Chương 64: Book 2; Chapter 63; Spilled secrets (2)

"What are you doing?" – Prince Ragnar asked. Anniet thought he was asking what she was doing by disclosing such a secret and was trying to find words to explain herself. But the prince wasn't a patient character who could wait two or three seconds for a reply, so he turned to Rainee and demanded:"Ren, what is she doing here? And why did she call me like this?"

Anniet thought that she was in real trouble now to anger King's son on her very first visit – she couldn't explain what she was doing here, simply she didn't know what to do, and came to her friend's room in hopes to find her, but as the room was empty, she decided to wait and things have escalated from there. But how can she explain herself to this short-tempered prince? She didn't know. She started to tremble from distress and then felt someone's hands gently straighten her from a bowing position.

It was Anthony, no, it was Blake. At the same time, from the other side of the room, Rainee answered the young prince:"Obviously, she is bowing to you in greeting and calling your name in recognition."

"Why is she bowing to me? I thought you said she is your friend. And why does she call me this way? Is it because I am adopted?"

"OMG, Ruffus, don't be so dramatic! You are not adopted, OK, no one is. And Anniet just arrived. She knows nothing about you so far, so she doesn't know how to behave with a madly acting prince. Can't you see that she is frightened of you?" After hearing this, the prince smiled, walked to Anniet, and pressed her in a bear-strong hug, even lifting her from the floor.

After letting her go, he showed her to sit back and said:"I was thrilled to hear that Ren and Blake brought a new friend and wanted to meet you badly, that's why I came. Don't call me neither prince or Ragnar – I am not your officer, call me Ruffus, I like it better."

"Idiot," - said Blake, shaking his head.

"No, call me Ruffus, not an idiot," - the young prince kept talking to Anniet, - "I prefer the name Ren has given me over how Blake is calling me." Then he turned back to Rainee and asked: - "So what about all this adoption thing? How come Angus is adopted but I am not, if we are brothers? And what about you? If you are a father's daughter, then why did he never said so? Didn't he know?"

Colours on Anniet's face were changing from white to red and white again, hearing all this being talked in such a high voice as if the young prince didn't have a single care that someone would hear it. Strangely, others seemed not surprised or affected by it either. Rainee couldn't see her like this any longer and, ignoring Ruffus' questions, walked over to Anniet and sat next to her.

"I am sorry I didn't want to cause all this hassle," - Anniet said.

"You have to stop apologising for things that you don't do. If you do something wrong, then I or someone else will tell you. This place is not where people are shy to point out the wrongs of others. So, at least if no one says that you did wrong, simply take it as confirmation that, in fact, you have done nothing wrong. I understand that you think you should have kept it as a secret what you had heard in a conversation between me and King. But you do realise that I knew that you were there, and King also?

And he knew that you would be able to hear every word he said?" Anniet nodded her head.

"And did the King ask you to keep a secret or not to talk or inquire about what you heard?" Anniet shook her head. She started to understand where Rainee was leading with these questions.

"Then, if King knew that you heard all he said, and he didn't ask or order you to keep quiet, why do you think you must not talk about it? One thing I want you to understand from this moment. The impression you got about King is nothing close to what he really is. He doesn't make mistakes, he doesn't miss things, he doesn't misinterpret, and he doesn't expect from others anything that he didn't ask for. He has chosen to speak about it aloud, which means that there is no need to try to hide it.

Everything that is spoken will spread sooner or later. If one doesn't want it to spread, then there is no reason to say it aloud." It made a lot of sense, and Anniet started to calm down and snapped out of that stress ball that she was becoming.

"King was behaving very strangely," - Blake said while slouching in an armchair, - "He exercised some of his magic to make me walk with him."

"Prince of the darkness finally was schooled," - Rainee laughed, - "you spent here all these years, and I can tell you just the same as I just said the impression you got about King is nothing close to what is real. I keep telling you that, but you simply are not trying to understand it. He has been spoiling you rotten since the day you arrived, and you are taking it as your personal achievement and power.

He didn't exercise any of his powers on you; he just actually stopped suppressing his power so you would have a small flash of what the relationship between you two would naturally be if King didn't put effort every single second, when you are next to him, to suppress his natural powers so that you could have your own ways in front of him. He doesn't have to try to make you do things; all he has to do is want you to do something. I keep telling you that, but somehow you thought that you are immune to it.

I will tell you right now, he is putting effort every moment that you would be able to retain this belief, because as soon as he stops, you would feel the weight of a King's power. You cannot avoid it. It is what the power of the King is, that is the King's relation with his people." Blake sat quietly for a while, but everyone could see that he was unhappy about what he heard.

Then he finally said:"So, if King asked me to do something in the future and I refused, does it mean that when the time comes, I will have to do it anyway, even if I refused?"

