"The oceanites; people of the sea. A tribe existing in the far east of the Southlands. Though they dwell in the Southlands, they are mostly referred to as the oceanites or the people of the sea due to their secluded ways of living, both culturally and geographically.
"They are situated in an island, surrounded by main stream rivers which they share, or which acts as a border between them and the people of the Southlands"
The chambermaid picked up the soft sponge from off the tiny table and brought it close to the emperor's back, and she began to carefully and courteously scrub the emperor's upper backside without even blinking an eye as she did. After rinsing off the bubble and soap from his back, she started shampooing his wavy hair in a swift judicious manner, making sure not a single drop of the shampoo went down the emperor's face. She continued scrubbing the emperor as he was almost submerged into hot steaming bathing pool with flowers and scented bubbles strewed over the surface of the pool, and with his eyes closed almost into a deep sleep, the emperor remained unmoving in the pool.
After a short while, the emperor opened his eyes suddenly when he noticed something to have changed with the chambermaid who was bathing him.
The emperor then sighed and closed his eyes back after giving a curved smile to the strong and manly finger that were now carefully grooming his body.
'Were you able to infiltrate the Old King's courts?' the emperor questioned as he closed his eyes slowly.
A quick and sharp hum came from the knight that was behind the emperor and now washing up his body gently, and Ethan shook his head in response.
'You already know whenever we try invading your father's quarters, it always proves futile' Ethan replied.
'We shouldn't give up on hope Ethan. No one can be so rigid and meticulous forever. One day, the Old King would definitely slip up, and when he does, we should be ready. We always should be ready' the emperor put in and Ethan sighed tiredly.
'But it's been twenty years now, even more. All the efforts we've put in, none has ever worked on your father. It's as if he's already predicted what we were planning…'
'I tried to get him to talk about it last time, yelled out my lungs and even put on some pitiful display before him, but the old snake wouldn't budge. I didn't even get close to making him talk about the Account- whether it really exists or not' the emperor slipped in and chuckled sadly with painful regrets in his tone.
'And again, there's no way of also proving whether the Accounts is really hidden somewhere in your fathers quarters or not-if it does exists, how can we then be sure that we are not wasting our energy going in the wrong direction?' Ethan quizzed on and tutted crossly.
'What of the mole we planted close to the Old King? Nothing positive yet?' the emperor inquired.
'No'.Ethan replied 'It's like we keep going around in circles' Ethan continued and just then, he finished up with bathing the emperor, and he moved to get the emperor his towels and smoothly wrapped it around the emperor's waist as soon as the emperor stood up from the pool.
The emperor remained foot-immersed into the bathing pool and his hands upon his towel as he continued staring at the apprehensive look on Ethan face. Ethan kept trying to avoid the emperor's gaze, feeling a little shy and embarrassed at how the emperor was watching him.
'Seeing you this way, you kind of remind me of my fifth son, Dan; always anxious just like his mother' the emperor teased and Ethan looked up to him with his cheeks flushed.
'Your Majesty!' he exclaimed.
'And speaking of my sons, how's their training been so far?'
The emperor asked again and trudged out of the pool towards the robes hung neatly on a clothes rack at a corner in the bathing chamber. He then spread out his hands to let his knight put the robes on for him.
'I can say it's been progressing fine. According to the reports received from the Royal Examiners, the princes seemed to have shown a great extent of interest and rigorousness towards the trails' Ethan replied swiftly as he garbed the emperor in his robes.
'Oh-oh. Let me hear it'
'The crown prince so far, has proven the reason why he is being referred to as the next heir to the throne in his last two trails. He stood before the ministers and judges, even from the King's Court, and also sat with the elite scholars from all over the empire. He passed all the trails given to him, not failing even one out of them all.' Ethan explicated and paused to watch as a proud and delighted expression fell upon the emperor's face. Ethan smiled too and continued to narrate.
'Well, for the other princes and their training, nothing special can be said about it since they are all receiving a combined training. However, the Royal Examiner's reports did mention something about the princes who have been participating actively in the training; the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth princes. The younger princes look like they would need some more time to actively participate in the training.' Ethan carried on and then sucked his teeth all of a sudden as he squinted his eyes and looked away from the emperor, trying to remember something.
'But…there was this one prince whose reports showed a certain kind of irregularity. The Royal Examiner did record something about him that appeared to be somewhat worrisome; something like; "might be accused of treason if not careful enough" Ethan said, still assuming a thoughtful expression.
