Another two days had passed since they have crossed into Farbos. Finally, the party reached Drainrock just as the sun hit the horizon. Dusk was approaching and they were climbing up a mountain towards the entrance of Drainrock. The path up the mountain was steep and a little dangerous. They reached the city gate not long after. The horses were tired and their strides were wobbly and weak.

     “Thror! Thrii heel tei?” the gatekeeper questioned as the group went closer to the gates.

     “Halt! Who goes there?”

     “Ae un Fremyed Thornwell Drogan, kom ur Leb Mirill Drogan. Aekir fuutu thrud yulovidyen aekir enesin yeseem,” Thornwell replied.

     “I am Prince Thornwell Drogan, son of the King, Mirill Drogan. My father has requested my immediate return,”

     Then, the gates slowly opened. Thornwell got off his mount and so did Bergarious. The gates were finally opened fully and Whil could see the enormous city of Drainrock from there. Towering structures greeted his eyes. Buildings of white stood tall and beautifully. Greenery grew alongside structured art that they seemed more like something that would be in paintings rather than real life. He thought Fayem was crazy, but Drainrock was crazier. As Whil took notice of his group, he realized that he was the only one still sitting on his horse. Alph, Wyo and Sheila got off theirs as soon as they saw Thornwell and Bergarious did it. At the gates, a lean man that seemed to be in his fifties approached Thornwell. Whil jumped off Garreos and procured a better landing than before.

     “Oormsael, aekir Fremyed,” he greeted Thornwell.

     “Eventide, my Prince,”

     After he was close enough to Thornwell, he started to whisper with Thornwell. A few seconds into the whispering, Thornwell rushed into the gates with the other man. He was heading towards a coach connected to a couple of unicorns up front.

     “Bergarious, krose ven tu brersyum, Ae ver fe ven rii kiim,” Thornwell said without even turning to look at them.

     “Bergarious, stay with the children. I will be with you soon,”

     They seemed to be in a rush. As they entered the coach, the unicorns started to gallop away in haste. Whil, Alph, Wyo and Sheila were left there in front of the gate of Drainrock in the hands of Bergarious. Bergarious pulled his unicorn along his side and walked into the city. Wyo and Alph did the same while Sheila walked with Gallant. Whil turned his attention to Garreos and he was already in his Feremear form.

     “Shouldn’t we pick up the pace?” Garreos asked him.

     “Yeah, we should.”

     Whil walked quickly as he tried to catch up with the rest of the group. Suddenly, a woman approached Bergarious and gave him a tight embrace. As Whil got closer, he could eavesdrop on their conversations clearly.

     “Es thrud foom u vaem, aryel fyimyel,” said the woman.

     “It has been a long while, old friend,”

     “Tus es thrud. Rii ror vir,” Bergarious said to her.

     “That it has. You look well,”

     “De so rii, Bergarious,” she returned the favour.

     “So do you, Bergarious,”

     She then gave a glance at Whil as she noticed that Whil had been staring at her. Whil quickly moved his eyes away from her and looked at the buildings instead.

     “Tood uu aekir syurumach lunsumimil, Whilliam, Garreos, Sheila, Gallant, Wyomey umyel Alpherd,” Bergarious introduced them when he noticed that the woman looked at Whil.

     “These are my travelling companions, Whilliam, Garreos, Sheila, Gallant, Wyomey and Alpherd,”

     “And this here is Lady Gwendelir Falthel. Dame and the Second Commander of the soldiers of Drainrock.” Bergarious said to the others.

     “My Lady,” Whil greeted while he gave an awkward bow.

     Gwendelir giggled at Whil’s courtesy. “No need for that. Just call me Gwendel. Let me be the first to welcome you to Drainrock. I don’t think any of you have any specific destinations to go to in the city?”

     “Take us to Thornwell,” Whil instantly replied.

     “Oh, the boy has a destination already. Whilliam, was it?” she asked and he gave a nod. “You cannot see him at the moment. He is taking care of certain business that no one else should know of. He’s handling some royal matters at the moment.”

     “So, where are we supposed to go?” Wyo asked.

