by W. C. Jasper
He lifted it up and threw it as it landed eight feet away. King Jeraash, standing with his hands folded, shook his head, indicating it wasn’t far enough. For the first time, his resolve showed in the way he reacted. It showed that his soul was not discouraged in the least. There was no change in his eyes whatsoever. While the harsh snow continued to tear into his skin, Thaymas’ mind no longer registered the fatal cold that was assaulting him. King Jeraash and Prince Jared smiled at each other with frowns and raised eyebrows, expressing their approval and gladness. Thaymas’ eyes stayed fixed on the rock as he walked to it with an unyielding march and absolute resolution. He let out a powerful scream as he threw it once again, mustering greater strength than he had ever done. Hurrah! It had flown across 11 feet.
But Thaymas did not care. Maybe he ignored the fact that he had already accomplished his task, or maybe his incredibly focused mind did not register it. Without missing a beat, he continued walking to it in absolute conviction, in perfect rhythm. As he lifted it up now, it was easier than he had ever done it. He threw it once again with a powerful scream, summoning as much strength as he possibly could, as the rock soared across 14 feet! King Jeraash and Prince Jared could see that he had finally pushed his limits and smiled in approval as Thaymas collapsed and fell to the ground and sunk into the menacing snow.
Thaymas woke up shivering violently as Prince Jared fed him the same concoctions as before as the colour returned to his skin and life returned to his body. Thaymas stood up and was shocked to see that they were still in the snowy region! Now standing inside the warm tent, Thaymas spoke in panic, “I’ve completed my task, I have accomplished something miraculous! What are we still doing here? I don’t think even the blood of the House of Rash-Yaph should be a reason for us to create a permanent settlement here!” Prince Jared and King Jeraash chuckled, being glad at the fact that Thaymas was comfortable enough to make jokes around them.
King Jeraash spoke with a levelled tone, “Thaymas, I will be honest, what I witnessed today did truly confirm to me what I saw in you when I first laid eyes on you in the palace. You have proven that you are someone worthy of being my brother’s protege. But never be satisfied and happy with your accomplishments. Satisfaction is the enemy of progress. And I will be the one who decides when you have accomplished enough. I realise that your muscles are in a crisis state, but I do not yet declare this training session complete. It is now time to spar.” Thaymas’ eyes screamed in shock as his mind refused to believe that the King really expected him to fight in his broken state. But he could see in King Jeraash’s face that he should not delay and he remembered that King Jeraash does not like repeating his orders.
Thaymas took a technically solid stance and waited for King Jeraash to do the same. Prince Jared, laying on his side, leaning on his elbow, spoke with a nonchalant voice, “No need to wait, Thaymas. My brother will not be taking a stance, just begin.”
Thaymas was at a distance of five feet from King Jeraash when he lunged at the King with a very weak right hook on account of his depleted body. Thaymas’ punch failed to cause King Jeraash’s face to budge by any measure whatsoever. Thaymas’ eyes widened as he realised that King Jeraash, who was standing straight with his hands resting on his sides casually, had not moved a single muscle in his entire body and had taken the punch head-on. This punch was no different than a child punching a stone statue and hurting their hand. King Jeraash’s eyes stayed fixed on Thaymas with a piercing look that spoke a million words in a single second of silence. Thaymas realised that the King wanted him to put his everything into this sparring match and now dug deep and unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks with beautiful agility, all of which King Jeraash blocked with only his left hand as he folded his right hand at his back.
In the middle of blocking all his attacks, King Jeraash spoke, “This is decent training for my non-dominant hand…”
With his pride being grazed, Thaymas now somehow managed to summon even more strength as he managed to employ as much speed as he would have been able to in a healthy state. King Jeraash exclaimed, “Oooh! I believe that would be your maximum speed even in a healthy condition.” Prince Jared took notice that Thaymas’ footwork was exceptional and his kicks especially, were splendidly agile. King Jeraash’s movements however, did not show much difference and he continued to deal with Thaymas’ onslaught with about the same effort as earlier with his left hand alone. Thaymas was now giving it his everything, when King Jeraash was suddenly forced to use his right hand as Prince Jared let out a fraction of a laugh, “Ha! Pitiful!”
