Read Knight Online

Authors: RA. Gil

Knight (8 page)

“But, Aeron! You cannot forget how this woman tried to—”

“Yes, yes. I know, Berias. Seeing what just happened before our very eyes, I think we have to make a compromise. Besides, I do not believe that killing this girl will result to anything beneficial.”

“I agree with Lord Aeron,” Lady Aleara said.

“But we still cannot let this go unpunished!”

“I was getting to that.” Aeron sighed heavily, clearly displeased with the other man's insistence. “Seraphina, your actions are still unacceptable. A punishment will be given.” He fell silent, and started thinking. “Since you are the one standing up for her now, you are going to take full charge and responsibility for her safety. Do you accept?”

“Yes.” Seraphina's eyes gleamed with relief and a hint of joy.

“You are under suspension. Regarding what happened, I think you need some time to think to yourself. Is that enough?”

“I will happily accept this punishment, thank you.”

“Now, what will we do to this human while she stays in Valemnia.”

“Why don't we send her to prison? For twenty-five years?” Berias suggested.

Valeriana went pale. “What?!”

“Send her to slavery?” He suggested again.

“What the—”

“Stop it, Berias.” Lady Aleara growled. “You're spouting nonsense. And you say you are worthy of your position within the Court?”

The man named Berias grunted.

“I understand the fact that you despise the human race, but we cannot be so rash as to condemn each one of them. Do not mix your own feelings and personal grudges when doing your job. Do not ever let it cloud your judgment.” She calmly stated, her voice soft and comforting that it nearly brought the girl to tears. “First, I personally think we must ask for the side of the young one. What is your name, dear? What was it you were doing that you've had yourself in that location?” She asked.

The room fell quiet. Maybe if she tried reasoning out with them, they would think about letting her go without any problem.

“My name is Valeriana. Valeriana Kerrigan.” She told them.

“Hm?” Lord Aeron suddenly intoned. “I see. I see.” He nodded his head, a hint of smile and amusement vibrating with his words.

She gave him a questioning glance.

“Dear me, do continue.”

“I was . . . on the way to meet a friend when a thief snatched away my bag? I tried to chase him. That's how I ended up there.”

“How did you see the beast?”

“With my eyes?”

“No. You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t.” She replied, not knowing the answer herself.

“Answer the question properly!” Berias growled.

“I don't know!” She was getting sick of that man. “If you're going to ask anyone, ask my mother! She's the one who gave birth to me!”

“Why you insolent little—”

“Berias!” Lady Aleara scolded.

“Quit holding me back, you damn old lady!” He yelled through gritted teeth, scowling at Lady Aleara's direction.

“What did you just call me? You dare call me old?”

“I did! Do you have a problem with it?!”

“You know what? I've had it! Let's take this outside!” The lady rolled the flaring sleeves of her hooded cape and rose from her seat, seeming to want to solve their problem with violence.

“Silence!” Lord Aeron looked between the two and flattened his palms on the wooden table in front of him. “Sit down! If you want to fight, do it later!” He then gestured to Valeriana. “Continue.”

Valeriana looked between each of them, confused. “That's when I saw the demon. Seraphina saved me from being killed. After that, she left.”

“What were you doing before you were brought here?”

“Looking for a job to replace the money I lost.” She said.

There was a pause as they all seemed to be contemplating.

“What do you think?” The man turned to the other five for some suggestions.

The silence inside the room thickened and Valeriana curiously awaited their answer.

“We can't exactly be rash about this.” Sir Zeke, for the first maybe, spoke.

The others nodded in agreement before they all turned towards Valeriana. She couldn't see the way they looked under the shadow of their cloaks, but there was a feeling that didn't settle nicely with her.

“The presence of a human would probably rouse the people of Valemnia if her presence was made public, but we can't exactly hide it either since it may cause trouble if found out.” Lady Aleara said.

“Then send me home.” Valeriana suggested, hoping they would consider it.

“A simple and a nice idea.” Lord Aeron chuckled. Valeriana felt herself smiling. “But completely impossible.”

Her face fell. “Why not?”

“Firstly, we cannot let you go at the moment because this isn't exactly the usual situation we have to deal with. Even if we do let you go, how are you supposed to explain to your people about how you went missing so suddenly?”

She rolled her eyes. “Even if I tell them the truth anyway, I'll be labeled crazy. They might even send me to an asylum.”

Lord Aeron chuckled. “Oh, I see. What will you tell them?”

She paused. “That I went somewhere no else can find me because I was depressed or something.”

“Even I don't find that believable. Last time I checked, even if humans were somewhat oblivious, they weren't fools. It's best if you stay here.”

“Oh come on!” She whined. “I wanna go home!”

“Until a final decision is made, you are to be detained as prisoner.” The Court Leader said.

Valeriana gaped at them in shock. “What did you say?”

“Guards! Take her away!” Aeron ordered, sweeping his hand in front of him.

“We advise you not to take off that necklace whenever you are standing in the grounds of Valemnia. It gives you the ability to tolerate the power pressure. Without it, you'll crumble to ashes.” Aleara said.

