THE ANCIENT HUNT

SLAIN

The dove arrived with the spy's letter and Argan gave the officials the go ahead to move according to their plans and they released some set of soldiers to lie in ambush for the poor men who went on the hunt.

The men were coming down from the mountain when they met the assassins that attacked them around the base of the mountain, they were all killed in the span of minutes because they were not a match for the assassins. Ahiga had waited to have some water and told the troop to wait for him down the mountain, he handed over the scroll to Aditsan and went for his water. As soon as he came down and saw the mess down the mountain, his first concern was Aditsan

"Aditsan! Aditsan!! where are you? are you safe?" he called out to him as he checked round the killed soldiers to see if he was among but as he turned to look at the other side, he was met with a blade that slashed him through the chest and he fell of the cliff into the canal down the mountain

"My friend! my friend!! Ahiga!" Aditsan cried out and ran out of his hiding place with the scroll in his hand.

When everyone was busy getting killed, the scroll in his hands provided a shield for him and instead of him to use that shield on Ahiga, he went selfish for that moment, he hid himself behind the rocks and when Ahiga came down calling his name, he refused to come out because he felt Ahiga was a big competitor of the hunt

"Now let's go" one of the soldiers instructed and led Adistan away since they could not touch him thanks to the scroll

*****

"Finally, I got to where I wanted" he cackled hard as he released a long and loud evil laughter which was cut through by his fellow officials who came to pay homage to him after all the battle of taking over

"Long live the new King" they all chorused and bowed before him, he turned to look at them with a smile before resuming his laughter and Lebby came into the hall with her clothes changed, she was putting on an expensive silk robe, her hair packed well and her face radiant with makeup

"Come stand beside me where you belong, My Queen" he called out as he extended his hand to her and she gently walked in with smile all over her face, her dream came true at last.

The date for his coronation was picked immediately in the meeting which was three weeks to the meeting time and everything was set in preparation to make it a grand one.

****

Lebby was coming from the palace hall with the king when everyone opened their mouths in surprise, they could not believe that she had transformed to the priest's new wife. Even her friend was surprised at whatever was going on because she had never thought something like that would ever happen

"That's why they said never trust anyone, she sucked up to the master with her body and now she's marching all around as the queen to be" one of her oppressors chattered as they were picking ingredients for dinner

"I know right? I'm sure she will be the one that killed our former lady, who knows maybe she poisoned her" another gossiped and they gasped

"She's so desperate and cunning, she pretended to take care of her all her life but she was preparing her for her death. I can't believe this is happening" they continued until one of them turned to see her standing by their side listening to all they had been saying

She got shocked at her presence and the basket of ingredients in her hands got dropped out of fear

"my.. lad... lady" the maid managed to utter but she was met with a deafening slap

"all of you should follow me right away" she instructed and they all trooped behind her as she led them to the big yard

she pulled out a chair by the middle of the yard and had her seat

"get me a table" she instructed and in the twinkle of an eye, the table was laid out

"I'm going to make you a scapegoat to others, I tolerated you enough while I was in your midst and that was because I have planned to take my revenge once my goals has been achieved and here we are. I'm going to pay you all back in your own coins today" she stated and the girls fell to their knees to plead but all fell on deaf ears.

she had been hearing the murmurs and gossip of everyone ever since Argan took over and she became his wife but today, she had gotten enough and will trash everything out

" pin them to the table" she commanded and one of them was picked by the men and pinned to the table

"this will serve as warning to everyone of you who has turn it to your hobby to bad-mouth me and slander me behind my back. this is to wake you up that the owner of the house has changed so you had better watched your mouths" she roared before she delivered a heavy lash on the person pinned to the table

she trashed them all turn by turn setting them as an example to others who slander her or are planning to do so

"she's so scary, I can't believe I have been friends with someone so scary for a long time" her friend muttered at the sight of the ladies who was whipped by her

****

Morgan had followed Argan to his house as a new maid and assigned her to take care of Lebby as her personal maid

"I brought you a personal maid, she's someone who knows everything about the palace so she will be of great help to you" Argan announced to her as he handed her over

"My Lord, you didn't have to go this far but this is so beautiful to see that you really care for me and put me in your plans" she replied with a wide smile

"of course! you are in my plans so make sure she's trained in the way you want her to be, she will be of great help to you" he added before turning to leave

