The Dragonfly and The Sword

Part 4: For Jude Part 2

They arrived at the Judian capital of Bakale with no grand welcome. The outer gates opened with little fuss. Zakarus and Irina exited the carriage to see guards lining the steps to the white castle. The faint outline of a lake could be seen to the left, and miles of sand were to their right.

Zakarus, Irina, and Shaed were ushered up the stairs and into the hall where Suzerain Abran and his court waited for them. Upon rising for a stiff bow, Zakarus felt prepared for battle.

"Son, where is Koman Ban?" Suzerain Abran's steel voice questioned, as his coal eyes appraised Shaed's kneeling form.

"His spirit is being honored with our ancestors." Zakarus motioned for Koman Ban's body to be brought into the hall.

A woman's cry broke before the rapid echo of slippers were heard. Zakarus's lips pressed slightly on seeing the mother fall upon her son. Irina shook her head slightly to ward away any tears, while Shaed cleared his throat as softly as possible.

"Take the late-Koman and his mother from my hall," Abran ordered with a wave of his hand. "Foolish boy should have never volunteered without the proper training. Do you not agree, Koman Sutter?"

"Koman Ban showed himself to be a great and skilled warrior."

Abran's smirk left little believing he was humored by Shaed's response. "Just not as great and skilled as yourself? No need to answer the results are proof enough. As is tradition, all of Koman Ban's inheritance is now yours. Irina, help the young koman rise. Now son, let us hear of the rest of your journey. What can you tell us of our affluential neighbors?"

Irina clinched her teeth throughout the meeting with Suzerain Abran. She continued to have mixed emotions that ranged from love to hate for her uncle. Irina's joyful memories joined in broken seams with her parents' decapitation. Her mind unintentionally drifted back to that night.

***

"Brother, this is not what I wished." Suzerain Kane stated, staring at the sword laid upon his desk as Irina bit her lip in the corner.

"You were the one who called for the komans to choose," Abran hissed.

"So I am the serpent's head?" her father cried.

"Not at all, brother. We have always been the two-headed serpent," Abran clipped.

At that moment, Irina wished to be back in the blasted school her mother had sent her to. She wished never to have touched a sword while watching her father's manic laugh.

"It sounds like a hideous creature," Kane finally replied.

Abran smirked.  "It is. A creature that is simply waiting for one head to kill the other so it can finally move in one direction."

"Brother Abran, there is no need to postpone what you have come to do." Suzera Jana interrupted, walking to the middle of the room before falling to her knees. "For Jude, it must be done."

***

Irina willed herself back to the present. She could not let her memory play.  It clouded her judgment.

"This is how it will be done for Jude?" Abran queried as Zakarus nodded.

"Yes, for Jude, it must be done."

Irina stared at her cousin in shock, uncertain if the words were indeed his or her mother's. The memory forced itself back to play again.

***