by W. C. Jasper
Thanks to the minaai seeds and sariyaako leaves, Chiati’s wounds had already started closing up, albeit extremely slowly. Even though the poison was neutralised, moving him with the still open wounds was going to be problematic. King Jeraash sent away Jiraai and Hogosha on another errand to fetch more minaai and sariyaako and administered three more rounds of the herbs to each of the four wounds. The party sat around them with the pack and waited for his wounds to close up, which would have taken about 40 more minutes given the amount of minaai and sariyaako treatment applied to them. In a few minutes, the lions arrived and reported to Prince Jared as he announced, “The entire area seems to be clear; they did not find any trace of anyone else.” Without looking up, King Jeraash acknowledged with a nod and continued to caress Chiati.
A few minutes had passed when King Jeraash pulled out a thin scroll from his pocket and handed it to Queen Maomi and spoke with a voice of dormant rage wrapped inside a layer of grief, “This is what he had in his mouth.” His eyes stayed locked on Chiati, lost in a sea of grief and quiet rage as he continued with a restrained voice that now let slip a tiny bit of his immense rage, “The day we deal judgement on this filthy creature, I will show no mercy. When I execute judgement upon this scum, there will be no compassion, I promise, Chiati.”
Queen Maomi stood up and placed her hand on his shoulder, calming him. She read the scroll out loud for everyone to hear, “The King’s forces grow stronger day by day. The Dragon’s son has joined the military and is training under the Prince. Prince Jared believes that even though he will not become as fearsome a warrior as his sister, he will eventually become a greater strategist than the Dragon himself. The Women of War have also become a fearsome force and grow stronger every day having developed warriors who stand as equals to the most powerful warriors of Jerudia. Jerudia continues to grow even stronger with every passing hour. You ought to have heeded my advice and attacked when King Jahous was killed. Now his son is already more powerful than him. His military might is far greater than his father’s, and he will soon be as wise as him too. Your soldiers have also betrayed you and have spilt their guts about the ‘Boon of Beast’ potion and the ‘Dragonus’ potion as well. He has also become cautious enough to not have invited the Council of Elders to the interrogation. But him not inviting the entire Council at least tells me that he still does not know my identity. Poisoning him is going to be next to impossible, but I shall continue to always stay perspicacious for any opportunities. Plan your moves wisely.”
Thaymas and Yaakub were wise enough to trust the King’s judgement and reasoning, but Akini spoke at once, “Surely now we would get rid of this traitor?”
Knowing that King Jeraash was too drowned in grief, Queen Maomi answered on his behalf, “There is a time for everything under the sun. A time to water, and a time to reap. A time to sow, and a time to uproot. Premature uprooting might leave a lot of evil unrevealed. Your King knows when to uproot, we will wait for the right time.”
Akini chose to stay quiet after that and everyone waited silently for Chiati’s wounds to close up. As everyone waited silently, General Thayman, who had gone away a while ago, now emerged with two thick tree trunks, carrying one on each shoulder. Each trunk was about 11 feet long and had a diameter of about 2 feet. General Thayman was the only one who had carried his weapon with him. He set the tree trunks to stand vertically on the ground, drew out his longsword, and gestured at General Hana. General Hana walked over, took his sword, and bounced it twice in her hands to get a feel for it.
Thaymas: “He never even lets me touch his sword and shield!”
General Hana: “I will never understand how you battle with such a heavy sword…”
She crouched low and cracked her neck both ways. Suddenly, like a violent wind, she leapt 12 feet into the air like a spring-loaded projectile. As she reached the peak of the jump, with her sword-wielding right hand, she gave it a forward spin while her left hand moved ahead of it for building force and momentum. As the sword’s forward spin neared completion, she put all her weight on it, thrusting it towards the ground. Pushing the sword down at an angle of 22 degrees below ground level, she added more force by bearing down on the hilt-guard with her left hand as the blade cut through the trunk as smoothly as a freshly forged blade cutting through the air. She landed on the ground, cutting the trunk almost all the way through. The moment her feet touched the ground, she hopped over to the foot of the other trunk as the first trunk stood almost split in two. She leapt once again like a spring-loaded projectile and cut the second trunk in the exact same fashion. As she landed, General Thayman broke the first trunk, completely splitting in two. General Thayman slowly and gently placed the halves on the ground and proceeded to do the same to the second trunk. General Hana threw his sword back to him and headed back.
