by W. C. Jasper
Lord Feniro: “I understand that I am no longer a part of the military, but I desire to join you on this journey to protect our King and Queen.”
Lord Eraami added, “I too, hereby formally register my interest for the opportunity to serve my land.”
Thaymas noticed an intriguing look in the eyes of the King, the Prince, Queen Maomi, General Thayman, and General Hana.
Queen Maomi replied, “Two former Generals of Jerudia are surely wise enough to understand that this mission requires as few people as possible in order to avoid suspicion and detection. I understand and appreciate your desire to serve your land, but this will not be possible. However, in our absence, the defence force will be weakened; and you two will certainly be a very necessary addition to the defence division of the military.”
Lord Faris Kaaram added, “With Genera Hana absent, we will be lacking a Chief of Defence as well. Given that I have been serving as the Chief of Police for the last 24 years, I believe I am best suited for taking over this responsibility and would like to humbly suggest my name for serving as the interim Chief of Defence.”
The Minister of Defence, Lady Lavaaya Kaneri spoke, “I second that motion. Lord Faris Kaaram is not only the best suited because of his experience as the current Chief of Police, but has proven to be honourable and heroic. General Hana is undoubtedly exceptional in her specialty of defence, but Lord Faris is definitely worthy of taking over the role in her absence.”
Queen Maomi looked to General Hana for approval as she nodded and declared without delay, “It is decided then, Lord Faris Kaaram will be taking over the responsibilities of the Chief of Defence.”
Lord Faris added, “With all of you gone, the major strength of our military might will be absent. This means I will require additional manpower; I request Captain Yaakub and his unit to serve under me until your return.”
Queen Maomi looked towards General Thayman and spoke, “That will be your decision, General Thayman,” to which he responded with a genuine and soft smile, “By all means, Lord Faris. I hope Yaakub will be of great help to you in our absence.”
After a brief gap, Lady Rayna Sholi asked, “And what will we be doing about court proceedings with the King and Queen both away from the Kingdom?”
Queen Maomi: “Lord Akula is trusted by the King and myself completely in both his integrity and wisdom. We trust him with this responsibility in our absence.”
“Surely the temple of Sathyam needs to have a say in this matter with the rising troubles in religious matters,” said Lord Boris.
Queen Maomi replied at once with a slow-paced tone, “If the King and I have chosen to trust Lord Akula with all of it, then it means we have our reasoning.” She continued with veiled intimidation disguised as sheepish ignorance, “Do you mean to question your Queen’s and King’s wisdom?”
“Of course not, My Lady! Your wisdom is unparalleled! I apologise!” answered Lord Boris at once in panic.
After a bout of absolute silence for almost a minute, King Jeraash spoke, “The northern region of the Kingdom will be stewarded by Lord Wayne Rory, the southern by Lord Adamus Gilford, and the western by Lady Joan Rangiku. This should not be a surprise to anyone as the current stewards continue to govern their respective regions in my absence. However, with Lord Laxus Benjamin’s advanced age, he has decided to retire from his position. And I have chosen Lady Vallarasi as the next steward of the eastern region.”
Quite a few faces worked very hard to hide their displeasure as the King continued, “I am well aware of the fact that a lot of you desire Lord Bradley Feracio to be the next steward of the eastern region. I am also aware of the fact that Lady Vallarasi does not possess the qualifications that Lord Bradley Feracio does, but it is my judgement that she will be the best person for this position. I now request anyone who disagrees with me on this to please present your objections.”
As expected, no one was foolish enough to accept his challenge.
King Jeraash: “That is decided then. Also, we will be moving ahead under the assumption that there are no more objections or input. If anyone has anything to add, they will contact the Queen and me.”
With that, the meeting was dismissed and the party broke into various small groups as numerous things were discussed for over 90 minutes.
That evening, King Jeraash, Queen Maomi, Prince Jared, General Thayman, Thaymas, General Hana, Akini, Lady Heidi, Lord Akula, and Yaakub met in the Royal Palace for a private meeting. They gathered in a huge meeting room with all the doors and windows locked. All furniture including the conference table and chairs were removed from the room. Everyone was seated on a large mattress about four inches thick that spanned almost the entire room. The Royal Family usually preferred sitting on the ground rather than on chairs.
