“You wanted to see me, sire?” Lux entered the king’s quarters with a tired smile on his face. Julius motioned him to sit in front of him, the mere movement of his arm stealing a groan from him. His wounds were quite deep but, thanks to the instant help he received from Ari, they were far from severe. In spite of his weakened state, he retained the same vigor in both his gaze and presence, a presence that Lux was blissfully unfazed by.
“I will keep it brief,” Julius replied in a raspier tone than usual, his voice hushed, almost like a whisper but still grave and resonating. “We’ve finally managed to talk to the prisoner.”
“Oh, he woke up?” Lux chimed in pointlessly, much to the king’s annoyance. With a simple glare, he reduced the minstrel to silence.
“I want you to answer my questions with instantaneous yes and no’s. Nothing more, nothing less. Am I crystal clear?” Julius’ voice thundered.
“Be my guest, sire,” Lux ended with a light chuckle, as he took a seat on a nearby empty chair.
For a brief minute the two simply stared at each other. The king’s incisive leering fought with the minstrel’s warm carelessness, as both seemed to drift further away from the desired outcome of this interaction. Without quenching the fire in his eyes, the king looked out the window.
“Can I trust that you will be truthful during this interrogation?”
“You’re not mincing words, I see,” Lux replied jokingly, but a growl from the king signalled his first and possible last mistake. “But yes, you can.”
“Were you in any way, shape or form involved in the massacre of last week?”
“No.”
“Do you know the reason why those men have attacked my castle?”
“No.”
“Do you know the reason why those men have killed ninety eight out of a hundred and fifteen members of the nobility?”
“No.”
“Do you know the reason why they have targeted my kingdom specifically?”
“No.”
“Are you, or have you ever been associated with that group of men?”
“Yes, I have been.”
The king inhaled deeply, as if pausing his relentless barrage of questions for a breather. However, both of them knew that was far from the case. His eyes softened a little, as he continued.
“Has your allegiance to that group run its course?”
“Yes.”
“Were you born in this kingdom?”
“No.”
“Is it clear to you that you are and will be considered a suspicious individual until any and all doubts surrounding your person are cleared?”
“Yes.”
“Are you aware of any of the steps that you can take to remove said status from your person?”
“No.”
“You can start by answering the following questions with perfect accuracy,” the king punctured.
Lux’s expression hasn’t changed one bit since he had entered the room, his smile being the one thing Julius couldn’t understand. There were too many grim certainties about the man sitting in front of him, particularly the dubiously candid aura he exuded out of every pore. A minstrel with the fighting prowess of a mercenary, an apparently genuine warmth colliding with the unshakeable temper of a general and a person who could lie and tell the truth at the same time. How could one make sense of such a walking contradiction?
“What is that group’s primary activity?” Julius asked, facing the minstrel once again.
“Kidnapping, assassination, intelligence gathering and espionage,” Lux answered the loaded question with a gnawing simplicity.
“Were you involved in any of those activities?”
“I simply followed orders, but yes, I did all of them.”
“What was the purpose of this group?”
At this question, Lux paused, failing to answer with his usual cheerful promptitude. Instead, his gaze drifted towards the mirror in the room, where he stared blankly at the reflection of the floorboards. His smile soured, as a shadow passed through his eyes.
“We had none,” he replied triumphantly, forcing a strained chuckle alongside his response.
“What do you mean by that?”
“We took contracts from people who could afford our services. There was no greater meaning behind it,” Lux added, his voice becoming bittersweet as he reminisced. The king watched as the minstrel’s mind was left to wander, his skinny hand tapping a soft tune on the wooden arms of his chair. Seeing him like this was disconcerting; the reserved boy in front of him showing a tender moment of childlike weakness. At some point, Julius forgot that the person in front of him was, at his core, nothing but a boy, his age barely coming through in his act. It pained him to have to shatter this candid image with his last question, but it had to be done.
“Why did you leave that group?”
Lux didn’t answer. His fingers continued to nonchalantly drum on the lacquered seat, keeping the same monotonous rhythm going. Occasionally, an almost inaudible hum accompanied the beat, stopping a second later, as if too shy to make itself known. Slowly, bit by bit, his hand began pausing longer and longer, the cadence dying down as the minstrel returned to his original reserved state. Only one thing was different. His smile was now wider than ever before, his entire face contorting in a grimace that seeped with regret and remorse.
