by W. C. Jasper
As if the very last bit of the strength holding his legs up had finally betrayed him, Satya fell to his knees. The bags in his hands made a thudding sound when they touched the ground as if there were hefty boxes inside. His tears now flowed stronger and his sobbing grew more bitter as Lord Yuvan paused. Lord Yuvan patiently waited for a few seconds before he continued, “It is a mutually beneficial alliance that we seek, nothing more. We will give you invaluable information about Jerudia. We will also give you our strength in battle which is equal to hundreds of your men. And in exchange, you will accept us into Gessold as your own soldiers.” As he spoke the next sentence, the entire room experienced freezing shivers up their spine, “And when the time comes, my pupil gets Prince Jared’s head.”
“Hmm…” said Emperor Thon with only a tiny hint of surprise and grave suspicion in his eyes, “And why exactly would you be seeking that? Why would I trust one of Jerudia’s greatest Generals and accept him into my courts?”
Lord Yuvan turned to Satya, dropped to his knees and embraced him, “It’s time. I could never imagine the pain you are enduring. Nor the greater pain you will endure ahead. But it is time, my son.”
Satya collected himself as best as he could and drew two sizable boxes from the bags and set them on the ground. His face stared at the ground beneath him as his luxuriously abundant, silky, straight hair completely undone, kissed the floor when he proceeded to open the boxes. As soon as he opened the boxes, everyone except him and Lord Yuvan covered their noses and mouths in disgust. Satya wailed as he threw his face up to look at the ceiling and screamed in agony. The veins in his neck swelled up like worms and every cell in his body shook like the tremors of an earthquake. Satya’s heart-wrenching screams shook everyone in the room and their hearts were stirred as if Satya’s pain entered their very souls.
This was a man with ice-cold eyes, a man whose face never slipped any emotion, a man who never lost control. But now, in his wailing and weeping, indescribable pain filled the room. Every molecule of air in the hall declared his sorrow.
The boxes housed two severed heads: one male, and one female. The integrity of the heads was preserved with special herbs, but no effort was made to mask the foul smell. Emperor Thon made no reaction and sat like a rock set in its place as Lord Yuvan embraced Satya and tried to comfort him. He continued to wail for a long time, and all through it, Emperor Thon did not move a muscle.
After a long while, Satya got to his feet, dragging himself up as if it took all the strength in his body to fight gravity. He looked into Emperor Thon’s eyes with rage that could have set the entire palace ablaze and spoke, “I will give you my life, and you will give me his head.”
Emperor Thon looked at him with pity-filled eyes as Lord Yuvan spoke, “King Jeraash is a righteous man. And while his brother holds absolute loyalty to him and the kingdom, he is not one to be controlled. Not even by the King himself. Which is what brings us here…” He took a deep breath as if bracing himself and continued, “On receiving news that Satya’s parents betrayed Jerudia for money offered by Dashaim, he did not get them a trial. He did not bring the matter to his King. He did not even attempt to capture them without killing, which he was more than capable of doing. He chose to play judge, jury, and executioner.”
The smallest trace of anger that could be heard in his huge voice now was terrifying even to the most powerful warriors of Gessold as he continued, “He beheaded them without as much as a single warning or a single word. He did not afford them their final words. He did not afford Satya one final chance to meet his parents. He took their lives as per his own pleasure. And in return, what does he get? A six-month suspension from the military? Stripping away his title as Captain? Which too, by the way, is a sham! Mark my words! The King and General Thayman plan to make him a General once his suspension ends. And they will justify it by saying that the other two Generals count him to be worthy…” He exhaled strongly, calming himself down and continued, “But that is beside the point here… The issue here is that he killed Satya’s parents while he could have brought the matter to the court, and he will still get away with it…” His eyes grew fiery and intense as he continued, “And I will not have it. My pupil shall get the justice he is owed.”
Emperor Thon got down from his high throne and walked over to him slowly as Satya’s broken countenance continued to convey only pain and rage. He took his hands, kissed them, and spoke in a compassionate voice, “I promise you, man of sorrow. You will have his head.” He took him by the back of his head and embraced him as his sobbing roared uncontrollably.
Chapter Four
Lakes And Mountains
The next day, Thaymas woke up at the birth of the fifth hour of the day and reported to Prince Jared at the end of the fifth hour on the same spot in the forest where they had met Princess Jeniah the day before. Thaymas was surprised to see Princess Jeniah training with the Prince even before the birth of the sixth hour of the day. She was masterfully performing handstand push-ups without any support and with perfect balance and control. Her physique was becoming of a five-year-old girl, but her muscles were very well toned. After finishing her set of 12 handstand push-ups reps, she lowered her head close to the ground with bent elbows and pushed herself off the ground with her hands. While in the air, spinning her body horizontally to the left like a tornado, her feet approached the ground with the elegance of a panther’s feet landing perfectly after a violent spin. As her feet approached the ground, her body moved in a wavy flow with a rhythm like that of the music of a flute drifting in the wind. As the toes on her right foot touched the ground, her left foot dragged across the surface of the ground, caressing it, as her spinning body came to a stop with a wide stance with the right foot at the front and the left foot at the back.
