BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan (23 page)

Wagging both fingers back and forth, Hawkins
continued, “I would prefer the first route myself, as I know that
my Sultan and Sultaness do also. Still, they have instructed me in
what to do in either route, as has General Thorn, in case you are
unconvincing, or decide to be dishonorable!”

Hawkins concluded, “Last but not least, if
you are an honorable man, which both they and I believe you to be—I
would like you to tell me all about yourself, Lord Bradmir.”

Bradmir—who had long ago regained control
over his fears—replied in a respectful tone, “Well, Governor
Hawkins. My name is Lord Bradmir and I’m seventeen, the youngest of
five sons generated from my father—things I’m sure you already well
know…”

After taking a deep breath through just his
mouth, he added, “What you don’t know are the reasons why I have
decided to serve my cousins. The main reason is because I never
much liked or respected my father! He was always very brutish to
all my brothers and I—that is, except for Jumblee, my eldest
brother…

“Even worse, father never cared that I have
always been his smartest son, especially when it came to economic
or strategic matters within the Vaspan Empire—all my other brothers
are dolt-warriors like their father before them! You know how I
know that my father never cared about any of us except for Jumblee,
and most especially not for me, Governor Hawkins?”

Hawkins asked, “How, Lord Bradmir?”

After a ten second pause, Bradmir finally
answered, “Because…whenever I told father any of my brilliant
ideas, he would always use those very ideas to expand his empire,
and then take all the credit, glory, and wealth himself, because
they were that
successful
. He never once told me anything
like ‘good job…’”

“Wow—that’s terrible,” Hawkins said, just
before he sighed while shaking his head in disbelief.

Bradmir’s thick eyebrows rose as he asked,
“You want to hear yet another reason, or have you heard
enough?”

Just then, the sergeant-in-charge of setting
up the command tent, walked up, and snapped a salute. While still
bearing the salute, he reported, “I apologize for the interruption,
Governor Hawkins and Lord Bradmir. The command tent is ready for
you both…sirs!”

Hawkins returned the salute, and then
replied, “Thank you, sergeant. That will be all.”

“Yes, sir,” The sergeant then did an about
face, went over to the privates under his charge, and ordered,
“Squad, right face—forward march!” They marched off.

Hawkins looked back over at Bradmir and said,
“I do want to know everything you’re willing to tell me, but let’s
first go inside, eat dinner, and then get comfortable, okay, Lord
Bradmir?”

With a smile, Bradmir answered, “Okay,
Governor Hawkins.”

Hawkins obligingly walked over to Bradmir’s
hat, picked it up off the ground, dusted it off, and then extended
it out for the young lord.

After Bradmir had taken the hat, he saw that
the governor was now extending his hand out for him to take, and so
he grasped it. Hawkins lightly pulled him to his feet before
releasing his hand.

The two walked inside the command tent, got
comfortable by taking off their jackets, hanging them up on a coat
rack that a soldier had brought in, and sat at the table that other
soldiers had just finished setting up.

During dinner, seasoned fish mixed with rice
and a glass of wine, they talked sociably (mainly about Bradmir)
for about another half an hour before going to sleep in their bunks
for the duration of the day. A day that passed by without a single
problem.

After waking up that night, as the army began
the process of unsetting camp, they ate breakfast with Rumsfield in
the command tent—a bowl of sweet porridge.

By the time they had finished dinner about
twenty minutes later, and had exited the tent, they saw that the
rest of the camp was almost unset—a squad of soldiers immediately
began the process of disassembling the command tent.

Once so, nearly fifteen minutes later,
Rumsfield called the men to formation, and then the army began to
march or ride…

Over the course of the next seven weeks,
which was the time it took for them reach the borders of the Vaspan
Empire due to a lot of bad sandstorms along the way, Hawkins
listened to “a ton of important pieces of information” from Bradmir
along the way.

One of the most important pieces of
information was that the Vaspan Empire actually consisted of two
successful trade cities. Strangely he hadn’t ever heard about this
second city before called Driven, not even in the briefing given by
Thorn, in which Bradmir had not been allowed to attend.

