The Pirate Prince of the Ice Sea (Book 1 of The Legend Of Kaleania)

Chapter 5

In the village, I stopped at the bladesmith's to pick up Kan's sword. To my surprise, the guy who I saw yesterday, was not there. I only found the sword wrapped in a fabric that smelt like sweat. I slowly walked toward it, looking around to find anyone. Still nobody. I grabbed it and clutched it to my chest and left the bladesmith's. On my way to the market, people were walking everywhere. Children were walking with their mothers or playing with each other. I glared at them feeling a hole in my chest. I never felt like this before. Was it pain or hurt? Why do I feel this way? I tied the sword to my back and continued walking.

At the market, I stared at different kinds of fruits and clothing and, well basically everything. Above me, birds flew south across the frozen sea for winter. Gray clouds began forming in front of the sun. I thought it was going to rain but it was actually snow. I shivered and wanted to get back to the warmth of the hearth in the kitchen.

With the money that I got from Medina, I bought tons of meat, a couple of fruit and a bottle of wine. It was heavy since most of the food was meat. Snow began falling heavy and fast. The wind blew and it felt cold and I wanted to collapse and curl up into a ball to keep warm. I got to the gate and asked to get in. The guard at the gate said, "The ball doesn't start until sunset."

"I work here, sir." I said, sarcastically. "I also tried to run away while you and your mates were doing things other than watch for a boy escaping." He perched his lips and opened the gate, probably regretting what I said. I ran as fast as I could across the courtyard and into the servant doors and into the kitchen, where I found Medina and the others baking and cutting and keeping the fire warm. I dropped the food in front of Medina.

Her face lightened. "Go bring the sword to the King." I left and went out the kitchen. Then, I turned left in the Great Hall and went down a hallway that lead to the king's study. The hallway was lit with torches on either side.

I got to the king's study with two guards standing with spears and swords. When they saw me, they crossed their weapons.

"What are you doing here, rat?" one of them asked. In the torchlight, his blonde hair looked red. His eyes were green like Asher's but seemed to be fading.

"I'm here to bring this sword to the king." I said. The other guard turned to the blonde one. His hair looked brown and his eyes were blue. He whispered in his partner's ear. I didn't know what they were talking about but the blonde guard stared at me while the brown one whispered in his ear. So they must have been talking about me. The blonde guard turned to the brown and it looked like they were debating about me, possibly. "Uh, excuse me," I stuttered, trying to get their attention. They didn't respond. I looked around trying to find a way in. The only way in was through the door. I ducked under the crossed spears. I quietly turned the handle and pushed the door opened.

I closed the door behind me and stood there in the shadows. King Richard's study was medium sized, with a shelves of books and scrolls that were lined up against the walls. A desk was in the middle with a candle lit on the side facing the door. The king sat behind it looking exhausted by reading and writing on parchment. He was wearing his crown and his brown hair reached over his shoulders. He was dressed in robes of orange and yellow, the colors of Akaneia. His head was on his desk, probably sleeping.

"Your Majesty?" I remarked. His head went straight up and shook his head.

"Who's there?" He said, pulling out a knife that looked like the one Asher used. My eye hurt by just seeing it.

"It's me, Arak." I said, covering my eye, trying to stop the pain.

"Ah, the new slave prince has come." he said, putting his knife way. "What do you want?" he asked, disgusted.

"Medina sent me to give you Kan's sword." I said. Richard gestured to his desk for me to place the sword on it. I obeyed and asked, "Is there anything else that I could do for you, sir?" He gazed at me and then turned his back to look out the window.

"That will be all." he said. Geez, can he ever say thank you? I thought. I was about to leave when he ordered the guards to escort me to my room and lock me in until the ball starts and when he says so. I rolled my eyes as they each grabbed one of my arms and urged me out into the torch lit hall. They let go but they pointed their spears at me to move forward. When I didn't move fast enough, the spears would poke me hard since they were sharp and painful. So I moved faster and I would have probably got at least four or five wounds once we got to the tower. When we reached my room, the blonde guard opened the door as the brown one shoved me hard onto the floor.

Behind me, the door slammed shut and I heard it locked. I got into a sitting position and debated whether or not to entertain myself or sleep until they came back. I decided to go to sleep since I was already tired after doing the errand that Medina sent me on. I got up to walk over to my bed but I collapsed at the side of it and slept.

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I opened my eyes and to my surprise, a black bird sat in front of me. It had blue eyes like Aria's dress and pitch as night feathers. Why is a stupid bird in my room? I asked myself, half asleep. I got up and picked it up in my hand and walked over to the window that overlooked the entire kingdom.

"There you go," I said. "You back to your friends and leave me alone." I slowly dumped myself on my bed and faced the wall.

"Seriously?! Are you really going to let a Mithos Raven leave his flippin' master after they just met? That's just messed up." a voice called.

Mithos Raven? Master? There was once a legend about those. It's said that when they come of age, they search for a master that they serve until he or she dies. And if their master has a son or daughter, they are set out to find them and they will be their new masters until they die. So basically, Mithos Ravens choose a family or tribe that they with serve forever. And I left out the part that they can talk.

I turned to find him sitting on my bed again. "What do you mean master? There is no way in Arak's Sky-realm that I'm going to be a bird's master."

"That hurts," he said. "Bird's have feelings, you know."

I turned my head back and said, "If you want to talk about feelings, then think about mine and just go away."

"Okay, fine," he said. I saw him flap to the window and he glanced at me. "I was only here because I was only doing my job for your father." That made me get up and out the window, he was flying away.

"Stop!" I cried. He stopped and turned to face me. "I'll be your master if you tell me about my father."