Chapter 15: 8.5
"Have you decided on a name for the Hekate, my prince?" Asked Lord Leopold as I stroked the little tiger's fluffy white back. The little tiger purred happily against my chest and gently tapped his paw onto my neck.
After I had let the little Hekate sleep with me last night, he had warmed up to me quite a bit. He was starting to show a more playful side of himself. Whenever I wasn't looking at him, the little cat liked to pounce on me or sink his little teeth into my clothes and give them a good tug, much to Zelda's horror.
He hadn't warmed up to the maids yet though. Whenever they entered my bedroom he would scamper over to me and hide behind me and wait until they left to come out again. It wasn't ideal but at least I knew that he is capable of progress.
"No, not yet..." I sighed.
I had been trying to think of a name for him since yesterday when I had taken him home, but I hadn't come up with anything good.
I had spent the morning with Lord Leopold going through all the books and apparatus I would need for my magical training. Since I didn't want to leave my little Hekate alone because he cried whenever I left the room, I had been carrying him in my arms the entire day. I only put him down when I had no other option.
"Lord Leopold, maybe you could help me with naming him!" I realized excitedly.
I had already decided that I wanted to name my little tiger after qualities that I wanted him to grow up to be.
So far I had chosen words like brave, valiant and loyal. But I thought it would sound ridiculous if I named my cat 'Brave Valiant Loyal.'
However, there actually was a way that I could name him that without it sounding ridiculous. From yesterday I knew that Lord Leopold spoke the old language, thus maybe he could tell me the old Language words for my chosen words and if it sounded good I could name him that.
"I was thinking of naming him something that meant brave or loyal or valiant." I looked up hopefully into Leopold's bright purple eyes.
"Could you please give me the old language translations of those words?" I asked hopefully.
Lord Leopold eyed me curiously, with his forever sly smile. "You want to name the Hekate after human qualities?"
He looked a bit surprised. Maybe even amused by the idea.
"Yes. I hope that if I give him a good name, he will grow to be like his name and become my great companion." I nodded.
"My Prince..." Leopold began twirling his silky purple hair between his fingers. "Are you perhaps placing to much hope on an animal?"
"Even if the Hekate is revered in Valhallen culture, I urge your Highness not to forget that it is still a beast, not a person."
I was going to interrupt him but I decided to let him keep on talking.
"A beast, no matter how revered, is still a beast. May I be so bold as to teach your Highness that beasts need firm control to keep in line. Raising beasts with affection will only make them unruly."
I understood where he was coming from, but I totally disagreed. I could and would raise my Hekate with love and affection.
"Lord Leopold." I began. "I've already decided that I am going to raise him with love and affection. I've never considered him a tool or a weapon for me to utilize. Besides, he is all alone in the world since Duke Irathmus killed his mother to gift him to me. I'm responsible for replacing that parental figure."
Leopold's expression softened as he looked down at me.
"Your Highness. Duke Irathmus's actions have nothing to do with you. It is not your fault that this creature is the last of its kind..."
Leopold's expression was a bit more serious now. It felt kind of strange to look at him without his signature smirk on his face.
"I have heard from the maids that you have a very kind and gentle manner, but to treat a beast like a human will only lead to your disappointment later on when the Hekate does not meet your expectations."
I simply shook my head. "I have to disagree with you, Lord Leopold. Love and affection is the only right way to raise animals and humans. Everybody and everything's soul needs love to live. Before this little Hekate relied on his mother for love but because of me that was taken away from him, so it is my job to give him what was taken away from him."
I looked down at the little white tiger in my arms who had fallen asleep again. He was purring away, happily nuzzled against my blazer.
"You are definitely an interesting prince..." Lord Leopold commented. I only smiled up at him as he looked down at me with sharp purple eyes. Leopold reached forwards towards me with his bejewelled hand and gently stroke the top of the Hekate's head.
"What a lucky little beast you are, to have the prince of Azlantean dote on you like this."
I waited in silence for a moment as Leopold took a few steps away from me and towards the bookshelves.
"The first king of Azlantean and the founder of this great nation was a determined but undoubtedly ruthless man. It was recorded that the king mercilessly disposed of the enemies of the kingdom and built the nation up with ferocious ambition. The king only had one friend, his royal advisor, Lord Sirith..."
He pauses for a moment as his eyes scanned over the bookshelves.
"Lord Sirith was completely devoted to the King and served by his side from the beginning to the end of his rule. Many ancient poems, songs and novels were based on their pure friendship, all of which acknowledge Lord Sirith as a loyal and brave right hand to the King."
Leopold's hand slid into the bookshelf and retrieved a slim black leather book with silver imprinted patterns on the front. It looked old and dusty and I wondered how many years it had been left sleeping in this bookshelf.
"May I suggest that you name it Sirith, after the right hand of the first king of Azlantean. I think this is the best name for the creature as it encompasses the loyalty, bravery and valiancy that your Highness wanted to incorporate into the name."
I nodded, liking the sound of the name as well as the story behind it.
"Sirith." I tried it out. I liked the way it sounded.
"Thank you, Lord Leopold. I will name him Sirith." I smiled brightly as I gently squeezed the bundle of fluff in my arms.
I promised myself that I would be a great master to this little cat. I would make up for what happened to its mother as much as I could. I couldn't help but feel a connection to Sirith as I also didn't get to grow up with my mother. I inwardly cursed Irathmus.
"Your Highness. This book details the events of how Azlantean came to be. Please read it by tomorrow."
It didn't look like a very thick book, I only hoped that it would be interesting so I would enjoy reading it.
"I will." I nodded as I reached out and took the book.
"Your Highness is dismissed for the day." Lord Leopold then bowed to me.
"Oh, Lord Leopold. One last thing..." I approached him before he was about to turn around and leave the room.