Another very important piece of information
Bradmir reported was that Driven also contained an army of twenty
thousand strong that were fiercely loyal to his father—equally
skilled in defending its own city walls/stone labyrinth.

Of course, the bright seventeen-year old also
told Hawkins many other important things about both
cities—economically, offensively, and defensively. Why, there was
even a top-secret entrance, via an underground tunnel five miles
away from the city, to get into Mauritia’s palace!

Hawkins was able to verify nearly everything,
as Thorn had at least been truthful about Mauritia, including about
that secret entrance.

However, what Hawkins could not figure out
was why Thorn had omitted all information about Driven, though he
had long ago sent a messenger to Pavelus in order to relay the
“suspiciousness of General Thorn.”

Perhaps fifteen miles away from the outer
borders of Mauritia’s labyrinth, camp was set up at the time of
dusk. It was only after the commanders meeting—with Bradmir
included—that they ate dinner. Dried rations and water.

After this most-exhausting day of traveling,
especially since they had been traveling for the last sixteen hours
with only a few pit-stops along the way, Hawkins and Bradmir
finally got the opportunity to relax in their bunks.

Hawkins, while picking the remaining food out
of his teeth with a toothpick and lying in his bunk, looked over at
the young lord who lay on his own bunk, yawned, and said, “Well,
Lord Bradmir, tonight you will need your rest.”

Bradmir look over, and replied, “I know,
Governor Hawkins. Do not worry, for tomorrow, I shall be an
honorable man, as you have taught me to become over these last
seven weeks.”

Hawkins looked back up to the ceiling of the
tent, and said, “I’m not worried, Lord Bradmir. In fact, I’m sure
that by the time we have successfully united both empires under one
banner, I will promote you to Lieutenant Governor. That is, if you
would like to hold such an honorable position!”

“Really…?” Bradmir asked in awe, while
looking over at Hawkins with a look of shock on his freckled face.
A few seconds later, he finally asked, “You would like me to be the
lieutenant governor?”

“Sure.”

“Well, what if we are forced to go to war
tomorrow, even though I will try my best to go the route of
peace?”

Hawkins looked back over and answered, “As
long as you remain honorable from beginning to end, then my
decision will never change…no matter the route that occurs
tomorrow!

“Just so you know, I’m not asking you to
accept this position now, Lord Bradmir, but sleep with that option
bouncing around in your mind. Perhaps in the morning, your answer
will be there…perhaps not?”

Bradmir replied, “Okay. Goodnight, Governor
Hawkins.”

After a really long yawn, Hawkins replied,
“Goodnight, Lord Bradmir.”

The next morning, an hour before sunrise,
both Hawkins and Bradmir awoke to the delicious smells of food
permeating the tent and wafting up their nostrils. For the last
three weeks, they had eaten only dried rations, dried fruits and
water.

When they sat up in their bunks almost at the
same time, they saw that the cooks had set up a table filled with
two large bowls of scrambled eggs with pieces of bacon. After
having finished eating this delicious and hearty breakfast, ten
minutes later, Hawkins dressed into his battle armor, just before
strapping on his sheathed sword to his belt.

Bradmir had been given a sword too, though he
did not have any armor, so he dressed in his regular attire.

Only seconds after these two men were ready
to go, Rumsfield entered the command tent, along with his two top
colonels.

After the three officers had shared a sharp
salute, Rumsfield reported, “Governor Hawkins and Lord Bradmir, the
troops are waiting outside in battle formation for your final
inspection and briefing. Throughout these last seven scorching-hot
weeks, your army has suffered only two heat-related deaths, which
puts our numbers at thirty-five thousand and one.”

Hawkins replied, “Excellent,
Commanding-General Rumsfield. We will be out there
momentarily.”

Rumsfield replied, “Thank you, sir!”

After Rumsfield and his two colonels had
delivered a sharp salute, which salute was returned, they departed
the command tent.

Hawkins looked at Bradmir and said, “Well,
Lord Bradmir—the moment of truth in nearly upon us!”

“Yes it really is. I have decided to become
your lieutenant governor, once everything is said and done. The
reason I am giving you this answer now is due to the dream I had
last night, interestingly enough!”

Hawkins’s right eyebrow rose at that comment,
and though his mouth said not a word, his throat released a humming
sound.

