“Get ready and be in the village by the evening with your equipment. Try not to be in touch with anybody from the castle for the rest of the day.”
“Okay, I’ll be there on time. Though, I have a lot of questions to ask.”
“Well, you’ll get all of your answers, once you get to the village,” Aylan smiled. He rushed to the jetty. All the other contestants had already gathered by their boats. They were waiting for the announcement to start the game.
***
At the main gate of the King’s castle, a horse wagon stopped. Lord Eko Darsor jumped out of the wagon and rushed to the castle. Usually, the wagon gets into the front yard, from where the lords walked to the King’s court. At this time Lord Eko Darsor didn’t want to waste a single moment. The guards opened the gate quickly; they too realized that something was wrong.
Lord Eko Darsor just flew over the stairs with his heavy body. By the time he arrived in the court, he was out of breath. He dropped on his designated chair without showing any formality to the King or the Queen Mother.
There were three people in the court at that time, The King, his mother, and a Gypsy man. All of them looked at Lord Eko Darsor with curious eyes. Not even in an emergency, any of the Lords did this sort of behavior. The King stood up asked sarcastically, “What’s happened Lord Eko? You seemed like have chased by the ghost.”
“My King…” Lord Eko tried to control his breathing. “The bow and arrows are gone.” He now knelt down and looked at the King, frighteningly.
“What?” The Queen Mother got up and shouted. “How did you lose them?”
“Let me guess,” the Gypsy man interrupted. “It was Aylan Bimbsor who robbed or stole them from you.”
“Yes, it was him,” Lord Eko replied. “And, who are you and how do you know about Aylan?”
“My Lord, you can’t remember me now. I was the one who took you to Bimb Halehsor’s tent. My name is Veli.”
“He was just telling us about your nephew,” King Khuli said. He was angry to know about Aylan, and now he felt scared to hear the news. He looked at his mother and said, “It was entirely my fault, mother. I should have taken the bow and arrows from Lord Eko, the day he brought them.”
Chaya was furious outside, but inside, she was shaken by the news. One of the Dainee hunters still lived. She couldn’t explain her son in front of the outsiders that, being a half Dain, King Khuli himself was unable to touch them, too. They were safe in Lord Eko’s palace. The loophole was Aylan. “It doesn’t matter now,” she spoke out, firmly. “You need to find and arrest him before he does something else.”
“Yes, mother,” King Khuli nodded and turned to Lord Eko. “How does he look like?”
“He’s tall and has dark, long curly hair and...” Lord Eko hesitated for a moment. “And he has green eyes like me.”
“Fair enough,” King Khuli said. “Send the guards everywhere and order them to arrest Aylan and bring him here alive. Veli you go with the guards as well to find him quickly and here’s your reward for the information.” He threw a small sack full of gold coins. Veli smiled and bowed to the king. He had double profit, coming here.
All the boats left the jetty to the other side of the river. Aylan and his friends were in the same boat, and there was another person, who Aylan met recently, Ednit Aboho, the registrar. Aylan understood Ednit was looking at him. But every time he looks at him, Ednit turned his face from him. Aylan read his mind. The man was trying to remember his face from his memories. Aylan thought about the newly added rule to the big sport. The violence was officially permitted from now on. That means the contenders could fight each other and injure severely. Aylan knew there were many groups and allies already formed and the Midneys will target Laam. He told his friends to stick together. Laam didn’t like it, but realizing the situation, he agreed to be together, at least until jumping into the river Aar.
Seventy contenders were on ten boats. Rowing and judging the others. There was a massive number of interested players tried to register their names. But to keep control of the whole competition, the authorities only allowed the first seventy contenders at the end. Aylan saw the majority are the Midney. Their body languages were aggressive and were rowing impatiently as if they couldn’t wait to start the game. As soon as the boats had touched the soil, they jumped off the boats and disappeared into the jungle. This was against the law. They were supposed to go into the forest after the game starts to find their arrows. But when Laam pointed this to the registrar, he just shrugged. The other contenders followed the Midney guys. Aylan and his friends stayed close to Ednit to avoid any trouble before the game begins.
