Esveldza: 'The Lonely Child of Fire'

Chapter XXXIII- The Price to Pay

Chapter XXXIII

The Price to Pay

The sun shone brightly through the windows, it was another hot day and my body ached from the intense training we had yesterday. Today I at least got to sit but listening to petitions for so long made me restless.

A few years had passed since the war between the dwarves, King Frajher had made no more moves and Arveltri seemed to be in some sort of illusion peace but I knew it was only a matter of time. Listening to the common folk ask my parents for some, such trivial matters made the world seem to simple, like the wars were finally over.

Noomkiara was waiting for me, there were only a few more people to hear before the petitions for the king and queen would be finished for the day and then I could race Daarken and Volcarn with Noomkiara across the city. I could fly Noomkiara and together we were deadly opponents for Volcarn and Daarken. We were the best of rivals, equal in almost everything from history to war tactics to physicality. The only thing was he was the better knight and I the better ranger, minus things like textiles, art, drama, dance and song where I had spent many hours honing my skills in.

I resisted the urge to yawn as an old lady stumbled to bow before us, “My great King and Queen, I have a request for the festival of love in a month’s time…”

The festival of love… an image of Daarken involuntarily floated into my head and I felt my cheeks burn and my heart skip a beat, I had been trying to deny for so long that I had feelings for him but with each moment that I grew older the more handsome he grew, the more… less of an idiot he became. I smiled to myself; he made me smile a lot.

I remembered I was in a room of people, Salvator watching me like a hawk and my parents, the king and queen right beside me. I needed to concentrate.

The worst dressed man of the day entered, his clothes were tattered, his hair a mess, his beard uneven and dirty. He bowed stiffly and his eyes caught mine, “Your highnesses, if I could have this petition for the princess…?”

I was wide awake then, the people acknowledged me from time to time, passing words of flattery here and there but none had asked me to help them so directly before. I looked at Salvator who nodded slowly, then I looked to my parents who were smiling at me, waiting for me to accept.

I looked to the man, straightening myself up and clearing my throat, lifting my chin to seem regal, “My ears are yours.”

He bows his head slightly, “I… lost my sister. I watched her die in my arms.” He began, his eyes were locked with mine and he his hands were shaking, I felt dread rise within me, why was he talking about death? Could he not ask me what to name his pig or something else? I knew this was only going to get worse. “She died in Forban. She was such a gentle lady, she was a medic. She saw someone alive among the pile of massacred people and when she tried to help him, you tore the skin on her stomach and left her innards to fall on the ground...” The man was yelling now, his eyes were wide with fury “She did nothing wrong! So many did nothing wrong but you killed them! I DEMAND JUSTICE! If it were any other man or woman you would be sentenced to torture and death but yet you live on, living in luxurious that most will never have! And I am not the only one too; there are heaps of us who want this princess to pay for her crimes!” He was screaming, my father stood and had the guards take him away but he continued to scream.

I was breathing heavily, I had sunk into my seat and was sweating, tears stinging my eyes. My mother turned to look at me and she reached for my hand but I jumped out of the seat, away from them.

I had been suppressing the memories of Forban, it had become a distant nightmare that haunted me less and less with each year but I was returned to the reality of my crimes.