Son of The Prisonland (The Myth Shadow Trilogy Book 1) Page 3

  The commoner looked like he was close to fainting. Mustering up his last few ounces of courage, he put himself together, took a deep breath and said, “Bu-Bukka. My name is Bukka, my King.”

  “Bukka,” said King Khuli. “Tell me why you were trying to escape this beautiful place? Aren’t you grateful to have such a great place to live in?”

  Bukka felt the anger waved down from his head to toe. A great place to live? It might as well call an open prison! A place where they were being watched over day and night with limited ability for movement. No one would live even if they have the reward of thousands of gold coins. Bukka knew however, to keep these thoughts to himself. “I was euphoric to live here my King, but no more,” He replied.

  “And why is that?” The King pretended like he was curious.

  “My King,” Bukka took a long breath again. “This year we had a good yield of wheat, like never before. We were joyous to think that this year we can present our King a rich yield of our crop and still have enough left over for the village stores. But just before we start harvesting a group of Dainees came out of nowhere and burned down our fields. My King, there’s nothing left in my field or my brother’s.” He began to cry out loud.

  It took a few moments for King Khuli to comprehend what Bukka just said. Crops destroyed by the Dainees? His royal warehouse had been already in need of more food. And these Dainees just destroyed them? He looked left where his mother Chaya, The Queen Mother, seated on a smaller throne. But she ignored his stare keeping her focus on Bukka. She was trying to control her anger. She was not angry with Bukka as he was just a simple farmer. She was angry with her the apprentices whom she warned not to do any stupid things. They had disobeyed her orders and did it anyway and now trouble followed.

  She asked Bukka, “How can you be so these were Dainees? It could be your personal enemies, who wanted to put you in trouble?”

  “I beg your pardon, Queen Mother,” Bukka replied. Suddenly he had a doubt that there was a connection between the royal family and the Dainees. “There were others who have seen them. At first, the Dainees threw their fireballs into our fields and then flew off on frightening black horses with big wings.”

  Chaya felt like she would burst with rage. So did King Khuli. The apprentice Dainees had not only destroyed valuable foodstuffs but they’d revealed themselves plainly while doing so. More importantly, they took The Urontos, animals that were supposed to be a secret from the humans. Chaya controlled the urge to rush straight away to the secret garden and punish the apprentices for their stupidity. Before she said anything else, King Khuli asked Bukka, “But where were you going then?”

  Bukka did not know if he should tell the truth this time. He was hesitating, but the King did not have the patience. He shouted, “Tell me where you were going?”

  Bukka’s body shook. He decided, to tell the truth immediately, “I was going to call Bimb Halehsor.”

  “Bimb Halehsor?” Chaya was startled. The name sounded familiar to her.

  “Bimb Halehsor?” King Khuli repeated the name. “What was he supposed to do?”

  “My King,” Bukka said with a bit confidence. “Bimb Halehsor is a Gypsy tribe leader and a Dainee hunter. He is the man who drove the Dainees out of this kingdom and chased them down to the forest many years ago.”

  Chaya felt like she could’ve just ripped Bukka’s head off if there were no others on the court. How dare he say their enemy’s name with so much respect and confidence? King Khuli did not know about the clash between the Dainees and Bimb Halehsor but understood there was something wrong by seeing his mother’s red face. “Does anyone else know about your plan?” he asked.

  Bukka thought for a moment, “Yes, my King. The village elders talked about Bimb. I wanted to find him to see if he would help us. They didn’t expect me to go because of the risk of being caught and getting punished for it. But it was me who was affected the most, my King. I didn’t think twice about it.”

  Chaya looked at her son and mouthed “Bimb” silently. King Khuli nodded to his mother and asked Bukka, “Where would you find this Bimb Halehsor?”

  “So far, all I know is that The Gypsies are supposed to be at the Gypsy Valley at this time of the year My King. They used to join the annual ‘End of Autumn Festival’ before. Though they don’t go there anymore, they come to the Gypsy Valley and have their kind of festival every two years.”

