CHAPTER 17

SOLLEL, Cira, Hakken, and Grath didn't know what to think about the two individuals blocking the path. The woman was too focused holding her staff with a red stone on top, while the man with a dagger was eyeing the flame sorcerer, ready to pounce. And just when they thought a deadly fight would break out, the female flame sorcerer turned around and started running away.

And the man with a dagger gave chase.

Cira's head tilted to the side in confusion. "Huh?"

Grath cupped his chin intelligently and said, "That's the most coward flame sorceress I have ever seen."

Hakken also had a confused expression. "What are they doing?"

The four who left the wagon to check what was happening sighed simultaneously as they watched how the two chased each other around the path—the woman running away from the man.

"I don't know! I don't know what you're talking about! Please! Leave me alone!" The female flame sorcerer was close to crying her heart out.

"How could you not know? You're a flame sorcerer, right? And you're carrying that powerful staff!" The man with a dagger shouted in frustration. "Stop running away!"

"Then stop chasing me and put that dagger away!"

The man with a dagger clicked his tongue and threw his dagger upward. When the dagger was in midair, instead of falling, it multiplied into ten daggers, and each dagger flew down to different directions.

The female flame sorcerer did not mind even if a dagger dropped in front of her; she just kept running. But in a blink of an eye, the man chasing was in front of her.

The flame sorceress immediately turned around and ran in a different direction, and the same thing happened. The man just appeared out of thin air in front of her. But the flame sorceress was a resilient woman. She didn't give up and continued running, only to be blocked by the man again.

"How is he doing that?" Cira asked in amazement while watching the chase.

"The daggers," Sollel answered after observing. "He's using the daggers to move from one place to another."

Cira's lips formed into an o. "Like teleportation?"

"In a way, yes," Sollel answered with a shrug. "It's actually an impressive ability but frustrating if he was your enemy."

Hakken clicked his tongue. "It's not that impressive."

Cira snickered at the bitterness of Hakken's voice. "Why so bitter, Hakken? Jealous, aren't we? Well, for one, he's more handsome than you, and he looked younger too."

Hakken snorted, and Sollel let out a soft chuckle, seeing how annoyed Hakken looked.

Their conversation stopped when they all saw the man with a dagger capture the sorceress at last. Everyone thought the man was going to hurt her, but the opposite happened. The man actually handed his dagger to the woman.

"Bless my dagger with your flame," the man demanded.

The sorceress, who tripped and landed butt first on the ground, glared at the man. "And I told you again and again, I can't do that!"

"Why not?! You're a flame sorcerer, aren't you? I want my dagger to be wrapped in flames like my warlord friend."

The sorceress eyes sharpened even more. "Are you dense? I told you I can't do it! If I can, I would have, but I really can't! Plus, I don't even know you. I was minding my own business, walking to Castetava when you just appeared and started chasing me!"

"Because you're a flame sorceress. Why can't you bless my dagger?" The man with a dagger seemed like he wouldn't let it go unless he got an answer.

The sorceress looked down, tears falling from her eyes as she whispered pathetically, "Because I can't even make a fireball..."

The man with a dagger lost all the expression on his handsome face and stared blankly at the sorceress. "What?"

The sorceress sniffed while crying her heart out. "I'm a very weak flame sorceress, okay? You understand now?"

The man with a dagger grimaced. "You're very weak, but you had the gall to take this path and walk in this forest?" The man pointed the staff with a stone the sorceress was carrying. "How about that? That's a powerful staff you got. That's why I wanted you to bless my dagger."

The crying sorceress played with her fingers while still looking down. "It's an heirloom from my family. My grandmother gave it to me before I left our village to travel and experience the world."

The man gave the sorceress a dirty look. "Your grandma actually let you travel knowing how weak you are?"

Hakken blew a loud breath, hearing the conversation that did not concern them. "Can you two let us pass already? You two are blocking the way."

Faster than Sollel could blink, the man threw his dagger at Hakken, and in a heartbeat, he was in front of Hakken. Hakken had his war blades drawn, blocking the man's attack.

Sollel already had her flame ready to assist and protect Hakken when the man jumped back and sheathed his dagger before introducing himself like nothing happened. "I'm Xeke, a traveler."

Hakken didn't reply and just snorted. It was Cira who eagerly introduced herself. "I'm Ciradyl, an elf."

Xeke blinked at Cira. "What is an elf out doing here? So far away from the sacred forest."

Cira pouted. "It's not a good story to tell. Anyway," Cira continued, motioning her hand toward Hakken. "This is Hakken. He's a hunter we hired to accompany us to the city of Ager. And then this is Grath. He's our demi-human companion. And this is Que—I mean, El. She's a friend of mine."

"Nice meeting you all." Xeke smiled at everyone, and it made him look even more handsome than earlier. "I'm going to Ager too. Mind if I tagged along? We're going in the same direction anyway. We can protect each other if bandits and beasts came."

Hakken's answer was immediate. "No. We can manage."

"Of course, you can tag along." Sollel had an opposite answer to Hakken, and Sollel's answer had more weight than Hakken's.