Prince Jared: “You clearly have something on your mind, Thaymas, speak up. We need to be more open with each other if you are going to be my protege.”
Thaymas hesitated for a moment and spoke, “Well, My Prince, I am just surprised that you would be training Princess Jeniah so early in the morning at such a tender age.”
Prince Jared signalled Princess Jeniah to train with the combat staff. Most of the glorious combat staffs of those days were made from metals whose tensile and impact strength was far greater than any metal found on Earth today. But this, of course, was only a wooden combat staff meant for training. He spoke as he walked over to Thaymas, “When my brother said yesterday that we have a greater responsibility because of greater powers and rights, I guess you did not quite grasp the seriousness of it. Uncle chose to keep you away from us to protect you. This was despite all the times we assured him that we would protect you with all our lives. That part, we understand and even appreciate, because that concept is not alien to us, we live that life ourselves…” He exhaled and shook his head in restraint and continued, “But that is a discussion for another day… The problem is that because you grew up far away from us without any knowledge of your identity and potential, you are weak and ignorant. We do not have the time for taking this slow, so let’s get started.”
Prince Jared put his hands up and signalled for Thaymas to attack him. Thaymas could see that any hesitance at this point would anger Prince Jared and attacked him at once. Prince Jared took a stance with his legs a little wider than his shoulder-width, and his torso facing completely to his right. His left hand was extended towards Thaymas with his elbow at about a 90-degree angle, and his palm facing his own face. His right hand hung completely passive towards the back, out of Thaymas’ view, and out of action. Thaymas charged at the Prince with a straight punch with his right hand. He had solid technique and amazing kinetic intellect. Thaymas knew that the best move for the Prince was to block or deflect that punch with his left hand which was in the front and then get his right hand involved for a counter. Knowing this, Thaymas aimed the punch at the Prince’s hand instead of the head. Just as their hands were about to meet, his elite mobility and nimbleness instantaneously transformed it int
o a reverse spinning elbow with his left hand to the Prince’s left cheek.
Prince Jared’s left hand stayed unmoved, and just as Thaymas’ left elbow almost made contact, he ducked and waited for Thaymas’ spin to throw him out of control after missing the hit. But Thaymas’ kinetic control and reflexes were elite, and he managed to stop himself from losing control of his body after his missed attack. In the effort to control his body after the spinning elbow, Thaymas’ body had almost completed a full spin and he was now standing a little to the left of the Prince. Just a moment before his body came to a halt, Prince Jared’s fist said hello to his chin, delivering a thundering uppercut that sent violent tremors through his ears and brain. Thaymas’ body lifted off the ground at once, following his head. His body flew high into the air and across seven feet before reuniting with the ground.
Prince Jared called out Jiraai by name as he came running and asked him to take the Princess to Kareema. Jiraai picked up Princess Jeniah and came over to the Prince and sat down, allowing him to kiss her before he set out to take her to Kareema at the Royal Palace. Still reeling from the deafening tremors in his brain, Thaymas managed to get up after about ten seconds and waited until Princess Jeniah had left the scene.
As soon as Princess Jeniah had left the scene, Prince Jared spoke with a rather bland tone that carried the slightest hint of taunting, “You thought you’d be able to hold your own for at least a minute, didn’t you?” He stared at him waiting for a response he knew would not be coming and continued, “Why? Because you were the best fighter in your class at the military academy by a mile and never lost a fight?” The anger in his face and voice grew stronger as he continued, “But you see, for all you know now, it might just have been because of the blood of the House of Rash-Yaph!” With his hands pointing, and flailing around exuding his anger, he continued, “Your skills could be underwhelming, and you would still have dominated at the academy because of your gifts! You are a disgrace for the kind of power you carry in your blood and the potential you possess!”
Thaymas could now feel in the Prince’s aura, a weight greater than what he had felt when he had first encountered King Jeraash. Prince Jared continued with his entire body expressing his agitation, “Just imagine if I hadn’t held back… In fact, if you did not carry the Rash-Yaph blood, you would probably have a broken jaw right now!” His breathing was now visible throughout his upper body, rising and falling with every breath he took. His aura was now so intense that Thaymas’ feet started quaking and it took quite a bit of effort for him to even stand erect. “Starting today,” he continued, “you are going to stop being a disgrace to this house! For the next month, your main focus is to train to get stronger, because when Akini returns in about two days, she will tear you apart! She will not hold back like me! She will rip you to shreds like an unhinged wild beast!”
