Korah: Heir of Gnamalea

CHAPTER TEN

GNAMALEA

Alejandro made it back to the castle by the late afternoon. He had just come back from having to see his men slaughtered. Blood spilled at his boots, and he walked quickly through the throne room and bowed to the King.

"Your Majesty", the King's face covered by his hooded cloak.

"What is it, Alejandro?" he said in a deep tone.

"Our men, slaughtered on the border through West side of the city. They were found this morning. No trace of who or what-", the King tired of his rambling, interrupted.

"Find them", Alejandro was tired. Tired of chasing the young witch. He had seen her as a close friend, someone he felt needed to be protected. He still had the heart to keep her alive if it were his choice. He wasn't sure what had happened to Tulio, their previous King, but he hadn't died of old age. He had disappeared, no one had seen his body, no evidence of him dead, only a rumour, but had been proclaimed dead. Alejandro scared for his life every moment of every day, as the King had ordered him and his men into search after search, night after night to find the girl. Someone he had seen almost like family. It broke his heart every day. If he had only chosen a different career, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to help the two siblings when they had found their mother dead in the woods. But he hated the idea of being ordered to kill them. He had forced the word out as he replied to the King, knowing it would have been her.

"Are you sure it was her?", he stayed quiet for a moment. His purple irises stared straight into his. A heavyweight was sent through his body before he felt he had been set alight, the excruciating pain through his spine. The familiar pain was unbearable but was always temporary, as the King didn't want to kill him; he knew that. But torture and force orders upon his kingdom.

"I'll order my men across the border to permit a search through Phorys by late tomorrow morning, sire", he grunts as he forces his words through the pain. The pain stops. He can finally breathe. He quickly got up from his kneeling position and walked back down to exit the throne room, not daring to look into those soulless eyes. He went to the large doors and headed towards his quarters on the East Wing basement. The men shared their bunks in a large room. Sleeping at night wasn't as easy as it was when they were home during the holidays. He missed his family.

He washed up before changing into his casual uniform and sharpened his sword for the morning. He looked in the mirror—the scar under his eye, where she had left a spot. The hate in her eyes, in William's, always haunted his dreams. Locking the boy in the West Tower cell, letting him starve and rot on the cold stone and dirt. Another winter, he again is struggling to survive. How he wasn't dead already was a mystery to him. He hadn't had the heart to face him, to visit the boy, to give him a scrap of food. To run after Korah every day, that had been the most challenging thing he's had to do, even before they were found her again in the village just nights ago. The fear he had felt when she had missed his head by inches, he had never seen her like this. She had turned almost feral but had remained beautiful. He had done this to her and her family. His second-in-command Diego looked in the mirror from behind him.

"Sire, how many men are we leading to the border?" Diego was young. New to his position, he followed Alejandro like a lost puppy, keeping note of his class and remembering his duties. Alejandro always wondered what the young soldier had thought about his new role. Alejandro had experience, but the boy had been given the place in such a short amount of time after his father had died in the battle a decade ago and shared his father's role when he came of age. It would be overwhelming for him. He knew it was for himself when he first started as a soldier. He replied to the boy with a smile.

"We will be travelling alone this morning, Diego. Just let me do the talking".

PHORYS