Warriors of Kagolania

Kalena with a heavy heart had entered the room where students spent their free time. Everyone greeted her with cool eyes and whispered a few comments.

"Welcome to you, the most common of the common," said Kete, and Mizar added right after him.

"The kindest Kalena honored us with her presence! Oh lady, how grateful we are for that! And now I am humbly asking you to leave. After all, we do not deserve to be with such a noble person...

"No," she interrupted calmly, "the truth is that I don't deserve to be with you. I know that my behavior has been terrible lately, but it is because the prince entrusted me with a very important task. I was to test his invention, the details of which must remain secret for now."

"He once let you test his kite during a free day, and somehow you behaved normally."

"I know, and therefore," she gave a deep bow "I'm sorry."

There was a long silence. Finally, Seth sitting at the very end of the long, low table pushed some of his things away and invited the girl to sit down.

Kalena rarely spoke to him before. He was the only Madegald student, so he naturally faced many hardships, including espionage charges for the Righteous Conspiracy. However, he didn't seem bad, or at least his face wasn't the face of a bad man. He often smiled and always kept a good mood.

He was a student of Hosh - a mysterious and inaccessible man who spent little time in the quarters and did not care too much about his apprentice, although, Seth didn't require to be constantly taken care of. It was known that he came from a very rich family, but, contrary to other children from such homes, he was very independent and able to deal with hardships. Just like most people from Madegald, he had a complexion slightly darker than the rest of the students. The thing that made him stood out exceptionally was his height. He was the tallest student in Yagn-Sho and was still growing, though not as much as a few years ago.

"You know, I wanted to talk to you before," Kalena admitted, "but I was afraid you wouldn't understand me."

"really?" He asked surprised. "I don't know why people assume that. I speak fluent Kagolanian. At the beginning it was difficult, but now I understand almost everything.

"You must feel lonely here."

"Not really. I knew what it means to live abroad when I decided to leave the house. The people of Madegald don't travel often, so I was aware that I would rarely hear my native language." He paused for a moment and reached for the inkwell. "It's good for me. I started life again as a different person. Hardly anyone gets such a chance from the gods."

"Could I ask... why did you leave? Were you mistreated at home?"

"No, I would even say I was treated too well." Seth's eyes suddenly went absent. "I've always felt that I should be somewhere else. I wanted to escape from Madegald since I can remember and I am glad that I was able to fulfill my dream. And you?"

"I'm from Port," she said. "I grew up there, but I don't know where my parents came from. I don't feel connected with any country... Maybe with Kagolania."

Seth smiled again and they both fell into learning. Kalena began the first math task when Zarkin entered the room and told them that the enemies of the Association had arrived.

*

At the same time, the masters held an extraordinary meeting.

"I have to admit openly that your apprentice saved all our lives." This was the first sentence Tessale uttered, thus breaking the silence that lasted a few minutes. "You should be proud of him, Rikken."

"The prisoners claim they were sent to investigate if anyone from Yagn-Sho had recently stolen from the imperial treasury," Asanala confessed.

"They should talk to the Searchers," said Aymon. "We're not interested in tinsel."

"They know it," Bimala interrupted. "Something that the Scribes could be interested in must have disappeared from the treasury. The Sekanian Scribe's Association made several attempts to steal the dynamite recipe, but I think they stopped because everybody condemned it."

"Then we should tell them this and let them report in Madegald," Rikken said. "When the emperor reaches suspicion that the thief may be hiding in Kagolania, we might face an open conflict. Galaspiael will soon take the throne, let there be peace in the country for the first years."

"Speaking of him, does anybody know where His Majesty is and why he is so openly showing his contempt to us?" Aymon snorted in anger.

"Some state affairs," Rikken cut short. "Forgive him, I'm sure he didn't predict it himself."

The man nodded in response.

"I think you're right. We have to let the captives go. I don't know who broke into the imperial vault, but let's make it clear to the Emperor that we have nothing to do with them."

*

In the evening, Zarkin again went beyond the walls of the quarters to check whether he had noticed the first signs of madness, or perhaps unusual intuition. Throughout the day he had the impression that someone is watching him and, as it turned out he was right. The boy stood still for a moment, and quickly another shadow appeared next to his. Clearly, the person who cast it did not want to be noticed.

Zarkin quickly turned and pushed the stranger against the wall. He recognized her immediately.

"Oh, you little viper! Did you come to finish the work?" He hissed furiously. The slave girl who had previously been in the spy camp decided to return. "Is this how you repaying me for sparing your life?"

"No! I don't want to hurt you!" She assured quickly, terrified by the sudden attack.

"Sure! You don't want to do and that's why you keep following me!" The boy propped her against the wall even more and pressed his elbow to her neck so that she began to choke. "I know your people want to kill me! The Righteous scum was defeated and dishonored, and all thanks to me. You have the right to hate me, but I will not give up easily!"

"I don't want to hurt you, my lord... really," she croaked in a weakening voice. Zarkin loosened his grip and took a step back. For the first time in his life, he was called "my lord" by someone and it took a moment for this fact to come to him. He took a deep breath and clenched his fists several times. The girl dropped to her knees and looked at him fearfully, probably thinking that he was about to hit her.

"So what do you want?"

"First to thank you for killing them. You have no idea how much it means to me..."

"I didn't do it for you," he interrupted her firmly.

"I know, but I'm grateful anyway. I came here because of one thing. Transfer of ownership, which means..."

"I know," Zarkin interrupted her and smiled. "By law, I could take you over now because I killed your owner."

"Exactly," she said and smiled back at him. Zarkin's face quickly turned into a grimace of rage.

"You've got to be kidding. You came here because you want to be a slave? Do you think I'm so naive to believe you? No man would do that unless he had some hidden intentions! Go away while I let you."

"But I don't have any!" She moaned, while tears welling up in her eyes. "I can't live on my own. Please..."

"I want nothing more than to bring another mouth for feeding."

"I'm useful! I will earn my meal if necessary. I will find something to do, I know a lot of things," she answered calmly. "If I do something wrong, you can sell me or punish me."

And you don't have anywhere to sleep or how to get back to Madegald," he growled, irritated more by his lack of assertiveness than by her stubbornness. "We don't usually let strangers here, but I'll ask Master Rikken."

"Thank you, my lord."

"But remember! If you make one wrong move, you give me one reason to suspect, I will throw you out of the third-floor window and watch your body hit the ground," he threatened. "I won't give you a single opportunity to hurt us, you..."

"My name is Mei, my lord."

Zarkin did not answer. He noticed her collar and chain, which she tucked under her shirt. He grabbed it and led her to Rikken's room.

"Can I go in?" he asked, opening the door. His master looked up from the big book and glanced at the girl.

"Who is this?"

"She was a slave to the people I attacked. She came here and says I can take her."

"What do you mean by that?" Rikken stood up and looked at Mei. "Did he killed your previous owner?"

"There is no rule that prohibits students from keeping slaves." Zarkin has already considered everything and started to appreciate this idea. "I'm sure there have been such cases in history. The prince certainly took several from the palace."

"You're wrong, he didn't have any," Rikken thought deeply. In fact, there was no provision to regulate the slave issue. "Fine, she can stay. I will tell at the meeting that we still want to question you" he turned to her and then looked at his student. "But I don't want to see lashes, torture or any torment here!"

*

Kalena opened her eyes and hissed furiously at the black stain on her blue shirt.

The late-night was beginning to change into the early morning. The flame went out in the fireplace, and the wick of the candle was completely burned out.

She didn't remember her taking a nap at all. She must've fallen asleep unintentionally and tilted the inkwell with her hand so that the ink leaked and stained her clothes, but thankfully the notes she was working on were saved.

The biggest drawback in getting up early was the chilling cold that prevailed everywhere at this time. She yawned and, after quickly cleaning up the desk, began to look for warmer clothes.

In the evening, she talked to Seth for a long time. All the students were touched by the fact of the spies, but he did not show much interest in them, which led to false suspicions. He accepted them fairly calmly, explaining that he was already used to it.

She lit another candle and looked at the table. She knew she would have to correct her cleaning oversight later.

Seth. For some reason, she couldn't forget about this boy. She couldn't trust him completely, though he seemed nice and she didn't understand what scared her away. Other students probably had the same feeling, which is why they were so reluctant towards him

There was something strange about him that could not be defined. He wasn't conceited or dry, but he certainly considered himself more important than the rest of the group, though he tried not to show it openly. No rumor could move him. He didn't talk too much about others either, as if he were above all of this.

Kalena stretched out on the bed and sighed loudly. She didn't want to sleep, but at the same time, she was too tired to go back to studying. She closed her eyes and listened to the silence. Murmurs, the whistling of the wind, sounds of rain... Or hushed conversations and steps on the roof.

Her imagination went crazy. All because of spies.

*

"You sleep here," Zarkin pointed at a straw mat by his bed. "Now lie down and raise your hands."

"Are you going to tie me up?"

The boy smiled triumphantly.

"Thought you would go easy with me, huh? That I would let you into the quarters, you'll act obediently for a few hours, and after all cut our throats at night? Unfortunately, you hit a heavy opponent and you will have to make more effort."

The girl suddenly rose to a sitting position.

"My lord, believe me, I won't do you harm," she began.

"Either you let me tie you up now, or I do it myself, so tightly that you won't move. And I'll also gag you," he added, smirking. "What? Suddenly you don't want to be a slave anymore? I told you only a fool would voluntarily decide to do it."

Mei looked deep into his eyes, and for a moment he thought she would want to break free, but the girl lay back on the floor.

"So I'm stupid," she hissed.

"You are," he said dispassionately, busy binding her hands. "Don't think that tomorrow, when I'm in class, you'll be able to slip away. The gate is closed."

"How many nights will I have to spend this way to assure you I'm not sent by Righteous Conspiracy?"

"I'll think about it," he replied, lying on the bed. "Good night."