Thaymas was definitely far inferior to the King and the Prince in combat. The difference in their calibre was shameful. But Thaymas’ greatest assets were his eyes and his raw intellectual power. And as King Jeraash made him toil, Thaymas was discovering for the very first time, the strength and mettle of his soul now. As Thaymas’ body continued to unleash the barrage of punches and kicks on King Jeraash, his mind was figuring out the best possible way to land a successful hit. He knew that it would be a miracle for him to even land a hit, but with every passing second in the punishing cold, his chances were dying down; so, he decided that now was the time for him to give it his all. Thaymas had figured out that King Jeraash would definitely have taken notice of his exemplary footwork, and decided to take advantage of that.
He launched three kicks followed by an attempt to clap the King’s head. King Jeraash was still far too fast for Thaymas and realised that the three kicks were supposed to shift focus away from his hands and launch the clap at his head which would force him to dodge instead of block. Being the only logical response, King Jeraash dodged it by leaning to the back. This way, even if there were anything more to the trick, he would have more time as he had moved his head back.
But with King Jeraash, the taller of the two, inclining backwards and Thaymas’ hands being just in front of his chin after the attempted clap, his eyesight was now restricted from seeing Thaymas’ feet. Thaymas swiftly lifted his left knee to his chest with incredible speed and swinging the lower part of his leg, launched a kick to the King’s chin. Due to the blind spot in his field of vision, King Jeraash had seen the kick a moment later than he would have liked to. He quickly realised what his best and most efficient option was, and chose to push Thaymas’ left calf away with his right hand which was closer.
That barrage had taken too much from Thaymas. On account of the barrage and the small push that had sent Thaymas falling to his knees, he was now coughing up blood once again. But Thaymas was still smart enough to know that King Jeraash was definitely perfectly capable of blocking that with his left hand if he wanted to. Looking up at the King, with the blood from his mouth now slowly dripping and staining the snow beneath him, he asked, “I know that you could have easily stopped that with your left hand, Aani. And it would have been painfully easy for you to do so.”
King Jeraash was impressed with the change in Thaymas’ attitude in his pushing moments. He replied, laughing it off kindly, “Well, when I realised what you had planned, my left hand did almost move to stop it, but then I thought that if I used my right hand, it would give you a sense of accomplishment. But it would seem, you possess even more raw intellect than I had originally predicted. I’m glad your father finally decided to bring you to the palace.” King Jeraash smiled softly as the look in Thaymas’ eyes reminded him of an old sight.
Thaymas had lost all his energy now and fainted and fell down as the blood from his battle-stained body stained the snow beneath him. The King and the Prince moved at once and started their journey back home with the King carrying Thaymas on his shoulder. They travelled slowly in order to allow Thaymas to rest. Thaymas was regaining consciousness as they had travelled about ten kms outside the snowy region, and the lions who were waiting just outside the snowy region had joined the party a while back and were travelling with them now. The party came to a halt after one more kilometre.
It was a while before Thaymas opened his eyes. As Thaymas was eas
ing back into consciousness slowly, Thaymas’ thoughts went back to his last memories before fainting. As he was fainting, Thaymas was also realising that King Jeraash’s speed was even greater than he had imagined. King Jeraash had a minuscule amount of time to even react to the attack, so little time that perhaps it would have taken even General Hana and General Thayman some effort to evade or block it. But even in such a situation, not only did King Jeraash decide to use his right hand instead of his left; but he had made the decision after having figured out Thaymas’ plan and carefully considering the fact that it would be a morale booster for Thaymas. Thaymas’ admiration for King Jeraash was evolving into pure awe.
