by Ervin Agayan
“Don’t you understand, Arsy? The sleeping pill will soon wear off, and she’ll wake up!”
Seeing his friend’s imploring expression, Erathos mumbled something with resentment then produced a flask from his pocket, opened it, and brought it close to the princess’s nose.
“Only twenty minutes,” he snapped, sick at heart.
“Thank you! You’re a true friend.” Arsy shifted his wistful and amorous eyes to the princess. “I could sit here, admiring her forever. Who would think she is a princess? My heart almost stopped when I found out that the girl I love is a princess.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t think either.” Erathos shook his head. “They trapped me artfully!” Noticing his friend’s interrogative glance, he clarified. “There is only one way left to win power—revolution. But God as my witness; I didn’t want to come to power this way!”
Arsy’s eyes lit up as soon as he realized how Erathos was going to seize power. At that moment, there was only one question replaying in his mind, but he dared not ask for quite a long time. Looking at the sleeping princess, Arsy felt his heart squeezed by the cold hand of fear. Overcoming excitement, he finally asked his question, nodding in Parelia’s direction.
“And what will happen to her?”
Erathos’s lips stretched in a big smile.
“Don’t worry. She’s yours.” He set his friend’s mind at ease.
“That’s good,” answered Arsy and added with a spiteful smile, “Otherwise, I’d have to kill you, for I will never cede her to anyone.”
The smile immediately disappeared from Erathos’s lips, while his eyebrows crawled up with astonishment.
“Here’s what love does to people.” He grinned at last. “You’re even ready to kill your best friend for her.”
“Only if the friend stands in our way, knowing that I love her.” The spark in Arsy’s eyes didn’t fade even for a second. “Then they’re not a friend but a true enemy. And what do we do with enemies?” Arsy nodded before finishing, “Right, we get rid of them.”
“Your logic would be envied even by wise men. This is the kind of King that Agastan needs,” joked Erathos.
“Let’s not make future chroniclers laugh.” Arsy smiled finally. “If nothing else, I will make a worthless King. Once everything is over, I will leave with her…very, very far away.”
“Eh, Arsy…” Erathos shook his head, “did you ever imagine that we’d be sitting in the princess’s bedchamber, determining the world’s future? If I had ever been told that I would cede Parelia to you, I would never have believed it.”
“I would never believe that I would fall in love with the princess and lose my mind due to that love.” Arsy looked at his sweetheart again.
She lay so quietly and calmly as if she were not in a deep sleep but had just closed her eyes for a moment.
His eyes swept over her smooth skin, lowered rich lashes, gracious neck, and slowly heaving breasts…
“What pendant is this?” Arsy curiously took the moonstone gracing the princess’s neck. In a second, he exclaimed, “I’m taking it!”
“Are you crazy?” Erathos got angry. “Don’t you dare!”
Arsy continued to stare at the stone.
“I’m definitely taking it,” Arsy repeated resolutely and started taking the pendant off her neck.
“Are you crazy, Arsy? If she learns about the loss of her pendant, she will start looking for other lost items and will realize the stamp is missing too.” Erathos tried to appeal to his friend’s discretion.
“I’ve already decided everything,” snapped Arsy. “No need to panic; she won’t find out about the stamp.”
The pendant with a moonstone artfully disappeared in Arsy’s pocket.
“I am already regretting bringing you with me,” Erathos exclaimed dissatisfied. “I should have left you in prison!” He took a deep breath and added more quietly. “Why don’t you just take something else from her jewelry.”
“No, it’s obvious this pendant is very precious for her, so I will definitely take it. In fact, I won’t limit myself to this pendant.”
Arsy walked up to the desk and took a black marker. Turning around, he noticed his friend’s astonished look.
“I want to leave a message on her body,” he clarified.
“Are you really crazy, Arsy?” Erathos’s indignation was smoothly growing into fury. “It’s a special marker; the color won’t wear off for a whole month!”
“That’s perfect.” He smiled with satisfaction. “So, for an entire month she will be admiring this writing on her hand and remembering me.”
