THE KING AND HER

  The travel of the wargon was a long and tiring one. The rocks on the trail were making our bodies shake with the smell of the horses, making me vomit. I didn’t even believe that I could do that by getting those fluids out of my mouth. Luckily, Lyssandra was there to help me out.

  We stopped for a while at a close valley for Lyssandra to pick out hemlock from the nearest spot while I was facing one of the cows that had escaped to eat the spring grass. All plump with her empty eyes staring at me. I wondered if they were still sacrificing them to the new gods. Maybe they were feasting like us to the skies with those offerings.

  ‘’Paris look’’Lyssandra spoke with joy as she had in her hands a fat red fox.

  I approached it closer and noticed that this vixen had far too many chickens inside her stomach to handle.

  ‘’Do you know her?’’She asked.

  ‘’I do not know all the animals I shapeshift to’’I admitted with a laugh. But I do know of a fox that none could catch, sent by Dionysus himself. It might be her, actually. Who could have known?

  ‘’I shall name her, Poppy’’Her voice was filled with joy, and I smiled at her. ‘’I do not think our ride will be happy with that.’’

  And he stood up with Poppy still at her arms while the rider of the wagon was grunting in disagreement. So, she let her fox go, walking back to the green valley.

  The capital of this kingdom was bright like the sun, with people scattering all around, dancing and selling their fortunes with the scent of strong perfumes hitting my nostrils. Flowers blooming from every balcony and tree, with people smiling.

  Lyssandra was now buying bread and all kinds of food, and when she returned, she pointed at the dark alleys where people were living. What was she doing?

  Why was she giving the food to them? Why was she handing money?

  ‘’May God bless you’’An old crone spoke, and Lyssandra smiled and returned to me.

  ‘’Why did you do that?’’I asked. What was that offering to her? They couldn’t give any kind of return. And she kept smiling. ‘’It’s nice to be kind sometimes.’’

  ‘’But why?’’ I asked again. And she shrugged. Was this another mortal gesture that I didn’t understand? It did not matter because two guards appeared right in front of us.

  ‘’Do you have an entrance?’’They asked, and Lyssandra gulped. Was this the reason we entered from a hidden door? Because she didn’t have any?

  And Lyssandra sighed. ‘’I wanted to see the city more’’She complaine,d and I took a better look at the soldiers. What a stupid attire they were wearing with their very tight helmets and bright fabrics around their torsos. But their gazes were frightened when Lyssandra was about to move her hands inside her bag.

  ‘’Don’t do anything foolish woman’’One of them was about to draw a sword, and they looked at me. I replied by ignoring them, and she showed the golden coin that had an eagle engraved on it. The guards stood silent and lowered their heads.

  ‘’We are sorry, we expected you sooner.’’

  And she smiled with her free hand holding mine. ‘’I was busy before.’’

  Did she have an appointment?

  Didn’t matter because we were now following the guards to the bright white palace. Temples all around with the name church. The church that was hosting God once again. Where are my temples? Were they destroyed? Changed to those peculiar buildings? Where were my devotees?

  The palace was a tall building with guards all over, and looking slowly up, I could see the flag of the kingdom. Lyssandra explained to me that throughout the years, this kingdom was a part of an empire, but it got separated from the east. Now, the kingdom here got invaded by another, destroying the Western Empire. And yet, the god did not change. This god was still there.

  Why was he? Where was I?

  They are forgetting you. And you being here with her doesn’t help-

  Who was that? What was the voice? It wasn’t me. I faced Lyssandra, who was walking now to the door with the guard bowing at her and walking inside the yellow cream walls of the palace. It seemed that she had been there before. But how many times? And why was she irritated?

  ‘’I wanted to show you around’’She turned to me with a childish pout. ‘’I know a place where they sell beautiful flowers that has right next to them a shop with instruments.’’

  That interests me. ‘’Really?’’

  She nodded. I suppose I shall learn a new way of music.

  And I leaned close to her. ‘’Will you listen to me sing?’’

