The Masked Knight

Chapter 4

The Masked Knight’s P. O. V.

**** flashback from childhood continues ****

In front of my eyes, there was standing a boy.

A boy of my age or a bit older than me may be. And he has the most gorgeous icy blue eyes with a golden hue in it. His clothes were ordinary, his skin was almost fair, his hair was dark brown and a bit messy but what he was holding in his hands irritated me enough.

In his hand there was a wooden sword and its tip was what kept poking me on my neck from behind.

“What are you hiding from? What did you do?” He asked with a pair of furrowed eyebrows while his beautiful blue eyes glared at me without knowing who I am.

How dare he? How dare he ask me and that too when he is holding a toy sword?

I got angry and stood up to face this boy bravely.

“It is none of your business.” I replied rudely and pushed the wooden sword aside to show him that it is not that easy to scare me.

“I saw royal guards passing from here just a moment ago. They were looking for something or someone may be. And here you are definitely hiding something. So, what are you up to, tell me, kid?” He provoked me even further even when I was willing to let his impudence go just for this once, but no, he had to act brave.

“Yes, you are right. I was trying to get the flowers without paying for it. And you actually helped me to do it.” I said and picked up a bunch of flowers from the old lady’s cart and gave it to the boy. He did look surprised.

“What? What do you mean? When did I help you?” the boy did not understand and kept freaking out. The flowers were still in his hands just when the owner of the cart noticed us and yelled loudly,

“Guards!!! Guards!!! They are stealing…. Thieves!!! catch them.”

He was kind of frozen for a moment and did not move even when I knew that we must start running right now if we don’t want to get caught in the hands of the royal guards. So, throwing the bunch of flowers back to the cart, I held him by his hand and started running on the streets of the market once again to find another place to hide.

“Why are we running? I did not do anything?” the boy whose name I don’t know yet, asked while running along by my side.

“Neither did I. But still, sometimes we need to hide to avoid getting punished for the wrong that we never did.” I explained and finally found a perfect place to take shelter for now. It was a tiny tent to stock goods before selling. And right now, when the merchant is really busy to make a good deal with the vendor, the tent is somewhat unguarded and is a very good place to hide ourselves.

So, without wasting any time, we ran inside it and retired on the ground with our uneasy breaths.

“Who are you exactly?” he finally asked while both of us kept panting.

“I am….” I was about to say my name just when I heard some commotion from outside. I heard people talking with each other regarding some specific issue. Now, not just the royal guards but the royal servants have also arrived in the market place and I realized that we are very much in trouble.

Cause I clearly heard someone saying,

“Have you seen the Princess anywhere in this market?”

“Princess Diana?” the other one asked.

“Yes, she comes here often. We need to find her fast. It’s the King’s order.” The first one replied.

“No, I don’t think that she is here, sir. Cause if anyone wearing such an elegant dress happened to enter this market, everyone must have noticed her at first glance.” The other one replied fast.

“Are you sure about that?” the first one asked once again.

“Yes. I am sure.” With that the conversation ended at last and I just could not help but sigh.

The man who came looking for the princess must have gone to somewhere else to ask someone else.

I relaxed for a bit but I forgot one thing during all this time that I am not alone right at this instant. Whatever I just heard, he heard them too. Yes, the boy whom I dragged in with me just a while ago.

“Hey!!! You did not say who you are.” He asked once again without being able to hold back his curiosity for some reason.

“Ah!!! Yes. I am… I am Ana.” I replied hesitantly, but I did not fail to see how the boy’s eyes widened right after hearing my name. I don’t know why but he did look a bit shocked for some reason.

No, I did not feel the need to ask him why. So, I stayed quiet, cause now there was something else which had already started worrying me.

“Hi Ana. I am Tristen, by the way.” He gave me his name too after some time.

But for me, he is and always will be the blue-eyed boy from the market.

****End of the flashback****

I sighed remembering the past once again.

Maybe it is quite hard to believe for me that I am going to meet the boy from my childhood after so many years, yet I just cannot stand in front of him as the one whom he used to know once.

Pathetic!!! Isn’t it?

Yes, I know. But I guess it is for good only. Cause right now after how my life had become over the past five years, I am not even allowed to listen to my heart even for a single second.

Because I am the masked knight and the masked knight must never fail, never fall and never break at any cost. And it is the only reality in my life now.

