by Reja
And started struggling to set himself free. In all this process he intensely hit pippin mouth and shouted: “Don’t you touch me !!.... You...YOU BIG GIANT APE”.
Judeaus and Rickert started to fear how pippin reacts after it. A few seconds later a little bit of blood came from Pippin’s mouth but Pippin didn’t reach on the hit and just rubbed his mouth and said politely “Come on don’t be shy ”.
Kaal was still shouting “Ahh!!” And in a few moments, they reached the party and everyone started shouting “Hey... Finally ... here he is the star of the party!!”.
Everyone started laughing on Kaal seeing him treated like a small child, this made Kaal more furious and he shouted on Pippin again “Hey ..!!!...enough already!! ..now put me down you fat-headed bastard !!”.
Pippin took him in his arm like a log and let him go and said: “I m Pippin ”.
Kaal felled on the ground but he somehow saves himself from getting hurt. He instantly got up looking toward Pippin saying “YOU!!....U SON OF BI..” But before he could complete Pippin offered him a glass of drink and said with a very intense look in his eyes “Drink ”.
Kaal became a little bit confused “Ah..ugh??” Before he could say anything the Judeaus stated the toast “All right !! Let’s toast for the rookie with a bad attitude !!”.
And everyone lifted their glasses toward Kaal with a big smile on their face. Kaal became speechless again when he turned his face to the side he saw the Pippin again with the glass in his hand again. This time he accepted the glass and drink it in one sip and banged the glass on his leg with a little coughing, seeing this everyone started laughing.
The band members started to come close to him and started chatting with him
“I have changed my mind, rookie !! You are one hell of a guy! Taking on that many men all by yourself !!”.
“You were awesome ”.
“Well a little impulsive, maybe ”.
“There’s some stuff only Griffin can see .”
“I thought he was about to put you under when you slugged him, though... ”.
“Well ..anyhow now we all know you are trustworthy ”.
“Here’s to the future, rookie!!”.
Kaal didn’t reply he just keep harking to them. In the band, there are still a few guys who still got a problem with Kaal like Corkus and his friend. But excepting them, most of the band members welcome him. In all this talk Kaal saw toward Griffin who was seeing Kaal with a smile on his face when they saw each other Griffin lifted his glass to toast with Kaal. Kaal saw it and but didn’t replied and continued drinking. Casca was also seeing all this from the distance and like this the night end with celebration and drinks.
CHAPTER 5
THE NEXT MORNING
After the night party, the dawn has come. The members of the band were scattered all over the floor some are still drunk and some are still sleeping cause of last night’s party. Kaal was still sitting on the same spot where he was sitting before joining the party. He was enjoying the view of sunrise and remembering the last night party and everyone’s behavior towards him, and started feeling a little down. Suddenly he notices Judeaus was coming toward him and called him “You are up early ... ”.
Judaeus came near Kaal “Well you really like high places ..don’t you??” Kaal didn’t say anything.
He got near Kaal and jumps on the wall and sit near him, and started opening a booze bottle and ask “...Hey ....want some ??”. Kaal instantly refused him “Ahh... NO!! ...No thanks ”.
Judaeus “So how about the band of the hawk?”.
Kaal “How?”.
Judaeus “Think you will fit in ?”.
Kaal “I don’t know ...it’s hard to say ”.
Judaeus “Hmmm.....”.
Kaal “It’s kind of weird ......but until now for me... Mercenary bands were never much different ... They are just savagely made of mostly of rouges and man with some shady pasts ...... You know something like that ?......
But here I was surprised by seeing how young everyone here is ... But that’s not at all ...here .......it’s .....feel different somehow ...”.
Judeaus started poking his cheek and said “... Hmmm... I guess... Maybe ?...well there is little variety’s of good even if you talk for a mercenary band ..... Well ...we have also do got some escaped prisoners, street urchins, sons of blacksmiths and even some second sons of poor aristocrats in our group!
Yup! ...we nearly got all types of peoples .......but... If you talk about anything different than others then maybe ....Its Griffin? ...well ... I did say ... there are peoples who have been completely charmed by Griffin ... those who figure as long as they stick close with Griffin ... they will get to see great things... Anyway, all of us are here cause of his charisma ...... ”.
judeaus strayed silent for a moment and after that, he continued
“Well on our own,... no one of us is any big deal ...no different from any other mercenary group... It’s just that unlike other mercenaries groups, who are so hardened them self so they think only about money and their survival, we are a little different ...around here ...while we do spend every blood-filled day killing and being killed its strange but ...we can also cry, laugh, get angry or whatever ”.
Kaal listened to him to the end and didn’t say anything until last.
After he finished Kaal asked “..... Griffin what kind of guy is he ??”.
Judeaus “Hn?... Hmmm...Well, I don’t know ...”.
Kaal got a little frustrated with his answer and said “... You don’t know ...yet you are all charmed by him ..”.
Judeaus started trying to calm him down and said “Whoa ..Whoa ....hold on .. And just listen to me first .....well how can I put this? ..it’s just when you think it looks like sometime he is got some strange wisdom and some other time he seems just like a kid ... sometimes when you think he has a spine chilling look on his face, on next second he smiles innocently like a baby ... well, it is hard to decide that ......Is he a child or an adult, a good guy or a villain? ... Well, I don’t know what he is until now ..” And Kaal also started to remember his past experiences with Griffin his fight and all, and he also wasn’t able to understand him at all.
“But something about him is different from us ...there are things that a simple mercenaries like us only hear about in absurd drinking tales, a thing like that he would think of and do like they were nothing ..... Well I can’t really describe it it’s not just his swordsmanship and his tactics ....it’s just that ordinary peoples like us don’t understand Griffin ... it might take him longer than a lifetime to achieve it ...but I guess he must have some kind of conviction ....”.