General Hana said as she walked back towards the others, “It’s good to know that there are at least some things in which I can best the Dragon of Jerudia.”
General Thayman chuckled gently with closed lips as he proceeded to sheath his sword and replied, “Well, we all have our strengths, don’t we? And there is certainly no doubt that King Jeraash’s protege would surpass me someday, maybe even surpass the King himself… who knows?”
General Hana smiled smirkingly with a steely demeanour and responded, “Stop patronizing me, General. I am not foolish enough to actually underestimate one of the greatest Generals in history,” as she proceeded to sit down with the party once again.
Yaakub rushed into the forest at once as General Thayman and Thaymas joined together the four pieces of wood to form a bed. When they were finished tying the bed with immensely strong tree-vines, Yaakub emerged with several gigantic vilo leaves. Vilo trees were similar to the banana trees of today, but were far taller, bore no fruits, and their leaves were identical in shape to banana leaves, yet three times as big. Yaakub covered the make-shift tree bed with the vilo leaves forming a surface comfortable for lying on. As soon as Chiati’s wounds had closed, King Jeraash gently placed him on the tree bed and the King, Prince, General Thayman, and Yaakub started carrying him to the palace with the party following them.
As they walked towards the Royal Palace, Thaymas enquired to Prince Jared in a soft voice, “Why did we not feed him the zesun and tamsin concoctions?”
Akini, playing with a small pebble in her hand, sighed in annoyance and answered, “There are limits and restrictions to what medications can be used in tandem. Every medication takes a toll on the body. You use too much of one medication, it will suck your body dry; you use too many medications at once and the body will not be able to handle all of it. You use a combination of medicines that are not compatible with each other, and they will cause the body to malfunction. Neutralising poisons even with the help of extremely potent medications is still quite taxing on the body. Add to that, the tremendously taxing open-wound binding medication that is gruesomely taxing on the human body which was applied multiple times. Stuffing anything on top of that would be fatal. Also, instant rejuvenation is one of the most taxing medications. It would be foolish to do such things.” Akini’s annoyance grew as she continued, “Not to mention, not all medicinal herbs are found everywhere. Your physical training is non-existent, you would be no help in a fight against real warriors. And you have no knowledge of anything else either. Do you hold any value at all? It’s a disgrace to be known as your co-pupil.” She threw the small pebble in her hand at Prince Jared and added, “Are we sure we even need this deadweight?”
Queen Maomi gently swatted the back of Akini’s head and admonished her in a warm tone, “Thaymas is a prince, my dear. It would be great if we maintained a certain level of decorum.”
After a while, Thaymas asked again, “Well, how exactly did King Jeraash know which herb to use for neutralising that particular poison?”
King Jeraash answered this time with a slightly raised voice so the voice could carry behind him, “I smelled the wound, dear lad. I smelled it.”
A
kini turned to General Thayman and said in her signature mocking tone, “Are you sure he’s royalty?” at which General Thayman burst into laughter which caused a wave of ever so gentle laughter among the entire party.
“I have to admit,” said General Hana, “for someone as sharp as he is, he really is quite mud-brained at times,” with raised eyebrows and an inverse smile.
Prince Jared added, “He is an extremely amusing specimen of paradox. He is one of the most intelligent people I know, and yet at the same time one that is capable of the most absurdity. I call him…” he announced with excellent showmanship, “‘THE BRILLIANT BUFFOON’.” The entire party burst into a peal of laughter as Thaymas walked silently, stewing in his embarrassment.
