The Witches' War : The Five Warriors

Chapter 12

Remembering the time when I lost my parents, I was fairly similar to Niel as he lost his father. I tried to act strong and put on a fake smile to cover up my sadness. But acting strong and smile to hide my tears, was more painful than crying. Aunt Ana made me realise that. It felt much more better after I cried.

Niel is keeping it inside, building up all the pain. He wanted to be a great king and make his father proud, but he struggled himself.

"If you insist, your highness." Sir Raymond said snapping me out of my memories.

"Niel, I know how you feel right now. Loosing someone important to you, but you act like you're fine to look stronger. I lost my parents when I was seven, and I promised not to cry. But it only made me weaker as the pain builds up inside." I stopped talking as I saw Niel's face changed.

"Adal... What should I do?" he sobbed. He starts crying and kneeled on the floor. I turned to face Sir Raymond and saw him shaking his head in despair.

I didn't know what to do, what should I tell him? I sat down in front of him and said "Niel, for now, you should get some rest as what Sir Raymond said. When it's time for the funeral, you should be there and give a speech to your subjects."

Niel hugged me and whispered 'thank you' into my ears. I hugged him back and told him that it'll be alright.

Sir Raymond cleared his throat and said "Very well, then. We shall follow Adalinne's orders. The knights and I shall prepare and spread the news of the funeral. In the meanwhile your highness, you should prepare a speech."

"A speech? B-but, I don't know how..." Niel stammered.

"It's your duty as the new king now. It's not as easy as it seems. You need to be brave. Ask anyone here to help you with that speech. Make sure it's inspiring.. " Sir Raymond sighed.

If there's anyone I knew that is good in talking it would be Elianor. But she's too informal. Politely, it would be either Tiffany or Susanna. "Maybe my friends could help".

Niel smiled "It's okay, I can do it by myself. Besides, I'm the king now right?" he smirked. I felt relieved to see his signature smirk again.

After I left Niel who is busy preparing his speech, I went to find the other girls. All of the people in the castle had gathered in the ballroom after the bell rung. I went inside the huge ballroom and saw them at the right corner of the ballroom.

The ballroom has a huge and shiny chandelier on the ceiling which is surrounded with carvings of the witches' story. As soon as my friends saw me, they came running towards me.

"Adal!! Where were you!? We were worried of you!" Tiffany sobbed.

"We've been searching for you when we heard the bell, but the guards told us to come here." Susanna muttered.

"We thought that you'll be here too, but..." Roselle added.

"Woah, woah, guys! Slow down... I was with Niel and Sir Raymond." I explained.

"We've heard about the King's death. Is Niel okay? What are we going to do now?" Elianor asked.

"Niel's fine, the knights are preparing for the King's funeral. We should stay here until further notice." I said.

"Okay, don't leave us like that again!" Tiffany said, punching my shoulder.

"Ow, okay, okay! I'll try to not wander off again." I replied.

One skinny guard came to the ballroom and informed us to prepare for the funeral which would be held tomorrow morning. Miss Melissa approached us and told us to follow her.

She leads us to a room with lots of clothes hanging along the walls. "These are official maid outfits for every occasion. Since you girls might not have proper dressing for the funeral, I suggest you try these." Miss Melissa said as she gave us five black-coloured dresses.

We thanked her endlessly and went back to our room.

The next day, the whole kingdom gathered together to mourn the King's death. The King's funeral was grand but is filled with sadness and despair.

Niel appeared on the castle's third floor balcony and starts to give his speech, "Good morning to everyone gathered here today. We have lost one of the greatest king in the verge of war. But to me, I have lost a loving father whom I hold dear. All of us would lose someone in life. However, we shouldn't let that keep us from moving forward. The people whom had died for us... All their sacrifice shouldn't be forgotten. They would want us to be happy, to enjoy life as long as we live. They want us to continue living and carry on their fight. And for that, we must be strong to protect our kingdom. To protect our family. To protect the children. No more lives shall be taken. Together, we shall end this war once and for all!!"

Tears were streaming down on almost everyone's faces, but they still applauded and chanted "For Laricienne!! Long live the king!!" Niel's speech made the people regained their hope of surviving.

After his speech, the people took turns putting flowers on the King's grave and pay their respects.

Later that night, I walked with Niel in the hallways while hearing him talk non-stop of his speech. I could tell that he was shaking uncontrollably during his speech. It was a great speech that inspired all of us.

"So, when are you going to be crowned as the new king?" I asked after he finished talking.

"Urmm.. I don't know. Sir Raymond said that the ceremony should be suspended till the war ends." Niel replied. We walked in silence for awhile.

"You know... You look nice in that dress. I never thought that you would wear one, considering how you always wore leggings or pants." Niel smiled.

"I'll never wear another dress. It's hard to walk wearing this! But I still had pants on!" I said as I raised my dress up, revealing my black leggings and boots I usually wear during training.

"I figured." Niel laughed.

We continued walking until I saw something that made me froze. "Adal? What's wrong?" Niel asked.

I shook in fear and almost lost my breath as I saw a big picture of the lady that was in my dream. She is standing in front of the throne with a long green dress which is much cleaner than the one in my dream, long wavy black hair, turquoise eyes, the same emerald stones on the top of her cheek and... a crown? I've never seen one on her before...

"Niel, who is this?"...