Based on the atmosphere in the room, Thaymas and Akini soon realised that whatever was going to be discussed here, would be of utmost secrecy. After the greetings and pleasantries were done with, King Jeraash called for everyone’s attention and spoke, “Well, with war looming over us, the Queen and I have decided that it is time for all of you to be aware of some information. Some of you are already aware of some of what will be discussed here, please understand that it is mainly for those who are not aware of much.” King Jeraash’s voice suddenly depressed into a sombre tone with a hint of gloom, “Allow me to dive right in. The first thing I want everyone to remember is that there is a reason that the people in this room are the only ones here. You are being trusted with the future of your land, so I request all of you to respect this information accordingly and take it to your graves if necessary. As you are all aware, Gessold plans to attack us, but some of you are not aware of their emperor’s real motivation behind attacking us. Emperor Thon desires to conquer the entire world. All the lands. He plans to form a single rule over the entire world. A single government that will rule all of the lands. If anyone thinks that this is laughably overambitious, I assure you, it is not. Emperor Thon is capable of this feat. In fact, if our current military power were reduced by even 30 percent, he would make his move right now and take over the world. We are the only hurdle in his path. But Gessold is a discussion for another time. Today, we will be talking of rather immediate concerns. As you all are aware, everyone here except Lord Akula, Lady Heidi, and Yaakub will be leaving on a grave mission to Devaar and Ketaar. Now, Jared, My Queen, and Uncle Thayman, and I are the ones who know the most about these lands. Lord Akula is a very learned man, and hence knows a lot about these lands too, but not as much. My father raised us to always learn as much as we can and study all the things of the world as much as we could. He always raised us to be as knowledgeable as possible about most things. My Queen, of course, once we got married, buried herself to study and learn to know as much as we know.”
As Thaymas’ face projected confusion, the King continued, “The reason I say all of this is so that you remember that the world out there will be very queer. You will not only witness things far too strange, but also things that will infuriate you. This is especially a problem for Hana who might just lose her mind in a fit of fury and end up on an unhinged killing spree. While my brother is just as much of a hothead, he has studied these things far too deeply and is quite familiar with them to lose his mind. I want all of you to be mentally prepared for all that you will witness. Not all lands hold to the same values as Jerudia. And such evil and wickedness exist out there that would destroy your sanity with rage. So please be careful on this mission to never lose control of yourself and never do anything without your King’s approval. Remember to never reveal your true identities unless I approve of it. There are yet many things that a lot of you are not aware of, but all will be revealed in its time. For now, I will reveal to you the part of the scroll of the Prophecy of Delian that the Gessold intruders were here to steal. Akini, Thaymas, and Yaakub are the only ones who do not know what it says. So here it is.”
King Jeraash produced a scroll and handed it to Thaymas, asking him to read it. Thaymas read
it aloud:
From the House of Rash-Yaph shall come forth the chosen one;
The Lion of Justice, noble and kind, beloved by everyone.
Than the Forest of Ferianoy, will soul be wiser;
Never shall there be a reign loftier and greater.
Thaymas handed the scroll back to King Jeraash as he spoke, “The scroll was torn into three separate pieces by my father and secured in different places for safekeeping. The other two portions of the scroll are not in Jerudia. But they are someplace where they are as safe as they can be, with people that my father trusted. Emperor Thon believes that acquiring the scroll of the prophecy and its contents will help him devise a strategy that will be best suited to ensure our defeat. Regardless of whether the scroll can actually help him, it is only prudent to make sure that he never gets to know what’s written in here. This is the reason we have kept it such a secret even within those we deem trustworthy. This also reminds me of something else that I wish to reveal to you. The reason we maintain inner circles with different levels of trust is a grave matter of security. You see…”
King Jeraash exhaled a long and deep breath as if struggling with some old memory. He took a sizable pause and continued, “While the world has been led to believe that our father died of an illness, he was in fact murdered by poison right here in our own Heiwa Palace.” As expected, a few shocked faces were seen in the room. The King continued, “And based on the information available to us, we know that someone high-ranking in Jerudia had to be complicit in it - either a member of the Council of Elders or a high-ranking member of the military. We have also deduced that whoever it was, had to have been working with Emperor Thon. However, even though we know who it is, we do not want to do anything about it yet. Having the spy believe that they are not found yet gives us the opportunity to gain more information. So be very careful of what and how you communicate in front of others. Does anyone have any questions?”
Thaymas and Akini were visibly working hard to process all the information they had just received as Yaakub’s unreadable eyes stayed purposefully locked in straight as usual. After a few seconds of silence, Yaakub spoke in his square and cold voice, “With only Lord Akula and I left in the nation in your absence, why are we so sure that the spy will not get word to Emperor Thon and Gessold won’t attack us in your absence? There is no doubt that our major military might will be absent with five of our greatest warriors gone. Why do we think that Gessold will not take advantage of the perfect opportunity and deal great damage to us at our most vulnerable?”
King Jeraash flashed a courtesy smile and answered, “As astute as ever, my lad. We know that Gessold is currently planning to attack us not a day before four years from now. That is because even by Emperor Thon’s estimate, he does not yet have enough might to challenge us. Now winning on the battlefield is one thing, but fighting us on our own land where we have the absolute battlefield advantage is another. Add to that the fact that not only do we have several hidden forces at our disposal that not even you all are aware of, most of which will come into play if someone wishes to battle us inside Jerudia. While Emperor Thon might not know what exactly those forces are, he is wise enough to expect their existence. And if they march into our land and fight our military on the land that is part of our soul, then it would be suicide. Emperor Thon knows that much well. Additionally, he will not only be fighting our military, but every citizen of this land. The citizens will help the military any way they can. Emperor Thon knows that much about Jerudia. He knows that they would need a great deal more might than what would be needed on a battlefield. He also knows what to expect from the progeny of King Jahous - the King of Kings. He would know that I would never leave the land without ensuring its safety.”
