Chapter 4: Armories of Clapestris

Darina wears her favorite armory as she enters the main site for the hunting games. The stage has curvilinear designs by the best artists from Shapur. The grandiose carved woods emphasize the thrones of King Rashal, Queen Mariam, and Queen Dowager Tahaliel. Darina went near to them and saluted militarily.

“Darina, why are you not wearing the golden armory that I gave you?” Queen Dowager Tahaliel asked.

“As a leader of the cavalrymen, I am ought to wear the black armory for the hunting games, Your Majesty,” Darina replied politely.

Other players were glancing at her gears since they find it inappropriate for the event.

“But I assure to your highness that I will wear the golden armory for the ceremony. I only seek to keep the golden armory from getting soiled when it must be prepared for a spectacular event such as for the Prince.”

“You must dress up best for a great of your royal brother.” Queen Dowager Tahaliel finds Darina’s response satisfying.

“Your Majesty, I will proceed first to my tent,” Darina bid before stepping back to march.

She went to her tent and prepared herself for the hunting games. Darina noticed that the look of her tent is different from the other cavalry captains. Her attendants insisted to design it as one for a princess. The clothes of the tent are made of silk. The linen curtains are dyed in purple. Her armories and weapons are placed on a silk-mantled table.

Darina sets aside her favorite bow, the bronze dagger, and the iron knife. The shamshir, which was a present from her father king is her favorite among all swords. However, she sees it as inconvenient to use in the hunting games. Darina placed down the shamshir when the chief eunuch announced that Prince Thariem will visit her tent.

“Greetings, Your Majesty,” Darina said and bowed to the Prince.

“You may sit Darina,” Prince Tahriem said as he takes his seat first. “Darina, I’m astonished at how you were able to escape Queen Dowager’s intrigue. But Her Majesty always does it just like a grandmother she is.”

“Indeed. She even mentioned that it was her gift to me,” Darina smiled. “But I intended to not wear it for now,” Darina added while opening a wooden chest. The chest shows the golden armory of distinct features specially forged for Darina. “I brought it here to wear on the special ceremony for you.”

“You know that this day is for me, right?” Prince Thariem asked while lowering his voice, formulating the right words for Darina to remain in her place. “It seems like you prepared much for the hunting games. May I know what would you like to catch?”

“A deer, perhaps, or hares,” Darina replied. She was thinking that these are the easiest to hunt.

“Well then, I will take that as your oath. Don’t bring anything that is not a deer or a hare,” Prince Thariem said, making sure that Darina’s seized animals will not impress the majesties and the spectators. Prince Thariem believes that he is doing it right since the game is dedicated to his name. He would do the same if it is a special game for Darina. “Also, don’t harm yourself during the hunting games.”

“Do you care much about your sister’s safety?” Darina doubted that Prince Thariem has another end in commanding her to only have the deer or hares.

“It might be hard for you to get back right away if you chase mightier targets. I do not want you to miss my ceremony.”

Prince Thariem’s response didn’t suffice Darina’s intuition. His statements remain disquieting to his foster sister.

“As you wish,” Darina agreed, a little disheartened.

For Darina, Prince Thariem’s prohibition from hunting bigger animals is one thing. However, their unconventional conversation is another. In the last years that they had hunting games together, Prince Thariem never cared about it. He would just talk about what weapons Darina would bring or what they would do after the hunting games. As much as Darina tries to justify that Prince Thariem was only making sure that his day would run smoothly, she cannot help herself to feel a sense of defeat. She feels like her closest ally doesn’t understand her anymore.

“See you then, at the hunting games,” Prince Thariem said and left her at the tent.

The hunting game starts and the participants deployed themselves to different parts of the forest. Darina walked further away from other participants and even from Farrah. She has herself dive into her immense thoughts while passing through the uncleared paths of old trees and green blades.

However, the forest keeps Darina in a nearby company of noble ladies fixing themselves. These are the ladies who flatter their eyes and behave distinctively at the presence of the Prince. Interestingly, their conversation was about their learning.

“How about the Poem of Eliad? Surely, the chief scholars will ask us about it,” said one of them.

“The Poem of Eliad is about a left-behind child who faithfully waited to meet his parents at the main gates of Peshawar, the very place where his parents left him,” the other lady answered.

