BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan (21 page)

Baltor looked confused, and asked, “What is
your unusual request?”

Valiante answered, “Written in our most
sacred and historical book called,
The Code of the Vispano
Knights
, which was written by our first commander-in-chief, I
quote:

‘When an impasse or decision can’t be reached
between two opposing yet honorable factions that bear such massive
armies that will ultimately result in massive disorder,
destruction, and death no matter the victors. Then consider the
possibility of honorable combat to happen to the death between the
two best warriors from both factions…

‘In the end, it is well worth the chivalrous
sacrifice of the best warrior, who has now transcended into a
martyr for countless other lives if you were to consider everyone’s
future generations.’

“‘And most importantly,” Valiante added,
“that martyr will forever be a hero—no matter whether the friend or
foe—for the eternal Vispano Knights—fear not o’ warriors, in the
end, only honor, justice, and glory shall prevail’…unquote.”

After spending nearly a minute to digest all
of this information, Baltor finally asked, “So, what you’re
basically suggesting is that you’d like to have a duel to the death
between your best warrior and my best warrior?”

“Yes. Is this acceptable to you, your
Sultan?” Valiante asked.

Baltor asked, “What if your best man
wins?”

“Then you and your army must wait patiently
until my duke returns, so that the two of you can discuss peace
negotiations.”

“And if we win?” Baltor then asked.

“Then my army and I peacefully leave
Lasparus, and return to Parthway…but you must not attack us from
behind.”

“I agree to your proposal.”

Even though Baltor gave this simple answer,
his mind was still shocked that history was about to repeat itself,
especially in the fact that there would be two combatants fighting
to the death in order to determine the victor of property!

Valiante then asked, “So, who is your best
warrior, your Sultan?”

“Me… and yours, Commanding-Knight?”

Even though Valiante became quite surprised
to hear that this Sultan was willing to risk his life without
hesitation, he replied a moment later, “Commander Barquoth.”

“Who?” Even though Baltor asked this simple
question, he realized that history wasn’t exactly repeating itself
any longer. He would be fighting someone else.

For only the time it took him to say what he
had to say, Valiante turned his head around, and barked out, “Get
me Commander Barquoth!”

His two top knights turned their horses
around, and then they both rode at a gallop back to their army.
Once there, a minute later, they barked out, “Commander
Barquoth!”

Nearly five minutes later, Barquoth arrived
on a massive chariot that had to be pulled by four powerful
horses—strangely, he looked very familiar to Baltor!

After all, not only did this armored giant
strongly resemble his friend Yaush in the fact that he had thick
and wavy blonde hair and good looks, yet was also more than five
hundred lbs. and ten feet tall!

From behind this giant, all the knights on
horseback began chanting out his name,
“Barquoth—Barquoth—Barquoth!”

A minute later, Barquoth arrived, stepped off
the chariot that elevated him by three feet, pulled off a six-foot
long studded mace that he had strapped onto the back of the
chariot, and then casually slung it over his shoulder as if it was
a paperweight.

As he casually strutted up to Valiante, he
boomed out, “Yes Commanding-Knight Valiante!”

Upon closer inspection, Baltor observed that
Barquoth’s face was slightly different in facial features and
angles, but otherwise, he was nearly an identical twin with
Yaush!

“Commander Barquoth, the Sultan of the Sharia
Empire has agreed to our plan of single-handed combat to the death
between his best warrior and ours…are you ready for combat and
possible death for the Order of the Vispano Knights?”

“Yes Commanding-Knight Valiante, I am ready…”
With a surprising amount of respect to his voice, he looked over to
Baltor, and said, “Your Sultan, I am ready to face your best
warrior to the death. Who shall be my opponent?”

Without fear or hesitation, Baltor answered,
“I shall be your opponent, Commander, but I have an additional
request I’d like to make to your leader before we begin our duel,
okay?”

Barquoth replied, “No problem, Your
Sultan.”

“Commanding-Knight Valiante, would it
possible to have this duel in one hour, so that it will give my
troops, both army and navy, to come to our position so that they
can witness the battle, firsthand? I can assure you that they will
remain honorable and not interfere.”

