You can find the prologue to this novel here.

                            Blood: Oaths and Offerings

Chapter 1

Joma

For the first time in what felt like a million moons, King Joma awoke with a purpose. Before today, every morning had begun with an enduring battle for the will to get out of bed, but not this time. Last night, while Yessinya was sleeping, his nocturnal studies of the ancient books had finally bore fruit, igniting a long forgotten feeling of motivation within him.

An unfamiliar energy was flowing through the King, making him want to leap out of bed and follow the thread he had stumbled upon last night.  The only thing stopping him from doing so, was the Lady Yessinya.

She lay snuggled into him, sleeping peacefully, with her leg wrapped around his and her head on his chest. The feel of the heat radiating from her body and the warmth of her breath on his bare skin challenged his desire to get out of bed. His reluctance to abandon her loving embrace was only surpassed by that of his unwillingness to disturb her sleep.  

He placed his arm around her neck carefully so as not to wake her. Running his thumb softly down her cheek and over her tender lips, he thought of how lucky he was that those lips belonged to him. As his thumb's caressing gesture reached her chin, her mouth expelled the most delicate of moans. Joma closed his eyes in appreciation and began to plan his day.

He knew already that he would make preparations for his journey to the island of Tu, but what of Lola? The idea of leaving her behind at the fortress, without him there to protect her, worried him greatly. Yet, perhaps it was still safer than bringing her with him. He knew not what to expect of this expedition and worried that if she accompanied him, she would discover the reason for the journey. She needn't know about that, he thought. Not yet. He did not want to get her hopes up only to have them shattered, as there was no guarantee that it wasn't too late at this point.

For almost nine years after the massacre, those books had lay in a chest collecting dust in the South side of the cellar. They had been intended for Koba, and Joma couldn't bring himself to read them. He felt unworthy of the knowledge meant for his brother, and even the thought of them reminded him of how he was to blame for his brother's death. The King felt that he could never repay Yessinya for finally convincing him to read those books, but he worried that he had waited too long.

 Joma's contemplation was suspended by the feeling of Yessinya's fingernails piercing the skin on his chest. He shifted his attention to his love, watching as her fingernails sunk deeper into his skin. Though the feeling was noticeable, it was far from bothersome. Physical pain had grown to become all but insignificant to the King.

As blood began to trickle down Joma's stomach, Yessinya started to breathe faster and heavier. 

"Wake up, my love!" The King spoke loudly, while placing his hand on her shoulder and shaking her forcefully.

Yessinya sat up abruptly and looked at Joma in confusion. 

"Are you alright?!" He asked with a face full of an anxiety.

Yessinya looked down at Joma's bloody chest and then returned her eyes to his gaze.

"Again? I'm so sorry, Joma.." Her face was riddled with guilt.  

"Another bad dream?" The King asked, still worried.

"I don't remember." Yessinya looked confused, and then disappointed.

"Are you hurt?" she inquired, while running her fingers over the punctures on his chest.

Joma went to speak, but changed his mind. He looked into the eyes of the woman who owned his heart and delivered a devious smile.

"Yes." He attempted to mask his smile and placed his hands on his chest, imitating a man in pain.

"I think you're going to have to make it up to me." He tried to conceal his smile but was unsuccessful.

Yessinya looked back at him and smiled playfully. 

"I'm so sorry, my love." She spoke in  a seductive manner as she pushed herself onto all fours and crawled towards the King.

Yessinya granted Joma a slow and passionate kiss. For a moment, the King forgot all about his plans for the day. He forgot about the island of Tu, he forgot about Lola, and he forgot that his mother, father, and two brothers had been brutally murdered by cowards. He even forgot his name, and hers. All he remembered was how much he loved those lips and how much he had missed them on his.

All too quickly, it was over, and Yessinya pulled her lips away from Joma's.

"Will that suffice?" Yessinya smiled as she asked, and then let out a mischievous sounding giggle.

Joma reached forward with one hand, grabbing Yessinya by her long, curly hair and pulled her lips back to his. He knew that he would be gone for at least a few days, so he allowed himself the gift of one more kiss from his love. 

"That, shall suffice." Joma leant backwards as he spoke, his face occupied by a look of complete euphoria.

He was amazed that a mere kiss with her could still be so enjoyable.

Yessinya giggled once again and smiled at him with satisfaction. 

As much as the King wanted to lay there and look at her for the rest of the morning, he had preparations to make. 

"Right. We had better shower before we end up spending the whole day here again." 

Yessinya looked confounded. She could see the motivation in his eyes, and it was as alien to her as it was to him.

"You have plans?" The look of bewilderment remained on her face as she asked the question.

"Yes. I have found a lead in the books I have been studying. I must travel to an island in the North East of Amanak."