“This makes me wonder if the Royal Cavalry Captain has the same thoughts as the left-behind child?” The first lady suddenly changed the course of their topic.

“We barely know Darina. But she once said that she does not set high hopes to meet them. However, she is willing so if the time would come,” the second lady said.

Now Darina recalled that the second lady was the one learned together with her about the Clapestrisian literature. Her name was Malak and she said the same words Darina spilled.

“True, we barely know her. What if she is a daughter of a clan that rivals with the Lunekleare or of the kingdom hostile to our Clapestris? I cannot believe that we can let our guards off when it comes to her.”

Darina shrugged. These words always come when she is the center of a conversation. She took her arrow and composite bow to send a warning. The arrow struck a nearby tree where these ladies stand. The ladies altogether shrieked and fled the place.

“Too much blabber harms anyone,” Darina uttered while fetching the arrow. She sighed when their contentions come into her mind. They say that she is favored but there are still a few who thinks ill of her.

The worse that she heard was them calling her a freeloader. When she is around, they would advise her to perform well or the royal family will dispose of her at her failure. Darina can stand menacingly against the terrors of incursions and warfare and yet, this is her greatest fear, to get despised by and severed from the family who received her.

Others encourage Darina to retreat by leaving the Lunekleare house after an expression of gratitude. Others imbued in their gossips that Darina must choose to leave the royals to have her own peaceful life.

For Darina, it is not just a matter of peaceful life. She doesn’t want to live in ungrateful solitariness. Darina hates the retreating outlook on life. She desires to pay with honors the majesties who took care of her. She aims to show that she is worthy of being part of the Lunekleare Clan. The law and the royal declaration accept her as part of the royal family. It is not just about being a royal by law but a person that appreciates with all her heart the care and gifts she received.

How much does she have to work to be seen as a real Clapestrisian? Until her strength could. After all, Clapestris is her home. “Where the laws are for good, and nothing must be amiss.”

Even if Clapestris would desire more for her to get away, the more she would want to stay and prove that they must not regret having her in the city and the palace. She knows that she must work hard in all things and do better when appreciation is lacking. Now that the Prince doesn’t want her to stir a big name in the hunting games, she feels like being barred so.

“But who am I to defy the Prince? He will be a king soon. If I become a disappointment to his youth, then how can I even stay at Clapestris when he will reign as a king?” She thought while strengthening her inner voice that upholds submission. Darina still sees a good company in the Prince’s countenance. “So whatever his commandment be, may I not be someone that he abhors,” she said while looking up the cloudy heavens.

Darina heard a lashing of the leaves. She prepared herself in defense after a sense that something might attack her.

There it was, the lion leaping before her. She immediately ran away to find a good distance. But her only choice is to climb up a rock and shoot the lion with her arrow. Darina released the arrows while the lion is charging towards her. In mid-air, she shoots the fifth arrow and the lion knocked its head to the rock, falling back to the ground. The lion has one arrow struck on its body. She remembered the prince’s prohibition.

Darina took the arrows from the scene and even from the lion. Being a royal cavalry captain, her arrow bears a special emblem. It makes her weapons distinct from all armed men and one would know that it is of Darina. She should not bring the lion to the main site or that would enrage the Prince.

She returned with two stages and one hare although she conquered more beasts who tried attacking her. The spectators were glancing at each other as Darina placed her catch on the table.

"Well done, your highness,” the chief eunuch commented while tallying Darina’s scores. “It must be easy for you to catch these animals, your highness. Your countenance speaks that you were not tired at all.”

Darina only smiled. Before returning to the mains site, she took her time to wash her face and her arm guards. She also tied her hair. This is to stir a profound impression that she was not putting much effort into the hunting games. In this manner, the Prince would see that she indeed followed his order to only seize the animals she mentioned.

“Your Highness, was it difficult to catch bigger animals? It is only this year that you didn’t bring a bear or a tiger,” the chief eunuch asked sans any other intention than to keep a conversation. The chief eunuch was talkative since Darina’s friendliness makes him confident to chat with her.

“I think so,” Darina replied. “But I’ll be going ahead to change my armory.”

