The next day Havil picked up his wife from the training camps.

  Entering the carriage Aminah smiled at him. “This is a surprise,” she said, taking a seat next to him.

  Lifting her hand he kissed it. “I come with news,” he said slowly.

  Aminah’s lips curled into a sad smile. “Of course you do. It has been ages since my husband picked me up.”

  The carriage departed with a slight jolt. “What is it?”

  “General Jian was accused of selling weapons. His family has been thrown in prison and their son-”

  Aminah’s hand clutched Havil’s arm. “Nubian? That is impossible. Havil it is impossible. He would never do something like this. He was promoted to general only two Blue moons ago.” She pushed her fingers at the point between her brows. “No this cannot be true. And Babu? What of him?”

  “Babu disappeared. The king says if he does not return then,” Havil placed his hand on top of Aminah’s, “then General Jian and his family will be sentenced to death.”

  Aminah sunk back into her seat. Pulling her hand away from Havil she tapped her legs in thought. “We trained together, we fought together. We went to the front lines and protected each other. For the kingdom, for the king.” Aminah shook her foot with bitter acceptance. “There is nothing you can do,” she said more to herself than Havil.

  Havil reached to comfort her but pulled his hand back at the last second. “If I speak up for him it will only make it worse. But-”

  Aminah’s eyes locked with his, a small strand of hope appearing. “What is it?”

  Opening his hands Aminah’s warm palm covered his. “I can take you to him. It is where we are going now.”

  Meanwhile Dharam, once again, was making his way to the stables to escape. Everyone was busy and if he had to sit through one more class on poetry he was sure to die. Once he made his way to the horse he was off to go have fun in the marketplace, maybe pick up a dagger for Ley Ley. He ducked behind a bush to avoid a senior passing by and walked in a crouch to the stables. Bumping into something he lifted his leg to walk over it, all the while keeping his eyes on the seniors passing. Setting his leg down he heard a groan. Annoyed, he dropped his head only to find another person. “Young Lord Jian!” He whispered, scanning to see if anyone noticed.

  The young lord in question lay on the grass, scratches on his face, his hand clutching his stomach.

  “Did you roll down a hill? Why do you look like this?” Dharam asked, inspecting all the scrapes and cuts on his body. “Why are you here on the ground? I thought your father had forced you to go to military camp in the evenings.” Dharam lifted his arm and inspected his wound, an arrow wound? It looked as if the arrow grazed his arm, but that is impossible. “You are bleeding, did you bump into a stone on the way down the hill?”

  “Scholar Aljehni,” the young lord rasped, his breaths broken off as he winced and clutched his side.

  “You must have hit your head pretty hard. I am not Lord Aljehni, I am not even the Young Lord,” Dharam ripped the edge of his robe and tied it around his arm to stop the bleeding. “You do not have to worry about me telling others about you skipping military camp. As long as you tell no one I skipped class. Deal?”

  The young lord grabbed onto Dharam’s jacket. “Where is your father?” He asked thickly.

  “How hard did you hit your head? If you find my father he will know both of us are not where we are supposed to be. You are not badly injured, maybe because you studied as a scholar you never experienced this. But I assure you, you will heal. You just need to find a real bed. When you wake up you will feel better,” he said as he walked away.

  “Dharam! Where is your father?” He asked again.

  Dharam turned with a glare. “We are calling each other by name now Babu? You are confused, our parents are best friends. You and I,” he motioned between them, “have nothing to do with each other. You are not bleeding out. You do not need a doctor, just go home. Besides, even if you do get caught, General Jian will not punish you. You seemed to have punished yourself already.”

  Babu groaned and rolled to his right to face him. “My father is in danger.” His hand tightened on Dharam’s jacket, “Please, find your father. My father will be sentenced, only he can help.”

  Dharam’s face contorted. “General Jian is in danger? Then my mother-” Dharam peeked up from the bush and seeing no one around lifted Babu on his back with ease. “My father should be home. I will take you there first.”

