The Divine Order

Drops of raindrop fell as the night is getting darker. The rain is heavy leaving sounds of crickets unheard. Etana and the soldiers are going their way to the underground cave that leads to the gravest criminal convicts of the Kingdom of Luvelle.

The cave is getting darker as they get deeper. Only the light from their lamps provided them the light they needed to see through the cave.

After minutes of walking, they can already smell the acrid tension in the air and somehow the smell of blood and rusty metal. It seemed like they were nearing. They walked more steps and they finally made it to the prison cells.

Upon entering, they see hands waving out of the steel bars asking for food. From afar, the prisoners can already sense people entering their crib. After all, the cave is a silent place, just a drop of water can wake someone from his sleep.

The prisoners were looking malnourished and frail. Some were just seated and lying down on the cold ground waiting for their death. Etana looked at every cell she passes through. Her cloak somehow covered her face so it is not obvious where she is looking at.

The lead guard then took a halt to an isolated cell. Inside the cell is a woman sitting in the dark corner staring at the ground. She was murmuring unknown words which they cannot tell the language.

Etana locked her eyes on the woman with a cold face. She was observing her at a distance. Suddenly, the woman stopped murmuring and raised her head slightly. She finally seemed to notice the people around her and stood up walking slowly towards them. Etana still glares at her not even fazed a bit.

The woman then grabbed the bar that divides them and gave them a frightening smile. She is turning her eyes from left to right while twitching her neck.

"Do you want something from me? Sssss." She said hissing after her sentence.

"Are you involved in killing my brother?"

The woman then laughed facing her cleverly, "How would you know, young lady? They locked me here, how could I get out? Ssssss.".

Etana then gets the knife that killed her brother from her pouch and showed it to the woman.

"Then what's this? It has the late king's insignia carved in it", she insisted.

The woman quite took a stare at the knife studying its features. She grinned and turned her back from Etana facing the wall.

"That stupid! I told him not to leave evidences!" She said talking to herself then banged her feet heavily on the ground.

Etana was at the back listening. She could clearly hear the woman dissing herself that provoked her even more. 'This woman is crazy.'

"Perhaps you do not know about the Divine Order, young lady", her back was still facing Etana.

"I have ordered someone to kill your brother to make you come to me."

"You!" The word Etana could only utter at the moment gritting her teeth in anger.

Etana suddenly entered her right hand and turned the woman over facing her. Her mind went blank as her hatred succumbed her very veins. She grabbed her neck in an instant pulse of anger.

The woman coughed and held Etana's hand trying to untighten her grip.

She talked in a raspy voice, "I'm helping you already", as she was trying to speak with the only air she could manage to breathe. Her throat was somehow blocked that made her cough again.

Her face was looking pale. The blood cannot flow freely within her unable to breathe for some air and blurted out.

"That makes us even! You killed the late king, my husband! Have you forgotten?"

Etana gripped her hand even tighter for the last time and released the woman throwing her by force. Her eyes then came back to its senses. She was silenced on her feet. 'Right. I have killed her husband.'

A resolve somehow traced on her face but that does not relieved her anger.

The woman was on the ground still coughing. She took deep breaths rubbing her neck slowly to keep the blood circulating. She had gotten weak and unable to stand. She can barely breathe for air but somehow managed to talk yet wheezing.

"Have you not noticed anything in the books? You thought it was just nothing, but yes, there is. Ssssssss. Wanna know why?"

Etana gave her a silent response then the woman continued.

"The gods are real... but only a true king knows about them. Of course I have known about this from the late king. Only a true king can save the people from a catastrophe that is why until now... we are still alive! Boom!" The woman cackled and continued.

"Let me tell you this, the next catastrophe will come on the third harvest. That is six months from now."

"How did you know when will be the next catastrophe?" Etana asked with doubt on her face.

"The late king has been serving the people for several years. It has been a pattern."

Etana's both eyebrows twitched still with confusion on her face. The woman had noticed that she was not able to make her believe so she wanted to explain a little more.

In a moment, the woman had felt the urge to stand up. She had finally regained herself. The woman turned silent thinking about something. Then her eyes sparkled seemed like she had remembered something.

"Aha! I--", she said in utterance walking back and forth remembering about something again.

"I-- I sometimes see him writing on something in his room, probably that was it!"

"What is he writing then?"

"That's the thing! I see him writing on a book but I never bother about it. But, everytime a catastrophe comes, I noticed that was when he only writes. Then after that, he cannot be spotted during the crisis. Only then he comes back after the catastrophe has ended. That was when I realized that there is something going on about."

