Galreid walked into the inner yard royal garden as he took a deep breath. "I suppose this is a nice place for a chat." He turned to his right finding Raghav sitting there on the pony walls at edge of the garden and the archade corridor. His back resting on a pillar; his right hand resting on his raised right knee while the left leg was stretched towards the next pillar.
"It sure is Mr. Galreid." He gave Galreid a gentle smile as Galreid walked towards him as he admired Raghav. 'Such radiance. It is as if the sun is out at night.' He reached the pony wall as Raghav pulled back his left leg and folded it under his right leg; giving Galreid space to sit; he sat down with his back on the wall facing Raghav with one leg in the garden and the other in the corridor.
"Thank you." Raghav nodded as Galreid yawned. "I am not interrupting your sleep. Am I?" Galreid shook his head. "No, I am glad you called for me. It is relaxing after all that happened the last three days."
Raghav nodded. "It really did not feel like three days at all. Are you faring well?" Galreid nodded looking at the inner yard. "Actually I am quite happy with everything. My brother is safe, his son is safe. The person who betrayed my brother has been punished and I survived. Thank you for that."
Raghav hummed as he closed his eyes. "You do not have to thank me, instead I should apologise for you." Galreid shook his head. "It is of little importance. Does being a detective mean you deal with situation like these often?"
Raghav nodded. "Actually the reason I was able to find Vaughn's secret because the evidence against you were too obvious it felt plain. That made me dig deeper because I am so used to complex plans." He then stretched his hands towards Galreid. "After the duel, while following Vaughn, I thought about my own world and the plots of treachery during the medieval periods and I realized something."
Galreid looked at Raghav who was smiling back at him. "What did you realize?"
"I realized that they were all just as simple, someone sent a letter to the enemies, added a little poison to the dish or water; push someone down the stairs. If it had not been for me expecting the plot behind the assassination to be complex you would have died."
Galreid snorted trying to hold his laughter. "You are different today than your usual self." Raghav leaned forward smiling. "What am I usually like?" Galreid looked up as he puckered his lips.
"Brooding, serious, tense." Raghav nodded. "Well I am serious person but I know how to be happy and enjoy life."
Galreid looked up at the cloudy night sky. "I was offered the position of Prime Minister today." "Oh, that's good. Are you going to accept?"
Galreid clicked his tongue. "No, I am not built for this. I am deeply honored that they thought I had it in me to be Prime Minister."
Raghav closed his eyes. "I see. I do believe you can pull it off but Marne needs you more."
Galreid crossed his arms. "I intend to leave for Marne in two weeks. Would you like to join me?" "How long will it take to get there?"
Galreid held his right hand to the side. "If by horse or carriage; it will take about a month if you do not stop at one place for more than a day."
"You have some fast horses. In my world it would take around a year to cover this distance and that is if we only rest to eat and sleep."
Galreid frowned. "That must be tough." Raghav shook his head. "I was. Not anymore we now have planes. Vehicles that fly, we use those to travel around the world. You can be anywhere around the world within a day with them."
Galreid smiled. "I was just about to mention something similar. In Paneria we have Wyvern. They are distant relatives of the dragons and are extremely fast capable of covering the twenty five thousand distance between Marne and Rine in a single day."
Raghav leaned back crossing his hands. "That is nice. So where are they? I have yet to see them flying around."
Galreid pointed behind himself with his thumb. "About a thousand kilometer east of Rine, there is a strong hold for the Ariel force. That is where we keep our Wyvern fleet. The Royals can request a few wyvern at any given time."
"How do you make such a request?" Galreid stood up stretching his arms and legs. "You send a raven, they are the fastest animals in our world. If you sent a Raven from here to Eldrathis at dawn it will make the journey before sunset."
"Impressive, so the horses of this world travel at a pace of around three hundred kilometer per hour and the wyverns clock in at about eleven hundred kilometer per hour. That's nearly the speed of sound and these Ravens are going several times faster than them."
Galreid smiled. "You should have had a taste of that speed during the duel yesterday." Raghav nodded. "I did and as for your proposal."
Raghav stood up beside Galreid. "I have to decline. I intend to stay here and study the library for now. Once I am done, I will definitely visit."
Galreid smiled as he extended his hand to Raghav. "I will hold you to your word."
Raghav shook his hand as he smiled. "You should get some sleep. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me."
Galreid held Raghav's hands with both of his hands. "This is the least I could do for the man I owe a life debt to. Goodnight Raghav."
"Good night Galreid." Galreid and Raghav then walked towards their respective rooms.
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The next morning
Asfan stood beside a horse in the garden next to the castle's stables; packing his bags on the horse back. "Got everything?" Asfan turned around and found Raghav standing there with his hands behind his back.
Asfan smiled as he walked over to Raghav. "I did. Thank you once again." "Will people ever stop thanking me?"
Asfan chuckled. "Probably not. You saved my and The Duke's life. As long as we live we shall never forget this life debt. Neither shall our decedents. Whenever you or your descendants require anything all you need to do is ask and we shall repay this debt."
Raghav smiled as he patted Asfan's shoulder. "I understand." He then looked at the horse. "You could have stayed longer."
Asfan looked at Raghav's hand as he sighed. "It does not sit well with me that I stay as the guest of the man I attacked and took his arm from."
Raghav nodded as he lowered his hand. "I agree; so this is it for now." He extended his hand to Asfan who shook it. "It is. I hope we meet again. Raghav."
