THE WATCHER'S;BEGINNING

CHAPTER FIVE:HOME OF HEROES;

It was such a beautiful sight, the green grass stretched to the far end of the field, trees of all kinds surrounded the serene environment and in the middle of it all stood a magnificent castle which towered above us as we approached its door. The door was made of mahogany wood and on it were engraved the words "LOOK INSIDE YOURSELF TO SEE WHO YOU REALLY ARE". The handle was made of kryonite metal which glistened as the rays of the evening sun fell upon it, giving it a magical glow. He gripped the handle and pulled.A creaking sound echoed throughout the compound as the large door opened.
"Welcome to the HOME OF HEROES Ladin!"
I walked in ,my mouth wide open. The room was decorated with furniture made of oklan wood giving them a smooth texture and an eye catching brown color which reflected off the light of the dozen lamps around the room which gave out their golden yellow glow of glory. A dozen reclining chairs, three couches and a large brown table decorated the centre of the room. On the walls were paintings of warriors, wars and the biggest piece was that of my mother and father which were in close proximity to the staircase that graciously curved upwards. I kept on walking my eyes twitching from side to side as I tried to take in the entire scenery. I saw the kitchen;dark blue ceramic floor and ultrashine white units with Corian worktops and pretty tiles with Stainless Steel appliances that were well ordered. I finally took the flight of stairs. I took one step after the other and I found myself standing on a hallway. They were so many rooms and from my guess they were close to fourteen rooms or more. In pure excitement, I opened all of them one by one and that's when I discovered that some of the rooms were bathrooms but one room caught my attention, it was the biggest of them all. It emitted a dust of learning so fine and penetrating...the wide, luminous vaulted ceiling, the precious objects, the light's reflection on the curved bellies of old chest of drawers, voices, gestures - there flowed a contagious sense of grace and beauty, as though from a miraculous fount, as when the blossoming wisteria rises to the top of a wall and spills fragrance and color onto the other side, like rain from the heavens, without stems, roots, props or any other visible source in the mortal world. When I had enough of the tour, I walked back to the sitting room and found him anxiously waiting for me.
"I gotta say Benid, this is impressive and I love it," I murmured, hands on my waist as I stared at the house once more with satisfaction.
"There is one person I want to introduce to you," he said beckoning me to follow him.
"Who is it?" I inquired following close behind.
We walked across a hallway until we came to a door. He opened it and we were outside but behind the castle. There were more structures which included a stable, what looked like a storage room and a training ground which was made obvious by the appearance of swords, targets, arrows and horse tracks. I heard a horse neigh, followed by a woman's voice. We entered the stable and that's when I saw her. A horse was nibbling on something on her hands.
"Melissa!" he shouted. She turned, stroked the horse and then headed our way.
"Benid you made it back!" and she hugged him.Why didn't he just say we were coming to meet his girlfriend.?
I was so caught up in my thoughts that I never realized she was stretching her hand for a greeting.
"Ladin!" I jumped back to reality.
"Hello Ladin," she greeted.
"Hello!" I replied shaking her hand. She wasa tiny woman in her middle years. Her hair was dyed a dull, flat yellow devoid of sheen, and this colour seemed to hold together, all by itself-without the help of nets or hairpins-her entire head of hair, creating a single, solid mass that absorbed all stray or rebellious strands. Her face had no distinguishing features and was yellow as well, though slightly lighter in tone. Even in its softer shades, this color still maintained it's unifying power. Her small, slight body was wrapped in a black satin frock; her shoes were dark with low heels, and her slender ankles rose up from the very center of her feet, equidistant from heels and toes. Her feet were the seal of her authority. She was rigid, abstract, bifrontal yet beautiful,proud and willful with her liberated notions and whimsical clothes. She sure knew how to strike the perfect balance between conformity and originality; this probably must have made her an object of a curiosity that bordered on gossip, an amazement that bordered on scandal, an admiration that bordered an envy.
