Ten days into the journey, the procession was now at the Anotty Mountains, which was in fact a physical boundary standing between the Hashi and the Slan kingdom. On the far side of the road, the mountain range had started to open up upon them as they rode on, revealing a vista of nature as they got closer.
According to a rough outline of their remaining journey in his mind, Kasser expected another six days at least before they could finally reach the Holy City, as it occurred to him that it would take about three to four days just to ride past the mountains at their current pace.
‘We’ll probably arrive within 20 days… It’s just as I anticipated…’
Kasser, who was cantering on Abu, leading at the head of the procession, had caught sight of some human figures in the distance which he simply assumed as some other travelers on the road. Among all the different paths out there to cross the mountains, the road they had taken was relatively wider with gentle slopes, however a little detour was inevitable. But for the sake of the comforts of the ladies during the journey, they were left with no other options.
Slowly, as he got closer to the standing figures, he narrowed his eyes to examine their identity as his inner intuition warned him that there was something unusual about the party ahead. And before long, he was able to make out who the figures actually were.
He then promptly gave his signal to Sven who was riding right next to him. At his signal, Sven gave a quick nod as he pulled on the rein and soon faded from Kasser’s sight as his horse slowed to a trot.
Shortly, the formation of the warriors around the procession took a slight change with small forces of men dispersing further away to widely enclose around the lines of carriages, while some of them surrounded closely at the sides of the queen’s carriage.
However, Kasser continued to gallop ahead without slowing down. Although he found the encounter to be undesirable on their part, he knew the party held no threat to them as there were none other than Sang-je’s knights who would fully clad themselves in silvery armors along with their significant red clocks, in all places and at all times.
As the distance between the party and the marching procession began to close in, Kasser held up his hand and signaled the procession behind to slow down as he pulled on Abu’s rein. After Abu came to a complete stop, every horse and carriage behind them soon followed suit.
Sat on his saddle, Kasser watched Pides as he came up to him. When the distance between them was close enough to hold a conversation, the knight stopped and made his bow before Kasser.
“My greetings to the Desert King.”
“What an unexpected encounter, Sir Pides.”
“His Holiness had bid us to escort Anika Jin back to the Holy City in safety.”
It then came to Kasser’s attention that there were indeed more than ten of them in the party when he furtively casted his eyes towards the rest of the knights who were standing from a distance. He grumbled under his breath rather cynically, for it was a rare sight to witness this many knights moving as a group, as they usually carried out their duties in an independent manner.
“His Holiness may have worried unnecessarily. Or is it that His Holiness believes that I’ve not taken enough measures to ensure the safety of my queen when I send her away on a journey?”
“I beg your forgiveness for any misunderstanding caused. But His Holiness is only worried as much as he holds dear for Anika. So henceforth, allow us to escort Anika Jin for the rest of her journey.”
Kasser’s brows had furrowed for a moment before they were eased again as he let out a chuckle.
“I suppose you are mistaken, Sir Pides. I have not ridden all the way here just to see her off. I’m on my way to the Holy City as well.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Instantly, Pides’s head was raised out of surprise, but he was quick to lower his gaze.
“Let me make myself clear, Sir Pides. The queen will be escorted safely to the Holy City by me and my warriors and I don’t intend to delegate that authority to no one else than myself. However, I wouldn’t prohibit your party from joining the procession considering your service to meet us here all the way from the Holy City.”
“…As you command, Your Majesty.”
“Do you speak for your party of the knights?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Your wish is our command.”
“Sven.”
Swiftly swung off from his horse, Sven hurried himself to the king.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Show Sir Pides to the queen. He will greet her as a representative of his party.”
As Sven led the way, Kasser fixed his eyes on Pides, who was going off with Sven. He even turned his upper body around to keep Pides within his sight with such a persistent gaze. If only sharp-sighted Verus were here to see his lord at the moment, he would definitely conduct a secret investigation into Pides right away. It was quite unusual for Kasser to be openly hostile toward someone as he rarely showed his feelings on his face. But as for now, he didn’t even make an attempt to hide his distaste in his eyes.
He was somehow bothered by Pides’ presence without reason. Pides, who’s known as one of Sang-je’s most trusted knights, had strangely gotten on Kasser’s nerves from the moment he brought in Sang-je’s personal correspondence to Eugene.
‘You were supposed to be in Holy City by now. Why even bother to come all the way again?’
