Road to Ruisea

❆ ❆ XX. KUMARI ❆ ❆

A fellow princess!

Kumari's very excited for more adventures, and possibly another friend.

A tiny little Huven princess she could play games with, and talk about princes with, and share stories with. From the sound of it, she seemed to be only a few years younger than Kumari, if not the same age, and she was looking forward to saving her.

King Mfalme accompanies them away from his throne room to the drawing room, and spreads a piece of parchment on a wood table.

Jae's distracted, running his fingers across the surface, admiring the texture.

"Do you like it? It's made of the wood of a baobab tree. It'll never break."

"So we can sit on it?" Kumari asks.

"Be my guest!"

Kumari is about to but Chiro pulls her back, clicking his tongue.

She makes an exaggerated grumpy face at him. He really has become her babysitter.

"This is the ransom note for my daughter," he says, Kumari hears him choking back tears. He steps back, allowing the three to get a closer look.

"I can't read it," Jae declares.

Chiro shakes his head, "Me neither."

"I can," Kumari squints. "Something's weird about it though."

"Allow me to translate," the king glances at the page once more, then clears his throat, "We have your Princess. Leave ten thousand gold coins and a hundred rubies in the largest clearing in the Huveni jungle or never see her again. You have until sunset nine days from now."

"So this was sent...?" Jae asks.

"The sunset of eight days ago, including today. Just as I noticed my darling daughter was missing..."

"It's really weird," Kumari frowns, pushing her nose against the page and sniffing it.

"Where did you find it?" Chiro asks.

"The side of the palace door, attached with an arrow."

"May we see the arrow?"

Mfalme beckons to a guard, who brings the arrow in question.

Jae takes it, twisting it and turning it around between his fingers.

"Well?" Chiro asks.

"It's an ordinary Huveni arrow."

"The arrow isn't special," Kumari frowns. "It's in the note."

Jae puts a hand on her shoulder, and she giggles at the little squeeze he gives, "What's in the note?"

"The bandits like to tease. The whole letter is written in Huveni, yeah, but some of the letters have been flipped."

"They have?" Chiro squints.

Mfalme nods, "Yes. I simply figured they had poor handwriting."

"They do," Kumari sighs. "It's why I'm having trouble reading it, but now that you've translated, it's pretty clear! But those aren't accidents. They're put there on purpose."

"Do you have another piece of paper?" And the guard hands Jae a white piece of parchment. He spreads it down on the desk, right next to the map, "And ink?"

A pen is handed to him and Kumari points out the symbols that have been turned upside-down, Jae copying them to the paper. There are only five, so the work is quick.

"What does it say?" Chiro asks.

The king sucks in a breath, "Kubwa."

Jae's confused, "What's that?"

"The pyramid," Chiro realizes, at the same time Kumari and Mfalme answer, "The name of our great pyramid."

"She's been right in front of my nose the whole time!" Mfalme wails. "I searched everywhere but in there..."

"They'd be fools to take her there," the guard says. "It's full of curses and traps."

"The perfect place," Jae replies. "If I were to kidnap someone — not saying I would — I'd take them there, too."

"Not to the bazaar?" Kumari teases.

"I didn't kidnap you. You tagged along."

"You invited me! After breaking in!"

"Guys," Chiro snaps them out of it. "Stop arguing. We need to get some rest before we go after the princess in the morning."

"In the morning?" Kumari snorts. "We'll stop arguing. But we're going now."

"Now?" Chiro whines. "In the middle of the night?"

"No better time for a pyramid break-in," is Jae's response. "At least in my opinion."

"The sooner you three bring my daughter back, the happier I'll be. I'll even send some of my guards in with you, to protect you."

The guard blanches, "I'm not going in that jamani pyramid. Only fools would."

"I am very foolish," is Kumari's response. Jae and Chiro chide her for saying so, but she brushes them off. "Let's go! We can do this ourselves."

"It appears," Jae says, slinging an arm around Kumari as they exit the room. "Huveni royal guard is just as useless as Cevalonian."

The guard huffs in rage but the king laughs, finding Jae's comment funny. So does Kumari and Chiro, guffawing as they exit.

"Nice translating by the way," Jae adds.

"Nice knife," Kumari pats his vest, feeling it hidden away in his pockets. "Never can have too many knives, right?"

"Maybe I'll start a collection," he grins. "Knives from every kingdom. I like that, yeah?"

"I like it too."

"Maybe I'll collect spells," Chiro says. "Starting with the shield, if we actually succeed in saving this princess."

Kumari pats his back, "What could possibly go wrong?"