THE FUTURE IS BEHIND.

Chapter 12 - FARE-WELL IN A MEAL

Hermosa was quick to pick their reluctance. So, she took a bit from her own bread and gave to her husband King Whune and smiled to her sister Queen Doris, she stopped after feeding King Whune the first slice, and she asked them why are you guys not eating, or you do not like the aroma of the tea, is the tea too hot? I can actually cool it down for you if you want your tea to be cold but me I love my tea very hot, sorry if I offered you what you do not want to eat, I just wanted to show my sincerely love for my husband and sister.

No not that, responded King Whune, it is just that we are still in shocked, wandering where this version of Queen Hermosa has been all this years, this kind hearted, loving and cheerful person that I fell in love with, he stood up and perked Queen Hermosa on her cheek while Queen Doris smiled and started eating her breakfast and everyone ate silently, the king was feeling a little uneasy or reluctant to eat because he thought she changed her plans and decided to poison them instead as he was suspecting everything and everyone or was it the fear of death?

No one could tell but the queen assured him that the food is delicious, so he decided to give it a try and he took the first bit and felt comfortable and free after he discovered he was not choking nor dying anytime soon.

They ate for about fifteen minutes and they were done, the rested for an additional twenty minutes before standing up to leave.

After the breakfast, King Whune appreciated Queen Hermosa for the act of benevolence and apologized for not being able to spend much time with her since she gave birth as he was caught up with so many activities and meetings with business partners, kings, nobles etc that he could not avoid and he told her that the reason why he always travel with her sister Queen Doris instead is that her sister had this flair in public speaking and she know that she does not like been amongst crowd or too many people for too long as she loves being alone which is the reason he is not taking her out not because he loves Queen Doris more, that he loved both of them equally but Queen Doris happens to be the one in the field of travelling as him which gave her the advantage of travelling with him all the time and he also promised Queen Hermosa to take her to his next trip to Europe if she will want to go as it is still a massive banquet of different kings in the entire region.

Queen Hermosa told him that she is not bothered by their lot of travels, as far as she is comfortable in the palace, that there is nothing she will ever want that is not already in the palace for her, that right from time she knew her sister love travelling and her sister’s confidence in public speaking is pronounced that she cannot be resisted or intimidated by anyone, so it is fine and also informed her husband King Whune that he should go for this particular meeting in Spain and get back first, and then they will talk about the rest later as they are already running late to the train station which will soon take off in few hours.

Queen Doris her sister thanked her for the meal well prepared and served, they bid their goodbyes, Queen Hermosa left to the kitchen to drop the plates and came out in few minutes and followed them outside as they headed to Spain for the meeting.

As they left, Queen Hermosa wore a wicked smiled on her face and went back inside smiling.

On their way to Spain, they got to a Y-junction, the right road leads to Evive Kingdom while the left lead to the train station to Spain and the one behind was where they were coming out from which leads to Khah’s Kingdom, the king stopped the cart and ordered the guards to continue their journey to Spain but slowly that he and his wife Queen Doris will go to a nearby kingdom to visit and see someone, that him and his wife Queen Doris will caught up later with them but King Whune’s chief guard and right hand man Phen refused to continue the journey to Spain because he insisted and said that his duties is to keep the king safe and not to travel alone to Spain, that his duties are to the king and not to the guards nor maids which the king calmly confirmed it to be true but persuaded him to accept his request and go a separate way and after a long discussion and much deliberation between King Whune and his chief guard who seemed to prefer waiting there for the king to return from his visit and then continue the journey but the king insisted that they should go ahead but slowly so that he’ll be able to catch up with them in no time after he is done seeing the person he wants to visit.

They finally agreed and parted ways, the guards took the left side of the road which leads to the train station to Spain while King Whune and his wife Queen Doris went to the road by the right side that lead to Evive Kingdom.

On their way, the guards decided to take a bush part as they were given free hands to ride around and wait for the king to return for them to continue their journey to Spain.

