Chapter 18
The death of Horace bothered Aurelia. Horace refused to be decent when he was alive. He drove his kingdom into the ground without a thought about the people. How could his death go undetected? Why was his face blue? Her questions led her right back to her original question; Who was running the kingdom?
The bloated corpse of Horace burst the moment a pair of careworn guards tried to move it. Visceral fluid jettisoned from the body at the speed of an arrow. Everyone covered their mouths and pinched their noses against the putrid ooze.
Charity sped towards the door, Aurelia followed suit. she could feel the bile building up in the back of the throat, it burned upward through her body and threatened to coat anything within five feet with vomit. Out in the hall, the women gasped for air and spent the next five minutes double over.
"How long do you think he's been dead?" Aurelia asked as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"A physician will have to tell us, I don't think I could spend another moment in the presence of that corpse," Charity wiped her mouth, and pulled herself upright. She pressed a hand against a tapestry on the wall. I forgot how exciting being in charge can be."
Zinjo walked out of the room unfettered by the smell, "The death of your usurper, reminds me of a tale father lions tell their young ones."
Charity and Aurelia stood up a little straighter in the werelions presence, "What story?" Aurelia asked before Charity could open her mouth. Perhaps there was a truce between the two women, but all was fair in love and war. Aurelia had staked her claim and would defend it with every fiber of her being.
"We should sit down and talk. It will take some time to explain," Zinjo studied Aurelia and smiled, "It is good you stayed to help, Charity." He said as he rubbed Aurelia's back.
"Zinjo could I have a moment alone with Aurelia?" Charity asked in a sweet voice. There should be a conference room just down the hall, first door on the right."
The women watched the handsome man walk down the hall, and vanish into the room. Charity sighed, "You have nothing to fear from me. Girls dream about the way he looks at you. Like your the only woman on earth."
"Is that what you wanted to tell me?" Aurelia asked in an annoyed tone.
"Yes. I just wanted you to know that, so you don't take him for granted."
"Duly noted. I want to hear his story. The first one he told me, was the most romantic story ever told," Aurelia would never forget Zinjo gave up everything just to be with her.
"Care to tell it to me?"
"Sure I'll tell it to you on the way to the conference room."
***
Zinjo stood as they both entered the dull surroundings. Maps of the known world adorned the walls, A table with little soldiers on a map lay locked in the imaginary combat scenario. "Please we have much to get through." Worried, Zinjo's voice sounded worried.
Aurelia and Charity sat next to each other, "How bad is it?" Charity folded her hands on the table, and Aurelia did the same. The sanded wood felt good against her hand.
Zinjo cleared his throat and his voice rumbled off the stone, "In Kianzangi we have the legend of Kivuli, the shadow. He is a being of evil, a formless mass of darkness. He can make his body heavier than a mountain, lighter than a spider's web, and he cannot be killed."
"Is he the god of darkness where you come from?" Aurelia's curiosity got the better of her. What did this have to do with the murder of Horace?
"No, he is not a god, but an evil creature born of the void. No one knows where he came from, and why, but Kivuli came to stay and torment the world with his trickery. He is black as the night sky without stars, he has no morals no code he lives by. He kills because he enjoys it, not because it is necessary."
Aurelia remained spellbound by her future husband's voice and cadence. She could live happily curled up in his lap listening to stories for the rest of her life. "Why can't Kivuli be slain?"
"It is said to slay Kivuli is to create seven more of the accursed things. One must trap Kivuli and seal him away, and hope the future generations remember the danger he poses to the world," Zinjo paced back and forth nervously.
"You've met Kivuli, haven't you?" Charity looked a little worried now.
"Hmmm," Zinjo nodded, "Yes once when I first put my feet on the path to adulthood. We were tracking a herd of gazelle when a blackened lion met with us. He didn't look right, he didn't smell right, he didn't sound right. Yet we reserved judgment and heard the newcomer out."
"What did he say?" Aurelia could see the pain in Zinjo's eyes. Without a second thought, she rose from her spot and threw her arms around the big man.
"You see my pain?" he asked as he stroked her hair, "Your kindness lightens my heart." he turned to Charity. "Sorry Pride Mother, this is more difficult to talk about than I expected."
"There is no need to apologize. You are a man like everyone else. I would be concerned if you showed no emotion," Charity's eyes were filled with envy and Aurelia relished every last wistful glance.
"Kivuli said he knew where the gazelle gathered in large numbers, and he promised to lead us there. I declined, but the rest of the hunting party agreed to follow. I pretended to leave and followed them. He took them to the edge of the mountains, where the gazelle never travel. When I caught up to them, I watched Kivuli strangle my friend. He laughed, as the light left the eyes of my brethren, their faces turned blue, as they expired," Zinjo held Aurelia even closer.
As he spoke his grip on his future bride got tighter and tighter, "Zinjo I can't breathe," Aurelia said through a mouthful of muscle.
The large man released the slender princess from his vise-like grip and looked a little sheepish, "Forgive me, dark princess, the memory affects me more than I realized. I encountered pure evil that day. One cannot stare into the abyss without it staring back at some point."
"You think Kivuli is here?" Aurelia wondered if Zinjo was jumping at the past, or if the malevolent creature had come to their side of the world.
"Why would the wretched beast come here?" Charity seemed tired of the conversation. Like most people on their side of the world, she needed tangible evidence of the existence of the being.
Aurelia never knew Zinjo to lie, and she never had seen the werelion shaken before, "I believe him. Look at your kingdom, Charity it's in ruins and your people are slowly suffering to death. Did you know Horace to be a selfish despot at heart?"
"No one met him before. He came with official papers and the family seal...Now that I think about it, Amadeus bragged about his family often. I never once heard the name Horace," Charity's eyes rolled toward the ceiling as if the answers were etched in the thick wooden support beams.
"Keep it to yourself for now," Zinjo warned. The panic will only feed the beasts unearthly appetites."
Silence hung in the air, and Charity dared to pierce with her near monotone voice, "While we are here, maybe we should work out some trade negotiations?"