The king didn’t dare press forward, nor did he want to. He was certain that the minstrel’s answer would come. However, he had no clue if what he was going to find out will be anything that he hoped to hear. Even still, he maintained a glimmer of faith in the boy. In spite of his position and the stoic, nationalist mindset it dictated, Julius couldn’t help but feel a kindred pity towards the young minstrel that looked lost in front of him. His expression relaxed as the drumming finally came to a halt and an imperceptible sigh left the minstrel’s throat.
“To be perfectly honest...I don’t know myself.” Lux’s head dreamily raised towards the ceiling. “It might’ve been because I got desensitised to the act of killing. Or it might’ve been because I lost a lot from joining that group. It might’ve been because I have been racking up guilt doing it for so long. Or it might’ve been because I just wanted to stop.” His voice was mechanical, the cadence of his words bearing an eerie, unsettling tone.
“It must have been something about what I did being wrong, but even now I can still do it quite easily,” he continued, his words seeming rushed, as if a dam was about to break inside of him. “It must have been something about not wanting to follow the same senseless orders that dehumanised everyone that heard them. Or it must have been an inherent desire that screamed from underneath the pile of blankness and that I needed to hear only once in order to heed it.” Julius could see Lux’s neck tensing as his words began to be infused with a cocktail of anger, pain and defeat.
“It could’ve been something being so inherently wrong with me that I decided to forfeit all I knew was real. Or it could’ve been me finally realising who I truly was after much too long…” he muttered, his words drowned in a tempest that could barely be contained. His head slowly began to fall forward, his bloodshot, misty eyes finally meeting the king’s after a long while.
“I might’ve left because of all these reasons, or I might’ve lied this whole time. But let me ask you this…” Lux shot an odd, yet not malevolent smile towards the king. “Does it matter why I left, or does it matter what I’ll do now, after I’ve left?”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“And what will you do?” the king asked calmly, already understanding where this was going. Lux stood up from his chair and headed towards the door, without answering. He walked stiffly and slowly, puncturing every step with a thud on the hard floor. As he reached for the handle, he ran his free hand through his hair, lifting it from his eyes.
“I’ll help.”
With that, Lux opened the door and stepped out, but before closing the door, the king’s words stopped him.
“What I said earlier remains, Lux.”
“I know.”
“I am glad we’re clear. Tomorrow morning you will go to the barracks. You know what you have to do there.” Lux nodded simply without turning his head.
“You will be meeting with my son, too. Please, keep an eye on him and on your own well-being.”
Lux nodded again, still facing away, as the king’s last orders drilled into him.
“As for that girl, she is an invaluable hero of our kingdom, title bestowed upon her for obvious reasons. You are tasked to protect her at all costs.” Lux chuckled and acknowledged.
“And you should also know that it is normal to be how you are, given your past. You need not hide it,” the king added coldly, as if to dismiss him. The door closed with a low clunk as Lux travelled down the corridor to his room.
He was still smiling, but a warm rivulet watered down his lips.
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Ari skipped lightly on the soft grass of the hedge maze. Even though she wasn’t particularly happy, this was the first time she’s been allowed outdoors in a week. She didn’t understand why, but the reason probably had something to do with that night. A shiver would run down her spine every time her mind would dare to even glance back at those dreadful events. That’s why she relished the nature she could finally explore.
The tall bushes were weird, but funny to her. She couldn’t help but marvel, mouth slightly opened, at the unique and orderly shape they took. Whereas she was used to hedges being wild, untamed and irregular, usually filled with thorns and dangerous rustling, these were cute and flat. Curious, she ran her hand across the smooth surface, only to have her palm tickled by the thick wall of leaves. A shy giggle came out as she gently patted the shrubbery, continuing her walk.
The labyrinth wasn’t too big, but not too small either. Evidence to that was that in spite of just having made its way inside, she couldn’t really tell where she came from, nor where she was heading. However, her keen ears took note of a hushed ripple coming from her right. With her hand still caressing the wall, she let her hearing guide her through, as corridor by corridor, she got closer to the centre.