“Of course, your Sultan,” Valiante promised.
“One hour from now, we—all my honorable forces and I—shall join you
right here as well, if that’s okay with you, your Sultan?”

“It is.”

Valiante, his two top knights, and Barquoth,
all rode back to their troops.

Meanwhile, Baltor turned his horse around and
said, “Commanding-General Han—let’s draw a circle in the sand that
is one hundred feet in diameter—also, post torches every ten feet
around the borders. That way, all of our forces can witness the
spectacle—use as many soldiers as necessary to make my command into
actuality within the hour!”

“Excellent idea, my Sultan!”

Han hurriedly rode back to the army, in order
to relay this message, and find volunteers to help create this
arena.

A few seconds after Han had left, Baltor
turned his head to Thorn, and said, “General, ensure that all of
our forces, both army and navy, come to witness the duel within the
hour. I understand this will be a difficult task for you to
accomplish, but make it so.”

“Yes, my Sultan!” Thorn said. Without another
second’s delay, he escalated his horse into a gallop in order to
fulfill his Sultan’s command.

Two minutes later, Baltor arrived back at
camp, and then he began to perform all his stretching
exercises.

Exactly one hour later, more than one
hundred, seventy thousand troops encircled the circle, and of
course the two combatants were inside—Baltor and Barquoth!

In order for everyone to clearly see the
battle, everyone was ordered to sit on the ground in a circle, and
not to stand up until the battle was over.

Baltor unsheathed both of his swords with a
quick flick of his wrists, twirled them expertly around his body
for about thirty seconds, and then held them in the ready
position.

Meanwhile, Barquoth revealed that he was
extremely dangerous anywhere within ten feet of his immediate
position, due to his four-foot long arms that rapidly swung around
his hundred-pound mace, as if it was a half-ounce flyswatter!

A moment later, Barquoth stopped swinging
around his mace, set it casually back down onto his shoulder, and
then asked, “Are you ready, Your Sultan?”

“I am, Commander Barquoth,” Baltor began.
Surprising to everyone present, Baltor sheathed back his swords
with another flick of his wrists, and then he began to bolt
forward.

Meanwhile, Barquoth stood still and patiently
waited for his opponent to draw near enough, in order to make a
quick kill with a single swing of his mace, as he had done so often
in the past.

Baltor, still about thirty feet away, did
three cartwheels, but instead of stopping there, he began to do
forward flips. Upon Baltor’s third flip in the air with all the
power of his legs, he flew nearly sixteen feet straight up into the
air!

Meanwhile, Barquoth watched in amazement at
this highly-skilled acrobatic, though ready to make that swing
straight over his head as soon as his opponent had made it within
his mace’s berth.

Surprisingly enough, Baltor flew so high into
the air that he literally landed upon Barquoth’s shoulders with
both of his feet, and without pause, he performed a back
flip—Barquoth’s mace missed Baltor by less than an inch, but only
because Baltor had laterally twisted his body out of harm’s
way.

The second he felt ground underneath his
legs, he jabbed both swords forward and up at Barquoth, who now
towered in front of him—instead of his blades puncturing into his
opponent’s stomach, it was the hilts of both swords!

Every single one of Baltor’s forces began to
cheer as they thought that their leader had already won the battle,
which he could have…

Due to the nature of the deadly contest
between the two combatants, Baltor did not pause upon contact, but
instantly angled both of his swords out to his sides as he
performed a backwards roll—Barquoth’s mace zinged inches over his
opponent’s head and body.

As soon as Baltor had regained his standing
position with both swords sheathed a moment later, Barquoth’s mace
was coming in for yet another downward swing.

This time, Baltor threw himself into a
forward roll, rolled right between his opponent’s legs, and a
second later when his hands found solid ground, he kicked his feet
hard into the back of Barquoth’s knees!

Both of Barquoth’s legs buckled, as he
crashed hard onto the ground by his kneecaps—a split second later,
Baltor flipped around, pinching both of his swords tightly up
against both sides of Barquoth’s neck.

