CHAPTER 43

When Prince Arthur arrived in front of their kingdom, he asked the servant warriors to bring his father inside his room. He then dismounted the horse and extended his hand to Elora, who blushed. "Take my hand!" said the Prince who gave Elora a rakish smile.

She grabbed his hand, but the Pegasus suddenly shook Elora off its back. She was about to lose her balance when Prince Arthur grabbed her and they both fell to the ground. The most awkward situation they found themselves in.

"I-I... am so sorry, Prince Arthur. I... it was just an accident!" said Elora, who didn't realize that she was still hugging Prince Arthur in front of the warriors, and she heard his heart beating fast, so she asked him. "Are you all right? Your heart is racing like crazy!"

Prince Arthur didn't mind her laying on him. For the very first time, he could feel his heart desiring her. "A... ah... yes it is just an accident. I should be the one to apologize, perhaps I should have told Pegasus to behave nicely. Anyway, let us go inside the kingdom. Once you have healed my father, we will eat together and have a nice conversation. Honestly, I think you are the nicest Amazonian in your group!"

"Sure," Elora replied quickly. She stood up and grabbed Prince Arthur's hand in hers to assist him in standing. As they made their way inside the kingdom, the warriors stepped aside to let them in.

There were four warriors guarding outside his father's room. One of them spoke to Prince Arthur.

"Prince Arthur, until now King Bartholomeo is still unconscious, and his condition is getting worse!"

"No way, even my healing magic isn't effective as well?" asked Elora.

Prince Arthur put his arms around Elora's shoulder. "Let us go inside!"

They dragged their feet gently towards King Bartholomeo, trying not to make any noise. Elora then placed her hands on King Bartholomeo's wounded cheek to heal it. However, his situation got worse as his body was returning to violet again.

Elora looked at Prince Arthur and murmured quietly. "I thought my magic was strong enough to neutralize the poison!" The enemy's poison appears to be unique.

"What shall we do then?" worried Prince Arthur asked.

Elora recalled something helpful for King Bartholmeo. "In the land of Elshor, there is a wild beast called the six-tail fox which is known to be impervious to all poisons. Luckily, I can absorb its blood and heal your father with it, although I am not sure where we can exactly find it."

"Given the circumstances, we have no other options left but to find it!"

"But there is one thing you need to know, Prince Arthur!"

"And what is that thing? Your voice is making me anxious, Elora!"

"If the poison came from a high ranking werewolf, that means the poison is deadly. We need to find that six-tail fox before the sun appeared in the skies, otherwise King Bartholomeo will succumbed to poison and die!"

Prince Arthur's eyes widened in surprise. He knelt on his knees and sobbed. "This should never have happened if I hadn't let him battle with me; I was too weak to stop King Abaddon; I don't deserve to use the Tizona sword; the Celestial Spirit King should let others use it instead of me!"

Elora bowed her head and rubbed Prince Arthur's back to comfort him. "This is not the end Prince Arthur! I know I am not in the right place to speak but you're the only one who can save this nation from King Abaddon. Hold your ground and keep going, this nation's only hope is you. We must set aside our feelings and weaknesses. Didn't you say earlier that you were able to cut his wings? I'm certain that he won't be stupid enough to make any moves. So used this opportunity to alert this nation and practice as well."

Prince Arthur smiled at Elora. "Thank you for that wonderful piece of advice. I will take note of that!"

"Don't mention it. By the way, would you like me to come with you?"

"Of course I do!"

"But who will look after your father? Is Queen Veronica here?"

"No, she is not here. She and my father had an argument earlier. She wanted to order all the warriors and warrioresses to cut off the head of King Abaddon but my father refused to let her talk. He slapped her face in front of everyone, so she had no choice but to leave. I took her side, and yet I wasn't able to do anything to stop her from storming off."

"I see... so I guess, you will ask some warriors to guard your father while we're gone?"

"Indeed! We need to come back here as soon as we can. King Abaddon might already have deployed his werewolves to finish the job and kill both of us. After we get that blood from the fox, I am gonna avenge my father and the two kings."

"Alright. I forgot to mention one thing to you, Prince Arthur. This is regarding my magic power that I just discovered recently!"

"I hope it might be useful in my father's condition!"

"Indeed! During our fight with the werewolves, Arya almost died due to blood loss. We were in the middle of the fight, and as much as I'd like to heal her, enemies kept coming. So out of the blue, I cast a magic that enabled me to stop time for a few seconds and used that to rush and attend to her wounds. It comes with a price though; when I tried using it again, Mila noticed that my face was slightly different, so she assumed that whenever I stopped time, my face got older."

"Don't tell me you're going to use your magic power to temporarily stop the time of my father?"

"Absolutely. This ain't easy for me, and the compensation might be a major disadvantage. However, I can't endure seeing you in this state, so I finally decided to use it. Besides, King Bartholomeo is like a second father to me. I cannot afford losing him either," Elora said before casting her magic on King Bartholomeo again to stop his time.

"You are thoughtful, Elora. We have so many things in common that I just realized it right now. Both of us can use magic to fight. After all of this is over, I want the two of us to hang out and forget about what happened in this nation. Is that okay with you?"

Elora approached Prince Arthur and smiled appreciatively. "Really? Of course, it's a privilege to be with the Prince of this nation. Anyway, let us discuss it once we get the cure."

Before leaving, Prince Arthur told the warriors to keep an eye on his father and promised to come back as early as possible. The warriors nodded and swore to take care of his father while he was away.

Prince Arthur went down to the palm tree in the corner of the kingdom with Elora and untied the Pegasus. He mounted the Pegasus and helped Elora climb up the horse. He rubbed the head of the Pegasus again. "Hey buddy, please be nice to Elora. She is not an enemy!"

Elora found it weird and fascinating that Prince Arthur was talking to an animal. Prince Arthur heard her chuckle and turned around. "What's wrong? I've been talking to an animal ever since I learned how to use magic and I have proven that they really followed everything I said!"

"I see! You are treating them well, it's no wonder why they are cooperative with you!"

"Indeed, all the animals have feelings as well. Anyway, hold my shoulders, and we will fly again with incredible speed."

Elora held his shoulders, and the Pegasus started to fly upward.

"Hold on tight, Elora. If you are scared, you can hug my back so you won't fall!"

Elora gripped his back, and as the Pegasus' speed suddenly increased, she had no other choice but to hug his back and feel his warm body. When they got to Elshor Island, Prince Arthur used his magic to revive an eagle that had hunted a fox and talked to it.

"Deliver a fox for me. I will be waiting for your return!" said Prince Arthur to the Eagle, standing on his elbow.

The eagle flew to hunt. Prince Arthur and Elora continued their conversation on the shore while looking at the evaporated oceans.

"Who would have thought that King Malik was able to evaporate the ocean and use it to attack? He could have easily bested me if he were still alive. The same goes for King Barron."

Elora let out a frustrated breath. "Agreed, this problem is really getting out of hand. How sad that we are forced to cancel our anniversary because of King Abaddon!"

"Well, my father will handle the rest of it, and hopefully, this problem will not be passed down to me!"