"We will. I would advise you to stop using sacrificial magic. Chaos Magic is strong but it eats away at your soul."
Asfan was shocked as his mouth was left wide open. "How do you know about Chaos Magic?"
Raghav gently smiled. "That is a secret. All I can tell you is to take my advice."
Asfan laughed as he nodded. "I will take it." He then walked over to the horse climbing on it. "Come visit my tribe someday, I shall show you another world."
"I will definitely visit now." Asfan pulled up his hood as he nodded.
Suddenly a very loud neigh came from the stables followed by horse keepers running out. Asfan and Raghav looked at one another before running towards the stables.
As they got closer a pure white horse walked out of the stables. Raghav and Asfan slowed down as they walked towards the horse. Asfan looked at Raghav beside him. "I have never seen a horse this beautiful before. It is just as white as the glow that surrounded your body during our duel."
Raghav hummed as the two stopped a few meters away from the horse. "She really is beautiful. The long white hair on her head and nape."
Asfan nodded. "Why does it not have any bridle or reins on it? It does not even have a saddle." Asfan gestured at the horse.
"Actually no one has even been able to tame this horse before. That is why we have not put anything on it yet."
Raghav and Asfan both turned their heads back looking at the horse keepers hiding behind them. Asfan frowned. "Why did you hide behind us?"
"You are warriors yes?" Asfan nodded. "But that does not mean you should hide directly behind us." Raghav looked back at the horse slowly walking forward.
By the time Asfan noticed and tried to grab Raghav he had already walked too far.
Asfan spread his hands covering the horse keepers behind him as Raghav stood directly in front of the horse.
Their black eyes met as the horse lowered her head as Raghav placed a hand on her forehead. The horse then turned her side towards Raghav as he smiled. He then looked back at the horse keepers. "Do you have an extra saddle that the Princess uses?"
One of them nodded as Raghav smiled ear from ear. "Can you get me one?" The man nodded and ran into the stables coming out with a cloth saddle. "Here you go sir."
Raghav took the saddle from the man. "Thank you." He then placed the saddle on the horse and as soon as it was tied he climbed on her. The horse nickered as Raghav gently grabbed her hair with his left hand.
The horse moved to where Asfan was. "Let's go I will accompany you till the edge of forest."
Asfan smiled as he got on his own horse and the two of them rode out of the castle.
The horse keepers were left in shock. "Did he just tame the wildest horse in the world without doing anything?" The rest nodded as they watched Raghav and Asfan ride away.
Meanwhile Asfan and Raghav were passing through the main road heading towards the city entrance.
Asfan looked at Raghav. "How are you riding it without any reins?" Raghav looked at Asfan. "She knows where I want to go. I don't have to tie her with reins. She is a free beast. Let her run."
The two of them soon exited the city as they traveled through the crops fields and arrived at the edge of the forest. Asfan looked back at the city. "Why were the city and this road so void? There was hardly anyone on our way here."
Raghav looked at him. "Maybe because it is around sunrise." Asfan looked down hiding his face. "That was a dumb question." Raghav strolled over to him as he patted him in the back. "These sort of things happen to the best of us."
Asfan chuckled as he looked at Raghav. "As if it will happen to you." He then shifted his gaze at the horse. "Are you going to keep it?"
Raghav gently stroked her hair. "I think I will. I even thought a name for her." Asfan looked at Raghav intrigued. "What may she be called?"
Raghav smiled. "You called her a she." Asfan shrugged his shoulders. "You were calling her a she all this time, I thought it was rude to keep calling a living being it."
Raghav placed his hand on Asfan's shoulder before turning to the horse. "I am going to call her Gati." Asfan's head snapped towards Raghav as he frowned in confusion. "What is that word?"
Raghav looked back at Asfan. "It is a word from one of the oldest if not the oldest language of my world Sanskrit. It means motion or speed in English as far as I am aware."
Asfan placed a hand on his mouth. "I see." He then chuckled. "That would be a nice name for a horse."
Asfan sat straight as he stretched his hand towards Raghav. "Goodbye." Raghav shook his hand and nodded. "May we meet again."
Asfan nodded and went inside the forest.
Raghav looked at Asfan; as his face shifted back into his serious demeanor; before gently patting Gati on the back as she turned and ran towards the city.
As he passed through the city he saw people leaving their homes getting ready to head to work. The moment he rode near them; all of their attention turned to him as they followed him with their eyes.
'So beautiful.' 'Such glow.' 'Such warmth.' Were the only thoughts that came into the minds of those that laid eyes upon him.
Raghav made it back to the castle nodding at the guards that stood watch outside. "Morning Gentlemen."
The guards nodded back at him. "Morning to you too sir!"
Raghav then went to the stables and got off as Gati walked back into the stables herself.
Raghav smiled as he went inside the castle while ascending the stairs he stopped at the eighth floor and walked through it until he came across a giant golden door with beautiful exotic wood. He tilted his head placing his hand on the handle.
Just as he was about to open the door a voice called out to him. "Raghav!"
Raghav quickly turned to his left seeing Reinhardt along with two more of the Royal Guards approaching. "Reinhardt. Good morning." "Good morning to you too."
The two shook hands as Raghav looked at his company. "Did the King ask for me?" Reinhardt shook his head. "No. We were just given a half hour break to have breakfast. Would you like to join?"
Raghav narrowed his eyes. "I will." Reinhardt them gestured forward. "This way." As the four of them left the golden door behind.