The Queen Of Time
Hold the Torch (Twenty Three)

        Early in the morning, while the sun was still peering coyly from behind his contest, Calistha and Aiden

it had arrived before the main door of the kingdom of Chronos. Five soldiers guarding the gate, swiftly opened the gate wide for their king and also their future queen who had just arrived from the kingdom of Bibury. In an instant, the atmosphere of the originally silent palace, instantly turned lively after the news of the arrival of their king and queen was widely spread in the ears of the entire palace occupants. A bodyguard, ordered by Aiden to call the court physician, immediately ran towards the residence of the physician behind the palace. Then, some of the other ladies were busy preparing rooms and soaking tubs for their king and queen who looked so messy and tired after the long journey they went through through the eastern forest of the kingdom of Bibury it was so lush and dark.

        Aiden stopped his horse right at the door of his large palace and was immediately greeted by several ministers who did not join the war. They alternately bowed respectfully to Aiden while expressing their gratitude for finally their king being able to return safely to the kingdom of Chronos by bringing the future queen. Although they themselves were quite concerned about Aiden's condition, who appeared to be severely injured on his back, it was still better than their king to go home without taking the queen with him.

        "Welcome back Your Majesty, we have been waiting for your arrival since yesterday" said the development minister bowed respectfully. Calistha smiled faintly at every minister who greeted her as she stared at the gamang at the huge door that had been waiting for her to enter. Unknowingly, one hand has been

hold Aiden's hand tightly because soon this kingdom will be his home. She would soon become queen in this kingdom accompanying Aiden who would lead the entire people of Chronos to glory. But, somehow he still felt unsure to step inside. There were still many questions lingering in his heart before he actually dropped his decision to become Aiden's companion. And one of those questions is about Aiden's mysterious past.

        "What's wrong? You seem to be thinking about something?" aiden asked before he stepped inside his palace. Calistha immediately turned her head while shaking little. Maybe he can say it later when things are better. Now it was better that he give Aiden a chance to rest and heal his wounds so that the man did not look as pitiful as he was now. With hesitation, Calistha began to raise her hand and rubbed Aiden's cheeks gently using her quivering fingers. Aiden seemed to be enjoying it while closing his eyes peacefully. Something that felt soothing suddenly seeped into Aiden's heart as Calistha gently stroked her face with her five vibrating-looking fingers. And when Calistha finally removed those fingers from her face, she

feeling so lost and empty. He did not want the lentic fingers to go from his face and continued to gently caress him as before.

        "It's okay, I just feel tired. I'm sorry Aiden."

        I don't know what Calistha meant to say to her. But, the woman immediately left just like that leaving her still speechless in front of her palace while digesting every single word Calistha said to her.

        "What's wrong with you, baby?"

-00-

        Spencer watched every move of his soldiers who were putting prisoners into the dungeon. At the leading end of the line, Spencer could see Gazelle limping down the stone steps he passed. Somehow Gazelle feels now. The woman used to be often

come to this prison to accompany Aiden to see the captives captured by his soldiers, but now it is precisely he himself who is a prisoner and will occupy the dirty and moist cells that are down there. Feeling sorry for her, Spencer tries to reconcile with her ego by helping Gazelle down the stone steps while embracing her fragile little shoulder next to her sturdy body. However, his good intentions were rejected by Gazelle, as the woman immediately shouted loudly at him and blatantly chased him away to get Spencer to leave his side.

        "I can walk on my own. You can take your hands off my shoulders." Gazelle said coldly and flatly. Spencer then let go of his arms while staring intently at Gazelle who looked so stubborn and haughty, even though at this moment the woman looked so weak and helpless.

        One by one the prisoners were put into the dirty and damp prison without a fight. Most of them seem to have been so resigned to their unlucky fate. Gazelle and several other female captives were put into cells that housed female captives. And then, before Spencer left that prison, he, Spencer took the time to observe the old Gazelle from behind bars with a sad and sweet look that seemed not so clear because it was covered by the dark atmosphere created in the prison. And after being content to look at Gazelle for quite a while, Spencer finally decided to go from there and face Aiden. There was no point in him constantly being there, whereas the woman he had noticed since seemed so indifferent and did not consider him to exist at all.

