Chapter 59 The end

Isla
I'M OUTSIDE WITH MOTHER and Mavli plucking pumpkin leaves for soup when a deafening thumping of hooves against the Earth is heard. Frightened, we rush inside and hide only peeping out through the windows.
"It could be them again!" Mavli's lower lip starts to quaver.
Mother's lips move wordlessly with silent prayer.
Carriages come in view, hundreds of them. Some of the carriages speed by and some stop near our hut. Valri is bleating with fright outside, Mother is whimpering with tears and Mavli clutches my arm, her nails digging into my flesh.
It is not soldiers with gold masks that emerge from the carriages but tired, weary and gladdened Kintilese faces.
The people are singing songs of praise. Mavli gasps and runs out the hut, Mother's tears become tears of joy as she cries even harder but with a smile on her face.
"Let's go!" I say to Mother, pulling her with me. Mavli has joined the band of joyous Kintilese and she is dancing with all her might. I am so happy that I start to laugh and cry at the same time. I can't believe that this is real, I don't believe that the Kintilese are being released.
I start dancing too, it is the first time I've danced in a long time.
More carriages come arrive taking the newly freed Kintilese to their huts. I hug a girl singing next to me, I don't know why but I need someone to lean on as I continue to laugh and cry.
He leans in, I can see every pore, every criss-cross of skin, every inch of the copper henna that adorns his skin. And his eyes close, and his lips brush mine. I sigh, melting into his arms as he kisses me.
"I love you, Isla." He whispers against my lips.
"I love you too, Kyan." I kiss him to seal it. I kiss him to unite us as one never to be separated again. I kiss him with every single part of my being.
I jolt awake, my eyes opening and I sit upright. Mavli lays beside me sleeping peacefully, I scrutinise her delicate features admiring how she looks in her sleep. A lock of hair falls against her cheek and her breaths makes it flutter as she exhales. I tuck it behind her cheek and leaning in, I kiss her cheek. She stirs a little then goes still again.
Slowly, I rise from the mat. Outside, the moonlight is as bright as day, casting it's silver glow on the ground making it glitter like a sea of jewels.
I make to the door of the hut and stare out. In the past, I used to wonder what is just after the horizon but I don't anymore because I know. Kyan. He is waiting for me just after the horizon and I want to be with him. My soul longs for him.
And I know what I must do.
I spin on my heels and come face to face with my mother. "Mother?" My brows scrunch,"what are you doing up so early?"
"I should be asking you the same thing," she says gently. She tilts her head and a small smile spreads across her lips, "you are thinking of him, aren't you?"
I feign ignorance, "what are you talking about?"
My mother chuckles, she grabs my hand and makes me follow her out of the hut. Two women ambling under the moonlight.
"You are thinking of him, the Prince." She says with so much confidence.
"I-I... How did you know?" I'm utterly surprised, it seems parents seem to know everything.
"I knew it from the way you spoke about him. There was so much love in the way you told us about him," she pauses, "even your father mentioned it."
I don't know what to say, I'm even short of words. "Mother..."
"Go back, Isla," she says. I search her features to see if she means it, if she is genuine. And she is, she always has been.
"Mother." I pull her to me in a hug.
She rubs my back and then whispers, "go, go back to Kyan."
I swallow hard. My eyes darts to the hut and I see two figures standing at the doorway watching us. Mother leads me back to the hut and I go back to bed but I can't sleep. Mavli doesn't sleep either, she sings farewell folk songs into the early hours of the morning.
When Mavli stops singing, we go to the river to bath and after that, she helps me pack my meager belongings into a skin-bag. We don't say much to each other.
"Isla," father steps into the small room I share with Mavli with an amused smile, "you weren't going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?"
"No, father." I smile and he laughs.
"It's a real shame that we will be separated again, I don't know if I can manage it." His voice is filled with emotion and his eyes are glassy. My mother clears her throat behind him, obviously giving him a warning and he quickly adds, "but I'll survive dear and who knows, one day we will come to visit."
"Thanks, father." I hug him just briefly because if I don't pry myself back immediately I might not find the strength to leave.
"Isla", Mavli steps forward with sadness etched in her face, "if it was up to me, God knows I will never let you go but... That would be selfish of me," she breaks into a sob and my blink to hold back my own tears.
"Mavli-" I reach out to touch her but she jerks away.