Somehow, the woman managed convincing Etana.

"Where was the book now?"

The woman then moved her head closer and whispered so no one would hear them but Etana. She gave her a piece of paper.

"I followed the late king secretly. I do not know where the book is. Maybe he hid it in the palace. But there was a place where he goes and then vanishes. I tried following him for several times but I always lost myself inside a place I do not know and then wakes up on my bed unable to recall everything after that night. Shhhhh", ending her sentence with a frightening smile.

"Something is lurking in the darkness. You cannot go there during the night or you will end up like me. A crazy woman."

In an instance, the woman abruptly distanced herself and started murmuring again in the corner.

Etana secretly hid the piece of paper inside her pouch without the guards noticing. Her back was facing the guards so they would not know. She then made a quick look on the woman and turned her back leaving the cave still in dismay. She cannot just let her emotions out.

After coming out of the cave, they had realized that the rain had stopped pouring. The light from the moon reflected the surroundings. The grasses are even greener with droplets of water from the rain sliding down the surface. Crickets are already heard in an already peaceful night in the Kingdom of Luvelle. Etana together with the guards left the cave and went back to the palace.

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Etana was walking in the hallway going to her room. As soon as she has gotten in front of her door, she turned her eyes sharply from left to right. She did not move her head to not make it obvious.

When she had seen that everything is fine, she opened the door and went inside. Upon coming in, she locked the door just to make sure.

She then rummaged her bag and opened the piece of paper the woman gave her.

Upon opening it she can tell that it is a map. The map had gotten old and the ink on it had somehow faded. She looked closely and studied the figures she could see. It somehow resembled a garden leading to a forest but quite misleading since there are too many gardens within the palace walls surrounded by a big forest.

She looked outside her window to see if it was the garden in the map but it has not shown something that would resemble the garden on the map. She was dismayed.

Since it was still dark outside, she cannot go yet. Upon turning back to her room, she stared on the wall thinking what step to do next and remembered about the book the woman talked about. She then gets a lamp and anything she needed for a long searching.

She waited for the midnight to come then sneaked to the late king's room that was left unlocked since. The palace maids somehow left the door like that for unknown reason. Even so, she continued her mission.

It was darker inside, the windows and all of the furniture were covered with white cloth. She peeked outside and carefully closed the door lightly. She then lit up the lamp and raised it higher to see a wider scope of the room. She rummaged through anything but she could not find the book.

Somehow she had thought of no hope and looked at the details of the room she must had skipped. She had noticed something odd behind a small cabinet. It was a little bit angled from the wall seemed like it was moved. She then checked behind it and pushed. To her surprise, the wall moved backwards. She pushed it even harder until a cold wind touched her. She took a peek before she could even open the door fully. 'It was an exit.' The late king could have been using the passageway to get out of the palace secretly.

She suddenly remembered what the woman had told her and quickly closed the wall back to its place and moved the cabinet to cover it.

She finally found the secret in the late king's room but she still has to find the book. Suddenly, she heard footsteps and voices whispering outside.

"I have heard a sound in the late king's room."

"You're hearing things again."

"No, really."

"I'll spank you out if there is nothing, you scaredy cat."

Etana quickly blew her lamp off and hid herself into the nearest furniture she could hide into and covered herself together with its cloth.

The room is dark but she can still see shadows through the cloth. She is observing the two guards checking the room.

"Awoooo."

"You idiot! You tricked me!"

"Shhh. They can hear us."

Suddenly, a cat jumped onto them that made one of them shout in shock.

"Ahhhh!"

It was the palace cat, Fiona that startled them. The guard then coughed repetitively to cover himself from embarasment.

"It was a cat."

"I heard you shouted."

"That wasn't mine. It was the cat that shouted.

"You scared of a cat? That was just Fiona."

"You shut up I saw you startled as well."

"Let's get out of here."

Then they went out of the room leaving it unlocked.

Etana on the other hand took a deep breath as she waited for the two to go further.

"Phew."

She came out of the cloth not knowing the cat was beside her causing it to startle.

"Meeeeeooooow!"

"Shhhhh. Shhhh. They can hear you."

'Ugh. Cats don't like me.' She told to herself.

She immediately went out of the room walking lightly on her feet then headed immediately to her room and looked around before closing it.

She flopped herself on the bed facing the wall. She stared at it thinking where could she find the book until her eyes were slowly closing on its own, it has gotten tired after the long search so she gave herself a rest. 'Maybe I'll think about it tomorrow.'

The night was getting even colder as the night goes through. The guards were still on guard shifting alternately. The day of the king's death had passed for tomorrow.