Warriors of Kagolania

It wasn't until the next day that Kalena became terrified.

She followed Galaspiael feeling her heart pounding and legs slowly becoming soft. She didn't dare to say a word.

They entered a second, smaller room and the girl turned pale when he saw Galaspiael take a long rod. When he noticed her reaction, he froze in place for a moment, then turned around with some strange glow in his eyes and wanted to say something, but at this very moment, Aymon entered the room.

"You started already?" He asked, closing the door. "Well, the sooner the better. Do it, she is already more terrified than it's necessary. Do not prolong."

"Turn around, Kalena." Galaspiael barely moved his lips. "And kneel."

She obeyed, not being able to stop crying. Until this moment, she was hoping, that the prince would have mercy on her. Until he told her to kneel, she was sure she would be spared.

The boy glanced at the rod for a long time and looked at Aymon reproachfully. The man just raised his eyebrows and remain silent.

The sound of the first two strokes and Kalena's scream. It was more caused by fear than pain because Galaspiael's blows could be borne. She moved so that he hit the middle of her back, where the pain was the slightest. After the eighth blow, Aymon got up and took the rod.

"What is this show? Have you agreed between yourself that you will pretend to hit and that it hurts her? You could have given five strokes, like everyone else, but I guess you just really wanted to show your power... and when it came to that, you can't handle it."

"Should I beat her to death?!" Galaspiael drawled, clenching his fists. Aymon looked at him pityingly.

"It's just a rod, and it's even softer than an ordinary stick. It doesn't even cut the skin, your girl could take thirty strokes with it." He stared at the boy. "How will you manage punishing people with death? Do you want executioner to tap the convict on the neck with an ax to preserve appearances? Is this how your infallibility as a ruler would look like? Somehow I can't imagine that."

Kalena was released. She ran out into the corridor, and Galaspiael stayed inside. She didn't turn back to look at him.

Zarkin agreed to let her sleep in his room, but in the end, Jin-Si took her. They spent the afternoon in the company of Seth, who talked about the methods of punishing rich children in Madegald.

In the evening Kalena caught a terrible fever, but fortunately, Samin came to Yagn-Sho at that time. He went to the quarters in person to report on Kirni's progress, and the prince asked him to take care of Kalena.

"I regret telling everything," he began, stirring the medicine vigorously. "I should know it would end up like this. Galaspiael has a difficult character. He tries to play calm but he has no spiritual balance. Situations like this clearly show that it would be best to wait for the coronation for a few more years."

"What I should do now?" The girl watched as he prepared her medicine. "Should I go?"

"Where?" Samin asked without looking up from the mug.

"Leave the Association," she explained. "Galaspiael hates me now, I have no reason to stay."

"I think you should try to reconcile with him. He devoted you a lot of time, which he should spend on something else, show some gratitude. Soon the coronation would take place and instead of preparing he's here with you and returns to the palace when he's forced to."

The girl sighed and looked away.

"I'll always be tied to him. A slave never becomes a free person, they can be at most a liberated slave. Even if I want to run away, he will find a way to keep me."

"He wants to keep you with you because you are precious to him."

"I'm a free person, right?!"

"Kalena, he's afraid of losing anyone. He would like to have control over when people appear and disappear from his life. Put yourself in his place sometimes." Samin handed her a clay mug with a warm thick paste. "I think I'll need more water. Is it bearable?"

"It tastes good."

"I can't stay here too long, but I hope it helps. I will prepare another portion if I leave it and leave it to Galaspiael. Try to fall asleep now. Tomorrow you will think about what to do."

*

The mixture worked and in the morning Kalena felt much better. She was still weak, but she suspected it was only because of the now-gone fever.

For a long time, she walked aimlessly around Yagn-Sho. She avoided entering the residential part to not run into Galaspiael, but she met him anyway. She wasn't prepared to meet him so soon.

The girl stopped, waiting for his reaction. Although she had a fever last night, she looked better than her master. At first, she thought that Galaspiael also was ill. He was pale with dark circles under the eyes. A gentle smile that was always visible on his face now disappeared.

"How do you feel?" he asked finally.

"It's all right," she said, trying to avoid his gaze. She wondered who should start talking first. In the end, he saved her from this dilemma.

"I regret what happened… I had no right to do this to you. I chose this punishment deliberately. I would like to justify myself, but I cannot find any explanation for my actions." Galaspiael knelt after these words, which caused her quite a shock. "I didn't act like a master or a friend. I am asking you for forgiveness, although I realize that I have seriously disappointed your trust. But if you give me a chance anyway, I'll try to fix what I destroyed.

It was harder than Kalena thought. She smiled, though she felt regret squeezing her throat. She hugged him despite wanting to push him away. She did not expect that he had hurt her so deeply. By beating her, even slightly, he broke the unwritten agreement that was in force between them.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't say those words." At that moment she couldn't do anything more. At least not now, when the wounds were still fresh.

"I swear I'll never hit you again. You have my word. And if I broke it, you have the right to hate me for the rest of my life!"

*

That evening, Kalena returned with the master to their room. He apologized a few times more and assured that such a situation would never happen between them again, but in his heart, he also felt that time could not be turned back. Something in their friendship had ended, and the apology could not completely heal the wounds.

The next day, the sun had not yet risen when Galaspiael discovered that the girl had fallen ill. The previous day she felt good, she only claimed to be weakened after a fever, and in the morning she lay almost unconscious and pale, not able to even sit on the bed. Her breath was shallow and wheezing, her lips were pale and her forehead was glistening with sweat beads. When Galaspiael said something to her, she started crying.

Tessale was angry that his sleep was interrupted, but when he saw the condition of the girl, he understood why Galaspiael woke him up so early.

"She was weak and she got sick," he said, "you said yourself she was overworking lately."

"It hit her so suddenly? She has been working for a long time."

"Kalena had a pretty hard time lately. After the punishment, she later also had a slight fever. Are you watching her eat?

"I don't have to, Kalena always eats full meals." The boy crouched by the bed on which she lay. "It's because of me! It's all my fault!"

"In my opinion, her emotions hurt her more than that flogging. I will give her a Misitin syrup, I still have some. It should break the fever, and later let her drink the Ao-meng potion. If that doesn't work, take her from Yagn-Sho. It could be mountain flu. It would hold tight, tire her, but let go eventually. Don't worry, she'll survive," Tessale added, seeing the look on Galaspiael's face. "You have to break a fever. Samin's mixture worked great before."

"There is nothing to wait for," Galaspiael decided, "give her medicine, and then I'll take her home."

"Not to the palace? This house of yours..."

"It's quiet and small, unlike the palace."

Without a word, Tessale went for medicine. Galaspiael packed a small bundle.

Recently, he devoted extremely little attention to his apprentice. He was a master only by name, he didn't care about Kalena at all. It wasn't due to laziness, but he still felt guilty.

Only after an hour did Kalena regain full consciousness, but she looked like a ghost.

"Are we going somewhere?" She asked, seeing that Galaspiael was preparing for the trip. "There will be a math test soon. I have to stay," she said and coughed heavily. "This tea was not good, it scratches my throat."

"You're sick, I'll take you to rest," he replied. "We don't leave forever, at most for a week. As soon as you feel better, we'll be back. I have good conditions to learn and recover. You will spend a moment there and you will gain strength.

The girl rubbed her eyes.

"I'm weak... I think I will pass out."

"Don't get up. You feel so after the medicine, it will pass."

He guessed that Tessale hadn't told him the truth and that in reality, Kalena's state is much worse, but he did not allow this thought for too long. Galaspiael knew he couldn't show anger or sadness because she would start to be suspicious.

Halfway to the city, they got caught by a downpour. Galaspiael cursed the ghosts of rain in his mind, being sure that chilling weather would worsen Kalena's health.

When they got home and quickly started taking off wet clothes from the girl. He wrapped her in a blanket and sat her by the fireplace.

"I'll light the fire and you'll feel better soon," he assured, rubbing the flints nervously. For the first time, he sincerely regretted not having a servant at home. He had to take care of everything, which took a very long time.

"Maybe I'll do it?" She offered.

"If you want. I will look for another blanket for you, maybe there will be a thick shirt in the wardrobe..." Galaspiael went silent when he heard the crackling of flames licking a dry wooden bale. "Should I prepare you a warm bath too?"

"I'm fine here," she assured him.

As soon as he wrapped her in an extra blanket, he prepared another portion of the medicine. The house got warm, so he moved the girl to her former bedroom.

"How's your back?" He asked when Kalena was sitting on the bed drinking the medicine.

"It's okay," she replied, sipping her drink slowly. "It hardly hurt anymore. If it comforts you, you didn't hit hard. I used to get hit by a whip and a bamboo stick and it hurt. This rod is nothing."

"But you cried," he noted.

"I cry very often, you should not pay attention to it. I wonder now, could this Gyeul have something to do with it?"

"Who?"

"The ghost of the Forbidden Zone has introduced itself this way. From what he said clearly, he could control human behavior. Maybe he put a spell on you?"

"Do you believe in that?"

"And you don't believe he could have such power?"

"What you are saying sounds to me like the worst possible attempt to justify what I did. It doesn't matter whether it exists or not, I and only I am responsible for my actions."

"He feeds on your suffering," Kalena lowered her voice to a whisper. "He wants to leave and can't until you have suffered enough. Others have heard it too, you can ask them. You fought him yourself, you still don't think he's real?"

"Still. It can be a collection of human fears that somehow took on such a form. Or I just wish he was fake and that's why I say it... I don't know."

"Have you ever tried to do something with water nephrite?" Suddenly she remembered that she didn't give it to Galaspiael. "I have one stone left. It's in my pants pocket."

The boy sat down on the bed again and touched her cheek.

"When you recover, we'll take care of it together. But now, you really should rest."

There was eternal silence in this house. Someone who did not like quiet places would feel uncomfortable there, but Kalena liked it.

Yagn-Sho was also a quiet place however Galaspiael's home was completely peaceful. Sitting alone in a quarters' garden gazebo or strolling along a long corridor, could calm down, but there was always someone's voice, footsteps, knocking, the rustling of paper heard in the distance. The Scribe's quarters were lively and its life could be heard everywhere.

But here it was just quiet. Pure, undisturbed like silence.

Galaspiael made sure that Kalena did not worry about her disease. However, the girl began to feel how severe her sickness really was. It was no need to tell her directly, she felt herself weakening with each passing moment.

Kalena wasn't afraid of death. she was more afraid of the pain of dying than death itself, which was liberation from all pain.

During the evening in the penalty room, she talked to Zarkin. He was not afraid of death or killing. What terrified him was humiliation and shame. When she told him that Galaspiael had hit her in the face, he replied that she perfectly understood why she wanted to leave. He stated that if Rikken had done this to him, he would have killed him in revenge.

*

The prince could not fall asleep again.

He tried to tell himself that Kalena's disease could not be a consequence of punishment. Still, he couldn't get rid of the guilt that bothered him as much as her back pain. Finally, the sleep came almost in the early morning, but Galaspiael was quickly woken up by a loud knock.

Someone really wanted to see him because the intrusive sound was getting louder. The annoyed prince rushed toward the main door and opened it vigorously.

"What?" He shouted and suddenly froze. Lin-Si turned out to be an uninvited guest. She glanced down the corridor and winced in disgust.

"How do you even stand living here?"

"Nice to see you too, my lady," he didn't even try to sound convincing. "Will you come in, or are these walls too vile for you?"

"Don't worry, I won't take you much time. Do you have something to eat, I'm starving?"

"I arrived only yesterday, so the pantry is empty," he answered yawning.

The princess looked at him disapprovingly.

"You would die without being fed. I will order someone to bring something from the palace. But to the point! I came because I'm worried about my sister. I have heard how it is treated in your school!" She threw a letter from Jin-Si almost in his face. Galaspiael sighed heavily and headed for the small tea room. Every time someone visited him, he led him there.

They sat opposite each other.

"I don't understand why you blame me, my dear," he said calmly, looking her straight in the eye. "I'm not a master of Jin."

"I know you had a decisive vote in choosing this punishment. Tell Tessale that if he dares to raise his hand on the Velikanian princess again, I will personally make sure he hangs or rots in the dungeon! And let this student of yours keep a distance because she's annoying lately! I don't like that they do anything together.

The boy snorted. He tried to hide his amusement, but after a while, he couldn't stand it and laughed out loud.

"She's what? As far as I remember correctly, no one forced your sister to join the Association. She chose herself, fully aware of what she was taking on. I have not talked to Tessale for anything. She simply broke the rules and was punished in the same way as everyone else."

A long silence fell between them.

"Yours too?" Lin-Si picked up after a moment.

"Why do you care?"

"I wish I could see it," she giggled. "I can imagine how much joy you must have by hurting her."

"Shut up," Galaspiael rose, "I'm not like that anymore. You don't know anything about me."

"Am I irritating you?"

"Terribly. The way you talk and what you talk about is simply disgusting. Your very presence is irritating."

"Did you talk to her this way?" The princess ran her hand over his back. "Have you lost your temper so? I've always liked it. Now since you here, why don't you come and visit me? I rather won't come back. I will write to Jin to stay away from this dirty girl. You know that their friendship would not make sense... Just like yours.

*

Mei slipped into the room. Rikken sat behind the desk, writing something and ignored her at first.

"Has Zarkin forgot something?" He finally asked when the girl started looking around.

"No, I lost something: she replied smiling.

"Next time, when he tells you to bring something, please don't agree. It's his fault that he's giddy, let him fly from the other end of the house.

"But that's not a problem for me," she assured, "I like to be on the move and I'm happy to be of useful. Zarkin certainly knows that he must be more attentive. And he is. I saw him fight and admit that he has a talent for martial arts. I did not expect a person with such a technique to turn out to be a student, I honestly thought that my rescuer was an exceptionally young master."

"In my opinion, the people which you came here with was not too demanding. He was very lucky and that saved him, if they were a bit more trained, I don't think he would get away. It would be better if his parents did not know that he was fighting with Madegaldian spies."

Letter. Her target was just lying on the table. Mei knew she had to do it well because she wouldn't get another chance.

"Isn't it strange that his parents are still slaves?"

'Did he tell you they are?" Rikken snorted but then smiled. "He sees them so. His family is formally free, they live in the house of the man who was their owner before, as his servants. According to Zarkin, they did not get freedom because they are still dependent."

Mei sat on the floor and picked up the book next to the bed. She pretended to read until Rikken had finished writing. She was very careful not to show her nervousness.

"No more wax left? I brought it, I'm sure." He stood up and looked at the things on the table.

"I can go bring some," she offered.

"No need, I'll go myself."

It was the chance she was waiting for. As soon as he left, she grabbed the pen, unfolded the letter and began to carefully rewrite it on blank paper, changing the parts about Zarkin. She wrote about the fact that he achieved a high rank in the fighting chart and has a unique talent for archery and maths. She worked quickly but was aware that it's still too long. The pain in her hand radiated up to the shoulder. A little more... the ending, signature and copy was ready. She rolled the original card and put it in her pocket.

She did it.