"what is the name?" she turned to ask her

"Morgan" she replied and Lebby nodded

"I hope you will serve me well" Lebby remarked before moving to her room

Morgan spent more than two weeks at the house learning everything about her new house, master and mistress. She was similar to Lebby in her silent attitude and she got herself familiar with everything about the house in the span of the time she had spent which made Lebby love her. She was obedient, quiet and reserved, always do her part of the job diligently

****

The coronation day finally came with celebrations everywhere, soft music coming from ancient instruments is heard underground as maids in yellow and green outfits enters and exits from different directions trying to fix the temple with colorful decorations and flowers as they await the entrance of the priest now to be coronated King

"Lebby how do you feel witnessing today?" Argan asked smiling while stroking his long white beard

"Well I have always waited for this day and I can’t believe I woke up to it" She replied as she draw the curtain open wow!

"The sunlight is so beautiful today, is it because I’m happy?" Laughs hysterically while twirling in her robe majestically,

"I made this dress just for today, and do you like it?" Moves closer to Argan to show it off

Argan turns her around and hummed,

"uhm this is so beautiful and elegant" he said as he touched the pearls layered at the waist of the dress but you are more beautiful he added laughing and stroking her face

"Well then let me finish dressing up, you may leave now" she said gestures with her hand towards the door

"Yes queen" replied Argan and they both laughed as he goes out

"Morgan! Let’s begin" Lebby called out and sits on the chair in front of the dressing table

"yes queen" Morgan runs in to start her work

Two more maids enters with bowls filled with ornaments of different types ranging from pearls to gold, down to diamond, they begin to fix hairpins, earrings and necklaces to everywhere necessary while Morgan takes up the make-up role

"you are set queen" Morgan said finish drawing back

"Hmm beautiful, now get me my crown" Lebby ordered checking herself out in the mirror

"Yes queen" Morgan signals to a maid to bring it, "Here is it" putting it forward

Lebby stretches her hand to collect it but withdraws it immediately, "Morgan, how about you wear it for me today?"

Morgan looks up with her eyes wide open "eh?"

"what? You don’t think you can?" Lebby asked rolling her eyes

Morgan stutters "I..c..ann…" and collects it

"now let’s have my crown Morgan" Lebby said and smiled

"Yes queen" Morgan replied and sets to place it on her head before Mevin burst in interrupting the process

"My queen, the scroll is missing! " Mevin announced immediately kneeling to show respect

Lebby turned her neck and her smile disappeared "what did you just say?"

"The scroll is missing ma'am" he said again and she slammed her hand on the table

"The scroll is missing queen" Mevin repeated with his head bowed

"how?" Lebby roared heavily

The palace was a bit scattered because of the missing scroll until Aditsan walked in with it in his hands. The had previously collected the scroll from him when he was led to the palace after the killing of the soldiers but Argan stopped them from killing him when it was retrieved

"he has binded his life with it, it will disappear again once he's killed" Argan cautioned so they decided to keep Aditsan close instead to guard the scroll

Aditsan decided to leave the town that morning and packed his load so he could go in search of his friend but as he stepped out of the city, the scroll went away from the temple again which caused an uproar

"I really need to do a separation ritual for this thing" Argan muttered as he instructed for Aditsan to be found

He was searched for and found then brought to the palace immediately, the scroll was already in his hands since he was now the new bearer thanks to his earnest wish of the scroll protecting him while he saw others getting killed

Argan had think it through and concluded that giving Aditsan a great position in the palace will make him stay and not think about using the scroll to threaten him until he finds a way to do the separation ritual for him and discard him

He couldn't carry out the ritual right away because he had never done it or even have the time so he planned to chain him down with a big position for now. He was locked up in one of the rooms and the coronation went accordingly as planned, he was crowned the new king and that very day assigned all who had helped him as his officials

"My King, the office of minister for external affairs is empty" one of them informed him

"I know! I intentionally left it empty because it already has a owner" he replied and they all murmured amidst themselves about who it might be

"Bring him in" he commanded and Aditsan was led in by the palace servants

"You were alive?" Morgan muttered in surprise as she saw him come out dressed in a great and shiny outfit that he had been changed to while he was waiting for the king to send for him

"This is our new minister for external affairs" Argan announced and Adistan bowed to the ground in return