While they rode, one of the guards were pressed and asked the others to stop so he can ease himself. The guard riding the cart stopped and allow him step out into the forest to ease himself and as he was done easing himself the chief guard and King Whune’s personal guard Phen also decided to ease him, as he went into the forest to ease himself and the other guards went to the cart to wait for him, while he was still in the forest easing himself, he heard a noise, screams of pain as if an army were fighting, he hurriedly stopped easing himself and zipped up his garment and peeped quietly to find out what it was.

He hide himself and observed from the forest to see what was making that disturbing sound before coming out, but what he saw shocked him, he saw a group of men slaughtering all the guards, he wanted to come out but when he observed closely he discovered their professionalism and perfect way of handling the swords was second to none, the cuts were accurate and clean. That was when it dawn on him that it was ghosts assassins which have been sent by someone, that was when everything that has been happening from the palace, the Queen Hermosa preparing breakfast for the king and his wife Queen Doris for the first time, the king and his wife Queen Doris not allowing him to follow them or waiting for them and the whole drama of taking another route while telling the guards to go to Spain alone started making sense to him.

He now realized that the king and his wife Queen Doris knew or suspected something was off, so they decided to play the conniver.

He kept quiet and watched from a distance as they butchered and slaughtered everyone inside and outside of the cart, no single person survived their sword, they pieced them with so much professionalism that he stopped thinking about the guards dying but on the assassin’s skills and excellence in sword fight and usage. He wanted to run out and help the guards but he realized that it will be a waste of time as the assassins were too powerful for only him to handle.

After they were done killing everyone, they jumped back to the forest and disappeared as the wind without much movement.

The chief guard after about an hour they left he came out shocked and scared at the same time, seeing everyone laying died on the floor unrecognizable, their head, faces, bodies were dismembered that no one could ever differentiate between male and female, this person and that other person, it was done clean and perfect.

He became confused on who would have been behind all this evil plot, without wasting much time, the chief guard took to his heels and ran fast and tirelessly back to the palace and as he got to the palace, he rushed to Queen Hermosa who was seated in the sitting room sipping a glass of red wine, he bowed and saluted her as it is a culture in all royal families and quickly informed her of what befall and happened to them on their way to Spain, how they stopped to ease themselves and how the assassins came about but skipped the part that the King and his first wife Queen Doris was not with them because he felt, it was a conspiracy and the way the assassins butchered the guards, you can never identify who is who, so he decided to inform the king later about what had happened because he knew immediate that the king and his wife Queen Doris knew something was off, that’s why they went the other way with the excuse of visiting someone without informing anyone about their plans and with the responds and reaction of Queen Hermosa, it’s obvious she knows something about the guards death but she was not aware the king and Queen Doris were still alive and the chief guard was ready to keep it that way until he hears from the king himself.

The chief guard also knew that maybe the assassins did not know who the king was, so they would not know whether he was part of the person they killed or not.

Queen Hermosa after hearing what King Whune’s chief guard said ask him, does it mean that the king himself is dead? And the chief guard replied yes, your highness, she also asked again, whether Queen Doris was also part of those that was killed by the assassins and he responded with same answer, yes, your highness, and she exclaimed and breath down that was when the chief guard realized that she was involved in whatsoever that happened that morning.

Queen Hermosa immediately asked the chief guard to go to her uncles and fathers place and inform her father and uncle and tell them to come immediately, he ran out at the instruction of the Queen and went to Queen Hermosa’s fathers’ house.

In no time Queen Hermosa’s father and uncle arrived and after hearing what had happened, they informed the elders of the Kingdom who made an announcement immediate to the whole kingdom that a tragedy have befall their king and his first wife Queen Doris, the palace was filled up with people all over the place in few minutes that the announcement was made, some were weeping, some were murmuring, some were talking, others were mourning while folding their hands without uttering a single word and the news about the king and his wife Queen Doris’s laughter spread abroad in the entire kingdom and to the neighboring kingdom as a wide fire and they decided to go and see for themselves and also bring back the corpses of all them which were slaughtered and killed for a proper cenotaph burial and last respect according to their custom and tradition.