Heart desired

//Chapter 54//

When we reached Yorosso, it was past midnight.

Resh guided me through countless turns and plains. I just followed him without hesitation because he knew all these roads like the back of his hands. People shrank away from us when they figured that the Crown Prince was coming. Resh certainly had a reputation for being The Most Cruel Prince Ever lived. Sometimes, I wondered why. Did he kill someone when he was young? He didn't look that bad to me now.

We stopped three times to let the hirutas rest and drink water. Everytime, people avoided us like chronic diseases. I noticed that their gazes were hostile to me as well. I did not blame them. After all, I was the reason they were facing these attacks after two peaceful years. Even if they hit me with stones and rotten eggs, I would still have said nothing.

We didn't gave away any stones to people we encountered in Sermeth or Leven. I trusted the others to take care of them. The main target was Yorosso and we had to hurry before the attacks came.

The gates of the Yorosso fort loomed infront of us, still under construction. It was completely destroyed two years ago. That time I was also here, but I did not witness the battlefield. I did not know how much of a disadvantage we were at.

Yorosso was the last defense line before Capital. Last time, Leven was destroyed before they wreak havoc on here. But this time, according to their plan, they were coming around Elkelyn borders, which means their pathway fell through the mortal realm.

There were so many spears pointed at us. It was understandable. We had come in the pitch dark, not even bothering to carry a torch. Resh knew too much about the area.

I did not know how they were going to cover up such a large army. It certainly would not bother them though, since they had done that before, erasing an entire species's memory.

Currently, we had so many spears pointed at us, which was impossible to count in the dark. The only light came from the huge lights on each pole of still constructing gate, and we were in the shadow of it. We hadn't waited to light up a torch. Resh knew these paths so much and if anything felt off, he would just light up his palm to check that out. I was kind of jealous of him and his fire powers, to be honest. What could I do in situations like this? Light a torch.

Resh hopped down from the hiruta. The torch light caught on his golden brooch and illuminated it in a fiery glow. I watched as his ruby eyes catch on the light and glow as well. I wondered if mine did the same.

The spears dropped as soon as the soldiers saw him. Then, they all fell on to one knee and bowed. "Your Highness."

Resh nodded in acknowledgement. He reached for his sack of stones and freed it from the hiruta. "Gather all your soldiers to the training grounds." He said. "This is an emergency meeting."

-

The commander met with us as soon as we sent our hirutas away. We carried our sacks by ourselves. There may not be any spy here, but we jist couldn't take the risk. After all, this was the last supply of them. I couldn't believe it was just this morning we took them from mines.

So much could happen in a day.

"Your Highness, Her Highness," The commander greeted us. I immediately recognized hos gaze of disapproval towards me. I just smiled at him. "What is this all about."

"Gather in the grounds." Resh responded, his voice icy as I never heared before. "I do not wish to speak of the same thing hundred times."

The commander flinched. "With all due respect, your highnes-"

"I don't need your respect, Commander Aarr." Resh snapped. "Get going, don't waste my time."

I realized that I was just witnessing what people always talked about. I silently watched him. The commander, Aarr, gritted his teeth and walked away after bowing. I looked at Resh. He was staring straight ahead, without looking at me.

"I guess you didn't want me to see this side of yours." I got straight to the point. "Don't worry. I don't like that Aarr guy either."

Resh actually laughed at that. "I thought you would look at me like that as well."

I knew what "that" meant. "Well, then you would have to look at me the same. I had totured people before. I had killed before. I had lied and hated. I am so afraid to let myself loose because I don't know what kind of destruction I'm going to cause."

"Well, you have me if that happenes." He said, grinning a little. "When you destroy everything, I will set them on fire."

I laughed. "Now that's my brother, The Cruelest Prince."

"And there's my sister."

I smiled. "Let's go and finish this."

We climbed to a podium, probably set up to demonstrations or something. The soldiers stood on neat lines. Though some looked sleepy, more of them were alert with curiosity.

Resh spoke without wasting any time. "There is going to be an attack on Yorosso, sooner or later."

Panic stirred everybody, but disciplined soldiers didn't go anywhere from their positions. I could feel their pain. No soldier had come out alive for any of the past battles. Still, they had fought for their people and had gracefully fallen. No matter how someone thought they were ready for it, the fear of life was always present.

I wondered how they kept their courage going on. Then I got this real scary image of panic stricken soldiers falling after their minds started to break apart. I decided not to think about that. There will be no more of that.

"As long as we know, there had been no victory in our history." Resh went on, his voice carrying sharp and clear across the grounds. "Countless mothers lost their sons and daughters. Countless children lost their parents. We had to see our friends and family fall before we could even do anything. Our powers were useless against them."

I suddenly realized the reason for all the Elkelyns looking young. There ought to be older people like Relach through out the kingdom, since they were immortal. Theyust have died in the battle.

Just how many had fallen because of Elves?

After a brief pause, Resh continued on. "Well, we don't have to worry about being powerless anymore."

Now there was a literal chaos. There were murmuring everywhere in the crowd. Aarr shouted, "Silence!" and everybody felt silent.

Resh pointed to my direction. "You may know about the insfi stones. The princess of Rawen, my sister, had helped us steal them. They are used in Rawen to protect each other from invading privacy. We have taken enough to distribute among all of you."

"Does that- does that mean we won't go insane from their attacks?" One soldier asked. I smiled at him. It was very brave for him to even speak in this situation.

"Yeah." I said. "Not only you will be protected but also it doesn't interfere with your abilities either. Which means for the first time, you can fight against Rawen. All you have to do is wear them somehow. And you have a chance at winning. I hope you can win."

All the soldiers yelled "We can!" in unison. I smiled, satisfied with them. This new hope had cleared their minds. And that helped in raising the chances of winning.

By the time the sun started to rise, we had finished giving stones to the soldiers. Everybody had pleasant attitude towards us now, except for Aarr. I put him with Relach in the I don't give a damn about this person category and ignored him.

We gave the remaining stones to the soldiers so they could gave them to civilians as well. Aarr had prepared two rooms for us to sleep. I went to my room and closed the door before hopping to the bed and closing my eyes after two long days. I hoped Savin was doing well.

I did not know how much time I had slept, but when I woke up, the sunlight was pouring through a glasslight. There was a commotion outside. I swiftly got up, nervous. Has the attacks begun already?

Somebody banged on my door. "Nasha! Are you awake?"

It was Resh. "Yeah." I replied, opening the door. "What happened?"

"They had attacked." He said. "But not here. It's Leven."