leading to the library, and when he stepped in the exit corridor, his he was right in front of the approaching party of none other than King Sargios and an entourage of up to eleven men and women including the queen, Governor Onder, two men whom K'rar couldn't recognize, but who were obviously in the military, and guards and maids. He could make out the subject of their conversation from a good distance. One of the military men was saying to the king,
'They are based in Hazazon-Tamar. The terrain is disadvantageous for us. They can see us, but we can't see them or engage them from the valley. We still don't know who leads them, but they seem to be intent on taking Aran-Tamar.'
'Yes, and the Revolutionary Guard is short on numbers, Your Majesty. I suggest an executive order to deploy Caudan units.'
'But you just said they're marauding many locations.'
'Yes. There are many casualties reported, and burglary complaints at the Gendarium. There are reports of small groups leaving their own homes to camp outdoors, because the rebels are bordering on genocide. Something else is going on here.'
K'rar couldn't go back into the hatch he'd been in because of this conversation. He was struggling to restrain himself from speaking. When they reached his position, K'rar bowed for them, and remained in this posture to wait for them to pass. They stopped, and K'rar stood upright. Many of them had stopped because of his looks if not for anything else.
'Who is this, Onder?' King Sargios asked. Onder had heard of someone fitting K'rar's description, but not of his presence at the residence, so K'rar took it upon himself to answer.
'K'rar von Caspar, Your Majesty. I came in with Prefect Daghan.'
'A strange name and a strange look,' said the governor, 'were you accessing my library?'
'It is locked.'
'Oh, that's because my personal study is also in there. Is Prefect Daghan your relative?'
'He is not. He's just my friend.'
'But, why were you looking for books on a day for recreation?' Queen Myrios asked him.
'The research at the synagogues is scanty, and the scribes are misers,' K'rar said quickly. The group turned to leave, and K'rar said, 'you need to set a trap for them, Your Majesty.'
They stopped and turned around again.
'What?' one of the uniformed officers said.
'If the rebels are marauding places, they're not just genocidal. They also take supplies and food. Mobilizing men from Cauda will take a long time, and people will die. Evacuate the people in the nearest locations, and set the rebels a trap.'
'Kid, this is not…'
'Wait, wait. Go on, please,' the king said.
'A scorched earth, is what it's called. Leave nothing for the rebels to hit.'
The king exchanged looks with his men, and then walked back toward K'rar.
'What's your name again, son?'
'K'rar von Caspar.'
'These are novel ideas, K'rar. But what about the rebels? We are short of men, and the rebels can catch the evacuation before the Caudan units arrive.'
'Poison.'
'What?' three people including the king, were bamboozled.
'The rebels need food. Poison it, and make it look like people have left it to escape during a raid,' K'rar reached into his bag, disinterred his book, and flapped open the page with poisons, and gave it to the king. The officers looked through it too, and the second one said,
'Deadly nightshade is in plenty. We can poison bread and water.'
The king was opening other pages,
'Are these all your ideas, son? Amphibious soldiers?'
'Yes, Your Majesty. They are my ideas. All are just concepts.'
'This is fantastic, sir,' the military officer who was originally hostile admitted, 'how old are you, kid?'
'Fourteen.'
The king turned to the looked down at K'rar.
'Were you leaving, son?'
'Yes.'
'No, do not do that. Governor, can you accommodate this young man? I want to meet his parents in the morning. I want an assessment of that strategy by morning too.'
K'rar blood went cold for a moment. He couldn't believe his luck. He would have never thought in a hundred years that he would meet just the king's cupbearer, but he had accosted the monarch in a corridor! K'rar stood there with his book, and watched the party until they turned. Governor Onder had left him two maids to take care of his accommodation.
'This way, young sir,' one of them said to him, pointing to the opposite direction of the tunnel. It was darkening outside. The activities were complete, and starting the following day King Sargios would now be heading back north to Et, which would be the last location before returning to Zadok, to complete a five and a half-month long tour. K'rar was taken to the east wing, the same one that the king's children were sleeping in. The maids he'd been assigned would stay with him, so after setting up his beddings, they stayed put with him in the room until he dismissed them. He then sat down by himself and breathed in to summarize the day, and find a more than lucky conclusion for all of the day's events. He had met the king, the queen, a princess, and his military strategy was for all intents and purposes, going to be executed.
The morning came very quickly. K'rar was so comfortable that he was still asleep beyond his normal hours back at old Hleb's. When he was awoken at long last, K'rar saw that it was not the maid standing by his bed. Shaniz and her cousin, Bekka, were in his room. They wouldn't have done this on another day, but Shaniz had had enough time with K'rar the previous day, which warranted her intrusion.
'You told me you live in a village by the sea,' she said.
'I do. The king asked me to stay.'
'You've spoken to my father? Why did he ask you to stay?'
'He wants to meet my family. He was discussing a situation with some rebels, and I just pitched in an idea about how to deal with them, and he liked it.'
'Well isn't that interesting. This is Bekka, my cousin. We'll be waiting for you outside to ask you something.'
'You got, Princess. I'll be right out.'