     “Right this way,” Gwendel said and gestured her hand down a road. As she led them down the road, she told a couple of her men to take the horses and unicorn to the stable. “For the time being, you all will be staying in a guest house near the palace. None of you can enter the palace without official business or an invitation from the royal family. So for now, you have to wait until Lord Thornwell invites you.”

     “How long would that be?” Whil asked.

     “I don’t know. Maybe after this or maybe tomorrow. Maybe even next week or the week after that. It depends on when he wants to invite you,” Gwendel replied.

     “Why couldn’t we just enter now? We arrived at the city with him. Technically we were invited to come with him to the city.”

     “True, but, I am under orders. I am to keep all of you out of palace grounds until he decides to invite you in. There are things happening in the palace that require full secrecy from the people’s eyes and ears. Especially outsiders. Bergarious can keep you company and look after you while waiting for the Prince.” She looked at Bergarious and he smiled. “Either way, it is already nightfall. Might as well rest your heads and wait for tomorrow.”

     They reached the guest house and she gave them the keys to the doors in the house. After saying her goodbyes, she left them. Whil looked at the guess house and it amused him just as much as the rest of the city did. It was a two story building nearly as large as the inn back in Flourous. They entered the house and Whil saw a square fountain in the middle and staircases at the left and right side of the fountain. An archway led to a dining hall and across it was a room that looked like a library. Vines grew along the walls of the house. Instead of making the house looked abandoned or old, the vines made it seemed more majestic.

     Alph and Whil went upstairs first and went in the first bedroom that they saw. After taking a little bath, Whil jumped straight on the comfortable bed and went into a deep slumber.

     The day had passed by and they still had no news about Thornwell. Any news they got were only from Bergarious that would go in the palace and check on Thornwell occasionally. The first news they received was during the first day of their arrival to Drainrock. The news was of the King’s sickness. Bergarious told them that it had become worse than before. The news took all of them by surprise.

     Then, came the second day. It was a very uneventful and quiet day and Bergarious came with a harsher and much bitter news. The King had just passed away that morning. Bergarious told them that it might take a while until Thornwell would call them to the palace. Whil was most understanding of the situation at hand. The King was Thornwell’s father and it must have been very hard for him. Whil thought that he could wait as long as Thornwell needed. On that day, they were all just there in the guest house feeling sorry for Thornwell’s loss.

     During their third stay, they decided to have a walk around the city. It was still early in the morning and everyone barely had any idea about where to go. Bergarious had left for the palace earlier before anyone woken up. They would have wanted to venture the city with Bergarious, as he knew the city more than they do. Now, they were rather clueless. A sudden knock on the door precipitously made everything felt a little more interesting than a quiet and dull morning.

     “I got it,” Wyo announced to the whole house aloud.

     Gwendel stood strong in front of Wyo as she opened the door.

     “Good morrow, Wyomey,” Gwendel greeted.

     “Oh. Morning, Gwendel. Come in,” she said as she moved aside for Gwendel to enter. Gwendel stepped into the house and stopped only a couple of steps away from the front door.

     “I am not going to be here long,” she said to Wyo before Wyo even get to close the door.

     “Oh. You’re not?”

     “No. I'm here to bring you to the palace. Lord Thornwell has requested all of your presence. Pack up and bring everything you have along. You’ll all stay in the palace from now on,” she explained. “Quickly now. The caravan awaits just around the corner.”

     The ride to the palace did not take long. They were already near the palace when they were at the guest house. The journey was short as if they could have just walked instead. The caravan was a little helpful in Whil’s thought as they were all carrying bags of their own. Among all, Whil was especially lazy to be walking around with a huge bag on his back. The ride in the royal caravan was a life saver for him. Even so, it did not last long. As they arrived at the palace, they all got off with bags and all. Nothing was left on the caravan and no one else was helping them carry their belongings except themselves.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

     “Doesn’t the palace have servants or something?” Whil asked as he was not keen of the thought of carrying of his own bag.

     “We do. Although, I do not think that your bags are that heavy,” Gwendel replied.

     “But we’re their guests. Shouldn’t we at least get a little taste of a royal treatment?” Alph continued the chain of questions.

