6. STRANGE

After walking for more than four hours, they finally got to the capital and they were taken to the palace where the other maids and the head servants for each quarters were already waiting to receive them since the news of them coming already arrived before them thanks to the messenger.

The servants hurried and lined up to welcome them with their heads bowed in respect while Falkor and Beta Loras led the group of hostages in.

“My King, the Prince and the Beta are around with the hostages” Obi informed the Alpha who was studying in his room

“Really? I should go welcome them then” he replied standing up and walked to the court where they were standing with the hostages

“My Alpha, we are back and victorious, we even brought hostages” Beta Loras announced with a smile

“Father, I am back” Prince Falkor said bowing to the Alpha

“I can see that, you are welcome. You should rest and take care of yourselves so you can replenish every energy” the Alpha addressed them and turned to go before turning back to face Falkor

“You should come see me for a bit” the Alpha instructed him and moved back to his room

“Take the maids and assign them to their appropriates quarters, let them rest because of the journey, they will start working the day after tomorrow” the beta commanded and the head maids bowed in response

The hostages were ushered to their various quarters after being split according to their ages and strengths, Elora was assigned to Falkor’s quarters where he will be working for him but all that was not her problem, the only thing on her mind was her mother. What would have happened to the dead body? Will her mother just rot away? She was so unsettled about the thought but sadly there was nothing she could do

****

Falkor changed his clothes and went to visit his father who requested for his presence, the guard at the door announced his presence and the father told him to come in immediately

“Have some teas prepared for us” the Alpha said motioning to Obi who ran out to carry out the order immediately

“How was the war? I hope you are not hurt anywhere” he started and Falkor smiled

“You should know that I am always careful father, I was not hurt anywhere, I am as sound as I can be” Falkor replied

“That’s good. Did you meet with Jaqen? How is he doing?” he asked further

“Yes, I met with him at the border and he’s doing fine. He went back to his adventures after we got to the town” Falkor answered immediately

“I wonder what kind of Prince doesn’t stay in the palace, he just hates being in the same space as me” the Alpha muttered with a sigh as Obi placed the tray of teacups in front of them

“He’s not a kid father, he will be fine and he will be here for the hunting festival so you should be able to see him soon” Falkor commented and took a sip of his tea

“the hunting festival, that reminds me. I should see the Beta over that. You can go visit your mother and rest, I shouldn’t take so much of your time since you are probably tired” he stated and the Prince stood up to take his leave

“You are bent on not seeing me till the day I die? So selfish a boy!” The Alpha muttered as he thought about his second Prince who hated being in the palace than anything

***

Elora and other ladies were brought to Falkor’s quarters and their clothes were changed to yellow gowns with blue strips at the chest area. The other maids serving Prince Falkor were also putting on the same attires as a means of identification for whom they served. She was brought into the room with older maids and shown her bed space.

There was a small cupboard near her bed where she placed her other piece of gown and the cloth she wore to the palace, which was the only luggage she had with her. The head maid told them that they will be given their extra piece of underwear as soon as possible since they couldn’t bring them from their own houses.

The beds were in double wooden bunks and luckily for her, she got a space at the down side so she wouldn’t go through the stress of climbing up and there were three of it in the room making them a total of six people in the room. She climbed into her bed and faced the wall to continue thinking about the memories of her mom but her thoughts kept getting interrupted with the noises coming from the other maids in the room.

“Hey, did you see the eldest Prince in his war outfit? He was so hot” one of them remarked and the others supported with giggles and blushes

She turned around to see the girls discussing and discovered that she was the only new maid in the room

“I thought they were from the same town with me and are still drooling on our captor, I would have cursed them with the gods” she thought to herself and faced the wall once again to continue her thoughts

“I should probably stay fit and appealing to him whenever I serve him, who knows? He might be into me eventually” another remarked and they giggled once again

They kept on talking about how good looking he was, how tall but how brutal he is because he doesn’t pardon mistakes while she just listened on her bed. After a while, her mind drifted to the other Prince whom she saw his face in the darkness and she realized that she haven’t seen him ever since the time they set out in the morning, she didn’t know when he branched at the town.

