BLOOD AND Lightening

Chapter 4

"Child of prophecy" Gildor muttered to himself as he stood at the balcony of his chambers overlooking the ground of the castle.

"What do you need her for, your Majesty?" Nicholas, the right hand man to emperor Gildor asked

"Don't know yet, find her for me, she is within the castle so I believe you will get her for me by dawn"

Just after he made the statement, a maiden was seen walking around with her hands folded at her back, the wind blew off the cloak covering her head and her face came in display,

Something seems to be eating her up, she eventually sat down on a rock with her head hanging low

"Coincidence or fate? that which I seek upon has found my way" Emperor Gildor said with a smirk

"Is there really such a thing as coincidence?" Asked the stoned face right hand man, Nicholas. Emperor Gildor smirked looking at his man, who is now beginning to sound like him

"Would you ever thirst for that which is not yours?" he asked Nicholas with calculating eyes, the fellow didn't answer immediately, he immediately lowered his head after understanding the situation

"I dare not your Majesty"

"Lead the way, take me to this maiden" Emperor Gildor declared, he had decided to go meet the maiden himself, for sure she wouldn't resist him nor detest him like every other person in the kingdom, it wasn't a coincidence that he had saved a maiden rumored to be a witch and that same maiden is the Child of prophecy...

" The death of King Adrastos came as a shock to the entire kingdom of Arvernien. Adrastos wasn't much of a young man, but he was strong and hard-headed, he wasn't weak nor was he sick, the people thought he would still be ruling for a long time till the news of his sudden death, the course of his death still a mystery, the royal physicians confirmed that his body was free of any poison while the clergyman said he died a natural and peaceful death,

Prince Adonis at the time was fighting at the border, Princess Athena left for her mother's kingdom so the only immediate family of the king with him at his last times was Prince Gildor, his first child, and son, the heir apparent and the least favorite, it was no news of how the previous king treated his first son"

Nimai listened attentively to everything this woman was saying, listening to the story she felt so bad for the young Emperor for having a father who didn't like you, she didn't want the story to end but like always the woman has come to her limit for the night, the woman in question is, Odede . A middle-aged court lady who seems to know everything about the kingdom, she doesn't seem to care about the rumors surrounding Nimai and would always tell her stories to any ear that was eager to listen, and like always it was Nimai listening, almost a daily routine, every night Nimai strolls to the eastern part of the castle right under the wild tree she stands and waits for Odede to come out for fresh air.

Madam Odede grew a fondness for Nimai too and would come later so by the time she arrived, Nimai would be waiting already,

"Your eyes are growing darker" Odede stated looking directly into Nimai's brown eyes.

"My eyes?" Nimai inquired.

"Yes, you have lost the tiny sparks that would light up at my stories, I knew your fire was quenching but I didn't know it would be this fast, you have only being here for one full moon and you have lost everything"

Nimai smiled bitterly and nodded

"There was no spark nor light in the first place, I just got tired of pretending" her statement gained laughter from Odede who was amazed by her honesty.

"Your stories are interesting, engaging, and enlightening but not exciting, it's mostly about real life, not fairytales, and real life isn't exciting," Nimai said looking up into the sky.

"Greetings your majesty," Odede said bowing her head, Nimai's body swang around in the direction Odede was bowing, she was stunned to have come face to face with the smiling face of the emperor, it was dusks but the moon was bright, so was the young face of the Emperor, for a moment Nimai didn't know how to act till she finally lowered her straightened back in an attempt to greet the king.

"Greetings your royal Majesty" she finally greeted

"You may now rise" came the voice of the Emperor, both Odede and Nimai rose.

Nimai watched as the guard beside the king quietly led Odede away, she began to panic internally at the development but the young Emperor himself had on a pleasant smile.

"Nimai, right?" the Emperor asked, her heart quickened hearing her name slip out of the Emperor's mouth, her savior and the king of the land still remembered her name.

"Yes, it is I Nimai, the maiden who was saved by your majesty," she said lowering her head, her gratitude towards the king was still strong and her admiration still active.

"How come I missed your beauty then," The king teased but Nimai didn't understand and stood confused, the word which he asked to gain a smile from her only caused confusion.