Prince Jared calmed himself down with much effort, twisting his neck, pacing around, and finally lay down on the grass on his back with his palms behind his head. Thaymas spoke with a hesitant and timid tone, “Actually, I only expected to hold my own for only 25 seconds or so…” There was no response from Prince Jared as he shook his mind back into focus and continued, “I get it… I vow to get stronger, My Prince!” Prince Jared shook his head, disappointed in himself and let out a heavy breath. Continuing to stare at the sky, he spoke, “I’m sorry, Thaymas. I might have lost my composure there… but there is something you need to know. We are in a very grave situation, and unfortunately, you do not have much time to catch up. That is the reason I—” Something seemed to change his mind and he changed the direction of his words, “Anyway, I’m just going to outright spring this on you,” he said as he got off his back and leaned on his elbow. Turning towards Thaymas, he said with a grave expression as his muscles tensed up ever so slightly, “Gessold is going to attack us. Not the very next year, and not the year after that either, but soon. You must already know that Gessold’s army is far larger than ours. But what you or any of the general public, or even the Council of Elders do not know and ought not to know is that I have their exact numbers. Right now, our army has a strength of 5,237. Gessold, however, has the biggest army in the history of mankind, with a strength of approximately 78,000.” Prince Jared turned away to stare off into the forest on the north with a grim expression and continued, “So, you see, we do not have time for you to gradually get stronger. I need you to get stronger, now.”
Thaymas was struggling to take it all in, and justifiably so. He was being exposed to far too much information, of enormous proportions, in a torturously insufficient amount of time. Still striving to collect himself, Thaymas sat down on the ground in a relaxed position. He was finally starting to get comfortable around the Prince. He looked towards the trees on the west and the sky above it as he let his mind collect itself and spoke, “I know that there is a lot of information regarding this war that I need to know. But I also know that you will give me all that information in time. So, I am going to ask you about something else that has been bothering me for a while now. Who is Akini? I first heard about her from General Hana when she mentioned that she sent her to investigate the intrusion at the border. But now,” There was a fearful curiosity in his eyes as he continued, “you are telling me that she is going to rip me to shreds… Who is she?” Prince Jared chuckled at himself for forgetting to tell him about Akini, and said with a smirking smile, “Akini Swaasam, my dear brother, is my other protege. She is my first protege. One of the most powerful women you will ever meet! Not… at the moment as powerful as Maomi-ma of course, but powerful enough to ground you into dust with ease. Oh, and do be warned, she might not be as scary as General Hana, but she is a little more unbridled than her, so do be careful around her.”
Prince Jared got to his feet, dusted off his hands, and announced, “Time to train! Your physical training itself is very poor. So, you are going to be training for strength and speed today. We will be going to Kakulam lake.” Thaymas had heard of Kakulam lake but had never visited it. He got excited right away and they both rode with the pack at once. Kakulam lake lay beyond Pasuhara forest to the north.
Riding on Prince Jared’s wolves that could run faster than 95 kmph, they travelled straight north as they crossed peak Pakkam through a valley that lay to its west. Thaymas was absolutely astounded by the beauty of peak Pakkam as they passed by it and stared at it in awestruck wonder. Prince Jared yelled out, “I understand the breath-taking beauty of our beautiful land, and I have more appreciation for nature’s art than anyone else. But we will have time for sightseeing later, do not slow down.”
As they reached the end of peak Pakkam, Thaymas noticed mountains blanketed in snow to the front. They were far, far away, and yet colossal enough to be seen clearly from such a long distance. The tallest snow-covered peak was over 6900 metres tall, and the rest ranged from 4000 metres to 6500 metres tall. Its magnificence kept Thaymas steadily locked in until they had already crossed peak Pakkam. When Thaymas realised that they had crossed the valley and looked around, he saw that they were now inside a circle of mountains.
The mountain range of Andreas was the longest mountain range in all the Earth. It stretched for about 123 kms and the area inside the mountains spanned around 1000 square kms. On the north and north-western end of the Andreas mountain range sat snow-covered mountains ranging roughly 20 kms which had kept Thaymas locked in their awe all this time. A large part of the area inside the mountain range was taken up by Lake Kakulam which spanned about 450 square kms. Some of the areas had denser trees than the others, and certain areas even had wildlife and edible fruits and vegetables. The surface of most of the mountains housed quite a number of animals and much greenery.
The space that they had entered through was the southwestern end of the range. They travelled along the western shore of the lake as the majestic mountains on the left towered over them; and Kakulam lake, sparkling under the glorious golden sun, lay on their right. With a magical cyan-blue and almost crystalline water, Ka
kulam lake was breathtakingly beautiful. Such beauty that was remarkably uncommon even for the lakes of SHAR.
Thaymas asked with eyes widened in awe and a voice of dumbfounded amazement, “Is this Lake Kakulam?” Prince Jared answered with his eyes locked in straight ahead, “Yes, but we are actually going to a place beyond it.” Thaymas had noticed by now that throughout their journey, there were footprints of large beasts who had traversed the same path. The Prince knew that Thaymas had noticed it but did not feel it necessary to address it. And Thaymas understood that if the Prince didn’t address it, then it was best to wait for him to bring it up.
After travelling for about 55 minutes, they had now left Lake Kakulam behind and entered the north western end of the area. Thaymas noticed that the snow became harsher, the deeper they travelled into the region. Snow as cold and harsh as a blizzard, as if a snowstorm had taken permanent residence. After travelling in the snowy region for about three minutes, out of nowhere, Thaymas noticed shadowy silhouettes of large beasts veiled in the dense snow. The dense snow made them quite difficult to spot, but Thaymas could see that these creatures were as big as Prince Jared’s wolves. He noticed that their presence did not bother Prince Jared at the least, so he understood these beasts must be familiar with Prince Jared and did not fret.