     Gwendel giggled listening to Alph. “That is quite true. Even so, everyone is quite busy preparing at the moment.”

     “Preparing? For us?”

     “For the King’s Burial Ceremony and the King’s Coronation. Come now. Lord Thornwell had been waiting long enough.”

     They climbed up the steps of the palace and a huge door that was the entrance to the palace opened swiftly. A loud roar made by the door chimed hard in Whil’s ears. They walked pass a large corridor and entered the throne hall. The hall was humongous and spacious. Right across them was a flight of stairs that led to a majestic throne of gold and diamond. Behind the throne was a beautiful stained window that spanned up until the high ceiling of the hall. At the left and right side of the stairs, two doors were closed shut, covering secrets behind them. Along the hall stood six gorgeous pillars right from where they stood until the steps of the throne.

     Gwendel led them along the hall towards the door at the right side of the stairs. She then opened the door for them and gestured them to enter. The door led them into a straight corridor. Whil ended up at the most back of the group as they entered. Gwendel did not enter with the rest of the group. She stayed until Whil was the last one to enter and then closed the door shut. A little surprised by the door, Whil had a sudden stop in his strut and turned around to the door. As he looked back to the front, the rest were already far from him deep into the narrow corridor. At the end of the corridor was a strong oak door. Bergarious, being at the most front, opened the door and led the kids into a conference room of some sort. Whil saw Thornwell at the most end of a long table. There were two men sitting on the left side of the table and one woman at the right.

     “Ah. You all made it. Come, sit,” Thornwell invited them. “Pardon about your bags. I have forgotten about them. I would have asked the servants to take them to your rooms. You are guests of The Drain Palace and you should have been treated so.”

     “I knew it,” Alph whispered to Sheila that was sitting on his right.

     “Pardon me for asking, but, why are we here?” Sheila asked Thornwell. She was as if not listening to Alph’s remark.

     “Yes. Of course. Always straight to business this one,” he said to Sheila. “As you may have heard, there will be a coronation and a burial ceremony soon. The whole palace is preparing for them and the news is being spread to the citizens of Drainrock as we speak.”

     “So you will be named King of Drainrock soon?” asked Alph.

     “Yes that is true. I am sorry for this, Whil,” he said suddenly. Whil looked at him with curiosity. “I am sorry that I have delayed your search for your father. Even so, I have sent out several spies all around Sallestre to find out about your father. Within a week, we will receive the news.”

     “Oh. I’m flattered. Thank you so much, Thornwell.” Whil extended his gratitude. He noticed the three other strangers in the room gave him a shocked stare when he did not address Thornwell as they thought he should. “But, now is your time. I don’t mind waiting. You should handle your stuff first. I don’t think dad’s going anywhere anytime soon.” The room was just quiet. Thornwell gave a little nod at Whil’s words.

     Thornwell’s eyes quickly turned to the table. At that moment, Whil could see the depression in his face. It was rather subtle, but, it was much more than what Thornwell showed when he learnt of his father’s illness.

     “I’m sorry about your father,” Whil said slowly.

     “Don’t be. It was unavoidable. Fate had chosen to take his life and so it did. We all will mourn my father’s passing. But, that is about the only thing we can do for those that has left the living,” Thornwell said to Whil. Then, he gave a determined look at Whil and said, “Whilliam, we will find your father. I will find your father even if it is the last thing I will do. I gave you my word the first time we met and I will not forget it nor will I ever go against it.”

     “Thornwell…I'm thankful. I really am. Thank you. But, let’s not dwell on that for now. Right now, we’ll do anything to help you. Anything at all,” Whil said without thinking.

     Thornwell smiled. “Anything at all?” he said and giggled. “That’s alright. I do not want to ask much from any of you. The only thing I want you all to do is enjoy your stay in Drain Palace and come to my coronation; and of course my father’s burial as well. I would like it if all of you could attend.”

     “We will,” Wyo replied his request. “We all will.”

     “Good. That is tremendous. Now, I have a few things to discuss with my advisors. All of you should take a rest. Bergarious, take them to their living chamber and then return here. I want you to be present for this meeting.”

     “Yes, My Lord.”