Erathos was furious, but he realized Arsy couldn’t be talked around. His friend had essentially changed during the past month. He was no more the old-time soldier who complied with all orders unquestionably.
Arsy was reflected on the message for quite a long time; he repeatedly drew the marker close to her hand but then took it away unconfidently. Finally, a spiteful smile touched his face.
Putting the marker on the princess’s smooth skin, he wrote in large letters: “I love Arsy.” Pondering for another second, he completed the drawing with a few hearts.
“Don’t worry,” he clarified for Erathos. “No one will see that writing under her clothes except for her. She started this game, commanding my arrest, and I simply must strike back in kind.”
Arsy didn’t confine himself to one message. Slightly pulling up the princess’s dress, he drew more hearts on her ankle and then added an “Extolive,” which symbolizes a girl’s desire to hear a love confession from her sweetheart.
Erathos walked up to the table and started examining the princess’s letters, casting occasional spiteful glances at Arsy.
Amusing himself a little with the marker, Arsy finally bent over the princess and caressed her velvety hair. Erathos thought his friend was no longer considering his presence, but in a few seconds, Arsy asked quite unexpectedly, “By the way, how did you manage to open the safe so easily?”
“The password was very weak.”
Arsy turned back to ask what the password was and saw Erathos put his finger across his lips and look at the door. Erathos had a fantastic sense of hearing. Arsy knew that he could tell how many people were next door by their heartbeats. Arsy pricked up his ears, but there was complete silence. Finally, Erathos showed two fingers, indicating there were two guards in the corridor. As for Arsy, he heard their steps a few seconds later. The next second, the steps trailed away, and Erathos nodded silently, making him understand the corridor was empty again.
“I envy your sense of hearing.” Arsy grinned and asked, “So what was the password?”
Left without an answer, Arsy looked at his friend. Erathos was actively pretending to be busy digging through the papers on the table.
“What was the password, Ero?” Arsy repeated his question, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
Noticing his friend’s obvious unwillingness to respond, Arsy realized the password was somehow associated with him. He slowly rose from his seat, walked close to Erathos, so the latter was forced to look into his eyes, and pronounced almost menacingly: “Tell me the password to the safe!”
Sure enough, his menacing stare didn’t scare Erathos. He looked into Arsy’s eyes and started playing with his beard, thinking of Arsy’s possible reaction to the password.
“You’d better not know, Arsy,” he said mindfully.
Arsy was breathing nervously, staring at the ceiling and considering whether he wanted to know it, but then he said resolutely: “The password!”
“Aderton.”
Hearing this name, Arsy’s breathing became deeper and faster; his eyes acquired a wild blaze. He had to try not to turn the place upside down in a fit of rage; however, reason got the better of him in good time. The only thing that fell his victim was a cup, which was mercilessly thrown out of the open window. Erathos watched in silence as his friend at first chased his tail around his own thoughts, then he took a deep breath, trying to calm down, an
d then began to repeat, as if revived, “They don’t love each other. They don’t love each other.” At last, Arsy looked at his friend with a completely different expression, where one could sense an appeal.
“Ero, I’m begging you; please, tell me it’s an obsession, a delirium, but not love. You are an expert of love affairs, aren’t you?”
Erathos didn’t respond but only shrugged his shoulders.
“I simply cannot understand how they can love each other after so many years apart,” exclaimed Arsy with a helpless gesture.
“That is called love!” Erathos said with a teacher’s intonation, noticing his friend’s wild eyes.
“Shut up!” Arsy roared sharply. “As a matter of fact, I was hoping to hear words of support from a friend.”
It took him a few seconds to recollect himself, and Erathos was willing to wait.
“Does that really matter?” Arsy grinned spitefully at last. “I don’t care a dime for their love! She will be mine no matter what!”
“Don’t worry.” Erathos set his mind at ease. “They will never find each other.”
“Well, it goes without saying; my people are also following him. I will make sure they never meet. Can you imagine, this fool has set out for Estrenia to find Parelia?” sneered Arsy.
Estrenia is situated on the very edge of Agastan.
