🩸The Last Confessor🗡️
(She’s the last of her kind….)
Episode 21
By: Kebby NG
King Caesar sat on his throne, his eyes fixed on the door as King Miley walked in, the red sisters behind him.
There was a cold expression on the faces of both Kings as each had separate thoughts in mind – separate silent thoughts.
“Finally” Caesar breathed out and stood up when Miley was clsoe enough. “I can’t believe I’m having you here in my Kingdom, Miley. It’s a great plea-sure”.
“The plea-sure’s all mine, Caesar. Hope I didn’t interrupt anything?” Miley asked.
“Of course, not. And even if you did, I’m pretty sure it can wait. plea-se, come with me. The table’s all set” Caesar pointed his hand out to the table of as-sorted meals and Miley followed him.
The two Kings took their seats, facing each other and the maids who’d alre-ady been waiting started serving them immediately.
“I hope you had a smooth journey?” Caesar asked as he watched a maid pour some wine.
“Definitely, I did. Although, close to the landscape, the journey was a little rou-gh” Miley answered.
“Ah! Those damn scapes. I apologise for that, Miley. I’m seriously working on having it fixed. I hope you can forgive that”
“Of course. Of course”.
They took their cu-ps of wine first and gulped it down.
“I must confess, Caesar. You have the best wine makers in history” Miley commended and Caesar only chuckled.
Miley was a bit older than him, but tht didn’t st©p him from having a killer look.
They started eating, bringing little discussions along the way, but even with that, both Kings knew what was coming.
“I hope you weren’t disturbe-d with the message from the red sisters yesterday?” King Miley decided it was high time he brou-ght the t©pic.
They couldn’t go on with irrelevant chit chats for long.
“Of course, I wasn’t, Miley. As a matter of fact, I love it because….it made me aware of something I didn’t know about” Caesar said and drank from his cu-p.
There was a brief silence.
“The confessor’s one pretty lady, you know?” Miley continued.
“And every man would sure want to have her. If not for her powers, I’m sure she’d have been married by now” he paused and chuckled.
“I had my eyes on her as well – paid her father awesomely so he could sell her to me. But old man was too carefless and she sli-pped away from his hand, ran away from him. And I lost her”.
“But…you knew she had been staying in the confessor’s camp, didn’t you?” Caesar suddenly asked, ma-king his eyes thin.
“She spent years in the confessor’s camp, yet you did nothing to get her. Nothing at all. Why’s that?”
“Well, I couldn’t just go the confessor’s camp, attack them and nab one of their own, Caesar. That’d have been more like a death s£ntence” Miley’s voice was a bit husky.
“But, I did” Caesar shrugged and t©uçhed his lower l!pwith his thumb.
“I attacked the confessor’s camp and killed every one of them, Miley. I didn’t get a death s£ntence. So, it wasn’t impossible”.
Miley stared silently at him.
“Besides,” Caesar continued, taking up his wooden cu-p of wine.
“After the confessor’s camp was attakfed and destroyed, Isabelle had been on the run, hiding from me. She was alone and vulnerable, Miley. Why didn’t you find her and get her for yourself?”
Silence – that was all that met Caesar’s words.
King Miley could feel his che-st burning alre-ady.
“I did all the work, Miley” he went on.
“I destroyed the confessor’s camp, captured the last confessor, caged her powers with a Rada’Han. And now that she’s humble and vulnerable, you suddenly show up and want me to hand her over like I’m so errand boy?”
He scoffed and leaned forward, ma-king his gaze close enough to Miley. Then, he whispered:
“Are you kidding me?”
Miley’s face was alre-ady thick and swollen with rage. His brows were knitted
“In ess£nce, Caesar, what’re you trying to say?” He asked, his cold eyes on him.
Caesar drank from his cu-p and leaned back on his chair.
“I’m pretty sure even a child can re-ad the codes” he smiled.
“She’s mine, Miley. And I’m not handing her over”.
There was a stunned silence – a stretched one.
“I won’t take that for an answer, Caesar” Miley gro-an ed.
“I nee-d her”.
