"What does Armstrong have to do with this?" I asked the dark man, becoming more curious after the statement that the two were the ones who had sent him on some mission for a nation, a mission that concerned me.
"I followed you," he wrote.
"You followed me? Oh my God, do you know all the lands we walked, from Wales to the valleys of that nation? How did we not notice?" I questioned, not really onto him but much onto myself, trying to remember everything that happened at that moment and during the journey. The crazy fact about that journey was that we got tired and ended up apart.
"Ezron told me," he wrote, which made me more confused and chuckle a bit.
"No, stop, man. Are you serious? Ezron? How do you even know Ezron to start with?"
"He was paid to protect you," he wrote. At that moment, I wondered if this man was not getting tired of plucking leaves and writing on them, or maybe he could not speak, I thought.
"Ezron would never. He left his sick mother because he loved adventure," I stated, trying not to imagine Ezron, who I thought of as a brother, having other missions aside from what I ought to think of. We were never equals, I guess.
"And why would you think that..." For the first time, this dark man spoke. His voice was deep and somehow had an accent that I could not recall, maybe one that embraced English and another land.
"So you speak now."
"I needed to form a bond. I wasn't sure if you were on a free toe for talks." He had some hard language too.
"And what's your name?" So, when I asked him that, he just stood and went towards somewhere. As if shoving me to follow, I decided to follow. We walked for some distance, jumping over woods and thick bushes, and arrived where he had placed his boat. It was a new one from the one he used yesterday. This one was brown, varnished, attached with some shiny bamboo sticks.
"You changed your boat," I stated, but he still did not reply as he climbed inside the boat, took his inks and a piece of paper, and then wrote something, then gave it to me. I wondered why he acted weird with all these writings and everything, but I just took the paper and started reading each word.
"Lord Willock, you are entitled not to accept the offers the palace gives, as it will be a danger to the palace home. You surely do not want that."
"Wait, hey man, at least tell me, what your engagement with Ezron is? What is it about you, and who are you? You cannot just tell me you are sent by father. At least tell me your name, or I shall call out the guards to follow you and imprison you," I stated, anger and fury raging within me.
"Anger never tastes good in new lands, your lordship. I am to tell you my name the moment you alight on this boat and end with me south," he stated as he steadied his boat and started leaving. He may be a young man, but he sure seemed to have more ideas, knowledge, and experience than I. I wondered how he steadied his boat in this river. Weren't there waterfalls or anything? And then my head rang about Ezron, and I knew right away I needed to go and find Ezron. I needed him to tell me what exactly he was trying and what his doings or rather intentions were in terms of this mission. I thought he did not know Armstrong, despite how much I told him about my life. I saw him like an acquaintance who had just decided to help me reach my destiny easier, yeah. I stayed, watching the river for quite a while, thinking about everything, wondering what the dark man had said. I really needed to see Ezron, and the only man who would aid me was Amir. The terms Amir and I had were that of two rivals, as if one wanted bad for the other, and the other the same. It was really not some good terms of friendship. He had not even told me how my paperwork was going and everything. For the first time, I thought about my paperwork and how I wished I never carried everything from the hotel when I was moving into this palace. With Ezron, I believe, all this would be safe. It would be easier.
"You seem to love the river more often," Amir stated from behind, which startled me. I faced him as he stood on top of some wood, and on my view jumped towards wherever I was. He still wore his prince clothes.
"It's peaceful here," I stated, hoping that he was not insinuating the river in regard to a fact that I wanted to escape or something of that sort because God knows Amir was once my friend, but he always had corny and crazy ideas. However, they helped him either way.
"Okay," Amir stated and stood next to me. Then, after a moment of silence, he continued, "When I was a small boy, this is where I used to hide out every time father would scream and beat me up. I always thought of suicide, like letting this river just carry me into anywhere, somewhere, and everywhere..." he started, a story about himself, and I knew now this would be some depressing moment. So I cut him short, "We need drinks sometimes." And that made both of us laugh. It was always something we used to do when we met. When the conversation would turn sad, we would change the topic by talking about drinking beer or needing women to ease the bleeding chests.
"I did not mean to involve you in this dilemma," Amir started as he looked for some stone to sit on, leaving me standing, watching the river. I wondered if it had snakes or dangerous sea creatures. I hated the thought of those animals.
"You should have at least told me. She hates me," I stated, and the fact that we were talking about his sister made everything more weird, but he did not seem to find it weird. It was like something he always did and was used to. It would kill me if I gave out my sister to my friend, especially with characters such as Amir's. I sure would be hurt more than the hurt my sister would be going through.
"I told her, thought she would take it easy on you."
"You knew Princess Hasmine also had a liking for my brother."
"That's the point; you cannot marry my sister, not her brother. She's quite difficult," he stated, and I just observed her.
"Is she your real sister?" I asked, then after a short pause continued, "You speak like someone with much hate towards her. Not like a brother."
"That's none of your business," he stated, and I knew things I never find myself doing is forcing a gentleman to open up about his hates and sufferings onto someone, especially one of his family.
"I need to go back to the hotel," I stated, after watching Amir's reaction.
"Why?" He asked, "you don't want to go back and become a mere pianist."
"No, I have something. There are things I have there that I need to check on," I stated. I was not really good at lying, so I hoped Amir would not force the conversation and all this.
"When do you want to leave? I can take you," he offered. He was always easy on me, sometimes though, and of course, I would be if he were in the lands of England.
"I don't know, by this week, if possible," I stated.
"Okay, I can talk to father…"
"No, you don't have to involve the King. We can leave together," I stated. I did not want the King to have ideas because, after all, it seemed there was something more than what is being stated of marriage and betrothal. Maybe I would be used as bait by these people. Kingdoms do not really pity humans, do they?
"Okay, it can be some visit, and I shall show you around maybe. By the way, that day in the hotel, I saw your speeches with the princess, Princess of England. It caught our attention, especially father's," Amir stated, which made me more curious.
"Why, why would he catch your attention, his I mean?"
"He asked if you had something with that girl," Amir added.
"And what did you say?"
"I declined. I stated, you just wanted to talk to her, maybe boredom from the different languages being spoken in the room."
"With that, I found a sense of relief. I did not want anyone delving into my life, especially my past. I knew the king had a large amount of information about my roots and everything he needed to know about me. That would make him want me as an eligible bachelor, lucky to be the princess's husband.
"We should leave, I guess," I stated, as I had realized the sun had already set, and it was starting to get cold. With that, we started heading towards the palace. Inasmuch as I wanted to ask Amir to interject and speak with the King, I somehow felt it was something that he did not have real power on.