Travel Through Time

Travel Through Time Chapter 48

   "I want to know why you sent my guards away?" she demands. "I will have them train in a different place" Un says. "I asked why you sent them away?" she says a little louder. "Your Majesty, there are a number of people watching and in ear shot" I warn.   "It was your doing wasn't it?" she says Un goes to defend me but I step forward and he closes his mouth.  "As I said there are a number of people about and can hear you" I say calmly.  The Queen steps forward "should I have you flogged for disrespecting me?" she asks "you could, if I had been disrespectful.  I have on three occasions now just warned your Majesty that there are people about" I finish I show her just a little of steel in my look.   "I will ask you for the last time, was it your doing that my guards were sent away" she is all but shouting now.  "I take it you don't care about who witnesses or hears this?"  I ask my own question.  I sigh inwardly when I see the King walking towards us.  The Queen however has her back to him, I could have dodged the slap but don't and even wobble on my good foot for effect.  She goes to strike me again when the King says "do that I again and it will be along time before you can use that hand again!" The Queen drops her hand and turns to the King and bows "your Majesty, what are you doing here?" ignoring her question he orders "take her back to her palace she is not to take one foot outside of it until further notice" the guards bow and move closer to the Queen.  "Your majesty I was.." he cuts her off with a glare "I know what you were doing now leave" he orders.  She glares at me then the King "do you not need your eyes?" he spits she seems to realise that he is really angry and bows before turning and being escorted back to her palace.  I look behind me relieved to see that Keon-hi is no longer standing behind us I look over towards the sedan and see her near there.   I turn back to the King "are you alright? the Prince is going to be out for blood when he hears of this" he says.  "We don't have to tell him" I offer "to late" he mutters when the Prince marchers up to me and grabs my chin and turns my face so he can see the hand print across my cheek.  "Why didn't you dodge it?" he wants to know.  "It was the Queen and I thought I'd let the King have a little more ammunition against her" I pretend whisper the King smiles at me.  The Prince however is livid as he turns to the King.  I grab his arm in warning and he takes a deep breath, I let out a sigh of relief "I've already ordered that she not step one foot outside her palace.   I will have the guards changed at her gates" the Kings informs him. "I will also think of a suitable punishment, one that will take a lot of her time" I give him the thumbs up and his lips twitch giving me away.  I drop my hand when the Prince turns around to look at me.   I try giving him an innocent look, "next time dodge" he orders "yes, your Majesty" I answer.   "What was it all about anyway?" he asks next.  Un tells him of the guard that had clashed with Second and the fact that he tried to cut Second down when his back was turned. "So, I dismissed the Queens guards." I turn to see the guard stumble as he still running around the grounds.   I tug on Un's sleeve and nod towards the guard. "You come here?" Un calls and the guard walks a little jelly legged over.  He stands to attention then bows to the King and Prince.  "Who ordered you to create trouble for the Princess' guard?" the Prince demands the guard doesn't say anything. "The Queen is in trouble because of you" I say and I see him glance to his right, swallow and lick his lip.  I'm a little surprised at the last part.  "Do you have something going on with the Queen?" I ask this time the swallow is more defined and the wetting of his lip before saying "no, of course not." I look at the King, Prince and Un "is anyone buying that?" they shake their heads and I see the guard pull in his right arm closer to his body.   "Un search him" I instruct he does so and he finds a scent pouch and when he pulls back his sleeve of his right arm there is a bracelet tied around it.  It is leather with his initials stamped on it.  Un takes it off and turns it over.  Cut into the underside is more initials, the Kings sharp in take of breath tells me who's initials they are.        "Pun show him to my dungeon" the Kings says in a very controlled voice.  I turn back to the King "more ammunition" I say in a quiet voice he gives me a tight smile before turning and walking away. "I should have asked you to search him once he'd left" I look at the Prince "he'll be fine once he's ordered his thoughts" he reassures me. "How do you know when their hiding something or lying?" Un asks. "If they are doing wrong and get caught, they tend to swallow more or glance to the left.  Licking of the lips tends to suggest that they have feelings for someone or are in relations with someone.  The Queen could have gone to the King and asked him to find out way the guards had been sent away but she came herself and was really angry, the only guard left was the one running laps.  You don't get that angry for nothing so I guessed" I explain.  The Prince lifts me straight up into his chest "isn't she something" he says before kissing me.  "What are you doing? In front of everyone?" I snarl and he laughs and spins around with me still held off my feet.  "Put me down now!" I demand he laughs again and puts me back on my foot.  I'm just about to thank him when he kisses me again, I look at Un and then Second and they both lower their heads hiding their smiles.  "This is not funny" I say as I turn and hobble back towards the sedan.  I hear rather than see the Prince, Un and Seconds chuckles, Keon-hi runs up to help "how are these men meant to take me seriously if he goes around twirling me and kissing me whenever wants?" I mutter.  I pretend not to see her smile.  She helps me get into the sedan "are you going to be busy with the Prince now?" she asks as we set off "no, I won't" I answer and then glare at the Prince as he outright laughs.  Second falls in and keeps a watchful eye out and I see Fifth following a few steps behind Keon-hi "how do you like Fifth" I ask "he's very protective" she answers.  I look at her and then turn to hide my smile.  "Are you feeling alright now?" I ask she nods "yes all good again, till next time" I smile at her "you get a break from them when you're pregnant even longer if you decide to breast feed them yourself" I see Seconds ears turn red and mouth 'opps' to Keon-hi who smiles back.  When we get back to my palace.   I get out the sedan and then walk through my room out to the back garden "Ri-na we will have tea and a snake out here please" she bows.  "How are you getting on with your reading and writing?" I ask "good I'm getting much better with reading now.  The writing is taking a little longer but still getting better" she says.  "Do you want to help me plan the assault course?"  I ask she nods "we'll need the small writing desk then" Keon-hi jumps up and goes to fetch it.  "I would have asked someone else to get that" I tell her when she comes out carrying it.  "Good for building muscle" she says lifting her arms up and down with the desk.   I laugh and she joins in "Your Majesty Consort Bin is here" Ri-na calls and then Consort Bin walks out into the back garden.  "What a lovely garden you have" she says as I try and stand up to welcome her.   "It's alright please, stay seated" she says "Consort Bin, this is my good friend Keon-hi. Keon-hi this is Consort Bin" I introduce them.  Keon-hi bows and waits for Consort bin to sit down on a chair before she sits.  "Just came to say thank you" she smiles at me and I smile back.  "I received a number of gifts last evening" I tell her.   She laughs "I'm surprised he had the energy" she cheekily says.  We both laugh and I give Keon-hi a look that says tell you later.  We talk about this and that.  "I heard the Queen has been ordered not to leave her palace" Consort Bin tells us.  "Yes, she decided to strike me across the face and the King saw it" I tell her "really? I would have liked to be a fly on the wall to see that" I raise a brow to her "which the slap or the King ordering her back to her palace?" Consort Bin looks a little bewildered until she sees my grin. "Both" she says and we all laugh.  Ri-na brings out tea and snacks and we chat about this and that.   "I wanted to ask you how you found out you were pregnant?" Consort Bin asks as we finish our tea.  "I guessed when I got up to quickly a couple of times and went dizzy" I tell her.  I see her face fall "the Prince was told he had to still see to my needs as it was the best thing to do for our little bean.  You create the perfect environment for them to grow that way" I say "Really?" she smiles.  I nod "you just have to be a little more careful near the end but you don't have to stop" she claps her hands then blushes. "We are all women here" I tell her "Only some of us will have to wait years to have our needs met!" Keon-hi says with a pout.  "Only one more year though, and once your promised to each other you can do other things to have those needs met" I tell her "really?" she claps and we all burst out laughing, "what's so funny?" the Prince asks from the doorway and we all laugh some more.  He looks a little surprised but goes back into the room.  "I've got to go the King said he'd be by for lunch" Consort Bin says standing up.  I manage to stand up with her and lean in towards her ear and whisper "if you rip your pants you and the King can have some fun under the cover of your skirt" she blushes but nods and walks out without saying goodbye.  The Prince walks out "Consort Bin has just walked right past me as if I wasn't there" he states.   "She's just realised she's pregnant" I answer.  He nods "Everyone ready for lunch? Un is going to join us" Keon-hi brightens at this news.  "Let's have it out here" I suggest the Prince nods and comes and sits next to me. "He told me about this course you want to build." I nod and point towards the writing desk "Keon-hi and I were going to work on it but Consort Bin dropped by" I say.  Un walks around the corner and sits down next to Keon-hi "Oh, I forgot to tell you Keon-hi is actually 15.  Now she is eating properly and being looked after we've discovered she's older than she thought, partially from a very corrupt and dishonest head house keeper as well" I finish. "Congratulations, Keon-hi your nearly of an age to get engaged" the Prince says giving Un a pointed look.  "I will discuss it with the King" he promises.  