A maid rushed into the room, panting as she spoke in Yar, "TAU A'AKZ ZAZIDL AKRYZIUP!" (THE SHIP HAS ARRIVED!) She stopped to take a breath, her eyes filled with dread. "Mi Keun, taoi akryu auryu."(My Queen, they are here).
Princess Ki'tory rose to her feet immediately, her hands shaky as her stomach dropped and her heart raced.
They were here? Already?
"Lu'akvu, Zevi," her mother said. (Leave, Zevi).
Ki'tory could hear Zevi's retreating steps as she took one last look at the dressing mirror; curly golden hair braided intricately atop her head and adorned with her cowrie crown, beautifying cosmetics applied evenly to her dark skin, and those little clouds Muktury blessed her with, her lips were shaded glossy black, and below it was a chin tattoo. She was dressed in the sleekest wrap top and the finest handwoven cotton and silk thread anyone in Yarma would ever own. Bangles, armlets and anklets, necklaces and earrings, all made of the rarest pearls and gold.
How deceptive.
The only true things were her blue eyes, which conveyed her grief.
"Their feet haven't touched shores yet," her mother's quick words snapped her out of her thoughts, as she paced around and fiddled with her hair, which had more grey than black. "We can still send them back." Then she stopped behind Ki'tory, her pleading gaze holding her daughter's vacant ones in the mirror. "Say it, Mi Miini (My Moon). Tell Shitaury (Mother) that you don't want this, aknp Zimil m'akqu zit ji akmakoi. (and I will make it go away)."
Oh, by Muktury, if only she were that delusional.
"I'm ready."
The door pushed open, and the King stepped in. His massive necklace made out of the teeth of all the monsters he had defeated, including those of the Smilodon of Nayak's forest, which left behind the deep four lines of scars across his chest, was unignorable. He had been able to save Yarma from every Monster that threatened it, but this one; for this, his daughter would be a sacrifice.
"They are here." His voice was cold and beaten down by defeat; his eyes couldn't even meet hers.
What type of a father was he? He couldn't even protect his children!
Not Eki, not her.
He was useless.
A useless father, a weak King!
"Forgive me, Mi Zen (My Sun)…"
"I'm ready."
"Stop this madness, Ti-ka!" The Queen snapped at her husband. "One enemy has taken my son, must I give the other my daughter?!" Bitter tears streamed down her face. "A'akvu zi nit jzivun unieja giry Yarma?!" (Have I not given enough for Yarm?!)
Everything went silent around Ki'tory immediately; she froze, her blood running cold in her veins, jarring memories pushing into the barriers of her mind. She dug her nail into her palm, weaponising the pain to distract herself from this consuming heartache, but it wasn't enough.
Nothing would ever be enough.
She could hear her heart-wrenching scream, she could see him being pulled to the shore from Akeng sea, eyeballs gouged out of their sockets, leaving behind horrid abysses, tongue ripped out and nailed to the forehead. Legs broken at the knees, hands broken at the elbows, leaving behind dark, bloodied bones to be seen. Melted iron burned across his chest in a foreign language and left to solidify enough to become a message - 'Three Moons, surrender or be erased like the Basa. Choose Wisely, Emperor of Xoiq.'
Seven days ago, those blood-thirsty dragon-controlling monsters from the other side of the realm turned her brother into a piece of paper - a mere writing cloth! They brutalized his body to send a message.
They killed Eki!
"---and the Rf'Guztak is not our enemy," her father's voice yanked her out of her thoughts as he traded words with her mother. They don't look like themselves in the mirror; her mother looked tired and her eyes sulken, even the lines of her cowrie crown that dangled over her face couldn't hide it, her father looked leaner in comparison to how large his frame used to be, the golden colour of his long braided beard seemed to have become dimmer.
How was that even possible?
Grief had taken its toll on them.
Ki'tory pulled out a napkin and wiped off the blood that dripped from her palm, placing pressure on the cut to stop her from bleeding. She would have cried if she had any tears left.
"Yuk-ta wants her to come alone, she wants revenge. That is why she wants our daughter to marry her CURSED SON! SHE IS TORTURING US! She knows we are stranded and she is tutoring us."
"There is no curse, Suvita, only a rumour!" When he spoke next, his voice was quiet. "Jibbuz Mie (My goddess), there is no torture, there is nothing."
"There is truth in every rumour," her mother responded gravely.
Ki'tory balled her fists, allowing the words to sink into her heart. The Crown Prince of Rf'Guztak was believed to be plagued with a curse. What it was exactly, nobody knew, but it had certainly kept him unmarried. No sane Kingdom would willingly marry off its daughter to him. Ki'tory didn't care about that, though; she would do anything to avenge Eki's death.
For what was a curse to her mad fury and insane thirst for revenge?
"We should just leave it all behind. Three moons is enough to find somewhere else to live. We will be unknown and allowed to grieve in peace."
Ki'tory laughed, the sound devoid of humour. She finally turned to her parents. "Nothing can disguise us, we are marked by the Xoiqs now. No Kingdom will receive us either, no one will welcome bad luck. They will offer the same silence they threw at us when we begged them to help us in this war. They will slam their gates against our faces. It doesn't matter that Yarma had never deserted them. Nothing matters!" Her body shook with rage, and she stopped as her head went heavy with unexplainable anger. It was so much, it hurt.
She could feel the blood in her veins turn to lava, her thirst for revenge growing even hungrier, as she wrapped her hand around the pendant of her necklace, one that was once her brother's but now hers.
"They are all scared of the soulless bastards from the other side of the realm. But can we really blame them?" Ki'tory paused to take in a deep breath as she meticulously tucked away the bloodied napkin so her parents wouldn't see it. They didn't need that to be added to the list of their worries. "Rf'Guztak is our only hope. It is only through them that we can do to the Xoiqs what they have done to us. This is not a sacrifice, Shitaury (Mother), this is vengeance. They must bleed too, they must grieve too." She looked out the window, seeing nothing but the blank sunny sky. "Their feet must have long touched shore. I delay them."
Her mother pushed a small bottle into her hand, her blue eyes cold as steel. "Three drops are all you need. Not one more, not one less, just three."
With a shared understanding, she received the bottle and tucked it away in her dress.
This war had started long before it even began.