章 5: Shkan
By the time Allura woke up, the room was dark. She looks at the window, the sun has long set. Light was seeping through the door of her room. She slowly gets up and leaves the room. It was near the kitchen, she looks around to see if anyone was there but none of them were.
She proceeds to exploring the building, it had just occurred to her how the interior changed. When they first arrived the other day, it was dark and it looked terrible. Then she remembered Briaphela and her so called ability, being a sorceress. She still wasn't sure if she should believe what they said but they already showed her what they're capable of. It was weird calling it that, abilities, but Allura had no idea what to call it.
"You shouldn't be wandering around on your own princess," a voice suddenly came from the shadows.
"Who's there?" Allura immediately turns around. She couldn't see well because the voice came from the dark part of the kitchen where the light was turned off.
Shkan then emerges from the shadows. His cloak gone, as well as his sword. He was wearing a normal plain black shirt. Now that she gets to see some parts of his body, she could see that his arms are full of scars. From his shoulder down to the back of his hands. His neck also has a straight scar at the right side.
"Sorry," was all she could say. She felt relieved that at least one of them was still around. It's actually better for at least one of them to be around rather than being left alone in such a place.
"If you're looking for the elder, he went out along with Briaphela. Possibly to check the perimeter." Shkan says as he approaches Allura. She was about to go back to her room when the lights had suddenly turned on.
"I take it that you're hungry princess?" Shkan says as he takes out some warm soup from the pot on the stove. There was bread on the table. As much as Allura would like to decline his offer, her stomach starts rumbling which would be the exact opposite to what she wanted to say.
"Starving," she says as she holds her stomach and approaches the dining table. Shkan puts the bowl in front of her and takes some bread to put next to it. She sits down and starts devouring her soup. Shkan suddenly sits in front of her as she continues eating. She tries to avoid making eye contact with him.
Out of the three of them, Shkan was the only person she hasn't had a proper conversation yet. This may be her opportunity to start on doing so.
"So," she says, but she has no idea what to say next so it just hangs in the air.
"What?" he asks, she thought that he was annoyed with her. She still thinks that even now, given his one word or irritated responses like this.
"Do you hate me?" she suddenly asks. It was the only thing running in her mind right now when she thinks of Shkan. He was the only one cold towards her since the very beginning. Although he already apologized to her the other day Allura still feels a certain uneasiness towards him.
"No princess, what makes you think that?" he suddenly stands and bows. He seems bothered by what Allura had said and that just makes her confused, more confused.
"The way you talk to me? You're cold towards me, also you tend to ignore me most of the time," she eats a spoonful of soup to stop herself from saying anything more. It was actually quite embarrassing saying such things.
"The elder may not have told you princess, but I've always been like this. This is how I also act with the both of them, as well as my subordinates," he sighs. Allura stops eating for a while and regards him.
"If you feel uncomfortable with me being around princess, I would like to apologize to you by taking my life" he mutters. Allura almost missed it she immediately looks up and sees that Shkan was looking down at the table.
"I- didn't actually catch that. Could you say it again? "She asks trying to sound sincere, hoping Shkan could actually hear the sincerity in her voice.
"I said I wanted to apologize with my life, just say the word my princess," he says with determined eyes. His face was the same as usual, unreadable. Allura couldn't respond because she doesn't know why he was like this, offering his life as a form of apology.
"Are you sure you're sorry?" she asks, she immediately regrets it because Shkan is not the one to joke around with.
"Yes, I am just say the word and I, Shkan, will drink this poison that has just appeared on the table to end my life" he sighs as he is now on alert mode to the surroundings. She looks at him again, then back to her food. There was still some soup left and her bread is almost finished. Allura then noticed the cola on the table that she must have missed because of hungriness.
"When you said that you will drink poison, are you referring to this cola?" Allura asks while raising it to make sure that Shkan was actually referring to the cola as a poison that 'appeared suddenly.'
"Don't touch it princess! I don't know where that came from. It suddenly appeared on the table. I chose not to tell you about it for you not to panic" Shkan explains worriedly.
"I am the one responsible for that Shkan" A voice suddenly intervened.
"Briaphela" Shkan said.
"With a few chants and a little magic, I did teleport it here" She said.
"I noticed that it something humans drink when they're tired. It seems that after drinking it, they suddenly become energized. I thought it might have been some specially made concoction that they make." Briaphela says as she approaches Shkan to pat his back then laughs. Allura couldn't help but laugh as well, seeing Shkan panic despite his attitude was something she found amusing.
"Anyway princess, please excuse me for a moment for I have something to check on" Briaphela stops laughing as she walks pass both Allura and Shkan.
After Briaphela leaves, the kitchen's atmosphere suddenly turns back to normal and Allura continues finishing her food.
"What were those things? The ones chasing us that night?" she asks, not sure if it was the right thing to do so. She could have asked the elder or Briaphela but the question just couldn't wait anymore.
"Those were shadows," he said without much thought. She wanted to say 'obviously' but she immediately stops herself from saying such a stupid remark.
"They're corpses that had undergone a powerful warlock's ritual, a high warlock is able to bring a corpse back to life. The only thing different is that the corpses have no free will. The warlock is the only one who could control it, even Briaphela couldn't try to steal a walking shadow from its warlock." Shkan says as he finishes something he's working on. He turns back to her and she sees how serious he looks. Amaltheia already knew that he wasn't the type to lie, there wasn't a moment that she doubted him at the time.
Allura couldn't say anything about it. She forgot what a person says back when they discover a fact about something. All she could do was look back at him, trying to make her face say 'okay' and 'I understand'. Shkan nods as if he understood what Allura was trying to convey. He walks past her and proceeds to a shelf in what seems to be the living room. He takes a book from it and sits down in front of the now lit fireplace.
"Come over here," he calls out. She follows him and stands behind him.
"What's that?" she asks. The book contains symbols she wasn't familiar with. There were illustrations such as a human with arrows at some parts of its body.
"Briaphela's spell book, it's for warlocks actually. There are some spells in here that she couldn't perform because it's forbidden. Such as bringing the dead back to life in order to control them, meaning those things that were chasing us that night were the products of forbidden magic." He says pointing to a particular spread. It was in a language she wasn't familiar with, so all she could do was stare at the page with confusion and then look back to Shkan.
"She couldn't do it or she's chose not to do it?" Allura clarifies. If they've always thought that Briaphela was such a powerful sorceress, it would be impossible for her not to perform such, even if it was forbidden magic. Shkan remained silent, not even a nod or a shake of his head. Allura took it that Briaphela can do such ritual but chose not to do it.
"I'm not saying that she should try and do it. I just want to know if she's capable on doing it or not. I don't know anything about you people yet. I don't even know where this Fraitan? Was it Fraitan?" she looks at Shkan.
"Faistran" he corrects her.
"Right, Faistran. I don't even know where that place is, what kind of people live there. The elder says something about a race? What was it again? Tridan? Most importantly, If I am your princess, then am I not a human? I'm still so confused. I don't even know my true identity anymore," she says with a strained voice. She thought she was going to cry but it seems her eyes have dried out of tears.
"You'll find out if you come with us. Briaphela already told you the gist of your history. Shkan said.
"If I go with you to faistran, because you thought this world is not safe for me anymore, wouldn't it be more dangerous for me there? The elder said that assassins are lurking in every shadows there, wandering to find and try to kill me. Like those shadow creatures. What assurance do you have that I'm going to be safe there?" Allura says. It would seem selfish but of course she' worried of her own well being.
"We already learned from our mistakes princess" a voice suddenly intervenes.
"Elder" Shkan says as the elder emerges from the shadows with a grim expression.
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