"Hurry up!! The night won't be getting any safer, better get out of here while we still can!!!", said the leader of the guards who came alongside Blaze. The remaining guards were loading the Stone-claw's corpse onto their carriage, but the corpse was too heavy even for all of them.

"Let me help", the prince said. To which the leader replied,

"No! you have saved the lives of us mere commoners. The last thing we should do now is troubling you with any more work."

"Yes, your my lord, you should take some rest", Sung Ho said gently.

"Oh please! Just call me Blaze, you of all people have earned it at least, Sung."

"You know my name?"

"Why wouldn't I? Your father used to be maa's personal guard. Matter of fact I know the names of all of you; Aldo, Sung, Swami..." Then he turned towards the leader and said, "And the person in charge of all the guards of East House of the Royal Castle, Chief Ajay."

All the guards were shocked by the fact that a Royal blood remembered their names when they weren't even officers, but just mere guards.

"Now now, we shan't waste any more time. Lets load up the corpses, shall we?" All of them now tried together and at last it was done; All four corpses including Swen's remains were loaded up and they were finally ready to return.

"May I ride in the carriage with you? My horse seems to have run away." Blaze asked Sung.

"You need not to ask me your highness! Just order!"

"Blaze! My name is Blaze I said, so call me that… I told you; you have my permission!"

"I-uh I'm sorry my lor--, Blaze."

"Better! Let's go then."

The five of them set out for the castle; the chief rode on his stallion while Blaze, Sung and Aldo rode in the carriage driven by Swami.

"Do you have a lot of friends?", this question was quite unexpected to Sung, especially as it was coming from the prince himself. He answered hesitantly, "Uh I-uhm did! I mean in my hometown I had a few friends, but since I came to the capital, I haven't heard much from them…"

"So you do not have any friends here? In the capital, I mean."

"Well, all my co-workers are a lot older than me, so no; I don't have any friends here, yet."

"Oh! I see, I see! Well, then how about me?!"

"Pardon?"

"You said everyone else was too old to befriend, I'm not! You're 16, right? I'm only a year older, we can be friends."

"But how can I dare to have you as a friend?" Sung was flabbergasted by this sudden proposition.

"You don't want to be my friend then?" Blaze asked with a hint of guile on his face.

"Of course I do! Having you as my friend could as well be the most fortunate happening of my life!"

"It is decided then! You sir, are my very first friend."

"What?!"

"Well, I didn't get to leave our castle much; I do have some cousins but they are not my 'friends' though. So, congratulations on being my first friend." The smile on Blaze's face while saying this was like that of a child; so pure, so innocent, one could easily feel how happy he was to finally have a friend.

And so was Sung Ho; but he wasn't glad to have befriended the prince, he was happy to have Blaze as his friend. But his joy faded away the moment he glanced at a sack near them; he couldn't advert his gaze from it, suddenly his heart felt heavy again. It was his colleague's remains.

Swen's body was dismembered so badly it could only be transported in a sack. Sung Ho was sitting right by that sack during their journey back.

"Blaze, may I ask something?"

"Ask away my friend."

"Do we really need to take his remains? Its not like his family could recogni.... He only has a sister! His face! It isn't even whole anymore, how can we let a girl see something like that?" Sung Ho's voice cracked as tears rolled down his eyes.

"That's not a decision we can make; she has the right to see it, if she doesn't want to see it then she won't have to, but if she does then we are no one to stop her. And aside from that, we need his corpse for cremation." Said Blaze calmly.

Suddenly Aldo joined the conversation, "Cremation is not for us commoners."

"Well maybe, then again Swen didn't die the death of a commoner, did he? He died as one of my guardsmen. So he deserves that much. Ya'know, my maa says that cremation is the best way to reach heaven after death. The holy fire burns our mortal shells and cleanses our souls. So, my maa and I believe everyone deserves to be sent to heaven in the right way, not just Noblemen but every one of our Empire."

The guards were once again shocked by the ideology of the prince whom they both assumed and expected to be some spoiled brat. But they didn't get much time to appreciate the young prince. The carriage was stopped for some reason, Blaze and Sung came out to find out what happened.

A fallen tree was blocking their way. "That's strange". Said chief.

"Was the tree like this when we first came?" Blaze asked and Sung answered, "I don't think so."

Meanwhile chief Ajay came down from his horse and started closely inspecting the tree trunk;

"Ah! It must've been the beast, there's claw marks on the trunk."

"Ah so that's what it is? Lets quickly get it out of the path and be on our way." Sung Ho said with a relieved expression.

Blaze seemed to be confused, "But didn't the Stone-claw attack us from the West? This is in the far East side of the forest, isn't that weird?"

"No it is not my Lord!", Aldo said adamantly, "I don't think it would matter to a beast if he's on the East or on the West, It's a damn beast for God's sake!"

