"What's wrong?!" Cleite asked confused.
"It's the king-"
"Something has happened to the king?!" Dao exclaimed.
Yan snapped impatiently, "Yes if you guys would shut up I could tell you!" We all quieted and let Yan talk. He continued, "King Kashikoi's heart suddenly stopped beating. He's in the infirmary right now".
Silence filled the entire room.
Breaking the silence Cleite whispered in shock, "You have to be kidding right? Right?" She looked around at all of us. "This can't be happening. Rida's betrayal and now this?"
Only silence answered her.
"The generals and I have decided that while the king is recovering, we would keep the information about the king's heart failure a secret for now. There's no need to make the public more panicked than they already are. We are still going to attack Rida and Gadalka when more reinforcements get here," Yan further explained.
Standing up, Wudao asked, "Can we visit the king?"
Yan shook his head no, "The medical team won't let anyone near him".
Wudao slumped back into her seat.
"I guess the only thing we can do now is train for a few days until the reinforcements come," Kuma said.
"With the king's illness, word has been sent to the troops around the kingdom to speed up their pace. They should be here in two days," Yan said.
"Why can't we attack Rida and Gadalka now?! We can handle whatever amount of demons they'll throw at us!" Cleite asked with anger and frustration in her voice.
Unexpectedly Nathair yelled, "Like we would've been fine a few minutes ago when that horde attacked the castle? If we didn't have the troops with us at the end we would've been hopelessly outmatched and overwhelmed. We may have a lot of power but there's only so much we can do. We are still human after all". After a pause he said, "We should probably get some rest. We'll need it if we want to train a lot in the two days we have". With that he got up and walked to his room.
Slowly getting up, Kuma said, "Yeah Nathair's right. We do need our rest. Especially after the last few days we've had".
Kuma held out his hand and helped Wudao up and they went to their respective rooms.
Tanken stretched and said, "There's no use in worrying about yesterday. We'll find a way to make this right. Night guys". He then left to go to his room.
Yan started to walk to his room and he turned around and looked at us, "Don't stay up too late children. We have a long few days to come". With that said, he went into his room.
I stood up and said, "Night guys. Let's hope that tomorrow will be better".
"Night Kasai," Dao said as he got up.
Cleite said nodded and for some reason looked very determined. Maybe she's ready to train hard tomorrow.
I waved good night to my friends and went to my room. After I closed the door, I changed into pajamas and turned off the lantern. I got into bed and snuggled into the blankets. Closing my eyes I fell asleep.
That night I tossed and turned repeatedly. For some reason I couldn't sleep at all. Tired of struggling to sleep, I got up and quietly opened my door. I walked silently to the small kitchen attached to the apartment to get some water.
After drinking a glass of water, I tiptoed back to the living room. Turning a corner in the hallway, I bumped into someone. I looked up and saw that I had walked into Cleite. "Sorry!" I whispered hastily. I then took in her appearance. She was dressed in her windbreaker and jeans with boots. Suspicious, I asked her, "Going somewhere?"
She glared at me and replied, "Yeah. I'm going to stop Rida".
"By yourself?" I asked while crossing my arms.
She rolled her eyes and replied, "Of course not. Dao and Tanken are coming with me".
"I doubt that you three will be able to do much against Rida and Gadalka. Not to mention the thousands of demons they may have".
"It's better than sitting here and waiting for them to attack first!" She whispered back. "You aren't going to convince us to not go".
Conflicted about what to do I just looked at her. She still glared at me with determination in her eyes. I sighed.
"Fine. You can go, but I'm coming with you," I said.
Cleite cracked a smile. "Thanks". She then motioned me to follow her. She led me back to the living room.
"Why were you heading to the kitchen in the first place?" I asked.
She laughed under her breath and replied, "Dao wanted something to drink and was too lazy to go get a glass of water himself". She looked at me and winked, "I think he'd rather you come join us than having a glass of water".
She led me to her room and quietly opened the door. Inside, Tanken and Dao were waiting impatiently. "What took you so long?!" Dao whispered yelled as he saw Cleite open the door.
"Ran into Kasai while getting your water Dao. She's coming with us," Cleite replied with a smirk.
"Wait so you didn't get me a glass of water?" Dao asked disappointingly.
Cleite shook her head, "Nope". She then gestured for us to follow her. She led us to her closet and turned around to face us. "Now you better not tell anyone this, but my closet has a secret door to hallways between the walls of the castle".
"Wonder why you have those," Dao snickered which earned a punch from Cleite.
"Anyway . . ." Cleite said. She opened the door and pushed past her clothes to the back of the closet. She moved a dress out of the way and pulled a secret lever. Silently and smoothly, a secret door opened to blackness. Cleite looked at me and said, "Kasai can you create a small flame for us?"
I nodded and opened my hand. A small flame burst to life in my palm giving off some light. Cleite nodded and went through the door. We all followed suit. The tunnel lead down and Cleite led us with confidence.
Finally she pushed open another door and we were outside. I looked up and the moon was covered by dark clouds. Dao then took the lead as he led us to the stables. Dao quickly found four horses and handed each of us a reign to a horse.
"Um guys, I've never ridden a horse before . . ." I said nervously. I looked at the brown horse and it looked back at me with kind eyes. Shaking his head, Dao took the reigns in my hands and said, "Well now's not the time for lessons so I guess you can ride with me Kasai".
I gulped and then nodded. Cleite and Tanken easily got onto their horses and we waiting for us at the entrance of the stables. Dao looked at me and asked, "Do you want to sit in the front or back?"
"Um the back?" I said unsure.
Dao nodded and got onto the horse. He then held out his hand and he helped me up. "Wrap your arms around my stomach unless you want to fall off. We're going to be going at a fast pace".
Blushing I nodded and wrapped my arms around his waist. Unexpectedly, he prodded the horse to run and I clung on harder to him. I glanced behind us and saw that Cleite and Tanken were right behind us.
Yelling to be heard over the horses, Cleite said, "This may take a few days to get to Rida's hiding place but if we take rests sparingly, we should be there before Rida does anything to hurt anyone".
With that said, we fell into silence as we rode into the night.
YOU ARE READING
Laylania (Completed)
Adventure"Devil Marks" have been hated by people for years for many reasons: they attracted monsters and demons to the person 'marked' with it. Kasai, a girl marked on her face with the "devil mark" is hated by her small village because of her mark. One day...