“I wonder why I haven’t seen that bastard around” she wondered aloud and the room went silent at the sound of her voice

“Bastard? What bastard?” one of them slowly asked and she turned to look at them, it was then she realized that she had said her thought aloud

“I mean my brother, I didn’t see him ever since the war happened” she quickly replied lying her way out of it

“Oh you had a brother? That’s so sad, you might never see him in this palace. The palace is so big that you might not see him even for a year” one of them with her tiny eyes almost hooded by the skin replied with an expression of her feeling bad for Elora

“Ah I see” she slowly remarked and turned to face the wall

“But what’s your name? You haven’t introduced yourself to us. We didn’t want to disturb you since we thought you were sleeping” the lady asked

“I am Elora” she stated her name before turning back to the wall once again

“Ah Elora, that’s the first time I’m hearing such a name but it must have a beautiful meaning” the lady blabbered while she just nodded

“You should rest a lot because your work will start fully tomorrow and I should let you on a little secret, we don’t make mistakes here because it’s not allowed, a little mistake might cost you your life” the lady said to her

“that’s scary” she replied trying to flow with the conversation

“Yes, very scary. The Prince doesn’t give any second chance so you have to be very careful in anything you do” the lady added another girl from the room nudged her shoulder to caution her

“Why are you scaring her already? Just let her learn everything slowly” the girl said eyeing her and the lady shut up

“What is your name?” she asked the lady who was lecturing her about the palace

“my name? I am ore” the lady replied cheerfully

“Oh Ore” she whispered once again wondering why she was so cheerful as a maid in the quarters of someone said to be brutal and doesn’t let mistakes slide

“what of you?” she asked turning to the lady who nudged Ore earlier

“My name is Alexa” the girl replied

“Okay so you are both Alexa and Ore” she repeated before turning back to the wall and after staring at it for some minutes, she was able to sleep off.

****

Jaqen had changed his clothes before getting to his destination, he branched at the river and washed the blood and dirt off his face and body so he would appear clean. He stepped into the small inn where he would always lodge whenever he is in town and ordered for his favorite

“You have been absent for quite a while” the owner of the inn said placing the tray of soup and roasted potatoes in front of him

“I went on an adventure as usual, you should know how much I hate staying at a place for a long time” he replied with a smile

“You smell like blood, I guess your adventure is a battlefield this time” the lady remarked and he paused the spoon he was taking to his mouth in shock

“How come you are so accurate? How did you know? I made sure to wash everything off” he countered

“I guess you can call it a hunch, enjoy your meal” she replied with a smile and turned to leave with the empty tray and also went to serve other customers

“She’s suspicious” he muttered as he resumed his food before someone rushed in from the back

“My Prin..” the figure wanted to shout but a glare from him made him shut up

“My Lord” the figure ended up saying instead as he covered his mouth

“How many times will I tell you not to ever call me that once we are outside?” he lashed at him and the poor man folded his lips

“I’m sorry, it just slipped out of my mouth” the man apologized with a smile but he just eyed him before taking a cup of water

“How was your trip? I didn’t expect you to come back so soon and also why didn’t you go back to the palace to at least see your father” the man added and Jaqen looked up to him with a stern look

“Mention the palace one more time and I will make sure to rip your heart out of your mouth” he said through the mind link and the man quickly zipped his mouth

“I’m sorry my Lord” the man apologized before taking the bag lying beside him inside the room already assigned to him

The man, Derib was his assistant who has been with him for most years of his life, he basically knows everything about him and they were of the same age range even though the man was a year older.

He finished his food and was staring at the bright moon in the sky when a lady dressed in a black robe and a black hat covering the side of her face passed by on the horse, he wondered why a woman would ride so fast but before he could blink, the horse was in his face

“What do you think you are doing?” he yelled at her and she smiled under her hat before bowing a bit

“Forgive me my Lord, my dear Mal here made a little mistake” she said pointing to the horse

“You should ride your so called Mal with caution, why would you wound someone by riding that fast?” he questioned placing his hands at his back

“Although Mal runs so fast, he still couldn’t run past fate. Your fate is like that of Mal, you are agile, fast and swift, your fate is right in front of you. Your illness that you have been battling with for a long time, its cure is right in front of you, it’s now up to you to be smart like Mal and never miss the chance” the woman said and before Jaqen could process what he heard and reply, the woman already took off.

“Just who is that woman?” he said to himself and ran to climb his horse to chase after her but strangely, she already disappeared into the thin air