The final duel

LOREN POV

It was dusk.I sat in front of my room thinking of Nate's well being.suddenly I heard footsteps and I turned.

A guard from nate residence, delivered a message by prince nate to see him.

I entered his palace. He sat outside with princess kresna across the table.

I rushed and hugged him behind his chair, feeling relieved, "oh nate".

I released him and placed my hands on his shoulder as I looked at him worriedly, "are you alright?, have you eaten?, how do you feel?, do you know how worried I was?".

" Loren",he called softly, his voice sounded weak,"am fine".

I looked at princess kresna and bowed to her,"your highness".

I sat on the empty chair with them and stared at nate," are you really fine?".

" I am",he reassured.

I can't even see his expression if not I could have been able to read if he was fine or not,but him spewing blood,is it really the first time.

I looked at him with concern,"you are not,if you were,you won't be___",I glanced at the princess and sighed,I shouldn't really talk about him spewing blood in front of the princess.

"Who are you?",princess kresna asked.

"Loren sorock,your highness".

"Why are you raising your voice at my papa?",she asked.

"Your highness am not_",I sighed and smiled,"your highness,are you enjoying the weather?".

She didn't answer me and I was embarrassed.

"By the time I summoned you,she wasn't here,she must have been worried about me",nate whispered to me.

"Papa,let's take a stroll,it has been long",she whined.

"Brother!",Prince jers yelled and ran toward us.

I bowed to him," your highness".

" Uncle!"princes kresna ran with open arms to prince jers and he carried her  up.

He smiled," the little princess is now heavy,you're eating a lot right?".

She nodded cheerfully.

Prince jers pinched her cheek playfully," that's right,eat all you want,you're the first grandchild of his majesty.

He dropped her down . she ran back to nate and dragged his sleeve,"let's all stroll,come on",she whined.

Nate carried her on his laps and placed his hand on her cheeks,"I'll make it up to you,stroll with your uncle prince jers,I promise you okay,be a good girl".

She pushed his hands away and ran to prince jers angrily and they left the residence.

"You must be wondering why she calls me papa right?. Am not her father and she doesn't think I am.it won't be possible.

It doesn't bother me when she calls me that.growing without parents but attendants and guards with her,no one of her age to talk to,is really heartbreaking,maybe if we were born outside,she could have made friends already".

Nate continued and looked at me," princess kresna is one of the very important persons to me.

I glanced at him,"one of the important persons?,who are the remaining ones?",I asked,knowing I'll be one of them,I smiled in my mind.

"Consort whitelotus,prince jers,maybe prince keystone ,however,he can be very annoying,ivan and lastly",he turned his head to me,"you".

I couldn't hide my smile that came out widely than I expected,I wanted to hide it,but it betrayed me.

He placed his hand on his forehead and groaned in pain.

"Your  highness,are you alright" ivan asked.

"It feels like my head is spinning,I need to rest,you can leave us,loren will take me inside",Nate said.

Ivan bowed,"I'll be outside your bedroom chamber,then.

I helped him to his bedroom chamber ,laid him gently on his bed and tucked him.

I sat on the corner of the bed as I stared at him," was your face unmasked when you were in the guest chamber?".

"Yes",he said.

" I see",I stared at him and immediately removed his mask.

He immediately went under his blanket," loren!",he yelled.

I scowled and raised my voice," nate!,stop this!,what did I tell you before!,I don't believe in the badluck,

your face brings!".

" Why don't you listen!",he sobbed.

Ivan stormed inside and glanced at me," your highness,is there any problem",he looked at me,"what did you do".

"Ivan,it's fine,you can go back",he reassured.

I felt guilty for making him cry,"nate",I called.

"Loren,please go",he said with a shaky voice as he sobbed.

I felt like an arrow passed through my heart and I knelt in front of him as he was under his blanket,"Nate,am sorry,am really sorry,I know you're angry with me,I've hurt you,I know,am sorry".

"Ivan",he called.

Ivan entered the room,"your highness".

"Please see loren out".

I stood up and followed ivan outside as he closed the door behind him.

He held my arm forcefully,"what did you do?huh?,I stayed by his side till he opened his eyes,with how weak he was,he said,please call loren,and now he's like this".

I flickered my eyes," I...I removed his mask",I stuttered,"but I didn't see anything!,he immediately went under his blanket".

"But he told you not to remove it, didn't he?!",ivan yelled.

" His face was unmasked the whole time you were by his side ,so why does he think you won't have badluck!".

" It's different loren".

" What is different",I exhaled and left his residence.

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

" Surprise to see you early this time loren",dibengi said flatly.

I sat on my bed and exhaled,"I messed up, dibengi." I don't think nate will ever want to see me again".

Non,dibengi and vitskit eyes widened.

" What did you do",non asked.

" Are we going to be beheaded",vitskit asked.

" Should we flee",dibengi asked.

I heaved a sigh," I don't think we will be beheaded or we should flee,I removed his mask".

They gasped.

" How does he look like?",vitskit asked.

" Is his face burnt?",non asked.

" Does he have a scar?", dibengi asked.

"I Didn't see it,he went under his blanket immediately,however I really feel guilty".

Dibengi clapped his hands once,"you know what will be good for you now,huh,huh",raising his eyebrows.

"What?",I asked.

He smiled,"a bath,let's go to the stream outside the palace and cool off" .

" It's late, another day".

" Don't you stay in prince nate residence very late,let's go",dibengi dragged me outside.

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

The seven days were complete.it was the duel between loren and dibengi. The officials were present,all the unknown warriors in the capital who was not on duty were present,the royals in the palace were present apart from prince nate,the 7th prince.

As loren stood across dibengi on the arena,he ran his eyes around but didn't see nate,he wasn't motivated to fight as he felt nate was still angry with him.

His eyes litted up when he saw prince nate arrive.

The drums started playing,indicating that the duel is about to start.

Loren unsheathed his sword in front of him and smiled,"my mentor,my best friend,my brother,don't go easy on me".

Dibengi smirked,"I won't".

"Let's do this!",they yelled as they charged at each other.

They fought like their feets weren't on the ground,they were swift,they both had good stance and stamina.

The officials nodded their heads at their performance.

None of them got tired or even went off the arena.

People awed.it went for a longtime,people were amazed, including i,the writer.

They avoided injuring themselves but didn't hesitate to thrust their swords against each other.

Three hours passed,they stopped to catch their breath a little,both were drenched in sweats.

Then they continued sparring.

They charged their swords at each other's.

Loren smiled,"as expected of you,my mentor".

"What will happen to the winner",dibengi asked.

"I don't know,but I hope his majesty won't give you a wife,the lady will run away in the night,you snore like a monster!",loren laughed.

They released their swords and continued to thrust and parry against each other.

But suddenly dibengi sword went off the arena.

People gasped and loren paused with his eyes widened.

The bell rang.

They cheered for loren however he didn't feel like a winner. He knew he was tired,he almost gave up,but suddenly,dibengi lost grip of his sword,loren couldn't accept it.

"Loren sorock",the majesty called.

Loren went on his knees and bowed,"your majesty".

"You did well"