FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (9 page)

     With a tremendous yell, Ray thrusts his finger at the first attacker and sends an arrowhead shaped pebble straight into his throat, thereby ending his despicable life. At the same time Spirit runs toward the fear-stricken attacker but at mid-point, turns instead towards the third attacker, and then leaps into the air and sinks his razor sharp fangs into this unfortunate victim. The fourth attacker freezes in fear as he watches Spirit’s savage attack and the fatal result it brings. Ray attacks the fifth attacker who is standing next to the first one and executes a horizontal strike to the torso. The fifth attacker tries to block the strike with his sword, but with marginal success. Ray follows up by stepping forward and executes a Horizontal Strike from the reverse-side and smashes the attacker’s knee, sending him crashing to the ground in pain.

     Ray runs through the gap that has been created by the downing of the two attackers, turns around and faces the second attacker. The second attacker lunges forward with a stabbing motion. Ray easily parries the attack and slams his silver staff into the attacker’s jaw in a counter-attack, sending him spinning towards the ground. The fourth attacker turns to run, but within ten paces an arrowhead shaped pebble pierces his heart from the back and separates his soul from his body. The fifth attacker tries to get on his feet, but with a shattered knee, has tremendous trouble doing so. Not being naive enough to wait for his opponent to fully regain his footing so that he can be attacked again, Ray steps forward and deals out a fatal Vertical Strike to the attacker’s skull. Turning towards the second attacker, Ray realises that he is already dead as his head had fallen on a sharp rock that has cracked his skull.

     Ray signalled for Lance to come out.

     “They _ who are of them
?
” asked Lance.

     “Robbers _ they are of them and by the looks of it, killers as well, judging by the fact that they had tried to shoot arrows at us earlier,” replied Ray.

     “Doubt _ master, I do not mean to do of this of you, but was it necessary to kill the one that was trying to run away as well
?
” expressed Lance.

     “Necessary _ yes, it was certainly of this as he would have continued to ambush, rob and kill other innocent travellers, and we would have been responsible for their deaths if we had not stop him when we could have,” explained Ray.

     Lance went silent from Ray’s grim answer. But he still has a great deal of doubt in him.

     “Restrained _ we could have done of this to him, could we not, master
?
” suggested Lance a few moments later.

     “Evil _ men who are of this are not changeable and will never repent, though they may claim falsely otherwise; and if we had restrained him and handed him over to the Provincial Guards and he gets thrown in prison, he will be back to his old evil ways when he gets out; therefore we would have changed nothing, merely delay the same outcome. Law _ perhaps if the system of this was more efficient and perfect in this kingdom, then you would have been right, but at the moment it is not, as many a crime remains unsolved and punishments are mild; meant more for rehabilitation instead of true punishment, whereby the rights of the criminals are of more importance than the safety of the public. Saying _ one of this goes as such; a tiger never changes its stripes, a leopard never loses its spots and the demon’s heart never loses its darkness; it would have been a futile effort to rehabilitate him or even to spare his life, Lance,” clarified Ray.

     “But... but… Humans _ they were of them, master
!
” objected Lance.

     “Humans _ they were indeed of them, Lance, and as humans, they were obligated to behave as such, but they have failed to do so; thus death was the appropriate punishment for their failure
!
” insisted Ray.

     “Life _ but is not a human’s of this sacred
?
” asked Lance.

     “No
!
Life _ a human’s of this is not sacred, only the life of an innocent, be it a human or animal, is; and these robbers were not innocent
!
” clarified Ray.

     Lance stared blankly at Ray, his mind trying to absorb the complexities of Ray’s argument, which was contradictory to what his parents had taught him. In the end, he decided that he would neither accept nor reject what Ray had said until he had sufficient experience in life to know better.

     The late afternoon sky began to turn dark. Lightning flashed and thunder cracked. They set up camp on the plateau a few hundred paces away and settled for the day, as climbing down the slope on the other side of the hill would be dangerous in the rain and approaching darkness.

     The half-moon shone its restricted brilliance upon a gigantic stone castle in the middle of the vast grasslands of the Kingdom of Serpentia. This castle lies at the northern outskirts of a large city. Inside the castle, a strong and powerful figure sat casually on his throne. His face was hard and stern. His brows were thick and his jaw was square. On his head, he wore a crown that looked like a coiled cobra poised to strike. He was bare-chested except for a large cape that covered his back. And positioned on a vertical stand beside his throne was a large sword. It was a straight-sword with a double-edged blade, and was decorated with snake motifs. Seated across the man’s lap was a sensuously beautiful woman whose dress could barely contain the voluptuousness of her body. While the man sat looking straight ahead and slightly downwards, the woman stared longingly at him and stroked one of his ears continuously. In front of the throne were positioned three banquet tables arranged in the form of columns, filled with numerous well-built, savage-looking men.

     The man on the throne grabbed a piece of barbequed limb from a table by his side and started to rip off chunks of meat from it with his teeth, chewing viciously before swallowing.

     “Progress report, Battlelord Constrictor
!
” he demanded.

     “King Fangstrike, the progress is good. My men, all five ‘heads’ of them, are well trained and ready for battle. My swordsmen can split wooden shields with one strike and my archers can hit a target 600 paces away. My Grand Catapult crews can launch massive boulders into targets 3,000 paces away and smash them into a pile of dust. All faulty equipment have been repaired or replaced. Sufficient provisions have been stocked up for the campaign as well. We’re ready to move on your orders, my king
!
” said the battlelord, who was seated on the middle banquet table.

