Chapter 3: Games

Cotis was waiting, on my bed when I got to my room. But he wasn't facing me when I emerged from the passage. He showed no sign of having heard the small 'click' of the latch as the secret door closed. He just sat there.

Then I heard him mutter "I should have never left him. I knew he would disappear. I'm so stupid."

He buried his head in his hands whispering barely audible "Please if anyone of the gods are listening, please let Jeremy be alive, please."

"Cotis," I asked softly. He jumped up and engulfed me in a hug.

The "You're alive," he exclaimed squeezing me even tighter.

"Why wouldn't I be," I asked confused. Cotis pushed me away harshly.

"You idiot. I told you not to disappear and what do you do, you disappear. I thought you were dead." His face showed anger but his eyes were filled with relief.

I was still confused, "But why would I be dead?"

Cotis sighed, "Last night, we had been searching for you for hours when we found him. An assassin, he started to boast about how he had killed you. He ... he told us how he split your throat and watched the life leave your eyes and your blood stain the floor. Then Sam drove his sword through his heart, silencing him. We searched everywhere but could not find you. I came here in case you weren't dead and decided to come back to your room. I thought you were dead. I had given up hope. I thought he had killed you. His hands were covered in blood when we found him. I didn't think you survived."

"Cotis," I spoke slowly, "He had to have killed someone if his hand were covered in blood. Do you know who he killed?"

Cotis shook his head, "We did not find any bodies. He might not have killed anyone."

"But then where did the blood come from?"

"Lots of things bleed Jermy not just people. It could have been the blood of any number of things."

"I guess," I said not convinced.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Cotis got up to answer it with his hand on his sword. It was a page.

The page said, "My prince, the king requests your presence in the throne room immediately."

"Tell him that I will be there shortly," I said dismissing him.

The page left and I pushed Cotis out of the room so that I could change out of my sleeping garments.

I arrived at the throne room exactly five minutes later. With all my guards in tow, I could see the effects of last night search on their faces. I had tried to send some of them to bed in their chambers but none of them would leave my side.

Father was surrounded by people. It was Thursday and on Thursdays, we open the castle for our citizens to come and ask for our help. Father turns most of them down, only helping anyone for show but they came all the same.

As I drew closer I noticed that the people around him were not our people but his advisors and the captain of the guard. Their hushed talking ceased as I approached. They bowed to me but didn't say a word.

Father ignoring me, instead of addressing Cotis, "I can see you have found him. Assassins are full of games, you must learn to see through their lies for their games are not harmless games. They pull information out of you without you having to utter a single word. They play with trickery, lies, and deceit, to gain the knowledge that they seek. Learn their game and you shall become the best guard in the palace."

That was my father, always trying to make everyone into a perfect little pawn for his use. He wanted Cotis as captain of the guard, even though that would never happen. The only reason Cotis was a guard was that he wanted a reason to be close to me and Lily at all times. Cotis didn't think all the guards were trustworthy, though he liked our person guards well enough. He was not one to let others do things when he could do it himself.

He had a point though if all the guards were trustworthy then how did an assassin get into the palace in the first place. All the entrances to the palace are either highly guarded or escape routes that can only be opened from the inside. Some of the guards knew where these secret entrances are and could have let the assassin in. The assassin killed someone, I know it, the only question is who.

I was so lost in thought that I missed the rest of the conversation and the advisors leaving. The next thing I knew Cotis was standing at his post by the wall, Father was sitting on his throne, and I was left standing alone in the middle of the room looking like an idiot. I could feel my face grow warm. I quickly walk to my throne on the right side of Father sitting down, hoping the flush had faded from my face.

Father told the attendant to send the first citizen in. It was a young girl whose family died of influenza and needed work to survive.

"Look for work in town silly girl," Father roared. The girl burst into tears nodded her head, curtsied and practically ran from the room. She couldn't have been older than Emily.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lily's blue eyes flash with anger then disappear.

Lily and Kiana, Lily's best friend, spent Thursdays listening to the pleas of citizens from the servant door and helping those who were denied help by my father. I knew Lily would lead the poor child to the kitchens and get her a job washing dishes for room and board, or something like that.

I could not help but feel useless upon my throne, listening to person after person ask for help but be denied. I could do nothing but listen. I tried to reason with Father countless time but it never changed his mind.

I listen to citizens for what seemed like hours. Father only helped one girl, who had asked him for a loaf of bread. I was not really paying attention, my mind was still on the assassin and his victim. The only thing I could figure out is that it had to be either a servant or a guard or I would have been told. Right? They would have told me. Who am I kidding, no one tells me anything.

After all the citizens left I was free to do as I wished for the remainder of the day. So I went in search of Lily and Kiana. They were finishing gathering a basket for a boy who had been sent to ask the king for food. I walked into the kitchen filled with laughter and loud voices. The cook smiled at me, nodding her head to the center of the kitchen were Lily, Kiana, and a young boy was standing by a table.

Kiana saw me and ran towards me, "Jeremy, there you are. I was wondering when you would decide to show up."

I laughed engulfing her in a hug. Her black hair was everywhere and her turquoise eyes sparkled with happiness.

"How have you been?" I asked leaving the embrace and going to hug Lily hello.

"I have been great, but my parents want to send me away to somewhere 'safer'." She scoffed, "I wonder what genius told them that the capital was no longer safe for their 'precious daughter'." Kiana smiled bittersweetly. Her parents were two dim-witted nobles who hardly ever had a thought of their own. Everything they ever said or did was fed to them by their aging parents.

"Do you think they will actually send you away?" Lily asked softly.

