The Blood King's Bride

Elena and her husband, Calhoun, entered the room created for them. It was still Calhoun's

space, but it had been made to accommodate them. They had moved her things while she was getting married into Calhoun's room. She didn't have much to bring anyway, but she knew that would change once everything was over and had returned to normal.

Calhoun's room was arranged the same way it had been the last time she was in it. Apart from her possessions which didn't occupy any considerable portion of the room, it was still manly and darkish in colour. If she meant to occupy the space, many things would have to change. She didn't know what she was expecting when she walked inside. Though she had been hiding a lot in the Kingdom of Pres and never had an opportunity to attend a wedding, she read many books about marriages. They all explained that the room meant for the bride and the groom was arranged during the wedding night for easy copulation. She blushed just thinking about it. She guessed that the traditions the blood Kingdom practiced were far more different than that of Pres and perhaps Neba. She wasn't surprised by that.

The bed covers remain black satin in colour. A lamp had been lit, and it was placed right

in the middle of the room. That was the only change she came across in Calhoun's room. She was extremely nervous.

She and Calhoun had paused by the door side, looking over the room.

"So we are finally married." Calhoun stated, his hand resting atop Elena's shoulder. He stood beside Elena, taking in the sight of the room that had become theirs. He could feel her nervousness, even if he were to be a mile away from where she stood.

Trying to make her comfortable, he moved first into the room. "Now that we are together,

we get to share many things. You are stronger now. Not by much but enough to cause harm." He sat on the bed. "If you train seriously, you can hone that power and become even more powerful. You can be a deadly force to contend with."

Knowing he was trying to make her feel comfortable, she braved herself and walked

straight to him, sitting right next to him on the bed. "I would practice hard alright, you can count on that."

Calhoun quickly stretched out both his hands and held hers. "You should also remember

that I am now your husband. You should create some time for me too." He said, pouting. Elena chuckled. "Why do I have the feeling that I would end up being the man between the both of us?"

"What do you mean?" Calhoun said, mocking outrage. "I am the man in this union." "Yeah right." Elena said, laughing loudly. "Not if you keep acting that way. I give you two weeks tops before you end up like your father."

"Please," Calhoun said, rolling his eyes. "Like that is ever going to happen."

Elena chuckled and found herself staring at Calhoun. Calhoun was also staring intensely

at Elena. Slowly, they leaned closer and closer and finally joined their lips together in a slow but heated dance of passion. Elena's hands quickly came around Calhoun's shoulder, holding tightly onto him. Calhoun's hand-wound itself around Elena's waist. So caught up were they in their kiss

that they both collapsed on the bed.

Calhoun broke the kiss to look at Elena, his eyes heated. "Are you sure? Are you ready?" Elena slowly nodded, her eyes glazed. She might be a little scared of what was bound to happen, but she knew that she had nothing to be scared of as long as it was with Calhoun. "Let's get this over with." She said, smiling and then laughing when Calhoun dived towards her, continuing their dance of passion until the early morning hours. The Kingdom of Neba,

The King's Castle.

The air stank of an uprising. Everyone could feel the war vibrations on the ground. Their

neighbour Pres had already been dragged into the frontlines of it. They could hear the cry and the screams that came from the Kingdom, and none knew if it was of the people or the Allikans. They surmised that it was from both.

The army of the Kingdom of Neba gathered around in different areas of the Kingdom to practice. It was by far the largest gathering of soldiers in the history of the Kingdom, and even more, people registered to join the army. Men, women, all who were interested. They had seen what happened earlier in their Kingdom by the attack of the Allikans and what was happening to their neighbours. They'd rather die while fighting than let that happen to their Kingdom, their families.

The soldiers practiced every day and were taught new skills by Daruki, Svetlana and Wazir interchangeably. Every day, they all grew stronger, more powerful, and quicker than before.

Wazir was currently in his father's study, where they both planned how their attack would be. It was closer than ever, as foretold by Wazir, who had been having sleepless nights because of it. The dark circles over his eyes were more prominent each time than the last, and his father got worried every time he saw him.

They both were looking over the map of the four kingdoms. The war was going to occur

in the wastelands, where all the wars that happened throughout history took place. They had mapped out the route they would take, creating contingency plans for every action. It was a long process, but it would have been much more tiring had they not had the help of Daruki and Svetlana. The former was blessed with the gift of battle strategy, while the latter was blessed with the skill of dirty attacks. Since they were going up against the Allikans, they would need every skill at their tip. Their soldiers were trained to be a mix between warriors and assassins. They would make sure to use every skill at their disposal.

