"Are you about to put me to test, Your Royal Highness?"
"How can you tell?"
"You just said you want to see what other things I'm good at," I reminded him, "Besides stealing your sister."
We were sitting side by side in the back of a Volgan,with two Royal Bodyguards sitting in the front. Black Volgans are one of the most common types of cars in Bahamut because of how they can cope with Bahamut's extreme weather. This is one of the many reasons Lazars used these cars. However, unlike the ones common people drive, the ones owned by Lazars were specially customarized to withstand missle attacks. They also have inbuilt GPS navigation system connected with a Private Satelite which is solely owned by the Lazars. However, from outside, it looks like an ordinary Volgan, which couldn't be suspected to be the ride of any important person, given the fact how common and plain looking these cars are.
"So?" I pressed the Crown Prince, "How can I prove to be useful?"
"You KNOW how," he said angrily. I gulped.
"You'll atleast put good words about me before the Gupta Princess," He said, "Think about it, little thief, if I marry the sole heir of Gupta Empire, it'll put a permanent end to the enmity between Surya and Bahamut. If Hira was going to marry a Suryan, why didn't she go for a Royalty? Greatest love story? I call it the greatest disappointment of Bahamut history."
The Crown Prince kept muttering to himself while I mutely watched. Infront of Hira, he isn't hostile towards me this openly.
"I will do my best to sing your praises before the Gupta Princess but," I said softly, "I advice you to quit trying to court Her Royal Highness Ritaishi."
"You? Advice me?" Marcus Lazar laughed, "Let's see what's your degree in Foreign Diplomatic Policies or Political Affairs?"
"Her Royal Highness Ritaishi is sort of a friend of mine," I tried reasoning with him, "I wouldn't be saying you these words had your wish to marry her wasn't this impossible."
"That is why I am even letting you live!" Marcus snapped, "You useless good-for-nothing, you will arrange private meetings for me with the Gupta Princess!"
I sighed. Even since I had come to Bahamut, Marcus had seen me as a way to connect to the Gupta Princess.
We finally reached the airport. "If you help me to move the Gupta Princess' heart, I'll be willing to consider you family," Marcus said and stepped out of the car. He closed the door so hard behind him that the whole car shuddered. I sat there in the car for few more minutes, trying to suppress my frustration and anger. It had never really mattered whether Marcus or any other Lazar ever accepted me as family or not. All I wanted was Hira by my side.
Then I stepped out of the car. Suprisingly enough there was not a single reporter floking our Volgan. Two men in suits came and bowed to me deeply, "His Royal Highness had gone ahead to greet the Gupta Princess. Please follow us." I did as they said. As I entered the airport I noticed the lack of other passengers in the Prima National Airport. The whole place was flooded with Bahan Army and Navy to the point it looked less like an airport and more like a military base. However it didn't stop the tide of reporters. From afar I could see a whole crowd of them blocking most of the gates. They seemed scarier than the military. Most of them must have seen the Crown Prince first and had decided to follow him. As I entered the airport one of the men leading me handed me a mask. I quickly put it on. Soon two soldiers came to jogging to me, "Greetings," one of them said, "I am Colonel Fudge, this is my right hand Connor. We have received direct orders from His Royal Highness the Emperor to ensure your safety throughout the day. You may order us around as you like, Sir."
I looked away from them and at the crowd of reporters in the distant. "Has Her Royal Highness' Ritaishi Gupta arrived?"
"She has. His Royal Highness Marcus is currently with him. It seems they had been circled by those vulture like creatures,'' Fudge thumbed at the crowd of reporters, "They are currently answering quaries to the media. Do you want me to announce your name and make way for you to them?"
"I'll wait in the car. I don't do well with crowds," I said, walking back to the way I had come. The two soldiers looked at eachother with arched eyebrows. The men in suits asked me, " Do we bring your car, sir?"
"Please do."
It was not actually a good thing for me to not show my face before the media right by Marcus Lazar and Ritaishi Gupta. Media was bound to overestimate this incident and make baseless reasons behind my actions. In the next Family Meeting, the Emperor, Hira's father would definately inquire me about this. But I did not find myself to care about anything anymore. I tried to tell myself this was because of how I was to negotiate with the Gupta Princess about the terms of peace treaty and find a solution of the restless atmosphere that had been created between Gupta and Surya or how Marcus kept pestering me about how I should set him up with Ritaishi Gupta. But at the end of the day, I knew it was because of Hira's absence.
When they brought the car, I swung open the door myself instead of waiting for any of the guards to do it on my behalf. It wasn't until I was fully seated inside the car I realized I wasn't the only one sitting in the backseat of the Volgan.
"Hello, Bale," said the Suryan Princess, "Long time no see." I blinked and blinked again. Ritaishi Gupta sighed and said to the driver, "Just drive to the castle, my good man, your master's brain is suffering from short- circuit ."