  At the manor Aaleyah sat in the study on the second floor forcing herself to read what her father assigned. This book was worse than the last. Calling it a book was a compliment. It was written in the old language, thus it was written on an old scroll. So her father had the mind to tell her to copy it down. This way she will not have to repeatedly open it. Aaleyah stopped her scribing to groan in frustration, she was not even halfway done! Copying the scroll is necessary, old things must be treasured. However that is only half the work. She was not fluent in the old language and would have to translate it after

  Asbed leaned on the door. “Do you hate studying languages so much?”

  Picking up the paintbrush Aaleyah continued to scribe. “It is not that I hate it. Father expects me to learn it fluently, but there is no one,” she points at Asbed, “our family does not count. There is no one who speaks this language. No one can read it, speak it, write it, except us. Zale is right when he calls it the family language!”

  Asbed walked into the study and took a seat on the floor cushion across from her. “You know father and I really did try to reach out and see if there was anyone within the kingdoms who spoke it. We found no one. Is that not confounding? We have books scribed in a language that, to our world, does not exist,” he said with a look of wonder and astonishment.

  “That is exactly my point.” Aaleyah unraveled the next section of the scroll. “We are learning something that we will never use.”

  Asbed held her hand to stop her from writing, “Ley Ley how can you not understand? This language is all we have left to explain who we are, and where we came from.” He motioned to the shelves of scrolls and books. “This language holds so many Aljehni family secrets, secrets that if we disappeared from the world today, there would be no one who could learn them. We are the key to the old world.”

  Aaleyah gave him a dead look. “If it is so amazing why does father not tell you to do this?”

  Asbed sighed and leaned on the table. “I did most of them, but,” he pointed to the scroll in front of Aaleyah and a shelf high above her, “some scrolls are only allowed to be read by the Family Head, and the Protector.” He shrugged. “But the scroll Zale has to read is the one I translated.”

  Aaleyah scoffed. “Of course Zale does not have to study this language,” she complained to herself.

  Asbed covered his mouth to yawn. “I do not understand you Aaleyah, you learned the ancient language easily without complaint.”

  Aaleyah picked up her brush to continue scribing, “That is different. Almost everyone in the Aidkjeen Kingdom has learned Ancient Aidjeeken. Or at least know how to read it. There are still some words that are similar to the ancient language as well. While most books and scriptures are translated, or will be translated, there are still some old ones out there.” She unrolled another section of the scroll. “It is logical to learn it, there are even places far to the west that still only speak Ancient Aidjeeken. Our stupid family language has no similar words to any language spoken today so why must I learn it? It seems to me I am only doing this for the sake of tradition.”

  “What is so bad about tradition? Are you picking up on Chiara’s trait of fighting everything?”

  Aaleyah filled her cheeks with air to stop her smile. These moons it did seem like Chiara only wished to argue.

  “Asbed, remember you asked me to make you daggers?” She rested her head on her hand and gave him a hopeful look.

  “No way.” He moved to stand but she caught his arm.

  “Please, my dearest brother Asbed, please. Just help me, just this once. I will do whatever you ask.”

  She struggled to keep her fingers wrapped around his arm but he moved them away slowly.

  “No way,” he grunted, taking off one finger. “If father was to find out,” he took off another finger, “I would be dead.” He released himself from her hold. “Besides, I am not allowed to read it. Ask Zale.”

  Aaleyah reached across the table to grab Asbed once more, but he was too quick and she was afraid to bump the table and have the ink spill. “Asbed! I have better luck doing it on my own,” she grumbled but it turned into a whine as her brother made his way to the door.

  “Good, then I will not disturb you any longer.” Were Asbed’s parting words.

  Aaleyah screamed internally and pulled at the braid in her hair. This was the great moment that Zale chose to come.

  “Asbed said you think I am too foolish to help translate.” He took the same seat Asbed had sat in earlier.

  She rubbed her eyes. “I only call you foolish to your face.”

  Zale chuckled. “True. I know you are more fluent than I am, but if you scribe and I translate it will still be faster than if you do it by yourself, right?” He got himself a paper and picked up a brush.

  Aaleyah scooted over on her cushion. “In return I will help you translate your work,” she vowed, smiling as her twin took a seat next to her to begin translating.

  Outside the manor Amenah stood by the side gates debating again and again if she should go speak to Kemal. She wished to see him, but also knew she should let him go. She tapped her cheeks in thought.