Hun and Ri-na bring out tables full of food out. "This is a lot of food" I say. "I didn't want you to eat all our guest's food like you did mine yesterday" the Prince jokes. "I hadn't eaten in a week and was busy listening to you tell me all that I'd missed."  The Prince nods then says "I got to eat one piece of meat, until Ri-na made more and brought it out and even then, I didn't get to eat it all" he tells them.  They chuckle and we start to eat our lunch.  Once we have finished the Prince says "so tell me about this asit course" I smile "assault course" I correct.  I push the table nearest to me away and pick up the writing desk and put it in front of me.   Hun and Ri-na come and collect the table of empty dishes "Ri-na could I have some honey water please" I ask "some for all of us" the Prince says.  I take some charcoal and draw a few things that I thought would be good to start the course.   "These could be small wooden pegs pushed into the ground with rope over the top of them.  You would run in them like this" I use my fingers to indicate feet and step into my drawn circles "it is to test your coordination and speed.  Then we could have narrow planks of wood supported above the ground.  Which you would run across you would have them angled like so to test balance and agility.  Next you could have a weaved rope like a large net pulled so it is about this high from the ground" I hold my hands apart to indicate the height.  "It would be held in place by wooden stakes.  You would get down on your stomach and wriggle through it on your elbows testing your agility and stealth.  Then we could have a rope attached to a frame like this" I draw to A frames with a pole over the top of them and a rope hanging from it.   "There would be a mud filled pit underneath.  You would hold the rope and swing across to the other side keeping your legs well above the mud so you didn't get dragged down into it.  This tests strength, agility and speed. The test after that could be hay bales stacked to make different heights, widths and lengths which you would have to jump, vault and somersault over.  This tests speed, agility and the ability to adapt in any given situation" I tap my lip thinking "targets" Keon-hi suggests "yes targets, thank you" I say "targets such as wooden shaped people, heads in windows, as well as moving targets could be next.  None would be fixed they would all be movable and wooden trees and hills would also be move able.  That is self explanatory isn't it?" I ask "makes you think on your feet and the need to use different types of weapons also speed, agility" the Prince answers I pat his head "very clever.  After that you could have a water test where you would dive down and find certain objects also having them hide under water breathing through a reed straw. This would help them find things hidden from view and help with expanding your lungs so you can breathe better.  You could have logs put a different level's in and out the water in which they have to get under or over in order to reach the end.  The water slows you down and makes you use more effort to get through helping strengthen your legs and core.  The last part of the course would be a sprint finish which could involve targets or not" I finish.  I look up and see they are all looking at me "how do you know all this stuff?" the Prince asks "I learnt some of it from my teacher and the rest I learnt?" I stop as images pop into my mind and my head starts to hurt. "The rest I picked up or adapted along the way" I say and my head stops hurting as soon as I stop trying to force myself to remember.  "It would be best to have leather gloves made for each guard as they will need it for the rope, straw bales and maybe the netting one too" as I say.  I drew a pair of finger-less gloves on a hand.  "What do you think?" I ask the Prince he nods at the plan a drew, "I think it would be really good and help them to train more conditionally." Un nods "I agree, with the other training they will be even more elite.  I suggest we build this away from the Palace or in a place that only those who need to be there can see it." "We would have to write out a training schedule so they had a balance between fitness and ability training. That way they could be put into groups and each group could compete with the other groups.  We can offer incentive's like the group who come's in first will be given more meat, or an extra day off" I suggest "I will run this by the King I think he will be very pleased" the Prince says taking the paper I drew on and holding it up.  "Don't show him that? I'll draw it again" I offer he pats my head "no need" he stands and Un follows "we'll be back later, take a nap" he orders "yes, your Majesty" they wave as they leave. "Let's go and take a nap" I say to Keon-hi she helps me up the steps "Second" I call "yes, your Majesty""get some lunch while we take a nap then let Fifth get some once you've finished" he bows and we enter the bedroom and close the door.  I take off the man's tunic and climb into bed.  Keon-hi takes her outer clothes off and climbs in with me. "Will it be alright if I rest my hand on you?" I ask her. "Yes, I don't tend to move around much when I sleep" she answers.  We fall asleep in no time. "Your Majesty" I open my eyes and Second covers my mouth I nod and wake up Keon-hi and cover her mouth and she nod's. 

Note from author (Let me know what you think and don't forget to vote :) )