Below the Peak (Sola)(44)
“Are you, all right?”
“Just go, here take this and leave” Nikolas threw one porch of coins to the man, not looking if he caught it.
O gods, I can’t do this! Nikolas bent forward feeling sick and guilty to his stomach. He was just about to rat out his father and General’s plan to the enemy, jeopardizing his kingdom for a little revenge and hurt pride.
Chapter Fifteen
Vessener, Murisa Kingdom.
A day turned into two, three then and still there was no word from the court of King Lorenz concerning Kalil, except for the increase of some guards making rounds in the streets and watching from the ramparts along the walls. They were armed and fully prepared for defense. The silence grated her patience. She wasn’t the only one whose sense of calmness was wearing thin. Her fellow comrades were beginning to lose it too. Each day that passed without a word from the royal court brought a new set of anxieties inside her and pushed her fellow warriors to an edge. Word on Latrell attack had already begun to spread around. She could even sense the restlessness in commoners when she passed them by. It was just a matter of time the streets became crazy with terrified people.
However, what picked at her mind unrelentingly was that there was no movement from Kalil. No other ambush. Abasi had been deadly quiet. By now she had expected to be on the field of battle or worse.
Were they waiting for each other out? Who’d rip the other one’s leg out first?
Nara couldn’t make out. Frustration seethed through her. She gritted her teeth, her thigh muscles tightened from exhaustion yet she pushed herself harder and rose her leg, delivering a swift kick to the worn strawman’s head.
If she could find out, she would’ve by now. Of course, she couldn’t despite having an almost free pass to the king’s court as a lady of noble birth. Recently no one other than officials were granted to enter the king’s residence. The castle had been under a strong guard. Social snobbery cliques had no gossip too. That left her to get details from her father. Unfortunately, her father wouldn’t tell her anything. He left home in the wee hours for court and returned late in the night. And if they talked it was about her quitting the army. Just two days ago, she argued with him about the same thing. The space between her brows creased when she recalled how their conversation went.
“Nara, you need to stop doing this” he had said coming from the kitchen to the sitting room. She knew what he had meant when she was harnessing the sword belt on her waist. She was dressed in a dark combat training clothes and on her way to the military quarters.
“Father you know I cannot.” She looked at him once she was done adjusting her belt.
“Yes, you can. You should start doing what you're required to do as a lady” he insisted. She sucked in her lower lip, holding back a scoff.
Sew, gossip and wait to be married to some arrogant lord?
“Please let’s not go there,” she pleaded, wanting to avoid an argument. “Can we talk about this later?” Her will to remain temperate was crumbling with each passing day, while fear began to look real. Ever since she informed the General about the elf, and not heard what he would do with the information apart of taking it to an account, an ominous feeling inside her has been tormenting her ceaselessly. And if her assumptions of the elves siding with Kalil were true, then she and the rest of Murisa were more than done for. They were damned. She couldn’t suppress a shudder skittering through her skin and sinking into her bones.
“This is the time. I don’t want to argue about this any longer. Do as I say. From this moment, you are forbidden to go to the military quarters or associate with it in any form” Her father’s words were cold it startled her.
Nara frowned. “You cannot do that.” She said, controlling her anger. “I’m not a child, I’m capable of caring for myself-”
“And I’m your father I’ve indulged you enough to the point you’ve become disobedient. I will no longer tolerate this behavior from you!” Her father’s gaze was stern as his tone.
Nara took a deep breath to control her temper. “You know clearly what you’re forcing me to do is to abandon my comrades.” There was an edge to her voice. “I call it a betrayal.” She couldn’t just walk away especially now, her fellow soldiers counted on her. As time passed, she just didn’t fight alongside her comrades she became to depend on them as did they. They were tied together by a unique relationship, a bond which assured they could count wholeheartedly on each other, put faith on the other completely and got each other’s back not only for survival in a time of adversity. They were there to comfort one another because one can relate and knows what the other is going through. They knew the horrors of being a soldier and no one else.
Her father looked at her, exasperated. “You’re too stubborn for your own good. This is not the life I wish for you. Understand there’s a lot more going on now.” His words rose concern.
“Then tell me, father, what it is?” Nara searched his tired face. No doubt, there was more to what’s been going on. Still, her father was reluctant to say. And he argued she was too stubborn for her own good. Now we know where she got that trait from.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about” Her father grasped and squeezed her arm. “You are young and have a whole life ahead of you. Do not shorten it.”