Light from the Shadow

Chapter 38

"Ayna!!" The door to the balcony suddenly broke open. Kuan saw Helten standing beside the princess whose dress was drenched in blood.

"What did you do to her?!!" Kuan quickly ran to her.

"I don't know... She suddenly fell and..." Helten was equally puzzled but tried not to show it. What he just saw was so strange that he did not notice the missing brother had suddenly returned.

Kuan pushed him away and picked up the princess. "Somebody! Call the physician!!" Kuan continued to call her name. "Ayna!! Ayna!!" He felt her pulse and pressed his finger in between her nose and lips. "She isn't breathing... Ayna! Please!"

Helten was furious. His plan had failed. How dare she... He turned to guards below. "Kill those two men now!!"

Rishi could hear the loud commotion around him but he could not see anything. What happened? He was sure he heard Ayna's voice a moment ago. Did something happen to her?

The crowd roared again. "STOPP!!" Someone shouted among the crowds. A small figure was moving, passing through the sea of people, climbing the short staircases to reach the middle of the plaza.

The crown prince stared at the figure in horror. "A... Ares...?"

Ares snatched the blade that was placed in front of Jyaga and pointed it at herself. "Stop this, Helten! I won't let you do anything to them!!" She glared at him angrily. Those eyes. The same fiery red eyes he was captivated by the first time he saw Ares Remwar.

"Ares!! What do you think you are you doing?! Leave now!!"

"NO!!! I will not!!"

"Someone! Drag the princess out!" Helten commanded the guards angrily.

"STAY BACK!!" Ares shouted. She moved the blade closer to her neck. Her hands were trembling from both anger... and fear. I'll protect him! This time I will protect him! Ares vowed to herself. She glanced at the man who was once engaged to her, kneeling behind her. His eyes blindfolded and his hand bound to the back. She gripped the blade's handle tighter. She would not let Helten hurt him again.

"Ares, come here. Please drop that blade." Helten extended his hand. He was now standing in front of her.

Ares shook her head.

"Ares!" The crown prince started to lose his patience.

"What is this all about?" A low, unpleasant voice interrupted the scene. A group of knights appeared, clearing the way to let the person entered the crowded square.

"Father...?"

Emperor Tana walked in between the husband and wife, looking displeased than ever.

"What are you doing, Helten? You can't even handle this well?"

"I... I'm sorry, Father... I will..."

Before Helten could finish his sentence, the emperor already pulled out his sword and wielded it on the woman in front of him. It happened so quick no one had the time to react. Helten saw blood splattered in the air followed by his wife's body falling freely to the floor. Startled gasps soon filled the square.

Helten stood frozen. It was as if his heart had stopped beating. His eyes were still on the body covered in a pool of blood.

"Useless woman. For years, I have told you she isn't one of us. She refuses to have children..."

Helten pushed his father and ran to his wife's side. "ARES!!!"

His wife did not respond.

In anger, he drew his sword and aimed it at his father. "How could you..."

"She is your weakness, Helten. How can you be an emperor if you are shaken just because of one woman?" His father asked. He did not avert his eyes from the edge of the sword pointed to him.

"Shut your mouth!!" Helten raised his sword but his desperate intention was soon met with other 12 swords pointing at him. The emperor's royal guards.

"Take him away." The emperor said coldly and turned his back to walk away.

And that moment, all of a sudden, the ground started shaking. The shake grew more intense as time passed and small rocks and stones had started falling from the building. The crowds went into panic and everyone ran to save themselves. People were shouting and crying here and there, trying to get ahead of one another to leave the square.

"An earthquake? What's going on?" The emperor muttered while trying to balance himself. Before he knew it, a figure had swiftly moved behind him, pointing a blood-covered blade on his neck.

"Worry about yourself, Your Majesty."

Emperor Tana did not have to turn his head to know who was behind him. It had been 15 years but he still remembered the way he talked. The arrogant tone in the man's voice.

The tremor stopped abruptly and another train of shocked gasps soon filled the square again, with greater intensity from the now less spectators.

"It's... Emperor Mehari..." A man said.

"But that's impossible... His Majesty had died 15 years ago..." Another man said.

"But he has the golden eyes!! And... he looks like the late emperor..." A woman chimed in.

"Don't tell me..." Another said with covered mouth.

Rishi moved the blade along the emperor's neck, making a thin red line as it travelled. "Drop all your weapons." All the knights and guards that were stationed in the square carefully removed their weapons and threw them to the side. Rishi then shifted his attention to the royal knights who were still crowding the crown prince.

"You too. Drop your weapons and stay away from him." He ordered.

The royal knights removed themselves hesitantly.

"Why..." Helten muttered.

"ARES!!!" Lord Remwar arrived at the square with more reinforcements. He saw a few physicians were tending his daughter's wound.

"Father....?" Helten was surprised.

A punch landed on his face and the crown prince fell to the ground.

"Don't you dare call me that!! What have you done to her?!! My daughter! Didn't you promise us you won't do anything to her?!!"

"I..." Helten did not know what to say. There were too many things going on in his head. He looked at his wife. Her pale face. The blood all over her.

"Arrest them all!" Lord Remwar ordered. "This is war against us!"

"Brother!!" Kuan shouted.

Both Rishi and Helten turned their heads and saw the second prince running towards them, carrying Ayna in his arms.

"Princess!" Jyaga who had been trying to locate the royal ran to Kuan as soon as he saw him.

Rishi shoved the captured emperor to Remwar's knights and followed Jyaga.

"Princess!!! What happened to her???" Jyaga cried.

"I don't know... when I arrived..." Kuan flustered.

"Give her to me." The librarian said.

"But..."

Rishi ignored him and took the princess into his own arms. He wiped the blood around her lips and touched her cold face. His hand trembled.

"What are all this for..." He muttered. "If I could not save you..."

Rishi hugged her body and kissed her for one last time. Princess Ayna was dead.