While Attila also looked in awe at all that work, done exactly as he had illustrated to the kingdom's builders, a warrior from his army approached with a serious look on his face.
"What happened?" Attila asked, annoyed at being disturbed during his few hours of rest.
"Prince, the Ice People have invaded the country. They are moving toward the palace."
"How many?"
"I think all of them."
Attila looked at Yuki.
"Go after Selytha and hide in her room. Don't open the door to anyone but Sean."
"And you?"
He took a deep breath.
"I'm going to become what I was born to be," he said and walked away with the warrior.
...
"Don't let them reach the palace gates!" Attila instructed the fire warriors. "Take your weapons, but we know that the Ice people will not be defeated by ordinary weapons, so you must be prepared to flee and let only the fire warriors with magic face the Ice people in their sparkling blue armor. They have been trained for this and possess the Daggers of the Sun. These are lethal to the Ice warriors. Our priority will be to protect the Pharaoh. You must fight to the death for this. As for me, I will go to the front of the battle. I will strike down as many Ice warriors as I am capable of. I will give my life for Mahagah, for I know that in doing so, I will protect our people." Attila said and looked to the side and saw some soldiers who were loyal to him. "Our Pharaoh has provided weapons. You must distribute them to the people. Let each man defend his own family." He said and walked away toward his fighting room.
Attila entered the arena and crouched down, closing his eyes as if in concentrated prayer.
"You shouldn't be here," he said without opening his eyes.
Sean stopped beside him.
"I'm going to fight alongside our army."
"Yes. But you will fight here in the palace. You will fight to protect our family."
"I will protect them on the battlefield. I will not hide within the walls of this palace while the blood of the people of Fogo is being spilled."
Attila stood up and stared at Sean.
"You know that the Pharaoh is the soul of Mahagah. If you die, if they manage to hit you, all our people will cease to exist again."
"You could replace me, but you prefer to throw yourself in front of the enemy's weapons. I understand you, I understand your need to be useful, you are the only one who knows that I am the most powerful weapon in the kingdom of Mahagah, so why are you asking me to act like a coward?"
"Sean..." Attila was surprised. "Don't you know your importance? Every scratch you get will be felt by every person in this town. I can be hurt while the crown is on your head, and it won't affect our people, it won't cause pain. It's not cowardly to stay and protect yourself. When you do that, you save many lives. A serious injury to you would kill children and the most fragile people."
"What good is having so much power if I can't use it to protect our people?"
"What do you want to do? Go there and burn all the people of Ice and break the alliance that our ancestors built with the people of Ice? You know the consequences of something like that, Sean. You can do it, but that doesn't mean you should."
"This story that we can't face our enemies with unfair force may be a legend used to intimidate us into not using our full strength against them. It may be the way they found to restrain us in the face of their attacks."
"Perhaps it is not unjust to kill them with infinitely superior force. If you decide to burn them all, our people will be safe in the streets and we will not face other powerful enemies, for they will not dare to challenge us, since our destructive power could devastate any people who rose up in rebellion against Mahagah. Is that not the truth that fills your thoughts, Pharaoh?"
"Yes. I can burn all our enemies without spilling a single drop of our warriors' blood, in an hour, and we will forever be the most feared people on Earth."
"And do you know what makes us live?"
Sean smiled, remembering his father.
"Purpose."
"Yes. And you would seek ever greater purposes. Your kingdom alone would no longer be enough."
"Perhaps we would become the ideal model of government."
"Perhaps. But tell me, Sean, how close would you be to becoming the most hated man in the world? You are weak, just like me and all men. You would become a man I would be ashamed to say has the same blood as me, in search of more power."
Sean looked steadily at Attila.
"You have another reason for not wanting to see the Ice people 'melted,' Attila. I can't blame you. You're defending the people of your mother's heritage."
Attila held Sean's gaze.