He nodded, ready for my question.
"Yesterday, Duke Irathmus stated that he was my father's older brother. If that is the case, why is my father the King and not Duke Irathmus?"
Leopold grinned again, that same sly look flooding into his face.
"Your Highness is indeed observant to catch that little detail." He chuckled.
"I know the kingdom is passed down through the firstborn child. What happened to allow my father to become ruler and not Duke Irathmus?"
"Your Highness, this is a very sensitive topic. Do you permit me to speak about it?"
I was surprised to find out that the topic was so sensitive that Leopold had to ask my permission to talk about it.
I nodded in reply. "I permit you to talk about it."
Leopold sighed for a moment and then began to explain.
"Your Highness. When the previous king was still on the throne he and the ministers at the time had serious concerns about Duke Irathmus taking over the throne and becoming the next king..."
"Concerns?" I interrupted him.
"Let us say that the Duke exhibited some unbecoming behaviours..."
The two slave girls I had seen chained to him yesterday and the fact that he killed off a sacred endangered species gave me a pretty good idea as to what said 'unbecoming behaviours' might be.
"King Alistair was everyone's favoured choice to succeed the throne. However, the king could not ignore the rules set by the previous generations of king's who had clearly stated that the kingdom would go to the firstborn child."
But how did my father end up the king if such a rule was in place?
"There were however two loopholes to that rule. The first being that the kingdom could be passed on to a different heir if the true heir was unable to fulfil their duties due to injury or illness. This didn't apply to Duke Irathmus as he was able-bodied and eager to become king. The previous king said the second clause stated that if the true heir's magical ability was below a certain standard the throne would be given to a different heir."
"What was the standard?" I asked curiously.
"Well, this is where the tension lies. This clause was written in the Royal book hundreds of years ago and many had forgotten about its existence. It was the previous king's insistence on finding a way to pass the throne onto a different heir that this clause was eventually discovered. However, due to lack of care, the page with the loophole inscribed on it was quite damaged practically indecipherable. However, the previous king insisted that the book stated that if the heir's magical ability was less than that of the general public, the heir could not inherit the throne."
"So just because my grandfather insisted that was what the pages said, everyone believed him?"
"No, it wasn't that easy. Eventually, it was settled that a vote should be counted among the ministers to say whether they agreed with what the King thought the pages said. Duke Irathmus had been confident that he would win the vote because the King's version of what the clause said was obviously far fetched. However, to the duke's horror, every single minister voted in agreement with the king. Since the Duke's magical ability was only in the mid-green range of the scale, the King could pass on the kingdom to his second son, Alistair."
I could understand why the previous king wouldn't want to have Irathmus in the throne. He was a terrible person and after meeting him I'm sure he would have made a terrible king. However, what my grandfather did to pass on the throne to my father was slightly underhanded... I can't say his method really upset me though.
"What did you mean when you said that his power was 'mid-green range'?" I asked realizing that I didn't understand that scale.
Leopold opened up his cloak and pulled out a thin plaque of wood. The surface of the wood was painted with a spectrum of colours. The largest section was ranging from pale green to bright green, to hues of yellows and then finally a small section of red.
"The general public has magical powers within this range." Leopold dragged his finger across the right end of the spectrum where the pale to bright green colours were.
"Duke Irathmus was about here on the spectrum." Leopold pointed to the very pale green area on the far right of the spectrum. "As you can see his powers fell below the average of the General public."
"Whereas King Alistair's power is around here." He pointed to the yellow-orange section of the spectrum which was on the far left of the panel.
"So Duke Irathmus had his throne taken from him because of this clause that my grandfather insisted on?" I frowned wondering how my grandfather managed to convince all the ministers.
"I would say all the ministers of Azlantean are very honourable ladies and gentlemen. So you must understand how desperate they were not to have Lord Irathmus take over the throne to go along with the previous king's method of dethroning him."
I nodded.
I probably also would have done everything I could to keep Duke Irathmus off the throne if I had been there.
The image of those two slave girls kept popping up in my mind. They had looked so terrified and fragile. Too thin for comfort.
I bit my lip trying to think of a solution. There had to be something that could be done to help them.
"What is troubling you, My Prince?" Leopold's sharp eyes caught onto the shift in my mood. He looked down at me with amused curiosity.
"I was thinking about the two girls that the duke had with him..."
"His slaves."
"Yes."
"I'm afraid there is nothing I can do." Leopold immediately turned away from me, he must have preempted my question.
"But Lord Leopold," I called out after him but he was already at the door.
"I'm sorry my Prince." He sighed, but I could see that his eyes still had a slight glimmer of mischief.
"The duke is perfectly within his rights to bring slaves into the kingdom as long as they were not traded for inside the kingdom."
I humphed and felt the frustration of my helplessness.
"Ahh..." Leopold gave an overly dramatic sigh as he opened the tall silver-patterned doors.
"If only there was someone brave enough to give the slaves money to buy themselves back. Ahhh if only..."
I didn't miss the pointed stare and sly grin he gave me before leaving the room.
So there was a way!
I let out an excited giggle as I knew what I could do to help them.
Money! Money was always the answer!
Slaves couldn't be traded for in Azlantean, but they could be brought into Azlantean. However, it seemed there was a loophole for this as well.
Slaves could buy their freedom from their masters in Azlantean.
All I needed to do was sneak those girls some money so they could buy their freedom.
"Your Highness are you ready for lunch." Nanny Zelda's warm gentle voice woke me up from my thoughts.
"Mm!" I nodded enthusiastically. She seemed quite pleased with my answer because she gave me a big smile.
"This way your Highness!"
As I walked down the never-ending corridors and looked out on the view of Azlantean, my mind was racing thinking of a way to get money to those two girls.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone