The Books of the Shadows II - The Broken House

5

After he took charge of the kingdom, Sheng Zung realized he had no friends to share the joy and burden of life. He needed a Monk…

The Monks were the most loyal guards and advisors any king would want. They were training from childhood to become warriors, and they would only leave the Coven when they were bought by Royalty. This Order of the Monks was known as a supplier of the elite guards for royal guards and they knew they were not cheap. Therefore, not every king could afford their services. Not to mention they could not afford more than one.

The Monastery was also a sanctuary for orphans, and it would be given them a purpose in life. Most of them would become servants or traders, spies of the Coven itself, and only a few would be lucky enough to become the kings’ personal guards.

So… then he needed another Monk…

The day they would be bought, they would become literally the shadow of the royal blood, following them everywhere, advising them as they had vast knowledge of history, geography, human social organization. The most valuable were the healers, and they were the most expensive and rare to find because the healing arts were taking time to master, while the war arts were not so much. 

The shadow king announced his visit and intentions to get himself another Monk, as the previous one had died in the dungeon when he challenged his father for the throne.

A large solid wooden gate was guarding the entrance to the Monastery. It squeaked from its hinges, opening slowly, until in front of it, it appeared a monk dressed in long white clothes, with his hood on his back and his hands clasped, his gaze fixed on the only path leading to him as if he was waiting for someone to show up. Indeed, after only a few minutes, a convoy appeared in front of him.

Accompanied by the royal guard, all dressed in the uniform of the Warchild house, the king rode proudly in front of them all. The convoy seemed detached from the fairytales, a line of almost 20 people dressed in black clothes, simple but elegant, and on their chests they all had - both the shadows and the chests of the horses - the coat of arms of the Warchild house, woven of silver threads, a half of a sun, which seems to rise on the horizon. All of them apart from the king, were wearing a dark hood on the head and with masks covering their faces, dark capes, and horse armor. 

The monk led them all inside the Coven, to the Master Monk, who received news of their arrival days ago, when Shang Zung made his intentions known to them. 

A line of monks were already prepared and expecting the king's inspection, hoping they would go home with him today. The king was known as his reputation exceeded the borders of his kingdom long ago. The monks stood in line with the discipline of the warriors, motionless, like wax statues so that you could not even say that they were breathing. 

Behind the monks, there were the children, who were still in training and had not yet graduated as guardian monks. Among them, the king’s eyes stopped on one of the young children in whose eyes shone boldness and curiosity. That child had something in him… something that caught the king’s attention. He had no hair, like the others, and his eyes were deep blue… a little too blue for a light, maybe… The king did not know a light can be this attractive… he will surely turn heads later, when he will grow, he thought. When the child realized that he had attracted the king's attention, he did not lower his eyes. Hmmm… that was either stupid or ignorant…he continued to look at him boldly, without shame, which made Sheng Zung sketch a crooked smile.

-How bout this? He asked the Master Monk causing him to flinch, and he immediately moved, pulling the boy behind him, as if to protect him.

-He is in training still, Lord. Barely a child, not even 10, the Master Monk pleaded. He did not complete his training yet and is not available at this time. If he survives the exams, later, when he finished, he will be available.

Displeased, the king took his time looking at all of them, balancing their statures and attitude, calculating odds until he made his choice. This king was picky.

-This one, he pointed towards one of them and left the cave with no other word. 

-My king, wait! Master Monk tried to keep up, running after him, almost stumbling in his monastic clothes, and panting, because he was old and could no longer run sprinting like a soldier.

The king did not even look at him, while his new monk tried to stop him by touching his hand, in order to make him pay attention to the Master Monk who was now running after them.

-My king, you will not stay for dinner??

-I have more important things to do, we won’t have dinner tonight, he answered to the Master Monk without slowing down.

Outside the Coven, in a few minutes, the convoy prepared to leave.

The king's new Monk as they would know him from now on had taken the vow of the monks and was belonging to Sheng Zung now. The Coven gave him a common horse, as the Master Monk would always give the monks their first horse after they would leave for service. 

The convoy started on its way back when the king, looking with contempt at the Monk's horse, suddenly spoke towards him:

-Let's get you a decent horse, Monk!

-Is this no good, master?

-You will address me as “Your Highness”or “My king” from now on, and no, this horse is dead before you know it. Can’t keep up with mine and I will not wait for you so how will you do your job then?

The Monk obeys and follows the king. They now know him as the king's Shield. 

They all rode to the north, close to the borders of the mountain people were there, in the hills, where a group of wild horses lived and provided the resources of war horses for royal blood. Because the horse and the shadow are connected at the energy level, they cannot be touched by anyone but their master. And the king's blood could dispose of any horse in any bloodline he encountered, but no other shadow could attract or summon the power of the royal horses' blood. The royal horse was a strong bloodline of war horses, and they were stronger and faster than any other bloodlines, therefore, the king thought it was suited for his Monk to have a horse as strong as his in order to protect him. 

Within minutes, when they found the horses, the king looked at them for a while. It really impressed the Monk, as he had never seen such beautiful horses and so many in the same place at the same time. Suddenly, the king lifted his hand opening his palm and fingers as if he was having a claw instead of a human hand, and sending an invisible energy wave towards one horse he had his eyes on. The horse suddenly halted, lifted its head, and remained motionless for a few seconds, while all the others rushed at the call of their leader, leaving only him alone, pinned in the middle of the hill, as if under the action of a spell that the shadow king had thrown at him. 

The horse then slowly headed towards them, as if hypnotized, until his snout touched the king's hand, smelling it, imprinting in his memory the smell of his master.

-Your hand, Monk, the king asked and the Monk also lifted his hand and passed it in front of the horse's nostrils to make it his own. 

-We're good to go, the king announced.

The king’s horse was from the wild royal bloodline horses, man-killer demons, that would only listen by the dark saruman demon and the king was only riding those formidable horses. They were faster than any other, they were stronger than any other, and they were counted as fierce fighters on the battlefield. 

The king liked to ride in the night; he liked to ride in the storms and it was calming him down and also helping him think.

He, a simple monk, could not never ride such a wild horse, he did not have the powers of the demons. His blood was not powerful enough to dominate such an exemplar so far and he would doubt that one day he would ever be. His horse could not keep up with the king's horse and soon he was only trying to not lose the direction. 

The monk was really trying. Day by day, he tried to make that horse his, but he was not a shadow and he was having troubles making that wild thing submit to him. The king was always running away in wild gallops, and he needed to be able to follow him on his terms. His horse was now capable to reach the king’s, yet he must be such a bad rider that he could not even keep up with his Lord.

He was a bit halted. This King was a very difficult man, who did not like to be crossed and always had to be right in everything. He was the most powerful man he ever knew, and he knew a lot of men. He remembered he was so proud the day they chose him to be his guard, and he cared little what happened to the other before him. He never asked and he was never told about it. It was their job anyway to be the shield in front of the King's life. 

He had trained a lot for this job, all his life actually, and he was the best in riding, in sword skills, in archery but his King was so much better than him. He could defend himself alone and his saruman was enjoying blood. That was pretty disturbing as it is known that no one can control their demon, and if Sheng Zung's was thirsty for blood, it would ask for more and more and where would that lead in the end?

To the rise of the Dark King... and who would that Dark King be?