  King Khuli thought for a moment. Usually, his favorite game was to have the prisoners thrown into the crocodile pond, where there were at least a dozen hungry crocodiles. If they could manage to swim across the pond before the beasts noticed their presence, the prisoners would be set free. This was a rare thing to happen, most of the prisoners couldn’t barely begin to swim before the Crocodiles were upon them. It was indeed a most breathtaking and exciting sport to the upper-class Midneys.

  But there was a problem. King Khuli was not happy with the apprentice Dainees. By the description of the incident, he was sure that they had stolen some fireballs from his secret experiment room. There was no way the apprentices were able to use such powers on their own. Although King Khuli was a ruthless king, he could understand Bukka’s desperation. Still, he could not let Bukka go without having sort of punishment, he had defied the royal command after all.

  “I do understand your desperation, but do you realize that by trying to escape you have broken the law? And even worse than that, you have proven that you have less trust in your king than some gypsy vagabond. I am not happy about it at all. As I am a just King I am going to spare you the headsman’s axe and give you a chance at redemption. There is a rather exciting sport, which I will have you participate in. you are going to be my target on the wheel!”

  Bukka became startled. It was known to everyone in Ashaland about the King’s new hobby. He practiced shooting arrows on the moving wheel board where one of the prisoners was always tied up. In the beginning, many of them got hurt by the arrows. A few of the prisoners died, too. Rumor had it that the King had become quite proficient at his game. This was no comfort to Bukka, what if the King hit him on purpose for fun? After all, he was not a just king at all.

  Sometime later Bukka was taken in the courtyard of the castle, He was tied to a man-sized wheel. All the lords of the King Khuli’s court gathered to one side to watch the spectacle. Chaya sat on a chair on the second floor. She did not like this punishment. The King should have thrown this captive in the crocodile pond.

  King Khuli came to the yard wearing a sports cloth and a bow in his right hand. He was in his full sporty attire. His strong face with all his structured features was awash with excitement. He always enjoyed a chance to show off in front of his court, especially when it came to his mastery of the bow. He took up his position and a servant brought six arrows on a velvet pillow. The King took an arrow in hand, making a quick measure of the distance from himself and his victim. Another servant, posted by the helpless Bukka pulled the wheel, and it started revolving. The King notched his arrow and drew back the bowstring. Every eye at the yard was looking at his hand. Bukka closed his eyes out of panic. A twang issued as the arrow was let loose; Thud! It safely landed just underneath Bukka’s left armpit. Everyone was startled. They thought the bolt would fall on Bukka’s body. King Khuli took the second arrow, measured the revolving wheel and let the arrow fly. Thud! Again, it landed safely underneath Bukka’s right armpit. Everyone understood that the King was trying to show off his skills. He shot three more arrows, and they all struck the wheel without injuring the man. Then came the last arrow, It was a bit longer than the others.

  The audience collectively held its breath as they thought that the king had shown his skills with the five arrows, and the final one was to finish the captive off. King Khuli smiled cruelly to them to assure them that the surprise was still waiting. By this time Bukka had lost his last hope and prepared for death, he knew that the King had his desired fun and there was no needed to be showboating any longer. The King raised his hand dramatica
lly and then lowered it to the string. He pulled the string slowly; teasing the audience, making them wait at the edge of their seats before suddenly and unexpectedly letting go of the arrow. Thap! A rather softer sound. The audience looked for the position of the shaft. Bukka waited to feel the pain, but it never came. He opened his eyes and saw the King was smiling at him. Then he realized the arrow had landed just above his head cutting his thick curly hair exactly in the middle. King Khuli nodded to the audience. A round of applause echoed through the yard.

  Chaya stood up with disappointment and went straight to her bed, thinking how she was going to punish the apprentice Dainees in the morning before letting her sisters know about the situation. As she was about to lean back on the pillow, she heard her sisters screaming.

  Chapter Four

  The next morning a maid woke The Queen Mother up, informing that her son was waiting outside. Chaya could guess the reason. She took her time getting ready. Goran Khuli was the king to others, but he would always be her son to her, never her ruler. She told the maid to tell her son to wait at the breakfast table. King Khuli had guessed that his mother was deliberately keeping him waiting, perhaps thinking of some sort of explanation to appease him. He went to the dining room and waited for his mother.

