69 King of Dream Kingdom

In the wee hours of the morning, when the sun was still young, an enormous soul beast soaring in the air, finally landed within the royal palace of Dream Kingdom. As terrifying as the soul beast was, with its head twice the size of a fully grown human, everyone within the palace who saw the magnificent beast stared ever so slightly, and then went about their daily affairs as though the presence of a True Vermilion Dragon was the most normal thing on a Saturday morning.

Once the fiery red dragon was sure it had safely landed in the vast compound, a young maiden deftly climbed down from the beast, while holding a basket in her hand. Ashesi gently stroked the scaly head of the dragon with her other hand, and the dragon grunted like some kind of small adorable animal. The young girl chuckled.

"I'm not leaving you forever, you know. I'll call you as soon as I'm done, okay?"

The dragon stared meaningfully into Ashesi's eyes. It was like she was silently having a conversation with the young beautiful maiden standing before her.

[Okay then. I shall see you soon.] A wise sounding voice of a woman echoed right in Ashesi's head.

"Farah," Ashesi began slowly, a bitter smile on her face. "Are you sure you don't want to see Rojorn?"

[I am. Maybe another time.]

Ashesi nodded in understanding. "If you say so. I'll tell him you said hello."

"Lady Ashesi." A voice called from behind.

The young lady closed her eyes briefly then bit her lips as though bracing herself for whatever was to come as soon as she heard the voice. Why did it seem like this man was always right behind her every time she came into the palace?

[Does he know how much you can't stand him?] Farah said in an amused voice.

Ashesi smiled. It turned out that having a psychic connection with soul beasts can be annoying sometimes. Those beasts always knew exactly how you felt. Ashesi turned to face the man, the smile on her face neither expressing pleasure nor disdain. Her long silky hair fluttered with the wind giving her the appearance of an exquisite painting.

"Commander Wamin." Ashesi said, trying her best to filter the displeasure from her tone.

In his imposing uniform and domineering stature, Commander Wamin looked every bit of the head of security in the royal palace. For some reasons Ashesi could not explain, she had never been able to trust this man. Eight years ago, before Commander Wamin was the head of security with the title of commander, he was one of the personal guards of the young princes and princess. To put it mildly, he failed colossally at his duty. At that time, Ashesi was only nine years, and though she was too young to know the full story, she understood that Commander Wamin's poor judgement resulted in a terrible tragedy she had not completely recovered from. It did not matter if the real perpetrator was apprehended and dealt with by royal decree. She still could not bring herself to trust this man.

As someone who easily understood the minds of soul beasts, Ashesi trusted in her instincts when it came to reading people. And for all those years, in spite of the amiable smile Commander Wamin put on whenever he saw the young lady, Ashesi would still not trust him.

[Good luck.] Farah said in Ashesi's mind. Then in one swift motion, the dragon soared right back into the air and was soon gone out of the palace.

"I didn't know you were coming, my lady." The middle-aged commander said in his ever-fatherly voice.

Ashesi almost physically recoiled, yet the smile on her face remained unchanged. "That's odd. No one told me I needed an invitation letter from you first before coming to see my uncle." It was always like this. Whenever she visited the palace, she always had this strange feeling of being watched. And of course, Commander Wamin was sure to be always lurking around the corner. Perhaps, as head of security, he was trying to keep her safe. But she did not need his protection. She wouldn't even let Baono, her bodyguard, escort her to the palace.

People usually had this idea that she was delicate and in need of protection. It was almost like whenever they looked at her, all they could see was what happened eight years ago; all they could see was a helpless and devastated nine year old. And as she stared deeply into the brown orbs of the commander, Ashesi could recognize that look of pity all too well. Yet, there was something about it that made her feel tense and wary.

Commander Wamin bowed apologetically. "Forgive me, Lady Ashesi. That was not the intention of my words."

"Well, unless you have something important to tell me, I'll take my leave."

"Of course, your ladyship. But I was only concerned for the health of the king. The court physician suggested he rests for today."

"He's been resting for eight years." She said more to herself than to the commander, as she stared at her palm. But the forlorn look in her eyes were easily replaced by contempt when she directed her gaze back at Commander Wamin. "If Uncle wants to rest, he can tell me himself."

And with that, Ashesi walked away.

As Commander Wamin watched the young lady leave, the smile on his face grew dimmer and dimmer until his face was stone cold. He knew exactly how sweet and kind the lady was, after all, he could always see the way she interacted with the servants in the palace. But for some reason he could not quite place, the lady was always cold to him, albeit passively. Her behavior usually baffled him since he did not remember giving her any reason to dislike him. Perhaps, he needed to be more careful.