"Did he ask, inform, or order?" – Rainee double checked before answering.

"He asked," - Blake replied"Well then, obviously, he left you a choice; otherwise, why would he waste his and your time talking about it?" Blake nodded, seemingly satisfied with a reply, and didn't say anything more. Rainee was curious to know what King asked of him to do, but as he wouldn't say, she chose not to probe. Seeing that his questions have been ignored for the time being, Prince Ruffus flattened himself down on a floor covered by soft carpet, not paying any attention to the empty armchairs around.

As soon as he did, the little tabby gray kitten jumped onto his chest for playtime. Anniet looked around; she felt a little bewildered. She was in a room with the three top people of the entire kingdom, bowing to no one else but the King. So many legends, so many stories were written and told about them –about their bravery, strength, power, wisdom, and loyalty, and here they were just ordinary people lounging around and laughing at each other, behaving suspiciously normal.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Rainbow general" was sitting next to her, with her legs crouched under, hugging a cushion and teasing a famous "Prince of Darkness" who was sitting calmly in an armchair, radiating peace and comfort from within, filling the room with friendly atmosphere, that only he himself was trying to break time after time by saying something cold and sharp…

And famous "Sleeping dragon, Prince Ragnar", supposedly very fierce and short-tempered, was lying on the floor with one hand under his head and another stroking a little kitten on his chest with his eyes closed as if sleeping. She turned to Rainee and asked in a hushed voice.

"Is he called Sleeping Dragon because he sleeps a lot? Is this how he restores his supernatural strength?" Rainee didn't have a chance to answer as Ruffus suddenly happily sat up and turned to Anniet.

"No, no, it is nothing like that, I sleep only when there is nothing else to do. It is not me who got this name, it is my dragon." He jumped to his feet, came close to Anniet, and opened his shirt, exposing his bare chest for her to see. Anniet wasn't expecting such a movement and shrank back on a sofa away from the half-naked prince. A loud, threatening growling sound came from the front doors as if all this ruckus inside would have awakened some beast from hell.

Blake immediately stood up and dragged Ruffus away from Anniet. Ruffus was reluctant to move aside but finally obeyed. While he was tugged away, Anniet recovered from shock and could see what he was trying to show – on his chest was something like a tattoo of a peacefully sleeping dragon. On a closer look, one would be able to see the breathing of this dragon. While she was looking at it, the dragon opened his eyes, looked at her, then yawned, changed position, and went back to sleeping…

"Put your clothes back on, you are scaring people," – Blake ordered before turning around and going back to his chair. Ruffus tucked his shirt back in place, and the growling outside the doors also finally stopped.

"Was that your dragon?" – Anniet was really curious to see it again, but didn't want to cause any more commotion, so she decided not to say anything about it.

"Yes," - Ruffus answered. – "And because he sleeps all the time, people call it a sleeping dragon, and somehow I become known to people by this name too, despite me having nothing to do with it."

"How can you say that you have nothing to do with it when he is your dragon?" – Anniet asked.

"Well, he might be my dragon, but he rarely does what I tell him to do, so I don't know why I should be blamed for his behaviour." Ruffus seated himself back on the floor and lifted that small kitten to his lap before continuing.

"I would rather have a dragon similar to Ren's. I don't know why King gifted me with a sleeping dragon. Everyone else has normal dragons, Ren didn't ask for a dragon, but he, anyway, gifted her with the best dragon ever, and it is only I who ended up with a sleeping dragon. Sometimes I think that King doesn't like me that much…" This time, it was Rainee's time to jump to her feet.

She walked to Ruffus, seated herself behind him, enfolding him in a tight embrace, and rested her head upon his shoulders, staying with him like this. After a short pause, she said gently:"Whenever this thought resurfaces again, you label it with "a lie that should never be trusted" and don't keep it in your life any more."

"I know that what I said shouldn't be true, but look at it from the side – I accepted "King's gift" and all I got is this sleeper. I must admit that when he finally awakes, he is pretty impressive, but it happens so rarely that I learned to live a life without him being in it. And despite being appointed to be a general, I am hardly ever sent anywhere or allowed to do anything. Unless I truly rebel, I am told to stay at Dad's side, and my squad is named King's first squad, King's bodyguards, King's protection.

But you and I know that it is only words. King doesn't need any protection, never needed, and will never need. And even at these few rare occasions when no one else but King himself was able to reach a site on time, neither I nor my squad could keep up with him. When we came, all was already sorted, so it would have been best not to come. When I heard just now that I might be adopted, I thought maybe that is a reason why I am treated like this. But you said I am not and I believe you.

Also, Blake said that Angus is, and that must be true, too. The more I think about all this, the less I understand, and I don't know what to do now - try harder to understand or leave things as they are." He waited for a bit and continued.

