Whew! I never thought that I could update this month. My schedule is horrible. Does anyone know how to manage time? 'Cause it is head breaking! Anyway, the here's a chapter. I will talk later! Do not forget to read the last A/n. It's no use is it not? Telling you to read the A/n.

Why am I increasing the words? I need to cut them down! Just why?

  @RedAppleBooklover Thank you for flooding my notifications with your votes :)

A New Friend

********

Days without Mika was slow-paced. It had no meaning. Alseia would try to cheer her up, but she was simply not Mika. Though both the women loved to have fun even in the bleakest of their lives, Ella could now see the differences between her two friends. While one was confident enough, skilled enough to leave the other was broken in ways Ella knew she would understand soon. Mika was an assassin, while Alseia was a born slave.

The stiff expression her face wore, was etched. There was no one to remove it by making her smile. Until then, she never knew how Mika made her laugh at the dullest of her times. Alseia did her best, but Ella rarely saw her. It was as if the guards knew that Ella's only hope was Alseia. Luka gave her enough work that the girl rarely slept. During the long days without Mika, Ella had seen her friend only thrice.

Ella did her routine. Wake up, wash her face and slough in the dying room until the bell for dinner rang. Then eat the soggy food and return to sleep only to be woken up within next four hours. Luka was considerate enough to allow her to sleep for four hours. Her roommate, Alseia was a whole new story. Luka hated her and that one emotion accounted for everything her friend underwent.

Luckily, for the past one day, all the clothes were enough dyed and Luka was planning another work for all those who worked there. And since she was not well, the ones who worked with the dyes were left free for one day. Just one day. No one bothered to check them and Ella had a feeling that a few good knights had ordered the slaves a little rest. That might explain why Alseia was sleeping to her oblivion. The land could have sunk and her friend would not have cared.

Staring at the black ceiling, her mind welcomed unwanted, pessimistic and toxic thoughts. They became so melancholy that she could physically feel the pain; the pressure that settled on her heart and the suffocating feeling of her lungs. Her throat tightened as she resisted the urge to cry.

Would she be stuck here for the rest of her life? Would ever be able to sleep just once in her lover's arms? Would she-

Ella shook her head. Having thoughts about future was overwhelming. If she did cry, she would wake Alseia and that girl needed this sleep more than anyone.

Taking a deep breath, Ella sat. Her bones protested when she got up and her heavy heart whispered sinful things for her to lie down. But her mind ordered her to get out of that room. When she stood up, she fled the room.

Her head throbbed because of her confinement to the bed for so many hours. She just did not bother to see what day was it.

Shaking her body, she made her way to the common baths. Perhaps a bath would do her good. Her head fell down on their own account. Her hair which fell down was just enough to cover her face. She shook her hair. It had grown long.

The guards who usually stood in the corridors were not there. She did not know where they had gone, she did not want to know. She just wished that they would never come back, but that was just a wishful thinking.

When the corridors had enough light she saw her skin. Her sun-kissed skin was caked with dust and she had not bothered to change her dress. She was in the same rags the day Mika was escorted out by Payne and Triane.

She giggled to herself at the queer thought that entered her. Then she shook her head again. Perhaps these were the signs of insanity.

Or does sacrifice cost you so much? She did not know. To save her family, first, she agreed to marry Elmar. But they fell in love only to be torn apart. To save her sister, she lost her pride and dignity on that fateful day. To save the life of a girl, she lost her innocence. Now to save the nation she lost her best friend who was there with her from the beginning. She had not felt so miserable even when she lost Elmar. The loss of a friend was unacceptable. Yes, Mika was not dead, but she was not here.

Being a hypocrite will get you nowhere, Ella.

When Mika refused to leave, she convinced her to leave. If she had known she would feel like a shattered glass, then she would not have allowed her to leave.

It was, as if, a drug was there in her system. She wanted to move but she could not. But somehow she managed to make her way to the bath. Inside no one was there save for two girls about her age. She bunched her eyebrows. She had seen them somewhere. Were they in her dye room? Or did she see them when she once sneaked to see Alseia in the forges, sharpening the blades?

Past few weeks she saw the security level had gone down and the name of the king was boldly whispered among the slaves. What had happened?

Shrugging, she slipped out of the rags and got into the water. It held the same warmth her baths had in her home. Sighing, she relaxed.