Upon feelings the sharp blades against his
neck, not too mention the incredible pain in both of his knees,
Barquoth realized that he had lost the battle, but strangely, he
did not feel those swords make “the final cut.”

Still Barquoth dared not move a single
muscle, especially to turn his head to look at his opponent.

When Barquoth didn’t die about ten seconds
later, he said, “Your Sultan, I know that I have lost the battle,
and am about to die, but let me say that it has truly been an honor
to fight against such a skilled and quick opponent like yourself!
Never before have I been so easily bested!”

Baltor replied, “It is not my desire to kill
you, Commander Barquoth, unless I am forced to do so. Therefore, if
you honorably surrender, I will spare your life. By the way, do you
happen to know a giant like yourself named Yaush who resides in a
town called Valakan?”

Upon hearing Yaush’s name, Barquoth’s head
unconsciously turned around, but Baltor had already safely yanked
away both blades.

Barquoth boomed out, “Yaush is my
brother!”

Chills surged up and down Baltor’s spine upon
hearing this incredibly surprising news.

Instead of asking any further questions about
the family relations, he asked, “Do you surrender, Commander
Barquoth?”

“I—I surrender, your Sultan…”

“Very well, I accept your surrender,” Baltor
replied, just before he sheathed his swords, walked in front of the
giant, braced both of his legs firmly into the ground, and then
assisted the five hundred pound giant back onto his feet.

Meanwhile, all of Baltor’s troops had just
begun to cheer, though all of Valiante’s troops remained
silent.

Baltor extended his hands and arms out into
the air, and then slowly lowered them back to the ground, which
silenced all his troops.

Once silenced, Baltor turned back to Barquoth
and said in the giant’s native tongue, “Yaush is one of my best
friends in the world—he literally saved my life…from a
scarain!”

With a thoughtful nod to his head, Barquoth
replied in the same language, “Yaush is indeed a good man, though
his and my ways of looking at life have been different since we
were both born—he is a simple hunter, while I am an honorable
soldier. That is why I left Valakan more than a decade ago, and
soon after, found and joined the honorable ranks of the Vispano
Knights!”

Baltor replied with quite a bit of interest,
“I see…”

At this point in their conversation, Valiante
and his two top knights had joined the pair in the very middle of
the circle.

Even though there was a whole lot of
confusion as to what the two men were talking about, especially
since they were still speaking Valakanese, Valiante called out,
“Your Sultan, you are the victor of this most honorable duel, and
therefore, the city of Lasparus is yours—congratulations!”

Valiante’s troops began to cheer—Baltor’s
forces joined right in.

Once silence reigned nearly two minutes
later, Baltor finally replied, “Thank you, Commanding-Knight
Valiante!”

Without pause, he revealed in the language of
Vispano, “By the way, Commander Barquoth, your brother, his wife,
and Valakan are all in serious danger!”

“Why?” Barquoth asked with a look of worry
now totally etched onto his face.

Baltor answered, “There is a powerful and
evil army which lies far to our east, yet they are quickly
traveling westbound to destroy my capital city, and possibly other
directions…

“Soon enough—perhaps already—this army will
run across your cities or towns, and they will annihilate everyone
there, as I know for a fact because that they destroyed a good
friend of mine’s entire kingdom without mercy! This entire planet
is in danger.”

With a very concerned expression upon his
face, Barquoth asked, “Really, Your Sultan?”

“Really…a little over six weeks ago was the
time when I first heard the horrible news from one of my best
friends, the sole survivor—twenty thousand of my best and fastest
cavalry soldiers are currently galloping that direction with a
two-fold mission!

“One, save the residents of Valakan by
assisting them with their retreat to my capital city of Pavelus,
which is very well fortified. And number two, take a nice-sized
chunk out of this army before we—the bulk of my army and
myself—arrive from the northwest, in order to finish them off!”

Barquoth’s glance fell to Valiante, and he
asked, “Commanding Knight Valiante, would it be possible for me to
temporarily join this Sultan and his forces, so that I can help
eradicate the army which has possibly already destroyed my hometown
and family of Valakan?”