Naroaika

Chapter 23

With the annual festival in less than twenty four hours, the Kingdom was bustling with activity. I sat in the garden with Zed, preparing what to take for the adventure that was coming.

“Did you tell your mother about your absence from the festival?” Zed asked.

“I’ll pretend to leave for the festival tomorrow.” I said looking at the map that was drawn out by Zed.

Everything was ready- the preparations for the festival and to the Garden of Stars. It was nightfall; I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling.

‘This is the only time the occultation would occur. I cannot mess things up.’

The following day, as the maids were busy preparing my outfit for the festival, I packed a small bag secretly. It contained a copy of the map, a black cloak and the jar that Azlo had given.

“Should we prepare your look, Lady Jerinah?” A maid entered the room.
I nodded and dressed myself for the festival which I wasn’t going to attend.

“Please put minimal makeup for today.” I didn’t want heavy makeup on while climbing an entire mountain! I also asked for a dress that was easy to move on with though I wanted to wear pants; mother would murder me if I wore pants to a festival as such.

The carriage was ready to go but I requested my parents to go on ahead. They were convinced with my excuse that I’ll be coming with Zed later on, though I wonder what they had in mind. Mother did look very excited, I just hope she wasn't thinking anything out of the world.

I hopped on the horse that Zed had prepared for me beforehand. I wore the cloak so that the people on the streets won’t recognise me. We left the Mansion through another route so that we weren’t caught by the people around.

It was noon when we moved. We reached the dead end of the mountain rather faster than expected. We got off the horse and tied them up to the trees so that they wouldn’t run away. The security around the area was good so there was less chance for them to be stolen.

Zed and I walked around the mountain in case there was a path that led up to the top. As luck would have it, there was a cave on the other end. We entered it cautiously.

The path inside was rather straight though there were bats that flew over us due to the lights we produced. At the end of the cave, there was a path that led up.

“I guess this is the way up.” Zed said as he looked at the map.
If you are wondering about the map, it was a rough one that Zed had made using the information he received from his fellow mates. Up until now, the marking and paths were all accurate that were made except that they did not mention about the cave that was there. ‘Was there another way to this mountain from the other side?’

“Let’s get moving, My Lady.” Zed offered me his hand as he stepped up.

The path that led up stopped soon and we had to do more of climbing. Thank goodness I had trained my body all those weeks, my body felt light and exhaustion was far.  As I held on to a rock and pulled myself up, my foot slipped. Fortunately, Zed caught me on time; I almost went down, how many metres I don’t know.

“T-thanks.”

“Be careful, My Lady. We are almost there. We can go slowly.”

We couldn’t go slowly. The sun was almost down and who knows how long it’ll take to reach the place but I needed to be extra careful now.
We were finally up on flat ground. My arms and legs started to feel tired. We looked forward and there was another cave in front of us, it was pitch-black. We rested for a while and soon entered the cave.

“The garden must be across this cave.” I said.

“It should be, My Lady.” Zed walked in first holding a lighted torch. I followed him from behind.

The air got chilly as we went further inside. Suddenly there was a gust of wind and the light from the torch was blown out. All that was around us was darkness. I reached out my hand to where Zed was but I felt no presence.

“Zed!” I called out but there was no reply. I called his name again and again but there was not a single reply.