Rhohaz looked towards the sea waves crashing against the silky sand. The sun was setting on the horizon coloring the skies a deep pink with hints of vibrant orange splattered all over. The colder weather was warming up. The winter had slowly, without much notice, brought in the spring warmth.
Yet he wished it was winter. He wished it was cold and dreary so he could simply be frozen in a season that he thought he was the happiest, with so much hope, and excitement filling his heart. But it was also the season he had to tread through getting over that heartbreak. A heartbreak where there were no goodbyes exchanged. Not even a chance to see each other once more before the other rode away on horseback and never looked back.
It had been three months since that day. The day he cowardly stayed away from the princess of the Northern Kingdom who was sending men to look for him. Luckily for him, those men never got to him and kept diverting the princess’s messages away. It was not their fault, they were in such a hurry they could not afford to waste any more time. Not even anyone in Shalom had any idea that she and her maidservant were all ready to leave until the very last moment. The princess was only able to greet Tilly before she was hauled away immediately with not one moment to spare.
Rhohaz remembered speaking with Sir Reven who thanked him for protecting the princess for so long. He promised to send help to rebuild Shalom and left a purse of coins in Rhohaz’s hands.
Those coins still remained in that purse in Rhohaz’s satchel, untouched. He felt disgusted seeing them every now and then when they caught his sight whenever he looked through his bag.
As promised, Sir Reven did send some men over to rebuild Shalom. For the past three months, they had been slowly working on restoring house by house, close to being done with the restoration of the village as a whole.
Rhohaz was met by Garin, who waved his hands in front of Rhohaz’s face to grab his attention, which as everyone had come to notice, usually remained occupied by something he kept mulling over these days.
“In your head again?” Garin asked, joining Rhohaz in watching the sunset.
Rhohaz only nodded. Ever since he found out that Garin had slapped the princess the night Shalom was burning to the ground he could never look at his cousin the same way. He understood where Garin was coming from yet his fists balled whenever he remembered of it.
It was also a few days after the princess’s departure did Rhohaz got to know, after much debating with Carmin, that it was Garin, who had found one of Carmin’s connections, that had alerted the knights of the princess’s presence in Shalom. It was later admitted by Garin that it was the princess’s signet ring that he found on the floor of the infirmary the first night the two girls were brought in, barely alive, that was used as proof that Garin was speaking the truth to the knights.
“Again, I keep saying, cousin, I apologize if I have crossed the line in doing what had to be done for the sake of protecting Shalom,” Garin spoke softly.
Rhohaz never blamed Garin for alerting the knights. It was the right choice. She needed to return home. But what he could not understand was why Garin insisted that he saved Shalom from revealing the princess’s identity and sending her away as if she were some curse in disguise.
“You don’t need to apologize. Just stop bringing up the prophecy. I don’t think it matters anymore,” Rhohaz said.
“You may deny it but the prophecy was correct. ‘The ghosts of the past would come to haunt the village riding on the back of a dark stallion piercing right through the heart of Shalom’. She was the ghost riding on the back of the stallion, burning through all of Shalom, leaving us nothing but stranded or even worse, killed if it wasn’t for Chief Han and his men,” Garin raised his voice unexpectedly.
But Rhohaz replied calmly, “Yet she saved me. And even if you justify she was the cause of all of this, the prophecy is bogus. How is she some ghost of the past?--”
“She is the daughter of the King who almost burnt our fathers’ and uncles in the name of wiping away magic from the face of the Nothern Kingdom. She is the ghost of our past, our brutal past if it wasn’t for the Ombrah taking the places of our families at the stake that night decades ago. Don’t you forget that if it wasn’t for Grandma Tilly conjuring the Ombrah from the sand of the sea, your father would not have had the privilege of watching you grow up?”
Rhohaz fell silent after Garin’s comment. The Ombrah had always been a reminder of what his father’s fate could have been.
They were constantly reminded growing up that a hefty bounty was placed on the heads of seven of Shalom’s very own practitioners of magic right after the assassination of the former King. Rhohaz’s father along with his uncle and five more, who were considered up-and-coming powerful magicians of their time, were the ones accused first of planning the attack on the Southern Kingdom. With the new King rising to power and ordering the capture of any practitioners of magic, all of the village went into hiding. Not everyone was so lucky to stay out of trouble. Rhohaz’s uncle, only five years younger than Rhohaz’s father, was captured by the knights and was brought to the royal courts for a hearing.