“I don’t even know who the ‘smart’ guy was to send him there,” smiled Erathos. The smart guy he mentioned was obviously himself. “To be honest, I feel sorry for him.”
“Since when have you started feeling sorry for your enemies?” exclaimed Arsy, but immediately added in a serious tone, “Anyways, I'm somewhat worried; maybe we have to lock him up. Plague take him!”
“You shouldn’t talk like that,” smiled Erathos. “Aderton is a good fellow. I’m even thinking of including him in my inner cycle of leaders.” Noticing Arsy’s glare, Erathos added shortly, “Understandably once you and Parelia get married.”
“You can’t even imagine how much I hate him,” Arsy said through his teeth and walked up to Parelia.
“We need to go; the sun will rise soon,” Erathos urged.
“First, I must say goodbye to the mistress of my heart.”
Arsy bent over the princess, took her hand and kissed it tenderly. Then he put her hand on her breast, so the message he left on it was the first thing she’d see once she woke up.
“I love you,” he whispered in a small voice. “You will be mine, even if I have to destroy the world for it.”
The Cat Named Lolo
As soon as Nihena opened the door, a black cat entered the room. Seeing the strangers, she froze on the spot and stared at them with suspicion and distrust.
Nihena associated herself with cats. She considered these animals the “embodiment of her spirit.” It’s no wonder the cat was her best friend. It was a completely black beauty with blue eyes, like those of her owner. Nihena had deliberately looked for a kitten with the same color of eyes as hers. The cat had soft and smooth hair.
The feline beauty had two names, Lolo and Loli, and it seemed like those were two different personalities. Lolo was a charming pussycat; she purred with satisfaction, obeyed her owner, and gained everybody’s adoration. But there were times, quite often, without prior warning; Lolo turned into Loli—a truly hardnosed black beast, who’d better not be crossed. “Oh, Lolo, my sweetie.” If you heard anything of the kind, it meant she was in a good mood. But if you heard loud and lingering screaming, “Loliiiiii!” from the yard or from the corridor, then you’d better keep out of the enraged cat’s and her irritated owner’s sight.
Nevertheless, most of the time, Lolo remained Lolo and followed on her owner’s heels, or rather on her head, since Nihena’s head was the place she loved to sit solemnly, as though on a throne. Meanwhile, the owner didn’t mind at all. On the contrary, she even enjoyed it, since this method of carrying her cat around the house helped her, not only keep her head upright, but also refine her balancing skills. One could meet Nihena with Lolo on top of her head anywhere—on a walk, during a workout, and even at supper. Though her parents didn’t approve of the animal’s presence at the table, or rather “over” it, it was better than losing sight of Lolo, since if Loli wasn’t with her owner, it could only mean she was planning another prank or was in the process of putting it into action.
It should be said that Loli’s pranks had no end in sight. Quite often, it was Nihena who got an earful from her mom or dad for her favorite. Once, Loli made up her mind to test her jumping skills, so she climbed on a ledge in the corridor and jumped across its entire width. She would probably have gotten away with it if she hadn’t landed right on the brand-new tapestry, just delivered from Morestan. The cat, understandably, hurried to leave the crime scene, but the consequences of her trick, namely the traces of claws, now the most prominent feature in the pattern, could stay unnoticed only by a blind man. Lady Morena scolded her daughter such that Nihena was mad at her fluffy girlfriend for a whole week.
“It’s my cat,” said Nihena, “she has two names, Lolo and Loli, depending on how she behaves. Lolo is a goody-goody, but sometimes she turns into rowdy Loli, who believes she must always keep herself in good shape to be as strong as her owner. Therefore, she constantly upgrades her flying techniques, jumping on the curtains, then on the chandelier or the wardrobe, hurling everything down along the way and making total chaos.”
“She’s very beautiful,” said Zens, curiously studying the black, blue-eyed beast.
“Yeah, she is beautiful and wayward,” nodded Nihena, giving her pet a tender smile. “She also loves sitting on my head, though I don’t mind it at all, since it helps me improve my dexterity.”