  ‘’Of course’’She lifted her chin.

  ‘’Will you also dance around the tunes?’’I let out a musical hum, and she pushed me away with a laugh. ‘’I also know a tavern that makes a good deer stew’’

  That shattered my heart when I listened to it, but I knew that she did it on purpose. So I rolled my eyes and laughed with it.

  ‘’Wouldn't it be better for you to get disguised as a man?’’I asked her out of curiosity.

  ‘’Well…’’ She was about to explain.

  But it soon stopped with a man walking closer to us, wearing rich dark green clothes. His hair was surprisingly long in the shade of charcoal, sunbathe's sharp features and eyes blue like the sky. And dangerous like the sea, as each step he was making, it resembled a king.

  ‘’Who are those people?’’The man ignored us completely and turned to one of the guards. Based on the way he was looking at our tired clothes, he was trying to show us in the most kind way that he despised us.

  ‘’The king has no interest in seeing any beggars right now, and certainly neither do I.’’

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  Lyssandra arched her brow and tried to look around as she pointed at me at one of the passages.

  ‘’They are guests’’The guard explained to the man as we were now walking far from them.

  ‘’Guest?’’ The man mocked, and he didn’t even realise that we had already walked far from them.

  ‘’Who is this man?’’I asked Lyssandra, but she raised her shoulders.

  ‘’No idea, he wasn’t there the last time I got here.’’

  That piqued my interest. How often did she come here? And what was that coin?

  It did not matter because we were in front of a beautiful carved door with one sleeping guard in front. For a palace, it looked very poorly guarded.

  Lyssandr opened the heavy wooden door fast and shouted, so the guard woke up and everyone around him.

  ‘’I came to you, poor Bastard’’She shouted, and I turned speechless when my eyes looked at the poor excuse of an old king. Back in my time, even when they were wounded, they would sit on their throne. But he was lying on his heavy bed, his eyes torn from sickness, and his old face far too tired to move on. Around his walls, there were tapestries of his reign with pictures of dragons in the angles of them. There was again the heavy smell of poppy seed and, surprisingly, the scent of iron and gold. Looking once again, I could see why. His room was filled with jewels and crowns.

  ‘’Teacher’’The king spoke speechless, and Lyssandra jumped into his arms as if they were two good old friends.

  ‘’You haven’t changed a bit’’He spoke tiredly.

  ‘’And you have changed a lot’’She laughed. ‘’I remember you being a little annoying rant. I couldn’t even teach you the basics without pranking me.’’

  So she was once his teacher? But again, why was she not in disguise?

  ‘’Maybe if you were on time, I would..’’The king’s light eyes turned to me.

  ‘’Who is this now?’’He chuckled, and Lyssandra moved back to me with joy, holding my hand with the ring. ‘’Liu, this is Paris’’She said, smiling, while there were two fast steps.

  ‘’Your Grace’’That man from earlier, shouted with fear and heavy panting. We all turned back to see him sweating and not maintaining his composure.

  ‘’Oh, great, you are alive’’He fixed his posture and his hair. ‘’I will tell the guards’’

  The king halted him and showed Lyssandra.

  ‘’Hector, this is the friend I was telling you about.’’

  The man with the name Hector blinked and let out a laugh as she was studying her wild hair, her crooked posture, her poor clothes, and her wounded face. ‘’Her?’’

  And the king nodded. ‘’Lyssandra is an old family friend.’’And the king turned to her. Hector here is my advisor and close friend. He is in charge now that I’’He was about to speak, but he began coughing. Lyssandra was about to get near, but Hector grabbed her by the shoulder, and his gaze was still looking at her right beneath her. I hated the expressions he was making, and with my hands into a fist, I was about to attack. But the king stopped.

  ‘’Hector’’He commanded. ‘’Send them to their chambers’’ His soft gaze turned to Lyssandra. ‘’We can talk later, can’t we?’’

  And Lyssandra nodded with her lips, trying to force a smile.