Bradmir explained, “In this dream which I
swear to be true, not only did I see what I will look like in the
future, but I also saw my cousins, most of my brothers, you, and
everyone else important in my life! I also saw an army of millions
assembled in formation behind us…and the Flag of the Sharia Empire
flapping in the wind right in front of us!”

Hawkins replied a bit skeptically,
“Really?”

Bradmir answered defensively, “Really, but
that’s not all! I also saw, in fleeting images, hundreds of battles
against millions of enemies that we had to fight against and
overcome—I never saw a single image of us losing a single
battle.”

Hawkins replied with a humming tone,
“Really…”

“Yes, really, but that’s not all,” Bradmir
replied with ever-growing excitement. “Just before I woke up, I saw
two snapshot images, which will forever be locked into my memory
banks. The first snapshot image I saw was myself, and my two
cousins, but in a third person’s view—we were all looking at a
piece of parchment that rested on a table within a tent! In fact,
Baltor was pointing at the parchment, and his mouth was slightly
open as if he was speaking! Brishava’s gaze, however, was focused
upon me, and there was a look of implicit trust and love in her
smiling face!”

“Hmmm…”

Excitedly, Bradmir continued, “Yes—the second
and final image I saw was the very parchment, itself. Amazingly, it
was what appeared to be two halves of a world map put together—our
world! Drawn next to each city, which included several dozen cities
I don’t even know about, there was the Flag of the Sharia
Empire!”

As goose bumps surged up and down Hawkins’s
body, he incredulously asked, “You dreamt all this?”

“Yes, I did, Governor. Why, don’t you believe
me?”

A few moments had passed, as well the goose
bumps, before Hawkins replied, “I do believe you, actually. I, too,
had a dream that made me choose the path I did—in fact, the very
night before Sultan Brishavus Helenus died!”

After sucking in a deep breath through his
mouth, he added, “I even dreamt what Baltor—I mean my new
Sultan—looked like, before my physical eyes had ever seen him…even
once! Just before I had woken up from my dream, my Sultan had
literally grown so big that he was able to hold the entire planet
in the palm of his right hand, which I presumed to be ours.”

“Wow…”

“This is why I believe that your dream is
true!”

Just as Hawkins was saying the word “true,”
both he and Bradmir heard Rumsfield’s magnified voice call outside,
“Form ranks!”

“Time for us to go, Lord Bradmir. Destiny
calls,” Hawkins said.

After delivering a friendly smile, Bradmir
replied, “Yes, Governor Hawkins, you’re right.”

The two made their way outside, and with the
assistance of all the officers and Bradmir, they performed the
final inspection on the troops.

Once all was said and done, about a half an
hour later, Hawkins began his final briefing through the megaphone,
“Good morning to you all. Today is the day of truth! Today, the
green team will arrive at the city gates. At the same time, the red
team, will arrive and travel through the secret underground tunnel
that leads directly into the palace, and execute anybody who stands
in our way! If they force us into war, for whatever reason, we
shall quickly sweep out and annihilate any resistors to the
unification of the two Empires! Hoo-rah!”

The entire regiment affirmatively roared out,
“Hoo-rah!”

Hawkins continued his briefing, “It is my
intention, however, to avoid war and the tens of thousands of
deaths that will inevitably result, as is my Sultan’s command!
Therefore, the route we must all prefer is peace. That may or may
not happen, as it greatly depends upon the convicting words of Lord
Bradmir, who continues to promise his loyalty to our Sultan and
Sultaness. Hoo-rah!”

“Hoo-rah!” the soldier cried back in
unison.

Hawkins looked over at his second-in-command,
who sat on his horse to his left, handed over the megaphone, and
asked, “Commanding-General Rumsfield, do you have any final
questions before you deploy your troops to the secret tunnel, and
await further orders?”

“Governor Hawkins, I have no final
questions.”

“Good—Execute plan A!”

“Yes, sir,” Rumsfield said before placing the
megaphone up to his mouth, and commanding, “Red team! Right
face—forward march!” Half of the marching troops, along with a
quarter of the officers still riding on horses, made the right
face, and marched toward the spot the secret tunnel was
located.