Chapter 4 My First Mistake

KIRO, THE PUJERAK

Kingdom of Ozai...the City of Armasia

The king's Palace

The Rokhans all walked into the palace one after the other. The entire city of armasia had gone quiet since their entrance into the city and it was the same thing as they asked into the king's Palace. There were people everywhere they turned but they had all gone quiet and still in their presence. The Rokhans were warriors bless by the god and goddess and they were the most mightiest warriors to grace all the regions. Deadly warriors too savage to be humane, and they were here with thier king to sign a treaty or....

On the inside of the palace stood the king of Ozai and his city heads, all waiiting to welcome them.

"Welcome to the capital city of armasia. Thank you for coming all this way" King Purak said as he slightly bowed.

The horde king's second in command, what we called a "Pujerak" stepped forward from The Rokhans

"Thank you for having us. We look forward to a... peaceful treaty" said Kiro, The Pujerak. Kiro carefully and calmly stared at the king. There was a reason he had just said what he did, a reason why they had a hundred Rokhans here with them today, and a reason why the horde king was currently not amongst them. The king of Ozai was many things, many horrible things. They needed to be extremely careful.

Three years after the war started between the two kingdoms, a war that had been initiated by king of Ozai for selfish horrendous reason. He had reached out to the horde king for a peace treaty to end the war. A war that had mostly affected the Kingdom of Ozai and it's twelve villages. A war that had rendered them weak and hungry. King Purak most likely saw the error if his actions a little too late and hence why he had wanted the peace treaty signed. Negotiations had been exchanged via messengers for the past few months and then today had finally been agreed in for the horde king to come to Ozai and the two kingd would sign a treat that staes that member of one kingdom should hatn or take from the member of another lest there was a good reason. Both kingdoms wanted the same thing so they had agreed. Kiro trusted his king to do what was honorable and right, but he didn't trust king Purak to do the same thing. Kiro watched the king intently...if King Purak had called them here just to attack or try and truck them into anything, Kiro would personally have his head

King Purak turned away from The Rokhans and then led them away from the entrance of the palace to the inner section were the meeting will be held.

"Where is your King? The treaty needs to be signed by both kings. He is aware of that isn't he?" King Purak asked Kiro as they walked into the palace, leading everybody else

"Of course. He will arrive on his own time and will not be rushed" replied Kiro, ending the conversation there and then. His king would not be questioned. Kiro looked around at the inner part of the palace...the sooner his king got here and signed the goddamn treaty the quicker they would all be able to leave. Where was his king?

ISLA

I headed in the opposite direction of the palace, turning away and walking towards the central market. It was late in the morning and time I usually went to work and got myself and my family something to eat. Each step away from the direction I wanted to walk in was painful and hard, I wanted to see the horde king, badly. I didn't understand the compulsion or my unhealthy obsession with him but he had never been far from my thoughts for as long as I could remember. Even as a child I read all the books I could get my hands on about the kingdom he ruled and I listened whenever someone even mentioned his name. He was my dirty little secret that I was weirdly obsessed with and thing was I had never even met the King! He was a faceless and structure less male but I was obsessed all the same.

Even after the war between our kingdoms started I still couldn't hate him or get my mind to change about him. When I had watched several of our warriors go to war without returning my mind still didn't change. I felt guilty and I hated myself for a while until I remembered that this obsession was something I might not be able to control, so I let myself be. Three years of the war passed and I finally found out that he was coming to our kingdom and I couldn't keep my excitement at bay. I could finally place a face and a body to the image of him I had in my head. I had always planned to go to the kingdom of Xion to meet with him but now that he was coming I didn't know what to do with myself. I was sure finding time to sneak into the palace later to catch a glimpse of him, I wasn't letting this opportunity go to waste. For now though, I needed to go make a living to feed my family.

The Market Place, Armasia

I whistled as I walked through the market, my walk was sure and confident as I looked at different stalls and most of the familiar stall owners I had gotten to know over the years of living in the city. I walked around and smiled at familiar faces and picked fruits from stalls of people that I had grown up seeing everyday as we smiled and bickered and waved at each other. It was a busy morning and it was just the way that I liked it, makes my work so much easier and smoother. One second I was walking through and the next I was gone, entered the alleyway in between stalls to scout and begin my business. To talk about what business I did I also needed to talk about how I looked like. I turned nineteen a few months ago, was short for a female and had an ordinary face, brown eyes with small lips and a sharp nose...my face was more round than straight and I also had a smarting of freckles on my very pale looking face, braced by very bright red hair...ugh. I hated my hair by the way, too red and long and made me stand out, so I used a wig for my second source of income. I got it a few years ago to cover that up and somehow made it work.

This morning I walked out of my house in a dress with red hair plaited to my scalp...this was Isla and was known by all of the residents in the city.... and then when I walked out of the alleyway I was William with my work uniform wearing a male shirt and vest with a little too large pair of trousers with boots, and of course my wig that made me look like a man. This was how I liked to work and it was great. Now to enlighten you of what work I did, now that....was the interesting bit. I would rather show you.

"Hello Mrs Wendy" I called out to my employer. A fat looking woman who sold mushrooms at one of the stalls

"William, you are very late today. I told you to be here before anyone this morning to open the stall" she replied as she glared at me. I was William, William was I.

"I apologize. I wanted to watch the arrivals of the Rokhans" I replied with a wink

She shook her head at me with a soft smile on her face and immediately got distracted with the arrival of a customer.

"I am done arranging the stock for the day and we are almost sold out. Could you go to my house and get me a fresh stack off the back? My husband should be there to help you " Mrs Wendy said to me once the customer had gone

I nodded and then hurried away from her stall to a different part of the city where her house was located. I did this often, go back to her home many times a day to get fresh stack to sell. This was my favorite part of my work period, because I used this time to do my second job, and this was where my disguise always came through. I looked around the market and tried finding my targets for the day. A woman holding a crying child's hand, a couple walking and laughing together...a lone young woman with a shopping basket in her hand, an old man haunched over a stall buying something. These were my targets for the day, all different people but they had something in common. They all had valuable currency that I needed.

Off I went wiggling through the crowd and people and letting my dark little talent out. Target one was successful and I immediately dumped thier money pouch into my huge pocket, my trousers were oversized for this very reason. Target two was also successful as I took the male's wallet unsuspectingly and even snagged an apple from the basket the female was holding... stealing was so easy and paid way more than working at the mushroom stall...I also enjoyed doing it and have gotten away with it since I was a child. This was what I used to feed my family and have been also saving up on the side to......I shook my head to clear my thoughts. My last and final target was in my sights.