"My name is Daia, My Lady." A voice pulled her from her almost sleep state.

She opened her eyes. In front of her was a petite girl, whose cheekbones was visible. The girl who introduced herself looked at Ella, waiting for her reply. The other girl was glaring at her friend. Daia's eyebrows said she had red hair, but her brown hair said otherwise. Her brown eyes were big, filled with curiosity.

"What do you want?" Ella snapped.

She saw the girl shiver by the intensity of her voice. "I... th-thought... you... eat..," Daia shuttered, casting her eyes down.

"Stop stammering and just say what you came to say," she staccatoed.

"It's just that... you did not have your meals properly for five days. You ate only at nights and Madam Luka purposely did not feed you during the morning. You rarely even drank water. You look lost," the girl whispered in a soft tone.

The frown Ella wore, disappeared. Why was she like this? Why was she like a bitch? If a friend has gone, why should she make a big fuss out of it? The place where her eyebrows joined, ached. She closed her eyes. The nerve passing that point made her feel like the nerve was going to burst all the way up to her brain.

Tears welled up in her dry eyes. She could not understand her own behaviour. She gasped for air like a fish out of water. With each blink of her eye, she could feel the pulse in the artery that went to her eye. Pain. That was the only thing her brain registered.

She needed to control her emotions before she let them control her. Her lower lips quivered. No! She would not cry! The knot was already present in her throat. It was like a huge rock placed on her vocal chords. It did not want her to speak. How long was she going to maintain her silence?

"I am sorry," she whispered. This grief-struck voice of hers was weird to her ears. It has been two long years before she heard this voice of hers.

"No need to apologise, My Lady," Daia said, her hands shaking in front of her.

"Please. I was rude, uncouth and I did not know what I was doing. I am sorry," Ella rasped. She then rubbed her neck. She would not let those tears to fall.

"It's okay, My Lady. We are humans. We tend to do this," Daia comforted. "If it's okay, can I take you to my room? I have a little food hidden. You look famished, My Lady." She then signalled her friend to leave.

This scene was too much for Ella. Those words! How did she know? Those were the same words Mika said to Ella when she first met her. Except Mika never said 'My Lady'.

Their meeting was quite queer. It was when Ella was ten years, she met Mika. It was in the royal bath in Ella's home in Summer Isles. When Ella was ten, her mother Lady Durriya Corne concentrated more on her three-year-old sister. Being a little girl, she did not know that her sister needed her mother more than she did. In spite, she did not leave her room nor eat for five days for her mother to notice. But her mother never came.

Only when Ella was fifteen did she understand the reason for that. Her sister had a weak heart and when she was three and her mother had taken her to Keyah's temple to pray.

So when that ten-year-old Ella came to know that she had visitors, she left her room to take a bath. Little did she know she would meet a scrawny, thin, caramel-skinned, brown haired and brown eyed girl a year younger than her. Mika first frowned at her and then fed her. After giving her company during her darkest days, she disappeared. Again at the age of seventeen, they were reunited. It was those five days friendship when she was ten that made Ella value their bond after seven years. One glance, Ella knew Mika was her friend from the heart. It was like the fates whispering to her.

"Don't cry, My Lady," Daia said, almost reaching her hand to wipe those traitor tears.

Was she really this weak? Was Mika her shield? Her saviour? The answer was so obvious. She had depended on Mika way too much. She wiped her tears.

"It's nothing," she said, not knowing how to express her gratitude. "It's just a memory."

Daia nodded. "Can I now lead you to your meal?"

Ella stared at her. Daia's eyes had the same shade of brown she saw in Mika's. With little flecks of gold playing across the brown expanse.

"I would like it," she said, her voice was barely audible to her ears, let alone Daia's. But somehow she heard and got out of the water. Ella closed her eyes. The pain was striking her again.

She heard the rustling of clothes.

"Are these fine by you, My Lady?" Daia asked, her voice echoing in the still room.

She opened her eyes and saw. Daia had chosen a set of clean clothes. It was a full-sleeved tunic top and skirt. From a distance, she knew the dress would appear as a gown. The worst part about the dress? It was white. That was the only part Ella hated about that dress. Any strain would be visible. She groaned.