Wazir rubbed his eyes for the tenth time that hour, and his father paused to look at him. "Wazir," he said, his voice mixed with worry. "You should rest. This way you are going

is not good for you." Wazir collapsed on the seat next to him, taking his head in his hands. "You should drink the mix Svetlana created for you." His father continued. "Hopefully it would be able to make you sleep. I do not like how you look."

"Sorry for worrying you father," Wazir said, his voice tired. "But I keep on seeing things that may or may not happen. I was blessed with this gift for a reason and I intend to use it to keep you all safe."

"What point is it then, if, to keep us safe, you wear yourself down?" his father said,

walking over to him. He sat next to his son. "Tell me what's been bothering you. What you have been dreaming about. I may be able to see what you do not see. Perhaps that might make you sleep, knowing that you have understood the message your vision passes."

Wazir sighed, rubbing his eyes again. He supposed that sharing his vision might not hurt and may perhaps help take the weight off him. He couldn't deny that he needed a good sleep too. All the planning was beginning to tear him down.

"We have already started the second phase of our plan." Wazir started. "We have organized our troops, taken in both male and female and trained them to be warriors. Some of the people who would fight alongside the Allikans would be female, and according to what we learnt from Svetlana, they are likely to also be used as the charging ports for the warriors. I don't know how, but we are likely to find an advantage for us in their arrangement." He paused, going through his thoughts.

"Everything seems to be working out as planned, yet I keep on seeing Elena screaming, her whole body, bloodied. I don't know if the blood is from her, or from those she vanquished. She cries and she screams, her face full of terror. I see a huge dark man reaching out for her, then just before he could hold unto her, the vision changed, and I am surrounded by a garden filled with beautiful flowers and trees and right at my front," he said, choking a bit.

"Right at my front is the king of Pres, with my sister."

The king's eyes widened in shock, his face pale. But Wazir continued. "I wake up every time it reaches that part, and whenever I try to sleep, the dream starts all over again."

The king stood up from his seat and strolled to the window behind his desk.

"I don't know why this is hard for you to decipher, but it's pretty easy for me to understand." The king started, his voice grave. "You are so focused on the war, on Elena, that

you failed to acknowledge the last part of the dream. Perhaps just like me, you do not wish to see that man living happily with your sister, my daughter, and that was why your ability to decipher

the dream was stunted. But I can get the whole gist of it." The king said, turning around to face him.

"The King of Pres would die in battle."

The Kingdom of Pres.

The King's Castle...

"My lord, we have been able to force most of the Allikans into hiding. The ones who we caught we burnt alive." A soldier reported his head bowed. The ministers were right at the other end of the room, watching everything happening. They occupied the King's study and were currently watching their indifferent king, who stood by the window. After being released from the evil witch's spell, they felt remorse. It was their fault that the king had gone to the town of the Allikans in the first place. When the war for the throne commenced in their Kingdom, they all took the sides of their King, and in the end, they were rewarded for it. They should have noticed something was wrong when he returned with a strange female and barely paid attention to his wife. But all their focus was on the fact that they would defeat their enemies. They did, but it cost them a heavy price. Yet, they knew that their sorrow couldn't compare to that of the king. With his hands, he killed his wife. He caused the death of the only woman he loved, whether directly or not. They could see how shattered he was, and there was nothing they could do to fix it.

Another soldier ran into the room. He bowed his head before the king and began his report.

"My lord, the spawn of the witch had been killed. She was caught in between crossfires." The whole room remained quiet, waiting for the king's reply.

"Hmm." The king answered indifferently. They didn't know how to react to his reaction.

He refused to acknowledge the child he birthed with the witch as his, and he commanded them

all to stop referring to her as the princess. So the spawn of the witch was what was used to describe the girl.

"You all should leave." The king said, turning as he waved them away. "I need some time to myself." As they all slowly began to leave the room, he stopped them. "Should anything happen to me, my daughter Elena is the new leader of the kingdom." "My lord!" the ministers exclaimed, worried, but he simply waved them away from the

room.

Finally, he was the only one left. His mind was blank, his heart empty and still, but for

the rhythmic thumping it carried out to keep him alive. He felt nothing anymore, wished for

nothing anymore. He wasn't even a bit surprised when he felt the ice tip of a dagger on the pulse

of his neck.

"If you love your daughter, you would gently, without making as much as a tiny sound, follow me out of this place."

The king could recognize the voice from anywhere. It belonged to Slovic, the witch's brother."

"You would pay for what you did to my sister."

*****

Somewhere deep inside a cave, a dark fire blazed, and the scent of blood permeated the

air. Even as he performed his ritual on the bloody body that laid comatose on the floor."

"Firoza, rise!" it commanded. Slowly, the dead body began to convulse. Bloody black

veins spread out all over the body, and it slowly receded when Firoza rose, her eyes swallowed up by hate.

They would all suffer.