Darina returned to her tent. She immediately wiped the wet arrows she washed a while ago. She made sure that no weapons could reflect her fight against the beasts. Darina changed her inner clothes to red that can cover her neck. She puts on her golden armory and her golden helmet. It was heavier than the black armor and too precious to be worn for games. Darina took her golden scepter that signifies her grant authority as a fostered child and a royal cavalry captain. She sits upon her armored black horse and rode towards the main site where the ceremony will take place.

At the sight of Darina, the spectators brought themselves down and greeted her with peace. Even the maidens that prepared themselves to impress the Prince step back to salute Darina.

“Greetings, Your Highness,” they said in unison.

The attendants assembled to assist Darina. They led Darina to the throne next to Queen Mariam.

“Darina, your countenance is lovely,” Queen Mariam said. “Is this why you returned immediately from the game, only earning a few catches?”

“I would like to see more on Prince Thariem’s honor, Your Majesty. Which is why I hasted on preparing myself without spoiling the game,” Darina replied. Despite the event, she wanted to see what animals Prince Thariem would bring to the main site.

“Let me see you wearing clothing like mine. You are a royal cavalry captain but you are also a royal, a Lunekleare.” Queen Mariam reminded.

The queen’s reminder made Darina remember Queen Mariam’s reaction the first time she heard that Darina will join the path of the Clapestrisian military. Queen Mariam fainted because of Darina’s stern pursuit. The queen took much personal pleading for Darina to live like a princess. But Darina appealed to fulfill her duty both as a princess and as a cavalry captain. Queen Mariam was only convinced when she understood that Darina can perform great work for the kingdom while being able to protect herself. Queen Mariam was no more reluctant for Darina’s armored career when she found out that Darina was able to find her way back to the capital while others are searching for her.

“Then let us have it soon, Queen Mother,” Darina replied while beaming.

They ceased their conversation when they heard that the Prince is returning with many beasts and fowls seized. Prince Thariem brought a bear, two tigers, two lions, a stag, and three fowls. The chief eunuch tallied it right away while Prince Thariem takes his way before the throne.

“These are my catches, Your Majesty,” Prince Thariem said while pointing the caught items.

King Rashal stood up and went towards his son while saying, “Well done, my son. Well done.”

“I’m grateful, Father King,” Prince Thariem said and bowed to the king.

“It is because you are great,” King Rashal sincerely said and tapped the prince’s shoulders. “And this day is for you. So hurry up and take your best armor.”

Others participants returned at the news of the Prince’s great size. Everyone at the main site prepared themselves for the important event in the history of Clapestris. They stood up as King Rashal called his son to stand at the center.

The king summoned the attendants to bring the important symbol. Others began to tremble and felt the running of cold waters along with their frames as they saw the armory.

It is a special armory exclusive for a grandiose title and authority. Darina knows about this but she cannot help herself but get fascinated. She down even more to hide her tears. She has confusing feelings that she is unable to comprehend. Other people knelt as the king starts announcing.

“Today, I proclaim to all of you. Thariem of Lunekleare, the Crown Prince of Clapestris, is now, the Royal Knight of Clapestris, after the Order of Eren-Narses. The bearer of the highest title next to the King.”

The title of a Royal Knight is nobler than a Crowned Prince. The title made Queen Dowager cry silently. The last time she heard about this was when she was five years old. It’s been seventy years since she witnessed a proclamation. She cannot believe that an old woman like her was able to hear two royal knight proclamations in one lifetime. It makes her cry even more because the bearer is her grandson.

Everyone spoke blessings to the Prince who is also now a Royal Knight.

“Your Majesty, your servant is more grateful,” Prince Thariem said while kneeling. He is more than glad because the king has finally noticed his hard work. It paid off all the years that he thought King Rashal was never satisfied with his accomplishments. The king himself puts on the new armory for Prince Thariem. “And I will always be grateful to your kindness, Father King.”

Darina knows that Prince Thariem deserves the title. While they are celebrating, Darina could not feel the security of wearing the armory. Suddenly, she felt like losing her only familiar grounds. It is slowly getting eaten up by all the destined favor to the Prince. Her only hope to remain in the palace seems to fly at its revolting pace, leaving Darina's dreaming heartbeat in despair.