Valeriana felt her stomach twist in trepidation as she looked down at the necklace that hung around her neck. It had a jade button embedded in a gold plated figure. It was an image of a person holding an orb against her chest.

“Hey! I still have many questions!”

Men in uniform clothes flooded the room and dragged an unwilling Valeriana away. Even after being taken outside, they could still hear the sound of her incessant shouting and screaming. Seraphina sighed as she watched the poor girl getting dragged away, but advised the guards to handle her as gingerly as possible. Still, regarding the fight she was putting up, the request didn't seem plausible.

 

Chapter Six ♣ Jail Break

 

V
aleriana groaned as she leaned back against the rough surface of the wall. She sat on top of the bed, twiddling her thumbs as the frame creaked noisily under her weight. Her eyes scanned the cramped space of the jail she was locked up in and she couldn't help but groan once more as she assessed what kind of situation she got herself into.

She didn't even know where she was. There were still so many questions she had to ask.

“Hey,” she said to the guard sitting quietly outside her cell. “Can I go to the bathroom?”

The guard, a brown-haired man with brown eyes, shot her an annoyed look through the bars before looking back ahead of him. “You just went a while ago.”

“I'm bored . . .” She grunted. “Can you give me something to eat?”

“You just ate.”

“How about something to entertain myself with?”

“You are not allowed to have anything with you within that cell other than your body and your clothes for precautionary measures. I was given strict orders not to let you be in possession of anything that might aid you in your escape.”

“But it's boring . . . I'm bored to death.” She complained. “What am I supposed to do? I haven't taken a bath since the time I was taken here and I stink.”

A few seconds of silence and Valeriana whined again, the guard grunted in annoyance at her continuous bothersome complains but didn't pay attention to her demands nonetheless.

“I need to do something or I'm going to go insane!”

She stood up from the bed and stretched her stiff muscles. The bed made groaning noises as she popped her knuckles and squared her shoulders. She did nothing but sleep, eat, and stare into space for god knows how long.

“Watch me whip!” she began. “Watch me nae nae!”

The guard shot a glance her way curiously, eyeing her as if she was some sort of weirdo. Valeriana ignored him and went on with the task of entertaining herself.

“Every day I'm shuffling!” She did some
shuffling
somewhere along the chorus and threw in some random steps along the way since she didn't exactly know the whole choreography.

The guard looked away, muttering something about
kids these days
and
crazy girls who didn't act properly
. Valeriana disregarded his offending comments and continued.

After she felt worn out from her little dance session, she slowly started to grow bored out of her mind once more. She sat back on her bed and tapped her feet impatiently.

What was a person supposed to do when practically bored rigid?

One answer.

Valeriana chuckled. “Hey, Mr. Guard.” She called.

“What?”

“Knock-knock.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh I forgot. You don't know knock-knock jokes. When I say knock-knock, you say who's there, 'kay? And for example I said
Mickey
, you say
Mickey who
? alright?”

“Will this keep you quiet?”

“I dunno. Maybe.” She shrugged.

“Alright.” He reluctantly agreed.

“Knock-knock.”

“Who's there?”

“Banana.”

“Banana who?”

“Knock-knock.”

The guard hesitated. “Who's there?”

“Banana.”

“Banana who?”

“Knock-knock.”

“Who's there?”

“Banana.”

The guard sighed. “Banana who?”

“Knock-knock.”

“Who's there?”

“Orange.”

The guard perked up. “Orange who?”


Orange
you glad I didn't say banana?”
Orange
sounded very much like
aren’t
.

The poor guard leaned back in his seat with a grunt while Valeriana burst out laughing from her seat. They carried on like that and the guard didn't respond to her anymore—although she continued talking to him, trying to annoy him. She sometimes laughed by herself maniacally although nothing was funny.

She was going crazy.

-*-

When Valeriana finally got tired trying to annoy the guard, she decided to lie back down and stare at the ceiling of her cell.

She started humming the tune of an unknown lullaby she heard from somewhere. The tune somehow made her miss home. She was wondering what kind of reaction her mom was having now that she didn't come back like she was supposed to.

She sighed. How exactly was she going to get herself out of this situation?

She heard a light snore.

Her head snapped towards the guard on duty. He obviously fell asleep on that chair when everything finally quieted down. The poor man was probably tired from guarding her all day and night. He wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

Valeriana relaxed, but then tensed immediately as a thought popped into her head. She glanced at the form of the sleeping man and saw a ring of keys hanging from his belt. He wasn't actually that far. A little effort to reach it and she was sure to get her hands on it.

The girl rolled her eyes. “This isn't a good idea . . .” She whispered.

It was a crazy idea . . . but it didn't feel right for Valeriana to just sit by waiting for the next thing to happen. She wasn't sure about what those weird people would do with her. She wasn't willing to stay to know about their final decision. Whatever it might be, she was certain it wasn't anything pleasant.

She stood from her creaking bed, trying to stay as quiet as possible. When she reached the side of the cell where the guard was closest to, she stuck her arms through the bars and eyed the glinting ring that held the key to her freedom. She stretched her limb to its fullest extent until she was finally able to grasp the ring and snatch it close to her chest.