"How are you-" I tried forming words, "I thought you were giving speeches with the Crown Prince -"
"Oh her? She's my shadow, Saya," said the Gupta Princess with a matter of fact face, ''She does all the public appearance stuffs when I don't feel like doing it."
"You have a CLONE?" I gasped, "How cool is that!" the Gupta Princess had never ceased to surprise me.
"This ain't any sci-fi movie you numb-nut. Saya is part of a special tribe called Mirage. They can change appearance and face and become anyone. They had been serving under the Gupta Family for a while," Ritaishi Gupta fished out a lip bum from her small purse and applied it on her lips, "I can't stand your nasty brother-in-law. He's creepy."
"He asked me to set up a private meet for him with you," I informed her.
"No way I'm going on a date with that Creep," Ritaishi visibly shivered. I smiled at her sadly. "What about your parents? They're okay with you rejecting the would-be-Emperor of the most powerful Nation?"
"I'll run away from home if they even dream about marrying me off to that Creep," she shrugged, like it was no big deal.
"You do remember last time you ran away, things didn't go well.."
"What do you mean? I met you. And Hira. And Clara-" she sighed and repeated Clara's name again, "- Clara" She was SO OBVIOUS!
"Speaking about friends, what about Hariette? Have you spoken with him recently?" Ritaishi asked, all excited. I remembered Ritaishi Gupta and Hairette, Hairette is the bastard son of Hagarenes's previous Sultan, the adored brother of the current Sultan Seikh Aziz.
"I talk with him now and then via messengers," I informed her, "Also, Hira visited Hagarenes last month because Hariette's older brother got married."
"And you didn't go?"
"The Emperor wanted me to investigate the domestic terrorist activities," I said. "What the-" Ritaishi looked mildly shocked and I nodded. "The Emperor couldn't find any lamer excuse to hold you back?" she hissed under her breath. She couldn't really speak bad about the Bahan Emperor right when we were in a car owned by the Lazar Royals, in the Capitol Prima of the nation reigned by them.
"What about Hira? She was okay with that?" She whispered to me.
"I don't know," I scratched the back of my neck, "She went straight to North after coming back from Hagarenes."
"This calls for a drink," Ritaishi decided, "Mr. Whatever-your name -is Driver, find us the nearest pub, big or small, lavish or cheap, doesn't matter."
"I apologize Your Royal Highness," said the Driver, "Our protocol strictly says to directly take you to the Lazar Castle."
Odd. Ritaishi's eyes flickered at me for few seconds. "Under whose order was this protocol issued?" I asked. "His Royal Highness the Emperor himself, Sir," said the Driver.
Very odd. First of all, usually Crown Prince Marcus was in charge of all matters related to dealing with foreign delegates and Governments.
Second of all, It was hard to believe, Marcus, who was so egar to impress the Gupta Princess would let anyone else other than himself, to arrange every bit of these programme concerning Negotiation.
Third of all, the Emperor was sick. And nobody besides the family members were aware of it.
I noticed Ritaishi looking at me with wide eyes. "Seatbelt," I mouthed and she nodded. As she unfastened her seatbelt, the Driver took notice of our changed attitude.
"Mr. Bale, do you see those black cars following us?"
I looked back. Through the rear windshield I could see atleast ten Volgans which looked similar as this one following our car. But this wasn't anything new. Ever since I've come to Bahamut, whenever outside ten Volgans, carrying a total of fourty special agents would always follow me around. It was one of those things I had got habituated with over the years.
"They aren't your bodyguards, Mr. Bale," the Driver chuckled, "They're the worriors of Freedom. We're the worriors of Freedom."
"You mean terrorists," I stated.
The man in the passenger seat suddenly whipped his head at us and pointed a gun at me, "Your jokes aren't even funny, Mr. Bale. I don't see why everyone likes you." Unlike the driver he wasn't wearing any mask. He had unruly beard and curly white hair. He also had a wide scar on his face which started from his right eyebrow and ended at left corner of his lips. He was definately a Bahan.
"You wanna find out why my bud here is so popular?" Ritaishi chipped in, "I mean with that nasty face, I bet you aren't getting any chicks."
I looked at her, at first angry, that she had opened her mouth after I purposefully taunted them by calling them Terrorists to draw their attention away from her to me. Then a sense of awe flooded my heart. Ritaishi Gupta was pointing a small hand gun at the man with the gun.
"Fuck you!" said the man.
"How did you get that thing past our Airport Security?" I asked her, Bizzared. Ritaishi didn't look at me, but a small smile lit up her face. She was so damn proud of herself.
"How about this?" the Driver said, "You drop your gun, and my guy drops his."
"Oh yeah? And you guys will just drop us off at Lazars' door and apologize after that?" Ritaishi sneered.
