Chapter One: An Enemy Called Regret

Art Credit: http://frloudwater.blogspot.com/2012/03/arya-human-female-renegade-red-wizard.html

I never should have left.

Ethan felt as though the dagger in his heart was twisted painfully slow. He flinched.

"The nerve of you! How dare you touch me? Don't you know who I am?" The scrawny woman struggled to pull her arm laden with extravagant trinkets from Ethan's grasp, but he simply wouldn't let go. Her shrieks amassed a rather much unwanted scrutiny from a mob of similarly dressed men and women. In silk, velvet, leather and fur. In various cuts and colors. Their bodies ornamented with gold, silver and precious stones. 

But the young prince couldn't care less. His eyes were fixed on the tiny red-haired girl in burlap whose cheeks were marred red by the scrawny woman's feathery pink fan. 

He struggled to hold back his rage. On another occasion, he would have hurled insults at her for her poor taste in fashion. A decollete would suit a woman with healthier stature milady. Or perhaps he would have chagrined her by reciting a few lines from 'Aldaram's Rules on Etiquette'. Or better yet he could have easily announced that he was the would-be King of Shen'ayim, the reason for the night's celebration. Oh that would do well. Or maybe he should have just slapped her in return. At the latter, Ethan desperately held back his amusement.

There were many things he thought he would have, could have or should have done had his father's last words not rung incessantly in his head: 'Know your enemy before you draw your sword. Know your enemy before you draw your sword.' No sooner did it ring,  did he release his grasp and bowed hastily. "Milady." 

His bow was befitting of a Shen'ay soldier --- graceful yet strong, gentle yet brave --- the bravest of the Empire of Two Moons as they were known. 

Of course, in his heart the gesture was meant for the tiny red-haired girl, but he owed no one an explanation. He turned his attention to the fallen girl. Her fierce green eyes welled up with unshed tears. Tears she was not willing to show nor he for that matter. He knelt beside her and gently ran his thumb along the corners of her eyes. 

Oh, but the scrawny woman was far from finished. She hurled her fan to the floor and continued her rant. "Savage! Savage! Why are savages like her ALLOWED in the presence of his imperial majesty?" 

"My prince." The woman's theatrics were surreptitiously interrupted by a stocky woman wearing a light purple surcoat with her salt-and-pepper hair fixed in a bun behind her neck. Directing her curtsy to Ethan, she proclaimed, "Her highness the Queen and his Imperial Majesty, Emperor Waramera, the Maker bless his throne, shall be arriving shortly." Her eyes rolled towards the postern gate, signaling the prince to exit. 

Her face was emotionless. It was business as usual for the castle's matron, Madam Serna, who used to be Ethan's nanny. 

"Of course Madam, please do carry on." Ethan subtly replied as he helped the tiny girl to her feet and with her hand in his made their way to the postern gate with little haste.

The scrawny woman composed herself immediately. Her face burned up in embarrassment after being aware of Ethan's identity. It was of course difficult to blame her as the young prince had a preference for more modest clothing.

As the prince walked past Madam Serna, she mumbled, "and please hurry back". She turned to the woman, curtsied in a less subservient fashion and half-heartedly spoke, "I apologize for the misunderstanding, milady. His royal prince's esteemed guest meant no offense." Then, she immediately turned to the fiddlers and clapped. "Music! Let's have some more music!" 

And so off they went to the postern gate --- a pair of dark leather boots followed by a much smaller pair of wearied brown carbatines. The crowd may have been appeased, but their encounter will surely be known to the Emperor who had eyes and ears everywhere.

There had to be an easier way to impress his Imperial Majesty than prancing around with a fake smile. Ethan sighed.

The young prince absolutely hated balls, weddings, parades or any of the sort that required him to dress up and tolerate the decadence, the ignorance and the hypocrisies of the world he lives in. This, all of it, was definitely the last thing he had in mind to celebrate his eighteenth naming day, but there was no helping it. Today, the fate of the Kingdom of Shen'ayim lies on how well he can converse, dance and show off his fencing skills. He was, unfortunately, only confident of the last.

In a few hours, the Emperor of the Two Moons, ruler of the five kingdoms will be arriving to the great halls of Shen'ayim's White Stone Castle. Ethan's mother, Queen Arithea, was with him, as she decided to fetch him all the way from the capital, Egula, the Emperor's City. 