Realizing that she hadn't breathed for a while, she inhaled heavily and exhaled noisily through her nose. The guard stirred in his sleep, making the girl flinch. She remained still from where she was and eyed his movements, hoping he wouldn't awaken just yet.

When he didn't, Valeriana was able to relax. She went through the collection of keys and found that there were numerous of them in one ring. She sighed problematically, deciding to try and see which one would open the door to her cell.

They clanged noisily every time she moved, so the girl tried to minimize her movements as much as possible. Eventually, the fifth one she tried worked and the door finally opened. A bubble of excitement welled up in Valeriana's chest. She couldn't help but smile at her success and jump elatedly from where she stood.

Wasting no time, she pushed the doors open. She heard a loud creaking noise as it moved on its hinges and felt the guard on duty groan while it did. She went still for a second, staring at him with wide eyes. He woke up within a few moments and caught Valeriana standing outside the place where she was supposedly locked in.

“Hey!”

Heart jumping to her throat, Valeriana turned hot on her heels and bolted to a sprint. She went as fast as her feet could take her, throwing a look over her shoulder to find the guard scrambling to get up and eventually coming after her.

She ran through the long, dim halls and turned to random directions hoping it would take her somewhere that led out of the building. The footsteps behind her grew louder. She heard the occasional demands for her to stop and their little chase apparently caught a lot of attention that a few more guards began to join in.

“Stop! Stop right now!”

“Oh my god!”

She urged herself to run faster, throwing the things she found along the way towards them to slow them down. Her little tactic was old and overused, but it worked like a charm. The guards finally lost sight of her until the current path she took broke into two different directions. She took no time hesitating and dashed to the right, knowing that they would probably split up at that point to continue the chase.

She saw a flight of stairs and dashed for it, taking two steps at a time until she finally reached the top.

Air puffing from her mouth, she saw a door to her left. A woman dressed in a casual dress holding a woven basket entered it while humming. She caught a small peek of where it led to and saw a ray of bright light that hopefully came from the sun and . . . was that a garden?

She dashed towards the door unhesitatingly. The door was closed by the woman right when she was in front of it.

“Waittttt!” She exclaimed.

She collided with her along the way, causing a bunch of fresh fruits to roll on the floor. She caught the frustrated glare of the woman, so she returned it with a sheepish smile instead. She whispered a small but sincere apology towards her before turning to face the door.

“I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!”

“Wait! That portal is—don't!”

She burst through the doors and was mildly shocked when the garden she thought she saw was replaced by . . . something else.

She looked back to the direction she came from and saw that she actually came out of a gate that led inside a small structure—like a storage room. She felt her brows furrow in confusion. She just went through a maze of corridors and she went out of a 
small 
building like that? How was that possible?

A boy strutted by with a girl under his arms. They bore the same style of clothes, but that wasn't what Valeriana noticed—it was the thing he had strapped around his waist.

It looked like a sword.

“Sorry!” She exclaimed, pulling it off along with the scabbard.

“Wha—hey! That's mine!”

She scrammed to leave, hearing the guards chasing her catching up. She rounded a corner and pressed herself against the wall, panting. She held the sheathed sword in front of her.

“Split up!” He heard a yell.

She shut her eyes close and breathed in deeply, hearing footsteps coming her way. “Breathe, breathe . . .” She told herself. As the footsteps got louder, she swung her readied weapon and hit the unfortunate person right on the forehead.

She heard a low grunt of pain as the person she bunked fell right on his behind. Looking past the current position she considered as her safety zone, she saw a guy—who
wasn't
a guard—lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling. He seemed . . . not himself at the moment.

Shrieking, she exclaimed and started helping him up. “Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you! I was—”

She immediately dropped the weapon and tried to lend a hand towards the man while apologizing, only to be brushed off in a rather rude manner that made her cringe.

“I'm really sorry. Are you hurt anywhere?” She asked worriedly.

The guy dusted off his clothes and swept back a few strands of the ridiculously long hair he had. Seeing guys with long hair was a rare sight back home, so the girl couldn't help but gawk at the man before her. Although some males weren't suited to wear a hair of that length, it looked quite fitting for him. It gave him an air of elegance somewhat.

She looked around and saw that they were attracting too much attention. Gazes were directed their way, curious and shocked. Valeriana looked up at him with a panicked expression and she saw him narrowing his eyes at her.

“I'm sorry.” She apologized once more.

“I'm fine. Stop apologizing.” He said, annoyance lacing the tone of his voice as he picked up a book Valeriana never noticed. “I should’ve listened when they told me not to read a book while walking. Should I have been aware, I would’ve been able to react properly.” He muttered to himself.

Valeriana raised a brow at his monologue.

“And why are you indiscriminately swinging your weapon? That is a major offence against the rules!”

“I didn’t exactly have a choice.” She said. The way he said it had been offending, and he looked at her funny.
“It wasn't my fault you weren’t paying attention.”

He looked somewhat taken aback as he continued massaging his forehead. It was starting to look really red . . . and bulging.

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