"I won't try to stop you from burning the Ice people, Sean, but if you attack them unfairly, I want you to understand that it will force me to turn against the Fire people, and I will fight your heat with cold, and at the end of that war, you will have no people left to rule."
Sean knew that this was not an empty threat, and nodding his head to show that he understood, he withdrew.
...
Yuki was looking out the window and noticed that the sky was getting cloudy, announcing that it might rain soon. Selytha was busy with her dolls, and Janethe was alone in a corner throwing miniature bronze knives on the floor. After frowning, she would pick them up again, shake them, and throw them on the floor. Yuki was anxious and couldn't stand the silence, so she approached Janethe.
"What are you doing?"
She looked at Yuki with a startled expression, but soon calmed down.
"Um... I always saw the Gumis throw daggers to predict the future of the Pharaohs."
Yuki knelt down beside her and picked up one of the small daggers.
"How do you interpret what they say?"
"The way they fall. Look!" She said, and after swinging them in her hand, she threw them on the ground, and Yuki looked at them, thinking it was all random.
Janethe pointed to some daggers, which Yuki now realized were golden, above the silver daggers.
"This indicates that war between these two peoples is inevitable."
"Why do the Ice people want this war so badly? They are not from Mahagah. They can create their own rules and..."
"No, Yuki. The Ice people are from Mahagah. They live in the cold region, where there are no crops. They are like parasites. They live off what other people do, but they have become a strong people, created a kingdom, the Kingdom of Waves, and appropriated weaker neighboring nations that had natural resources, and they have become strong, but they are cursed, and cannot be prosperous until they serve the Pharaoh, as their parents promised."
Yuki stared at the small daggers in Janethe's hands, and her words made no sense. Yuki saw Attila's brown eyes reflected in each dagger.
Suddenly, she understood Attila's last words and looked at Janethe with distress.
"Take care of Selytha. I need to leave."
"But, Farida! The prince ordered you to stay in your room and..."
"The prince cannot give orders to Farida," Yuki said and ran off.
She ran down the stairs and, following her intuition, began to run along the path that led to Attila's fighting hall.
She stopped and hid behind the wall of one of the buildings on the way when she saw Sean leaving the hall. She waited for him to disappear and then ran again.
She entered the hall and found Attila standing with his head bowed, as if listening to someone's advice.
Yuki approached slowly.
"I told you to stay in your room."
"Attila... I came to ask you not to sacrifice yourself."
Attila turned to her.
"Don't bother me, Farida. You don't know what you're saying."
"I know I don't want to lose you, and if you go to fight today, I'll never see you again."
"That's not a bad thing, Farida. You won't have to be confused about your feelings anymore. No matter the outcome, I, as you see me now, will cease to exist."
Tears wet Yuki's face.
"I beg you not to go, Attila."
"Why not?"
"You know the answer."
"I want to hear it."
"I love you."
He smiled sadly.
"But you love Sean more."
"I don't know."
"Yuki, you know I'm no good. Remember what I did to you on the island?"
"I understood your reasons."
"There is no reason that would justify an act like that. I'm no good, Yuki. You chose the right brother to marry. Sean is good and will protect you and your daughter."
"You don't intend to come back?"
"I'm not going to do anything to come back."
Yuki approached him and hugged him.
"Stay, Attila. Don't leave me."
"Unfortunately, just knowing your feelings isn't enough for me to stay."
"What would be enough?"
"Nothing you can offer me."
Yuki inhaled his scent.
"Do you want me to make a choice?"
"No, Yuki. But I want you to consult your heart. Who would you sacrifice? Sean or Atila? If it were up to you to choose which one of us would live, you would find that... you would always choose Sean."
"I would never be able to make such a choice." She spoke sincerely.
"I know. But fate will choose for you."
Yuki stepped back and fixed her gaze on Attila's hand.
"I don't know when you became so important to me, but I know for sure that I don't want you to give yourself up. Since I can't stop you from going, promise me you'll protect yourself. That you'll fight to celebrate the victory of the fire people with me."