Revenge

2

***

As Tesni walked down the grand corridors of the castle with the Kings guard leading her, the marble clinked and echoed due to metallic sole of Tesni's boots.

Maids gasped and dropped their baskets at Tesni as she was wearing trousers, a long sleeved top that outlined the muscles in her arms, mid-calf, heavy boots and the sword that Tesni polished frequently - the only thing that she managed to grab when her village was being attacked all those years ago.

Tesni only presented a smirk and chuckled to herself at the chaos that she was creating.

As Tesni strolled through to the royalty courters of the castle. Her calm pace only aggravated the Kings guard who were leading her. Guards stared at her trying to catch her attention, but Tesni didn't need their attention, she was independent - and she liked it this way.

The Kings guard halted, which indicated that they had reached their destination. He whispered something to the guards who standing infront of two doors with intricate engravings on. They both turned to face Tesni.

"You may enter, the King is waiting for you" the Kings guard gestured her to move forward.

Tesni nodded, she walked through as the doors slowly peeped open to present floods of people laughing and shouting. The sound echoed and boomed warmly due to the marble floors and high ceilings.

The men wore armour and cloaks. The woman wore gold embroidered dresses that sprung into a dome shape off the waist.

The echo of the doors slamming shut indicated her presence. Silence penetrated the throne room and it felt cold in contrast to the booming room it was originally. Tesni walked to the centre of the room. All the women gasped as did the maids like before.

They all separated from the middle of the room as if they didn't want to be in the radius of Tesni. They then spread to the sides of the room, leaving Tesni a wide corridor of space leading to the throne at the back of the room where the King was sitting smirking at her.

The Kings grey hair clashed with his bright red cloak and animal skin that rested atop of his shoulders. His jewellery seemed to weigh him down when he walked as if he were stopping.

He held his cup out to his side, in which a servant hurriedly took off him as he was commanding. He then lifted himself up from his throne and strolled towards Tesni.

"You must be the notorious Tesni, that everyone seems to talk about" he smiled, joining her in the centre of the room. Tesni decided not to answer, she considered it rhetorical.

"Don't worry, everyone" he assured his guests. "She may hold a sword but she won't use it unless you give her a reason" he chuckled alittle.

Tesni couldn't help but smile at this. "You sent your guard to fetch me" Tesni informed him. "My lord" she added.

"You are correct, I did" he turned around and ushered a servant to pass a drink. "You must be thirsty, have a drink" he held it infront of her.

"No thanks, my Lord" Tesni stood tall as she denied the King. "If I have interrupted something here-" she gestured to the guests "-then I would rather come back later when we can get to business." She wasn't here to mess around, she wanted to know why the King sent for her.

He slowly nodded as if he were realising something. "I see" he smirked. He looked at his guests and smiled, "I would be utterly grateful if we could continue this meeting another time, I have some important business to attend to"

The crowd started to scatter and make their way through the doors until the room was completely empty and only the King and Tesni stood in the centre of the room.

"You are focused" he nodded to himself. "I like that" he turned back to his throne and plumped himself back.

"I know who you are, I know of your skills" he informed her. "I need to know of your loyalty" he said as more of a question.

"My loyalty?" Tesni frowned.

"Yes" he nodded. "Would you say you are loyal?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Depends for whom" she walked forward.

"For me - your King" he tilted and squinted as if he were analysing Tesni.

Tesni thought about the question. "Yes, I am if I receive the same amount of loyalty in return"

"Then I trust you" he smiled. "I called you because I need you" he stood up and walked towards Tesni.

"As you may know, my daughter is to be married to a Greek prince - to make alliance between the two countries. You see, I would like you to travel with my daughter as her protection" he looked at Tesni.

"My Lord, forgive me but isn't that the guards job?" Tesni frowned.

"We all know that you can fight off a whole army of my guards and leave without a scratch on you" he chuckled.

"And it may be more comfortable for her to have a female companion to travel with"

Tesni sensed that he was not telling her something. "I am hardly the type to talk about dresses and jewellery" Tesni lowly chuckled.

"Also" he interrupted Tesni's suspicions. "I have had bad experience with the Greek before" he added.

"Bad experience?" Tesni urged him to provide more information. He hesitated. "My Lord, surely, I am required to know more about the people I am protecting your daughter from?"

After a hesitant pause, he nodded to himself again and sighed. "About 10 years ago, the Greek King sent out orders to invade some of my outer villages, it was an uprising to me denying land to the Greek. However, a King is taught from a young age that making enemies means you have failed your role as a King. So I am trying to make an alliance with Greece by marrying my daughter. It seals the countries together"

Tesni's heart started to rapidly beat. "The Greeks attacked outer villages, my Lord?" Tesni asked slowly.

"Yes, that is what I said" he frowned.

These were the people that had attacked Tesni's village as a child, these were the people who killed her father - the Greeks.

All her life, she had promised to herself and to her families graves that she would avenge their deaths with her fathers sword. She dreamt of slicing her sword through the mans heart that had invaded her village and this was her opportunity.

"Well, what do you think?" He interrupted Tesni's raging thoughts.

"Well" Tesni tried to breathe steadily to conceal her anger. "Well, my Lord, I accept your offer" Tesni tried to smile through her gritted teeth and shook her hands with the King.

"Well" he smiled. "This is brilliant news, my daughter will be delighted. We plan to leave in two days time. So please meet here with all the belongings you wish to take at dawn."