As his eyes opened, Thaymas saw the completely clear blue sky above like a blue sheet of ethereal fabric immaculately stretched across the dome of the earth. As he strugglingly opened his eyes fully and got off his back, King Jeraash arrived with some fruits he had acquired from the nearby trees.
The three tired brothers sat down at the shore of Lake Kakulam, admiring the imposing beauty and glory of the lake. The sunlight was quite heavy, yet the temperature was pleasant for these warriors who were weary from their training session. Such weather was common in the days of SHAR. The heavy sun rays bouncing off the magical cyan waters of the lake drew Thaymas’ eyes and mind to it like tentacles of enchantment pulling in to bind him in its enamour. The see-through, cyan waters housed quite a few fishes near the shore, ranging from numerous tiny water critters to a few huge aquatic mammals. The shiny, silver scales of the fishes glistened and glimmered like silver ornaments swimming in the gently rippling waters near the shore. Thaymas suddenly remembered that the Royal Family also possessed the ability to command certain aquatic creatures and wondered about the extent of that power’s influence. Thaymas was lost in admiring the beauty of the lake and the cloud-kissing, diversely beautiful mountains beyond it when he looked to his left and noticed Prince Jared laying his head on King Jeraash’s lap.
It was very apparent to Thaymas that King Jeraash and Prince Jared enjoyed nature very deeply. With every passing day, Thaymas was realising that King Jeraash and Queen Maomi were in every sense, Prince Jared’s parents. And their intimacy was such that remained unchanged even after a child grew into adulthood. The King and Queen showered physical affection on Jared just as if he were still a child. While men kissing other men on the cheeks was the norm in those days, King Jeraash kissed Prince Jared far too often. Prince Jared would also be found resting on the King’s and Queen’s laps far too often.
Before realising it, Thaymas’ mouth spoke without his own permission, “How are you all so intimate?” As soon as the words left his mouth, Thaymas realised that he had spoken irresponsibly and decided to apologise. And as he opened his mouth to apologise, Prince Jared replied, “Well, it’s a very long story, Thaymas… I don’t know where to start.” King Jeraash, who was caressing Prince Jared’s forehead, turned towards Thaymas and smiled ever so sweetly. Prince Jared added after a pause, “Well, that is a rather long affair to speak of, but you were asking about Akini earlier, and I think how we met her would be a good story for you to hear.”
Chapter Five
Champions And Lovers
SHAR 3302
21-year-old Prince Jared and 26-year-old King Jeraash held a tournament for female warriors. The winner was offered a prize of a minimum of 500 silver coins along with whatever else the King deemed deserving. King Jeraash was known to be tremendously generous, and every female fighter in Jerudia showed up to the tournament with the hopes of impressing the King. Everyone in the capital city of Radaa had shown up to witness the event. Most women were in attendance merely for the opportunity to behold the handsome King and Prince.
Prince Jared was known to always be in search of fierce female fighters. Up until now, he had only ever witnessed one female fighter who could stand on the same realm of greatness himself and his brother. But he had always heard that the greatest female fighter that Jerudia had ever seen was his mother. He had never met his mother as she had passed away right after giving birth to him, but King Jeraash had a few memories of her.
King Jeraash and Prince Jared had heard that their mother was a greater warrior than their father, which was difficult to fathom given how great King Jahous himself was said to be in battle. Jerudia currently had very few female warriors in their military. Prince Jared, who was now being trained in matters of the military by General Thayman, was extremely displeased that out of an army of 3200 soldiers, only 42 were women, and only 30 of them had combat duties.
In the days of SHAR - in the Virgin Earth, women were only marginally weaker than men. Despite the contrast in the physical build of men and women being visually identical to those of men and women today, the difference in the physical strength between the men and women of those days was not as much. And due to the fact that women generally had better flexibility and more graceful movements, the battle capabilities for men and women were hardly inequal. King Jeraash and Prince Jared believed that the uniqueness of people is what truly brings out greatness. They believed that the path to bringing out the best in everything was to get people of diverse strengths and qualities to work together and in cohesion. Prince Jared always believed that it was a waste that the world was missing out on so many female fighters and wished to increase the number of female fighters in the military. He believed that the typical fighting styles of men and women would complement each other perfectly, and the dynamic of that cohesive force would multiply the strength of armies by numerous times if men and women fought side by side. Prince Jared believed that including women in the military would greatly compound the strength of the army. King Jeraash organised this tournament for that reason alone.
