Olian

Olian was a powerful King, no doubt, he also had a lot of enemies. This was because he was known to be a greedy and rather shrewd man.

He had three wives and 10 children.Among these children he had a beautiful daughter named Dilla.

Now Dilla was betrothed to the prince of Elan, an agreement forced on Olian by Rinaul the king of Elan.

The agreement was made even before the birth of Dilla 18 years ago.

Back then Olian was just a soldier in the king's army, he was an ambitious one too.

So his main reason for joining the king's army was to get fame and wealth. But 4 years into his career in the army, none was forthcoming and the young warrior was becoming restless.

Olian craved wealth because he came from a very poor family and he knew what it was to live in poverty.He considered his father who was a farmer a failure because he was unable to grab the wealth which, according to Olain, was readily available anywhere.

But then when his turn came to make the wealth, he discovered that it was not as readily available as he thought.

Olian sat down on a tree stump one night, ignoring his duty post at the city gates and weighed his options.

He could return home and tell his family that the soldier idea did not work out but that was a terrible option. He had already boasted to the people back home that he would rather die in a foriegn land than return home a failure.Besides, his father would mock him as revenge for all the insults he had received from Olian.

But they lived in the same Orizon, so they might have noticed that he was not among the top soldiers.

But then it was a large Orizon and so they probably hadn't noticed.

Olian discarded the idea of going home, he would rather die than go back a failure.

But then soldiers just risked their lives in war only for the king to take all the glory. It was just unfair.

Olian often saw some soldiers who were even braver than the king himself fall in battle, only for their families to be told

"Your son / husband / brother died as a hero"

And that was where it ended - no consolations whatsoever.

While on the other hand, the king would command the battle from the rear and come back to the palace after the battle amidst cheers and praises from his subjects who would praise him to the skies and give their daughters in marriage to their "brave king".

It was a pure waste of time being a soldier, Olian reasoned,it was a risk that didn't benefit one unless he managed to climb to the top and became a member of the king's special army.

And becoming part of the king's special army was another game of politics all together. The entire system left no room for underdogs like Olian.

He sighed heavily and buried his face in his palms. The only way to become someone to reckon with was to be the King himself.

Olian sighed again. How was he supposed to be the King if he couldn't even be a high-ranking soldier?

A rustle in the bushes alerted him and he turned around to see a wild looking young man crawling past him.

For a moment they stared at each other.

Olian recovered first and pulled his sword out of its sheath, the young man responded by saying some words in an arcane language.

Olian felt the sword becoming heavier and heavier until he could no longer move it.

The young man stood up and walked up to him, his pale white skin appearing whiter in the moonlight.

"I mean you no harm" he said to a terrified Olian

"What do you want from me?" Olain had asked.

"Nothing" the man replied shaking his head "I just need your silence"

Olain stared at him in bewilderment.

"My silence?" He asked, puzzled

The young man explained to him that he was a spy working for the King of another Orizon.

According to him, Godin ( the king Olian served) had angered Solian( the king the young man was working for) and so he wanted revenge by killing Godin.

"And what would have made King Solian so angry?" Olian asked

"It's a rather odd affair" the young man said "Godin told King Solian that he wanted his son to marry King Solian's daughter. He agreed to that only to find out later that Godin wanted the girl for himself and not his son"

"Indeed a very odd affair" Olian said, his eyes wide with interest.

" And now King Solian wants to take his daughter back from that old rogue," the young man said.

And so the young man whose name was Rinaul told Olian that he needed help to poison Godin with a special charm.

According to him, King Solian did not want Godin's death to be traced to him and so he decided to use a special charm which would leave no traces.

" And who will rule this land after Godin is gone?" Oian asked, a glint in his eyes

" Whoever is willing to take the blame for Godin's death" Rinaul answered

Olian weighed his options carefully. Being held responsible for the King's death was no small burden but then again, as the new king no one would dare to challenge him.

But the king also had loyal supporters who would defend him to the last breath.

Then they shall take their last breaths Olian thought

Olian agreed to help Rinaul poison the King. But he would do that only if he promised to keep him safe.

Rinaul promised him safety and even gave him an amulet to protect him.

But it all seemed too easy to Olian

"Why don't you wish to take the poison to Godin yourself?" Olain asked, suspicious

"I am a stranger in these parts" Rinaul replied "I don't know your ways and I do not work with your king"

The reason seemed good enough to Olian.

For weeks Rinaul and Olain secretly monitored the King's movements seeking a perfect time to strike. The time came when Godin had a great feast to celebrate ( or rather to show off) his youngest , prettiest wife - the daughter of Solian.

Before the banquet began, Olian took the charm which was powdery and walked around the banquet hall, under the guise of guarding the hall.

Olian looked left and right, and when he saw no one coming,said a quick prayer to the gods and poured a little of the substance on Olian's throne. He then put it back in his pouch and walked away.

