Masters of the Sea

019

"Where's everyone?" Sol asked her lady-in-waiting as she walked down the passageways of the royal palace. It seemed abnormally quiet round the palace and even the number of guards that were stationed around seemed fewer than before.

"Today is the Oracle's birthday, Your Highness. They've re-allocated some of the palace guards to guard the Oracle's entourage for the city parade," the lady-in-waiting replied obediently, though Sol could detect what seemed to be disappointment in her tone of voice.

Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "The Oracle's birthday? What on earth is that?"

"The Oracle is the jewel of the Goguryeo palace, Your Highness. If not for the Oracle's gift of sight, our empire would not be able to stand head and shoulders above the rest. She is our guardian angel and our guiding light, the moon who stands watch over our king and all our lands," the lady said excitedly. It was obvious that the girl was besotted with the idea of the Oracle and it puzzled Sol to know that this supposed "Oracle" could command so much respect among the people. What was even more curious was that she had never heard anything about the Oracle till today, even though she had already been living in the palace for months.

"How is it that I've never heard about the Oracle before? Does she live in the palace?"

The lady-in-waiting nodded quickly. "The Oracle's quarters are in the south wing of the palace, the opposite end from your quarters, Your Highness. Other than the Black Knights and her selected ladies-in-waiting, no one is allowed to enter the Oracle's quarters. If anyone is caught loitering around without permission, the punishment is death."

How curious, Sol thought to herself as she wound her way back towards her quarters. A mysterious Oracle living right here in the palace, yet somehow or other I've never seen nor heard of her before. Judging from what the girl is saying, the Oracle is a closely guarded secret here in the palace. I wonder what sort of a person she is. Is she truly as god-like as they describe? Leaving her curiosities to stew was never one of Sol's strong suits, and now that her curiosity had been peaked, there was only one solution.

Whoever the Oracle was, she had to see for herself.

#

Hye Ra sighed as the carriage she was seated in trundled out of the palace gates and into the city centre. By now, she had exchanged her drab peasant robes for regal silks that served to highlight her honoured status as the Oracale of the Goguryeo empire, and today the entire capital was to celebrate her birthday.

The truth was that Hye Ra herself did not know when her birthday was. Today was simply an arbitrary date declared by the king so that the people had a reference point to rally around. The Oracle's birthday was one of the most celebrated festivals in the capital and the commoners would spend much of the day giving thanks to the gods for blessing them with her presence. To all the common folk who had never even seen her before, Hye Ra was the reason they were able to carry on with their day to day activities in peace, because the Oracle's gift of sight kept Goguryeo safe from enemies who eyed their rich farmlands and plentiful resources. The highlight of the day's festivities was the royal parade, where the guards would march her down the streets of the capital so that the people could get the rare opportunity of being close to her presence. The real reason was to showcase to all the other kingdoms that the Oracle was still in the hands of the Goguryeo empire, a warning to them against any possible act of aggression. To Hye Ra, it was a long and tedious process, and nothing but a farce.

If only they knew that the girl hiding behind the veils of this carriage was just an ordinary girl, how disappointed would they be, she thought to herself as the deafening sound of the cheering crowd filled her ears. This year, the king had increased the number of guards escorting her entourage by almost two-fold, which reflected how fearful he was that the Oracle would vanish once more. The king had deployed six of the Black Knights to be part of the escort party, and even Go Yeon himself was present.