Two Hundred Years in Slavery is all the people of Xathania have known. Toiling and dying for a kingdom that has only snarled at them. Not until hope surfaces as a story in the wind and the flames of a spirit long forgotten resurfaces to face the g...
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Opir was as beautiful as Aderhan a city of gold and many colors with carefully arranged buildings. The city bustled and was a burst of colour. The people were genuinely happy, at least someone in her family had found joy. They had docked in the city the day before and explored in native clothes. Samael had been to the city several times so it was nothing to him. Freya had decided to stay back and so did Reid.
The beast in the cargo hold was gone.
Freya sent it to Orcus and for some reason, Callahan had advised against asking about it. Cora listened and let it be.
Opir had similar buildings of different shapes and sizes, trees of green and blue, the lamp stands were surely made of gold. The streets were immaculate and also looked like they were paved in gold. They walked until they came upon the castle of Opir, Home of the Warden. Home of her father, the King of Xathania.
Samael had thought it wise to have Callahan and Eleonor wait on the ship but Cora thought it was best that they got acquainted with her father. For the sake of Welkamia. She and Eleonor wore fine dresses that were simple and functional while Samael and Callahan wore tunics over pants.
Samael spoke with the guards and for some odd reason, they let them in. They walked on the pathway which was filled with nobles at work. In the grass, children sat in circles and listened to stories under the shade of trees of blue that transitioned to purple.
'Magic causes that,' Samael whispered when he caught her staring. 'If Magic ever fades from this land, the trees will look as ugly as the ones in Callahan's lands'
'The trees in Foxam are red. You idiot,' Eleonor said before jabbing him with her finger.
'Callahan, I will throw your wife in a well,' Samael said, making Eleonor laugh hysterically.
The happiest she had been in days since the news of her family's potential demise. Cora had tried to be there for her and by extension, Callahan. However, grief was a never ending experience. It didn't fizzle out and die. It situated itself in your heart and caused you turmoil at random moments.
They were led to the throne room and by some miracle the Warden wasn't holding court and neither was his wife. Samael had filled her in on how Opir worked and it gave her a headache. The Warden ruled as King but didn't take the title after Saath gave up the Isle two years before the fall of Xathania. The Isle was too small to be an empire so they took the title of Isle rather seriously.
The Warden sat on his throne and between them were a King, Queen, Princess and god. No one bent the knee.
The warden looked upon them with brown eyes. His dark hair stopped at his shoulders. The man had packed on some muscle, from war perhaps and he wasn't young. He wasn't old either. Two younger men stood at both sides of his throne. They looked just like him. One had cropped short hair and the other long hair.
His sons perhaps.
'Last I heard, your tyrant empire had fallen into the hands of a man called Darin I suppose?' The Warden addressed Callahan.
'Darin of Zolt has never been a smart man. He won't be on the throne for long,' Callahan responded with as much authority as he could summon in another man's territory.
'Yet nations praise him. They believe that trade with his family will be more fruitful than yours,' The Warden clicked his to tongue and added. 'I don't have an army to give you. Saath will be a better option.'
'I do not come to you for an army,' Callahan said. 'I come in search of the King of Xathania.'
The Warden looked like he might have as well been watching a jester and drunks.
'Why?' The Warden demanded.
Callahan look glanced at his wife before he looked at the man before them. 'The Queen Alora came to one of us in a dream and asked us to sail here and find him.'
'The Uncrowned Queen has been dead for almost two hundred years,' The Warden said 'and why would she come to a Welkamian?'
'She said the words to her descendant. The daughter of the King of Xanthania,' Callahan seemed more confident now. He was their best option to relay the message.
The Warden said nothing. He only clutched the arms of his golden throne. Callahan took that as a sign to go on. 'The King of Orcus made her forget the message a while but there's only so much mind manipulation that can work on the core of Phoenix. The Queen said the King and her father would be here so perhaps we were rather quick to assume that the King would her father. He could be her brother for all we know.'
Cora took her eyes off the Warden and looked at one of the men beside his throne. He was staring right back at her. Cora didn't look away and after a while had passed it was like looking at the mirror.
She couldn't make out what the Warden was saying and didn't mean to interrupt him when she said, 'Staring is rude brother.'
Every head in the room turned to her. The Warden stopped talking.
'Forgive me but you look terribly like my mother,' the man said, he was the one with the long hair.
Cora didn't have control over the steps she took towards the dais. The man walked towards her and hugged her as soon as she was close enough. She hugged her brother back, letting the pain of being alone in the world fade. She was not alone.