The military of Jerudia was an organisation far superior than any other, designed by King Jahous himself. It had its own educational facilities and was known to take care of every person who was a part of the military (including trainees) very well. Young cadets who sought distinguished education could choose it whenever and the military provided it free of cost. The families of the soldiers were also helped in relocating to whatever area the soldiers were stationed in. Being a part of the military was hence not only a matter of honour in serving in protecting the kingdom but also a very beneficial endeavour.
A total of 273 participants had enrolled in the tournament who had come in from the entire kingdom. Two months before the tournament, King Jeraash had sent out a notice at his brother’s request declaring that any person above the age of 13 should be allowed to enrol into the military if they so choose to, and to deny them would be unlawful. Everyone who participated in this event was also invited to apply for the military, and those who did not qualify for the combat division in the military were also offered special training to improve themselves while they served in other capacities/roles.
The King and the Prince were seated on a high area, 22 feet from the ground level on the northern end of the stadium. In the thirteenth hour of the fourth day of the tournament, the finalists were determined. Prince Jared had made a list of 32 fighters whom he saw great potential in. A recess of half-hour was set for the finalists to rest.
Prince Jared handed the list of 32 fighters to General Thayman for them to be trained under General Thayman himself and be moulded into extraordinary warriors. General Thayman looked through the list and said, “Good eye, young Prince. I assume you have noticed something about the yellow-haired finalist as well?” Prince Jared put down his bag of chips and answered with a crooked smile, “Well, I didn’t expect you to not know that. In fact, you remember how you and the King have been troubling and pestering me about taking a pupil? I want to take this one.” King Jeraash, sitting beside him, was taken by surprise and delight and nodded in approval with a glad expression.
The final battle was about to commence as the rumbling of drums and the uproar of the spectators declared the entrance of the two finalists. The first finalist was a 37-year-old fair-skinned woman with black hair, standing at 6 feet 1
inch tall. She was strongly built with powerful, intense eyes and carried a longsword (wooden sword for the tournament) and a shield (also wooden). Her opponent was a 5 foot 5-inch tall, 19-year-old girl with blonde hair who carried a longsword (wooden sword for the tournament). Her bright blue eyes were sharper than any blade, and more intense than any wildfire.
The call for the fight to begin was shouted out and at once the taller fighter lunged at her opponent with a straight stab aimed at the belly. The blue-eyed fighter was not only lean but also possessed incredible acrobatic talent and skill. She leapt to a height of seven feet performing a front-flip over her opponent and landed behind her straight on her feet gracefully and effortlessly. She did not care to turn back and stood with an unimpressed body language, with her entire body and face unreservedly expressing her boredom at the lack of any real challenge. She lifted her left hand to her shoulder, catching her opponent’s sword just as it was about to land on her left shoulder and dropped her sword in her right hand on the ground. As soon as she caught her opponent’s sword, she pulled it forward, and turning around she delivered a thundering punch to her face with her right hand - all in one single motion. The punch sent her opponent flying across six feet as the crowd sat in absolute silence for a few seconds in disbelief of what had just occurred.
In a few more seconds, as the audience started murmuring in bemusement, the announcer yelled out, “THE WINNER IS AKINI SWAASAM OF NUMAJ VILLAGE!” The crowd roared in deafening screams as Akini, who was still standing in the same pose as when she had delivered the punch, now relaxed her hand and turned towards the high seat where the King and the Prince were seated. She stared at them with a smouldering face, waiting for the crowd’s cheering to die down. It took about 40 seconds for the crowd to realise that their champion was not celebrating and they finally started dousing.