To Catch a King

14.

“We have come to a decision,” Queen Aisling announced three hours later. Each of the Elite Soldiers—all eighty-four of them—had been called to the throne room for the announcement that everyone had been waiting for.

Each soldier was dressed formally in their Elite suits, their pins on their lapels and their backs straight. Most surprisingly to Jask, most of the Elite were women. All different shapes and sizes, each woman had a special skill that made her unique and useful to the Elites. She figured that she should get to know them before they’re assigned different jobs in light of a possible war.

“We will declare war on Merias,” the queen continued. “We’ve sent missives to Odalv, Soiera, and Esgani asking for alliance. We’ve helped them all in the past and can only hope they return the favor. As for Suecha, we have allied with them, though their interests are not the same as ours.”

Jask gulped as she noticed Achak glance her way. In turn, a few of the Elite soldiers followed his gaze and stiffened as they noticed her likeness. Andreas, who stood beside her as her partner, broke formation and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. She gave him a grateful glance and looked forward.

“We will begin training our soldiers immediately as well as group some of them with each of you. You, as Elites, are the most skilled soldiers in our country, and we depend on you. Instructions will be sent to your homes and your training starts tomorrow. Jask, Andreas, please remain. You are dismissed.”

Each soldier broke formation and left the throne room, talking amongst each other and glancing back at Jask and Andreas, their eyes lingering more on Jask. She could tell that all of them were curious and that questions would be asked later, but she hoped to avoid talking to them as much as she could, which immediately cancelled out her ideas of getting close to them.

The queen stepped off of the dais that held her throne and walked toward them, her face sagging to show the stress that she was under. Jask knew that Queen Aisling was once beautiful. She’d come from the mountain country, Odalv. They were known for their harsh lives and crude way of living, though Jask figured that wasn’t the case. Artifacts that she’d stolen suggested that Odalv was much more advanced than any of the other countries around.

Now, Aisling didn’t look anything like the harsh Odalian. She was frail, as if she could break any minute, and still grieving the loss of her husband. Her blue eyes, ones that Victor inherited, were dull with grief and exhaustion. Her black hair that worked very well with her vaguely tanned skin was long and tangled haphazardly on top of her head. She looked as if she could fall over any minute, but held herself up the best that she could.

Victor stood in the background, next to Achak. He stood ramrod straight, with his arms clasped behind his back. Part of him looked as if he wanted to help his mother walk, but obviously thought better of it.

“Jask,” the queen called.

Jask stepped forward and bowed low. “Your Grace.”

“Rise.”

Jask did so and met the queen’s eyes.

“Jask, Chief-King Achak has just revealed to me your heritage. Though you may not acknowledge this, you are a princess of Suecha, and shall be treated as such although you may hold allegiance to this country.”

Jask felt her mouth go dry. Though she knew that she was the daughter of a Chief-King, she didn’t realize that she was a princess. That her lineage was traced through the Suechi way of through the father rather than the Ferilian way of through the maternal line. The queen continued, ignoring her.

“Because of this, we are giving you the choice of whether or not you want to participate in the war.”

“Your Highness—”

“Don’t interrupt me,” Aisling commanded, her voice suddenly sharp. “This is an important choice. I know women don’t often participate in war—my people in Odalv look down on it and so do the people here. That’s why I’ve recruited so many women into the Elite Soldiers. Lukas—and other future recruiters—are required to look at abilities and not gender. So if you want to participate, let me know now.”

“Excuse me for being blunt,” Jask replied, “but there is no choice for me to make. While I am a princess, although I didn’t know until now, I was born and raised in Ferilis. My loyalties lie here. Like other soldiers, I have people that I want to protect.”

The queen sniffed. “Fine.” She turned and walked from the throne room, with Vincent following quietly behind. Achak walked towards the two Elite soldiers, his gait relaxed and his face serene. Jask relaxed a bit, since she was no longer under the scrutiny of Aisling, and glanced over at Andreas, who had relaxed as well.

“Jask,” Achak said as he stopped in front of her. “Though we shall be going into war soon and I shall have to leave to support my people, I would like to spend time with you before that happens.”

Jask gave a small, shy smile. “Of course.”

After leaving the throne room, Jask went back to her apartment. She’d never slept in the place, preferring to spend the last night before her mission in her own apartment, in the comfort of a place that she had bought on her own. She walked around the entire suite, back in her habit of checking a place for security risks.

Once she was sure that everything was good, she turned to the boxes of her things that were littered around the suite. While uncomfortable that people had gone through her things, she shrugged it off as she opened the first box.

The box made her pause. This box was full of old memorabilia that she had packed away right after leaving the Thieve’s Guild. It was full of old toys that she’d played with as a child as well as her first dagger and uniform as “Ghost.” On top was a farewell letter from Aligan right before he died. She remembered the contents well.

As she put the things back into the box so that they could go into the corners of her closet, a small slip of paper fluttered to the floor. She didn’t recognize it, so she picked it up and flipped it over.

It was a sketch.

It was of four figures, two men and two women. One couple, a man and woman, looked lovingly at each other while holding each other close. Looking closely at them, Jask noticed that they each had her likeness, and realized that this was Jask’s mother and Achak when they were young, before their engagements to different people. In the sketch of the second couple, the male was only an outline while the female looked vaguely at Jask. Yet again, these two were looking lovingly at each other. Underneath the sketches were a note.

“To my lovely daughter, Jacqueline.

“May you find a love that lasts the test of time.

Kelen”

Kelen was the name of her mother. Jask’s eyes burned with tears, which she quickly blinked away. Though her mother eventually tried to kill her, Jask knew that before then, Kelen had been a perfect mother. Stephen told her this, with his eyes glazing while lost in memories. The fact that this letter was written during the time that Kelen loved Jask proved that much.

A knock on her door startled her and she quickly wiped away her tears.

“Why are you crying?” Andreas asked as he walked in. He looked to the opened box and then at the letter that had fallen to the floor. “Are you okay?”

Jask nodded a bit and Andreas went to pick the things up from the floor. Together, they unpacked most of Jask’s boxes and set up her bedroom. After, Andreas cooked and they sat on the couch that came with the suite, making small talk.

The next morning, she opened the door to go to training to see Achak, his hand raised to knock. He gave a small smile.

“Are you going to train?” he asked.

Jask nodded.

“May I join?” he asked. Jask hesitated. “I just want to talk,” he continued. “And get to know my daughter while I can. I know that I haven’t been there for you, and I didn’t know what had happened. If I could, I would have taken you back to Suecha with me.”

Jask gulped, knowing that Achak was sincere. The eyes that she inherited from him were glistening with unshed tears. But she knew what her answer was going to be. She’d wondered for years about her parents, if they were dead or not or if they missed her. She also know that with a war coming, she may not have a second chance to spend time with what little family she knew about.

“Yes,” she answered. “You may join.”

The war could wait, Andreas could continue to sleep in her bed, and the castle could be attacked at any moment. At this point, she just wanted to get to know her father.

End.