Queen Maomi once again reined them with a friendly tone, “That’s enough.”
The party arrived at the Royal Palace from the back-gate at the western end. King Jeraash had built two huge wooden buildings inside the compounds of the Royal Palace at the western end which the wolves and the lions sometimes used for resting. The one meant for the wolves was to the north of the western gate, whereas the one meant for the lions was to the south of the western gate. Both the buildings were supremely beautiful and incredibly unique in design. One look at them was enough to know that they were built by an unrivalled creator. Each and every section was designed with the utmost attention and were breathtakingly beautiful. The shapes were unlike anything seen in the architecture of that day. The party arrived at the wolves’ resting place and the King and Prince set Chiati inside gently and with great care. The lions and the other wolves rested inside the lions’ resting place.
Chaiti was allowed to sleep for a while as everyone sat in silence. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Thaymas spoke, “What is that door-like… thing on the floor?”
Queen Maomi understood Thaymas’ sensibility and answered, “That is the door to their den in the basement. They are wolves after all. They do not generally live in wooden houses. The basement is more of a natural environment for them which is endowed with a lot of pampering amenities.”
Soon enough Chiati woke up. Resting on King Jeraash’s lap, he looked into the King’s eyes. King Jeraash asked him, “Did you follow a messenger bird?” Chiati blinked sluggishly and nodded almost imperceptibly conveying an affirmative.
King Jeraash: “It flew deep into Gessold without resting even once, correct?”
Chiati conveyed affirmation in the same manner once again.
King Jeraash: “Please tell me you happened upon him only by accident and started following him.”
Chiati closed his eyes, conveying a negative response. King Jeraash vented in restrained frustration, “I told everyone in the pack not to follow him to Erias! We can afford a leak of information but not a loss of life! I had already deployed a soldier there…”
King Jeraash stared in shock at a sudden realisation. He quieted his shock and asked Chiati, “The soldier failed to spot the messenger, didn’t he? That is why you had to interfere, right?”
Chiati confirmed with a blink as the King dropped his head and continued with a downcast and cold voice, “I am sorry to let you down, Chiati. I ought to have assigned someone better for the job…”
General Hana spoke with her signature steely voice, “Everyone knows that he was a trustworthy and capable soldier. It just means that the messenger bird that was used this time was something we have never seen before and something no one would have expected. My guess is that this was a bird sent from Gessold. After being told that his spy has turned on him, Thon must have decided to acquire absolute confirmation. Despite how convincing our infiltration tale was, he is still Thon… He is a man of unimaginable deviousness. So it is only natural that he will continuously doubt those around him too. He must have caught on to the possibility that he was lied to about his spy and that his birds were somehow being captured. So he must have decided to confirm it by sending over one of his own birds - one biologically enhanced with their wicked concoctions…. Who knows what kind of abilities they had…? Who knows if any one of us could have seen the bird coming…?”
King Jeraash bowed his head low and as two droplets of tears slowly emerged from his eyes, he spoke with a dismal voice and a whisper of the weeping in his heart, “He must have avoided detection by the garrison by using the secret passage while returning and chosen to run all this way simply because he was afraid of trusting anyone…” His breathing became heavier and his eyes tensed up as he continued with his restrained voice, “That traitor… He is the one responsible for Chiati’s condition… Chiati must have run hundreds of kilometres before the bird landed and he could get a hold of the scroll… And after being hit with the poisoned arrows, he again had to continue running for hundreds of kilometres to reach home… This wretched, filthy—”
He was interrupted by Prince Jared as he placed a hand on the King’s shoulder, “Brother… Vengeance is not becoming of the Lion of Jerudia. Justice is your colour, vengeance is mine. Let us focus on Chiati’s recovery for now. Given the suffering his body has been through, it will probably take him two months to fully recover to his former glory. Let us first focus on that.”
