Seven years after the Peace of Khatulistiwa, Santara once more was on the verge of war. Understand, dear readers, that it did not take long before the Tionghoa learned of little Josue’s Machabe. If this had happened before the Padri War, before Lord Aron devastated Tionghoa armies with the Isildur, then they would have been content to ignore the prophecy of the High King. But as it stood, the Tionghoa (and many Khmerians) saw this prophecy as a threat to their continued existence in the Santara Archipelago; many of them remembered the massacres carried out by Sultan Kochba, including the kampungs of Khmer he torched with Inferna. The Dragon Emperor, for his part, was moved by concern for his people in Santara. But even if he wasn’t, the loss of his southern colonies would mean a blow to his treasury.

Thus from his perspective, the Dragon Emperor had every reason to stop this prophecy from coming to being. It was a faulty perspective, but the die had been cast.

At first, the Tionghoa sent an envoy to King Aron. Through this messenger, the Governor General demanded that the king send his son, Prince Josue, to live in Khmer as “Tionghoa’s guest”. As readers might expect, Lord Aron rejected this proposal in the strongest possible way short of executing the messenger. That Tionghoa envoy should be glad that he wasn’t dealing with Sultan Kochba.

But the Tionghoa was not deterred by my lord’s rejection. Next, they placed a bounty on Prince Josue. Anyone who brought the Prince of Dun-a-din to the Tionghoa authorities, dead or alive, was to be rewarded by a hefty sum of gold. About one thousand-thousand gold, if I recall correctly.

My little brother would have fallen victim to these would be bounty hunters if it hadn’t been for me. Though I was the one who was responsible for putting him in that situation in the first place.

All this happened when I was just returning from Mocasar. At the time, I had been spending years studying preternatural magic in the Sultanate. My specialization was in water magic which allowed me to manipulate water and even generate ice.

For the sake of context, I shall inform readers that in those seven years, I had alternated my time between Dun-a-din, Leste, and Paloe. Wherein Paloe was where I studied magic, Leste was where I would catch up with Livia and Rus. The Despot’s wife also helped me understand in-depth Santara politics (Lord Aron and Lady Paradisa could only give me a cursory look).

Dun-a-din, meanwhile, was my home. Perhaps it was the company I kept, but I found myself fitting in and being very comfortable in the desert kingdom. That was why I spent a lot of time traveling and studying, I didn’t want to be too comfortable. Of course, I still made sure to spend much time in Dun-a-din, especially once Prince Josue was born.

Ever since the young prince was a baby, he had always been attached to me. I remember how nervous I was when Lord Aron gave Josue, an infant at the time, for me to hold. I was afraid to drop him, the young prince looked so fragile. But as soon as I held him, my fears went away. And the child fell asleep on my shoulder.

In that moment I felt… protectiveness, for lack of a better word. I discovered the purpose for my life, what El Shaddai created me for: to guide Josue, to protect my little brother. For he was to be the High King, the man to restore the Holy Kingdom and return Santara to its glory.

Looking back, that had also pushed me in my studies of the preternatural arts.

The years passed, and Prince Josue grew to be a toddler. While I was in Paloe or Leste, I received many letters from Dun-a-din. Lord Aron and Lady Paradisa often wrote to me how little Josue always asked for his ‘big brother’.

Understand, readers, that I was very busy with my studies. I made good progress with my water magic, but that came at the cost of my ignorance in politics (despite Livia’s best efforts). It was because of my excessive focus on the preternatural arts that I was not aware of the bounty that the Tionghoa had placed on Prince Josue.

Another issue was that ship travel could be unreliable at times. For instance, I once visited Livia with the understanding that I would reach Timor (the Lestean capital) in time for Agrippina’s birth. Instead, I got delayed and by the time I had arrived, it had been a month since the Lestean princess’ birth. Though given the dark secret I wrote of in the previous chapter, that delay was perhaps for the best.

But back to Dun-a-din. As soon as I was finished with my studies in Mocasar, I sailed back home to Dun-a-din. Unfortunately, my ship was delayed, which meant that I missed my little brother’s fourth birthday. Josue seemed understanding enough, but I felt bad about it.

In order to make up for my tardiness, I asked Josue if he wanted to leave the castle and go around the city for a bit. He was so overjoyed at my proposal, and I didn’t think to let Lord Aron or Lady Paradisa know about it. Of course, the reason for my little brother’s happiness was because he had been locked up in the castle for weeks on end (which I was utterly ignorant of). Thankfully, a castle servant had overheard our conversation and informed Arphaxad of our whereabouts.

Before I continue, I must write of Dun-a-din. The kingdom’s capital, also called Dun-a-din, came about as a merger of two cities, Dun and Din; hence the name Dun-a-din (or Dun-a-Din, either works). Both Dun and Din were two coastal villages separated at the mouth of the Kakadu River. Eventually, the then ruling merchants of both cities merged their cities together following the marriage of a son of Dun and a daughter of Din. That son of Dun was actually a descendant of the Borromeans who escaped the Tionghoa slaughter. And generations later, the Dunadinians saw fit to crown him as King of Dun-a-din.

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I shall elaborate Dun-a-din’s history in a later book. The important thing now is that Dun-a-din had a history of trade and was no stranger to people of various races and kingdoms.

Prince Josue and I enjoyed the cosmopolitan nature of Dun-a-din. My little brother was a precocious one and was able enjoy the street shows and drama that I thought would have been much too mature for him. As for food, well, it turned out he was able to eat solid food at this point.

I really missed out on a lot.