Joma thought he saw disappointment on Yessinya's face for a second, but the expression was quickly replaced by a huge smile. 

"When do we leave?" She asked.

"We don't." Joma leant in closer and took Yessinya's hand.

"You know that I want as few people to know about you as possible. Too many know already."

He placed the palm of his second hand on the side of her face.

"I will only be gone a week or two. I need you to look after Lola. Can you do that for me?"

As he said the words he realised how difficult this would be. He had seen Yessinya every day for the last ten years, and now he was to be without her face, her touch, and her voice for two weeks. He wanted to change his mind and take her with him, but he knew that was the wrong decision.  This  was too important, so he would just have to be strong, he thought.

Joma looked up to see Yessinya nodding her head.

"I will do whatever you command of me, Joma. You are my King and my heart."

"-But" Joma interrupted. 

"You know me too well. " Yessinya giggled. 

"But, Lola is not the fragile little girl that you think she is. She is fifteen now, and fierce. She will not like that you left me here to mind her as if she were a baby."  

Joma was all too aware that Yessinya was still trying to convince him to let her come with him.

"Then don't tell her that." His tone of voice was not one which invited a response.

The king began to think of how Lola had found him on the day of the massacre. She had clung on to him tightly, covered from head to toe in their mothers blood. She had not let go of him, nor stopped crying, at any point that day.

"She will always be that little girl to me." He added, his tone carried an air of depression this time.

"Did you think of me as a little girl when I was that age?" Yessinya moved closer to Joma.

"No." Joma moved back away from her.

"But, that's because I was a little boy." 

The King looked away from Yessinya and down at the bed.

"A silly little boy that got his family killed." 

Yessinya placed both her hands on Joma's cheeks and lifted his head up. 

Looking in his eyes, she told him, " Don't say that. You were not to blame, my love."

Joma disagreed. He knew he was at least partially responsible for the day's events, even if he had not been the one to take their lives.

"I guess you're right." He did not want to continue the conversation, so he agreed with her.

"Okay. Shower time." The King changed the subject before he became any more depressed.

"You first, my love. I am too comfortable." Yessinya lay down and wrapped herself in the blanket as she spoke, letting out a subtle moan.

The sound of her voice replenished the King's excitement.

"No no. Ladies first. I insist." Joma smiled at her, his eyes full of anticipation. 

Yessinya smiled back and rolled over, stepping out the bed. As she made her way to the adjacent shower room, she continued to smile at him over her shoulder.

Her smiles went unnoticed by the King. The sun rays beaming through the window illuminated one side of Yessinya's naked body, accentuating her curves in the most distracting of fashions. Joma crawled out of bed and followed his love to the shower room.

The Great Fortress of Khyra was an architectural marvel. Constructed into the side of a mountain range, overlooking God's lake, it was easily the most impressive  piece of construction in all of Amanak. The fortress had been built around a series of hot, warm and cold springs, that proved useful in countless ways. Joma's favourite use of these springs however, was the showers. There had been none in Kapita, so they had been forced to wash in bath tubs. It seemed primitive to even think of now, he was so accustomed to showering in the warm springs.

King Joma hadn't the time to enjoy his shower as much as he would have liked today. He left before Yessinya and dressed himself with haste. After instructing a guard outside of his and Yessinya's bed chamber to go and make preparations for travel, he began to search the many halls of the keep for Hydogen Miko.

His search did not last long. As he was walking past the Eastern ceremonial fountain on his way to the Amanax, the sound of Hydogen Miko's wooden staff thumping against the floor echoed throughout the entire room.

"Your Highness!" 

Joma turned his head to see the seventy two year old scurrying towards him. He was panting and sweating and it appeared that if he were to let go of his staff he would come crashing to the floor, never to rise again.

"Your Highness! I must speak with you urgently."  Every word was proceeded by a desperate gasp for breath.

Joma approached Miko, saving him the hassle of walking further than necessary.

"Slow down, Miko," the King insisted. "Tell me what is going on."

"A pigeon, your Highness. From the Aman Province in Everance."  

The King was surprised to hear those words. It was a common occurrence for Hydogen Miko to bring him news of how the crime rate in Amanak was on the rise, or of how the Bhuzians had begun to raid transport carriages making their way to and from Kapita. Most frequently, he spoke of murdered soldiers and a growing Pavhasi force in the South. 

This was different. Everance was the closest continent to the West of Amanak. The King wondered what news could be so urgent, coming from all the way across an ocean.

"Speak, Miko. What news from the West?" 

"Hydogen Piro has sent a homing pigeon. Well, three have arrived actually, your Highness. He took no chances and sent five to make sure the message reached us." The Aman Priest looked terrified as he spoke.

"The message?" Joma added impatiently.

"The Province has come under attack. Men, women and children slaughtered by the thousands." 

Hydogen Miko continued to speak but, Joma could no longer hear his words. The King's mind drifted and he found himself thinking of  how Koba would know what to do in this situation. Joma couldn't protect his own family and he couldn't prevent Amanak from slowly slipping into chaos. How was he to protect his people, across the ocean on a different continent?

"Hydogen Piro sails for Khyra. If it is to be war then he shall do what he can to help us prepare." 

The priest's  final sentence found its way to the King's ears.

"War?" the King asked, a slight tremble in his voice.

"A credible source, your Highness," Miko spoke with certainty.

"News of the division in Amanak has reached the Western worlds. They consider this an opportune time to strike." 

Joma knew, even from childhood, that the Western continents had long sought the riches of Amanak. Koba's ancient books that Joma had been studying, had spoke of four failed invasions over the years, the last being around 150 years ago.

Everance, Centrixia, Westenham and Primeria were allegedly great civilizations with remarkable feats of architecture and advanced technologies unheard of in Amanak. But, they were mostly deserts. Amanak was rich in soil, in forestry and in precious metals and stones. The Amanaki people had also retained their connection with nature, preserving magic in the region. Magic was said to be forgotten in the Western worlds. The knowledge of such power was horded by a select few, and denied from the people, according to the Hydogens. 

Joma's heart began to race. He was not Koba. He was not the one meant to save the people of Amanak from this terror. 

"Your, Highness?" 

Joma had forgotten Miko was there.

"Inform Viceroy Richman. He is from Primeria. Perhaps he will be able to find a diplomatic solution."

Joma was happy to resign himself from the burden of responsibility. It was what he had done for the past decade. Richman was Koba's father-by-law, and Jako's grandfather. If it had not been for his help on the day of the massacre, Joma was certain that neither he, nor Lola would have survived. 

The King had repaid him by bestowing the power of Viceroy upon him, allowing him to rule the Kingdom from Kapita in his stead, while Joma took Lola and left for Khyra. It had not been a difficult task for Joma. He knew that he could not rule a Kingdom, and Richman had experience ruling in the West. Even with all of the problems the realm has been faced with in recent years, the King knew that if he had been the one making decisions, things would be considerably worse.

"I think that you should handle this yourself, your Highness," Miko urged. "It's too important to entrust to a foreigner."

"He is grandfather to my nephew. I trust him."

In truth, the King did not trust him. Not enough. But, his fear of taking matters into his own hands, only to march his people to the slaughter overwhelmed any distrust he may have  had for the Viceroy.

"I will hear no more of this, Miko." Joma turned as he spoke.

"I am leaving for a fortnight, we will speak when I return," he added as he walked away.

"Your  highness!" Miko shouted at the top of his aging lungs.

The King stopped and turned around to face him.

"What is it, Miko?" he asked impatiently.

"You're leaving the castle?" Hydogen Miko had the same puzzled look on his face that Yessinya had had earlier.

"Yes. Keep an eye on Lola and Yessinya for me." 

"Your Highness. I beg of you. Let us conduct the ceremony before you leave the castle walls. I fear for-"

"No. We have discussed this already," the King interrupted, turning once again as he spoke. 

"Take care of my girls, Miko," he added as he walked away at pace.

Joma had refused his rebirth when he turned 21. He was perhaps the first King of Amanak to ever do so, but he no longer believed in the Aman God, or any other. What God could allow such horrors to befall his family? And Yessinya's family? No God worth worshipping, he thought. 

Perhaps a small part of him still clung to his faith, because he had considered many a time how his potential rebirth would go. 

At Koba's rebirth, it had rained as soon as the feast begun. What if it did not rain so soon for Joma? Worse yet, what if after the ten days, it did not rain at all? That was unprecedented for a Ruler of Amanak. Even the Greedy King of old had received rain on the tenth day of his rebirth. It was joked that it was a  blessing from God, granting him a longer feast to satiate his hunger, or he would have been blessed with rain on first day. Joma did not want to think of the possibility of a dry rebirth, nor what it would mean for him and his Kingdom.

"Your Highness."

Joma spun his head to see Vego, the soldier he had instructed to make preparations for the journey.

"The ship is ready to depart.."

"Excellent. How many men do we have on the premises. Two hundred and fifty?" 

"One hundred and eight in the castle walls, your Highness. And one hundred and sixty-two on the perimeter." Vego looked very confident in his numbers.

"That's not including the scout-houses in the mountains," he added.

The King was impressed by his knowledge.

"Have forty men board the ship and await my arrival. The rest will remain here to defend the Princess. Do you know where she is?" 

"Yes, your Highness. She is at prayer in the Amanax." 

The King was impressed once again. 

The King stepped closer, placing his hand on Vego's shoulder in praise. 

