The Secret

"Fiona! Come here!"

"Catch her now! Quick!"

"Yes, Lady Elle!"

The morning was too loud in the palace that woke up Etana on her sleep.

"Why is so loud today?" as she tries to open her eyes still sleepy.

She stood up from her bed and moved the curtain on both sides to see the light from the outside. The sunlit welcomed her narrowing her eyes. It was blinding.

"Lady Elle! I can't get her!"

"Just get her!"

"I can't! She's up the tree already!"

"Then climb!"

Etana is preparing herself until there is a knock on the door.

"Princess, the breakfast is ready."

"Okay! I'll be right up!"

'I have to act normal today so they won't notice.'

There were no signs of sadness in the palace. Etana went to the garden where her brother was buried. She was holding with her the paper with the map in it.

'Rest well, my brother. I will unveil the truth myself', as she tightened her grip on the paper.

"Call all the landlords of the Kingdom. In three days, we will gather in the palace. Do not to tell anyone about what happened yesterday.

"Yes, Princess."

As they were walking back to the palace, she had seen the palace maids still chasing on Fiona. The cat made a sudden turn running towards her and jumped on her shoulders. Etana then positioned her arms comfortably for Fiona to overlap.

"Meoooow", the cat sounded softly as she was looking at her eyes. It was cold and mourning that somehow made the cat uncomfortable being with her.

Fiona jumped down leaving a scratch on Etana's arms. She looked at the cat unable to notice the scratch it made on her arms.

Fiona, sounded again looking at Etana seemed like her eyes were trying to tell something. She then ran towards the hallway. Etana chased her out of curiosity and followed her wherever she goes.

They were going upward the palace then Fiona stopped right in front of a big door. She sat there licking her paws. At that moment she can feel the innocence of the cat.

Fiona looked at Etana and meowed raising her paws at the doorknob this time. She felt that the cat is telling her to open the door.

Etana wandered her eyes around thinking what is on the other side of the door. Her hands responded to what her mind thought and pushed the door gently.

The door slid a little. The cat quickly passed as soon as she had seen passageway in between her legs.

Etana took a peek with her neck slightly bent. Upon opening, she had felt the sensation of books and rusty hinges of the door. She could tell that this was an old room. She then opened the door just a little for her to get through and closed it gently.

She was standing right beside the door. Just when her eyes looked upon, her blue eyes widened to what she had seen. The room is a space full of books all in every corner she looked at.

Fiona sounded again that caught her attention. Fiona walked to the direction where there was another door smaller than the first one they had entered to so she followed her without thinking. Her hands just reached for the doorknob on its own twisting it to open. Maybe curiosity upon her even rose up.

As soon as she opens the door, she had seen another piled of books arranged in the bookshelves. There is a table with books on it and an open book that was already dusty. She had seen black ink that spilled on it and a quill pen that laps on a paper. She can sense that she had just entered someone's privy. Knowing so, she closed the door to freely investigate without anyone knowing.

She walked nearer to the table. She slid her finger on its surface and felt the dust. It felt like the room has been unused for a long time. She looked at the cat that was already lying comfortably on a cat mattress which made her realize that maybe it was the privy of the late king.

'Maybe, this is where I could find the book.'

She ventured deeply to every corners to see what she could find.

One hour had already passed she had not seen the book that the late king writes onto. The cat that was lying had already fallen to sleep. It was murmuring in her sleep.

Suddenly, a small wind passed through a window that flipped the pages of the book on the table. She then turned her look on the book and moved the quill pen brush that was harden by time.

She flipped the pages to see that it was the diary kept by the late king. The ink had faded, it has been read several times already.

To the king who had been reading this:

I have noted the pattern which could

help you govern the kingdom.

I have written here what I have seen

in the garden which I might forget in an hour so I'm writing this to not forget.

The place was dark and perilous.

My mind gets critical whenever I go back.

Etana immediately closed the book to what she had read. 'The place could be traumatic that leaves no one sane.'

She hid the book inside her dress. They exited the door silently and headed to her room. She was carrying Fiona with her.

"Fiona!"

"There you are. It's time to eat, Fiona."

"Excuses, Princess."

"Just let me have her for now. Hand me her food."

The maid quickly handed the food and bowed down.

"Thank you for this", as she was walking to her room.

Right after entering her room, she immediately closed the door and covered her windows to continue her reading.