We were at the eastern town square, close to the western bank of the Kakadu when it finally happened. While I was unaware of the bounty placed on Josue, I was always protective of my little brother. I always made sure to hold his hand so he wouldn’t wander off. And thanks to my vigilance, no one was able to snatch him away. Instead, we found ourselves surrounded by a gang of ruffians, our backs against the river. I should have realized earlier that we were being followed, but I let my guard down in the festivities of Dun-a-din.

There were five men in front of us. As for me, I grew up in the seven years since the Peace of Khatulistiwa, so I was a man at this point. But each of these men were taller and stronger than I am. More importantly, they had their axes out, ready to split our skulls if necessary.

“Prince Yuanxi, ain’t it,” one of the bandits, the leader, said.

“What do you want?” I asked, still ignorant of the situation.

In response, the ugly man laughed. “The boy, your brother, obviously. We’re here to collect the Tionghoa’s bounty, what is it again? One thousand gold?”

“One thousand-thousand, boss,” another brigand corrected.

“That’s right!” The bandit grinned. “So why don’t you hand him over and we’ll let ya live.”

I saw Josue next to me. He was only four, but he already knew the implication of the conversation. He held to me very tightly. “Big brother…”

“Don’t worry, Josue,” I said reassuringly. “I have no intention of handing you over to these bandit scums.” While I was saying this, I kept my mind on the river behind me.

“Is that so?” the bandit leader said. “Well then…”

A loud bang went off, and the bandit leader, his head bloodied, fell dead on his back. I had shot him with my pistol; always kept it by my side. His underlings would have charged me with their axes, but they stopped dead on their tracks as they saw a huge wave of water where the Kakadu was.

I could finally make use of my preternatural arts in a real fight, and I launched that water wave at them. Given our positioning, Josue and I would have been hit too, which was why I held my little brother to cover him right as the wave was hitting us.

I stood up, drenched, but I knew that the battle was not yet over. With great focus, I was able to merge together the water around me and engulfed the remaining four bandits in a bubble of water.

In that bubble, the ruffians were swimming, struggling, to escape their water prison. With all my will, I generated a water current towards the center within the bubble. Our struggle lasted for a few minutes, mine too keep my enemies in that bubble, theirs to escape it.

It was a slow process, but I saw the life leaving the bandits. One bandit stopped swimming, his lifeless body floating in the bubble. Two more followed suit and stopped their struggle.

There was only one left, but he was strong swimmer. Try as I might, he was able to make his way to the edge of the bubble. Then, he poked his head out and took a deep breath. It was then that I made my mistake. Had I kept my cool, I could have dragged him back into the water bubble and drown him.

Instead, I blinked. And the bubble popped because of my lack of concentration. Once again, we were all drenched. All of his friends were dead, but an axe fell right next to him (whether it was his or his friend’s mattered not). Suddenly, he had the upper hand.

The ruffian dashed for me with his weapon. By instinct, I took out my pistol; I realized my mistake as soon as it was done. Wet from the waters of the Kakadu, my pistol couldn’t fire and was useless to me. Before I knew it, I found myself bloodied on the ground, the brigand’s axe had cut deep into my side.

Despite my wounds, I only thought of my little brother. I screamed at him to run away, but Josue was just standing there, unresponsive. I didn’t realize it then because of the fight, but Josue had been like that ever since I shot that bandit leader. Despite my ignorance, I immediately recognized what was happening. After all, I saw this happened to Paradisa twice. And as it turned out, Prince Josue had inherited his mother’s fear of blood.

I had failed him; I had failed my little brother. Lying on the pool of my own blood, I felt the overwhelming pull of despair as the brigand was about to take Josue and run off.

Fortunately, Arphaxad and the Castle Guards came to our rescue just in the nick of time. The Captain of the Dunadinian Army didn’t fight on foot very often, but he was deadly all the same. The brigand had no chance and soon found himself with a lance through his bowels.

Prince Josue was safe, but I was still bleeding to death. With me as his passenger, Arphaxad rode on horseback as quickly as he could to Castle Dun-a-din. But honestly, I thought I was about to die then. I remember my vision fading away; as everything went dark, I was ready to meet El Shaddai.

But instead, my eyes opened to King Aron, Queen Paradisa, and Prince Josue. My lord was right across from me, but the latter two was sitting to my right, fast asleep with their heads lying on the bed. I had surmised what had happened, but I asked, nonetheless.

Lord Aron answered me, “Your mother brought you back to health. You’re safe now.” But his smile soon turned into a scowl. “What were you thinking?”

“I know,” I said, giving my lord an apologetic look. “I shouldn’t have put Josue in danger. I’m sorry, milord.”

“I was worried sick for you!”

I paused, shocked at Lord Aron’s words. “I’m just a dumb goy. Josue…”

“Josue was not the one Arphaxad brought back a bloody mess,” Aron interrupted. “Josue was not the one my wife spent weeks nursing with her light magic.”

“But he was the prophesied High King with a Tionghoa bounty, not me”

“You’re my son too.”

I said nothing, dumbfounded at what my adopted father had just told me.

Before I could say anything, my little brother stirred, no doubt woken up by our conversation. Josue saw me up on the bed, and he screamed, waking up his mother – our mother – in the process. Soon, I found myself enveloped in a hug by both Paradisa and Josue. The Queen of Dun-a-din was always an emotional one, even for a woman, and soon I found myself drenched in her tears. I was afraid that Josue would have done the same; despite his features, the boy had taken after his mother. Thankfully, his embrace came without tears.

I remember the warmth I felt, surrounded by a family who loved me. A father, a mother, and a brother. It was a feeling I never had before meeting Lord Aron. I wanted us to be like this forever. But as it turned out, this family would be taken away from me just a few weeks later.