The registrar stood on a hill and started shouting the contender’s names, one by one. Most of them replied from the jungle. After finishing the first part, the registrar took a hammer in his hands and banged it on a bell. Dong! Dong! Dong! The game had begun.
The remaining contenders ran into the jungle to collect their arrows. But there was a surprise waiting for them. The Midney guys weren’t actually finding their own arrows; they were looking for the other’s arrows and breaking them into small parts. Seeing this, the other contenders attacked them. The Midneys have already outnumbered their competitors.
Aylan quickly told Jeem to go for the arrows, and then he and Laam joined the fight to distract the Midneys from Jeem. The Midneys knew who they were supposed to hurt, so they attacked Laam with double energy. However, Aylan protected him like a shield. He didn’t use his full strength, as the others would start suspecting about his power.
Meanwhile, Jeem ran all the way around the fighting spot and started looking for their arrows. As he saw Laam’s initial on the tree, he ran to collect the arrow. But all of a sudden, a Midney man came in front of him with a sword in his hand. Jeem stopped at the last moment and controlled himself, “Whoa, did you not know that any weapon other than the bow and arrows aren’t permitted in the game?”
“Who cares?” The guy said. He was muscular and tall. “My duty is to stop anyone who tries to get the arrow from this tree.”
Jeem got that already. “Yeah man. I came to get this for Lesra. He wants to break this particular arrow by his own hands.”
The guy looked confused. Jeem is a Midney, and he had no doubt about it. But he didn’t have any instruction about giving up the arrow to an unknown person, even if they were the Midney.
“You’re making me late man. If Lesra doesn’t get the chance to break it in front of Laam, then you’ll take the responsibility,” Jeem rushed with an angry voice.
The guy was still hesitating. As Jeem pretended to walk out, he shouted, “Wait, take the arrow. But if you’re trying to fool me, then get yourself ready for a hard time.” He climbed the tree and threw the arrow to Jeem.
“Thanks,” Jeem said as he caught the arrow. He didn’t want to waste a single moment, so he ran to find Aylan’s and his own arrow. Soon he found his broken arrow on the ground. He took with anger and looked around. If he saw any Midney around at that time, he’d kill him with the bare hand. Luckily, there were none. He ran to find Aylan’s arrow. Within a few moments, he found the tree with Aylan’s fake initials. Jeem was a little confused to see the tree. It wasn’t a regular tree like the others. It was rather small and skinny as if somebody didn’t want it to be found. Who’d do it? Jeem asked himself. But he didn’t have enough time to find the answer. He ran back to his friends. As he approached the place where the contenders were fighting, he saw only a few fighters; including Aylan and Laam were standing. Rest of them either lying on the ground or dragging themselves out of the circles. The spot was a proper mess. Jeem tried to get Aylan’s attention over the Midneys.
Aylan kept an eye on their fighting spot to locate Jeem as soon as he returns. When he saw Jeem was waving at him, Aylan pretended to throw a punch but pulled his hand back. That was the signal for Jeem to run to the river. He pulled Laam’s tunic to get his attention. Laam grabbed the guy he was fighting and head-butted him and then followed Aylan to t
he river. The Midneys took a few moments to realize what had just happened. Then they, too, followed Laam to stop him before he jumps into the river.
Aylan had already outrun Jeem and reached out his hand to get his arrow and surprised at first to see Jeem had two arrows in his hand and understood what had happened. He signed Jeem to go the registrar, as the Midneys will not attack him for helping Laam out of respect if he stayed close to him and showed Laam the arrows and signed him to run to the river and jump into it. Laam followed his instruction. At the last moment when Laam was about to jump, one of the Midney kicked his thigh and Laam circled in the air as he fell in the river and screamed out of pain. Aylan was right behind him. He punched the guy in his face and kicked the other two, who were going to follow Laam before jumping.