The banquet started in earnest and Rinaul who was hiding amongst the bushes in the palace said another prayer to the gods.

From his hiding place,he had a clear view of the banquet hall.

When the charm had begun to take effect,he would cast a spell on all the guests and they would begin to fight each other. If all went well, Olian would mobilize some of his fellow underdog soldiers to stop the scuffle amongst the guests and then Olian would declare himself as King.

But Rinaul had one problem with the plan.

How was Olain going to declare himself as King when there were other soldiers higher than him both in rank and the experience?

But Olain had already thought about that. With the remainder of the charm, he poisoned the seats which he knew were reserved for the high-ranking officials. And for good effect, he wooed the maid who was in charge of the drinks and promised to make her his queen.

The foolish girl got carried away by his promises and so she let him poison the cups of the officials.

Everything was set.

Half an hour into the banquet, Godin began to look pale, he felt dizzy and his breath came in wheezes. Before anyone could do anything, he dropped dead - along with his high-ranking officials.

Panic broke out and the shouts from the guests signalled Rinaul and Olain.

They swung into action, Rinaul cast the spell and Olian quickly took on the role of a brave hero.

He organised the guards and they went into the banquet hall, trying to stop the commotion.

Rinaul took advantage of the confusion and dashed into the Castle in search of Solian's daughter. He found her locked in her bedroom. She had heard the shouting and had locked herself up.

She recognized him immediately as one of her father's spell casters.

He took her by the hand and they both ran out of the castle. The shouting and sounds of swords clashing was increasing with every minute. The maids and all the workers had either fled the Castle or hidden themselves in any hiding place closest to them.

As they fled the castle, Rinaul looked back and thought of Olian, he hoped he would survive.

And he also hoped that he would remember their agreement, that since it was through Rinaul's spells that he would become king, his first son would wed Olian's daughter. This was to ensure that Olain would never wage war against him.

As Rinaul was leaving the castle gates, the shouting became unified.

" OLIAN IS KING " they shouted again and again,the guards raising him shoulder high…

That was 18 years ago, and since then ,all the kings had been in fear of Olian because of the mysterious circumstances surrounding enthronement as King. No one has ever understood how he moved from palace guard one minute to King the next, no one except Rinaul and perhaps Solian.

Olian ruled with an iron hand and named the orizon after himself. He acquired great wealth and began expansionist battles in order to acquire more territory. His fame spread and he got many allies as well as many enemies.

Rinaul also took over from King Solian after his death. This was because the king had no sons and had given his daughter to Rinaul in marriage before his death.

So Rinaul became the king of Elan six years after Olian began his rule.

The two rulers often co operated and went to battles together but all that was to change when Rinaul asked Olian to fulfill his promise.

Olian considered Elan's notorioriety for crime and decided that an orizon of criminals ruled by an ex rogue speller was not a conducive environment for his daughter.

And so when Rinaul sent messengers to ask for Dilla's hand in marriage, Olian had them severely flogged and sent back home in a pitiful state.

This angered Rinaul in no small way and he decided to kill Olain.

This was why he employed the service of Elan's most efficient assassin, Falun to kill Olian and Falun in turn employed the service of his most efficient assassin, Nerissa.

Now one thing Olain had learnt from his rise to the throne was to always have a sorcerer in his inner circle of officials. For that reason, he had Kelahi, a young man of 17 at that time as his personal sorcerer.

Kelahi was a boy who many thought was possessed with demons, others considered him a child of the gods.

Whatever he was, he was powerful. Even at his young age he could cast spells that old wizards could not dream of learning.

He had a rather striking appearance with his coal black skin and grey eyes. He always kept his hair at chin length.

And so when Nerissa arrived at the Orizon of Olian to carry out her assignment in the company of an older assassin, Kelahi felt her presence and went to find her out.

Nerissa for her own part, was vengeful and rather nervous.

The other assassin noticed it and tried to allay her fears.

" Take it easy Nerissa" she had said

Nerissa had nodded in response, her heart thumping loudly within her.

Here, finally was the opportunity for her to avenge her family's death. She imagined how she would cut Olian bit by bit.She also wondered if she would find Fahit.

Nerissa and her colleague were walking through a busy street, dressed in gowns like other women. Under their dresses, they wore trousers and strapped their weapons to their legs and waists.It was almost sunset and they were to carry out their operation at night.

Kelahi wound his way through the busy streets of Olian looking for Nerissa. He wasn't looking for her in particular, but he knew that some people had come to hurt the King. He also knew that when he saw them, you would know that they were the ones.

Nerissa's eyes darted back and forth and she took several breaths to calm herself.

They walked through a lonely alley and Nerissa bowed her head in a bid to calm herself.

She bumped into someone

She looked up to see stone cold grey eyes staring at her suspiciously.

She had walked straight into Kelahi...