6.0

"My lady, you are summoned to the king's court." one of the maidservants politely said. Daira then stood up from sitting on one of the garden's benches where there was nothing much to see in there aside from the yellowing leaves of the grasses and the withering flowers.

The maidservant walked ahead to the hallway while waiting for the mysterious said angel to follow her. As she did so, she saw the lady lift her hand and whispered something in the air before snapping it close.

The whole garden slowly began to regain its previous spectacular comeliness as Daira walked to the hallway.

"Let's go?" Daira said when the maidservant was still stunned at the display of something unnatural before her.

"A-ah yeah, milady." the maidservant said. "This way please."

"Alright." Daira cheerfully said.

The maidservant secretly glanced at the garden for the last time before her eyes went towards the lady beside her.

"What is it?" Daira turned to the maidservant who jumped at her sudden attention, bowing in shyness for being eyed by one true fairness.

"N-nothing, milady." the maidservant said with bowed head.

"You know I'm only called Daira by my family. Call me that way."

"I could never."

"You can. It's quite simple though." Daira said. "Give me your name."

The maidservant paused for a moment before she glanced at the smiling face of the said angel. "A-Asha,"

"Asha...that's a quite pretty name. You know, back at home, your name sounded like the biggest continent of Earth. It's called Asia, land of kind people."

Asha literally smiled at such significance of her name. "It might be a beauty. The place where you came from, milady..."

"Daira." Daira corrected.

"E-Daira..." Asha said.

Elena's attention was stolen into the entrance of the king's hall when Ceron along with his chiefs she learned as Terov and Narto, had someone on their tight hold.

A man was brutally chained on his wrists with head covered in metal bars chained with heavy locks to keep it in place. A black ball burdened his other feet as a fish tout reigned on his feet. He was barely walking with lash wounds on his body that there were blood gushing out to what looked like fresh wounds.

Terov and Narto had shoved the man forcefully onto the king's court but they were heavily laden with the man's weight when he collapsed to the brick floor.

Daira felt her heart in wrench upon beholding such brutality when she began to step in to help but Asha held her on her arm.

"I-I'm sorry." Asha let go of her hand then. "Please don't interfere," she said.

"Who is that man? Why are they doing that to him?" Daira demanded which made the maidservant blink in nervousness.

"He's the son of the warlord." Came an answer from somebody instead. When Daira turned behind her, she saw a woman on purple satin dress with scroll writings at her hold.

"Son of warlord?" Daira asked.

"Princess Maeel." Asha greeted her master.

"This is the writings you need for your travel to land of dreadful places." Maeel said, aware that the said angel had accepted the king's request to slay the dragons.

Daira saw the map of the whole Rahu and few writings she needed for her quest.

"Princess, you might be reprimanded by the king about this." Asha said in worry.

"My father won't hear about this." Maeel said. "I gave you some writings you need but please, refuse Ceron into joining you, in your travel.We...need him here."

Daira looked up from inspecting the map, not sure if she heard it right from the princess' voice. On Maeel's eyes, Daira was able to understand the princess' callous action in daring to disobey her father. She just smiled and nodded to her. "This will do. But I need to know little detail of that man's circumstance."

"There is nothing much to learn aside from that he is a prisoner of war, picked up in the ruin city of Mahdle garrison after the warlord from the north was defeated by Terov's front liners." Princess Maeel said. "The day you came in Rahu, was the moment we were attack in three sites. The dragon made it through Terov and Narto's lines and made it to Cerno's last defense. Many had died and the people in the city began to fear for the dragon is winning."

Daira remembered that dragon again with a diamond graffiti on its forehead, carved on its scale with scarlet ink.

"Then you came and saved us all." Princess Maeel said.

"Why is that man so brutally leash?" Daira asked.

"Because he's a danger and yet kept alive to get some information about the warlords stratagems against us." Maeel said.

"By torturing him, did they get something from the prisoner?" Daira asked.

"I don't know." Maeel answered truthfully.

Daira only nodded and hid the writings with few spells she mumbled that it disappeared from her hold. "Thank you for those things. I'll use them wisely. For now, I need to see the king."

Maeel and Asha remained looking at the woman walking towards the king's hall.

"Amazing how she can do the spell. You need to see the garden, princess. It's vibrant once again." Asha said.

"What do you mean?"

Asha smiled to the woman who disappeared to the king's hall. "She healed it."

*************************************************************

Daira saw the prisoner literally curled on his stomach when Terov had hit him with massive blow of the spear. The king held his hand up to halt the beating.

"Tell us what your father is planning or life shall be reap out of your body." the king said but there was only laugher reckoning inside the metal mask while the prisoner's body shook for laughing.

"I have no father." The man spat out and grunted once again when Terov and Narto had slammed the body of their spears on his back and stomach.

Daira dared to go on the commotion and literally repelled Narto and Terov away when they intended to beat the prisoner more.

Both chiefs winced in pain, finding themselves thrown away from where they once stood beside Ceron.

"This is not the way to treat the people of Rahu." Daira sternly said to the king.

"Milady, he is a war prisoner. We need to do this to know the enemies-," Cerno's other words were cut off when Daira glared at him.

Daira didn't mind the presence of the king nor the other soldiers in service of the throne when she bent down to the man in the floor, not noticing how her ethereal comeliness was in great contrast to the ugliness displayed before her. A torn flesh all over the prisoner's body and skin bathed in mixture of grease and dirt, Daira reached out after she mumbled a spell of healing.

"What are you doing?" Cerno hissed.