     The other 30 savage-looking men paid no attention to Battlelord Constrictor, being too engrossed in the scrumptiousness of their dinner.

     King Fangstrike nodded his head in satisfaction.

     “Well done, battlelord
!
You’ll leave at dawn, and don’t return without the slaves
!
” he ordered, ripping another chunk of meat into his mouth.

      “Your command will be my purpose, King Fangstrike
!
” acknowledged Battlelord Constrictor.

     King Fangstrike turned his gaze slightly to his right.

     “Battlelord Spitvenom
!
” called the king.

     “Yes, King Fangstrike
?
” answered a savage-looking man who sat back to back with Battlelord Constrictor on the table to the king’s right.

     “I’ve heard that you’re unhappy with this plan, is that true
?
” asked King Fangstrike.

     “It’s true
!
” answered Battlelord Spitvenom.

     “How dare you speak to your king in that tone
!
” yelled the woman who was seated across the king’s lap.

     “Queen Diamondboa, the affairs of the kingdom are for the discretion of men and are none of yours
!
” reminded Battlelord Spitvenom.

     “How dare you
!
I’m your queen
!
” said the woman furiously.

     “Enough of that, my love. A battlelord is highly valued in our society. Let him speak,” said King Fangstrike to his queen.

     “King Fangstrike, as I’ve said earlier, this raid is unnecessary. We have plenty of nomads whom we can enslave. Why should we bother to conduct a raid into Free Falls
?
The Fallsians will fight back. Our men will get killed. The nomads won’t fight back. They never have. It’s easy picking. Why waste our resources on Fallsian slaves
?
Besides, Fallsian slaves aren’t durable. They die too easily
!
” said Battlelord Spitvenom.

     The other battlelords broke into laughter. So did the king.

     “Well said, Battlelord Spitvenom
!
But you’ve forgotten that Free Falls was born from the nomads who dared to defy our predecessors. The Fallsians must continuously be made an example of, or otherwise, our nomads will be inspired by their ancestors’ example and rebel against us,” the king pointed out.

     “Very well, King Fangstrike
!
I concede that I was erroneous in my thoughts
!
” surrendered Battlelord Spitvenom.

     “Is there anyone else who is unhappy with this plan
?
” asked the king.

     All the battlelords sat silent and still.

     Queen Diamond Boa nibbled at the king’s ear.

     “What of the old and the sick, my love. Surely they make poor workers in the mine and distasteful playthings in your bed,” whispered Queen Diamond.

     “Hold
!
” shouted the king.

     Everyone present in the throne room froze again. Now all eyes were upon the king.

     “Battlelord Constrictor, kill the old and the sick, we want not of such burden,” ordered the king as he grabbed the queen and engaged her in a session of passionate kissing.

     “Understood, King Fangstrike. I’ll bring back only the youngest, healthiest and finest of specimens,” replied Battlelord Constrictor.

     The king hardly noticed the battlelord’s reply for he was too preoccupied with his passion for the queen. The other battlelords broke into a buzz of conversation with regards to the raid. Some of the battlelords offered Battlelord Constrictor advice on how the raid should be carried out or how to improve the plan he already had in mind.

     A messenger entered the throne room, approached the king and bowed.

      “What do you want, messenger
!?
” asked King Fangstrike while still passionately engaging his queen in an oral display of affection.

      “I have a vital message for you, King Fangstrike,” answered the messenger.

      “Go away, I’m busy
!
” said the king in between the smooches.

      “King Fangstrike, this message is in regards to that special issue that you had commanded me to bring to your attention,” insisted the messenger.

      “Ahhh
!
Business
!
Excuse me, darling, I’ll be back soon,” said the king to his queen apologetically.

     The king motioned for the messenger to approach the throne. The messenger delivered a sealed note into the king’s hand and then bowed and left the throne room.

     King Fangstrike opened the sealed note and read its content. Then he got off his throne and marched out of the room immediately. In a secluded section of the castle, he pressed a secret panel and the door to a hidden room opened. He entered the dimly lit room.  A mysterious figure dressed in elegant clothes emerged from the shadows and stood facing him. King Fangstrike stared at the cold, emotionless golden mask of his elegantly dressed visitor with blank expression.

     “All is going according to plan, I presume
?
” asked the visitor.

     Immediately, a dagger’s tip was pressed into the visitor’s neck, deep enough to draw fine droplets of blood but not enough to end his life.

      “Who are you to speak to me in such a way, traitor
!?
” cautioned the king, pressing the dagger a little bit deeper.

     “I am the man who is going to give you Eastern Falls with all of its riches, resources and
slaves
,” said the masked figure.

     “Never speak to me in this manner again, Destiny
!
  The next time you speak to me in such a tone, I’ll have my men rip out your intestines and let you bleed to death in a slow, painful manner. Your presence here is hardly welcomed, and I’ve serious doubts that you can do as you’ve claimed. Destiny, huh
!
Even this name that you’ve chosen sounds egotistical and fraudulent to me
!
And what’s your obsession with wearing silk shirts, are you some kind of transvestite or something
?
” expressed King Fangstrike angrily.