  The gates opened and a brown horse made its way through with a pest of a rider.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Amenah rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “Honestly Dharam, what is the point of claiming to be a student at the academy if you are never there?” How he got passing scores is beyond her.

  He chuckled and walked his horse towards her. “Give me a hand.”

  “With wha-” her words died off when she saw him, face leaned against her brother’s back with no energy. “Babu?” She rushed to get him down.

  “Young Lord Jian, what happened to you?” She turned to Dharam. “Why is he bleeding?”

  “It was not me.” Dharam slid off the horse and hung the reins on a tree next to the small pond. “Is father home?”

  Amenah inspected Babu’s wounds. “No. If you did not do this, then who did?” She led Babu towards the granary shaking her head at the servants who gave her looks of concern. It was not their first time seeing Babu injured. “Shall we clean you up?” she asked him gently.

  “How am I to know? He is always getting beat up,” Dharam trailed behind. “Where is everyone?

  “That is not true,” Babu wheezed, leaning on her shoulder.

  “Do not talk if you are going to sound like a wounded puppy,” Dharam dismissed.

  “The twins are in their study, Chiara’s in the library, most likely with Asbed. Roset somewhere with rocks. Close the door to insure no one knows about your violence.” Amenah walked through the door with Babu and allowed it to fall shut on Dharam.

  Dharam caught it with his foot. “Mei Mei I really did not do it.” He walked across the small room to close the door connecting it to the manor

  Ignoring him, Amenah called out the window for a servant to fetch medical supplies so she could clean up Babu’s wounds.

  “Speak up young lord,” Dharam snapped his fingers.

  Babu gulped. “Second, Young Lord Aljehnin did not do this to me.”

  “See, I told you Mei Mei. How can you just accuse your twin?” Dharam took the supplies from the servant. “I got it.” Taking the supplies he marched to Babu. “Alright, talk. What happened to your father? Who did this to you, and why do you think my father can help?”

  Amenah gritted her teeth before elbowing Dharam in the stomach and took the medical supplies. “What is this, an interrogation?" The words he said finally clicked in her head. “Something happened to your father?” She asked Babu.

  Dharam leaned on the bag of grain. “Who do you need me to beat up Babu?”

  Babu’s bottom lip jutted. “The guards-”

  The door opened and Roset ran in. “Amenah! I looked for you. Look, look!” He screamed holding up a rock. “This one is blue.”

  Amenah blocked Babu from Roset’s wide eyes. “Roset? Why are you in the granary?”

  “You can have this one.” Roset offered with a toothy grin.

  Dharam moved to her side. “Roset, do you usually come to the granary? Does mother know?”

  Roset frowned, but did not drop his offered rock.

  Amenah forced a smile. “Thank you Roset. Unfortunately Menah is busy.” She placed the blue rock back in Roset’s hand. “Can you put this somewhere safe for me?”

  Roset seemed to be in deep thought debating the best course of action. His small fingers clutching the blue rock.

  Bending forward she kissed his forehead. “Go on Roset. Afterwards, go find Chiara and stay by her side until I come back. You should know better than to come to the granary.”

  Roset finally relented and ran off to find a safe place for her rock.

  Dhaam followed behind him and locked the door.

  “You should have locked it before,” she crossed her arms.

  “Who knew Roset would run in here. It is not close to meal time, I thought the room would stay empty.”

  As she opened her mouth Dharam waved her off. “This is not what we need to be discussing.”

  Nodding they turned in sync to Babu.

  “Alright let us hear what happened,” Dharam demanded.

  Amenah began to clean his wounds as he spoke.

  “My father has been accused of selling weapons. Everyone was arrested, those who resisted were killed.” Babu winced from the wound Amenah was cleaning.

  “Everyone was killed? Then how are you here?” Dharam asked.

  “My father told me to run. He told me to run and hide.” Babu dropped his head and Amenah felt a pang of sadness upon seeing his angry eyes.

  “So you hid at academy behind a bush?” Dharam questioned as he ran a hand through his curls. “General Jian would never do what the crimes suggest. If you all went quietly you could wait for your innocence to be proven. Why resist? That only makes others believe you are guilty.”

  “The Jian family is not guilty!” Babu forced himself to stand, his hand clutching his side and Amenah stepped back towards Dharam.