However, Sollel agreed not because they needed a helping hand dealing with bandits and beasts; what she really wanted was to see and observe the dagger up close. If I'm not mistaken, that's the ashrune dagger, she thought. Sollel was curious how the man got his hands on one of the arcane weapons of Sappher.

The Kingdom of Sappher had always been at odds with the Kingdom of Yther before Yther's queens defeated the warlords of Sappher in a war. If Yther was known for their four queens, then Sappher was known for their seven warlords—they are the kings of the Kingdom of Sappher.

Is this Xeke a descendant of Sappher? No one could wield the arcane weapons other than the Sapphers. And meeting one here, in the middle of the forest, Sollel was not convinced that it was a coincidence.

"C-can I tag along too? I-I'm Zassia," The flame sorceress said, clutching her staff while looking pitiful in front of Sollel's group. "I'm going to Ager too to see my grandfather."

Cira smiled at the flame sorceress. "Of course!" Another flame essence for her highness. Cira's smile turned into an evil grin making the sorceress step back.

"Um, on second thought..." The flame sorceress kept stepping back after she saw the evil grin on the elf's lips. "I rather walk..."

"What are you talking about?" Cira grabbed the flame sorceress and dragged her to their wagon. "Come on! Don't be scared. We won't bite."

Sollel shook her head as she watched Cira enter the wagon with the flame sorceress. Looks like she found someone to experiment on. Then Sollel turned to Hakken who looked sullen.

With a teasing smile, Sollel went to stand beside Hakken. "Are you sulking?"

"Yes," Hakken answered indignantly.

Sollel couldn't help chuckling. "The wagon's front seat is still yours. I will let you keep it."

Hakken sulked even more. "My lady, I am not that cheap—"

Sollel slightly pulled back her hood to show Hakken half her face, from the tip of her nose down to her lips. "Please play nice for me, hmm?"

Seeing half of Sollel's face, Hakken nodded in a daze. "Okay."

Sollel smiled. Seeing her smile with his own eyes for the first time, Hakken was speechlessly frozen, and he was only able to pull himself together when Sollel went back to the wagon.

"Lord Hakken?" Grath called Hakken thrice before Hakken reacted.

"Y-yeah?"

"Let's go?"

Hakken was still in a little daze after mounting the wagon, and Xeke who saw what happened snickered.

"That woman got you good, my friend." Xeke grinned teasingly at Hakken.

Hakken grimaced at Xeke. "You are not my friend."

Xeke shrugged. "Come on, don't be so uptight. We are traveling together now, and that makes us friends." Then Xeke glanced at Grath who was sitting on the front wagon together with the two. "Right, Grath?"

Grath nodded and focused his attention on the path, while Hakken was looking at Xeke with disdain.

"Why are you sitting next to me?" Hakken clicked his tongue. "Grath should be in the center, not you, since he's the one reining the horse."

"You should rest, Grath." Xeke grabbed the rein from Grath and smiled. "There. Now I'm allowed to be in the center."

Hakken wanted nothing more than to throw this annoying traveler off the wagon, but he remembered his lady's request—play nice for her. Well, I get to see her lips. I should play nice, Hakken reasoned with himself and just stayed silent.

♕♕♕

ALONG THE WAY, Cira chatted with the flame sorceress to distract her while her eyes were analyzing the sorceress. Meanwhile, Sollel's sight never left the sorceress, assessing her and the staff she carried. And when the flame sorceress finally let down her guard and fell asleep, Cira moved to sit beside Sollel and whispered, "Can you take back your flame essence from this distance, Your Highness, or do you have to be closer to her?"

Sollel sighed and leaned on the wagon's wall as she answered in a whisper as well, "Taking back my essence from her is a waste of my time and effort."

Cira looked at Sollel and blinked. "Huh? Why?"

"The flame essence in her body is so tiny that taking it back wouldn't make any difference," Sollel said, uninterested. "No wonder she's weak."

Cira looked at the sleeping flame sorceress in disbelief. "She's that weak? No wonder she couldn't even make a fireball. But that staff of hers, I don't need to use my eyes to appraise it to know that it's strong."

Sollel sighed and looked at the sorceress staff. "Yes, that staff of hers is powerful. That red stone on top is a firestone. If I took its essence, I might recover one-fourth of my strength."

Cira immediately became excited and urged Sollel, "Take it now while she's still sleeping."

Sollel shook her head. "I need to be in a quiet environment to absorb the firestone essence. I can't do it here in the wagon."

Cira touched her chin while thinking deeply. "Then let's pull over the wagon and do it."

Sollel shook her head and pointed Xeke who's on the wagon's front seat. "We have company. We can't be too reckless." Sollel glanced at the sorceress. "She'll be traveling with us to Ager anyway. We have time."

Cira nodded with determination. "I will not take my eyes off of her then."

Sollel smiled, amused at Cira's seriousness. "It's okay if you did. She can't run away from me anyway. After making contact with my flame essence inside her, I can find her anywhere in Azitera."