        "Hello, welcome to your new home."

        A beautiful woman with smiley eyes on her face seemed to approach Gazelle while extending her hand in a friendly manner. However, Gazelle only responded coldly to the helping hand without any intention of retaliating in the least.

        "Emm, fine if you don't want to shake hands with me. I'm Tiffany from Diamond Kingdom. And I'm Calistha's brother."

        "I'm Gazelle, nice to meet you, partner." Gazelle replied with a meaningful smile to Tiffany.

-00-

        "Your Majesty, you're finally back. We miss you very much, Your Majesty."

        Yuri and Sunny immediately took turns hugging Calistha after the woman finished dressing and cleaning herself. Calistha happily hugged the two of them with tears that almost dripped from her eyes. Yesterday's incident while in the kingdom of Bibury, managed to make it realize that friends do not have to be people who have always been next to him for a long time, but good friends are people who always give advice if he does wrong and people who always provide comfort when he is down.

        "I'm sorry, I've been ignoring your advice all along" Calistha said regretfully. Yuri and Sunny looked at each other while bringing Calistha to sit on her soft bed.

        "It's okay, Your Majesty, the most important thing is that you are now aware and can take all the lessons from the events that happened yesterday. So, what about your situation now? Are you hurt?" ask Yuri worriedly. Calistha gave a small nod to Yuri while showing a scratch on her right shoulder. But, now that wound was already looking better since the palace healer had treated him.

        "I only had minor injuries, but king Aiden was seriously injured. His back was struck by the sword from Gazelle, and also his arm was hit by the sword from the warrior kingdom of Bibury. Not to mention he fell off the horse because of my mistake. It's obviously a lot worse than me, and I feel guilty for her."

        "Relax Your Majesty, king Aiden is a formidable and powerful king. He's been through worse things than that. About ten years ago, king Aiden was mortally wounded in his right waist by being stabbed by king Dave of the Roman Empire. But, king Aiden managed to kill the evil king in the middle

he had lost a lot of blood. But, it seemed that the stab wound could not heal perfectly, either, because I've heard the king groan in pain during the long snow season dress up the Khornos kingdom and spread a cold so bone-chilling that the scar becomes painful."

        Hearing the explanation from Sunny, Calistha suddenly became reminded of Gazelle who was going to attack Aiden right on his right waist yesterday. It turns out Gazelle did know Aiden's weak point, so he deliberately attacked the waist to injure Aiden. But, that's why Aiden actually knows Gazelle's true identity because only the woman knows the ins and outs of herself well.

        Suddenly Calistha felt her heart pinch with that reality. He felt incomparable to Gazelle who was much better at everything than him. Moreover, Aiden had touched Gazelle in the past, which made Calistha feel more dwarfed when compared to Gazelle. And for the first time,

Calistha felt herself very bad and too low for Aiden. Though all this time he always assesses his height and considers Aiden is a man who is not comparable to him. But, now he actually felt himself inferior because he had absolutely nothing to be proud of. Even though Gazelle was evil, the woman was so tough and unyielding as to defend her honor. As for him, he just fell to his knees after all the defeats that happened to him yesterday.

        "Your Majesty, are you okay?" ask Sunny worried. Hearing what was so worrying about her, made Calistha immediately wake up from her daydream while smiling gently at Sunny.

        "I'm doing fine. Emm, looks like I'm going to meet Aiden in his room. Don't you mind if I leave you?" calistha asked with a slightly flushed face. I don't know why he was so eager to see Aiden's current condition. Moreover, the man was injured because of his actions. It would be unethical to simply ignore the man after all the sacrifices made by the man. At least for the time being he wanted to be sweet in front of Aiden by giving him some attention and also not speaking rudely to the man.

        "Of course we don't mind Your Majesty. Coincidentally I will also deliver a cup of tea to king Aiden, do you want to bring it?" Tanya Sunny offered. Without a second thought Calistha immediately nodded her head enthusiastically because then she would have a reason to come see Aiden. It would feel very strange if he suddenly came just from worrying about the man. Aiden would definitely feel great head on because he had been worrying about her all day.

        "Alright, then I'll go now. See you." said Calistha lightly.