"Aldo!!!" yelled the chief, "Do not raise your voice in front of the prince like that!"

"Its okay, he's right anyways. Lets get out of here quickly." Although Blaze didn't say anything anymore, but his heart was not at ease yet; he knew something was wrong but his mind couldn't properly grasp what it was.

They finally reached the capital.

At the Capital Gate, the crown prince, Ansh was waiting for them with a golden chariot for Blaze to return in.

Ansh congratulated Blaze for success and took him up to the chariot, "Those guards will take care of the corpses, you'll ride with me to the castle.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Correction: I'm not going alone, Sung is going with me." Said Blaze while smirking.

"Who?"

"My friend Sung, he's right behind me."

Ansh looked at Blaze, then looked behind him and was profoundly shocked at what he saw,

"A guard?! You want a mere guard to ride in the chariot with US?! Have you finally gone insane?"

"Not just any guard, he's my friend who saved my life yesterday. So I would appreciate it very much if you could just stop being nuisance and let us through, I'm already really tired."

"Saved your life you said? Could you not even complete a hunt without others looking after you? How can a royal blood be so incompetent as you?!"

Finally Blaze lost his composure he started yelling, "Yes, I'm incompetent as hell!! But isn't that why I'm not participate in the heir trial? Isn't this the same incompetence of mine which is letting a certain someone to be the next crown prince without any objection?!!"

And the he suddenly got close to his uncle and whispered, "So if you don't want me to become competent all of a sudden and challenging your son for succession, please let us through and we all can just not get in each other's ways."

Ansh glared at Blaze with angst filled in his eyes but he had no choice but to agree as what Blaze said was not at all wrong; the only probable obstacle in Akansh's succession was this brat.

The three of them rode the Grand Chariot through the roads of the capital; both side of the roads were brimming with commoners who had come out to see the young prince who had returned victorious from his Debut-e-Hunt.

To them, 'Royal Bloods' or the members of the great Royal Families were like a different species; They were their rulers who had strength like no other human; The royal bloods were freakishly handsome as well, but still looked quite different from other men and women.

And on top of that Blaze was the odd one of the Agnihotri family; all the other Agnihotris had hair, black as the darkest night and eyes, dulled crimson as blood. But Blaze had none of them; His hair and eyes were bright scorching red, it seemed as they would glow in the darkness, just like fire.

Blaze was rumored to be the illegitimate child of the Royal family, but due to his rather unique and distinguished looks he had become the guilty pleasure of the commoner women, a hot and fiery jewel they could not dare to touch.

Blaze on the other hand, had no idea of this, he thought to himself, "There's so many people out here, but most of them are women. No wonder there's shortage of guards in East house."

At last they arrived in the Grand castle where the Emperor resided.

"Welcome my child! I am really glad to see you come back unscathed from your hunt." The Emperor said.

"I feel most fortunate for that your highness, the sun of Agni Empire." Blaze knelt down before the Emperor's court.

"Now now! Lets not waste our time with these formalities, show me the prey you have brought." Said the Emperor with a smile while sitting on the golden throne, on his left side Ansh sat on a silver throne and on his right Nila was sitting on the bronze throne.

Blazed told Sung to get the corpses inside the Royal court, some foot-soldiers brought the two Ashboars in front of everyone.

"OHhh! Not one but two Ashboars! You have done a splendid job Prince Blaze; I must admit that."

"Ah well, I didn't actually hunt those, a Stone-claw killed those, but..."

"Pffft!" Ansh chuckled, "So you didn't hunt anything, you just brought the corpses of two animals which some other beast killed? Is that what?"

"Yeah! More or less, but I never said I didn't hunt anything." And as if it was just on cue, five guards dragged the huge corpse of the Stone-claw into the court, and everyone was baffled.

"You killed THAT?! By yourself?" The Emperor asked, "Correct me if I'm wrong but, you're affinity hasn't blossomed yet, right?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Then you killed a Stone-claw without casting fire; even if the guards did help you, that is impressive. I must say, you really have exceeded my expectations." The Emperor sounded both astonished and overjoyed by his descendant's achievement. "Prince Blaze, you undoubtedly have the Agnihotri blood in your veins; now tell me, what is it that you want as reward?"

"I truly am glad to have made you proud, but I don't think I alone deserve this reward. I owe my life to my friend, Sung; if he hadn't saved my life yesterday, I wouldn't even be able be where I am right now. In fact all the other guards also are alive only because of his bravery."

The whole court was speechless, the young guard's bravery and the young prince's humble behavior both surprised them. Blaze continued, "But not all of us were fortunate enough", he glanced at the bloody sack and said,

"In that sack, there are the remains of guardsman Swen, he lost his life to the beast. So I request your highness to reward Sung With for his bravery and grant Swen a cremation. That would be enough for my reward."