Cira's lips parted in amazement. "You can do that? Is that also the reason why you can sense the other queens?"

Sollel shook her head. "With them, sensing each other's presence is as natural as breathing for us."

Cira's eyes twinkled. I learned a new information again. Yes!

Sollel frowned when she saw Cira pull out a leather-bound book from her satchel and then started writing on it.

"What are you doing?" Sollel asked when she saw her name written in the book, together with the other queens.

Cira continued writing as she answered, "I write everything I learn about Yther's queens in this book. Every single detail. My grandmother gave it to me as her memento before I was kicked out from the sacred forest." Cira smiled even though her story was emotional. "Your Highness, after you get your revenge and Azitera is back to the way it was, I will publish a book about you and the others. That's my dream, and I will make it happen."

Sollel's expression softened while watching Cira write in her book. She told me she has personal reason why she wanted to accompany me. Is this it?

Sollel raised her hand and messed Cira's hair. "Write a book about me and the others? You remind me of someone."

Oh! My! Deities! The queen is messing my hair! Yay! Cira wanted to squeal, but she contained herself and just wrote it in her book.

Sollel chuckled when she read what Cira just wrote. "You should rest, Cira."

"Hmm." Cira nodded and went to sleep after putting back her book in her satchel.

Sollel stayed awake and alert, just in case, but their travel was smooth. There were beasts along the way, but Xeke took care of them pretty fast, making Hakken sullen.

After a whole day's travel, they finally found a good spot for the horse to rest. From pulling four people, now the horse was pulling six. The intervals between the horse's rest had become short because of too many passengers in the wagon; in short, it was exhausted, and it needed a rest.

After pulling over the wagon, everyone was sitting on the ground, gathered around the campfire made by Hakken. Everyone was eating their provision except for Zassia. She was holding the dried meat close to her face, and she was uttering something they couldn't hear.

Everyone just let her be, but not Cira. As curious as she was.

"What are you doing?"

Zassia finished what she was muttering first before answering Cira and grilling her meat on the campfire. "Praying to Queen Sollel."

Sollel nearly choked on her food, coughing vigorously, until Hakken—who was sitting beside her—handed her water.

"Thank you," said Sollel after she calmed her throat with water.

"Queen Sollel?" Xeke asked Zassia after a while. "Isn't she the one who tried to kill all the humans?"

Zassia shook her head, smiling softly while staring at the campfire. "Queen Sollel would never do that. She's the Mistress of Flame, Queen of Fire as my whole village calls her. She is the queen that we worshiped in our village. She was the one who blessed the humans with flame to protect themselves from beasts back in the day, the reason why humans, as weak as we are, could wield the power of the flame. Flame sorcerers and sorceresses are born because of her blessing. That's why I'm thanking her and praying to her."

"If she could bless someone and give them the strength of the flame, where is she now?" Xeke was interested because he wanted his dagger to be blessed by flames, just like his warlord friend.

Zassia shook her head, and her grip on her staff tightened. "No one knows. Nearly two centuries ago, something big happened, and the queens were labeled as traitors. All the people in my village, including me, don't believe the story that the four kingdoms spread. We believed in our queen. They were not traitors. They were our protectors."

"Do you have proof?" Xeke asked.

Zassia shook her head again as she looked down.

Xeke sighed. "If one of the kingdoms heard you, they will definitely execute you, so you better be careful with your words."

Grath nodded, agreeing with Xeke. "You shouldn't speak so casually about it, Lady Zassia. Humans won't take it kindly, even if you are of the same race."

Zassia stared at the flame. "I don't care! They can execute me. That will not change what I believed in. The Mistress of Flame will come back one day, and she will burn everyone who dares to call her traitor." Zassia got up with tears in her eyes and went back to the wagon.

The rest remained silent and continued eating, but not Sollel. She had lost her appetite and couldn't stop the tear that fell from her eyes. After a while, she left the campfire to get some fresh air, away from everyone.

But just as Sollel found the perfect spot to enjoy the fresh air and silence beside the stream, she felt a presence behind her.

"Would you mind if I accompanied you, my lady?"

Sollel wanted to be alone, but she welcomed Hakken's presence and even tapped the space beside her, inviting Hakken to sit.

Sitting beside Sollel, Hakken tried to calm his nerves, but nothing was working, especially when his lady rested her head on his shoulder.

Hakken was nervous for some reason he couldn't identify; he was sweating even though the night air was cold, and his heart was a mess. Then he heard his lady spoke.

"Hakken?"

"H-hmm?"

"Can we stay like this for a little while?"

Hakken cleared his throat. "O-of course, my lady."

Sollel chuckled, and after a little while, she called his name again. "Hakken?"

"Y-yes, my lady?"

"Calm down. You're too tense."

Easy for you to say. Hakken sulked, but he slowly calmed down after he realized that his lady had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

I wish I could be your hunter forever, but alas, everything has its limit.

Hakken pressed his lips on Sollel's head over her hood. "I'm glad to have found you, my lady."



CECELIB | C.C.