The Last Ritual

Danyel was going on a morning walk with his spy, maids, and guards when he saw a partially huge mess in the swordsmanship-practice area.

The trainees were gathered in a circle and cheering loudly.

When Danyel reached there; curious to see who was fighting, he was shocked to see his friend Amell- one of the best fighters in the empire being knocked about by…Gianna.

Wearing armor, she looked better than he had ever seen her before. Her hair was tucked into a bun which was wet from her sweat. She was smiling and panting at the same time.

Some were cheering for Gianna while others were encouraging Amell to get up and fight back. However, Amell was lacking energy so he gave up. He got up and said,

“You’re such a fighter, aren’t you? You defeated all the best guys here.”

Gianna smiled. She too was a bit tired after wrestling with seven muscular guys without taking a break. She defeated all of them; one by one. Though she was tired, she wanted more.

“Who’s next?” Gianna shouted. She just wanted to reassure herself that she was better than all of them.

No one saw Danyel as he stayed afar. But after seeing the scene, he wanted to try Gianna. He stepped forward.

“I am next.”

The crowd stopped cheering. The whole place went silent. Gianna was giving a victorious smile as if she was saying “You’re going to die.”

After switching into an armor kit which was brought by a trainee, Danyel was ready.

“Ready to lose, Princess?” Danyel asked with a laugh.

“You better watch out, Crown Prince!” Gianna warned.

After a trainee waved a flag, they both started attacking each other. Gianna was fighting way better than Danyel expected. She avoided three punches from Danyel but he could not avoid her shots. Gianna was using different techniques that Danyel never got to learn in the Elville Mountains. Plus, she was super-fast. If Danyel or any other Hesmian had to wrestle with a top-level Strian fighter like Minnah, he would have died immediately.

In no time, Danyel was knocked out too. He was pissed that he lost to Gianna. The crowd was silent because they were too afraid to cheer against the crown prince. But Amell came forward.

“Your imperial highness, your wife is a hell of a fighter.” He said, laughing.

“Shut up Amell. She’s not my wife yet. I just didn’t use all my skills because I underestimated her.” Danyel was angry.

“Up for a rematch?” Gianna asked like a champion.

“No. I don’t want to touch you anymore. It disgusts me.” His heart knew he lied.

“Anyway, good work, Gianna.” Amell gave a high five to Gianna.

Did he just call her by the name???

“Thanks, mate.” Gianna winked at Amell.

“Hey, you’re calling her by her name?” Danyel asked in wonder. They were THAT close??

Amell was one of the closest friends of Danyel since childhood, but he always addressed Danyel as ‘Your Imperial Highness’ even when Danyel insisted to call him by the name.

When Amell was awkwardly thinking of an answer, Gianna replied on his behalf.

“Yes. Are you surprised to see someone say my name correctly? Amell is just sane, that’s why.”

Danyel glared at Gianna and left angrily. Amell was worried about the Crown Prince, but glancing at Gianna washed away all his negative thoughts. He had never met such a fearless girl with a great sense of humor.

Minnah was looking at Gianna from a distance, being proud of her student.

After Gianna changed into a princess robe, she headed to the chamber.

“Amell is a nice guy. Isn’t it Emse Min…Nadya?” Gianna thought that he was more handsome than Danyel.

“Master Amell Bertillon is the youngest commander in the army. Now that the crown prince’s marriage is fixed, so all the aristocratic girls are trying to marry him. But Master Bertillon doesn’t like to get married.” Minnah described.

“Oh, he’s someone like me. I think I’ve found the perfect friend.” Gianna smiled.

“Forgive me, your royal highness, but you’re here to marry.” Sila, one of the other two maids of Gianna reminded.

On her way to the chamber, she saw a woman who might be in her 40s, approaching her.

“That is Lady Nimue; the first concubine of Emperor Narendra.” Minnah whispered.

Gianna quickly bowed to her.

“Oh, dear! You’re not supposed to bow to me.” Nimue said gently.

“You cannot stop me from respecting you, lady…um…Nimue.” Gianna gave a polite answer.

“How kind of you! I heard that you fight well. As the crown prince’s mother is not with us, you can see me as your mother-in-law, if you’re okay with that.”

“Thank you! I like that, mother-in-law.” Gianna thought that lady Nimue was very nice.

***************************************

The wedding day came as the time flew by. The empire was all set for the biggest celebration. Everywhere was decorated with roses and tulips. Both Danyel and Gianna were wearing their uncomfortable wedding dresses which included heavy crowns. Emperor Narendra seemed overwhelmed by the excitement. Finally, his son was going to marry the best girl he could ever find.

Looking at each other, Danyel and Gianna had their inner voices whispering.

“This is the unhappiest day of my life. Maybe this is my punishment for being a coward.” That was Danyel’s inner confession.

“What if this guy tries to do something to me tonight? Though he pretends like not interested, you can’t trust a man right?! Should I kill him? Like…should I kill my husband for touching me?” Gianna had an argument ongoing inside.

The wedding rituals started.

Most of the soldiers who were guarding the Hesmian palace borders were drunk that day. They had no clue that a huge army was on their way to break in.

“Hey, look at that. Isn’t that…isn’t that an army?” One soldier said.

“Yeah, maybe our army is returning from war.” Another one said.

Soon they remembered that the Hesmian army did not go to any war recently. But they were too late by then. The invaders were passing every barrier and swiftly approaching the main gate.

Meanwhile, the wedding rituals were going on, without anyone knowing about the current situation out of the gates.

“Now we come to the last ritual.” Said the nobleman who conducted the rituals.

At that very moment, even before a messenger reached the emperor, the gates were opened. Everyone including Emperor Narendra was shocked.

“Surrender or die.” The hoody guy aka the invader shouted.

The soldiers at the gate instantly directed their weapons at the invader, but something extremely unexpected happened.

Lady Nimue who was sitting at the side of the emperor grabbed a dagger and directed it towards Narendra’s neck.

“Drop your weapons or I’ll kill the emperor.” She shouted.

“Nimue!!”

Emperor Narendra was too shocked as if he was struck by a lightning, so he did not move.

“Nice one, lady. Looks like you’ve learnt punctuality.” The hoody guy whispered.

As they could do nothing but surrender, the soldiers dropped the weapons. Danyel and Gianna were panicked, but they could not move because of their uncomfortable dresses. All they could do was watch.

Then the hoody guy stepped forward and removed his hoody.

“Remington!” Narendra muttered.

Yes. It was Merikh Remington. He was the aristocratic guy who challenged Narendra for the throne, eventually got defeated, and left Hesmia a long ago. Everybody thought he might have died when he went missing because he had somehow vanished into the air. But no. Here we are. 

“You’re correct, my friend. Thought you forgot me.” Remington came forward fearlessly, followed by his army.

“But what are you doing here huh? Thought your chapter ended a long ago.” Narendra; who still had a dagger on his neck, spoke calmly.

Remington was slowly reaching the stage where the royal family stood. But the Hesmian archers came forward and covered them. One of them shot an arrow to Nimue’s hand, so she immediately let the emperor go. Then started a huge mess. Remington’s army started attacking and the Hesmian army was defending.

Emperor Narendra refused to leave even though the generals insisted. Instead, he said,

“Take the crown prince and the princess to a safe place.”

Gianna and Danyel were taken away immediately. Neither of them saw the emperor being shot in the heart by an arrow.

Removing all his uncomfortable dresses, Danyel wore his armor and tried to go to the battlefield. His guards refused.

“Sire, we’re ordered to take you to a safe place. You must leave the palace through the secret tunnel. It was the emperor’s command.”

As it was a must to follow the emperor’s commands, Danyel had to leave. But then he remembered that Yasvie was still in there.

“I have to go back,” Danyel said.

“No, your imperial highness. You must come with us.”

Leaving the two guards, Danyel ran to the water maids’ quarters.

“Yasvie!” He shouted.

Yasvie, who was hiding inside a room after hearing about the invasion, showed up in a second.

“I’m scared to death, sire.” She cried while hugging Danyel tightly.

“Shh…I’m with you now. Come, let’s go.” Danyel grabbed her right hand.

When they went to the tunnel, Danyel did not find his guards as they had gone searching for Danyel.

They went through the narrow tunnel and ended up in a jungle. Since Danyel forgot to close the tunnel, some Lisdonian soldiers followed them.

Luckily, Danyel had managed to bring his sword. Upon seeing them, Danyel stopped and directed his sword at them, inviting for a battle. Yasvie quickly hid behind him.

A fierce battle happened between the prince and the enemies. Anyhow, it ended giving Danyel a small cut on the left hand and giving the others…death.

Yasvie was so frightened that she stayed still for a few seconds. She gained the consciousness back only after Danyel shook her. Then they kept running through the jungle but had to stop because Danyel was bleeding. He keenly observed the jungle to find a place to hide which should be hard to notice.

“Look, there’s a cave down there. Let’s go.”

They went on a slope and got inside the cave. Yasvie found some herbs, so she helped Danyel to heal the wound.

Suddenly, they heard someone coming their way.