"That would do," she said and came out. Instead of giving her the clothes, Daia gave her a long piece of cloth almost the size of a towel.

"Dry yourself. It may help with the cold," Daia justified.

She nodded mutely. She did not know how to respond. She gulped and wore the dress Daia gave after wiping herself clean.

Only on her way to Daia's room, did she realise how hungry she was. Her now awakened stomach grumbled and churned. She was hungry, but she knew if she ate anything she would throw up.

She stumbled, but before she could fall Daia caught her. It was not laziness that made Ella inactive. It was tiredness, a fact that her body was deprived of energy.

Somehow by leaning and taking support from Daia, Ella sat on an unshaped boulder in that cramped up room.

"Stay here, My Lady," Daia said. "I shall come with your food."

Ella's head fell forward on its own. To prevent its clash she supported her head with her hands while holding her hair back. All her internal organs were groaning and her heart was beating because it had too.

After what it felt like an eternity, Daia came with a food plate in one hand and a glass of water in other.

"Drink a few sips to open your shrunken food passage, My Lady," Daia advised. "Eating after a long time will make your stomach feel bad."

"How do you know so much?" Ella asked as she took a sip of the water through her chapped lips. Water was never so tasty in her life.

"My mother was a healer." Daia gave her a secretive smile.

"I need to take some to my room," Ella whispered.

"Why?" Daia asked in a light tone. "You can eat here without a worry."

"My friend is there," she said taking her second sip of water. "She needs food."

Daia stilled and her eyes clouded for a second before she masked it. Or it could have been Ella's eyes playing tricks on her.

Daia smiled. "I will have Reika take some to her. Is her name Alseia?"

"Yes," Ella murmured. "Thank you."

Daia sat beside her. "Not a problem at all."

Seconds passed and Ella drank the water again, gulping slowly.

She looked around the room. "Why do so many people stay here? Don't you have separate cells?"

Daia bit her lips. "No. About thirty stay in this cell. But who cares? We rarely see each other. I mean when you have only an hour of sleep, whom can you see?"

It was not fair. She shared hers with just another.

"Just one hour of sleep?" she questioned, unable to fathom that notion.

Daia went near the door and checked if someone was coming. "That is the longest some have got here."

"I am being treated like a royalty," Ella whispered as she held the flimsy plate.

"Not to drown you in guilt, but many take your work, keeping you as free as possible; hiding you. Either they love you to death or they are genuinely terrified of Lord Ashel and Lord Ciarar. Well, they were scared of Lady Tioren." Daia gestured her to eat.

She nodded; she could not say anything. Placing the glass down, she reached to gulp down the half-cooked beans and soggy rice.

"No!" Daia admonished. "Do not eat so fast. It will make you dizzy." She took the half broken spoon and took a very little amount of beans and fed her.

The tears were threatening to spill again. Why was this girl so nice to her? When everyone hated her, why was Daia taking care of her?

Ella swallowed fast and opened her mouth like a young robin. The sides of her mouth burned when food touched the burns in her mouth. But her body needed the food. If she was going to survive, then she needed to eat.

"Not so fast, My Lady!" Daia said. "You need to eat slowly."

"Fine," she huffed. "But do not call me 'My Lady'. I own nothing here. Not even my dignity."

"What should I call you, then?" The girl asked, quite challengingly.

"Ella should do," she replied and opened her mouth.

"Okay, then, Ella," she tested. When she did not reply anything, Daia smiled brightly.

"Here." Daia continued to feed her; like a mother nursing her child back to health. Little by little, she felt her bones and muscles get their energy she had deprived them off.

"The food is over, Ella," Daia said, keeping the plate on the table. Only then Ella snapped her open mouth shut. "Tomorrow you must come to eat. I will try to sneak in some egg from the royal kitchen."

"How can you take food front the royal kitchen?" Ella asked as she recalled her own experience.

Daia smirked through her chapped lips. "When you have connections, nothing is impossible. I might know a chef or two. You don't want to know how."

"Alseia..."

Without allowing her to finish, Daia rushed out of the room. After a minute she came back in with a beaming smile. Through the small opening of the door, she saw Daia's companion, the one she saw in the bath, taking a plate and head towards Ella's room.

"Reika will take care," Daia said.

"Thank you," Ella said. "You even helped my friend."