She flipped through the pages to know how were the previous kings able to resolve every catastrophe. One thing she knew is that the land of Luvelle is being surrounded by monsters that is why the forest is an unending place to go through. No one had ever got out of the forest or returned alive. Some were still missing.

Etana remembered the woman had told her and waited for the evening to come to pay the woman a visit secretly.

"I've found it", as she threw the book on the woman still sleeping on the ground.

A bang on the floor made the woman wake up from her sleep.

"What are you doing here?" as she rubs her eyes still dizzy from her sleep.

Etana on the other hand have not spoke of anything. Her eyes were cold and mute. She still carries with her the grief for her brother's death. She was just looking on the book alone telling the woman to get it.

The woman had understood what her eyes is telling so she reached for the book and opened it.

"Where'd you get this?"

"It was left open on the table in a library."

"It is the book I've seen he was writing." As she was flipping the pages.

"I have seen that in a room which I think is his privy. I could tell since the room is hidden in the library."

The woman continued flipping the pages. She stopped at the page where she had seen a mark of blood. She immediately read the writings on it.

Today marks the

nearing of monsters woke

they are in different faces

dangerous and evil.

One must not enter the land

or the land shall be in demise.

I have come upon

to exterminate their awakening.

"Have you read everything in here?"

"Yes."

"We have to hurry. A king must be found before the third harvest."

"Can't we just gather people and let it be no king?"

"No."

"What do you mean?"

"Only a true king can protect us from catastrophes. They possess the power that can resolve anything without risking our people's lives. We can't lose more."

Etana somehow looked unconvinced. The woman had noticed the look on her face so she continued.

"Monsters."

"Monsters have been surrounding the land that is why no one were able to return alive. Some were still missing. The forest has been an unending place that only a king could pass through but I was able to see a glimpse of the outside." The woman closed her eyes trying to remember.

"There are thousands of them. The king had released a blinding aura and that's where it ended. I woke up on my bed remembering nothing after all that happened."

The woman looked again on the page to see a mark of blood on the page.

"Have you seen this? Sssss." As she was pointing on the blood.

"This was the day I have seen the king returned the palace with his hands wounded. We must find the true king before the struck of the third harvest. That is six months from now."

"How do I find the king?"

"The kingship runs in the blood for generations already."

"But you don't have a child."

The expression of the woman saddened in a quick. Her face somehow tells a story that broke her very heart. The tragedies she had tried to forget flashed back to her. That was when she could see that the woman still has the humane within her. The woman cried as she looked down pitying herself.

'Is this the same woman who ordered to kill his brother?'

The woman was in grief as she was trying to tell the words that could hurt her even more.

"The king had a mistress. I was not able to bear a child for him. She met someone and had her pregnant. She was able to bear the king's child but the woman escaped the palace with the child."

"Where is the woman now?"

The woman then closed the book and took a deep sigh.

"For 25 years, we tried to locate the woman but she was nowhere to be found. The king had gotten horrible when he had lost his only son. He had gotten unbearable and exploited all of his men to search for his lost son. He even made them search in the forest. No one returned alive. Because of that, the families of those soldiers who have not returned aroused the emotions of the people that made them rebel against the king. That was the day you assassinated the late king."

The woman stood up from the ground then gripped the rails where Etana is standing and whispered.

"Maybe she was outside the land but she could be dead already. Sons with the king's blood within their veins are protected by a god at their young age. He must have made it to a safer place outside the land."

"How will I know if it is the late king's son?"

The woman made steps aback and dug on the ground. She took a small box made of gold.

"Here, take this. Inside that is an item passed to the next kings."

"What am I to do with this?"

"That was supposed to be the late king's gift to his son. He was not able to give it to him. Once you find him, give that to him. I don't know how that works when a king is near it but perhaps you might know when he is near."

Etana made a quick look on the box then hid it immediately inside her pouch. She looked around to check witnesses but only prisoners who were already asleep.

"It is only you who I can rely the safety of the kingdom and upright the mistakes of the late king, my husband."

"I will find the son and get back to you. We're not done yet. You have to pay me back for killing my brother."

The woman just gave her a frantic smile and laughed. 'Everything is in your hands now Etana.'

Etana then left the cave without anyone noticing. It was still dark outside. She can see lightnings from afar seems like another rain is about to fall.