Nihena gave her a command “up!”, and the cat artfully and noiselessly climbed on her owner and made herself comfortable right on top of her head. Without much reflection, Nihena demonstrated a couple of combat maneuvers with the unusual “balance” on her head. Zens enthusiastically monitored her delicate movements, once again convincing himself that you had better not mess with this girl, or with her cat.
After another beautiful maneuver, Nihena took a seat at the table with the cat on her head. Zens recounted to her a couple of amusing stories about cats. Nihena really liked one of the stories about how an arrogant ginger cat prevented Zens from robbing a house.
In her turn, she decided to share laughable incidents that happened to her and Lolo.
“I was lying on the bed, relaxing, my eyes closed. I felt Lolo jump on the bed, walk to me, and slightly touch my face. After a while, I sensed a smell that was different from that of my Lolo. And something close to my nose also felt somewhat strange. At first, I thought it was her tail, so I started caressing it and immediately realized it wasn’t a cat. I opened my eyes and saw …a mouse right under my nose. That evening, I had been so upset that I decided to skip dinner. Lolo, apparently thought she should feed her owner and brought me a fat mouse for my evening meal.” Nihena laughed and continued proudly, “To be honest, I am not really scared of mice, like other girls, and I don’t mind playing with them, but at that very moment, perhaps due to unexpectedness, I started yelling so loudly that my voice could be heard throughout the castle! Lolo realized she had made a bad mess, for she ran out of the room with the force of a bullet, while I took the mouse by its tail and ran after her to hang her out to dry. So, I rushed out of the room and imagine what…without any exaggeration, I came face to face with mom; to be more exact, she literally came face to face with the mouse! Realizing what she saw in front of her, my mom screamed like a little girl and rushed to my room. It made me laugh, and I realized I could have lots of fun. Then everyone who had heard my yelling came running. I hid behind the wall, and once they moved closer, I popped up with the mouse in my hands. It made everyone scream and hide in the room. You can’t even imagine the screeching! That trick drove everybody into the room, while I had a hilarious time making the entire castle scream like hell,” Nihena spoke excitedly.
&
nbsp; “And what happened later?” inquired Zens.
“Then my dad entered the room…” The smile immediately disappeared from Nihena’s face. Her blue eyes became gloomy, and she changed the subject. “And here’s another funny story with Lolo…”
But Zens interrupted her before she could speak.
“Wait, I want to know what happened.”
“I was punished, understandably…” the girl stated disheartened. “And it was a severe punishment. Oh well, I had fun! That was fun and frolic!” She turned serious again and added reluctantly, “Sometimes, I absolutely do not think about the consequences of my jokes, so punishment is a common thing for me, though they put me through enough that one time; they even put me out of the house…”
“Seriously?” Zens didn’t believe her.
“Yup, but they called me back the next day. However, I was too proud to have agreed,” Nihena declared. “Lolo and I lived a vagrant life for a week, until my dad apologized to me on his knees. So, it has yet to be found out who punished whom!”
Zens was unable to hold back his laughter, picturing the formidable Lord, the leader of mercenaries, apologizing to Nihena on his knees.
“And here’s another extremely funny story,” remembered Nihena. “Lolo adores climbing trees. It’s only that, like me, she doesn’t think about the consequences. So, she might climb to the top of a tree and be too scared to climb down. Once she climbed up the highest branches of a birch tree. She was purring plaintively and trembling with fear. I didn’t feel like climbing the tree, and I tried to think of a way to get my precious cat down from the tree. I ran to the stable and took a horse, grabbing a long rope on the way. I tied the horse to the trunk of the birch and lashed it with the horsewhip. The horse hurled itself forward sharply, pulling the thin trunk of the tree behind him. The branches bent, and I was ready to get my Lolo, when the rope slipped off. It created a perfect catapult!” Nihena started laughing. “Lolo flew up with a wild wail and disappeared in the distance. There’s a city park near our castle, where a sweet couple had found a hiding place behind the bushes. At the moment when the young man wanted to open his heart to his love, a screaming black monster landed on his head. Can you imagine it? Though, they say the amorous couple was screaming the loudest.”
