Chapter 15

“Wait what, you want me to be her bodyguard,” said Ven with an incredulous expression on his face.

“Yes, that is exactly what he wants,” said Audrey as she covered her mouth to stifle a yawn.

“You’re not great at doing what I tell you to do without hesitating and asking questions,” sighed Rendall, “I am glad I thought of starting your training in that aspect so early.”

“Well, I am sorry if I am the only person here who thinks this is all a little sudden and unprecedented,” said Ven.

“It isn’t all that hard to fathom if you think about it logically. We don’t know whom we can trust in the Palace. Now, putting that aside, besides The Honor Guard and Ravendra, no one knows I am ‘The Great Lilliana’. So, if someone from The Honor Guard is assigned to guard little old me, it raises eyebrows and people will start to suspect I am more important than they originally thought. But, if a giftless man is assigned as my bodyguard, even if he is in The Honor Guard, nobody is going to think twice about it,” said Audrey in a matter-of-fact manner.

“Isn’t it better to not assign anyone to you? If things have gone so smoothly until now, isn’t assigning someone to you now asking for trouble?” asked Ven.

“It would have been ideal if things could have stayed that way forever, but there have been some suspicious things happening recently. Take the case you were involved in, no one should have known Sinha was a diplomat, no one! But the information leaked. On its own this incident might look like a coincidence, but too many of these coincidences are occurring for my liking, something is about to happen, I am certain of it,” said Rendall.

“Let’s say your suspicions are right and something is about to happen, how am I supposed to protect her? If a gifted comes at me, a sword isn’t going to be of much help,” said Ven sarcastically.

“I know that, you won’t win if confronted with a gifted, but I don’t need you to win, I need you to stall for time. Tell me, do you know what my gift is?” asked Rendall.

“Of course, everyone knows your gift, you can teleport yourself or others at will,” said Ven.

“Exactly, I just need you to stall long enough so Audrey can contact me, I teleport in and save the day, simple as that,” said Rendall with a smug face.

“All gifts come with drawbacks, you can’t tell me you can teleport to us and still be able to fight,” said Ven.

“You’re so negative, why are you worrying about the limits of my gift? If I say I can make it there and save the day, then I can do it, I have no need to lie about that,” said Rendall.

“And if I can’t stall them?” asked Ven.

“Then Lilliana dies, Ravendra eventually passes away due to old age, and everything we have built over the years comes crashing down,” sighed Rendall.

“That is being a little overly dramatic,” said Ven.

“I am not being overly dramatic; everyone knows I am the one who found Lilliana all those years ago when Ravendra was on his deathbed, it’s a story people talk about to this day. But what they fail to remember is the situation our Kingdom was in all those years ago, why we were so desperate to find any way possible to save Ravendra,” said Rendall, “We were on the verge of a civil war; everyone had their own ideas about who the next king should be. Throughout all that madness, the ones to suffer the most were the people, they were forcefully drafted into private armies, while others had their farms stolen by Lords. They were dark times.”

“I’ve thought about this before, why didn’t someone from The Honor Guard become the next King?” asked Ven, “If His Majesty trusts you so much, I am sure he would have given his blessings.”

“Everyone on The Honor Guard at the time was a commoner. The nobles declared that a commoner who knew nothing about how to run a Kingdom would lead to the collapse of our mighty empire. In the past, they wouldn’t have dared to say such things, but Ravendra was an old and sickly man, he had lost much of his influence on the people. The only positive thing I have to say about those swine is they didn’t try to have Ravendra assassinated, but that may also have been because Ravendra was always under our protection,” said Rendall.

“Ok, but that was then, no one would complain to you taking charge now,” argued Ven.

“And what happens after I die? Who rules?” asked Rendall.

“Your sons,” said Ven.

“Don’t have any,” retorted Rendall.

“Have kids,” said Ven.

“I can’t. Anyone and everyone who has their youth given back to them loses the ability to have kids. It’s the price to pay for having Audrey make you young again,” said Rendall.

