The Guardian: Heart Of Magic

The Birth Of Helena

Everyone who had their child killed by the warriors sent by Idahali was mourning, even those who did have any child killed were also mourning because someone related to them somehow had their child killed. Fathers and Mothers who tried to stop the men from killing their children were also murdered, the most painful of all was the death of a pregnant woman that Idahali ordered. Despite the mass killings, he still missed out on killing the exact person he wanted to kill.

King Eudokia felt sorry for all his subjects, he could not wipe in front of them but he did when he was alone in his chambers. Yesterday was a black day for Culum Province, they lost many men, women, and children on Idahali's first attack on their province. Some families gathered at the palace to challenge the King to do something about the death of each one of their family members. King Eudokia did not know what to do if it was that Lyculn was around he could have easily sent him to assure the people that they would see Justice but he fled immediately after the mass killings yesterday.

"My King, the people are waiting for you to come out and address them concerning the attack yesterday," General Ruvick said.

"Has Lyculn not returned yet?" King Eudokia asked.

"No, your majesty, there is no sign of him" General Ruvick replied.

"Tell the people I will join them in a bit, first, help me gather some troops together and gather my chariot, after I talk with them we will head to Newwit for a peace talk," King Eudokia said.

"As you wish your majesty," General Ruvick said.

King Eudokia took his time to think about the best thing he could tell the people which would make them rest assured that their homes would be a safe place for them once again. He was lost in thought when his wife, Queen Alena, came inside the palace, he was not hearing all she said, when she noticed, she climbed the stairs to the thrones and tapped lightly, he regained himself instantly.

"I have been here talking to you, I am sure you did not hear any of what I said," Queen Alena said.

"With what happened yesterday and what is happening now, is it not enough for me to be lost in thought," King Eudokia asked.

"But sitting here lost in thought is not any good solution, your people are out there wiping waiting for their King to come out and address them," Queen Alena said.

"You can go, I will join you out there in no time," King Eudokia said.

A few minutes later, King Eudokia stood up from his throne and headed outside, to the front of the palace. When he got there, he saw both males and females crying even children also were crying there. He got their attention, all of them turned to him quietly, to hear what he has to say.

"No one expected what happened to us yesterday, we tried our best to stop the evil sorcerer from entering our Kingdom but it failed, the deed is done what I will make sure is that something like this does not ever happen again, there will be a mass burial for everyone that died yesterday, guards will start to roam about from noon taking all the corpses for burial, a memorial monument would be placed at the venue of the burials," King Eudokia said.

"We the chiefs of this land are coming inside the palace to have a word with you King Eudokia," one of the chiefs in the crowd said.

"You all are welcomed but this time make sure you come with your respect because I will not be light on anyone who speaks with disrespect," King Eudokia said.

The crowd at the palace began to reduce gradually until no one was in front of the palace. After a while, all the chiefs made their way to the palace in order to have a talk with King Eudokia.

"Your Majesty, the people are not happy with the type of burial you said you would give all the deceased, most of them have already started to bury their deceased immediately after leaving here," the right-hand man of the King said.

"Okay, if that is what they want then everyone should bury their lost ones as they please" King Eudokia replied.

"My King, we need more soldiers to assure the safety of the people, this calls for a reunion with Newwit," one of the chiefs said.

"I was going to talk about the same thing, I will be going to Newwit to discuss this matter, If King Murong remains adamant then each family will provide a male child that would join the army," King Eudokia said.

"The reunion is still preferable many families won't comply with this condition, they only want to risk their male child after what happened" one of the chiefs revealed.

King Eudokia and his chiefs had many more discussions concerning how the province would be safe for them and the people. King Eudokia was worried about where Lyculn would be so he called General Ruvick to question him about the whereabouts of Lyculn.

"I was summoned by you, your majesty" General Ruvick said.

"Yes I did, do you know exactly where Lyculn went to, didn't he drop a hint of where he was heading to?" King Eudokia asked.

"Yeah, he told me he was going on an assignment the gods sent him, that was all he told me, he did not say anything else before he left us" General Ruvick replied.

"That sounds suspicious, he never informed me that he was going on an assignment the gods sent him," King Eudokia said.

Lyculn and the woman he saved from the hands of Idahali's men were traveling through the woods, the woman looked like she would be put to bed within days. Lyculn was taking the woman to a small village he discovered in the woods many years ago after he ran away from home. They were halfway already, they had reached a river and the woman wanted to take a rest from their journey and drink some water.

"I will like us to have rest here for some hours before we continue on this journey, I am famished," the woman said.

"Okay, just remain here, I will go hunting for meats for us to eat as we are resting here," Lyculn said.