  “Where is your father?” Babu asked, his teeth clenched.

  Amenah guided him back to his seat. “He is coming home soon, Babu. Was it not the Stilits who did this? Was that case not closed? Our family was accused of the same crime and we were able to prove ourselves innocent. My brother is right, why would your family resist?”

  Babu clenched his jaw saying nothing.

  “If you do not speak, we will not help you,” Dharam threatened.

  Amenah glared.

  “My father is innocent,” Babu gritted.

  Taking a cloth to clean his side Amenah froze, her hand hovered over the wound. Something was not adding up. “Who resisted first? Was anything stolen?” She lifted her head to see eye to eye with Babu.

  “Where is your father?” Babu asked, looking away.

  Amenah studied the wound more, but no matter how hard she looked, she knew she was right.

  “Tell us what happened first,” Dharam challenged. “The guards came to your manor and arrested your father, some of you resisted, and your father told you to run away? Babu, I can not believe your father would fight the guards, innocent men have no reason to.”

  Amenah locked eyes with Dharam before turning back to Babu. “It is likely my father already knows, he may be on his way to your estate first. Are you certain your father has…” She could not get the words out. General Jian was an uncle to her, when she decided to be a weaponsmith, it was he who encouraged her. The first star blades she ever made was for him. Blades as small as her palm, he swore to never use them but always kept them on hand. Surely he had not fallen as Babu said.

  Her eyes fell to the wound on Babu’s side. The small metal coated in blood, corner sticking out of his side. No one in Aidkjeen had small star blades like that but General Jian.

  Dharam pulled her to her feet and stepped between her and Babu. “How did you get wounded Babu? Was it a guard? Was it an arrow? Blade?”

  Amenah watched Babu’s eyes, the anger there. How did he get stabbed with the star blade?

  “It does not matter. Where is your father? He should help, he has the power to get my father out of prison.” Babu slammed his fists on the chair.

  Amenah shook her head, Babu was not going to say it. “It matters because your wound is from a star blade.”

  Babu opened his mouth to rebut.

  “Do not even think about denying it. I have helped forge star blades for your father. My mother and I delivered them to General Jian ourselves. This cut came from a star blade, one your father always swore never to use. So tell me, how are you injured with it? No one has this. No one! Babu what happened?” Her mind did not want to think it, could not. “Did your father attack you?”

  “Babu Jian, your family is innocent of the crimes-”

  “But what happened that resulted in my star blade in your side? Smaller than my palm, not perfectly angled, this is one of the blades your father kept on him as decoration. He would not use it as a weapon unless he had nothing else.”

  Babu lifted his head, his brown eyes a sea of turmoil. “I did it for the Aljehni,” he whispered with conviction. “I risked my life for the Aljehni family, should you not do the same for mine?” His lips twitched between a crazed smile and a grimace.

  Inside the palace prison, Aminah followed her husband down the halls. Her eyes scanned her surroundings. “What is wrong with the guards?” The guards posted did not spare a glance at Aminah and Havil walking throughout the prison. They pretended they were not there, and this gave the feeling of no security.

  “I paid them off,” Haivil whispered back. “We do not have much time,” he told her as they rounded a corner and stood before a cell.

  The cell had no window, the only light came from the window of the cells across from it.

  Inside a man began to move towards them. His hair tied up in a tight bun atop his head. His body still dressed in his military uniform, armor still tied to his body. As he placed his hands on the bars Aminah could see the blood that stuck to them, could see the gash with dried blood on his face, the white underclothing that was stained. “Aminah, I am so sorry.”

  She placed her hands atop of his. “Nubian, what happened? How has it come to this? Your son is missing.”

  At the mention of his son Nubian eyes flashed with pained betrayal. “Aminah I would follow you to death.” He smiled with shining eyes. “My sister of war, I am so sorry.”

  Hearing his repeated apologies Aminah took a deep breath. She did not wish to ask. She did not wish to know. Without even trying she could piece together what happened.

  “My son is working for the Stilits,” Nubian confessed. “I swear to you I did not know. The guards came and we bowed to hear the king’s message. However when the crime was stated Babu stood and pulled out a sword,” he scoffed. “A sword, when did he even learn to fight? He refused my teaching all his life. He announced his desires to walk the path of a scholar,” he gritted his teeth. “But he pulled out a sword and attacked, he claimed that everything he did was for the Aljehnis.”

