Light from the Shadow

Chapter 33

What does this mean? Did someone from Remblan give this to the emperor? Ayna paused. There were certainly a few people who knew how to read the language like Qwentine and Rishi but not everyone was allowed to use it freely. Was it her father, the king? Did the emperor and her father know each other?

"I wonder who took it out from the palace that day." The blacksmith muttered. He had finished with the repair. The rust had all been removed and the sword was looking as new as before. The master teared up. "This sword, although it has returned to its home, it has no master now." His voice quavered with grief. He started crying. "I still remember that day. The sky turned red as the flame engulfed the Mehari palace. It was awful... everyone died."

Ayna fell silent. When her mother died, she felt like a part of her died too. How painful it must have been for Rishi to watch his parents died, to lose his home, to lose everything in just one night. Ayna chocked back her tears. And now, he lost his second family. Because of her. She sobbed. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Rishi..." She broke down in tears.

The blacksmith apprentice panicked. "Why are you two crying???? Isn't the sword repaired???"

"Shut up!" The master did not know why the customer cried but he did not care. He himself was overwhelmed by his own emotion.

Suddenly, they heard someone knocked at the door.

"Good morning, Sir. We are from the palace. We are looking for someone. Do you mind opening the door?"

The three of them who were inside exchanged glances. The sword! They needed to hide it! Anything that had to do with Mehari was forbidden in Solbaru!

"Quick! Hide it! Hey, missy! You hide too!!" The master said. Ayna quickly took the sword with her and hid herself in the room behind the forge.

The palace knights knocked the door again. "Sir?"

Following his master's cue, the student opened the door and let the knights came into their workshop. "Is there anything we can help? The shop is not open yet but if you need your swords..."

A knight stepped forward. "We are not here for that." He produced a paper and pointed at a drawing. "We are looking for this woman. Do you happen to see her?"

Both the master and student's eyes widened. Of course, they had seen her. In fact, the said woman was now hiding at their back room.

"No." The master denied. "Why would a lady like her visit us? This is a blacksmith you know. You'll probably have better chance in the jewellery store or something."

The knight nodded. "Just checking."

After a few more questions, the knights left the blacksmith empty handed.

"Have they left?" Ayna came out a moment later.

The master nodded. "Who are you, my lady? Why are they looking for you?"

"That is not important. Say, do you know somewhere I can safely hide this sword for the time being?" Ayna knew she could not return to the palace now and she was worried about Jyaga... and Rishi.

The master crossed his arms in front of his chest, thinking. "I know the perfect person to do it for you. Let's go see him."

***

"What do you want with me? Where is the princess?"

"That's something we would like to ask you, Captain." Helten sat across the captured knight.

Jyaga wanted to punch him to wipe that smug smile off his face. This man killed Qwentine!

"Where is she?" The crown prince asked again.

"Like hell I'll tell you!" Jyaga shouted. "You murderer!"

Helten got up from his seat and mercilessly kicked the knight repeatedly in the face and body. The knight whimpered in pain and anger but his hands were tied, unable to fight back.

The prince talked with his back facing his subordinates. "Go to the city. Spread the news that a Remblan knight will be executed in the square tomorrow morning for secretly helping the second prince staging an attack to overthrow the emperor."

"What the hell are you saying??!!! Prince Kuan has nothing..."

"Throw him into the jail!" Helten ordered.

The battered knight was dragged away, shouting as he struggled to free himself. "Stop!! You bastard!!!"

***

Lord Remwar touched the sword that was sitting on the table in front of him.

"I'm sorry for my sudden request but can you keep this sword for the time being?" Ayna said. She was hesitant for a moment and then added. "I don't know what is going to happen..."

The man shook his head. "It's alright. I know what's going on. Ares secretly kept me notified about the situation behind the palace walls. I'll pass this sword to him when he came back here. All his things were still upstairs in his room."

"I see..." Ayna muttered. Rishi had been staying at Ares' family home before he was detained by the crown prince.

The clan leader looked at her. "I guess it is fate."

"What is?" Ayna asked.

Lord Remwar smiled. "Do you know this sword was a gift to the late emperor from Remblan?"

So it was true. It was really her father. "My father knew the late emperor?"

"It was your mother actually."

Ayna's body stiffened. "Mother?"

The lord chuckled. "We sort of saved your mother before. We saw her chased by a bear when I was accompanying the late emperor to go hunting years ago."

Why the story sounds familiar?

"I heard she was pregnant with you at that time. As a token of gratitude for saving his wife and his unborn child, your father, the king, presented this sword to our emperor. But as you may have known, Remblan is not allowed to supply weapons to foreign countries so this was really just an ornamental blade. It wasn't made to hurt anyone."

"I see..." Ayna's gaze moved to the magi writing on the blade.

"Do you know about this?" The noble asked as he pointed to the writing.

Ayna did not answer.

"This is what you call magi, isn't it?" He smiled but his expression was sad.

The princess nodded.

"The late emperor secretly told me that the Remblan king had casted magi on this sword. Something like a protective spell?" He tried to remember. "When I heard that, I was extremely worried, mainly because we all knew what it is capable of from history. But of course, he ignored my warning, like he always did." Lord Remwar laughed. And then, abruptly, he stopped.

Ayna sensed something changed in the atmosphere. "My Lord?"

He clenched his fist. "That bastard. He came to learn about what was inside the sword too. He even tried to persuade His Majesty to attack Remblan!" His blood boiled every time he remembered how the then general Tehra argued with the late emperor about their plan to expand Mehari territory. "He did not believe about the war from hundred years ago where magi was involved and thousands of people died because of the power! He did not believe it and wanted to see the power with his own eyes. He wanted the power himself! That cursed power!"

Ayna flinched.

"We all knew His Majesty changed after Prince Taya was born. He was no longer as ambitious as before. He refused to participate in any war, raising his sword only if Mehari was under attack. That was probably when the general started to become dissatisfied with the late emperor – and he was not alone. There wasn't few who thought the emperor had grown weak."

Lord Remwar placed both his hands on the table and looked at Ayna in the eyes. "I'll be frank with you." He paused and then continued. "We want to return the right of the throne... back to Prince Taya."

"But... that's..."

"Treason?" The lord laughed. "I'll worry about that later."