Pides’s reappearance implied that he was charged with yet another task by Sang-je as soon as he was done with his previous one, which made Kasser all doubtful about Sang-je’s intention in insisting Pides as their escort, even before he could have the time to recharge himself. Despite feeling uneasy about turning a blind eye to his hunch as much as if there were coarse grain of sands in his mouth, still, none of the justifiable reasons had come to his mind.
After having sensed a presence approaching him closely, he quickly snapped out of his musings and turned his head around. From there, he saw an unfamiliar looking warrior making a bow before him, who seemed to be one of the warriors who were standing in the vicinity of Sang-je’s knights a moment ago. But as they were donned in an attire distinctly different from the warriors of Hashi Kingdom, Kasser knew right away that they were indeed the affiliated warriors from the Slan Kingdom.
“It is my great honour to give my greetings to the Desert King. I am Tyren, Slan’s shadow.”
“Is it the king of the Slan who sent you here?”
“Yes, Your Grace. We have been charged by His majesty to give our best escort to the king and the queen of Hashi on their way to our kingdom.”
A traverse across the Slan kingdom was necessary in order to get to the Holy City from the Hashi kingdom. In the case of a common traveller, one only needed to be issued with a travel pass in accordance with the terms of treaty between the two kingdoms. But as for a king, different levels of formalities applied. An exchange of diplomatic documents of request and approval was the customary procedure.
However, as there wasn’t enough time to have diplomatic envoys come and go between the kingdoms, the procession departed right after envoys were sent to the Slan Kingdom. Kasser knew this wouldn’t cause them a problem as Sang-je’s summon was a justifiable reason for an exemption.
“How come the warriors of the Slan were here along with the knights? Have you all just happened to meet on the road?”
“Not long after the envoys from Hashi Kingdom arrived at the castle, the knights from the Holy City had also come to request an audience with His Majesty. And when the knights stated that they were to cross Anotty Mountains to meet with the procession, His Majesty had bid us to accompany the knights to welcome his honorable guests. Therefore, we would like to ask Your Grace for your permission to let us be your escort to the castle from here.”
If they were to make a stop at the castle, they would have to stay for at least one night to return the courtesy of the king, which meant their journey would be delayed as much as that. Suddenly, the image of Sang-je, who must be waiting impatiently for Eugene’s arrival in Holy City, flashed across Kasser’s mind. Carried away by his vexed feelings towards Sang-je, Kasser willingly accepted the invitation.
“My heartfelt thanks for the hospitality. I would gladly accept your offer.”
“As Your Majesty commands.”
***
The journey to cross over the mountain was different from their past ridings where they only travelled on the flat grounds. The intervals of resting time were then reduced to minimum, in order to save time on the road. They proceeded as much as they could during the day before they came to halt at sunset to prepare for the night.
There were levelled open areas laid out in every certain distance along the road, as the path was a well-trodden route for travelers. But as the procession had grown in number when they were joined by the knights and the warriors from Slan, there weren’t enough spaces to make camp for everyone.
The tents for the king and the queen, as well as for the ladies were prepared with the highest priority. Tents for their attendants were then made in the vacant spaces while the others slept in the carriages or even in the open.
When the king’s attendant was informed that the tent for his lord was made ready, he entered the prepared tent for an inspection. But when he saw nothing but a table in the interior, he faulted the servant for his poor work at once.
“You call this well prepared? Where is the bed for the king?”
“The bed is prepared in the next tent. This tent will serve as His Majesty’s office.”
“Office? A tent to serve as an office and another for the bedchamber? I don’t remember asking you for a palace. All I asked of you was to prepare two tents for His and Her Majesty.”
“As per your command, only two tents are prepared.”
“Then what about the tent for Her Majesty?”
“The tent next to this one was prepared for Her Majesty and will serve as His and Her Majesty’s bedchamber tonight.”
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He was about to make a face to the servant for his nonsense, but instead, he took a closer look into the servant’s face.
“I believe you accompanied His Majesty during his last visit to Holy City as well, am I right?”
“Yes, I did.”
During their last journey, the tents for the king and the queen were prepared in the exact same way the servant had prepared for them tonight, with the king’s tent used as an office while the queen’s served as their bedchamber. The servant had only prepared the tents according to his experience from last time. Upon realization, the attendant could no longer find fault with the servant’s doing as he also knew that his lord wouldn’t be spending the night in his tent.
After a moment of thought, he entered another tent that was prepared right next to the king’s tent with the servant. After further inspecting the queen’s tent with a bed prepared in the interior, he told the servant that he may leave, along with a gesture.