Although Queen Arithea likewise was not fond of socializing, particularly, because the grandeur required resources their kingdom was not exactly in excess of, this was an exception. Tonight, instead of fish and potatoes, the Queen spared no expense in preparing a magnificent feast of age-old wine, meat of every kind, delicacies and grain. Tonight, the great halls of the White Stone Castle of the Kingdom of Shen'ayim will be filled with music and dancing, jesters and entertainers of every kind. Tonight, it would host the Emperor himself accompanied by the kings and queens of the other four kingdoms, along with their very long entourage of advisors, noblemen, scholars, courtesans and so on. 

For tonight, Ethan will be formally introduced as 'Prince of Shen'ayim, son of the late King Holyan who was the 267th King of Shen'ayim and 40th General of the Emperor's Armies.' 

Ethan's knees weakened and he felt teary-eyed as he remembered the tragedy that befell them three years ago. At that time, his father, King Holyan, led an army to fend off the invasion of the Outlanders, men who had not sworn allegiance to the Empire of Two Moons --- sinister men, many of whom practiced sorcery. The battle was won, but at a very high price.

Shen'ayim was bereaved of a king and the Empire deprived of a Shen'ay worthy General. Ethan's older brother, Agapos, should have succeeded his father as king, had he not also died along with him. Agapos would have been a great king and a great general, perhaps the greatest of the Third Age. At nineteen years, he already surpassed the greatest swordsmen who lived. His herculean stature matched his monstrous strength. And more importantly, Agapos was kind-hearted and like the lae king, he, too, was a military genius. 

The entire kingdom lamented the deaths of their beloved king and prince, but they hadn't the luxury of time to mourn. Since the law did not allow women to rule as they supposedly lacked the ability to lead a nation to war, the Emperor had in mind to marry off the Queen to a nobleman, and in the process hand over the kingdom to an outsider who had little care for the welfare of its people. 

Of course, the Queen protested and asked for time to groom her youngest and remaining child, Ethan, who was then only fifteen, to take his father's place as King of Shen'ayim and eventually  become General of the Emperor's Armies --- a post currently taken over by Prince Hauron of the Kingdom of Jarvis, a man in his fifties, a military genius in his own right, also a good friend of his father, but not at all on a par with the late king. In fact, in the last two years, the Empire has already lost more than a hundred men in skirmishes against the Outlanders, pushing their territory back to the mountains of Rehan. Even more alarming is the widespread talk on how a few sorcerers have infiltrated the ranks of the Royal Court.

In getting back to Queen Arithea's marriage predicament, it is no secret that not a few princes and noblemen schemed to become King of Shen'ayim and General of the Emperor's Armies. It was a position of power and influence, after all.  However, many of the Emperor's advisors held steadfast to the prophesy that only a Shen'ay blood can defeat the sorcerers of the south. The Emperor, of course, did not simply subscribe to the myth, but the Shen'ay's unsurpassed military prowess, bravery and skill in the art of killing throughout history spoke for itself.

However, to the kingdom's misfortune, there are few Shen'ay men close to the Queen's age who are marriageable and Ethan was not raised as a man of war, but as a scholar. And so the enthused emperor looked to other kingdoms for a worthy candidate.

But Queen Arithea will have no one but Ethan become King of Shen'ayim. The issue was he was not fit to lead the Emperor's Armies, which was why he was immediately sent to Egula to train for war. The Queen was granted time until Ethan's eighteenth birthday to present him as a worthy heir of the kingdom and a capable general of the Emperor's Armies.

Now, the reason why Ethan was raised as a scholar, rather than a man of war starts with the soil. The entire continent is cursed and Shen'ayim's land is practically dead. For centuries, nothing but potatoes, onions and rare species of flowers accustomed to cold and hard soil grew in Shen'ayim. Because of this, the kingdom became heavily dependent on the Empire for meat and grain. In return, Shen'ay men gave their lives to protect the Empire from the Outlanders. 

However, because there were a few Shen'ay kings who revolted in the past against the Empire, the Emperor was wary of the Shen'ay people. And so, he made sure that the Kingdom of Shen'ayim remained completely dependent on the Empire by (1) sending just enough food and supply rations; and (2) making sure all but a few men are deployed for military missions in various parts of the Empire, which left the kingdom defenseless.

The Empire's policy on dealing with the Shen'ays have changed little in the past decades. The Emperor simply have turned a deaf ear to the kingdom's pleas. The kingdom as it stands today has less than fifty men protecting its territories, and the women are left to do the men's work. Many of whom are widowed. Also, boys as young as ten were sent off to Egula to train for war; and were also enticed to be more loyal to the Emperor than their own people. King Holyan and Queen Arithea, in their wisdom, foresaw the demise of Shen'ay should the Emperor's schemes continue.

