The Revelation.
Towards the Palace.
"Who do I see?"
The guard stopped talking for a while. One of two guards who were always at the gate of the castle. Those same two guards who had had a clash with the two sisters who had visited the palace earlier that day.
"Not anyone presently. Used to see Taoma and Ruiti and Veilma, and Miatla and --"
The first guard snapped at the fool making a list,
"Would you just shut the fuck up and look towards the direction of my face?"
The second guard looked towards the direction the first guard had been looking at. His jaw dropped as he muttered,
"Gods be damned. Isn't that the king?"
He pointed at the man dressed in blue royal apparel and was staggering towards the castle. His form was not in its full fledged yet, so they couldn't see so clearly.
"How could that be? Was he drunk or something."
The first guard doubted for a while as the man kept coming closer and closer till his face was fully formed, and off the trail of the distance's wiles.
"It's the king!!!!"
The second guard screamed. The king had one of his palms clasped to his belly, blood fighting its way out of the huge pore.
Then suddenly the king fell few metres away from the castle.
"Retard."
The first guard cussed the second as he ran in the direction of the king. They both got there quickly and lifted the king up. They began to bear him towards the castle.
The king's eyelids were weary and stuffy. They were beginning to shut gradually. His nose had piles of blood, and his face contoured with several swells as though he was punched heavily several times.
The noise of the guards entering the castle alerted the other guards, as well as the princess who was weaving on a fashioned traditional box. She had just women a man in armor with her thread.
"What's wrong!"
The princess rushed into the throne hall as the guards placed the king on an elevated but comfortable alternative for a sick bed.
"We just saw him coming all by himself and before we could even figure out what was happening, he collapsed. He seemed to had been ambushed and beaten severally."
The second guard explained in details, making sure to exclude their own negligence.
The Princess's face had been smothered, her throat wielding a recent sob,
"These ladies... How about his gaurds and carriage and all..."
The first guard replied,
"I'm afraid he didn't return with any of those. But we'll go now into the forest in the same direction and figure out what happened."
She didn't nudge them to go neither did she restrain them. Some of the guards left the palace immediately to figure out what was wrong.
"Father... Father... I warned you not to go with them. I knew those ladies were evil."
She began to cry, her tears salty and pure. Her cheek were transparent through the trail of saline liquid.
She shook her father gently till the poor man flipped the pages of his weak eyelids open and forced few words out,
"Leave us alone."
The Princess stopped crying at that and looked at his swollen face. She didn't know what to think. The wave of pity was strong and crushing.
She looked angrily at the two guards who were still present and shot them the what-the-fuck-are-you-still-doing-here kinda glare. The guards scrambled off.
"Should I call the chiefs, father or the nurse. Call the healer."
She screamed at the guards who were running out. What had she been thinking, wasn't that what she was supposed to do in the first place.
But his weak pace of breath came in strained words,
"I don't think they'll be a need for that."
"Don't say that father. You'll be fine."
She promised even though she wasn't sure of that. She felt torn and beaten. She felt like dying with him. She made her worries known,
"You can't die father, you can't. Not now."
Tears wielding in her throat again. She was fighting it as well as the urge to tell him the main reason of her stance.
"Baby, it's not what you think. Some of the guards who escorted me were spies from a neighboring village."
He paused. He wished he could stop talking but he couldn't. He wanted badly to, because all the words formation did was taunt his internal organs.
But then he kept on the trail,
"Thanks to the gods for the ladies. They had me flee after been stabbed and kept fighting the guards. One of them came after and beat the hell out of me..."
He coughed and dragged in some pressured but warm air, her soft palm caressing his now bare chest,
"But as though the gods were merciful. A panther from nowhere knocked the man from over me and feasted on him while I fled."
He quit talking. The Princess's face was filled with fresh tears and their tracks. She kissed him all over his face then his lips. She brought her face up and muttered,
"But you can't die now. I carry your baby."
He tilted his face to hold her in his gaze. His broken face was contoured with confusion, even the bruises couldn't hide the stance.
"Yes I am."
Her voice broke. He struggled to raise his hand gently and touch it to her belly. She helped him. But first, she made him touch her boobs then placed the palm on her belly and supported it with hers.
His face broke into a wierd smile, she smiled back as he forced his words out,
"Now is time to tell the people the truth of our relationship."
At that, she removed his hand from her belly and helped it back on the bed.
"How can I? Who would believe that I am not your daughter but some forest girl you rescued and nurtured as your daughter? That isn't even the best news after what happened to their king."
Her tone bitter and indecisive. He tried to hold her hand, he did.
"Trust me. It's the best option. And by that ..."
He coughed. That time, he coughed blood. She was all over him at that,
"Do not say a word anymore. I understand. I'll do just as you say. But stay alive. We should care for the baby together."
She started to cry again. He squeezed her hand gently but weakly,
"Now I don't know which hurts more. The pain of the sword or your tears."
She cried even more, he continued,
"Be the queen of the land and in turn our son will be king. But if you keep the news from them..."
He sneezed and coughed intermittently, his life dwindling in front of his eyes,
"They won't have a reason to respect a woman. But the son will give them that reason."
He stopped talking and smiled at her. Then he tilted his face sideways and looked towards the neighboring but seemingly far wall. As cold as the wall was, was now as cold as his heart.
"My Lord."
She called but he wouldn't move. His breath and soul had dispersed.
Then suddenly, there was a movement from the door, the chiefs began to hurry into the palace as well as many of the healers of the land.
She only remained there, her face buried in the chest of the corpse.
Wasn't his death a birth of chaos on her?!