...…

After passing by the several rooms in the palace court, Ashesi finally reached her destination. The doors to this room were massive and adorned with the images of a winged lion. There were two intimidating guards wearing black uniforms with those same winged lions crafted in their uniforms. As soon as the guards saw who was standing before them, they opened the doors and Ashesi walked into the room.

Silently, the door closed behind her.

She knew that this whole situation was not really normal. No one could simply walk into the King's chambers like that without prior invitation or without informing the king first. Well perhaps, with the exception of Prince Jambati Rui-Yarra, the older brother of the king. The only reason the two guards had allowed her in without question was because the king had granted her unrestricted access to his chambers at all times. Thus, Ashesi Handini-Yarra could enter the king's chambers whenever she pleased.

"Ashesi." A sickly voice came from behind the curtained bed in the large bedroom.

The lady's face radiated brilliantly and all her previous anger evaporated at once. Such was the power that voice.

Putting the basket down on the nearest table, she slowly walked to the bed and then rolled the curtains. Lying on the bed was a thin frail man. At a glance, the man seemed to be very old, however, a closer look would reveal that he was quite young and had been ravaged by sickness to make him look older. Even his long naturally black hair had grayed in several places. This rather pale and sickly man was King Ometu Fon-Yarra, king of Dream Kingdom.

"Uncle." Ashesi hazel eyes shone like brilliant stars lighting up the darkest of nights.

The gaunt face of the king was suddenly filled with life at the mere presence of his niece. Slowly, he tried to sit up in bed causing Ashesi to be by his side quickly in order to help him up. King Ometu laughed weakly, and then was reduced to a coughing fit.

Ashesi poured a glass of water resting on a table next to the king's bed and then like an overprotective mother, fed the water to the king. Once the king was done drinking, and his coughing had stopped, he said, "you know I'm not as helpless as I look."

"Maybe not. But you really don't have to put too much strain on your body." Then she added quite mechanically, taking a seat next to the king. "you need rest."

"Did you speak to the physician?"

"No. But your head of security spoke to me."

"Commander Wamin." The king muttered.

"Yes. And please don't say his name."

"It's not like you to not like someone."

"So that should tell you something then."

The king chuckled but then he instantly became serious again. "I know you are good judge of character. But Commander Wamin is a good man. He and my brother are the reason why I am alive… why your sister is still alive."

Ashesi clenched her fist and then bit her lips subtly. Why people thought they could lie to her and get away with it was beyond her. She had this inexplicable ability to tell when someone was not being sincere with her. And right now, she knew her uncle was lying. It wasn't that Commander Wamin and the king's brother did not save the lives of her sister and uncle. That was common knowledge, and in fact, it was the main reason why Commander Wamin was promoted to the head of security. But there was something in the way the king said it that did not strike her as sincere.

Usually, whenever she came to see her uncle, she always steered clear of the incident that happened eight years ago. It was too much of a painful thing to hear even though she was not even around to witness it. Thus, she knew her uncle was having a harder time and so they seldom talked about it. But for some reason, she felt the need to do so. Everything about the whole assassination attempt had been so strange to her probably because she was younger back then. But the older she became and the deeper she dug into it, the less it made any sense. How did an assassin even get in the palace in the first place without having any help from within the palace? It was even more suspicious how her uncle became evasive whenever they talked about it.

But then again, it must be a traumatic topic for the king to talk about. Hence, Ashesi never pressed. She had not even been around to witness it and she had been traumatized by the incident.

The one day she had not come into the palace with her sister to play with their cousins was the very day the palace was infiltrated by an assassin. The queen was killed. All three children of the king were killed. The only two who survived were the king himself and Ashesi's sister. Even then, they were both rendered disabled from poisoning. Eight years later, King Ometu had still not recovered from the poisoning.

Sometimes Ashesi wondered if she could have been of any help if she was around when the attack occurred. Maybe it should have been her, and not her sister, who got hurt. Anytime she thought about it, she felt her heart blazing with fury. Though the assassin was caught and executed by Prince Jambati, Ashesi did not believe it was over. The true intentions of the assassin was never known, and neither did he reveal who had sent him on that mission. She knew it was not over because whenever she entered the palace, she could sense this sinister aura crawling through her skin. It did not also help that she always felt like she was being watched.

There was never a day that passed when she did not worry about her uncle being surrounded by unseen enemies. If her suspicions were real, then the only reason why these enemies were not acting was because of the presence of a single powerful man watching silently from the sidelines.