"No," she says mustering strength," let me finish," she sniffles, "I'm not so good in parting words and I'm grateful for that because I know that we shall see again. I just want to let you know that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me, Isla. If God gave me the opportunity to keep a sister, she will always be you."
"I love you too, Mavli." We lean into each other's arms. I hear my parents' quiet sobbing and sniffles.
"I'll find Nadhat's family at the East and show them where we laid her. I owe it to her, they deserve to know what happened to her," Mavli says and I feel proud of the woman she has become.
Once I manage to pry myself from Mavli, my mother steps forward with a wide grin. "Give this to my son in-law for me." And she press a small lapis lazuli pendant into my open palm.
The small waving silhouettes grow smaller and smaller as Lady Gin-Gin canters down the narrow path. I don't take my eyes off them.
Soon, we get to the market. We jump over the chasm again, past the ruined stalls.
Lady Gin-Gin's speed doesn't waver as we travel over the creaking bridge. "Good girl," I say breathlessly as I scratch the spot behind her ear.
The fading moon travels with me as we past Nadhat's burial place, my heart sinks and I murmur a prayer for her soul. We keep on moving, travelling further until I can spot the gates of Altsas at a distance.
Now, it's bright morning. Almost noon in fact as we lazily trot into the gates. Luckily for us, the female soldier is not at the towers and the soldier that stands guard doesn't seem to mind us.
In the market, I pass a trader selling pouches of sugar grains. Oroi looks at me then looks away quickly. I see a nice pair of sandals that would fit a certain five year old girl. The sandals cost five copper coins, it is worth it.
When Lady Gin-Gin gets close to the house of the goldsmith, I see Mye sitting outside on the step and I hear the familiar high-pitched yelling and low-pitched grumbling coming from inside the house.
Mye sees me. "Aunt Isla!"
I hug her to me when she runs into my arms. She squeals happily when I let her pet Lady Gin-Gin's nozzle.
I don't want to be seen so when I hear the voices begin to hush, I kiss Mye on the cheek and present the sandals to her. She thanks me and I quickly gallop away.
My heart beats like a talking drum when I approach the Palace.
The gates of the Palace are locked shut and an army of soldiers stand guard.
"Who is there?" One of them barks.
"It's Isla," I choke out in a small voice that is not mine, "I'm the Prince's betrothed!"
Then, the soldiers turn into an uproar. The laugh mocking me but in a bored way as if they have heard it before.
"But I am the Prince's betrothed!" I cry out. My eyes darts to all their faces one by one but they all don't seem to believe me and then, my eyes lands on one of the guards who is not laughing, he just stands there staring right at me.
"You believe me, don't you?" I feel that I know him. He is so familiar.
He looks at me with a look that suggests pity and then, he nods. A small imperceptible nod. And my heart pounds in my chest.
"Listen up," he raises his voice just a bit but they all fall silent and turn to him, "I know her, she was the one I guarded in the dungeon with one other soldier."
I'm so thankful that I want to dismount and hug him.
"But the Prince has a new bride," one of the soldiers murmurs.
My heart sinks. They don't make any move to open the gates. The kind soldier just looks at me with a look that drips with pity. "I'm sorry," he mouths.
I nod and steer Lady Gin-Gin around and the hot tears fall.
"Isla!" It's the voice from my dreams, Kyan's mellifluous voice.
Lady Gin-Gin snorts loudly and whips her tail excitingly. I hear the creaking of the hinges of the gates as it is being opened and something inside me breaks free. I leap down from Lady Gin-Gin, stumbling a little but quickly regaining my balance and Irun into his arms.
He hoists me up by my waist laughing, and I laugh too. Joy bigger than an ocean overflows inside me, he gently drops me down and hugs me, wrapping his arms around me and whispering into my ear. "I waited for you by the terrace watching for went you will return, I had faith and I just knew deep down that I'll see you again". He crushes me to himself and I hold on to him tight afraid to let go. I open my eyes to see Lyza, Duchess Alira, Rakar, the King and Queen all watching us from the terrace, their expectations run from shock to sneer. But Lyza is beaming at me.
"It's just me and you, Kyan," I say with a promise.
He kisses a line from my temple to the corner of my lip. "Promise?"
"Promise." And this time, I mean it.
And I welcome his lips as they cover mine with so much passion sealing us together, nothing is going to tear us apart now.