6 The Fireland Kingdom: the girl without a will

"There is something about willpowers which brings out the worst side of human nature, rather say not you know another entirely because one never knows what the other harbours"--By anonymous

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After Thalia had left the bath area in a daze that afternoon, she walked around for a long time while she thought of what to do which was quite ironic, but Thalia firmly believed that no one had to surpass her in what she wanted to do and felt that Lendon was a threat to her purely based on her looks.

An idea popped in her mind, and she quickened her pace out of the Palace towards the marriage committee premises.

The committee had tabs on every eligible person they could make a union transaction with for the most material benefit, all on behalf of the Kingdom. Individuals with no monetary or physical resources had to rely on their physical appearance. To the committee, great looks equalled the best resources for any exchange made.

This made Thalia's information very worthy for the gold exchange. It also meant Thalia sold out her friend for gold!

As she did not want it linked back to her, she did not give any names but only gave what she thought was an accurate description enough for Lendon to be sought after.

After the exchange of information and gold, she used the gold to pay the attendant who sent her to King Indicy's library.

*** *** ***

Back in the library that night, Thalia was so nervous that she could not look up after what she had encountered but kept looking in the direction from whence, she came.

Seeing this, King Indicy made a gesture with his eyes and his guard, Alan walked through the secret passage. After some time, he came back with the attendant who was back for the girl he brought earlier.

The attendant had a sorry look on his face. In his mind, he cursed himself for going with the quick money from the silly girl who was kneeling beside him.

Thalia and the attendant were dragged at the crack of dawn to the royal garden to face whatever punishment waited for them. For it was widely known that those who entered the inner chambers of King Indicy never came back out or at least, they never came out breathing.

*** *** ***

In a not-too-distant kingdom, Fireland, a young girl sat in a room arranging flowers in a vase. Her long delicate fingers gently picked up her favourite red-tip roses which were her signature and favourite flower. It was the centrepiece of any flower arrangement she did and, she had a whole garden of roses planted for her. Why would she not have her garden when she was the only princess of the land.

She was Princess Asada, the first of her name and the only female royal born to Fireland after four generations. Because of this, one could understand how the Princess was doted on by everyone. Whatever she would want, Princess Asada would get, but the problem was that she did not and had never wanted anything for herself in her life.

This earned her the name 'the girl without a will' among the servants that waited on her, but no one dared to say this aloud if they wanted to keep the head on their shoulders.

Princess Asada never lifted a hand to do anything. Her morning routine included only getting up from bed after her head servant opened her drapes to let the light in. Her room had a huge bed with extra soft beddings in a rather abnormally large room. The furnishings and every decoration in the room were in different shades of red, pink, and white. She had other rooms to cater for every single need or lack thereof of hers.

After she woke up, she had her daily wash and dressed up, even the choice of clothes and anything else was done by her attendants. As she was never able to settle on one thing, she had different people in charge of what she would wear as well as what she would do or eat during the day.

As she placed the second stem in her vase, she was pricked by the thorn. As blood seeped out of the prick and tears brimmed in her eyes, the maid that had just handed her the flower fell on her knees with a fearful look. Before she could utter a word of apology, she was dragged out of the room by the stationed female guards on command of the head maid Agnes.

Agnes put her arms around 21-year-old Princess Asada and comforted her. Maid Agnes had become like the decision-maker in Princess Asada's life.

As Princess Asada watched the maid being dragged away, she wished that she could stop it but closed her eyes and nursed her pain instead. She had been portrayed as the most kind-hearted princess ever born. This would have been mostly true if she could make at least one decision on her own or even own up to anything.

Everything that was known about the Princess was carefully crafted by her uncles and brothers in the royal family. No man apart from her family had ever seen her. Her beauty was rumoured to be beyond words, but no man had seen her and lived to tell the tale.

In her merit, she was graceful and had been groomed to perfection. Her facial features were delicate and screamed to be protected as she looked like an innocent and almost pitiful existence because of the sheltered life she had lived.

All her life, Princess Asada had made only one request and her brother, the current ruler of the Fireland Kingdom, King Jeer felt obligated to fulfil her wish and vowed to use any means to achieve it.

*** *** ***

Jeer thought back to the day almost six years ago when Asada had made her request.

When Princess Asada woke up that day, it was just like any other. She was secretly happy that everything got done for her and liked the fawning as well. Maid Agnes opened her drapes to let in the morning sun and greeted her with a smile.

"Good morning my beautiful Princess," she said,

Two maids came in to help her out of bed and cleaned her up. While they did this, Agnes brought out a peach gown with intricate pearls and placed it on the bed. Princess Asada was dressed in this gown for the day.

Her daily routine was interrupted that day when she stood by her high windows overlooking their royal garden. There, she saw the most handsome man ever in her life. The man stood tall and strong. One would say that Asada fell in love at first sight. She sucked in her breath and her cheeks flushed red as she looked at the unknown man who seemed to be enjoying the scenery of the garden.

