The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Eight

My heart was pounding in my chest from the shock of seeing blood on the floor. Since it does not take a genius to put two and two together, tears started falling from my eyes. "Aunt Milca..." I said in a hushed tone. "Something happened to her!"

Prince Kao immediately went around the house to check for other signs that there were other people in here beside my Aunt. But he couldn't find anything other than traces of powdered snow on the wooden floor, which doesn't make sense since my Aunt is a perfectionist when it comes to the cleanliness of our house. She would make it sure that not a single ice or snow particle would get inside our home. Extra snow means extra cold and my Aunt despises both.

"There are no signs of force here, Rainha."

"But she could still be in trouble. The blood---"

"She could have cut herself," he explained, "and maybe went outside?

"But where would she go if she somehow wounded herself?"

"The Health Pub?"

I thought about that for a couple of seconds. "That's possible. But if that what happened, she would have been accompanied by others as she could not walk that fast anymore. She's not that young anymore, you know."

"I agree. Maybe we should ask some of your neighbors if they know what happened."

That's what we did. We went outside to our neighbors to ask if they have heard or saw anything from our house. Covering his face again, Prince Kao pretended to be a family friend so that my neighbors would not be confused about who he was.

"They all did not notice anything suspicious about your grandmother," the Crown Prince told me. "This could mean that your Aunt was not abducted, as she would have fought back if she was forced..."

I nodded. "Yeah, that's sensible enough. Thank you, Y-Your Highness, I mean Travor. At least now I feel a lot better."

"But what are you going to do now?" he suddenly asked me. "Do you want to go to the Health Pub, just to check if she's there?"

"Yes, I might do that. I don't think I can wait for her at the house without knowing what exactly happened to her."

"Then let me join you."

I gave him a grateful smile. "You don't have to do that, Travor. It is not your obligation to accompany me or help me with my personal troubles."

"But I have nothing else to do here. I don't want to stay at your house while you are gone. Plus, it would be dangerous for you to go there alone."

I have to repress a big smile because I knew that it would make me an i***t. So I just nodded at his suggestion and prepared ourselves to go back to the underground tunnel. The Aurville Health Pub was just two exits after where we climbed up, so it wouldn't be a long walk. I could just imagine my Aunt limping so that she could go there at this hour and my heart breaks for her.

"My Aunt's left leg is already hurting, so if she did walk to get there we might catch up to her if she started walking not too long..."

"Then we should walk faster," he said. I kept on looking at him with twinkling eyes because I could not believe that he had accompanied me to the Health Pub. He just proved to me that he is not only a kindhearted person but also a gentleman.

"You really don't have to do this, you know," I told him as we went down the steps leading to the tunnel. Our breaths turned into white mists as we speak because it was very cold, perhaps colder than usual as it was the time of the year again when the Ruthless Blizzards would be approaching Aurville. "It might also be dangerous for you going to places without guards to protect you."

"I can defend myself quite well so it will not be a big problem," he told me confidently.

I knew that because it's a favorite past time topic of every Court Servant back at the Palace. We all know that he is well-trained with the sword as he takes a weekly lesson from the Head Guard. It is part of the Royal Family's tradition that the future King should master the art of swordsmanship and rumor has it that Prince Kao is exceptional with the sword.

"I never saw you train with the Head Guard but I will believe what you just told me," I joked to make me feel calmer. He laughed at this.

"I heard that the Court Servants does want to see me train. Why is that?" he finished his humorous question with a wink and it gave me a mini-heart attack. "I--- I don't know... I guess it is because nobody other than the Head Guards and his men has ever seen you train and that gives it a mysterious aura. Of course, your people want to see if the rumors are true..."

His laugh became a little louder when I said that because he knew that I knew what he was talking about. But I purposely did not answer what he wanted me to say to him, so it made him more playful. "Is that so? I thought it was something else..."

"Of course not!" I replied and his laugh echoed at the cold tunnel where we were walking as fast as we can. My cheeks were hot from that exchange because I was guilty of what he was trying to imply with his question. Back at the Palace, it is common knowledge that the Royal Guards train shirtless, so if the Crown Prince trains with them then it only means one thing--- he too trains with them without a shirt, and it is every Court Servant's dream to see him without a shirt.

"You became silent," he told me. "We should talk so that we can forget the cold. It's starting to creep into my arms and they are getting numb."

"Yeah, I guess we should do that. But I don't know what to talk about with you."

"You can ask me any questions then," he said and my heart just became swollen from all of these surreal things that keep on happening one after the other. "Maybe you have other questions in mind that I still haven't answered yet."

"Oh yeah, I guess I have," I admitted as I just realized that I was still confused about the legend of the Scarlet Phoenix. "About the Scarlet Phoenix, do you believe that it is real? I mean, are you a believer of the deities?"

"Of course I do," he said kindly to me. "Before we came here, this country used to be the home of two deities," he added. "One is the Scarlet Phoenix, which is the deity of fire and volcanoes, while the other one is an unnamed deity of winter and ice."

"Polar opposites," I said. "Let me guess, they disliked each other?"

"I don't know about that," the Crown Prince admitted. We had now passed by the first stairs that lead to the Fire Academy. The next one was the one where we will climb up, so it did not bore me. Prince Kao was right about the cold. The longer we were here the colder it gets and my feet were starting to feel numb too. "The Scarlet Phoenix used to roam this country, but it is said that something happened in the past causing it to disappear."

