Chapter 12.

PART 1.

Hatori enters his room, drowsy from his training. He wonders how long will Zeko make him work on physical exercises. Not that he minds the exercise, since he clearly is getting stronger, but the whole point of awakening his magic was to finally let him use it.

‘I’ll talk to Zeko about it, but for now, sleep.’ He yawned, and just fell on his bed as soon as he collided with it.

He felt something might be wrong, since despite his level of drowsiness, to which he has gotten used to, he does not fall on his bed like that, barely capable of forming a thought. Usually, the days events are running in his mind, but he couldn’t think on this for much longer, for the sleep claimed him quickly.

Meanwhile, the hired mercenary waited just outside, sensing the magic of Hatori. Once he felt it relaxed, he quickly entered the room, found the sleeping Hatori, stuffed him in a magical bag, and quickly left the room.

‘No hard feelings kid, just business.’ He thinks to himself.

PART 2.

Zeko finally allows himself to rest. Training children is a demanding task; he has to constantly watch out for the smallest of things for them. Until they finally are advance enough.

Until then, micromanagement is the only way, lest they end up damaging themselves beyond repair.

Soon, though, he will start Hatori’s practical magic training. He has already picked up on meditation, and reaching for the magic within himself. Now he must teach him to use it for some purpose. The future curses and complains brought a smile to his face, before remembering to write a letter to a friend, who might be able to advise him on how to teach the boy the magical navigation method.

He was just about to doze off as these thoughts finally set him free, that he suddenly sensed something. The sleep immediately evaporated, and he sounded the alarm which would alert the king of the emergency, while he himself quickly ran to where his magic was telling him to go.

‘Dammit, we got careless!’ He cursed, already expecting what had happened.

PART 3.

The mercenary is just about to escape from the castle. Luckily, the child is still asleep in his magical bag, and even though it made it easier for him to carry the boy, if he were to awake, and cause a ruckus, and attracted the attention of the king’s men, it wouldn’t be good for him.

Just when he was about to step outside, Zeko appeared in front of him. “I realized that you will take this path. I was waiting for you in advance. Now, hand over my student.”

“Oh yeah? What if I don’t?” He said, “Maybe it would be for the best if I eliminated the problem. My client won’t be happy, but I’m sure some people would be paying handsomely for his dead body—” he takes out the bag, and tries to distract Zeko with his words. When he thought that his bluff had worked, he tried to escape from him.

‘I’ll just take a different path—' but Zeko wasn’t fooled at all. A sudden gust of wind knocked him on his back, while the bag carrying Hatori flies into Zeko’s hands.

The mercenary tries to say something, but Zeko didn’t want to hear anything from him. He encased him in the granite, at which point the sound of running boots of the military personnel in the castle starts to thump on his ears, before they appear and salute him.

“Sir!” They saluted him.

“I’ve managed to capture the kidnapper. I have the child,” he showed them off the bag. “Perhaps you should carry him to the prison cell?” Zeko pointed to the granite-encased form of the kidnapper.

“Of course, sir!” the soldiers saluted once more, and floated the granite-encased mercenary behind them to the prison cell awaiting him.

Zeko himself decided to check out the room of Hatori. No doubt the king would like to hear everything he has found.

PART 4.

“I don’t care about the procedures. Do you forget that this is a dictatorship?” Said the irate king. “I want the interrogation, now.”

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In any other situation, people at this late-night session of court may have managed to calm the king down, and see the case reasonably. But coupled with the breach in security, as well as the child who has ended up very important for future events, as well as the throne itself supporting Porus, they have no choice but to let him have his way.

Besides, the members of noble families are interested in which one of them is foolish enough to actually outright kidnap the child. Political machinations are one thing, but this sort of thing is frowned upon, even in their rather brutal circle of politics.

The mercenary was brought in to the court, now free from the granite encasing him. He after giving a hateful look at Sudha, spilled the entire conspiracy.

Porus clucked his tongue. “Did you really think that you would get away with this?” Porus asked, barely containing his rage.

“Your majesty, he is clearly lying. I, as an honorable member of this court—” her speech was unceremoniously cut off in the middle, as the king blocked the air around her to such an extent that no sound escaped her mouth.

“Take her to prison. I’ll deal with her tomorrow. Maybe I might even give her a beheading. I haven’t done that one in the last ten years.” The nobles were pretty horrified by this statement.

The Subcontinent is a large land, to keep control over it; many a times the kings have employed fear tactics. Beheading is the most favorite of the current king among them, who has studied all the strategies used by his predecessors.

Many nobles cursed the daughter of Yograj in their minds. If only she could have played the waiting game, its not like that the child would have remained under the thumb of Zeko and Porus forever. Instead, she has pushed the king too far, which is clear from his statement. When Zeko arrived on court, the king spoke. “All of you leave, except for the general.”

Not wanting to invite his wrath upon them, everyone left quickly.

However, the head of the warders of the castle stopped. “Your majesty, may we use the prisoner to power our wards? His body will be quite useful to us.”

“You may take him.” The king allowed.

As the mercenary screamed and pleaded for mercy, the warder took him to his lab. There will be a late-night experiment; his students will be so happy.

“So what have you found?” Porus asked.

“I found the traces of the sleeping potion in the air. However, it was very diluted, since he spread it through the air. Once Hatori entered the room, the potion amplified his need to sleep, since he was already tired from today’s training.”

“My liege, what about his security during the school?” Sundar, the general of the Subcontinent, asked, “If people are so bold as to make moves in the castle itself, then clearly school is no safe place for the child.”

Before Porus could say anything, Zeko beat him to it. “I won’t be sending him to pre-academy school.”

“What? Why!” They both asked Zeko.

“Don’t you understand, this is the only chance he might have to associate with children of his own age in a non-hostile environment. While the academy is great for many things, we all know it is no gentle place for that sort of development.” Argues Porus.

“The problem is, you would be right in any other case. But tell me, how many children have you seen with Hatori, aside from those two boys? It is clear to me that in school, he will only face more isolation. Besides, the academy will begin for him when he is ten. He must be ready to defend himself by that time. Clearly, if he went to preschool, his training would be slowed down. He won’t be properly prepared for the academy.” Counters Zeko.

Porus wanted to argue against this some more. But he realized that Zeko had a point. He doesn’t have to like it, but the fox is usually correct in these matters.

“Fine.” He agreed grudgingly. “But he must complete all the projects assigned by the school. Otherwise, those bureaucrats at the academy would give us such a headache.”

“No problem. I will even seat him in the final end year exam.” Said Zeko, confident that his student could clear any measly exam.

“Very well, just break this news tactfully, would you? I don’t think he will take it well just after everything.” The general said with a smile.

“Oh Sundar, you should know that I’m always tactful.” With that, Zeko took his leave, while the general and the king were both not satisfied with his assurances of tactfulness.

(End.)