FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (10 page)

     The elegantly dressed gentleman grabbed King Fangstrike’s dagger hand with his own and pressed the blade deeper into his throat

     “I am not fraudulent and I am not a transvestite
!
However, I am egotistical, but I am rightly and deservingly so
!
So kill me then
!
Press the dagger all the way in
!
” he challenged.

     The king hesitated. Finally, he withdrew the dagger.

     “You will not kill me, because I am the only one who can give you Eastern Falls; and without that province, you will never have enough food, products and slaves that you need to strengthen this wasted land you call your kingdom. Forget not who I am, and forget not of my influence and power. Eastern Falls will be yours, as per our agreement.  And I am not one of your brainless apes, King Fangstrike, it would serve you well to remember that. And you
will
remember to address me as
Lord
Destiny,” reminded the elegantly dressed gentleman.

     King Fangstrike stared at his guest with the greatest contempt.

     “I’ll do no such thing
!
Besides, what makes you think that I need you to take Eastern Falls, Destiny
?
” asked the king.

     “If you could take it by yourself, you would have already done so; would you not
?
” replied the masked figure.

     King Fangstrike turned his face away in a half angry, half embarrassed snarl.

     “You
need
me
!
” Lord Destiny pointed out.

     “Do I really
?
If anyone knew that I’m associated with you, or if they even suspected it, I’d have a full blown mutiny on my hands. Serpentians don’t take kindly to Fallsians, especially traitors
!
” said King Fangstrike.

     Lord Destiny shook his head. This action only served to infuriate the king further.

     “Have you forgotten how you got the throne, Fang Patrum
?
Have you forgotten that it was my agent who weakened King Deathcoil with poison so that you could kill him in your Trial of Worthiness
?
Without my help, you would be dead and Deathcoil would still be king,” reminded Lord Destiny.

     King Fangstrike was silent. It was bitter for him to swallow humble pie. But in his heart, he made a vow to kill Lord Destiny in the most painful manner that he could think of. No one insults him and gets away with it
!
Especially not some Fallsian traitor who was delusional.

     Lord Destiny savoured his small moment of triumph. Serpentians were always less sophisticated compared to Fallsians, and this very distant relative of the Fallsian king was no different.

     “One of my serpenest will depart at dawn to carry out the raid. Is everything ready on your side
?
” said the king finally.

     “It is. I have engaged a very professional organisation for the job. They have an excellent track record. I doubt they will fail,” said the masked figure.

     “I hope your faith is well placed. Forget not that our target is no commoner. He’ll be well protected
!
” reminded the king.

     “There are contingency plans in place,” assured Lord Destiny.

     “Well, I want this done and over with, the sooner the better. And after that, we’re even. And we’re over
!
Do you understand
!?
I want nothing more to do with you when all this is done, is that clear
?
” said the king.

     “Very clear
!
After this, we are over
!
” agreed Lord Destiny.

     A dark figure lay hidden beneath one of the windows of the throne room. He was garbed in black clothing, including gloves; and his face was smeared with mud. He has heard as much as he had needed to. The battlelords had stopped talking strategies. They had begun talking about women and sharing dirty jokes with each other. He looked around, and found no Serpentian guard near his vicinity. Gently, he raised his body off the ground and ran in a crouch towards the outer wall of the fortress. His heartbeats were erratic and his breaths were heavy. Anxiety gripped his mind tightly, leaving no room for any thought except one; to escape and live long enough to tell his superiors of what he had heard.

    The dark figure made his way through the castle and reached the outer wall. Slowly and silently, he climbed up the stairs to the top of the wall, and then hoisted himself over the parapets and climbed down the other side using a rope that he had prepared. He climbed down the high wall skilfully. As he reached the ground, he felt slightly relieved. So far, his escape plan was going well.

     Suddenly, he lets out a soft moan as a sharp pain in his back takes him by surprise. He falls onto one knee. Instantly, the feeling of dread consumes him. Crimson blood flows along the black clothing and drips onto the grassy Serpentian ground. He begins coughing, and blood sprays from his mouth as he does so. He reaches toward his back, feeling for the arrow shaft to confirm his suspicion. He mutters a whispered curse as his fingers comes into contact with it. The pain is excruciating. He feels like sitting down. He feels like surrendering and begging for medical treatment. He feels like giving up. But he knows he cannot. Many Fallsians will die if he does so. He must carry on. So he picks himself up and continues to run into the dimness of the half-mooned night.

     Meanwhile, on the top of the outer wall of the stone castle, two Serpentian guards were fidgeting with fear.

     “We have to raise the alarm
!
” said the first guard.

     “Ssshh
!
  Quiet, you crazy fool
!
King Fangstrike will have us beheaded if he finds out that a spy has managed to get in here in the first place. Are you trying to get us killed
?
” whispered the second guard.

     “Then what are we supposed to do
?
” asked the first guard.

     “Hide the rope and make pretend the whole thing has never happened. You have punctured one of his lungs. This is a serious wound. Besides, our arrowheads are laced with poison. He will die either way, so there is no need to attract any attention to us,
to our
failure
!
” answered the second one.

     With a reluctant nod, the first guard helped the second guard pull up the grappling hook and the rope that the dark figure had used and the both of them hurried off to hide the ‘evidence’. Then the two guards pretended that nothing had happened and resumed their patrol of the outer wall.