**** A few days later ****

“How many supplies do we still need, Edd?” I asked the warrior who is generally in charge to keep me informed about everything related to the weapons that we usually need to keep our defense strong and well equipped all the time.

And today I have planned to take care of this matter before I get busy to check on the trainings of my troop for the rest of the day.

“What we have now is sufficient for the entire force but if there is need, we will not be able to provide more.” Edd replied in no time, while I was busy taking a quick glimpse at the weapons that we have stocked up until now.

“Not enough. We need to double the supplies.” I said and picked up a sword, making the vicious metallic sound which soon filled the air inside the tent menacingly. But I love this sound very much. It kind of soothes my heart in some wicked way.

Since the day I buried my past life deep inside the grave of my chest, I happened to like the sound of swords clashing with each other, announcing the victory of the powerful ones. Over the past few years, it has been the only melody that can bring comfort which I need the most. To me it is the sound of strength, rage and power that one is supposed to have within himself.

I don’t know why but as I was holding the sword in my hand, I found myself smiling. The sharp edges that can cut anyone into two within seconds glistened for a moment under the sunray which crept inside through the wholes on the tent and fell on the smooth and shiny surface of the metal.

When I was done looking and praising the swordsmith in my mind for his extraordinary work with the sword’s appearance, I turned the sword horizontally and settled its body on one of my fingers but the sword did not fall.

“Perfect.” In no time the word came out of my throat as soon as I saw how perfectly the sword was balanced with equal distribution of wait on both parts of the sword, the body and the grip.

“Yes, this year our men had done a pretty good job.” Edd replied seeing me pleased enough with their work.

“Good. I want more of these and other things as well. Tell the swordsmiths that I am quite happy with their work and ask them to get ready to make more weapons this year.” I said and put the sword back again to its place from where I have picked it up just a while ago.

“Yes, right away, chief.” He replied and rushed out of the tent in no time as he is no more needed here.

I too was about to leave after checking some other things as quickly as possible, but then I heard something from outside, and I just cannot help but wander about the reason for such a commotion all of a sudden on my ground.

“Where is the chief, Sabastian?” I heard a boy’s panting voice who seems to be looking for me and it appeared like he came running all the way to say something.

Sabastian who always tags along with me whenever I go somewhere was standing right outside of the tent today as well just like every other day. So, the boy who came running to ask for me was stopped by Sabastian first even before he could get to me.

“What is it, Zain?” I heard Sabastian asking but after that I could not catch what they talked next, except for Sabastian’s voice again after some time as he suggested the boy to retreat,

“Al right. You can go back now. I will inform the chief.”

My work inside this tent was almost done. I was already putting back everything to their places after a quick survey before I finally go back, just when Sabastian came inside the tent as well without bothering to wait for me to come out.

It must be something urgent. And the look on his face was telling me clearly that he just could not afford to wait even for a second.

“What is the matter?” I asked, seeing him this much anxious all of a sudden.

“He is here.” I felt how his voice was already shaking while he gave me the news.

I stayed quiet for some time without bothering to reply him right away. Rather I was somehow frozen for a few seconds that I could not even let out a single word.

“The warriors have returned from the battle at last. They have already passed the Gate and are reading towards the palace to meet the new King.” Sabastian informed once again, seeing that I fell silent all of a sudden.

“I see.” That was what I could say for this moment and turned around to avoid Sabastian’s gaze for some reason. But still he just could not read the air and opened his mouth once again.

“Do you know who is leading the army? It’s him. It’s Tristen. I can’t believe that he is back. My brother is back, at last.” It seemed like Sabastian was having a quite hard time to control his emotions. I can feel what he is going through right now, cause my condition is not so different than him.

I thought I could stay unbothered when the time will come, and when the time actually came to knock on my door at last, I realized how wrong I was back then. It only took one news of Tristen’s arrival to raise a whole new storm inside my chest all over again.

“Is there any news from the palace, yet?” I asked while my attempts to keep my composure in check never stopped even for once. Yes, I was hardly holding myself back.

“Nothing until now.” Replied Sabastian with a little bit of disappointment in his tone as if he just cannot believe that I am not that much excited as he is after hearing the news. Only if I could show him my true state, he would never have reacted like this. But I don’t care what he thinks now.

“Stay posted. You will get an order from the royal palace anytime now.” I uttered and went out of the tent in a hurry without bothering to wait for Sabastian to tag along with me.