The Hidden Queen - Goshalion, The Eternal Realm

Chapter Six - The Fading Waters

Tarron

Standing at the highest balcony at Castle Kontar, Jesah Kontar watched Bura troops march into formation with growing pride. The first time he amassed an army, he only had one hundred thousand soldiers. They were well trained, but not enough to rule a wild landscape like Goshalion.

Now, twenty years later, the Bura clan had five times more soldiers. He had troops sent out around the realm. His initial one hundred thousand soldiers now tripled to almost five hundred soldiers. Bura troops policed the realm, helped him manage dissent, and procured resources to grow their Bura cities in Eseran.

The Council of Seven called him a tyrant behind his back but he never allowed their negativity to impact his goals. It was defeatist to think of the Council of Seven's thoughts. The members of the council were lost in an ideology born in the ancient past. Surely, if they all decided to live in the past, the future would only crumble.

Shaking his head, Jesah clasped his hands behind his back and studied the young Bura men and women who were now joining the ranks of his forces.

His gaze lingered on Lazuli Kontar, his cousin's only son and the rightful heir to Castle Kontar. Jesah had no children, nor had he married, so he too viewed Lazuli as the heir to the castle. The boy was twenty-four this year. He should have already joined the ranks of the army, but he was lazy. He was graduating from the Bura Academy late. Shaking his head, Jesah wondered if Lazuli would be able to shoulder the weight of the future.

He was mulling over the burden of training Lazuli when a tall, well-built boy walked out from the castle. Back straight, braided hair held high in a tight ponytail. He walked with so much confidence, that the recruits all straightened up at the sight of him.

Jesah watched as the boy walked to where Lazuli was in the first row. He saluted Lazuli before he continued two rows back and stood at the head of the second row of recruits.

Jesah's gaze stayed on the boy, a burning fire growing inside him. It always did when he looked at Tarron Leodi.

Tarron was adopted by his cousin under secretive circumstances. It was before his cousin grew too sick to take care of Bura matters in Eseran. Before Jesah moved into Castle Kontar as the new Lord Kontar. The secret of Tarron's true origin was also hidden from Anath, his cousin's wife, and his lover.

Jesah bit back a sigh.

Tarron intrigued him because his brain was sharp and intelligent, and his reflexes made him a perfect general-status warrior. His eyes had the red ring of the Bura, but there were moments when Tarron's eyes appeared gold.

In the right light, Jesah mused.

Those days, he suspected Tarron was not Bura at all, but it could be his paranoia.

Shaking his head, he mourned the fact that Tarron was not older than Lazuli. The young man had turned twenty-three two moon cycles ago. There was no way to make him the next Lord Kontar.

Jesah hoped more of his soldiers were like Tarron. He wanted to keep Tarron in the castle, but the boy had ranked second in the final match. He was made the Border Adjutant and would have to leave Eseran to guard the border at Hodari. His troop would be made up of fifty strong men, including Tarron's own best friend, Jax. Two very strong young men he hoped to place next to Lazuli to create stability for Eseran.

"My Lord," Jesah's right hand in command said.

"Yes, Riko."

"The council of seven wants a meeting to discuss the receding waters in Goshalion Mountain," Riko said.

"All they ever want is to meet and complain," Jesah said, shaking his head. "They place the blame for the fading rivers on me, but I have done nothing to Asha. She is still in the mountains. They should ask her people why the waters have refused to flow as they did twenty years ago."