The Journey - Part 14

Thinking of how to get to the mountains was a silly excuse, since Leiyu had already told Prince Thallios earlier that they just had to orient themselves with the sunrise and keep heading in a northeasterly direction. The prince did not comment, so Leiyu decided to remain quiet.

Maybe I’m jumping ahead of myself with all these drastic ideas, Leiyu thought. All I really have to do is remove the ghost of his mother, and that should solve the problem.

The question was how. Was the late queen’s spirit stored in the ruby diadem? There was no easy way to ask the prince to remove it without arousing suspicion. If Leiyu tried to remove it while Prince Thallios slept, then the prince might wake up and accuse him of stealing. That would make things very awkward.

Of course, there was also the approach of simply telling Prince Thallios everything that was concerning him. But how well would that go over? And would it interfere with the sword quest? Assuming the sword quest was still worth pursuing after all these revelations.

And what if removing the ruby did nothing? What if the demonic influence was seeped in the prince’s bones, unable to be easily extricated?

Leiyu felt cold sweat form on his forehead, and he wiped his brow. His thoughts were going in circles and he needed a distraction. He pulled on the reins of the horse.

“What’s going on?” Prince Thallios asked.

Leiyu dismounted from Bakhat. “It’s almost noon. I’m going to find food.”

“Oh, all right,” the prince said.

“I won’t go far. Probably just catch another squirrel. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh, of course not. Thank you once again. You’re always doing so much.”

“It’s nothing.” Leiyu winced after saying that, since it came out a little too bluntly. He decided to make haste and headed toward the bushes.

***

“Leiyu, is everything all right?” Prince Thallios asked as looked at the roasted game on a stick in his hand. As promised, Leiyu had caught more squirrels earlier and roasted them without saying a word.

Leiyu shrugged as he took a bite of his food.

“I just noticed you just seem very tense,” the prince said. “I hope…I hope it’s not because of last night.”

“Last night?” Leiyu asked, trying to not spill the chewed up food in his mouth.

“When I wanted to be closer to-” the prince trailed off as his cheeks turned red. “I’m sorry. You’re doing so much for me, and I’m just complicating things. We can just focus on the sword quest and I’ll keep my distance.”

Leiyu’s heart sank. Although he was still very uncertain about the prince’s true nature, it pained him to think that the prince assumed that he was rejecting him. “I’m not bothered by that at all, Your Highness.”

“Okay, that’s a relief. It’s just that you’ve been so quiet this whole day, so I was afraid I’d messed things up. I’m sorry.”

Leiyu thought that the prince did not sound that relieved. “If you want to seek warmth or comfort, I won’t turn you away, Your Highness.” His heart jumped a bit after he finished his words.

Prince Thallios blushed. “Oh, okay…only if you’re fine with it. I don’t want you to feel obligated simply because I am a prince asking you to do something. I mean, you don’t even have to keep calling me ‘Your Highness.’”

Leiyu frowned. “It would feel improper to not call you that, Your Highness.”

Prince Thallios looked down. “I suppose you could keep addressing me as that, since there is nothing actually wrong with it. I just wish that there wasn’t such a distance…oh what am I saying, I just said a moment ago that I would start keeping more of a distance. Sorry, I’m not making any sense…”

Leiyu chewed on a squirrel bone so that he would have an excuse for not responding. Not being called by your title should be the least of your worries, Your Highness. There are far more pressing things to deal with, and I don’t know if I want to deal with them. He removed the bone from his mouth and placed it on the skeletal mound before his crossed legs. A little mountain of death. He closed his eyes and shook his head, as if clearing leftover scraps from a plate.

“When we do find the Sword of Ages, what then?” the prince asked.

Leiyu looked up at him. “That’s really up to you, Your Highness.”

“I know, but I have no idea what to do. You have more experience.”

Leiyu couldn’t help but smile. “More experience traveling, but not with finding legendary swords.”

“If you were in my position, what would you do?”

Leiyu’s heart jumped again. “That is not my place to answer, Your Highness.”

Prince Thallios frowned as he picked gingerly at the meat on his roasted squirrel’s femur. “Are you afraid of giving the wrong answer? I won’t be offended since I’m asking for your advice.”

You wouldn’t want to hear my true thoughts, Leiyu thought. I always say the wrong thing anyway. He saw the prince looking at him with earnest eyes. Sighing, he continued, “Do you remember the reasons I gave before for not wanting to know who my real parents were?”

Prince Thallios frowned. “The one where you did not want to spend your whole life trying to avenge them if you knew they were killed?” Leiyu nodded. “I understand the similarities, but this situation goes beyond vengeance. How am I supposed to build back an entire empire?”

“That is something I have no answer for, Your Highness,” Leiyu said. “I apologize. But I will help you to the best of my ability.” He sighed. Who am I kidding? I might even have to…arghhhh…

“Thank you anyway, Leiyu,” Prince Thallios. “I’m sorry, I keep asking so much of you. I should have paid more attention during my lessons. But Izel never really taught me anything about statecraft, which is ironic considering he was my father’s advisor. But from what I heard through the grapevine, the other ministers did not like him.”

Leiyu looked up. “Because he was lowborn?”

Prince Thallios sighed. “Yes, that was a big part of it. But also because of the rumors. So even though he was doing just as good of a job, or maybe even better, than the other ministers, none of that mattered.”

Leiyu cleared his throat. “I see. That’s unfortunate.”

“When this is all over, if we succeed, maybe you can be my advisor,” Prince Thallios said.

Leiyu almost fell over. “Um….I’m flattered, I guess.” He quickly added, “Your Highness.”

“I mean, maybe it seems frivolous to talk about all this now, when we haven’t even found the sword yet. Oh…maybe it’s not a good idea since then there might be new rumors…” The prince trailed off when he saw Leiyu staring. “I’m sorry, I’m spouting nonsense again. I’ll focus on our immediate goal and not keep dreaming up all these far-fetched scenarios. But you do have a lot of experience with living in different regions, so your expertise would be very helpful. Especially since we need to maintain the trade routes...”

As Prince Thallios continued speaking, Leiyu’s inner thoughts drowned out whatever words were coming out of his mouth. It was hard to reconcile this uncertain and almost helpless person before him with the cryptic speech, frightening strength, and diabolical coldness that slipped out at random times. It was like watching two very different people share one body, and it bothered him that he couldn’t protect the former while discarding the latter.

“Leiyu, did I lose you?” the prince asked.

Leiyu balked. He lowered his head. “Sorry, Your Highness. I got distracted.”

“It’s fine, I was just rambling on about a future that might not even happen. I’m sorry, I’m just taking up precious time talking when we should be doing something. Let’s just continue looking for the sword and figure everything out afterwards.” The prince stood up and started heading toward his horse.

“Of course, Your Highness.” Leiyu stood up. As he followed the prince, he kicked over the carefully laid mound of squirrel bones. Although the air was still and the temperature mild, a sharp chill ran through him and he was unable to shake it off.