"They will, but I think that I have convinced them that the safest place to send me is to my great uncle Caesar's house. He lives near the eastern border. I don't want to stop helping people because I'm not here so I figured that is the best place to go."

"No, you mustn't go there. You will be in far too much danger." I replied. My voice firm. The eastern border was where we were being attacked at.

Kiana's voice rose with anger, "I will not run and hide like a coward. If I must leave I shall go somewhere that I will be of use. I will not flee. I shall go live with my great uncle and help our soldiers as much as I can. I can nurse their wounds, make their food, and clean their armor. I may not be able to fight but that does not mean I will sit like a duck while my hands could be of use. My parents may order me to hide, but they have no control over my actions and neither do you!"

Lily looked back and forth between us. Then around the now quiet kitchen. No servant dared to make a sound. They all looked away from us as if saying 'we heard nothing.'

Kiana looked around as well. Then in a calm level voice said, "Perhaps we should finish this conversation in another room."

Lily nodded, " She's right, this is not an appropriate place for a conversation. Let us continue in the third-floor parlor." Then she turned to the boy asking "Can your mother read?"

"No my lady but my brother can," came a quiet reply.

"Good well can you give this to him. It is instructions on where to go if you are in need of more food."

She placed a note on top of his basket of food that read:

If thy is in need of more food, thou shall always find more in the center of town on Tuesdays.

Princess Lily of Eden

She then addressed a maid, "Please escort little Tim to the gate and then bring up refreshments to the parlor on the third floor." With that, she left the room, followed closely by Kiana and myself.

The third-floor parlor was our parlor. Lily and I used it to talk with our friends. So the only other people who went in there were Kiana and Cotis. Kind of pathetic, I know. But no one acts normal around me or Lily.

We reached the parlor in no time. Lily and Kiana shuffled inside whispering to each other. My guards wasted no time in stationing themselves to protect the door.

We settled in on the plump couches. Light streaming in through the windows but no one talked.

No one spoke. No one said a word.

A maid came and went, leaving tea and cakes on the table. No one uttered a sound. Cotis came in to report that half my guards were going to bed. All he got was a nod.

After an eternity of silence I spoke, "Please don't go to your uncle's."

"I must. I have been prancing all around the city with Lily since this war started, telling people to fight. Telling them we all must do our part. I told them to be brave and strong. How can I expect them to be any of those things when I myself run away like a coward?"

I knew she was right. The people would lose their spirit if they found out she had run. They'd be scared and want to flee, too. They would be overcome with fear. If their symbol of strength broke, they would too.

Lily and Kiana helped the people in town cope with the war. They help the woman find jobs so that they could support their families while their husbands went away. They lifted people spirits and encouraged young men to enlist. They kept the people together. Without them, our country would not have survived this long.

"You have my blessing. But please be safe. I don't know what I'd do if you died."

" And if you can," said Lily, "Stop your parents from sending you altogether."

" I'll try," Kiana said with a smile.

I reached for a piece of cake. 'I'll try,' her words repeated in my head and I shot her a smile. 'I'll try.'

After we ate all the cake and called it lunch, Lily pulled out several color-coded lists cluttered with symbols and notes. She and Kiana went straight to work.

" He can't go, his family will die."

"We can provide for his family."

" No, they need to be self-sufficient. I can only do so much. What if something keeps me away? They can't be dependent on me."

"I'll take care of them. I never have anything to do, anyway."

"You can't either. You're going to be sent away remember."

"Oh right, so he can't go after all," Kiana said with a sigh.

"Okay hold up," I explain "Someone tell me what you're doing." I was done with not knowing what was happening.

"We're going over the draft list." Lily explained, "On Monday everyone drafted was given the notice to report for duty in a month's time. The notices don't have names and Father doesn't care who goes as long as the number of troops drafted to go to war. So we are finding out whom among the draft can't go, either because his family will die or his trade is needed."

Lily pointed to the paper, "Look here, this gentleman was drafted and is the main source of income for his family but his wife and daughters can work, so he can go." She wrote three names on another piece of paper.

"Gabriel, the blacksmith, was drafted as well." Lily pointed to a name on the first list, "But he can't go, not because his family needs him but because we need him to make weapons and armor."

"But you said the numbers must stay the same. If the blacksmith doesn't go then who will?"

"Kiana has been talking to young men all week and made a list of those capable and willing to take the place of those unable to fulfill their duties."

"Oh, how do you decide who goes and who stays," my eyebrows scrunched together. Lily would do anything to keep people from getting hurt and I could not see her sending men to war.

Kiana looked down, "you can't think of them as people, it's hard to send away a father or brother. It's easier to think of them as pawns, to think of who's not needed here or" she paused, "is expendable. It kind of like a game, a terrible game but a game all the same."

"Can I help with anything?" I asked cautiously when Lily and Kiana had their system down they hated extra people.

"No, I don't think so. It seems to work best with just two people," replied Lily without raising her head from her lists.

"Okay," so it looks like I am back to doing nothing.

An hour must have gone by as I sat there listening to Kiana and Lily discussing different things, but for some reason, the hand on the clock had only moved fifteen minutes when Cotis burst in proclaiming I was to go with him to sword practice.

"I don't have sword practice today," I stated not moving to leave.

He glared at me, his eyes demanded my obedience. Grumbling I stood and followed him from the room.

So sorry this took so long school has been my whole life and I have barely found the time to finish this chapter now. If you haven't heard Hiding the Pearl won runner-up in the FCRA's (the fairytale community's wattys style competition). Also, Pennywithaney made my wonderful new cover. You should check her out she's great and her covers are the bomb. Kiana is based on a great girl BlueWolf25916 here on Wattpad whose story is my absolute favorite! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and merry Christmas!