Some minutes later, Lyculn came back with a dead deer, he killed while hunting, he cut the deer open removed all the unnecessary stuff, prepared fire, and began to roast it. While he was doing all this, he did not pay attention to the pregnant woman he was cleaning and piecing the deer meat for roasting. She could not stand the blood and also the way he removed the animal's intestine and other kinds of stuff from the inside of the animal, she kept on vomiting without Lyculn noticing her until he was done putting the meat on fire before he paid attention to her.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" Lyculn asked.

"Yes I am alright, Just could not stand the bloodshed and cleaning of the deer," the woman said.

"Am so sorry, you should have told me so I would have taken it far away from here so as not to make you feel irritated and vomit" Lyculn said.

"By the way, what is your name? we have been with each other for more than a day now and we don't know anything about each other" he added.

"I am Nagress, and who are?" the woman said.

"I am Lyculn, what were you doing towards the gate yesterday? I think we will get to know more about each other before the meats are fully done" Lyculn said.

"Wow, you are the head visioneer of our Kingdom, I have heard of you but never seen, so I have been with the head visioneer of Culum Kingdom without knowing, hmm, I was running for my life the time you came to my rescue, my husband sacrificed his life so I could run away, he told me to run as fast as I could, out of the Kingdom, but how come you came to my rescue? where were you heading to on foot?" Nagress said.

"May all the souls of brave men and women who died yesterday rest in peace, am sorry for your loss, you have been chosen to bear a child who would change all the evil you see today into good, she will guard many lives to safety, I was assigned as her protector, the gods gave me where I would find you and that was where I found you, they only did not tell me you would be in trouble anyways" Lyculn replied.

They kept on discussing, laughing, and playing till the roasted meats were good enough to be eaten. They ate the roasted meats with some wild fruits and vegetables, when Nagress was full of energy once again, they continued their journey, she already had an understanding of what she got herself into already. Lyculn packed the remaining roasted meats in a bag in case Nagress or himself would be hungry once again before they reach where they are heading. A few hours later, they reached their destination, Lyculn was well welcomed by all the elders, children, men, and women in the village, even those that did not know him treated him well on his arrival with Nagress. It was night when they got to the village so they were given a hut to sleep in, Nagress and Lyculn slept in the hut till morning there was no cause for alarm during the night, they slept peacefully.

When it was morning, Lyculn woke up before Nagress so he went out to prepare what she would eat when she wakes up with some hunters from the village. He returned before she woke up, by the time she finally woke, the food was ready. Nagress is a very good storyteller, she always loved to tell the little one's stories so she told Lyculn to help her gather all the children in front of their hut then she began to tell them a nice and interesting story of a boy who cried wolf.

It was when she was telling the story she got hooked, her water broke, it was like she was going to give birth today, she screamed, Lyculn was not far away, immediately he heard the scream, he ran to her rescue, she told him the baby was coming then Lyculn reached out for help to take Nagress inside the hut, while Lyculn and some men helped Nagress inside the hut, two others went to bring the village's healer to come to help her put to be safe. The village healer was an old man called Neo, he could not run but he tried to be quicker than normal to attend Nagress. When got to the hut on time, he sent everyone else out of the hut leaving himself alone with Nagress, Lyculn was worried, he could hear Nagress yell as she was in labor pain. Suddenly he did not hear anything from inside, he kept his ear close to the hut to hear if the baby was out already but he did not hear. It took a few more minutes before Lyculn heard the cry of a baby from inside the hut, everyone else around the hut heard it also, they began to congratulate Lyculn for his wife's delivery. All of the villagers have been thinking that Nagress was Lyculn's wife since they both arrived. They were all waiting to hear from Neo and Nargress.

After a while, Neo came outside to take Lyculn in with him. He began to talk right from when Lyculn entered the hut without showing him the newly born child.

"I have never since something like this before your child is a rare being, she is a golden child directly from the gods, she has a light in her, you can come and see for yourself," Neo said to Lyculn.

Neo then showed him the baby girl next to Nagress who looked like she was sleeping according to the healer. Neo removed the cloth he used to wrap the child, Lyculn could see a light shining from the chest of Nagress's child. Lyculn immediately remembered what King Arman told him in the vision.

"You have to be chosen by the heavens as the protector of the guardian with a heart of magic, you shall protect her from her birth till she fulfills your destiny, you must be wise because this evil you fear has already surrounded you so be wise with the way you talk"

"The Guardian, Heart Of Magic, Be Wise, be wise! be wise!" Lyculn said.

"What is the meaning of all that you just said," Neo asked.

"Never mind, the golden child has been born!!!" Lyculn said.