Maid Agnes noticed the slightly flushed face and thought that the Princess had caught a fever. As she walked to stand by her, she followed her line of sight and saw the object of her fascination. Agnes nodded her head when she understood the situation.

"He is the King of the Ant Kingdom" Agnes volunteered the information without being asked.

"But my Princess, that King's land has strict procedures when it comes to relationships, and it has nothing to do with love",

"It looks like you have chosen a rather difficult path for yourself" she added.

Princess Asada never said anything but was lost in deep thought. After breakfast that day, she stayed locked up in her room and refused all visitors.

When her brother, King Jeer heard of this, he paid a visit to his sister after all his guests had left. They had come to a treaty agreement that day and he was only able to visit late in the night after the last guest had left.

"How's our pretty Princess doing today?" King Jeer said softly as he signalled Agnes to leave them.

Princess Asada looked up at her brother and said, "I want him…"

"What?!" King Jeer exclaimed. Initially, he was surprised that his dear sister wanted something. But then he realised, that she wanted someone. He didn't care because at last his sister had a wish and he would grant it no matter what.

"Who?" Jeer asked,

"The King of Ant Kingdom",

"I want him!", she affirmed with a defiant look in her eyes that her brother had never seen.

Jeer sighed and realised that it was almost next to impossible request because King Indicy had always been volatile and impossible to deal with. This coupled with their strange custom would be a headache for him, but he resolved to get his sister whatever she wanted as it was her very first request.

"Leave it to your brother", was all Jeer said and left his sister who now had a wide smile on her face.

*** *** ***

King Jeer sat in his chambers, deep in thought while he stared at the flickering flames from the hearth reminiscing on that memory …

It had already been six years since this request from his sister. Sigh. The request happened when she was barely fifteen years old, and she was already a beautiful 21year old. Over the years after this conversation with his sister, Jeer had systematically put down a plan by investigating all the marriage committee members of the Ant Kingdom. Jeer knew that the only way to satisfy Princess Asada's request was that committee. With luck on his side, he had found a 'greedy' link in the form of Elder Conrad whom he started correspondences with.

His Kingdom was smaller and could not be compared to the Ant Kingdom, but they had a formidable army that had stood the test of time and garnered a reputation of being the best. This was his trump card.

Jeer also knew that if the marriage alliance happened, his sister will be queen and treated with all the care he and the family had nurtured her with. It will also mean that he would benefit from forming an unbreakable bond with the Ant Kingdom; a Kingdom that every other nation feared. This made him secretly happy to work on Asada's request because all parties involved would benefit immensely.

A knock sounded on his door, and a letter was delivered to him with a seal that only he recognised. He smiled and opened it…

*** *** ***

Lendon woke up extra early as usual as she had a big task for the day. She had been assigned to the royal garden, again, and as it wasn't her first time doing it, she knew how intensive the grooming processes took. She noticed that Thalia was not in her bed but didn't think much of it as they all knew where she left for the day before.

Lendon set off quickly through the long dark corridors of the palace in the direction of the garden. Just before she got there, she saw the royal entourage of King Indicy and slowed down her steps as this indicated that he was there. She passed by them and just before the garden itself, she saw a few guards, the King, an attendant who was trembling all over and lastly her friend Thalia who was in the same state as the attendant. She stood behind a tall pillar in the corridor and looked at what was happening while she frowned slightly and wondered what Thalia was doing there. She signed and thought to herself,

"I knew it was a bad idea as it's obvious that she's been caught".

Lendon observed the happenings quietly.

In the royal garden, the attendant and Thalia looked to be in a sorry predicament. Thalia was shaking so much that she was not even aware of her surroundings.

With a nod of his head, King Indicy signalled his guard, Alan, who shoved the attendant into the maze, a few meters in front of them. The attendant again cursed himself as he thought of the bag of gold he had hidden in the floorboard of his room. He knew perfectly well of the risks involved when he accepted the gold, but he thought he may be lucky this time. He cried within himself as this was the first time, he had done something like this. He only stumbled upon the secret entrance at night when he saw Alan use it. But alas, there was no use crying over spilt milk.

Indicy said quietly, "If you're able to go through the maze and find the exit, I'll spare you and forget about everything as well".

The attendant nervously entered the maze but not before looking at Thalia with a deadly gaze that said everything he wanted to say. Thalia was in her world of dread and did not react to this at all.

After some time, they all heard a blood-curdling scream from the attendant and then …silence.

A few moments passed and Indicy signalled again. Thalia was pushed forward roughly to go in next. At this point, she was opening crying so much that she looked pathetic, but no one paid heed to this. However, just before she entered, a voice said,

"Please wait", Lendon walked forward hesitantly.

"Can I go through instead of her?" she asked,

"You want to take her punishment?" Indicy asked with an amused expression.

Lendon kept her head down and nodded.

All the others looked at the new girl with pity and fascination. It was common knowledge that no one ever came out of the maze. It was basically a death sentence.

With no reaction from Indicy, Lendon assumed that it was okay and then stepped forward towards the maze…

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