“Then you pick a successor, and then your successor is succeeded by his kids or he picks a successor,” said Ven.

“That’s sound logical, but it’s what the world has been doing for centuries, it never lasts. Every great dynasty or empire has had a ruler who ruins everything, it happens eventually. That’s why Nagiri needs Ravendra to be on the throne forever, if he leads us, our golden age continues,” said Rendall.

“You make him sound like some sort of God, he’s just a man, he makes mistakes just like the rest of us. Nagiri isn’t perfect, for example the growing divide between the gifted and the giftless,” said Ven as he regurgitated things he had heard from Samundra and Ravendra over the last few days.

“That is a problem we are working on, just because we haven’t found the solution yet, doesn’t mean we won’t find it eventually,” said Rendall.

“Look kid, we can stand here for hours debating about why this plan is a bad idea or why someone else other than you should be given this job. But here is the reality, unless you have a better idea or you know someone else who can handle the job, shut up and follow orders,” said Audrey with a finality in her voice.

“You can’t blame me for not wanting to take on something that will most likely end in my death,” said Ven.

“It’s your own fault for joining The Honor Guard, did you think the job would come with zero risks? Or were you hoping your status as giftless meant you’ll never be put in any situation where there was a chance you could die?” asked Audrey.

“Does it matter what I thought or hoped for? Looks like I don’t really have a choice in the matter, now do I. So, when do I start as her bodyguard?” asked Ven.

“Not today, that much is certain. You need to get yourself a sword you’re comfortable with, I’ll tell William to introduce you to my personal blacksmith. You should consider getting body armor as well, the uniform looks nice, but it won’t protect you from a bullet. While you’re at it, maybe consider getting familiarized with a firearm, a smaller one, something practical that won’t hinder your movements with a sword,” suggested Rendall, “It’s also useless for you to meet with the rest of the Honor Guard until you have a decent weapon, so hurry up and get it done.”

“Let’s exchange phone numbers while we’re all here, it will make it easier to contact each other in the future,” said Audrey.

Over the next few days Ven interacted very little with Rendall, but rather spent most days talking to William. Ven had thought Frank was a zealously hard-working man, but compared to William, he seemed to be doing the bare minimum. William handled all of Rendall’s affairs, from managing his daily schedule to taking care of his everyday needs, it seemed like the man’s only purpose in life was to serve Rendall. The key reason William was able to handle so much without complaint was a direct effect of how efficient he was, everything he did had a purpose, for example he did not waste any time on mundane tasks or tasks that weren’t urgent, he delegated these trivial busy work tasks to secretaries who worked directly under him. Ven concluded this system that William had created was the result of years of trial and error, and he doubted very much someone else could jump in and take over if William wasn’t around to spearhead everything, which explained why Audrey’s gift had been used to make William young again.

“I have spoken to Master Aaron, he says he would be delighted to have you visit him today,” said William as he took a moment to look up from the file he was scrutinizing.

“Master Aaron?” asked Ven.

“Knight Captain Rendall’s personal blacksmith, ah yes, you have never met him before. I’ll have one of my secretaries take you to his lab, it’s in the Palace, please be sure to send my secretary back once he has shown you where his lab is,” said Peter as he picked up his phone and told one of his secretaries to wait outside Rendall’s office for Ven.

William’s secretary was a middle-aged man who didn’t say much besides gesturing for Ven to follow him. After walking along what seemed like endless corridors, they finally reached the part of the Palace where Aaron had his lab. After pointing towards the lab, the man bowed and left. It was altogether a strange experience thought Ven as he saw the man leaving, but he had other matters to attend to as he walked up to Aaron’s lab, knocked on the door and entered.

I hope this chapter wasn't too confusing, and it makes sense that Audrey is actually Lilliana. In my first draft,  I got alot of feedback regarding the identity of Lilliana, I had done a poor job of explaining what exactly was going on. So, I hope this version is better :)

Do let me know, if it isnt ;)

As always, stay safe out there.

Anderoth