The King's Court

XXIX

We started for Sacramento early in the morning dahil medyo malayo-layo pa ang ibabyahe namin. The sun was not yet up and we were already on our horses. Mas mabuti na rin iyon kaya maraming tao ang makakasalamuha namin sa daan. By the time the sun was up, were a few kilometers away from the town and all I could see were rice field and trees. 

Hinayaan ko ang sarili ko na tumingin sa paligid. I rarely see such scenery in my world. I remember we would often go to the province where my mom grew up but we stopped going there since Lorence died. 

"Beautiful, right?" biglang sabi ni Nikolas na nasa tabi ko. He was now next to me and Mark and Leon were ahead, talking about the recent project they were working on together. 

Nikolas was looking at the rice field. Wala pang masyadong palay na nakatanim doon at may nakikita kaming mga tao sa unahan na nagtatanim ng palay. They stopped what they were doing to look at as us we passed by. I doubt they recognize Nikolas and Leon and I doubt they would know they are from the palace because the guards have removed any signs of the royal kingdom from our parade.

"Peaceful," sagot ko naman at bumalik ang tingin sa bundong hindi kalayuan sa palayan. We could see some huts built at the foot of the mountain, a stream next to it that connects to the ricefield, and a field of vegetables where I could see a couple of people picking their harvest. 

Napakasimple ng buhay nila. They're living their life as they normally would on a normal day, oblivious of the coming threat.

And then the thought settled into me: these people's lives depend on us on whether we could build a truce between Solaris or not. 

I know Nikolas' stand on this. Kung hindi namin mamapayag ang reyna ng Solaris na huwag ituloy ang gyera, then we would have to resort to war. We would have to use the weapons that Leon and Mark were making. It would kill people--soldiers who were just following orders. And would even kill innocent people living peacefully like this. 

"Do you think we would make the Queen agree to our terms?" tanong ko kay Nikolas. Nanatili akong nakatingin sa mga taong abala sa kani-kanilang gawain. 

He was silent next to me and when I looked at him, he was just looking ahead. As if he was searching for the answer too, only to find none. 

Wala nga namang kasiguraduhan ang pagpunta namin doon. The Queen has granted us an audience but that doesn't mean we've succeeded. This is our chance to stop the South and we can't afford to mess this up. 

"I want this to work," Nikolas finally said. "I don't want war. If they don't back down then I will do my best to bring them to their knees. But that would involve killing innocent people who will get caught in the crossfire."

Tumango ako at nagpakawala ng buntong-hininga. "There's no other second plan, huh." 

In my periphery, I saw Nikolas shake his head. "I'm afraid none." 

Silence settled between us. Nakatingin lang kami sa unahan. I don't know what's on his mind but mine was the uncertain future. War might happen. It might not. We might convince Lorence. We might not. Then I would go back to my world and not see Nikolas again. Maraming tumatakbo sa isip ko kaya naman hindi ako masyadong nakatulog kagabi. 

I stole a glance at Nikolas. As usual, I couldn't read the look on his face. But perhaps he was thinking about the future too. About how this meeting would go. I wonder if it ever crossed his mind that we might not see each other again once I go back.  

"Nikolas," I called and I felt him look. 

"When I go back to my world, do you think we'll--" 

A loud neighing of the horse ahead of us cut me off. In an instant, Nikolas was holding his sword--one of the swords I used to clean inside his chamber when I was still working as his servant.