Caesar

CHAPTER TWO • A SECOND CHANCE???

Rays of light escape a golden lantern with its orange lines extending further into the dull night, brightening it. Various voices resound in agreement as men sip from their glasses laughing wholeheartedly. They clink their glasses together and some of the red liquid falls out of it splashing on the table. Various women in beautiful attires - the traditional Mountaingroin attire made from riko rocks( a special indigo rock found only in Mountaingroin) move holding trays and then refilling their empty glasses. Lord Nostradamus speaks out from the edge of the five men table;

"Did you see the way the people treated the Hwansu at the Lake of Deception? They even treated him better than the Emperor himself!"

All faces turn to face the Emperor who sits close to the High priest. The High Priest looks at Lord Nostradamus who signals him with his eyes then takes a sip from his glass. The Emperor's face is stern with his eyes gorging out, his skin paler than before. He coughs out listening to the voices;

"Soon A Foreigner...an outsider would overthrow his Imperial Majesty and..."

"Blasphemy!...Your Majesty heed not his words... The Hwansu only has Yunchi's best interest in mind...He wouldn't dare...!" Astrologer Tomsin voices out.

The Emperor picks up his napkin coughing louder than before. Everyone becomes silent and he speaks after he drops the blood soaked napkin down;

"Once a cub learns how to hunt, it fast becomes a predator. The Hwansu has hidden me in the shadows..." He coughs out but this time, there's a darker shade of blood on his napkin.

"...and gained my people's trust only to use them to dispose of me... It's time for me to come out of the shadows into the light!"

Ammon raises his glass "Cheers to a peaceful Yunchi, one without invasive outsiders."

"To a peaceful Yunchi!"
The nobles raise their glasses clinking them together.

Caesar looks down. From where he stands the celebrating crowd seem merely bigger than dots. With his body against the stair rails, His eyes darken as they focus on the Emperor who takes a little sip from his glass. He raises his glass up with a snicker on his face as his lips separate releasing a sentence uttered barely in a whisper;

"To a peaceful Yunchi!" His voice sardonic and sarcastic.

"The puppet has forgotten its master..." Caesar stares down at a round bottle in his hands. As he moves it, little red pills with tiny black dots on them shake in the transparent bottle.

"Because he is dying... He believes he has nothing to lose..." His eyes trace their way down to meet the Emperor.

"Unfortunately, he's wrong!"

A messenger hurries towards him with a letter in his hands.
"Hwansu, A letter has been sent to you but there's no sender's address on it...Hwansu, should...? "

Caesar nods then passes him the little bottle in exchange for the letter.
"As for the bottle, send it to the castle... Give it to Celine, she'll know what to do with it!"

The messenger dips the bottle into his pocket, bows down then exits leaving Caesar still standing above watching the nobles. As soon as the messenger leaves, he tears the envelope open and his eyes run rapidly absorbing all the information on it.

"Finally, some pleasant news!"

Wandering Light falls on the letter slowly highlighting a line; "...Hwansu, we believe we have found a lead on the location of the Bain..."

As his eyes move away from the letter, it quickly turns into dust and the dust flies down blending into the air. As he looks down, his face brightens up like a rainbow after a terrific storm when he spots Verbena. She appears no bigger than a dot from where he stands. Something about her is unusual. She is limping and using the wall to support herself. Her cloak is thick covering her whole body and her lips move murmuring something to herself. His steps are hastened as he hurries down in pursuit but when he finally gets there, she's not in sight...gone!

His feet makes way to where he previously saw her limping. Tiny droplets of blood lay static on the ground. His eyes flare up with volcanic rage; " Who had dared to hurt you?"

Shiny golden particles blows on the ground highlighting the path he had seen her walk through and all her footsteps becomes visible leading him to her.

*************

Diana walks with a bag. She heads towards Coloradin Brothel. The closer she gets, the louder the sound of merriment. Her face is pale with worry which is buried by the sheer determination. She is jumpy as she walks through the crowd, why wouldn't she? She is finally getting a burden off her chest; her debt.

"Here's your money. You thought you could turn me into a mere whore, shame on you!... I worked day and night to earn it!..." She bubbles up with excitement and joy as she rehearses the words she intends to say to Madam Rose.

"Oh the look in her face...!" She giggles swinging the sack about as her feet move hastily almost running. Soon they stop in the front of the building.

Her eyes starts to dilate as her feet paces around. Finally Fear and uncertainty sets in, she didn't feel so confident anymore and for some reason she was worried and to make matters worse...

"Isn't that Diana the woman child who was almost sold to a brothel by her drunken husband?" A young woman voices loudly to her friend who is holding her arm.

"Yes! It's her...I heard he also wanted to gamble her off at the gambling... Oh poor thing!"

Diana hides her face but it's too late. Almost everybody is staring at her with pity decorating their faces. Her legs wobbly run into the brothel in shame.

As she walks into the brothel, various drunks whistle at her. Her head is plastered on her feet as she approaches the counter. When her face comes back up, her eyes meet a hostile Rose counting some coins.

"It's about time, don't ya think?"

Diana nods shyly then pushes the sack to Rose who stares back at her with unfeeling eyes. With a gum in her mouth, she commands; " Open it up, girl! "

Diana unties the sack pouring the coins out but to her dismay...

A ton of tiny stones roll on the table. Their bluish grey colour unmistakable clearly portraying them as stones.

"What is this?! You think this is a joke?!!"

Tears freely run down her cheeks. Her golden coins, her labour, they were all gone and replaced with worthless stones.

Her eyes blurry with tears scan her body, viewing the injuries on her body. Her mind drifting back to...

"Move girl!" A man hits her leg with a long stick. Her feet almost melting from the sun. On her back, there are giant bags which are obviously too big for a girl like her. Her legs slowly climbs up the Mountain...the memory fades into her reality.

Gosh! she did everything to earn that money, she had even worked as a beast of burden to pay her debt back...

"I swear they were there...I checked them this morning... You have to believe me...please!" The tears breaking her voice.

"You know what the boss ordered!" Rose says with a straight face.

"No no... I can't...please any other way...please!" She falls down on her knees begging for a second chance.

Rose kicks her down to the ground.
"I hate peasants like you...just do what you fucking promised and stop playing the victim!..."

A voice sounds from the inner room as Mr Korad the brothel owner comes out.

"Give her a second chance..." He looks at her.

"In two days time if you are unable to pay back what you owe..." He bends down whispering the rest part of the sentence. Tears rush down her face flowing in gallons. How was she to pay that sum of money is just two days time?