In the river, Laam was struggling to keep him floating. His right thigh felt heavy and couldn’t move his right leg. He was just seeing himself drowning in the dark bottom of the river Aar. As he thought it was his last moment in the world, he felt somebody grabbed his shoulder and pulled him up. Within a moment his head was above the water, and he inhaled the air that his chest was tearing apart for. He tried to see who was his rescuer and heard Aylan’s voice, “Stay as you are, my friend. You can’t swim by yourself.” Aylan grabbed Laam’s hair and pulled as he swam to the other side of the river. Some of the Midneys were already halfway through the river. It wasn’t an easy swim, as they both had their bows across the shoulders.
After a few moments, Laam shouted, “Leave my hair. I can swim now. I’m slowing you down, anyway. You better swim fast and win the competition.”
“Not without you, brother,” Aylan shouted back, as he sped up. Soon they caught up with the other four contenders. Amongst them, Lesra, Chief Lord Brirar’s son looked like he was watching a ghost swimming with him. Laam was supposed not be swimming. According to his plan, Laam should have been battered and left on the other side of the river. Lesra slowed down for a moment and then put his maximum energy to stay ahead of Aylan and Laam. As he signaled, two other contenders slowed down and turned to the two friends. Their aggressive faces were showing their intentions. Aylan noticed it while they were still at a safe distance.
“Can you hold your breath for a few moments?” Aylan shouted to Laam.
“Yes and I’m ready,” Laam replied. He didn’t ask the reason, as he was expecting more trouble from Lesra and his gang.
As soon as Laam finished his sentence, Aylan dived into the water and pulled Laam’s hand. The unclear water helped them to stay away from their enemies. Aylan swam through right under the guys, who were waiting for them to show them up above the water. They did show up, but a few yards ahead of them. Aylan wasted no more time pretending as a normal human being. He swam like a fish through the water and approached to the riverside together and faced the main trouble.
The designated side of the river for the contenders was just a straight wall with some stones coming out of them, to make it harder for them. Aylan signed Laam to grab a rock to keep him in one place and then climbed the wall to get on the dry land. Then he reached out his bow to Laam. Laam still had the pain from the kick. So, he grabbed the bow, but couldn’t help himself. Aylan pulled him up. As they turned to the main archery ground, they saw Lesra and two of his helpers were almost near to the shooting point. Laam sighed and was about to sit down out of frustration.
“What are you doing?” Aylan frowned.
“Just accepting my luck,” Laam replied as he watched Lesra attaching his arrow on the string.
“You can’t give right at the end, man,” Aylan frowned again. “Put yourself together. We’re going to shoot our arrows from here.”
“Are you crazy?” Laam turned to Aylan. “We’re at twice the distance from the target board. How do we even make your arrow reach to that board?”
“Because we can, my friend,” Aylan smiled. “We’re in a bit higher position and the air in our favor. We should take the opportunity. Otherwise, you’d regret for the rest of your life.”
The words worked. Laam controlled himself and stood still by Aylan’s side. As they saw Lesra was about to shoot his arrow. “Now!” Aylan shouted to him.
Two friends drew their arrows like lightning and shot them to the target board. The bows went over Lesra’s head, touching his hair. The slight gust of air made him startle, but he already managed to shoot his arrow.
The three arrows flew through the air, but only one of them hit the board. Bull’s eye! Other two arrows had collided with each other flew over the target board.
Lesra jumped in the air out joy. His helpers took him on their shoulders and cheered. They walked to the main stage as the main guest; King Khuli was there to hand over the prizes. The crowd went crazy. They cheered and whistled to the new winner. As they approached the stage King Khuli got up from his chair and took the sword and the shield in hand to give them to Lesra. The crowd fell in silence, as the King was about to give a short speech, addressing the winner. At the Riverside, Laam put a hand on Aylan’s shoulder, “Thanks for all your help my friend. I’m proud of you.”
“Me too,” Aylan said, smiling. “Do me a favor; just walk to the stage now. Don’t ask me why. I will not be going with you, as I have an appointment at the castle in a few moments. Good luck, my friend. See you soon.” He walked down the road to go around the crowd. Laam gave a glance on his way and then walked to the stage as Aylan said.
