Queen of Euritic (BWWM) (BWBM)

14

Marcellus was deep in thought.

He hung over the ship's railing, mindlessly staring at the subtle black waves touching the shore then pull back by the current into its depths.

It was a beautiful place. The shore implemented off the white sands that was as cool as night puddles. The sandy entrance continued into the green landscape, withholding 100 feet tall trees stacked adjacent. Their branches and leaves beginning from its 5-foot standing, then expanding to the top. Tiny bugs, exhibiting yellow lights on their lower bodies circled around the air. The amalgam of the white sandy coast, enormous aligned trees and flashing illuminations formed a subtle illusion. The trickery was meant to mold the minds to believe they arrived at a peaceful location; without realizing it was a ploy for future slaughter.

"Marcellus." Kumi appeared in his natural serious stance.

After tonight's latest occurrence, he couldn't bare to face Kumi or the queen. His mentor decided to defend Marcellus, yet was stabbed by his own spear, because the lie was caught swiftly. He decided to become Marcellus' defender on his own, yet the eighteen-year-old boy still felt culpable.

He straightened up. "Louto Kumi."

"Will you join me for a walk?"

Marcellus was perplexed. "I was ordered to the ship's deck for guard."

"I rescind the order." Kumi's green eyes hardened. "I stationed you here to please our queen after the...mishap in the throne room."

"Then why disobey your own command if it will give us a better standing."

"No us. You." He said.

Marcellus sulked.

After the queen's dismissal, he was corrupted by disturbed thoughts he left a permanent bad impression in her mind and betrayal on Kumi's. He was relieved to patrol the deck. It gave him peace of mind after a long day.

"Come."

Sighing, Marcellus followed.

Kumi lead Marcellus out of the ship, then pass King Abdu's boundaries. His logic was at odds as his mentor disobeyed his own commands by leaving the ship and entering foreign territory.

Marcellus puzzled some pieces as one; maybe Kumi's high position allowed certain privileges. Perhaps, the Queen held Kumi in superior regards to make his own decision.

"Why choose the warrior tribe as your life sentence?" Kumi asked suddenly.

He tripped over a large stem. "I was a servant boy majority of my life. I served many. Have done irreplaceable wrong deeds. The warrior honor will redeem my unspeakable choices and represent the control over my own life."

"Wise answer."

"Yes, Louto."

He began. "You have heard the stories from when I was a boy."

"You defeated a large animal to save a friend."

"No." Kumi shook his head. "I defeated a large animal because my father ordered to save a life to raise my stature."

Curiously, he asked. "There is but two statuses in Euritic. Our highness and the people."

"As you claimed, a warrior is an honor. Though, we are all economically the same, warrior tribe is respected above all the fifteen tribes. He desired this for me, because he hated being a Crop Keeper."

"They keep our stomachs full and absent of poisons." Marcellus defended.

He looked back with weary eyes. "While his fingers bled and soul broken down to a miniscule floating orb, because the shame was too heavy for a man to hold."

"Shame? Our highness exemplify the importance of each-"

"-Each tribe as it builds the prosperity of the kingdom." He mocked gently.

Shocked, he blinked. "Louto, I do not understand."

"My Queen is the heart of this land. She is fierce and kind. I admired her from when I was small. She fixed Euritic as a whole. The golden world people cherished from within." He sighed. "But Queen has yet to fix it from the inside."

"Why claim this?"

"After years of lashing my back with his stick, my father learned his methods were ineffective. He decided to convince my Louto to assign under his mentorship, in exchange for giving twice the crops he was receiving." Kumi grimaced. "It did not stop my father's blows."

"Apologies." Marcellus was less intrigued by the story in the middle of the night. "Louto, did the Queen send us out?"

"I did."

The stroll appeared short. He was too wrapped in the conversation to preoccupy himself with calculations of the distance. Currently, Kumi was standing in front of the hill. The bulging pile of dirt was the same one his queen's cousin Abi was sitting on.

"May I ask why, Louto?"

"Because you were commanded to be." He said. "However, not by I."

Kumi pushed the center of the hill. It collapsed to the ground. The smoke of dust brushed against their dark faces into their nostrils. Little coughs escaped their throats. It was enough to distract Marcellus from his mentor's previous statements.

He repeated. "Enter."

Marcellus entered, hesitantly. He cannot disobey Louto. He shamed him twice this night. A third time will strike Marcellus down to nothing worthy of respect.

The apprentice followed him into the secret cave. His sense of direction was controlled by his touches on the walls, because darkness clouded their visions. The black sighting was not welcoming. The obscurities were speaking to Marcellus in low, chilling tones because they were warning him of the close future. This wasn't aligning with their Queen's prerogatives.

Finally, their bodies broke through a loose material into a bright room. Torches were situated in five corners of the room, showing yellow waves on the walls that can only be pierced by shadows.

There were two men in long cloaks with their backs towards them in the empty room. They leaned over a table of tiny statues on top of a map. His heart pounded out of his skin when he glanced closely at one of the male's body shape. The tallness. The broad shoulders. The darkness of his skin, he observed from the hands pressed on the table.

On the other hand, Marcellus was a fool to attempt to underestimate the dark energy that floated out to him, which more than hinted who was the man across the room. It was the energy Marcellus adapted to for fifteen years of his life. It seeped through his pores, persuading his skin to shiver in anxiousness.

"My King." Kumi said in a deep, submissive tone.

He bowed.

One of the men spoke. "Gratitude, Kumi."

Marcellus' bones froze, the voice confirming his paranoid thoughts.

"Do not appear too surprise, son. I told you this day will come."

"Father?" he said at awe.

For the first time in three years, Marcellus was face to face with his father; King Metrius.