Soon, his uncle was burnt at the stake as an example, leaving his family heartbroken. Tilly, devastated by the loss of her youngest son, had decided to use dark magic to end the suffering once and for all. She conjured the six Ombrah, empty bodies merely acting as soulless vessels, taking the shape of the remaining six, leading them to get captured by the knights, and having them burnt at the stake in place of the surviving, ending the witch hunt once and for all.
The Ombrah had later found their way to their creator, with their skin turned charcoal and their purpose fulfilled. It was later that they were assigned the role of protecting Shalom, their new lonely home by the seaside while the survivors together with their kin hid the identity of the Yelhi tribe entirely to turn a new page and live away from the rest of the world.
Rhohaz turned to Garin and spoke, “Regardless, I don’t think it’s right to blame her–”
“Why not?!” Garin was furious, “Why not, Rhohaz? She spoils herself in luxury, bathing in gold every day while we have to calculate every step we take and hide ourselves from the world in a desolate place like this. Why can’t we blame her?”
“She didn’t know–” Rhohaz started to justify his statement but Garin cut him off.
“She should have! She should have known if she was to be the next in line to that throne covered in blood. And don’t pretend as if you are blind to her faults. Or are you that blindly in love?”
Garin’s remarks made Rhohaz look away, blood boiling. He couldn’t fight his cousin any longer. They have had this conversation many times over the last three months till one would eventually fold and walk away. It was Rhohaz’s turn to give in.
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Garin quietened himself seeing Rhohaz fall silent. He excused himself later on leaving Rhohaz to watch the sun depart with Garin, leaving him alone at the dark shores.
He did not even realize Tilly got to him until she started patting him on the back to console the sadness she read while weaving through his thoughts.
“I know how you feel about her, Rhohaz. But it’s time you let her go, let her stay home, where she belongs,” Tilly spoke gently.
Rhohaz only smiled to say, “You promised me, Grandma. You promised me you wouldn’t read anyone’s thoughts.”
Seeing him relaxed while pointing out her mischief she added, “How could I when my grandson is heartbroken?”
“I’m not heartbroken…” Rhohaz turned to Tilly cupping her shoulders as if that would somehow make her believe him, “...I am truly fine.”
Tilly poked him lightly with her cane making him jump, “How dare you try to convince me of such lies!”
Rhohaz chuckled for the first time in a long time. He looked into the far distance to suddenly ask, “You knew all along that she was the princess then?”
Tilly took a deeper breath joining him, “Yes, but only a day or so later. I felt her energy the moment she landed on our shores, however. It was the same as her mother’s.”
Rhohaz turned his head instantly to ask, “You knew her mother?”
Tilly nodded, “She was a close friend of your father–”
“Father?!”
Tilly nudged Rhohaz for interrupting her, “Princess Vanya’s mother was from an elite family in the East. She often visited our former village to donate, help out, and do whatever the rich do to feel generous. But she was one of the few that truly cared. She later married the now King and moved away.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Tilly turned to him with a solemn expression overcoming her old face, “She died during childbirth. Vanya was born in the world with no mother. Besides, all the ties we had with the King’s deceased wife were immediately severed the moment the new law banning magic was passed. We only heard she passed away after the official royal announcement was made later that year.”
Rhohaz felt disturbed. He had felt the loss of his own mother so deeply in his heart but to hear that the princess did not even have the privilege to meet her own felt gut-wrenching.
“She truly is the ghost of our past then, is she not?” Rhohaz let his mind speak for a moment knowing his grandmother was reading his thoughts anyway. As Garin said, the princess was far more connected to them than Rhohaz had ever dreamt of.
“She is. But she’s been through much worse on her own. That poor child has such sparse memories of her childhood almost as if they were meticulously erased from her mind,” Tilly stopped realizing she let her mind speak as well.
“What do you mean?” Rhohaz pressed on unable to comprehend anything.