"The thing is, I don't want to understand, but I don't think I can leave it all as it is without knowing more either." Rainee waited for a bit longer, but as Ruffus didn't speak any more, she gently ruffled up his hair before answering.

"I am not sure what I would have said to you before my last journey. I know that I would be able to point you to the right direction, but, without the knowledge I have now, it would be difficult for you to believe me fully. But while travelling, I was led to a very special place where many so-called secrets of our world are open to explore for anyone who finds and enters it. So now I would like to share with you all some of that knowledge that has been lost for us.

Because we don't know many things, so much of what is happening, we interpret and understand in a very distorted way."

"Why didn't you say that you are going to travel?" Ruffus asked in a complaining voice.

"Neither you nor Blake. I was so worried when you both had gone. If not Angus, I wouldn't even know if you are still alive. Even he wasn't sure for a long time - we were so worried. Angus promised never to leave me like this, but now he did the same – he left without saying anything. If you didn't want me to go with you, I would understand; I wouldn't follow. I am not like the Shadow." He gave a glimpse to Blake's side. This look opened to Anniet a new meaning to Blake's "Shadow from a sky" nickname.

Everyone in a kingdom knew that he was extremely loyal to Rainbow General and would follow her everywhere, but she never thought that this nickname was related to it. She always thought that it was related to his real shadow from the sky when he was high up. But "The Shadow" from Ruffus' lips indicated a bit of a different meaning. And where did Prince Angus go that it upset his brother so much?

"I am sorry I didn't let you know before I left. Angus, too, didn't have a single chance to do it, even if he would like to. His leave has taken all of us, including Angus himself, by surprise. I cannot say that he is all good now because he is not. It is not about where he is but how he feels. All he has to do is find a time to connect to himself, and the best way to do it is to travel on his own." Rainee said.

"I want to tell you all some things that I have learned while in the Library of the Kings, but let's eat first." Rainee stood up, letting go of Ruffus, picked up the little kitten from his lap, and put it on her shoulder.

"Should we go to the palace kitchen or go to town to get some food?" – She asked.

"Can we go camping?" – Anniet asked eagerly.

"It is not exactly what I meant," Rainee thought, but why not. But where? You cannot camp in a city. Before she could say anything, Blake stood up and said:"I will find a place and prepare food." After saying that, he walked to the window, opened it, and without a second thought leaped out. At the same moment, a black shadow-like dog with red eyes entered through the closed door, crossed the room without making a single sound, and disappeared into the wall below the window.

Anniet ran to the window to see what had happened there. She looked down to the ground that was a few meters below with fear, but Blake wasn't there. She looked a great deal lost – what just happened, why Blake jumped through the window at such a height, and where is he now? Her eyes were wandering in all directions.

"Such a show off… Don't pay him any mind," - Someone told her from behind. It was Ruffus who was standing behind her and also looking through the window.

"If you are looking for him, here he is heading towards the gate towers." He pointed to a big human-shaped bird in the distance, rapidly fading out of sight. Watching him disappear in a dark sky, Anniet felt how her heart was also shrinking, allowing an emptiness to take over its place. Realisation of grim reality has crept over her. Surely the man she met and knew till now was disappearing out of her sight, not just in the darkness of the night but also out of her life.

The warm and friendly cook she met was steadily fading, allowing the legend of the kingdom to take its place.

"Shadow from the sky", "Black devil", "Prince of the Darkness", and many more nicknames given to the cold and arrogant general that bowed to no one and obeyed no one, had no friends because he despised friendship, refused to obey even a king, and was loyal only to the other legend of the kingdom - Rainbow General. Speaking of her, she too came to the window to join them in watching Blake disappear in the dark. She could feel Anniet suddenly becoming sad and lonely, as if not belonging to this place.

"Stories usually are not true, you know," Rainee said quietly, putting her hand on Anniet's shoulder.

"He is a person that he is, no matter what anyone thinks or says about him. Bear it in mind, or the real person will disappear from your eyes, and you will see only what others think or say about him." The moment Rainee put her hand on her shoulders, it was as if someone had pulled a veil from Anniet's eyes. Her vision completely changed, and the darkness of the night was somehow lifted; not that it would become light, but darkness didn't hide anything any more. Anniet could see Blake in the far distance again.

Maybe small in shape, but every detail of him was crisp and clear as if he were standing next to her. The only difference was that instead of arms, there were two large black wings spread widely in the air. Feathers seemed to grow through the clothes, blending into one with his black jacket and trousers, the same colour hair was fluttering in the wind while he was soaring through the sky at great speed. As if knowing that he had been watched, Blake looked back over his shoulder before somersaulting.

A black dog-shaped shadow with red glowing eyes was following him on the ground. All three watched until these two shadows, one in the sky and one on the ground, finally disappeared behind the hill. Then they left the room too, but through the door like any other regular person would.