Daia smiled and said, "Not a problem. Shall I lead you back, Ella?To your room?"

"Why there? I have spent my time too much there, that I have memorised each and every crevice in that room." Ella waved her hand. "Can we go around? That is if there is no security."

"Where the king goes, so does his people," Daia giggled. "There is next to no one in this moat except the slaves and three knights who had taken some pity on us. The new Lord shall come only by the winter. The actual winter."

"Who is the new Lord? And what do you mean by actual winter?" Ella asked. So were the rumours true? Was the king really gone to Uhona, the capital of Tantalia?

"No one knows who the new Lord is. As for the other question, this is still autumn. The winter has set in earlier," Daia said, standing up. "So where do you want to go?"

"Fresh air," Ella muttered.

"Got it!" Daia pulled her. "Come on! The view of the lake is stunning! You have got to see it, Ella."

Shaking her head, she allowed the girl to pull her.

And stunning it was. The clear waters reflected the sky and the sun rays in all directions, giving the valley an unearthly glow. As the afternoon blended into a calm evening, the coppery shade made everything look like gold. The bright orange disk slowly hid among the clouds and she could smell the water. The saltiness, the fish, the algae. Everything. The breeze that caressed her, made her feel special. As if they were blowing for her. The birds perching on the waters just added to the beauty.

This view, the tranquillity it gave her, was what made her come each day. As each day passed, she saw more kinds of birds than she had in her entire life. She was thankful to Daia for showing her the place and if fate permitted, she was excited to share this with Alseia.

Two weeks later, standing in the same place, she rubbed her palms. Born under the care of Keahi, she tended to get cold very soon. The slightest drop in temperature, she had to wear her woollen clothes.

"Are you still here?" Daia's voice snapped her from her thoughts. "You might catch a cold."

"It's okay." She turned to face her. The golden rays glowed on Daia's brown skin. Just the way it glowed on Mika's. "The scene is too breath-taking for me not to see."

Daia laughed. "I knew I should not have shown it to you."

"It's a good thing that you showed it to me." Ella turned to face the waters again. "It gives me peace like no other."

"I know." The other girl stood beside her.

A silence as old as time washed over them. Ella loved it. She loved the kindness of silence. It never judged her. It never mocked her. It gave her time to think, to ponder and to wonder.

"I can see why," Daia said, breaking the serenity.

"What?"

"I can see why Lord Ashel has fallen for you," she clarified. "How can you be at peace here? In the midst of hardships and turmoil, how can you smile?"

She gave her companion a smile from the heart. "They think they can break us. But they are wrong. They can break our body, our mind. But they are not strong enough to break our soul and heart. My heart is my guide, my soul my map. I go wherever they take me. They brought me here, perhaps to find you. And they have never guided me wrong. They have known me since before I was born and will continue to know me even after I die. My soul chose this body and this heart chose to accompany it. They know what hardships this body might undergo. They know what conflicts this ever thinking mind can think. Yet they chose it. When you know what is about to happen, you can face the world with a smile.

"They will not expect you to smile. They will expect you to hate this life. Cry your eyes out. Plead for mercy. Try smiling in those hopeless situations, results will be so much better."

"That was beautiful," Daia commented giving a smile of her own. While Ella saw a hint of sadness and hopeless swirling in them.

"Mika opened that eye for me. She made me see the world in a way I never thought I could. She was the light to my soul and Elmar, a rose to my winter." She turned to face the waters. "They shaped my life. They helped me to see the silver lining in the grey clouds."

"You are so romantic," she chuckled.

"What can I do?" She held her palm over her heart, her lips smiling. "It helps me keep my sanity."

"How is Alseia?"

Ella stilled, all the serenity she had received from this silence eloped with the time that trickled by. She finally understood the extent of Luka and Nyathe Keldyn's wrath. Nyathe had just snapped her fingers when Alseia had spilt milk on the floor from fear. That made Luka nod and the guards to whip her and worse rape her. Although Alseia had claimed she had survived things worse than these, Ella could not comprehend how. Due to the kindness of an old knight, her friend was resting in the dingy room.

"Living."

"Do I need to-"

"No!" Ella said sharply as her blue eyes pierced into Daia's brown ones. "You have already helped us so much. Any more, and you shall be in trouble. The medicine you gave will last three more days."