“Unlike the past years, we’ve added more excitement to the big sport to let the non-Ashalandians to participate, to show that it is a sport for all our brothers from the other kingdoms,” King Khuli said. The crowd burst into claps. Some people shouted, all hail King Khuli, all hail King Khuli. The King paused until the crowd stopped making noise. “Now then, in this tougher format of the big sport, Lesra, son of the chief Lord Brirar has proved himself as a real fighter. He has not only made his father feel proud but also I’m pleased to announce to have him as the head of security, who will work along with the commander Magoora.” The again burst into claps. Some over-enthusiastic Midneys had started screaming Lesra’s name.
As the crowd calmed down, King Khuli bent over to hand over the prizes to Lesra, but a voice suddenly spoke out, “I beg your pardon, my King.” It was the registrar Ednit Aboho. He knelt down in front of the king, and reached out his hands to the king, holding an arrow. “But the actual winner is Laam Yaadsor. Here’s the proof. This arrow hit the target. My men are looking for the other two arrows that seen flew over the target board.”
There was an awkward silence all over the ground. Even Laam stopped walking after hearing what the registrar said. He couldn’t believe his ears. That meant just one thing, Aylan moved Lesra’s arrow to let him win. Laam knew how Aylan was capable of doing so. He smiled of joy and felt nervous at the same time. He tried to keep himself together to face the future incidents.
“What are you talking about?” The King said, sarcastically. “We have the winner, and everyone here had witnessed it.” The crowd murmured in support of the king’s opinion.
“Yes, my King,” Ednit replied, still head down. “We do have the winner, but Lesra had cheered before I get to the target board and check the name on the arrow. I have no doubt in our new head of security’s ability, but apparently, Laam had won the competition.”
“How on Duray, is it even possible?” Lesra complained. “When I shot the arrow, he was by the river, twice the distance from the target board. HE needs to be inhumane to do this.” Lesra was shaking out of anger.
“I have no idea about that, sire,” Ednit replied. At that moment, one of Ednit’s helpers came to him and handed over an arrow and whispered to him. Ednit continued, “My men have found the other two arrows, my King.” He took the arrows from his helper’s hand and read the names aloud, “The first one belongs to Haydar Mahisor, and the other one belongs to Lesra Brirar.” He reached out the arrows to the king.
King Khuli took the arrows in his hand and checked the names. “Well, that’s in f
act, true. I at this moment, announce Laam Yaadsor as the winner of the big sport.” He then looked around. “Where’s Laam? Come forth.”
Lesra’s face turned ugly out of anger for the humiliation. I’ll see you Ednit, he thought. He was about to turn, but the king signed him to stop and stay.
When Laam walked forth to the King, he looked down and said, “Here Laam, claim your prize.” As he leaned front to hand over the award, King Khuli smiled and whispered to Laam, “Good job, son. Enjoy your short time leadership.” Then stood straight and said, “I have to announce the important news, too. Though Laam Yaadsor had won the big sport mysteriously, due to the poor record of disloyalty of the villagers, as you have already heard of, I would like to keep my first announcement of promoting Lesra as the head of security.” The crowd burst into applause once again.
Laam looked around, some people were mocking him for winning the game, and most of them were from the different kingdoms. He remembered the rumor about the villagers being thieves, robbers and an untouchable group of people that was spread from the Midneys, to isolate the real Ashalandian from the others. As a result, people hated the villagers and didn’t want to even walk with them.
At that moment, Commander Magoora emerged from the crowd; behind him, four guards dragged Aylan and pushed him to the ground. “We have found Aylan Bimbsor, my King.”
Laam remembered what Aylan said to him earlier, but didn’t know he was going to do this. He turned back and looked at the Kajlas guards with horror. From the other side, Ednit Aboho had the same reaction. Laam was going to say something, but Aylan winked at him to assure that everything was fine. Laam gave a slight nod to Aylan and disappeared into the crowd. The people were excited about the new incident that was happening at that moment. So, no one noticed Laam was walking to the village.
“Commander Magoora, would you like to introduce the captive to the audience, please?” King Khuli said, sarcastically.
Son of The Prisonland (The Myth Shadow Trilogy Book 1) Page 15