Scared Of The Unknown

Meanwhile in a hidden kingdom far away from Zoavale or Country Z for short. 

"You've gotten weak, Liam." Xavier said to his elder brother. They were in the castle's huge training yard.

Satia sat on the gazebo on the far end of the train yard as she watched her two elder brothers train.

The sound of swords echoed in the train yard, as both princes slashed their swords at each other.

For the umpteenth time, Xavier had his sword hanging on the throat of Liam as he panted hard trying to catch his breath.

"Are sure you're alright Liam. I've even lost count on the number of times you've lost to me. Maybe spending time outside the kingdom is making you weak, don't you think."

Liam shrugged his shoulders, feeling less concerned about his younger brother's numerous victories in their friendly sword fight.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied as they both walked towards the direction of Satia.

"I'm just saying that you don't fight as well as you used to cause you've lacked practice." Xavier pointed out as they sat down next to their younger sister.

"Why don't we let Sati decide who the victor is." Liam said as he turned to Satia for her to judge the fight.

"Of course big brother Liam is the winner." Satia quickly said, not thinking about it twice.

Liam had always been her favourite amongst her seven elder brothers so she always took his side even when he was wrong.

"What do you mean by he's the winner? Are you blind, huh? I obviously won." Xavier said getting angry that their little sister once again sided Liam.

"Maybe to yourself, you are the winner, but big brother Liam is the winner to me." She replied smiling at her elder brothers which irritated Xavier the more.

"Humph, I seriously don't get what's there to like about Liam. What the hell would I do to be your favorite?" Xavier said getting frustrated that all his attempts to make Satia consider him her favorite brother, was futile.

"What happened to having no favourites?" Daria, the Queen's voice came from the entrance of the train yard.

"Good morning, Your Majesty." Xavier and Liam bowed slightly to their mother. "Good morning, mother." Satia said enveloping her mom in a hug.

"Will you stop being formal every time? Look around you, it's just us here. What did I say about addressing me as 'Your Majesty' when there's no one around?" Daria questioned her sons.

"That we shouldn't." Xavier responded, smiling sheepishly.

"And young lady, what did I say about having favorites?" She turned to Satia with her brow raised.

"I don't have any favourite. Big brother Liam obviously won. I was just being truthful. That's all." Satia said pouting her lips.

Xavier scoffed. "As if. He lost to me numerous times. If it wasn't just a friendly spar session, and if he wasn't my brother, he would have been dead over and over again." He said proudly.

"Come on brother, let's spar in the presence of mom for her to judge." Xavier said unsheathing his sword. "That's enough sparing for today, let's go in for breakfast." Daria said urging Xavier to put his sword back.

All four walked through the castle hall with the maidens and guards giving a slight bow as they walked pass.

They arrived at the castles dining hall. The other five princes were already seated and stood up once the Queen walked in.

"Good morning, Your Majesty." They all said in unison which made Daria to roll her eyes contemptuously.

"What will I do to get you boys call me mother?" She asked rhetorically.

She sat down with Liam sitting by her right. Xavier and the rest of his siblings down afterwards.

The kingdom currently had no king after the death of their first king and the betrayal of the second.

Both were the husband's of Daria. She married Claudius after her husband and Liam's dad died when Liam was just 3 years old.

She was living a happy life with Claudius and their 6 children before he made a plot against the kingdom and was later executed.

Since then she had decided to be the ruler of Amstrid till Liam was of age to rule which was just around the corner since he would be turning 25 in a matter of months.

"Sati darling, why don't you bless the meal." Daria said. Satia was just 9 years old.

She was dearly loved by her mother the Queen, and her seven brothers.

"Thank you dear Lord for the food and bless each and everyone of us. Don't forget to give food to those who don't have. Amen." She made a short prayer and started eating immediately afterwards.

"Slow down, else you would choke." Darius, her immediate elder brother said staring at his younger sister's swollen cheeks filled with food.

"Who told you I'll choke." She managed to say with all the food in her mouth and accidentally swallowed poorly chewed food, which caused her to cough loudly.

"Here, have a glass of milk." Zerys said handing her a glass of milk.

He was the second child of King Claudius and Xavier's immediate younger brother.

"You know you shouldn't stuff your mouth with so much food and still talk at the same time." Kyle scolded.

Arthur and Kai, who were once eating their foods quietly, became worried

"Be careful next time."

"Yeah. Try not to rush your food next time." They both added when Sati stopped choking.

After the near death experience, the hall became lively once more with all eight siblings conversing cheerfully.

The Queen looked at her children, from Liam, to Xavier, to Zerys, down to Kyle, Arthur, Kai, Darius, and her eyes finally landed on Satia.

She loved her kids so much that she was willing to do anything for them. They all noticed the Queen looking at them instead of eating.

"Are you alright, mom?" Satia was the first to ask.

"Yeah. You've not touched your food." Darius added looking worried. Soon all eight children became worried as they all stopped eating and turned to their mother, but she was lost in her train of thoughts.

Tears rolled down the Queen's eyes when she realised she had been thinking much making her completely oblivious of the worries of her children. They all stood from their seats and went to their mother's side the moment tears started rolling down her cheeks.