Daia's lips were set in a thin line. "We have to look out for each other, Ella. we have no one."

The sun more into the waters as though she was hiding something they did not know. Soon, Cira left the sky and allowed the stars to follow her. But even the stars cowered behind the thick veils of clouds.

"We have to hope, Daia," Ella said. "That someone will come and save us."

"That is not easy for us, Ella," Daia said, her voice wobbling. "We have been born into slavery. We do not know what freedom tastes like. We never had the privilege to. You cannot exactly as us to hope."

"I-" Ella began and turned her face. "I don't know what to say to convince you otherwise."

Daia shook her head. "But that's not the reason why I came here, Ella." Her smile faded into a distant memory. "I came here to inform you that the Giant has returned."

"The Giant?" Ella echoed.

"Yeah, you were not there. I am from the mines in Tantalia. There was a man, more or like pure darkness. He was the worst. He used to work for Lord Pierce. And after his death, he works for the King. He has no soul. He can break the unbroken and shatter the strongest." Daia shuddered and held the rails. "He is coming here. He is coming here as the Lord of this moat. If he comes here, we all will die."

"Slaves in Tantalia?" Ella questioned the girl as she shook her.

"Yes," she whispered.

Motherly instincts took over her. How can she let her people suffer? Going through the same trauma herself, she knew how Daia's life was. Though she was not the Lady of Tantalia, she accepted its residents as her kith and kin way before her matrimony.

"I will convey this to Elmar at once." Her convection growing strong. "I cannot allow slavery back at home."

"Do not worry yourself about it." Daia shook her hands frantically before her. "Lord Elmar Ashel is the heir, as much as I regret to say this, he cannot dictate over his father. Lord Kelaiah Ashel is the one who oversees this."

"Still, I will do all I can." She set her eyes to see the setting sun. "This is our last free air, Daia. Breathe in all you can. From tomorrow on our work starts."

"What work?" she asked.

If it was Mika she would have known just by a glance. If Daia was Mika then within a heartbeat Ella would have said her plan to her. But Daia was not the girl she grew up with.

She smiled sadly at her. "You will be with me, right? You shall know when you see."

She already hated the fact that others were helping her, but she needed a little time to heal. Now that she was ready, she was going to start her work. She would no longer allow anyone to do her work. If she was a part of these suffering people, she was going to give her tormentors hell.

"Let's go down." Ella went down fifteen floors below.

The corridors were being scrubbed, washed. The end result was so perfect, Ella felt that she would blemish the walls just by staring at them. She could see her reflection on those surfaces. She gulped. How many people spent their sweat and blood to keep it clean? Was the Giant really that cruel? She did not know. She did not wish to know.

She heard Daia follow her. Her unsteady footsteps said she was in a hurry. She turned and entered her lit room. How many people were helping her? Or did Mika order them to do so? The latter seemed possible.

"Shut the door, Daia." Her voice came out strong and confident. It was after so long she heard this voice of hers.

"What is it, now?" Daia bit her lip.

A groan came from the other corner of the room. "Ella?"

She rushed to her friend and knelt beside her. "What is it?"

"Don't do anything stupid," Alseia begged in a feeble voice. Despite the low light, Ella could tell what had caused the rags beneath her friend to become wet.

"Her wounds have opened again," Ella said to Daia.

Her new friend sat beside her and she touched Alseia's spine. "We need a healer. Better a Rafela. She cannot suffer anymore. Her wounds are fatal. One wound is literally spine deep. It is affecting her. Her fever is starting. I don't know whether she would survive."

Her heart skipped a beat. The words disappeared from her mind as she registered the feel of loss. Without her control, a strangled cry escaped her mouth. Her throat was aching and her fingers were shaking. All her thoughts about the rebellion inside this moat vanished at the sight of her friend fighting for her life.

What did Alseia do to deserve this? Why was so much hate was directed towards her?

"Why her?" Ella whispered.

"Ella?" Alseia called, her voice almost lost in the thoughts of despair. "Don't cry over me. You got to live."

She simply could not understand how her friend was able to say those words with a strong convention. Her voice was weak, yes, but it was strong nonetheless.

"I-I," she began. "I cannot leave you."

"Who said about leaving me?" Alseia asked. "I will never leave you."