  Aminah’s eyes widened but she forced herself to remain calm, Havil’s hand on her shoulder kept her grounded.

  Nubian eyes glossed over and he banged his head against the bar three times.

  “Nubian! Stop!” Aminah whispered.

  Obeying Nubian looked at her with pained eyes. “I apologize Aminah, I am sorry Havil. My son has formed a fire in the direction of your family. I killed every soldier who came to the manor, everyone who heard my son claim to do his crimes for your family. But I could not stop my son from escaping.” He pulled his hand to rest atop of Aminah’s. “You must find my son. You must stop him. He is not himself, it is as if his brain has been overrun. He is not my son.”

  “You think he is brainwashed?” Aminah asked in shock. She had heard of it, Nubian and her had seen it on the battlefield, but it only lasted a few moments. What Nubian was claiming seemed unreal. To brainwash Babu, have him learn sword fighting, and have him betray his father. How strong did someone have to be? Or how smart to manipulate someone’s brain so much?

  “My son is no fighter, my son is terrified of battle. He can barely look at blood without fainting, so tell me, how could he fight and kill the way he did today? How could he manipulate trade, how would he even know about the weapons?”

  Within Aidkjeen Kingdom, being a part of the military was an esteemed position. There were families whose sole job was to be in the military. The Jian family was a proud martial family. The previous generation was one of commanders, and brave leaders. To speak of military accomplishments was something the family never failed to do.

  Nubian never spoke of his son, his black sheep. His wife passed away after giving birth to Babu, thus he is the only child, the future leader of the Jian family. And he hated fighting. Babu refused to even learn how to hold a weapon correctly, let alone use it. To speak about Babu in Nubian’s presence immediately brought down the mood of the room.

  So to hear Nubian speak about his son’s lack of ability to argue for his innocence was proof enough that he wholeheartedly believed in his words. Believed his son was brainwashed. Believed someone was manipulating things to harm her family.

  Aminah moved to the lock at the gate and inspected it. “Nubian, I will get you out of here. You can help me find your son. I will not abandon you here.”

  “Aminah, there is nothing I would not do for you. But I selfishly ask you to stop my son, by any means necessary. Do not allow him to place harm on your family.” He stepped backwards away from Aminah and dug into his pocket. “Aminah I know my son is manipulated, he is unable to stop his own actions. For I too am unable to control mine.”

  Aminah’s arm reached between the bars. “Nubian! Tell me. Come back and tell me,” her facade of calm dropped as fear etched itself into her being.

  Nubian smiled. “I can feel it in my mind. Whispers. But I refuse to listen. I can not refuse for long. Even now there are words I wish to tell you, but my lips will not pronounce them.” His eyes shook with pain. “It is as if I am unable to remember.”

  Her eyes shook as she watched Nubian pull out a vial. “You told me we would die on the battlefield together or of old age,” she rushed to remind him, the tightness of her throat making her breaths quicken in fear. “Nubian,” she whispered his name in her exhale.

  “If I do not do this I will cause you great harm,” Nubian told her, opening the vial.

  “You are causing me harm now. Please.” She tried to open the cell door. “Do not leave me Nubian. You promised me.”

  “I do not know how it happened.” Nubian chuckled. “Or why I have more control than my son, but this is the only way I can ensure I do not harm you.” He lifted the vial to his lips. “Promise to stop him, by any means necessary, save him from himself.” He emptied the vial.

  Aminah watched as her best friend’s body began to shake, his skin reddening as his body collapsed to the floor. Moving back she kicked at the lock of the door as hard as she could. “Nubian.”

  “We have to go, Aminah. Time is up.” Havil gritted as he tried to pull her back, she could hear footsteps approaching.

  “No,” her eyes welled with tears. “No. I can save him, I have to save him. Havil. Do not make me leave him behind. Nubian, please.. Havil do not make me leave him,” she brokenly asked.

  “My star, I am sorry.” Havil pulled her hands away from the bars and hoisted her on his shoulder and rushed to the exit of the prison.