"We never wanted to abduct you, Princess," the driver said, "Our target was Mr. Bale. You yourself walked into our trap. Maybe you should stop skipping your public appearances."
"How about this? You drop her off on the Highway with her purse and everything," I promptly said, "And I'll follow your instructions."
"What? No!" Ritaishi snapped, "What were you planning to do with Bale?"
"Kill him," said the Driver simply, "Just kill this traitor."
Ritaishi glared at me. "Don't look at me," I said, "The only person I've ever betrayed is His Royal Highness Marcus by not setting him up with you!" Ritaishi rolled her eyes.
"Do we have a deal?" asked the Driver, "We don't have any intention of touching the Suryan Princess. She'll complicate the matters for us."
I snatched away Ritaishi's gun. "Hey!" Ritaishi protested but I've already thrown it to the front. The scarred faced man hungrily grabbed the gun and hid it in his vest. Now that they had made their intention clear that their target wasn't the Gupta Princess, I as well didn't want to draw her into this mess.
"In the next intersection, I'll be slowing down the car," said the Driver, "Paolo, push the girl out of the car."
"If I go now," Ritaishi breathed in and out slowly, "Hira will murder me."
"Hey, hey," I patted her arm, "It's okay." She arched her eyebrows.
"They won't be able to do anything to me," I said, "I'll be safe and sound. So leave first."
Ritaishi looked distressed and confused, "What?" The car started slowing down. The scarred faced man, Paolo pressed the gun's nuzzle right above my ear. The driver unlocked the door, "Leave, Princess."
As soon as she stepped out of the car, I grabbed Paolo and he shot the gun. My left shoulder felt numb. I could feel the blood flowing out but there was no pain. I balled my fist and landed a punch on his nose with my right arm, he flew back and the Driver cursed colour fully, "Shoot him in the head or heart, you dumb fuck!"
Suddenly car shuddered and the driver lost his grip on the steering wheel. Somehow the Volgan's tires were punctured. The car skidded to a stop after crashing into a light post. Cracks spread across both the windshields and side windows. I noticed Paolo's head was painted red, with trembling hands he searched for the gun everywhere.
I kicked open the door by the backseat and stepped outside.
Bang.
I looked back to see Paolo standing under the half broken light post with the gun in his hand. I stepped towards him. He shot the gun again. And again. And again. Until I grabbed him by his collar and threw him on the sidewalk.
"Monster!" He cried.
I squinted through the blood and sweat. My vision was getting a bit blurry.
"Didn't you hear your boss? He said you to shoot me in the head or heart,'' I said to him, as he watched me with wide eyes, "You've never killed anyone, have you?"
"But I have!"
I looked back to see Driver had also stepped out of the car. He was panting heavily. His white uniform was alarmingly red. He held up the gun they took from Ritaishi.
"Goodbye, Mr. Bale," He said and I squeezed my eyes shut.
Bang. Bang.
"Goodbye to you as well," it was Ritaishi Gupta. She stood over the fake Driver's body with another gun in her hand.
I gaped at her. "What? Just because I could sneak in one gun past the Prima Airport Security doesn't mean I can't sneak in two," she shrugged. "Fair enough," I checked the car's inflated tires, "Those were some neat shots, you made the car crash at the perfect time," Ritaishi beamed with pride, " I know right?"
"What about them?" I asked her while gesturing at the ten other Volgans which had stopped before the crashed car. People were running everywhere. Sirens were wailing. It would probably take a minute or two for the Police to show up.
"Your Royal Highness," I stood before Ritaishi trying to cover her as much as I could with my body, "Plese stay behind me."
"You're their target! Not me!"
"You're Surya's future!"
As we bickered the ten Volgans watched us mutely. Nobody stepped out of the car. We couldn't see anyone inside the car either, since the glasses were all painted black. And suddenly they started leaving.
I looked around and spotted a man hiding behind his motorcycle. "Hey! Hey there!" The man looked up, his face pale with fear, he was wearing a black jacket and had a dragon tattooed on his neck.
"I am Sayak Bale," I extended my hand and the man yelped. My hands were bloody red, "Sorry about that, I, uh, work for the palace, kinda... you must have seen my face here and there?" I tried to smile but it seemed to creep out the man more.
"Move," Ritaishi shoved me aside, "Lend me your bike, boy. I'll send you ten cars in return." With trembling hands he handed us the key. I wanted to drive but Ritaishi barked, "No way in hell I'm trusting you to drive!"
She climbed onto the bike first, "Hop behind me," she ordered. "Do I look bad?" I mumbled.
"You look like you'll pass out." she hushed.
I didn't protest. I
did feel kind of dizzy. Feeling of heavy sleepiness hit me like a truck.
Just a minute. I told myself, I'll close my eyes just for a minute.
It was a lie.