chapter.36  »  by the river.

Jinki had changed out of his civilian clothing and into his soldier's clothes.  When he retrieved the uniform from his grandiose closet (after taking about three seconds to readjust himself into his chambers), he stared at it.  The uniform looked untouched, and it was so.  It was never used.  It was a deep saddle brown, a royal take on the regular Preriloth soldier's uniform.

After putting it on, he went out to the artillery hall where walls upon walls and rooms of weaponry were stored and maintained.  He also had his own room of weapons (which were, again, unused).  He armed himself with a sword and a musket, waving away several scurrying maiden-helpers and soldiers who itched to serve the prince as he slung the musket over his shoulder and the sword at his side.  He wouldn't say it aloud, but Jinki had never realized how privileged he was until then.  A man-child that needed attention—he felt ashamed.

When he left the artillery hall, a stallion with gleaming black mane and velvet skin was presented to him.  Jinki hopped on the horse, speeding away to the main village center where families huddled close together both worried and appalled at this sudden appearance of their prince.  A few women howled.

"Villagers!"  Jinki announced, his voice loud and crisp.  The stallion neighed, circling a bit around the fountain in the center.  "You need to find shelter quickly.  The Kemmer Army is afoot; they have declared war on us."

There was scattered whispers in the crowd.  War?  Today?  Against us?

"We have displaced the militias in the villages so that you will be kept as safe as we can.  This same message is reaching the other villages.  Please, in the name of Arddun and King, seek shelter immediately."

The stallion galloped away, Jinki hastening away back to the castle where the castle guards were setting up.  He tightened his grip on the reigns, concentrating on the road ahead.  Where are you, Soojin? he thought as he rode.  The stallion neighed again.  Jinki never stopped thinking.

Soojin, Mara, and Seungpyo resumed their trek.  All three were quiet, the silence filled in by the crunching of their feet on twigs and grass.  Their clothes—their work clothes—clung to their bodies disgustingly, glued to them by sweat pooling on their skins.  Seungpyo led the trio, Mara following after him, and Soojin stayed just slightly a bit behind them two.  Her mind was mushy, empty.  She didn't know what to think.

As they kept walking, the sound of water rushing kept getting louder and louder until they were faced with a long river that was three feet wide and three feet deep.  The water glimmered, lucid and inviting, a few pebbles on the river floor.  Fishes swam with the currents, some even jumping above water like they were showing off what shiny scales they had.  It was magical and unreal, the clarity of the riverwater... but what was real nowadays, anyway.

Mara rushed forward to the river.  She bent over the riverbank, cupping her hands and scooping water.  She drank what she could gather, sighing pleasantly at each gulp.  She drank about ten times before washing her face and resting on her legs by the river.  Soojin could wear she saw the water droplets glint.

Seungpyo followed suit, though he drank less furiously and more carefully.  He washed his face and neck and arms, and sat next to Mara, hugging his knees as he watched fishes of various colors swim.  In comparison to Soojin, his mind raced with questions and hypotheses of where they were, what they were doing there, why they were there, where Jinki was, and what they were going to do.  And, most importantly, who Soojin was.

Soojin forced herself to kneel by the river.  Instead of drinking, she dipped a hand into the cold water and dragged it slowly back and forth.  She smiled a little when a fish tried to nibble at her fingers only to swim away rather disappointedly.

"You could be a princess, Soojin," Seungpyo suddenly muttered.

In any other context, it might have sounded like either an awfully gorgeous metaphor or an awfully misplaced compliment.  But in this context, in the context of being on earth but not on Earth, it was... something else.

Mara turned her head to him, then to Soojin, then back to him.  "What are you saying?"

Brushing the grass so that the blades popped between his fingers, Seungpyo shared with them the story of Nydiralle.  At each word he said, Mara grew weary then dubious then awed, until she began considering self-diagnosed insanity.  Soojin stayed quiet, digesting the story as one would digest food: slowly, carefully, and obediently.

After Seungpyo's story, they grew quiet again.

Suddenly, in the near distance, horses padding and men whooping sounded.  Seungpyo and Mara bolted right up while Soojin took her time.  Soon they faced three horses of great sizes and three men clothed in what resembled royal armymen garb: brown coats and burgundy boots.  Perched on the horses were two seats each, the ones on the front occupied by the men.  One of them, who sported a mustache and a face that may have been perenially angry, squinted down at the three.

"State your identities or be brought to the King," he stated with authentic authority that Mara wavered a bit.

Seungpyo attempted to answer.  "We're... We're from..."

"And don't even attempt to say that you're from anywhere around here," the man snapped.  He eyed them suspiciously, analyzing their clothes and demeanor.

"We're not," Soojin said.  "We're not from here."

Seungpyo and Mara swiveled to her, their eyes screaming the same question: What are you doing?!

The man spent no more time interrogating them.  He faced the two men with him.  "Cuff them.  We'll bring them to the King."

And as their hands were menacingly wrapped behind their backs with tight ropes, as they were hauled onto the second seats on each horse, as Soojin was propped on the seat behind the angry mustachioed man, as they galloped away from the river and further into the forest, it slowly made sense.

Bring them to the King, and maybe, maybe, they would be led to Jinki.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

GUESS WHO'S ALIVE.

it's been so long.  i'm a high school junior now.  i turned 16 two days ago (i am worthy now, teenager-wise).  i'm about to schedule my driving test on monday.  i've achieved a lot in various things, mainly school.  we're all aged.

to be frank, i've forgotten where i was going with this story.  but i do have a vague story line still in mind, i just need to dust them off and i should be good.  this story will most likely end at exactly chapter 40... then again, probably not.  i like to talk.

i don't suppose you can forgive me.  either way, i'll just keep updating until i finish this story.  good day, all, and blessings all around.

(btw, i don't know if chapter 35 was released, and if it was then you all would know that it was released quite prematurely.   embarrasingly so.  anyway, you should read it, it's complete now.  lots of bravery and character development.)

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