Gardener

Chapter 11

Jenae's Shade

Amida patted me on the back grinning, "For a moment there I thought we were gonna lose you. I should have known if anyone was likely to go for the Princess it would be you." He shook his head in disbelief.

We gazed at the Heir now talking with the Queen and her sister Princess Kiran, Prince Ang hovering near by, curious as to what had happened.

"Lose me on the second day, in a forest no less." I smiled softly, "Not a chance Am, not a chance."

Kalini hugged me bouncing with excitement, "I can't believe you managed to find the Princess...You're doing a really bad job of hiding how powerful you are." She added as an afterthought just low enough for me to hear.

I thought back to the web of vines, the bark shedding like dead skin from the trees..." I know." I murmured softly ending the conversation.

"Are you sure you do not wish to marry me, I believe my parents will be very proud if I bring a Goddess home with me, despite the fact that I've only ever been interested in men before," Bae said hugging my other arm the flush to her cheeks telling me she was only half joking.

"Bae I'm not going to marry you." I replied chuckling softly before dropping a kiss to her brow.

"Don't encourage her," Kalini warned. "Or you'll find yourself on your horse traveling across the desert with no one the wiser." Bae stuttered her protest while Kalini laughed at her justified indignation.

I slipped free of them both, smiling at Ryu who tipped his head in greeting but did not comment on all that had transpired. "How did everyone do?" I asked, after a moment, curious.

"Well..." Kalini gazed around the small group and then beyond before grinning, a spark of mischief shining in her eyes. "The Princess told us we could only bring back one guard; she did not say that we could not help each other capture guards." I gazed at the sly looks on everyone's faces, Bae and Jaiyaan included.

"How did you all manage to pull it off?" I questioned resisting the urge to laugh at their genius, when I was so thoroughly impressed.

"First," Ryu broke the silence. "Amida, Kalini and I found each other and then we found Bae and Jaiyaan, it was easy work after that to capture the guards with the child's slumber seeds you gave to each of us...though we did manage to knock out Bae by an accident she woke just before we approached the Training Fields." Kalini's sheepish look told me exactly who was at fault for that.

Bae smiled shrugging slightly, "Things happen, all is well."

"We planned it like this before we left," Amida stated. "We were waiting to see if the rules countered our plan before we told you...not for a moment did we think that we'd be rendered unconscious the moment the Princess stepped down from speaking."

"It's alright," I smiled. "I am proud of your planning. I'm glad we'll all be progressing to the third day of the Tournament. Do we know how many we lost?"

Kalini shook her head, "We won't know for sure until the dawn of tomorrow when the next challenge starts."

"Gardener Manoban!" I glanced up to see her Majesty beckoning me over.

"Stay out of trouble," Kalini warned as I walked away glancing back at her to show that I'd heard and acknowledged her words.

I bowed slightly more from tiredness than anything else, if I went any lower I wasn't sure I'd be able to stand back up. Dara sensing this took hold of my arm supporting me. The day was catching up to me. "Majesty?"