     Bergarious led them out of the room, through the corridor, and back to the throne hall. Then, they exited the hall and they were at the first large corridor where they first entered the palace. From there, Bergarious took the kids to the left side of the corridor and up a couple flight of stairs. They passed through a couple of hallways and a large archway that led them to a corridor of doors. Bergarious then led them to the door that was at the most end. He opened it and amazement greeted Whil’s eyes. It was a large room with red and golden furnishings. The sofas and couches were bright red and so were the drapes. There were three other doors in the room that led to three large bedrooms. Sheila and Wyo had one for themselves and the boys had to share a room. They did not even fight over which room was whose. They just seemed to silently agree and understood each other.

     “Well, sort yourselves out. I have to return to Lord Thornwell,” said Bergarious.

     Whil turned to Bergarious and managed to thank him before he left the room and shut the door. Alph was already lying on his bed in their room, Sheila was rummaging around her bag and Wyo was just standing and looking at everything in the living chamber. Whil just decided to drop his bag on the floor and left it there. A swift swing of his right hand and Garreos jumped out from a coat of glowing blue smoke from his bracelet.

     “Nice place,” Garreos commented as soon as he took a look around.

     “Yes it is,” Whil replied while he walked towards the majestic window in the middle of the room. He looked outside and the view awed him. The castle gardens and even the castle itself was absolutely stunning. Beautiful greenery here and there, vines climbing the well-carved castle walls and flowers blooming at every corner that his eyes could see. It was remarkable and much more magnificent than that of Fayem.

     “I guess reality is much more beautiful than dreams,” he said to himself.

Evening fell upon them that day. Everyone was gathered at the Crown, the cemetery of Drain Palace. Many commoners and nobilities sat next to one another. All of them was wearing greyish and light-blueish robes. Whil, Wyo, Alph and Sheila sat in front of everyone else. They were among the other Thre’adils that sat the closest to the stone bed where King Mirill Drogan lied, which was right in front of them. Thornwell, along with a few distant relatives and the Royal Council sat beside the stone bed.

     Whil could not help it but to stare upon the King on the stone bed. His face was covered with what seemed like a glass or diamond made mask. On his head, his grandiose crown with meticulously carved pattern all over it. The King was outfitted with a dark blue and red robe and his hair well-combed. At the side of the stone bed was a tablet that faced the audience seated in front of the bed that read;

TU  FROOSYEM  DROR  NAAM  VIM  TU  LEB.  TU  LEBSUN  DROR  HROYOOF  VIM  TU  LEB  ET  FIYEUD.  FON  VIM  UMOTU  YAETEL  UMYEL  SELEL  THRED  FRED,  TU  VERYEL  DROR  YEKOAD  VOMYED  NAA.

     Then, the Master of Rituals approached the podium which was to the left of the stone bed. He then started the ceremony with lines and sentences from their book of rituals. Without Whil fully noticing it, he somewhat understood what the Master of Rituals was saying. Bits of words stroke him as comprehensible while some was just another foreign word. The words were translated without any need of effort. One after another, words became clearer. Heard as Thredenin, language of the Thre’adils, but processed as Homonem, language of the Humans. He did not realize it, he was not bothered by it and he certainly was not baffled by it. It felt too natural that he was actually dismissing it involuntarily.

     After the Master of Rituals was done with his recitations, he waved his hands towards the stone bed and King Mirill Drogan was ablaze. But, instead of leaving ashes, he turned to glowing speck of dusts that flew across the air beautifully. Soon after that, the stone bed was left with nothing on it. The crown, the face mask and along with the king himself was gone. That moment made Whil wonder about all the tombstones lying around the cemetery. Were there bodies underneath them or were they put there just as a mean of reminding the people to those that had left them?

     After the moment of silence was gone, one by one started to leave the Crown. Whil and his friends were among the last few to leave. As they were walking out, Whil noticed four men bringing in a tombstone into the Crown with the name Mirill Drogan on it. That answered his previous question. They were all just empty tombstones on grassy fields. Quite a ritual they live by, he thought, burying the dead without a dead to bury.

     The rest of the day was just quiet and mundane. Nothing went on at all.