Blood Rose

#2

I was shocked at how she'd cornered me with my own sword. I didn't know who she was back then. Without answering her question, instead, I asked, "I'm no one extraordinary like you, young lady. Who are you?"
"I'm not extraordinary. Just trained better than you. Answer me first. Why did you creep up behind me?"

"I didn't. It's pure coincidence that you were where I came. My ship collapsed in a storm when me and my men were out on the sea. Just a few of us survived, the ones who were on my small boat. All the other boats that got down the ship when it collapsed didn't survive either. Storm took them all away. That boat brought us here."

"Who all?"
"Me and three people. I'm Adonis." I said. I guess I looked pale and I was covered in dirt and sand. It looked like she believed my story. I wasn't the first surviver who came to Cyprus on a boat. She asked, "Where was that ship going?"
"Sisally. Lauded with spices from Mausa."

"Alright. You need to see the king." She said and lowered the sword, "Till then, I keep your sword."
"Thank you."
We started walking towards the castle. I kept staring at her all the way.
"You aren't some ordinary girl, are you?" I asked.
"What makes you think that?" She said, without looking at me.
"You are amazing with swords. I just saw that. You have pride all over your face. And I must admit, you have heavenly looks. Not just beautiful, heavenly."
She didn't look embarrassed, didn't blush at all. Not that I was bluffing. She did look beautiful.

She turned to me and said, "Why were you carrying a sword along on a business voyage?"
"Safety, madam. I thought I might need it for self defence. Like when I was in the forest, you could've been not as good as you are. You could've attacked me and I needed to protect myself."
Now she smiled.

"Oh." She swung my sword, mocking me, "Not that you could, if I attacked you. I took away your sword."
I pulled out a knife that was tugged in my trousers and put it to her throat. She looked surprised. I took the knife away and said, "I'm never unarmed, lady. Don't question my valour."

"That's illegal in Cyprus." She said.
"I don't know you. I don't see a reason to trust you and give you away all my defence." I said.
"Young man, as long as you are in Cyprus, no one will attack you unless you threaten us." She looked at me. She looked forward and pointed to a beautiful, majestic marble castle and said, "The king's palace."
"Wow." The word escaped my mouth.
"I know." She smiled. We walked to the entrance where the guards bowed when they saw her. And I just became surer that she wasn't some ordinary country-girl.

We walked inside on the marble path with two grounds full of grass on the sides. Both had man-made ponds and swans bathing in them, beautiful trees on the borders of the gardens.
"Who are you?" I asked again.
"Bow when you see the king. He respects whoever pays respect." She dodged my question.
"Of course I will, but..."
"And try to be quieter."
I shut up at once.

We entered a second gate where there were quite a few gentlemen dressed in expensive robes sitting on the sides and at the end of the room in the centre, sat a man who was dressed in the simplest clothes out of all with two younger men sitting on both his sides and one seat kept empty on the side of one of the younger men. She bowed to the man who sat in the centre and said, "Father, this young man is Adonis. He lost his ship from Mausa in a storm. He came here with three other lucky survivers."
"Take a seat, Idylla." The man smiled.

Oh my God, I'd run into the princess, I realised. The man turned to me. I bowed at once, like she'd instructed. He smiled at me and said, "I'm Matthias, king of Cyprus. I believe you seek shelter."
"Yes, sire. Shelter till help arrives for us."
"We'll give you a pigeon to send a message to Mausa. Pigeons of Cyprus never fail to deliver messages. Till then, you're welcome to enjoy the hospitality of Cyprus."
"I'll be grateful, sire." I bowed again.

He turned to a man and said, "Bring this young man's companions from wherever they rest at the moment." He turned to her, "And Idylla, please show him one of the guest chambers for him and his companions."
"As you say, father." She said.
I followed her after telling the man sent by the king where my companions were.

"You're the princess!"
"I thought you always knew." She said and laughed.
"Yeah, now it all makes sense."
Back in the king's court, a massive argument was taking place.
"Your honour, we aren't friends with Mausa." One man said.
"We aren't enemies either." Matthias said.
"We don't have any relationship with Mausa at all. And helping voyagers from Mausa may give us a chance to strike a friendship with them." Herakles said.
"Yes. Mausa is powerful. Having good relations with them will be good for us." Oreste said.
"Having any relation with Mausa can be dangerous." Another man said.
"Cyprus helps people. That's what we'll do. We aren't doing anything wrong to get Mausa upset." Matthias said.

She walked me to a room with four neat beds, water kept in a covered glass container on the table, a beautiful window overlooking one of the gardens with the ponds. The walls were carved with beautiful ethnic designs.
"Will this be okay?" She asked.
"I've never stayed in this good a room." I said, truthfully. She smiled. Behind her, I saw my friends arrive. She turned around and saw them too, smiled and said, "I'll leave you to take rest. You must have had tiring days."
Damn, she had a beautiful smile.

"Adonis!" Owen said as he came forward and bowed to me.
"Sire, we thought you got into trouble!"
"Have I ever, Julian?" I said.
Philip was the last to get down from his horse. He said, "We need to talk." And he walked inside. We followed him in.
"They bought my story about the storm." I said.
"King Matthias is a simple person. But when needed, no one can be as cunning as him." Philip said.
"Prince Philip, we need to find her." Owen said.
"I think I know who she is, Owen."

Confusing? Won't be! Keep reading. Surprises await.

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Love, Kaninika xoxo