With the rippling getting louder, her other senses were also greeted by novelties, as hints of colours began to break the green monotony she’s experienced so far. As if sprinkled on by a careful hand, pink blossoms sprouted here and there, spotting the bush with peony freckles. Ari leaned in to smell, a delightfully sweet aroma blessing her. That drowsily strong scent accompanied her on her journey, as one more turn led her to the middle of the maze.
A serene lake welcomed her into a bouquet of hues and fragrances, as she finally understood where the noise was coming from. The water was trapped in the same white stone she noticed in the supporting columns of the castle, with a stream of bubbles forming at the edges, seemingly by magic. Cautiously, she stuck her hand in, only to giggle at the tingly sensation dancing over her skin.
Ari played a little with the water, only stopping when the sunlight reflecting in the cerulean well got into her eye. With the gleam becoming a little too hard to endure, she got up, dusted off her skirt and playfully looked around.
Her gaze darted around the beautiful rose bushes scattered about in a tidy, almost unnatural fashion. Their scent was much stronger than the other flowers, but it had a tinge of sadness sprinkled into it. The blossoms were hidden from view, nestled in hollowed holes in the shrub, but still spread their smell as if they were right in her nose. Carefully, she reached inside the greenery and when she felt something velvety she immediately grabbed and pulled.
The pain made her yelp, as she instantly retreated her hand, only causing more thorns to lodge onto her. Ari dropped the white flower that was sprayed with her blood and couldn’t help but look at her wounds. Blood flowed slowly out of her palms, fingers and wrists, engulfing her pale skin in a crimson glow. The pain, that reddish glint in the sun and the smell of iron all took her back.
Flashes of the contorted bodies she saw that night played in her mind. Then the silence. Then the pain. Then the king and Lux on the floor, drowning. She collapsed to the floor as she could feel herself get as cold as the bodies she helplessly tried to infuse life back into. She remembered the dull heartbeats she could faintly hear as she stuck her ears on their barely moving chests.
Ari fell to the ground, her chin resting on her knee as her eyes trembled at the weight of her tears. She brought her hand to her face, but the second she felt her own slimy touch, she jumped and slammed her palm to the ground, causing only more pain to erupt. Her ears perked up, as she crawled towards the bushes, just like she crawled away from the charred body of the man she’s immolated off Lux.
Her breathing came in gasps, as she struggled to keep the air in her lungs. She felt as if her heart was caged inside of her chest, desperate to get out. She felt hot, sweat raining down her face. Too hot, too much like how her fingertips felt. She could swear that her touch was searing, as she ran her prickled hand over her bare shin feeling nothing but a scorching heat.
It was too much, too much to remember and too much to forget. Too much she couldn’t get out of her mind, and it all began and ended with the same livid faces of the people she barely brought back from the dead. She collapsed on the ground, reliving the same moment her body, void of Aesther, fell limp above the king and the minstrel’s. The only difference being that all their wounds were closed, whilst hers were still open.
She didn’t realise when her consciousness slipped away, nor when the sun’s harsher rays turned colder. Her mind was a storm, with the tumultuous wind blowing too many images in her head. She felt lost, lost in the tempest of her own fear, suffocating in the terror of a night she hoped she had erased. And then, came a softness. The clouds cleared up, as a fuzziness overcame her, accompanied by the warmth of a place she hasn’t visited in a long while.
Her eyes were still shut, whilst her body felt heavy and tired. Her ears were limp, but they could pick on the sound of something sliding on a smooth surface. A strange tingling filled her sensation, an euphoric feeling of drunkenness. Groggily, she opened her leaden eyelids and saw the clear blue sky interwoven by the branches of a tree.
“Looks like someone had a good sleep,” Lux taunted playfully. Only then did Ari realise what that tingling was. Lux’s hand ran slowly and lightly through her hair, barely ruffling the tuft surrounding her ears.
“I hope you don’t mind. You seemed to be quite distressed, so I figured I’d just help you feel more at ease,” he whispered, a hint of whimsy in his tone. “I was told it’s best to just keep people going through such episodes as safe and comfortable as you can.”
Ari couldn’t move more than her head, as she felt her body float around her. Her hands were like clouds of senses, whilst her feet were stuck on the ground, as she felt tiny ants tickling her all around.