  The dining room was decorated with golden furniture, ceramic vases and expensive curtains on the windows. The floor was covered with marble. Late King Gora Khuli, his father, tried to make the castle as luxurious as possible to satisfy his wife. He brought all the rarest stones and jewels according to her demand. But, none of them made her happy.

  At last, Chaya entered the dining room. The servants bowed and King Khuli stood up to show respect to his mother. Chaya sat next to him and signaled the servants to leave the room. “Are you angry with me, my dear son?’’ she asked in a soft voice.

  King Khuli smiled, “How could I be mad at you, Mother? But I am outraged at your apprentices, to be honest. I do not expect any explanation from you on behalf of them. They need to be punished.’’

  “Agreed”, Chaya felt relieved. Though she knew how much her son loved and respected her, she was also aware of his brutal anger. And this time the apprentice Dainees have made an unforgivable mistake. They broke into his private research room, where no one except him and his three assistants was forbidden to enter and stole his precious fireballs. Being aware of his anger, she could imagine how brutally he would punish the Dainees. He may kill them. And Chaya was not ready to lose any of them, at least at this critical time of their lives. So, she tried to refrain her son from punishing them, “I have a request to you my son,” she said.

  “What is that, mother?”

  “Let me punish them. After all they are my charges, and I am the one who they have let down the most.”

  King Khuli looked at his mother. He knew that she was trying to save her apprentices but out of respect he nodded to her. “I have news for you, mother.”

  Chaya narrowed her eyes. What new news could he give? His voice sounded like he had some questions to ask. “Shall we break our fast while you tell me this new?”

  “Yes of course,” King Khuli said. The table was full of food, drinks, and fruits. Chaya put a few pieces of fruit on her plate and served her son a piece of bread and a scrambled egg, too.

  “I have sent commander Magoora with Bukka as Lord Brirar advised last night, to find that Bimb Halehsor. Because I felt like he was important to you as well,” said King Khuli, putting a piece of scrambled egg into his mouth. Lord Brirar was King Khuli’s right hand. He was the best bowman in the kingdom as well as the head of the king’s advisors. It was, in fact, Brirar’s ideas that kept King Khuli on the throne. On the other hand, Magoora, a Kajlas warrior was the commander of the soldiers. He was as brutal as mercy less, but devoted to the King, as King Khuli’s father saved his life once when he was just a kid. And with this pair, King Khuli was the most powerful king of that part of the continent.

  Chaya’s heart skipped a beat. “Did they find him?”

  “Unfortunately, not’” King Khuli replied. “The Gypsies were there but Bimb Halehsor was gone to somewhere else and will not be at the Gypsy Valley for the next few days.”

  “lucky him,” Chaya muttered. She took a big bite of an apple and chewed faster as if she was eating Bimb Halehsor’s head.

  “Can I ask why this Bimb Halehsor is so important to you, Mother?” King Khuli put his cutleries aside and leaned forth to the table, looking at his mother’s eyes.

  Chaya sighed, she kept it a secret from her son because of his bad temper. She didn’t want him slipping the secret in a moment of anger but it seemed that now was as good an opportunity as ever, it was probably long overdue. It was the high time to let him know. She took a deep breath and started, “You know that I am a wizard, who controls Dainees. Well, the actual truth is that I, myself am a Dainee too.” She looked her son’s eyes. He did not look surprised. That, in fact, surprised her, but she continued, “And of course your aunts who live in the Queen’s Tower are Dainee, too. We have been fighting against the Dainee hunters all our lives. We lost many of our people, but so too were many of the hunters killed in kind. Still they haven’t given up on hunting us. They passed over their duties to generations after generations. Until Bimb’s father, Haleh.”

