Faith was most cheerful when she was with Princess Serria, her closest friend no doubt. They giggled the night away like two little girls. Well, they were two little girls of no more than six when they first met. Abraham had enrolled her in the lessons that took place in the castle grounds. It was a mandate for them to attend up to the age of sixteen. It ranged from etiquette lessons to history lessons to weapons training, and was attended by most children of royals, nobles and high lords. Serria was the first to approach her, at least the first after she had clawed into the face of a boy for playing a silly little prank on her.
Now, Serria was perhaps the only person whom she respected in the Emperor's Court, after Abraham.
"Is it common courtesy in Eltarin to have your guests followed by a dozen armed soldiers?" A regal woman stood before them. She didn't have to look twice to know who it was. "I'm Tana Khaos of Isleen, Your Highness." She introduced herself. Unlike the other guests, she opted for cultural attire. It was a gorgeous two piece—a skirt and an intricately woven blouse. A velvet piece of cloth was draped around her. When she had visited Isleen—when she was younger, when Isleen wasn't a war stricken country—she had found herself staring at their attire and jewels. How stunning their culture was! Coming to jewels, Tana Khaos was decorated generously with gold. The war hadn't been able to strip off the royalty from her.
Serria was entirely delighted to see her, given that the Princess emphasized on respecting the sovereignty and integrity of kingdoms, an example that was not followed by her father and brothers.
"My lady." Serria took both her reluctant hands in hers. "It is a pleasure. But I'm not sure I understand." Faith faded into the background, observing the intercourse.
Tana allowed her eyes to trail to the dozen soldiers not far off from her. They did a terrible job in hiding themselves.
"Oh." Serria said, disappointedly. "I apologize, my lady. That must be my youngest brother, he is very. . ." Her words trailed off. Well, Faith had figured so much.
"Suspicious." Tana completed for her.
"Cautious." Serria corrected. "Due to the recent tensions with the Isleen rebels, we cannot entirely blame him.' Faith almost rolled her eyes. Leave her to defend her brother against the entire world.
Faith glanced at Arechin, seated with Verena. Seven Princes of Hell, she had never seen a worse pair than the two of them. "Princess, my dagger awaits your command." She addressed Serria. The princess waved her off, mostly because she wasn't quite sure if Faith was referring to Arechin or the twelve soldiers he'd assigned to trail Tana.
"Does your kind always seek violence to be an answer?" Tana spat. Faith saw the obvious blow there.
"Does your kind not?" Faith retorted. "Your rebels disabled our border forces recently." She didn't mention what their army—led by the general and her—had done to the Isleen rebel forces.
"After you took away our land, our people and our means of living." All three of them sensed the tension rising. "The rebels operate separately. Our King is being pensioned by the Emperor, and we have come under his protection. We do not fund the rebels, nor do we have any connections with them." She clarified, stressing on each word. "So, to answer your question. I do not pose a threat." She continued, giving them little chance to speak. Faith wanted to gut her. "I have noticed that the Emperor is absent from tonight's festivities. Where is he?"
Serria answered before Faith could cause an argument, "He is with his forces in Arlin, defending the Kingdom from the barbarians." She said, her chin held high. Tana didn't look convinced however.
"Why now?" She raised an eyebrow, "Arlin has been ruled by the barbarians for decades now. And after Eltarin's forces exploited the Kingdom, there is nothing worth defending now."
There was reasoning in that. They chose not to argue.
Just then, the music shifted. It was not calm and slow anymore, but a much more upbeat and fast. People moved away from the long buffet tables where deserts were now being served after the meat. A clearing was made in the center of the Hall.
Both the friends' faces lit up in an instant. How could they refuse to dance? Or choose not to revel away in the music?
"My lady, the music calls." Faith said, offering her hand. Who said they needed a man to dance? Serria accepted, and they laughed. Tana Khaos opened her mouth again to speak, but Serria cut her off, as if she wanted nothing to do with politics for one night.
"Tana, please do join us." She said, as they walked away carelessly into the dancing crowd.
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Kaien met the cold floor before the dance could even begin. Arechin made a great show of displaying concern, even lifting him off the floor before handing him off to the guard, asking them to take him to his room, and then declaring that his brother simply had had too much to drink.
Completely reasonable.
When he returned to the Great Hall, Verena had vanished. He celebrated victory twice then.
Kaien was taken care of and as for Tana Khaos—well he was joined by her on the dance floor.
"Princess Tana Khaos," He addressed her, taking her into his arms. "To what do I owe you this pleasure?" He had a very strong feeling that she would snap back at him. He had come to learn, through gossip, that she was a feisty one. And small she might be, but her temper was strong.
"I am surprised that I have come to find your company, even after you sent out a regiment of your soldiers to follow me." She continued, "If you must think of me as a threat, I would rather have you come after me yourself."
"Did you not enjoy my little present, Princess?" He asked mockingly. But she was in little mood to joke around.
"We have to talk, Your Highness." She said.
"Do we?" She cringed in disgust. And it took all of him to keep himself from backhanding her. But instead, he swept her away in a slow dance. She was terrible.
"You are the closest link to the Emperor—" She stepped on him again.
He frowned, "My lady, I am beginning to think that you are avenging your people."
"I am not so well versed in your culture. Ours is much different from yours—we have different forms of dance—" She waved her hand, "Nevermind that. I must speak with you."
"Speak your heart. I am all ears."
She paused, as if going through every detail of what she was going to speak. What he found most astonishing about her, other than her attire or jewels or tongue, was her hair. He had studied that people from Isleen often kept their hair long. And he'd seen Saher and some of his Isleen servants keep their hair long. Hers was cut short to her chin, accentuating her cheekbones.
"We seek the Emperor's army." He listened carefully. "For defense." For defense? Against who? Eltarin? Most of Isleem territory had already been annexed to Eltarin. Only the rebel forces dared to fight back now. She continued before he could question, "Recently, we received letters from Isleen. They spoke of the destruction of several villages located in the interior. I returned to my homeland to investigate. The wreckage was quite gruesome. Some of the villagers had been ripped from end to end." She paused, as if unable to shake off the image from her inward eye. "Moreover, there was this liquid that was found at all sites of destruction. It was slimy, and—" She struggled to find the right words in his language.
"Dark as night and bad odor." He completed, in her tongue. She looked at him surprised. He was well versed in all tongues of the Western Lands.
"Yes." She continued, "Your Highness, there are darker forces at work here. I assumed they were confined to Isleen, but if your people have encountered such forces, you must prepare immediately to mobilize all forces. I happened to encounter one when I was returning to Orlon, and only two of my guards and I managed to survive. There were twenty six of my men. Your Highness, after researching much into this—"
A loud, mortified scream sounded throughout the Great Hall. Then, panic passed around in a wave.
Arechin swore. "My lady, what am I looking at?"
He had a terrible feeling that these were the darker forces that Tana Khaos was talking about.