  As we were now outside the room, the guard finally woke up, and Hector narrowed to that sight. But his eyes were facing Lyssandra with mock interest at the same time.

  ‘’So, you are the healer that my king was expecting’’ He forced a smile. ‘’Pardon me, but I do not recall your name.’’

  For a second, Lyssandra hesitated. And I knew the exact reason. So, I rested my hand on her shoulder.

  ‘’Lyssandra is her name, sir,’’ I explained, and Hector’s eyes opened wider. There was a curing smile across his charming face, and his hand touched hers, managing to kiss her knuckles with his soft lips. Was this normal? If so, why was my face burning up?

  ‘’And this is my husband’’She touched my fingernails. ‘’Paris.’’

  His eyes turned to me, looking at me from the bottom of my shoes until the top of my head, and moved back to Lyssandra. No kiss for me?

  ‘’Ah, newlyweds, correct?’’ He was surprisingly excited now as he kept walking, and we were following him to the chambers.

  ‘’I do not understand how you can help our king, but it seems that he has a trust in you.’’

  Lyssandra and I shared a look of confusion that it was better not show this man.

  ‘’But I understand that you came far later than my king was expecting’’He turned his eyes to our rings. ‘’I suppose people like you have more important priorities than the life of the crown.’’

  Another shared glance. We did not like the man.

  ‘’We travel the world most of the time'’Lyssandra explained, and the man sighed. ‘’Oh, travelers with no home’’He ran out. He didn’t even care to hide his true colors with us. Or with Lyssandra. Each comment, each glare was a pure insult towards her. And I couldn’t do anything because each time I was about to speak, she was staring at me, telling me with her gaze to remain silent.

  The room was wider than the one we had in the inn, with a warm fireplace, soft bed, and rich sheets. Hector explained that we had to be ready for dinner in four hours, so we had to get prepared.

  ‘’Is it always like this?’’I asked her as we were now in the bath, trying to wash ourselves from the ‘filth’ as Hector commented.

  ‘’Not like this, I told you, it’s the first time meeting this man.’’ She turned her back to me to wash her back. I could see her scars. Some of them are old, some new. What could have caused those wounds?

  ‘’How does the king know about your secret?’’ I asked once again.

  ‘’I visited a few centuries ago as Odysseus,’’ she explained. ‘’And I found secrets that I shouldn't have. When they realised they couldn’t kill me or make me a saint’’

  ‘’You would become a saint?’’I let out a laugh, and she turned to me with narrowed lips.

  ‘’They realised it would be better if they kept me close, and so, they also discovered that I was a woman. So, since then, each king knows that I can keep their secrets and I can keep mine’’

  She also explained that thanks to the gift I gave her a thousand years ago, she saw each reign of every king. The one who welcomed us was from Lombards who was living in the capital of Italy to take it over. Explaining once again, he managed to take the port, but occupying the entire country and Ravenna would be a difficult task.

  ‘’Oh’’I rubbed her back harshly in one of the new scars. So it was a silent deal. Her secrets for theirs.

  But that got me interested in how often she came here. And why?

  ‘’Ten years ago, King Liutparnd was a young man with ambition now,’’ Her voice turned shakily and turned to me. My turn to wash my back. She did the same as I did. Studying my scars, old and new.

  ‘’Do you care for him?’’I asked her. It seemed that they had familiarities and the king did say that she was once his teacher.

  ‘’I do not want him to get used to that man.’’

  I nodded. It seemed that Hector was the one who was holding power, with the king getting sicker. And yet, he showed an interest in compassion towards his grace. Still. How dare he speak like this to her? Look at her like it was nothing? A mere-

  ‘’Was I ever looking at you like this?’’I faced back at her, and she stood there confused.

  Like you were nothing? A fly on my food? Was I ever this cruel to you?

  And she replied with a soft smile. ‘’Oh, yes. You were hiding your emotions terribly.’’

  My eyes opened, and she kissed me. ‘’You are not him though’’She explained.

  Am I not? Then, who am I?