"There are lots of versions as to why the Scarlet Phoenix disappeared, that's why it is so confusing. My Aunt even had her own version."

"Really?" he said with amusement. "And what does her version of the legend say?"

"I can't remember it exactly, all I know is that it involved baking bread with fire. According to her story, the bread baked from the open fire was the most delicious bread in all of Aure."

"That is believable."

"It is. Imagine, if there was an actual fire we would have probably cooked our food with fire and not with Coalstones."

"That is a very interesting idea. But just like the deities, fire is nothing now but a myth."

"But I kind of wanted fire to be real though. Of course, our historical records tell us that fire did exist in the past and that I could believe. But the deities? I don't know if I can imagine them being real."

"I think they are real."

"Fine, let us say that they are indeed real. But what are they, really? How do they look like? Are they like us in appearance? Or do they look like monsters?"

"In the book I read, it says that the Scarlet Phoenix is a woman."

"But just like I said, there are a lot of versions of this story, in other versions, The Scarlet Phoenix is a giant bird made of living flames. So what is your opinion to this?"

"My guess is that the Scarlet Phoenix is indeed a woman, but as she is a deity maybe she can turn into a giant bird made from live flames."

"Oh wow. I did not think of that," I just said. I was very much impressed with how the Crown Prince thinks. He is not only kindhearted but also smart. Which was expected of him, to be honest. The Royal Family gets premier education through the country's brightest scholars, so there is no surprise there that Prince Kao knows a lot of things.

But the thing is, the legend of the Scarlet Phoenix is not something that everyone believes in. It is first and foremost, a tale, passed down from one generation to the next. It is more of a literary piece than a scientific explanation, so naturally those who prefer scientific knowledge than myths would not believe n the legend so easily.

Who knows if the story of the Scarlet Phoenix is just a made-up story of some bored elders ages ago who could not think of other entertaining reasons of why Aure is in an eternal winter. Or maybe because since no one could scientifically explain why fire is no longer present in our country, the old folks back then just assumed that it is a curse by the disappearance of the deity of fire and volcanoes.

"Here we are," I said pointing at the next set of stone stairs that leads up to the part of Aurville where the Aurville Health Pub is located. We took the steps as fast as we could and we dashed to the Health Pub which was just in front of the stairs.

The warmth from the Columbars installed at the corners of the dimly-lit building swept all over me when we entered the Health Pub building and it was a very nice feeling. "You go to the counter and ask for your Aunt. I'll just wait for you here."

I nodded at his advice. I almost forgot that my companion is The Crown Prince so he should not be seen by people other than me. So I headed to the concierge alone. Their counter was in the middle of this building so they saw me immediately when I rushed towards them.

"Good evening, what can we do for you?" greeted one of the nurses stationed there.

I told them that I was looking for my Aunt. They looked at their records, but to my shock, they told me that there was no Milca Filbuster in their list of guests tonight, which means that she did come here.

I went back to Prince Kao and saw him outside the Health Pub standing and waiting for me to get out. I told him the bad news when he saw me. "This is bad," I told him and I was on the verge of tears again. "I don't know now what happened to her."

He was thinking too. "I think it is best for us if we go back to your house. Maybe she's already there."

I nodded. "It looks like it. We don't have a choice but go back home. I'm sorry for dragging you into this, Y-Your High---"

"Travor, Rainha. My name is Travor, remember?" he reminded me and I apologized again for almost calling him with the Royal honorifics. I looked around if someone heard me, and I think I was lucky that the snow-covered street was deserted at this hour. "Come on, let us just go back to your house."

We did. I was already exhausted when we arrived at my house. Aunt Milca was still not there, so it just made me worried. However, Prince Kao was suggesting that maybe she was in the bakery and we should check it tomorrow morning. I agreed and insisted that he don't have to come with me anymore, but he just replied that he needed to talk to my Aunt as soon as possible.

We needed to rest so we decided to sleep. I offered my brother's room for him but the Crown Prince decided to sleep in the sitting room. I decided to join him there as I think it would be rude to sleep in my room when the future King of Aure is in our lowly sitting room sleeping on the hard chairs. We tried to sleep next to each other, which only made my night better.

It was like my wild dreams turned into a reality that got extended for some time. How many girls could brag that they have slept next to the Crown Prince? Not that many, I suppose.

"You have to sleep, Rainha," he suddenly told me. "I know that you are worried for your Aunt's safety but you'll have a lack of sleep and that's bad for you."

"Sorry..." I wanted to get eaten up by the floor because he was wrong. I don't feel sleepy because of his presence and not because of my Aunt's unknown whereabouts. I know that it is awful that I think this way but I have to be honest with myself.

"By any chance, can you not sleep with a man next to you?" he blurted out and that made me shiver for some reason.

"Oh no... I'm not like that," I said to him in almost a blubber.

"Is it the cold? Does the cold make you uncomfortable?"

I shook my head. "It's not that. And I should be the one asking you that... I'm sorry Your Highness if our home is not that warm---"

"Don't say sorry to me for that," he told me which sounded like a scolding. "I am just a guest here and I have no right to use your stock of Coalstones for me. Save them for the time that your Aunt is back here."

"Thank you," I then said with a heavy heart. Then I sat up straight when I heard some noises coming from outside the house. "What is that?" I asked him but he immediately covered my mouth with his hands. He smelled great, which distracted me from the fact that someone was outside our house.