They believed the only way to preserve the kingdom was to overthrow the Emperor himself. But first, they had to some extent become self-sufficient particularly with food and weaponry. And so they engaged in secret trade with foreign lands, but it proved to be dangerous and unreliable. 

Then, one day, a few weeks before Ethan was born, a hermit called Ariel came to Shen'ayim. Because of him, the Queen was able to survive giving birth. And so he, soon, gained the trust of the King and the Queen. He convinced them that they can preserve the kingdom by finding a cure for the soil, which he believed is found in the mountains of Dakeldum, west of Shen'ayim. He also suggested that Ethan, who showed signs of great promise as a scholar, be hidden from the Empire's prying eyes. Together, the two would search for a cure to Shen'ayim's soil.

Now, Dakeldum or Dark Mountains is dense with trees and lush with greenery. The problem was its residents, the Dak'elis, are powerful, animal-like creatures who were not too friendly with men. There have been many stories about an enchanted mist that poisoned sorcerers and men with unclean hearts who tried to enter the mountains. There were also sightings of terrifying creatures such as man-eating ogres, centaurs, minotaurs, griffins and wolves thrice the size of men. 

Along with Ariel, Ethan toyed with the idea of convincing the Dak'elis to be more tolerant with his kind. Perhaps the creatures wouldn't mind sharing their land or even better the secret of the mountain's arable soil. But what would the creatures possibly want from the Shen'ay in return?

What stood in the way was no surprise. The Dak'elis despised the humans for their greed and selfishness, something the hermit said the creatures could sense from afar. On the other hand, the Shen'ays, feared the creatures and wisely so. How can the two possibly forge trust; let alone, communicate?

They were close to giving up when a fateful event anchored their hopes.

It was summer and a hungry ogre, twice Ethan's height, found them. He was sure they've met their end, until Ela and a pack of wolves appeared from nowhere to save them.

Despite their many obvious differences, his friendship with the feral child blossomed.

It was around that time, though, that Ariel hastily left after leaving a note saying he had to see to an urgent matter that presented itself. He found the wordings quite bewildering, not that anything about the hermit was anything else but that. He wondered if it had anything to do with his new friend.

Time passed and in Ariel's absence, Ethan devised a plan, a simple plan, so he thought: While King Holyan and Prince Agapos would meet the Emperor's military demands and keep their eyes off Ethan, he would transform Ela into a refined emissary of the Dak'elis to forge an alliance between their peoples. But the hands of fate, so it seemed, would not have it their way. King Holyan and Prince Agapos were killed too soon and Ethan was sent to Egula, far from Ela, to train for war.

To Ethan's further dismay, since he was sent away, Ela has become utterly miserable and less responsive. According to Madam Sena, who cared for Ela in his absence, she often left the castle and when she was there, she simply asked if Ethan was back, did the chores allotted to her and talked to no one in particular for she was often mistreated by the very people Ethan wanted her to help.

A dagger in my heart indeed. Ethan clutched his chest, despising himself for devising a cruel feat.

In his mind, he exceeded the emperor's sin of sending thousands of Shen'ay men to their deaths. For unlike the emperor, Ela gained nothing from helping him and she was completely oblivious to his schemes. He simply toyed with the life of an innocent child. Their time has run out and soon, whether or not he becomes King of Shen'ayim, he will be sent to the Borderlands to protect the Empire. It was all a waste time, after all. 

The weight of his frustration, his guilt and his new responsibility weighed heavy on his shoulders as he pondered on them. 

Get a grip man! Ethan soon caught sight of the mountains of Dakeldum through the tall glass windows. Stepping out of the postern gate along with his companion, he sniffed the air to relish the smell of pines from across the Sullen River.  

"There is no place like home." Ethan sighed. His mind was made up. He will protect his family, his kingdom and his people no matter what the cost. And right now, one of the costs was saying goodbye to his best friend, one whom he thought of using without remorse. If it meant the preservation of his people, he'd have no hesitation to do it all over again. It is time. 

Slamming the door shut behind him, Ethan silenced the deafening sound of fiddles and lutes and the muffled voices of the Empire's high and mighty. His gaze turned towards the tiny red-girl, whose smile now stretched from ear to ear. She was a picture of hope. Now, she was a bitter reminder of Ethan's lingering enemy.

'Know your enemy before you draw your sword.' His father's words echoed in his thoughts. 

"Now that I know, how exactly do I draw a sword against it, Pa?" Ethan whispered in the wind. How he wished he could just as easily silence this enemy...his enemy called 'regret'.

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Thank you for all for reading and perhaps sharing this chapter. ;)
Humm...What did you guys think of it? Would you call regret an enemy? How do you deal with 'it'? God bless everyone and really hope to hear from you.