  “We made sure that he had not passed his Dainee hunting technique to his son or anyone else. We made bait and caught him in the dark forest. We killed him as he deserved, but could not destroy his enchanted bow and arrows. So, we had to hire an outsider to do it for us, but he betrayed us. As soon as he realized what the weapon could do to us, he tried to use it to make us do his bidding. When he realized that we would not surrender to our fear of the bow, he ran and we gave chase. That man somehow knew Haleh Ayhansor. So, he went straight to his son, Bimb and handed them over. We were not aware of Bimb’s presence as we attacked the traitor. Bimb attacked us and injured us all. We were lucky that he did not know how to truly use those weapons. My sisters and I managed to escape but because of our injuries, your aunts lost both their inner and outer vision. While we were recuperating Bimb somehow learned Dainee hunting techniques, he hunts us even now to avenge his father. We knew it wouldn’t be so easy to entrap the son as it had been the father, especially not now that my sisters were blinded, so instead we hid ourselves. All these years we’ve stayed hidden here from him and did not even realize that he was just a few miles away from us,” she sighed.

  “I am sorry for your loss, Mother,” King Khuli took his mother’s hand in his hands. He seemed very sincere.

  Chaya smiled at her son. “But you did not appear to be surprised to know that I am a Dainee, not a witch. And you are a son of a Dainee?”

  King Khuli smiled back, “Father told me years ago. He also said that you would kill him one day because he was not doing the things as you wanted. But I didn’t care as I was aware that, whatever you do, you do it for good.”

  “And, why didn’t you tell this after all these years?”

  “That’s because you wanted to keep it secret. So, I thought I would keep it that way, too.”

  “And I thought the opposite about you, my son. But now you understand the importance of Bimb to us. Please help me to kill him.”

  “I will, with pleasure, Mother. I am going to send Magoora to find Bimb. And bring him here dead or alive.”

  “No, we will wait for him to come here. And kill him according to your Aunt Maya’s plan. Because, as far I know Bimb has a son. Though he left his father many years ago, I don’t want to take the risk of making any more enemies. I am tired of being hunted. Everything we did here in Ashaland was only to create a safe place for us,” Chaya explained.

  “As you wish, Mother,” King Khuli shrugged. Having finished his breakfast, he asked his mother’s permission to leave.

  Chaya nodded. Suddenly she remembered about the man with a bird. “One last thing my son. We may have one more enemy to deal with.” King Khuli didn’t say anything, just looked at his mot
her with a question in his eyes. So, Chaya continued, “A man with a bird would be here anytime. We are not sure what he is, as our damori powers are not as strong as they once were, but according to the legend there will be a man who would destroy the whole Dainee race,” she explained in a worried voice.

  King Khuli sighed. He never liked more than one problem at a time. “I’ll have told Lord Brirar to look into this matter, mother. I assure you to find this person and bring in front of you.”

  “Thank you very much, son.” Chaya took her son’s left hand and kissed it. “I knew you’d look after your mother.” She remembered about Bukka, “Where is Bukka now?”

  King Khuli stood up slowly replied in a cold voice, “You didn’t seem to like the punishment I administered yesterday, so I had him thrown to the crocodiles instead. Besides, the villagers needed to learn a lesson, escaping no matter what the reason will not be tolerated.” He walked out the room with steady steps.

  Chaya looked at her son and smiled with pride. She was wrong about her son being soft, nowadays. The apprentice Dainee also had a lesson to learn.

  They were called apprentices, obviously because they were young and were still learning about the damori. Most of them were under sixty. The Dainee life extended well into centuries, they were not even considered adults until at least ninety-nine turns of winter. Until. Chaya herself was hundred and eighty-nine years old. She had taken only the most promising young women under her supervision and wanted to pass her legacy to them. She loved them like they were her own daughters.

  She walked through the tunnel. There was a trap door on the half way to the Queen’s tower. It looked invisible if anyone had not known from before. Chaya searched the fifth smallest stone on the wall and pressed it. A ladder came down from the ceiling, seemed like it came from nowhere. She looked to her left then her right, though she knew no one else would be here then she made her way up. She shoved open the hatch and entered into a beautiful garden, a place unknown to all, save the Dainee. Chaya had cultivated this garden for years as a place take refuge if she or her kind faced any danger. She could feel that the extinction of her people was near. This garden could save many Dainees lives, who would continue their legacy to the future generation.