“By the way, I took care of your hand and leg. I can understand the prickles, but the burning is quite odd,” he continued, a brotherly concern spreading from his last remark. “I guess you’re not very used to all this.” From his tone, she felt like Lux had gone through this more than enough to understand it thoroughly, but that thought soon got lost in the sea of fuzz that crowded her brain. Shakily, she got up and turned around to face Lux, whose gaze was gently gliding across the horizon, following a flock of birds.
“T-thank you,” she said, her head hanging low.
“Don’t mention it.”
Silence settled between the two, as the only noises Ari could hear were the same faint rippling from the lake and the wind caressing the grass and leaves. Absently, she rubbed at the swollen spot on her shin, recoiling a little at how sensitive and hot it felt. If he said that he took care of it, it must’ve been even worse before, and that scared Ari. Her mind jumped back again to the fire she unleashed onto that man…
“Say, do you still like the city?” Lux’s words broke her from the spiral, as she began to ponder. It didn’t take long for her to produce an answer, though.
“N-no...It’s...scary.”
“I see,” he replied, his eyes gliding towards the castle. Lux got to his feet and extended his hand to Ari. Sheepishly, she grabbed it and found herself flung behind him, as her other arm was forcibly draped around his neck. In one movement, she became like a cape to him.
“Hang on tight.” Lux gestured towards the castle wall, a piece of rope shooting from his sleeve, sparking with a blue glint. It flew swiftly and straight, as if guided by an invisible hand, and when it reached the castle’s roof it stopped immediately, glued to the shingles. Lux looked back at Ari with a smile on his face that was meant to hide what was to come.
In an instant, the cord stiffened up and the two began barrelling towards the roof, jerked forward by an unknown force. Ari closed her eyes in fear, as her ears clung to her head as tightly as she clung to the minstrel. She could feel his muscles tensed up as well as his heartbeat quicken, but she was unaware of his relaxed smile. After a short while moving forward and then slightly up, the two landed with a soft thud on a small tower.
“Sorry for the bumpy ride,” Lux apologised, as he unbuttoned Ari from his shoulders. With a solid floor under her and no more air whipping her hair, she opened her eyes. What she saw was nothing more than the city as it basked in the early rays of the sunset. Silently, she joined Lux next to the edge and, together, they glanced down at the urban landscape.
“Not as pretty now, I guess.”
“I-it is,” Ari replied, her admiration somewhat muffled. She couldn’t deny that the way the sun danced across the weird clear ice was marvelous, nor that she enjoyed the clacking of horse hooves on the rocky streets. Even the smell of old wood and stone had a charm on her, but still, it was too much for her. How could something so beautiful house so many dangers?
“Do you remember this?” Lux asked all of a sudden, showing her a white, stemless flower with a hundred petals.
“Y-yes...It smells...sad and it prickles.”
“Heh...that’s an interesting way of looking at it. But it’s beautiful, right?”
Ari nodded, furrowing her brow. Seeing that, Lux opened up his hand, revealing small crimson bubbles popping up on his palm. The girl instantly jumped at the sight of blood. Lux’s eyes widened then relaxed in understanding, although his palm remained open. Closing his fingers right between two thorns, he let the flower hang over the edge.
“The human world is like this. Beautiful, but dangerous. You aren’t careful, you’ll get stung and hurt, but, if you mind the thorns”—Lux breathed the aroma deeply, before letting the rose fall off the roof—”you can still relish the perfume.”
Ari followed the flower, a stray gust spreading its petals as it floated down. Only a few remained on the thorny stem as it found its early grave on a nearby bush. She couldn’t help but feel sad, as a question crept in her mind.
“But...how d-do I know…?”
“Ah, good question,” Lux replied, feigning ignorance. He leaned over the edge, looking back at her with a mysterious smile. “I guess you can’t know, unless you keep plucking them all out.”
Ari let herself dangle on the ledge, her legs keeping her balance in check. She looked at the road below and the many alleys that snaked out of it, basked in shadow. Then her eyes drifted at the picture of a cup, etched on a piece of wood hanging above a noisy door. Finally, she looked right below her, at the still shattered ice that lined the castle’s walls. Catching her glance, Lux lay his hand softly on her head.
“But I’ll always be there if you get stung,” he beamed, his face turned towards the sun. Her eyes glimmered, as a flush of pink rose to her cheeks.