'Isa!' the emperor exclaimed and chuckled heartily.
'It would be no other prince than Isa! Heavens!' he continued and started for the door out of the bathing house.
'So, what next do you plan to do Your Majesty? Would you still like to visit the princes? I heard they are soon beginning their physical and swordsmanship training' Ethan quizzed and the emperor stopped walking and slanted his head to a side.
'Hmm. Instead of going to see the princes, what do you think of me summoning them into my inner-court?' the emperor quizzed back.
*************
Haniel swept Jorai from off his feet and without effort, he lifted him up and threw him with force unto the ground. Jorai immediately let out a sharp cry of agony as he laid on the ground and began to squirm in pain. Haniel then stood over his wriggling figure and placed his hands to his waist, staring down at him with pity.
'Is being smart and talkative all you could ever do throughout your lifetime of being a man?' Haniel jested and one could clearly see the look of resentment that was now upon Jorai's face. Haniel smirked at him and after heaving a sigh, he turned to the rest of the young men who were likewise grappling and wrestling within themselves. He shook his head at the comical and flippant drama before him before moving to stand with Eshek who had also taken down his own opponent; Raphael, without even breaking a sweat.
'I knew that peacock would be no match for the big guy. People may call him a smart-ass, but all I see in him is just some self-conceited weakling!'
Dan spat out tetchily as he stood where all the other princes were standing and watching the grapple between the escorts in the training ground of the fortress. Kohath giggled and turned to look at Dan's Escort, Jorai, who was still groaning with pain on the floor.
'Okay, I totally agree with the fact that everything happening right now is nothing but a joke, but tell us Sylven, what is that Escort of yours doing with that Escort of Isa?' Uriel observed to Sylven who was standing close to Azel, and the princes turned their heads towards Cael's direction to see what Uriel was speaking about.
Well, there was Cael and Jehiel, arms locked and foreheads pinned, trying so hard to bring the other down to the ground. But as they fought, they seemed to be using equal amounts of energy and strength in trying to take down the other opponent, because as Cael strove in bringing Jehiel down to the ground, it was also the exact amount of strain Jehiel used in trying to keep himself standing on his feet.
Sylven could no longer hold in the mirth that kept welling up inside him watching them fight. He suddenly burst out laughing and the rest of the princes all erupted into a silent and hearty round of laughter too.
The younger escorts were also not any better in their own struggle with themselves; the three of them excluding Raphael, appeared to be in their own world; mindlessly and violently gripping at each other's hair and almost rending each other's robes into pieces.
Mikneiah had Unni as his opponent, and the more he wanted to really take it easy on the younger fellow, the more Unni wanted to prove that he was nothing less compared to his older stepbrother; Eshek, who had taken down his own opponent in the twinkle of an eye. So, regardless of how many times he got knocked down to the floor by Mikneiah, Unni rose up, dusted his butt and poised again to charge back at Mikneiah.
'WHAT THE SAVAGERY DO YOU ALL THINK YOU'RE DOING!!?'
Master Ai, shouted out irately to the furiously men in the grounds with his brows deathly furrowed, and his harsh-voiced tone immediately brought the young men out of themselves, as they began to disengage from each other's grasp on the other opponent's hair, robe or even leg.
Master Ai was the Master appointed over the prince's physical training which included, daily drills and hand-to-hand combat with themselves; both the princes and their escorts, and also involved swordfights, which once mastered, they would progress into engaging in realistic bouts with elite guards and warriors.
'I did make it known to you all that what we are about doing here is no child's play!! In time, you would all be trained on how to defend yourselves when you are faced with a life or death situation, and as escorts, how you must protect your own prince at such times!' the Master yelled on.
'But here you are! Just look at what you are doing! Do you think this is a joke?' he exclaimed and Raphael who was still on the ground with his hands wrapped around his aching belly where he had received a deadly blow from his own opponent Eshek, rolled himself over and mumbled in a low tone.
'Ohh, Old guy's got a dangerous temper'
'WHO SAID THAT!!?'
The Master roared and everyone just kept quiet, watching the Master curiously and also trying so hard not to burst into laughter at what Raphael just said.
What followed could already be predicted; the now fuming Master, giving the escorts and their princes an earful of warnings and threats, spitting and spattering in the process, before he could then command the escorts to re-begin their training and this time, taking things more seriously.