     The dark figure ran on clumsily. After 300 paces from the castle, he stumbled and sat himself down, half choking and half drowning from his own blood. The world seemed to spin around him and his eye-lids felt too heavy to lift. He felt so sleepy. But he told himself that he must carry on. Fallsian lives depended on him
!
He must get up
!
And then, with massive effort, he picked himself up and started running again. A few dozen paces later, he stumbled and fell again; and again he pulled himself up and forced himself forward.

     Finally, he reached the tree to which he had tied his horse. He clumsily untied the horse and grabbed the saddle, but stood still momentarily, unsure of his capability to mount the horse. Finally, with a forced determination, he stepped on the stirrup and with both hands, hoisted himself up and collapsed onto the horse’s back. The horse started galloping wildly through the tall grass and undulating terrain of Serpentia with its unconscious master on its back. In the distance, the wild laugh-like howling of a pack of hyenas accompanied the horse’s gallop like a mismatched orchestra.

     Two nights later, at a secret location along Free Falls’ mountainous border with Serpentia, four weary horse-mounted soldiers waited in the pale dimness of night. Two of them were clad in flame red uniform shirts with golden yellow collars. They were male. The other two, one of them a woman, wore the same coloured uniform shirts but were with dark brown collars instead. All four of them had flame red uniform pants and black leather boots. They all wore steel breastplates on their torsos. Their steel shoulder and arm pieces, which were connected to their breastplates, were painted to match their collars. They wore steel vambraces for the protection of their forearms, steel groin pieces for their groins, steel thigh guards for their thighs and steel greaves for their shins.

     “We shall wait for another hour, if he does not appear, it is safe to assume that he has been killed or captured. We may have to send someone else in and to do so tonight, if possible,” said the woman.

     “Convian Serene Genox, I concur with your conclusion. I shall go tonight if he fails to show up,” replied one of the golden yellow collared soldiers.

     On the left side of this soldier’s breastplate was etched and painted two identical symbols of a silver dove, viewed from the side, flying with its wings outstretched.

     “Negative
!
This is not acceptable, Convian Sky Proest
!
You are a junior officer of the Royal Guards. The Royal Guards are an elite force, and as a member of this elite force, you are privileged to many of our military secrets. You also have full knowledge of our deployment capabilities. If you are captured, the enemy may obtain much vital information from you which they could use against us,” objected Convian Genox, who also had the same markings on her breastplate.

     Convian Proest stared at Convian Genox with an irritated expression. Being of an elite force, he was not used to a regular soldier questioning his decisions.

     “I acknowledge your concerns, Convian Genox. However, time is of the essence. We cannot afford to send for a group of trained spies from Fallsene City. That would take days. Amongst the four of us here, I am the only one qualified for this type of mission. I have made my decision. If he does not show up in one hour, I shall be going into Serpentia to complete the mission,” expressed Convian Proest.

     “With all due respect, Convian Proest, the eastern border falls under the jurisdiction of 3
rd
Ocean and Fort Eastguard, therefore I shall decide who goes into Serpentia,” stressed Convian Genox.

     “With all
due
respect, Convian Genox, though we are both of the same rank; but I am a member of the Royal Guards, so I
outrank
you
!
So, unless you are a Minvian and you have four Silver Dove Symbols on your breastplate, or if you are an Orgavian or a Recavian and you have a Golden Hawk Symbol or three Golden Hawk Symbols respectively; this decision is mine to make, not yours
!
” insisted Convian Proest.

     “You may be a member of the Royal Guards, Convian Proest, but this is my operation to begin with. It was my informant who told me of the increase in Serpentian military activities and I was the one who was ordered to investigate them further. So it is not necessary for me to outrank you. This mission was delegated to me by our superiors, therefore, I am in command,” argued Convian Genox, who had left out the fact that she was once offered the opportunity to be a Royal Guard herself, but had refused it for personal reasons.

     Convian Proest showed very clear signs of irritation. Convian Genox’s composure was not very calm either.

    “You are wasting my time
!
” insisted Convian Proest.

     “With all due respect, Convian Proest; though I acknowledge the authority of the Royal Guards to overrule others of equal rank, I am inclined to agree with Convian Genox, sir. An officer of the Royal Guards falling into enemy hands could be disastrous,” said the male soldier who wore the dark brown collar.

     Unlike the two convians, who were in their early twenties; the brown collared male soldier was in his late forties. Etched and painted on the left side of his breastplate was a different symbol. This symbol had of a pair of crossed swords below the Royal Symbol, and the Royal Symbol was an image of half of a dove, from the frontal view, on the left side connected to a waterfall on the right side, and with a crown on top of the two halves.

     Convian Proest tried hard to keep his emotion in check. The other yellow collared soldier had a similar expression on his face.

     “I respect your wisdom and experience, Verallvian Rod Sayson. To have served long and well enough to rise to the rank of a verallvian, a third level non-commissioned officer, is truly awesome. Most soldiers stay as a ‘servian’, unranked and without markings on their breastplates. The occasional ones may get promoted to ‘suvian’, with two black stripes. Some experienced suvians may get promoted to exevian, proudly bearing the markings of three black stripes. But it takes great courage, skill, experience and leadership to be ranked verallvian. Your reputation on the battlefield has reached our ears and it was such a waste that you rejected the offer to be transferred to the Royal Guards. We could have learned so much from you. It is not my place to disagree with one such as experienced as yourself, but I have my orders too; and military doctrine dictates that we must always send the most suitable person for this type of mission. I am well qualified, for I had graduated first placing in my batch with maximum scores on all disciplines. I am the person most suited for this mission. Besides, if they catch me, I shall cut my own tongue off. That way they can never extract any information out of me,” said Convian Proest proudly.