Kardama unapologetically stares at his visitor. John's eyes wander from left to right as he tries to vocalize. The rush of blood from his mouth leads downstream, blinding his eyes. He waves his hands in the air, trying to wipe it off. Kardama glowers at him, unforgivingly.
Kardama: Take better care of your tongue. That is, if you wish to keep it, son of Baylor.
John lands hard on the ground, his mute indistinct cries suddenly becoming audible. Hearing himself cry out, he suddenly stops. He mutters an apology, fighting his aching back to rise to his feet.
John Kado: Forgive me. It was not my intention to offend you. I see you are very straightforward.
Kardama: Blunt is the word you are looking for. When you have nothing to fear, you speak plainly, without coy or seductiveness. Unlike you lot, whatever I say is truth.
John replies with a soft toned question, staring into the sky.
John Kado: Am I special?
Kardama replies with a straight face.
Kardama: The bastard son of a bastard father who somehow ends up as a regent. Is that special?
John stares into space, drawing memories.
John Kado: My mother always said I was special.
Kardama: Wise woman.
John Kado: She was right?
Kardama: Not in the slightest, but she told you what you needed to hear, and that has brought you to this moment. Wise...woman.
John stares at Kardama pensively.
John Kado: Are the stories true? Are you truly a...
Kardama picks the word from his mouth.
Kardama: beast? I believe I am even more savage than they say. Once you know me for what I am, you will realize your friend met a kind fate.
Picking up a stone and tossing it about, John returns softly.
John Kado: I don't think you are a beast though. You saved us at the beach. You saved...me.
Kardama speaks dismissively, with carefree expression.
Kardama: I simply got bored and decided to play at being hero.
John Kado: Then we are most fortunate. Your boredom is a blessing to us.
Kardama replies in a dead serious tone, a sense of absolute serenity about him.
Kardama: No. My interference in your affairs was the worst thing that could have ever happened to you, and so it has.
After a brief moment of dead silence, both individuals pondering deeply, Kardama comments.
Kardama: You must go now. Your country needs you. Your drunken depraved king is about to make a third successive wrong decision.
John gives a slow nod, outstretching his right hand for a handshake. Kardama stares at the hand condescendingly. His blue eyes no longer frightened the regent much, and he knew he risked losing an arm, and so he did. Kardama sent him back to the great hall of the royal palace... missing an arm.
Kardama: Do not come back, Baylorson.
But he did come back. He came back over and over. Days, weeks, months. The habit continued a few months shy of a year.
John is sitting, back against a rock. He had only just woken up from the customary slumber, the post activity of the drowning. Kardama draws closer to him, sitting beside him. John turns to acknowledge his presence, too tired to move much.
YOU ARE READING
DEMON HUNT
FantasíaMario Cadel gets caught up in a series of tragic events that opens his eyes to the mysteries and darkness in the world. He begins a struggle to establish peace but whether he succeeds or not is another matter...