"How has your stay in the castle been," He asked, Nimai swallowed and forced out a smile, she was indeed grateful to him but her life in the castle is not very pleasing, but does she have a choice

"My stay has been wonderful all thanks to you, your majesty," she said smiling, it was turning awkward for her, a rare occurrence in the life of a low-class palace maiden to be able to see the Emperor. How lucky can she get, but what if she is seen by other maidens if by chance she is seen here with Emperor, the rumors that she bewitched his majesty would never die down.

"Your majesty, do I have to do something for you, it is late and dangerous out here," she said in a low voice quite unsure how to speak to a royal, a king at that.

"Oh yes, I was so caught up looking at the sky that I lost track of my message to you, I want you to be assigned to my chambers"

Nimai's eyes grew wide and her cheeks flushed without warning, very well she did admire the young Emperor but didn't expect him to feel the same nor be very vulgar about it, and her affection towards him hasn't gotten to the extent of visiting his Chambers, it was mere admiration nothing else.

"What are you thinking Nimai," he said bringing her out of her imagination, "you will have to work at my chamber as a maid" he clarified as if reading her mind

Nimai's flushed cheeks grew red from embarrassment, she quickly hid her embarrassment and nodded in accordance,

"Be at my wing by dawn" the Emperor smiled before leaving, Nimai stood processing what happened, "Did i just become the kings maid?" She asked out to no one in particular, her gloomy mood brightened up and her heart leaped for joy, her days of mockery by the maiden are about to end, yes indeed the rumors are about to go wild but her status have just been elevated.

Nimai finally sat down under the tree, just then rush of memory, it played out right in front of her eyes how the day went by, it was like recurring, it came as a vision and her vision ended with her being poured spoiled food by co maidens, everything played out like it was till after the king left, she struggled to get up and after staggering she tried waving everything to the back of her mind and began going back with a light heart. It has been a regular occurrence since the death of her parents...

As Nimai approached the cabin, where she sleeps with the other maiden, unlike the previous nights, the lights weren't out which was unlikely, she stood by the entrance for a while before opening the door, her mind warning her not to, on opening the door, she felt something falling but was too slow to move away, a bucket full of leftover meal, the Maidens who were pretending to be sleeping erupted in laughter

"Gracious heavens, how did that get up there?" one of them said, Nimai paled up realizing she has seen this before, It was like a deja vu, her vision, it really did happen.

"I have finally become a leisure of fun making for the rest of you," Nimai said as she went ahead and began stripping off her clothes right in front of them

"I might as well put on a remarkable experience while at it" she continued and erupted into weird laughter, "hahaha, it's very amusing right?" she said as she threw her dirty garments at them, the laugh began to subside as they began looking at each other wondering what she is trying to do, she grabbed on a black clock and covered her bare skin before leaving, she made sure to lock them all in while she headed down to the kitchen.

"Open the door!!" the voices within began to panic,

"Nimai you wouldn't like what I will do to you" a voice threatened, Nimai smiled as the cries grew, she was going to deal with all of them, she was finally going to show them that her quietness doesn't equal weakness and their loudness certainly doesn't mean that they were stronger, luckily for Nimai there were more than enough left over and of course sewage, she carried two buckets full of leftovers and sewage and returned to meet them, their voices have subsided and they sat down looking confused till she emptied the first bucket at them, the six of them didn't see it coming and had the same reaction of shock, some were quick and able to miss the second bucket while the rest didn't, Nimai wasn't a bit phased, she had tolerated and allowed them to mess with her but they took it a step further tonight and she won't settle for physical harm, one of the maidens charged at her but she was faster, and landed a heavy slap at her.

"I lived by the woods all my life, till now. Don't think you can outfight me and you must have forgotten that am a witch too"

"You just made the biggest mistake, we will make sure the rest of your life at the Palace is miserable" another chipped in

"Miserable like your lives, you spend every day spreading rumors about me, and you think if truly I was a witch I would spare any of you, I swear by the heavens I would have killed all of you and fed your bodies to the night creatures, thank your stars that am not," Nimai said with anger burning within her, none of them said a word, they all stood looking at each other till their door sprang open to reveal some guards standing at their entrance.

"Get them" shouted the guard leading...