The morning after the harsh night

I woke up later than usual. Still, my siblings were sleeping quietly snuggled up to me. I did not have a good night’s sleep. Flashes of what happened that night were appearing in my dreams. As a result, I feel like I have been run over by a horse. At least I imagine this is how it feels to get run over by a horse. That never happened to me so this is pure speculation.

Tiana woke up next, probably disrupted by the change in my breathing when I woke up. She opens her eyes and looks at me. “Good morning, big brother.” Then, she puts her head back on my chest.

“Good morning, Tia,” I greet her.

Arti wakes up as well. He yawns, lifts his head from my chest, and looks at me groggily. “Good morning,” he manages to get out between his yawns.

“Good morning to you too, Arti,” I reply chuckling slightly.

“Slept well?” Arti asks when he finishes yawning.

“Not really,” I say back.

“Me too,” Arti says sitting up in bed.

“Me three,” Tia mumbles from my chest.

I caress her hair and she hums happily. The door started opening up and I swiftly sat up in bed, my attention on the door. Tia shouts at the sudden movement that throws her off my chest.

“Why did you do it, you meanie?” she grumbles.

The doors open wider and our mom peeks into the room to check on us. “Oh, you are awake already.” She says and walks in.

Tia sits up on the bed as well. I speak up first. “Was there a third attacker?” I ask.

“No, the guards searched the whole palace and found no other signs of intruders. Those two must have been the only ones. They probably were the ones who killed the guards in the corridor last night,” she says.

“The needle, that the intruder in Arti and mine room broke in, was it poisoned?” I ask.

“We checked. It was,” Mom says.

“Something doesn’t add up then. Why kill the guards and try to poison me afterward? If they wanted to me it looks like I died in my sleep, then killing guards was a dead giveaway,” I say.

“We don’t know why they did what they did. Maybe the guards spotted them and they panicked? We will probably never find out,” Mom says somberly. “By the way, why were you sleeping with a dagger under your pillow, Zen?”

“Close the door first,” I say and she does. “I went to visit Tia last night and she told me about a nightmare she had yesterday. She said that she felt like something bad was going to happen soon. I guess what happened last night fits the bill.”

“So, I saved your life?” Tia chirps.

“You sure did, my little savior,” I boop her nose and she giggles. “Has anybody found out who sent them?” I ask Mom.

“No, they had nothing on them that would point to their employers. It is even hard to say who they are themselves. If I had to guess, I would say they were members of a foreign Assassin’s guild,” Mom replies.

“Well, seems like nothing more can be done about it,” I say and get out of bed. “I have magic practice with Elora soon. Got to get going.”

“Are you sure? It is fine if you day a couple of days off. What you went through is scary and even traumatic,” Mom says with concern.

“I want to get my mind off of it. The best way to do it is to go to practice,” I say and grab the clothes from the second bed, which a servant has already prepared for us. “Are you going, Arti?”

“Yes,” he replies, gets off the bed, grabs his clothes, and follows me out of the room.

We change our clothes in the next room and walk to the training grounds. As we approach it, we see Elora already waiting for us there.

“Didn’t think you would come,” she says as we approach her. “Heard what happened last night. You both okay?”

We nod. “And you sister?” She asks. We nod again. “Good. Is it true that you took both intruders out, Zen?”

“Yeah,” I reply.

“How are you feeling?” she asks, a look of worry written on her face.

“I will be alright. I was shaken a bit at first, but I am better now. They tried to kill me and my siblings. I will not lose sleep anymore over having had to kill them. No regrets either. They attacked the people I love the most. My only regret is that they didn’t suffer more for what they tried to do,” I reply ruthlessly.

“Yeah, you will be fine. Just remember that not everyone is like those two intruders. Do not start seeing only bad in people and danger around you. Unless you want to go completely insane with paranoia,” Elora chuckles.

“Nah, I’m good,” I smile back. Arti chuckles with us.

“Okay, let’s begin our training session. You better not expect me to go easy on you two,” she smirks.

“You better not,” I smirk back. Arti nods with me.

If anything, the training felt even more brutal than usual.

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