As the escorts resumed the fight, and trying to give the angry Master the show he desperately wanted to see, a Palace guard skipped quickly into the training ground and went to where the masters; Heber, Tochen and Ai, were seated. The guard moved to Master Tochen and whispered something in his ears before leaving the ground.
Then Master Tochen got up, smiled and ordered the escorts to bring their ridiculous show to an end. By the time Master Tochen told the escorts to stop fighting, the younger escorts were almost half-naked with their hair all tangled up and their feet covered in so much dirt. Cael and Jehiel could not stop laboring with their breaths and sweating profusely like goats being taken to the slaughter. Unni was now bleeding uncontrollably from his nose due to receiving constant whacks from Mikneiah and coupled with his astonishing tenacity. Jorai was still on the floor trying to recover from Haniel's attacks and Raphael, well, he was already half-conscious of life because of Eshek's merciless throw-downs.
Master Tochen observed the pitiful scene of the young men before him and he shook his head in remorse.
'Alright! I guess the escorts need some time to get their acts together. It looks as if most of you have never, not even once, in your life known what it's like to throw a punch and at the same time, receive one' he said and then coughed slightly before turning to the princes.
'I bring message from the emperor!' he announced and paused to let his words sink in, and it was evident that these words immediately aroused everybody that were present in the ground, even the half-conscious Raphael.
'Hmm. Let's see, how do I put it…?' Master Tochen carried on.
'…the emperor summons the princes and their escorts tomorrow, to stand before him in his sacred courts, and to receive, even from the mouth of the emperor, an assignment that would become a part of their training and trails, and which if they successfully accomplish, would be used in the evaluation to determine which prince is suited for which positions later on' he expounded.
************
The escorts plodded back to their quarters in the fountain court, each and every one of them obviously exhausted to breaking point as they moved with their feet scratching the floor nosily. Haniel had the arms of the limping Jorai round his own shoulders as he assisted him in walking. Mikneiah was trying to comfort and console the furious young fellow, Unni; who was furious at both himself and Mikneiah likewise. Jehiel was on his own, looking intensely at Cael who had his back turned to him as he was also sluggishly shuffling his feet ahead of everyone else. Raphael was on his own too, holding his belly tightly and constantly grumbling in bitterness on the kind of cruelty Eshek had shown to him during their fight.
The younger escorts were left to themselves, sniffling and regretting within themselves for taking the oath to be Princes' Escorts; all they were made to go through to this point was more than they had actually expected in the first place.
'To be honest big guy, but you could have just taken it easy back there, I mean yeah, that grumpy Master did tell us to get aggressive at each other, but don't you think you were too aggressive? I'm just a kid for heavens sake!' Raphael exclaimed to Eshek and then moaned for pain as a sharp pain ran through his belly. Eshek folded his hands and sighed, he then looked to Raphael's direction and muttered a very low "sorry" to him.
'You hate me, don't you?' Jorai's bitterest tone came straight into Haniel's ears and Haniel turned to him with a guilty look.
'No I don't'
'You do' Jorai went on affirming and Haniel began to shake him head.
'No. I…you…you saw how that angry Master kept pushing that we get serious with…'
'No…' Jorai cut in '…No, you hate me. I thought you as a friend Haniel. Even if the emperor should command you to smack me on the cheeks, you'd rather have him remove your head than do it. But no! You hate me and you'd do it right away because you never thought me as a friend to begin with!!!' Jorai yelled in fury and Jehiel turned away from them and scoffed to himself. He then looked at Cael's back and sighed weariedly.
'Cael was it?' Jehiel called out and Cael seemed to jolt a bit before turning to look at him with tired eyes.
'Yes' Cael responded and Jehiel smiled a little bit.
'It was a fun scuffling back there, don't you think?' he said and Cael nodded his head to him as he began to chuckle.
'Yeah…I guess. I haven't struggled with someone like that for a long while now.' Cael said and Jehiel nodded back to him, and after a moment of staring at themselves, Jehiel moved closer to Cael and stretched forth his hands to give him a warm handshake.
'I'm Jehiel by the way, if you didn't know' he introduced and Cael put forth his hands to happily receive his handshake.
'Oh yeah, that's…'
As soon as Cael received Jehiel's handshake, and before he could even finish up his words, his abilities triggered. Jehiel's touch immediately took him into his trance, removing him from reality as he fell to the ground unconscious.
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