Chapter 46

Leba Vigon stood at the giant oak doors to the throne room. He was dressed in a simple grey tunic that was metaphoric in its color and texture. He stood with his head bowed, exuding the humble bearing of a palace servant with his hands clasped before him, and his hair that was usually a blond mop was combed and pressed close to his scalp.

"How do I look?" Leba asked one of the guards standing at the throne room doors, the guard turned a nervous eye at Leba. "Do I look like a son who tries his best not to be noticed but fails at doing so for his acts bring about genuine love and admiration from Binoria as a whole except from the one man whose opinion of him actually matters?" The guard turned his eyes away from him. "Open the doors." Leba commanded.

"His majesty is at a meeting with the Chief of the City guards." The Guard answered.

"He summoned me and I am here, I have no time to waste so open the doors or I shall be forced to turn and leave and when summoned again and asked why I failed to answer the King's call I shall say that you had barred my entrance." Leba said in a soft voice as if addressing a toddler. The guards stood still for a moment then with a nod from one of them they both turned and pushed the oak doors that groaned on their hinges as their wooden weight parted to reveal the white walls and red carpeting of the throne room.

Leba strode into the throne room and as he walked upon the soft red carpet he set up the same mental fortifications he'd trained himself to build over the years. He brought up the image of his father playing with Desan, both of them wielding wooden swords and laughing as they mock dueled while he stood at the corner watching them with a wooden sword in hand same as Desan but without the attention of a father willing to engage him in play.

As he drew nearer, Leba's eyes focused on his father perched on the large red throne at the top of the stairs with his chin propped onto his hand as he paid attention to the round balding man dressed in cheap red leather who spoke animatedly while gesticulating. Leba turned his attention to the smaller golden throne beside the one his father sat on. It was the place his mother sat in the occasional rare moment she was present in the throne room. Dahli sat there too every time she was in the throne room and Desan also sat on it while he had his talks with the King. Leba had never sat on the golden throne, he'd never been offered the opportunity to do so.

Leba let the feelings brought about by his thoughts surge through him, he pictured them as blocks of stone falling one onto the other and his father as a shining red light. The Jojoh Meena gave Vayin Vigon the ability to peep through one's mind, to see a limited scope of one's views and intentions but with the stones between Leba and his father the Prince was certain all his father's red light will shine upon was the bare darkness of the stones. All the Jojoh Meena would pick up was what he harbored everyday since he learnt of what he was before his father's eyes.

"Three hundred and seventy seven children lost within the previous month, disappearing into the blue and all of them toddlers from the outer ring." Leba picked up the words of the Chief of the city guard. "I thought it fit to add their number to the two hundred and twenty seven who disappeared the month before and the sixty seven from the month before that! Something is afoot within the city your majesty and the outer ring is crying for justice, it might escalate to mutiny if left unchecked."

King Vayin's grey eyes were a steady gaze upon the Chief of the City guard, wavering from side to side as if he were reading a scroll. "I would love a mutiny." The King's voice rang through the throne room, as soft as Leba's but with unmistakable menace. "The people of Binoria have grown plump with the excess of plunder, they forget just who is responsible for their current feelings of grandeur."

"Uhhhm..your majesty?" The City guard could not hide the tremor in his voice.

"If they mutiny they shall be reminded of why the Talisi fall to their knees before me, of why the Remu women sing praises of my might and of why the once magnificent land of Kolotia has been reduced to a farm for my Galiu meal, to fields of barley and grape vines for the West Highlord." King Vayin's words made the City guard shudder. Leba, however, felt like laughing for some reason. It all just sounded like one giant joke to him but his calm nonchalant mask showed little of what he felt inside.

"Your majesty." The Chief city's guard said while bowing twice at the waist.

"Tell the Binorians of the outer ring that the King has heard their grievances and that I shall do all that is within my power to find those responsible for their children's disappearance." The King said, the Chief city guard bowed once more. "Start directing more of the City guard to the outer ring, double their patrol time and put up a curfew limited to the outer ring." The King concluded and waved the Chief city guard away.

The City guard bowed low enough that Leba thought the man would topple over, then he turned and departed the throne room with a slight bow in Leba's direction. "Why do you dress like that?" King Vayin said, his eyes tracking Leba as the Prince moved to stand beside the lowest step leading to the throne. Leba fought to hide his smile. I dressed like this to irk you, father. The King moved his gold studded hands to straighten the purple robe he was dressed in as if to point out the proper attire befitting royalty. "You're a Prince, Leba. A symbol of Binoria, yet here you are looking like someone who cleans chamber pots."

"Not going to lie." Leba replied in the same casual tone as his father. "Cleaning chamber pots is a tough business but the trick is to scrub with vinegar, gets the dried up shit stains right off."

"Ignorant, petulant child. How you came from my loins is a mystery to me. One has to wonder if you're truly mine." King Vayin said while leaning back in his throne. For a brief moment the walls built by Leba to hide the depths of his mind faltered and a crack was formed across them. The light of the Jojoh Meena permeated the opening and King Vayin abruptly sat up in his chair with his eyes wide and fixed on Leba.

Leba quickly played over the King's last words and solidified his walls from the emotions gotten from the words. He threw his head back and laughed. It was a laugh that lacked the necessary guile to pass it as so but Leba's effort to pass it off as genuine so as to hide his panic was sufficient enough to do so. "I too often wonder if I am your son but my long nose certainly clears any doubt." Leba said following his laugh. "Did you call me here to taunt me or have you missed me?"

Deep down he hoped his father hadn't seen anything in his mind that would carry with it any coherence. For if King Vayin knew of his plans or even a fraction of them, if Vayin knew of what he has been doing and what he has done. Leba would surely die. King Vayin's eyes flickered a ruddy hue for a moment before returning to their usual grey. King Vayin relaxed back into his throne. "Desan has been injured upon the Ganidan plain, to what extent I do not know, but his injuries might be severe." The King said.

Leba's eyes widened. The Jojoh Meena could not be passed onto someone who wasn't whole, someone with severe injuries or someone crippled. History was proof of this. What his father was saying meant only one thing and Leba found himself cursing the Gods and hoping that his brother's injuries weren't as severe as surmised. "You will start training in Forms of combat immediately and will become military adept enough for you to join me when I ride to Talisi to seek vengeance." Vayin's voice carried with it putrid hatred, Vayin flicked his hand at Leba, dismissing him.

Leba nodded and bowed at the waist. He turned to leave with his hands balled into fists in an effort to suppress the anger that was welling within him. Desan you fool! I am so close, you will not take this away from me. Leba thought. "And Leba..." Added King Vayin, bringing Leba's movement to a halt.

"Yes father?" He turned and answered with a forced smile on his face.

"Why do you frequent the dungeons?" King Vayin asked.

"I visit the Remu woman, begging her to intercede for me before Meena once she concludes the Nula Anyl. Same as Dahli does." Leba lied. King Vayin's eyes studied Leba and the Prince struggled not to tremble beneath his father's gaze. King Vayin nodded and Leba briskly departed the throne room. The old Kolotian must be moved. Leba thought as he heard the giant oak doors shut behind him.

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