All the noblemen present started talking to each other, some of them wanted to yell at the prince for such a statement. All the different murmurs in the court room could be summarized in one sentence, "How dare this bastard child make such a preposterous request, to the Emperor no less."

Ansh was about to revolt against Blaze but he was interrupted By the Emperor, "You do realize what you're asking for, correct?"

"Yes."

"You are sure this is what you wish for?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"Fine then. I hereby grant guardsman Swen the honor of a holy cremation and guardsman Sung would be granted a generous reward for his loyalty towards the royal family."

"But fathe…." Ansh tried to stop what was happening but again was stopped, this time by the sound of Emperor's stave hitting the floor.

"The court is dismissed for today; I need prepare for the tomorrow's royal banquet. Everyone's participation will be highly appreciated, as tomorrow's banquet is very important for Prince Blaze as well as the royal family." He once again gently struck the floor with his stave, and upon its sound everyone started leaving their seats and departed from the court room.

Before returning Blaze called Chief and whispered something in ear; to which chief nodded and went towards the royal barracks.

At the East house of the Castle Nila and some maids welcomed Blaze warmly; He took a bath, had lunch with his mother and told everything that happened the previous night. Nila was truly happy to have her son return safely from such a disaster. At dusk, Nila combed Blaze's hair gently while humming a pleasant tune; such moments are the slivers of peace in his otherwise disgraced life.

After an hour or so, just when the darkness of evening was finally setting in, Ajay came to the house. Blaze was still in Nila's room playing checkers; chief Ajay knocked and entered the room.

"He is here, my lord." Chief told Blaze.

"Good, wait in the meeting room with him, I'm coming." The chief left the room.

"Who was he talking about? Who's here?" Nila asked in a concerned tone.

"It's the new head strategist."

"Why?"

"Something is wrong. I don't know why, but I've got this feeling that things are not as simple as they seem. I need to find out what exactly is happening."

Nila looked at Blaze's face and realized that he was determined for this, so she gave him an advice,

"Fine, do what you need to do. But remember, sometimes people are also not as they seem to you. Be careful, don't put your trust on someone that shouldn't be trusted."

"I'll keep that in mind." Upon saying this he hurriedly headed towards the meeting room.

*Thud* Blaze entered the room, the chief and Calix Flores, the new head strategist who was appointed 8 months prior Blaze's Debut were present there; both of them stood up and paid their respect to the prince. Blaze told them to have a seat.

"We don't have much time to spare, so I'd get straight to the point; I need a favor from you Head strategist." Blaze said with a serious expression on his face.

"Call me Calix, my lord. And just give me orders, owing me a favor would only dirty your grace."

"Fine. I've heard you used to be hunter back in the day; is it true."

"Ah! So the rumors were true indeed, the East house's prince really does check about commoners working in the castle. *scoffs* And to answer your question, yes, I was a hunter once. And even though I haven't hunted any animal recently, I like think my senses are just as sharp as they used to be."

"Great! I need you do a recon of the forest I went to yesterday." Blaze said excitedly.

"Recon you say? And what exactly would I be looking for?" Calix asked back.

"A Stone-claw!"

Chief was surprised and so was Calix, he mumbled to himself, "Interesting", and then asked Blaze again, "Why me, specifically?"

"Only a skilled veteran hunter can do this job alone and return safely in time. And to be clear, I need you to be extra covert while doing this; this is gonna be off the records, no one should know about this before I tell them, can you do it?"

"Well it would be really nice to visit the forest after so long, wouldn't it?"

Blaze was utterly relieved that Calix agreed, "Thank you very much!"

"Thank me after the job is done. I'm leaving for the jungle right now, I'll come back as soon as I have any news."

Calix left the house and set out for the forest; and there was no news from him until the evening, right before the banquet.

Blaze wore a lavish red royal attire; he looked like a true prince. He had been waiting all day for Calix to return, and just when he was about to leave for the banquet, Calix came back running. It was evident that he had some crucial information.

"Calix! Where were you?! You said you'd be back by dawn."

Calix was panting from all the running, "I was--- I was investigating the whole forest."

"Did you find something?"

"Your suspicions were right; there is another Stone-claw in the forest, on the Eastern parts."

Blaze's face dimmed all of a sudden as he had a realization, "So it really was planned."

"But then why did the hunters lie? If there were two, they would've included that in the report."

"Someone paid them to."

"Paid Imperial hunters to alter such important report? That's got to be worth a few fortunes! And even if someone was wealthy enough, its not like just anyone can order imperial hunters!!"

Calix seemed astounded as to who could be able to do something like that, but Blaze, he already had an idea as to who could or did plan all this.

"The crown prince." Blaze mumbled to himself.

"What?"

"There's one person in this Empire who has both the motive and the means to arrange all this; crown prince, Ansh Agnihotri."