The doors opened and Reika entered. That woman hated Ella for unknown reasons. Was it because she was friends with Daia? That was highly unlikely. Was it a personal vengeance against her family? Could be.

"Move aside," Reika commanded as she came forward and placed a brown paste into Alseia's mouth. "That will save her."

"What is that?" Ella asked.

"Knowledge is power," Reika said. "The less you know, the better."

"What if another situation arose like this?" Ella asked. "What would I do?"

"I will make sure another situation never came up like this," Reika snarled lowly as she glanced at her friend.

Whatever she was trying to convey, Daia shrugged for an answer. "I will not disclose."

"You knew this tonic?" Ella shrieked, grabbing Daia's arm.

Daia wretched her hand out of her grip. "I never believed it to exist, okay? I thought that medicine was a fable. I knew how to make it, but I did not know anything more."

Somewhere in the corner of her heart, Ella felt a nail chiselling away a tiny sliver of trust. Could she? But right now, Daia was her only ally. Apart from Kolya whom she had seen occasionally. With Alseia fighting for her life and Reika hating her, she had to cling on to someone to survive.

Deciding, she hoped that the lost trust could be replaced. The two new companions were looking at her. Almost waiting.

She cleared her throat. This was going to take much of her energy.

"To send a message, can I use your name?" Ella turned to meet the other Daia's confused face.

"My name? Why?" Daia asked. "And yes. You can."

"Nothing. Just that Elmar said that I should never get myself involved in the political matters." She relaxed her taut muscles in her back. "How can I send him a message for the work I am going to do? How to inform him that a rebellion is going to start within the suppressed?"

Daia bunched her eyebrows. "What exactly are you going to do?"

"Your friend, Merin, how far is he willing to help me, when he said he would help me?" She sat next to Alseia and gestured Daia and Reika to sit down.

"To death. He owes your family." Daia sat beside her.

"Good. It is time for the world to know the power of a woman. How strong her will is. How strong her heart is," Ella said.

Daia stood. Her eyes widened; her lips parted and her tongue darted out to lick it. Her breathing became heavy. This reaction amused Ella. Why did people assume that she was capable of nothing? Yes, she was grown docile and fragile. When would they understand that she too like them was an iron? Tempered with heat and hardship. Bent to the liking of fate. But she was forged to be a weapon rather than a nail.

"You are going to do it, right, Ella? You are going to start a revolution."

"You can start a revolution provided that you have someone to support you." A voice said. The very voice irritated her.

She snapped her eyes to see Reika.

"I have Elmar with me." Ella defended. "Cyriac supplies most of the armour for the soldiers. Make it a poor quality, the soldiers of Taimore are lost in the battle."

"Yes, princess," she mocked. "And who supports him?"

"His father," Ella gritted her teeth.

"Does his father know anything about this?" Reika folded her arms.

"I hope so."

"Hope so! Listen to the girl. Hope so!" Reika's voice was satirical. "Lord Kelaiah Ashel does not support his son. He openly agreed to serve King Taimore. He is the King's vassal."

"What are you blabbering?" Ella asked and Daia placed her hand on her shoulder.

Ella knew as long as Lady Thais Ashel, Elmar's mother lived, Lord Ashel would not take such outrageous decision. Lord Kelaiah Ashel loved his wife dearly and did listen to her suggestions.

"Blabbering? I am speaking the truth." She tossed her black hair back. "Tantalia is lost. It shall no longer help us. Until now, it was only rumoured. Now Lord Kelaiah Ashel had announced that along with Lord Sherin, he is siding with King Taimore. Why did you think the King has gone to Uhona? To party and shake hands with Ashels?"

For Ella, the time stopped. "What?" 

There! Hope you all enjoy it.

What do you think of Daia?

Is she trustworthy? 

And about Reika's words, is it true or is she playing Ella?

How huge was Mika's part in Ella's life? Damn! I am jealous of their friendship.

Moving on.....

As you have noticed, the previous chapter has been taken down. When I was writing, I realised that the chapter comes way after this one. Guess who's pov is next chapter from? You all know him.

Another important news. Aeron has been sleeping for so long has he not? I guess it's time to wake him up. 

Don't forget to vote, comment and follow if you like the content.

With a sooner update (hopefully),

~Quill