“And I’m tellokg you – I’m not handing her over. I worked ha-rd to get her. So, she stay with me”. Caesar replied.
“Name your price. What do you want, Caesar? So you can re-lease her to me?”
Caesar chuckled and poured himself more wine.
“You should know me too well, Miley. I can’t be paid – never. Not even with your life”.
That was it! It was a sl@p to Miley’s face.
He gr-unted and stood on his feet immediately.
“Okay then. You’ve made your decision. I hope you can take whatever’s coming” he said between gritted teth and Caesar smiled.
“That question should be meant got you, Miley. I hope you can finish whatever you start”.
Miley glared ha-rd at him and with his hands crossed on his back, he marched away.
The red sisters who’d been standing in front of the throne, glanced at Caesar before following their King behind.
*******************
Isabelle was restless even when she worked in the kitchen.
She had mistakenly hurt her f!nger with a knife while working on some leaves. Damn! She couldn’t concentrate.
What could Caesar and Miley be talking about? Oh! What a stupid question!
Of course, they were talking about her. But the problem is – would Caesar hand her over? Would Miley take her away?
Oh! Miley, she’s heard of all the terrible things he’s done. She’s heard of how cruel he was and couldn’t imagine her self being with someone like him. At a point, she felt Caesar was better.
“He’s leaving!” One of the maids suddenly g@sped and Isabelle flin-ched.
Leaving?
She dropped what she was doing and ran to the window immediately.
Oh! Sh*t? King Miley was really leaving! He was leaving!
What happened? Didn’t he take her? Did he, perhaps, c@m£ to an agreement with the King?
Oh! So many questions flashed throu-gh her mind. What happened in there??
*******************
King Miley sat angrily in the carriage, his hands fisted on his robe
Agh!!! He hated it. He hated everything and felt like putting his anger on anyone – anyone at all that’d upset him.
“Caesar completely lacks respect” the red sister beside him said.
There were just two in the charriot with him while the rest rode behind.
“The nerves of him to turn you down without a second thought”.
“What’re you going to do, My King? Are you letting the confessor go?” The second sister asked.
“Never!!” He roared immediately. “never will I let that happen. I always get what I want, Miriam. I never lose. And for what Caesar just did today, I’ll make sure he pays dearly”.
He paused and fumed.
“He’s holding a p@rty two days from now, right?” He asked.
“Yes. He calls it a successful p@rty” one of the sisters replied and he scoffed.
“The singer – Salome – she’ll be pres£nt, right?” He asked.
“Yes, My King” the sister replied, wondering what was going on in his mind.
“This would be her first time coming to the Kingdom of Gaza. So, apparently, Caesar hasn’t seen her before” he noted.
Then,a dark smile crept into his face.
“I’ll make sure this is the last p@rty Caesar ever holds” he mumbled to himself.
Episode 22
Few minutes later, a guard showed up on the kitchen, looking for Isabelle.
“Come with me” he said. “The princess wants you”.
Oh! Perfect. She was really looking for a distraction; something to take her mind away from here.
She left what she was doing and followed the guard, her head bowed throu-ghout the walk.
Sh was so worried; panicked.
Whatever King Miley might have discussed with Caesar, she badly wanted to know.
They walked for a long time and she was so de-ep in thoughts that she wasn’t paying attention to her direction. She bu-mped into someone – the prince!! Madame Hapitha’s son!!!
Oh creators!!
“Watch it!” His voice was harsh as he gawped at Isabelle who bent her head immediately.
“I’m so sorry, my prince. plea-se forgive me. I wasn’t being careful” she apologized immediately.
He was having too much on her had alre-ady and didn’t want to add to it.
Prince Kalen was silent and stared at her.
Hmm. The confessor. I can’t believe you’ve been here for two days, but this’ the first time we’re meeting. Isn’t that incredible?” He chuckled but Isabelle remained silent as she couldn’t decipher the hidden meaning of his words.
He was tall, elegant young man, not too handsome, but could be considered charming. Although,his charms were nothing compared to that of Caesar’s.
“You look beautiful, confessor, especially with the Rada’Han on your n£¢k” he smiled and t©uçhed it, then moved closer to her.