Tilly only waved her hand to ease the tension and replied, “Nothing. I’m getting old. Maybe I read wrong. She should be in good hands now, though. You shouldn’t worry.”
She patted him gently once more before scurrying off before Rhohaz could stop her and demand answers.
***
A couple of long days dragged by with Rhohaz hating every moment, going back into his regular routine of lowering his head and listening diligently to the elders of the council. They demanded he work more, sought out issues with the villagers, and did a better job handling everything. And he listened to each one of them, even when they were mindlessly assigning him tasks he had already performed on his own. All that confidence, that spark of change in him to stand up to what was right and push his ideas, were no more. He was too mentally drained to even think of pushing back.
One thing he realized he was unexpectedly looking forward to was the occasional visits from Taru. Chief Han had assigned the task of helping Shalom rebuild and transition into their renovated homes to Taru and he often brought up the mood whenever he came by.
But he wasn’t the only one who was looking forward to Taru’s visits. Roza was out early today waiting for Taru to appear on his horse soon.
Roza, after a month-long of being badgered by the council members and forcing her to burn all her grimoire in front of their eyes, had also lost her spark. She was dragging herself through the days, helping in cleaning, cooking, and everything in between but never really thinking about her true passion for magic. She had been beaten down by the accusations of the council so much so that Rhohaz had to step in several times before they finally let her go, making her promise to never touch magic even with a stick.
“You are here early,” Rhohaz said, feeling guilty seeing his sister so lifeless.
She simply nodded half asleep, “I was assigned to feed his horse by Carmin, remember?”
Rhohaz smirked remembering their aunt's outrageous demands from Roza to keep her locked in and busy with tasks to do.
“Lucky for the horse, I don’t really mind seeing Taru’s face every once in a while,” she yawned.
“Don’t do anything to the horse,” Rhohaz warned.
She glared at him at first but then gave out a cunning smile and replied, “Aunt Carmin would hate it…and I might consider it.”
Rhohaz palmed his face for giving Roza ideas. Thankfully, Roza didn’t continue crafting her plans seeing Taru appear catching the sun rays peeking through the budding trees.
He galloped down the path as if he was competing in a horse riding competition making Roza roll her eyes, “Show off.”
Although Roza considered it to be Taru displaying his skills, Rhohaz picked up on the slight agitation in Taru’s command.
They waited until Taru reached them, brought the horse to a standstill, and slid off of it.
“Lovely to see you too,” Roza caught the reins of the horse as the dust from the sand hit her face.
But Taru did not hear her remarks. He immediately found Rhohaz who had walked closer to him ready to greet him.
“I bring news…” Taru panted while taking deep breaths. Even Roza calmed herself, turning to Taru and hearing his concerned voice.
“What is it?” Rhohaz asked, alerted.
“…I bring news from the palace,” Taru held Rhohaz’s shoulder looking at him sadly, “They’ve just announced the passing of the crown princess…”
Rhohaz froze. Roza threw the reins away to face Taru.
“…She died last morning of a sickness she had been stricken with for the past couple of months.”
“Died?” Roza repeated. Her voice trailed off to a whisper.
But Rhohaz’s eyes only grew narrower before he blurted out, “What sickness?”
“Some sickness they haven’t disclosed—“
“She was not sick!” Rhohaz shouted, making even Roza step in to calm him.
“Calm down, brother,” she whispered.
He looked at Roza and replied, “It’s a lie. She was fine leaving Shalom. She was in perfect health.”
Roza nodded believing him.
“This is ridiculous. They are lying,” Rhohaz pleaded.
“Maybe or maybe not,” Roza whispered again, hoping her brother was correct but regardless, if the princess had passed away they had nothing they could do.
“He’s not wrong. Many believe the palace is hiding the truth. Many believe she was killed instead,” Taru’s words made the air feel icy cold, the warmth rolling in with the change of seasons bore no real difference.
Rhohaz felt his heart sear in pain. The thought of her heart not beating, the thought of her hands ice cold and her eyes lifeless made him ache in pain. It reminded him of the first time he ever saw her, drenched in that wooden chest by the shoreline. She looked haunting, afraid, and faded from the warmth of the world.