Akini was sitting leaning on the wall with one leg stretched straight and the other bent at a 90-degree angle and her hands interlocked on the bent knee as she shrugged and spoke with a nonchalant tone, “Am I the only one completely lost here?”
Thaymas answered at once with a mechanical tone as if sprinkling facts, “Prince Jared’s wolves are clearly faster than any other animal on land, so if Chiati could not catch the messenger inside of Jerudia, our homeland, then the messenger definitely had to be a bird. When Chiati had left Jerudia, the garrison had informed the King about it. But they never mentioned anything about him being struck by any arrows. And not to mention, there is no way anyone in Jerudia would shoot him with arrows either. So if he was indeed struck with arrows in Gessold, he definitely did not have a chance to snatch the scroll from the messenger bird before entering Gessold. If the bird had ever landed before entering Gessold, then Chiati would have undoubtedly and unfailingly snatched the scroll successfully. Hence, we could be sure that the bird landed only after entering Gessold, and that is when Chiati stole the scroll and got shot with arrows.”
“‘Stole’ is a dirty word, Thaymas. Say ‘snatched’… Your language needs serious improvement,” interjected Prince Jared.
Thaymas nodded and continued with the same fact-sprinkling, fast-paced tone as earlier, “Yes, of course. Snatched. And the reason we know that it was quite deep inside Gessold is because Chiati would not be easily shot.”
“Your grammar…” interrupted Prince Jared, “my dear brother… Your grammar really is quite atrocious. If you begin a sentence by explicitly mentioning that you are addressing the reason, then do not add ‘because’ in there. You are terribly damaging my reputation here, Thaymas.”
Thaymas nodded and continued with the same pace and tone once again, “I am assuming his speed based on the other wolves’ of course. But even the slowest wolf from our pack would not get shot under normal circumstances unless they were surrounded heavily and their movements were restricted. So, if they managed to successfully shoot Chiati not once, but four times; then it certainly means that he was in a place that was heavily guarded and his movements were also heavily restricted. Of course, such a post could also exist near their border walls, but King Jeraash made that educated guess based on the balance of probability. And well, the part of Erias is very obviously based on the timeline of when Chiati was spotted leaving the Kingdom on the border.” He finally added with a hint of smugness masked as sincerity, “I hope that clears all your doubts, Akini.”
Akini shot a look that communicated to Thaymas that he should not test his fortunes by pushing it too far.
“And there it is! Did I not tell you?” exclaimed Prince Jared before announcing with showmanship, “There is the BRILLIANCE in the buffoon!”
Queen Maomi slapped the back of his head vio
lently, “Could you at least try to act as if you are making an effort when I am around?”
Prince Jared grinned apologetically and hugged her tight, appeasing her as she shook her head, smiling unwittingly.
Thaymas added, “That’s quite alright, My Lady. I am getting used to this now. It’s just Aani’s way of teasing me, and Akini… well…” Akini interrupted with a raging stare, “Be very careful how you finish that sentence. Do remember that I can snap you in two with my bare hands whenever I choose to.”
Thaymas swallowed his saliva as his genius brain instructed him to choose life. He spoke with a flattering tone, securing his safety, “As I was saying, Akini is just showing her extravagant affection for me.”
Akini nodded once in a slow motion letting him know that he made a wise decision.
Queen Maomi spoke with a sigh of relief, “Well, these are the times I thank Sathyam that you chose to disciple under Jared instead of joining the Women of War. Jared is certainly the only one who is actually suited to put up with you.”
“We have a bigger problem right now…” said General Hana in a grave voice, “Thon must be knowing now what he was told about his spy was incorrect… What happens to Satya and Lord Yuvan now…?”
“They will be fine,” said General Thayman with absolute confidence and a casual and carefree demeanour, “They will definitely find a way to continue as spies. Lord Yuvan will have made numerous preparations for such crises. And with the unmatched intellect and wits between the two of them, even if they are caught off-guard with this; they will still find a way to handle it. We have nothing to worry about.”