“Would you want me to take it off?” He whispered and Isabelle’s eyes beamed.
She lifted get eyes from the floor to look at him. What’s he talking about?
A smile curved up on hisl-ips and he let go of the Rada’Han.
“See you later, cobfessor” he sm-irksd and walked away.
***,******
For a few seconds, Isabelle was mute, staring at the back of the prince who was walking away.
“Come on confessor” the guard broke into her thoughts and she gulped ha-rd and followed him.
Few more turns and they were standing in front of the princess’ room.
The guard knocked on the door and Rayna opened up
“Ah! At last. What took you so long, huh?” She squabbled, still holding the door
“I’m sorry for the delay, my princess” the guard bowed.
“Yeah, you can leave”. She rolled her eyes and the guard bowed and left
“Come in, confessor” she opened the door wi-der and walked in and Isabelle followed
“Good day, my princess” she greeted.
“Yes. Take the bag and come with me. We don’t have much time” she spoke quic-kly and started walking out of the room and Isabelle took the bag from the be-d and followed.
She recognized it – it was the same bag they had used the previous day for archery. Were they going for another round?
They walked out of the quarters but unlike the previous day, they didn’t leave the palace. It was just within – in a field.
“My brother said I shouldn’t take you out of the palace. So, we’ll nee-d to make use of this sp©t” Rayna explained as they stood in the field
Hold on..
The King doesn’t want her to leave the palace? Could it be possible…?
“I want to learn from you, confessor” Rayna broke into her thoughts.
“I want you to…teach me everything you know about archery. I want to be perfect”.
Woah!! Isabelle was stunned.
That was actually an amusing request. The princess wanted to learn from her?
She sighed.
“Okay, princess. I don’t have a problem with that” she answered courtly and opened the bag.
She brou-ght out the bow and some arrows, taking out an arrow and keeping the rest on the floor.
“Well…the first thing you nee-d to know is the position of the arrow on the bow” she commenced, fixing the arrow in the bow.
The princess watched keenly.
“Secondly, you position your hand towards the target. Make sure it’s directly proportional to it.
“Stretch your hands properly, because the greater f0rç£ you apply to the bow, the greater the speed it’d be provide.
“Your hands shouldn’t be shaky, princess. And when you’ve gotten your stance….you pu-ll”.
And whoop……! Went the arrow to the target.
The princess was marveled.
“How the hell do you keep doing that?” She asked in bewilderment and Isabelle only smiled.
Ah! Finally, there’s something that could make her smile. She didn’t even notice.
“Give me! Let me try that” she snatched the bow from Isabelle and took an arrow from the floor.
She fixed it into the bow, following the instructions Isabelle had given. She targetted it and trying to imitate Isabelle, she pu-ll-ed.
Whoops..! Went the arrow, but unfortunately, it didn’t fall on the target. It landed beside it instead.
“Damn it!” She cursed angrily.
Huh? Isabelle was amazed. Shouldn’t she be happy? That was a good start, at least.
“I’ll be meeting with the prince and other princesses soon and I don’t even know how to shoot a target yet!” She lamented
“But you were incredible, my princess. I mean.. that’s good enough for a starter like you” Isabelle said.
“Well, I still nee-d to be perfect!” She grouse. “I nee-d him to notice me”
She sighed and sat on a wooden bench closeby.
“What will I even wear for the p@rty?” She mumbled to herself, but Isabelle was still able to hear her.
The p@rty….
She’s been hearing of it.
“Salome would be here tomorrow!” Rayna’s face suddenly brightened up.
“Oh creators! At last, I’ll be meeting her for the first time! She’ll be coming to our Kingdom!”
Isabelle smiled and didn’t say a word.
Well, the singer was someone that was rarely seen and Isabelle only had the opportunity to see her once – so many years ago in a far away Kingdom.
She had gone with some confessors on a special mission and there they found her, signing at the King’s birthday. It’s been quite a long time but Isabelle could tell she was really pretty and had performed really well.
Rayna exhaled de-eply and stood up.
“I think I want to go for another round. Get me an arrow” she strerched out her hand and Isabelle handed her an arrow.
TBC.