"You two must be starving. Come let me prepare something for both of you," she offered and led the way. Benid and I were behind her and I took this opportunity to do some more nagging. "Hey Benid, this is strange but I never thought you had taste in women," I whispered.
His eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Shut up kid!"
"So is she like your girlfriend?" I inquired teasingly.
"What! No! She is just a friend and I thought I told you to shut up!" he whispered as we walked through the door. Melissa went to the kitchen.
"Look, wait here, I have to offload this weapons," he requested and walked away to some other room.
I wasn't one to just sit and wait so I started walking around the house. I touched the walls wanting to feel its texture. I kept on exploring and as I passed a hallway I thought I saw something twinkle. I gazed at that spot and saw the twinkle once more, "What is that?" I thought to myself as I made my way towards the source of the twinkle. I crept towards it and finally found myself standing close to a wall but something strange was that the wall seemed different from the rest of the house. The patterns on it were different and peculiar. I gently ran my hands all over the wall and all over sudden I heard a booming sound. I jumped back in surprise as the wall opened up like a door and just as I was about to walk in I heard ,"Ladin!" it was Benid's voice.
"Coming!" I shouted, slowly creeping away from the room and all of a sudden, the wall just shut itself up. I stared at the spot for some few seconds and once again I heard him call out, "Ladin!"
I walked away constantly turning to have a glare at the wall. I arrived just in time to stop Benid from going on a search for me, "There you are!" he mumbled giving out a loud sigh of relief.
"Jeez man! I had just gone to the bathroom!" I replied surprised by his reaction.
"Oh! Well it's time to eat and let me tell you, it's the best!" he said staring at me obviously waiting for my reaction.
"Probably because your girlfriend cooked it!" I murmured.
"What was that?" he inquired.
"Nothing!" I quickly answered.
"I thought I heard you say something," he quickly hit back.
"Well I said nothing, now can we go and eat?" I replied.
He looked at me for quite a while forgetting I was still standing there waiting to be shown where the food was.
"You know if you are finished staring I could probably use some food like right now! Or you haven't had enough?" I mumbled with my gaze rested on him.
"Oh! This way then," he finally spoke directing me with his hand.
"Crazy old man!" I whispered.
We finally made it to the dining room and woah! The table was unbelievably big with close to twenty chairs or so arranged all round the rectangular shaped table. The chairs had carvings each with a different shape and the table in the middle completed the jaw dropping nature of the exquisite dining room. I pulled out one chair and sat and slowly ran my fingers all over the table feeling its smooth nature.
"Man, this house is so cool!" I shouted in excitement.
Melissa walked in two plates in her hand and rocking a smile, "It's all yours, the house," she said and set the plates on the table.
"Then I guess I can say it's good to be home!" I rumbled banging my hand on the table.
Melissa and Benid just smiled staring at each other and I couldn't help it but notice the connection between this two, "Lovebirds!" I whispered to myself.
I cleared my throat shaking them both from their fantasy world.
"You guys enjoy your supper, you deserve it!" she said and walked away entering the kitchen once more.
I glanced at Benid with a wide smile on my mischief decorated face and he definitely noticed.
"What?" he asked.
"Oh! It's nothing!" I replied.
"Yeah right!" he blurted.
"Anyway how long have you two known each other?" I inquired taking the first bite of my scrumptious lunch.
"Why do you wanna know?"
"Oh come on! You know everything about me and I wanna know some things about you too, callit 'bonding' between master and student. So?"
"Okay! We met some two years ago when I was on a mission. Their town was attacked by a kaleten and killed everyone excluding her, she was the lone survivor because I killed the Kaleten just before it slit her throat. She was badly injured and so I helped her after that she decided she will repay me by sticking by my side. She has been doing that for the past two years and she is the one who keeps this house in shape."
"I don't know what to say but hey what is a Kaleten to be precise?"
"I will teach you later, for now just eat!"
"Buzzkiller!" I blurted, digging into the food. Suddenly Melissa ran into the room breathing heavily, "Benid it's them!" she shouted.
"What! Not now!" he blurted shock written all over his face...