"You will remain here, Vego. Protect my sister." 

"Of course, your Highness." Vego appeared to be honoured by the request.

"With my life if necessary," he added proudly.

"Let's hope it does not come to that." The King removed his hand from the soldier's shoulder and began to make his way to the Amanax.

Upon arrival, he found his sister kneeling before the fountain of prayer. From behind her, he could see that she was once again wearing their mother's hairpin. It was the same hairpin that Kataya had used to open the throat of her assassin. Joma found it odd that she seemed to be wearing it every time that he saw her, but he dared not broach the subject in case it stirred up emotions within her, and within himself.

"Little sister, what are you praying for?" 

Lola took her hands out the water in the fountain and shook them dry. She stood up and turned, smiling at her brother.

"Joma!" she called as she quickly made her way across the room, completely ignoring his question.

They shared a short embrace and Joma kissed her on the forehead.

"I have not seen you in days, brother. Are you well?" 

"I'm very well, sister. But, I must tell you something."

Joma did not know how Lola would take the news of his journey. He worried that she would not want him to leave her.

"I must leave the fortress for a couple of weeks. I have urgent duties which I must attend to right away." Joma looked his sister in the eyes, anxious for her reaction.

"That's wonderful, Joma!" She spoke with a face full of joy.

"You have been locked up in here too long. I wondered when you were finally going to start acting like a King." She giggled as she finished her sentence.

Joma felt awful. He was not being a King. He could never be the King that she and Miko wanted him to be. 

"I'm happy you're so happy for me," he lied, forcing a smile onto his lips.

"Just promise me that you'll be safe, brother." Lola took Joma's hands as she pleaded with him.

"Always. You do the same for me." As Joma answered, he considered Yessinya's words from earlier that morning. 

Lola is not the little girl you think she is anymore, she had said. Joma could now see what she meant. Lola was not made afraid by the prospect of being left alone. She was in fact happy that he was supposedly doing what a King should be doing. Perhaps she should have been the one that inherited the throne, he considered.

"Look after Yessinya for me too, sister," the King added.

"Shouldn't she be the one looking after me?" Lola proclaimed, still giggling.

"I suppose it should be that way, yes. But, you're the tough one. You can look both look out for one another." 

"That I can do!" Lola insisted. 

"Return to your prayers little sister. I will see you soon." 

Joma hugged his sister once more and headed for the harbour. The Lady Yessinya was waiting for him at the exit, showered, dressed, and looking better than ever before. The King smiled as he approached her.

"Come to see me off?" he asked.

"No, my love. I just really enjoy looking at this door," she responded sarcastically, a cheeky smile on her face.

The King laughed in response and made his way closer to her. 

"I'm going to miss that mouth of yours," he told her, still grinning. "In more ways than one."

Yessinya's playful expression had returned.

"Well you had better hurry up and get back to me then." She leaned in for a kiss as she finished her sentence.

The King denied himself the pleasure of a long kiss this time. He feared that if he enjoyed her lips for too long, he would cancel the whole expedition and hide himself away in a room with those lips for the rest of his life.

"Goodbye, my love." His voice was low, and carried with it the realisation that this was really happening. He was to be apart from her for weeks.

"Goodbye," she replied, the same sadness in her voice.

As the King went to exit the Harbour-side door, Yessinya grabbed him by his beard and pulled his lips back to hers. She teased him with a lasting kiss and moved her lips back away, leaving  him wanting more.

"That shall suffice," she said while giggling.

The King smiled in amazement and walked out of the door.

Upon his approach to the ship, the King was met by the sound of Nero's voice.

"J! Where are you going?" Nero shouted across the pier.

Nero had been Joma's best friend since childhood, and was the only person Joma had granted permission to enter the castle at their own leisure. Even Viceroy Richman was made to wait at the great gate until Joma or Lola approved his entrance.

"To Tu" the King shouted back, laughing at the ridiculousness of the syllables that had left his mouth.

"To the island of Tu," he corrected himself. "Are you coming?"

The King hoped that he would. It was a long journey and he could do with the company. Nero had a way of distracting Joma from his own haunting thoughts that was greatly appreciated.

"Of course, my King." Nero bowed sardonically as he spoke.  

Nero had always tried to convince Joma to be grateful for his Kingship, as it had come as a surprise to the both of them. Joma did not want to be treated any differently from him, so he told him not to do so, except when there were soldiers around.

"Quickly then," he responded. "You commoners..." He added while shaking his head in jest.

Nero laughed dramatically and started running. Joma made his way onto the ship, with Nero following closely behind. 

As the King looked back, he spotted Yessinya waving through a window on the tower that overlooks the harbour. I will return to you, my love, he promised himself. He offered Yessinya a wave in return and turned around.

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