“Even so,” replied Yaakub, “there is a very high probability that at least some sort of move would be made to do some damage in your absence - maybe another intrusion with those explosives they call danes or something similar to that. They could do a lot of damage in your absence. On account of that, I think it would be best if we strengthened the border garrisons.”
Queen Maomi interjected, “Hmm… While your King has already made exhaustive preparations accounting for all the things you are mentioning… I think, perhaps, doing more wouldn’t hurt… Hmm… The Women of War will take over the responsibility of guarding the Royal Palace. Which means that you will have more people to deploy for the border garrisons. Lord Faris will be the Chief of Defence as you know, and since you will be serving directly under him; let’s have you in charge of the garrisons while Lord Faris handles every other aspect of defence. As it is, you are more suited for border surveillance and Lord Faris excels in everything other than border surveillance; so it will be a perfect distribution of the defence responsibilities between you two.”
King Jeraash added, “While all that will help bring you some peace of mind, do be mindful that we have many more means that ensures our kingdom’s absolute safety that I will not divulge. Your King will never spare any effort in ensuring the absolute safety of this land, so please know that you need not worry about this ever again.”
Thaymas spoke with a respectful tone and the slightest hint of hesitance, “It is quite obvious that there is still far too much that is being kept from us. My guess is that we will discover it as we traverse the mission. I do greatly appreciate the trust you have expressed in us by sharing this information with us, but… I do wish to know one thing… Actually, forgive me. I just realised that this is not the right place to ask that question.”
King Jeraash deciphered at once what he wished to ask and spoke with a somewhat sombre tone, “I’m pretty sure I know what you wish to ask, my lad. And everyone here is to be trusted with that as well. Going ahead, we will need to trust everyone in this room with such things. You wished to ask whether your sister also undertook such a mission for her land when she fled the Kingdom, correct?”
Thaymas slipped a hardly perceivable nod as King Jeraash continued with a nod that confirmed the answer he already knew, “I reassure you, Thaymas. I give you my word, no one in the Kingdom knew or knows even now why she left. If my father had any idea of why Shayla-ka had run away from the Kingdom, he would have deployed any amount of manpower necessary to get her back.”
Thaymas replied immediately, “I still do not understand why no one told me which way she went when she fled the Kingdom? Do I not at least deserve to know that much?”
King Jeraash’s eyes exhibited pity as he answered, “Thaymas… The reason no one told you anything about that was not because we were hiding anything from you. It was because it would not have been of any value. Your sister was not only as intelligent as you but also infinitely more polished than you. She would have been the youngest General in history had she not fled. She would have been made General at an age two months younger than Jared was when he was made General. Do you really think she would not have misled us while fleeing? But since you have asked - She ran into Pasuhara forest, where it was incredibly easy for her to form confusing tracks and change her path and flee whichever way she chose without leaving an interpretable trail.”
After almost 40 seconds of sombre silence, Queen Maomi spoke, “It seems all that needed to be said for now has been said. Let us move for supper.”
Suddenly, a multitude of loud howling noises were heard and as Thaymas turned towards Prince Jared, he noticed that King Jeraash and Prince Jared had already left the room. Queen Maomi spoke with an urgency in her voice, “Supper will wait. Follow me, everyone.” The party followed Queen Maomi as she ran slow enough for everyone including Lord Akula and Lady Heidi to keep up. The party reached a spot inside Pasuhara forest to find King Jeraash holding Chiati in his hands with four arrows sticking out of his right abdomen. He had barely any flesh on his body and was lingering at the gates of death. Most of the pack stood around them howling in sorrow. Chiati was 6 feet 8 inches tall with white and black fur, and his softly shining purple eyes that usually gleamed like two celestial jewel
s were now clouded with darkness.
Even in a fatally injured state, with not even enough strength to whimper, he lay in King Jeraash’s hands with serenity and dignity in his eyes.
King Jeraash: “Yaakub! Quick!”
Yaakub rushed at once and proceeded to masterfully extract the arrows causing almost no pain whatsoever. Just as he pulled out the final arrow, Prince Jared rushingly arrived with Jiraai and Hogosha. Prince Jared hopped off of Jiraai and spoke with urgency and a fast pace, “Hogosha had already acquired gosaan from the Royal Palace when we met her in the jungle to find minaai and sariyaako. I also brought some fruits and four pheasants. It will be difficult for him to eat four pheasants at once. But there is clearly nothing in his flesh, and his body will not be able to handle such strong medication without any food.”
Gosaan was a herb that neutralised most poisons; and minaai and sariyaako, while useless individually, were miraculously effective to heal cuts and bruises when crushed and mixed together. King Jeraash quickly crushed the gosaan in his hands and fed it to Chiati as General Thayman worked on the minaai and sariyaako. Yaakub held out his hands like a bowl with the minaai seeds and sariyaako leaves on his palms as General Thayman crushed them in his hands with a hefty stone. Such blows would have caused a great amount of damage to the average human’s palms, but Yaakub’s palms were hardened like a crocodile’s hide. Yaakub poured the juice and crushed leaves on all four wounds one by one as King Jeraash and Prince Jared caressed Chiati and comforted him.