Kaal
Hmm....conviction...
Kaal asked “Conviction ......In what ..?”.
Judeaus “...*heh*...In everything... Maybe ...well it’s not whether he is a good guy or a bad guy .....it’s not whether we know him or not ... Isn’t that just how it is when a man gathers other men together ?”.
Kaal got silent again.
When they noticed one of a band man was coming toward then and saying something to them from distance “Hey!!! ...Hey new guy ..the boss is calling you ” after hearing him Kaal stated to left from there, saying “....See ya”.
When Kaal just started walking Judeaus called him “Hey Kaal ... I am sure you will find it here ...the place where you belong ”.
Kaal heard him turned his head toward him and after a second started walking again.
Kaal reached the place he was called. He saw Griffin near the well, he was bathing butt naked. After seeing him like this Kaal became speechless for a moment and after that he said: “...uh...Okay ...”.
After hearing the Kaal voice he noticed Kaal and turn towards him and said “Oh!!... hi!!.....are u here to join me ?? It’s the best way to sober up ”. After hearing Griffin became nervous and said “... I think...I ...will pass ...”.
Griffin saw his face and understood it and started forcing him by trying to throw water towar
d him and said: “Come on, don’t be that way”.
Kaal was trying to stop him “Agh!!... Hey,...Cut it out, Moron!! We are not the little kids !!”
But before Kaal can finish he poured the water on him and started laughing “*hahaha!!* What a face !! ”.
Kaal became all wet and said “...Jerk ” And instantly filled the nearby bucket with water and try to pour it on Griffin but Griffin dodged it “Whoop! ...Missed me!!.... Not quite !! ”but Kaal instantly poured the water with the second bucket before Griffin dodge it.
Kaal “*heh!!*”.
After getting wet by water Griffin poked his cheeks for second and after that they both started throwing water on each other again, both of them enjoying it very much.
Judeaus was seeing it all from a little distance
Well, they really have ...a lot of energy this early.
After playing with water quite a sometime both of them got to a little tired and sit down near the well’s boundary.
Griffin “*Whew*... That was a good morning exercise ” But Kaal was still not satisfied so he poured a bucket of water again in Griffin’s head, Kaal “Wupps...”.
Griffin started to look Kaal and said “Kaal ...why ..you !!! ”. Kaal replied to him with a smile “Now we are even ”. Griffin was trying to say something but he just let it go and started laughing and said “Ah.... *puh*... *hahaha!* .....okay ... I give up !...you really are stubborn, you know ...”.
When Griffin was talking Kaal suddenly noticed something in his neck and started staring. Griffin noticed it and asked, “...What ?”.
Kaal replied,“ That’s a weird necklace... ”.
Griffin took the necklace in his hand and said “Oh! ...this” and showed it to Kaal. It was a weird necklace with the human’s face like design but the face was placed in a very weird manner. it was truly an ugly necklace.
After showing it to Kaal Griffin started talking about it “Well i brought this from an old gypsy fortune teller ages ago...Its name is Behelit ...also called the Egg of the King ....you see it’s said that whoever possesses this ...is destined to obtain the world in exchange for his flesh and blood ”.
Kaal saw the necklace with a surprised look and said:“..the world ...??”.
Griffin “Here” and Griffin passed the necklace to Kaal to letting him see closely.
When Kaal saw the necklace closely he notices the eyes on necklace started to open seeing this truly terrified him for a moment and he instantly threw it to toward Griffin. Griffin cached it and put it in his neck and said: “I don’t know what makes it do that, but it’s almost like it’s alive ..”.
Kaal thoughts
That’s creepy
Griffin took the necklace in hand and said with the big smile on his face “Neat, Huh... ??”.
Kaal saw that smile and became stunned for a moment and started thinking
He really is tough to read ..but probably just a kid ...
For diverting their attention Kaal started talking again and asked Griffin “I still have not heard your answer ”.
Griffin “Hm??”.
Kaal “During the battle ... Why did you come back to save me ?”.
Griffin “...After having acquired such an excellent soldier, I didn’t want to lose him in such a petty battle ”.
Kaal hears his thought but didn’t say anything.
Griffin suddenly stood up and started saying “Kaal ... come along with me... this all is no more than a single step ... the Band of Hawk.... all these victories on the battlefield ... they are just the outset .... the beginning... now ... this is where it starts to get interesting..... that .......you can bet your life on it .....well I will get my own kingdom”.
Griffin was standing right in front of the rising sun the sunlight from behind made him shine like a god for a moment in front of Kaal. Kaal just keeps listing him didn’t say anything.
Griffin “You will fight for my cause ... because now you belong to me ... and I am the one who will decide the place where you die ... get that” And the day flees like that.
In the evening Kaal was all alone at a place where everyone from the castle took water from the river.
Kaal was in deep thought
To get his own kingdom?
Kaal was talking to himself “Ha! ... Is he for real ?”
He is not nobility or royalty .....he is not even a knight. He is only a commander of maybe five hundred mercenaries ....and he thinks he is going to snatch up his own kingdom.... ??...that punk said all that like ...it is just a matter of course ....he is only about the same age as me ....can just one man...really...
Kaal “Did he really mean it ....when he says that ....??”.
He was still thinking about what Griffin said to him and started looking in the river when he saw a dragonfly right beside his image.
Kaal “He is crazy ...” And started to look the dragonfly flying toward the sky and started to think again.
What have I been doing these past four years ??...running around from one battlefield to next..just killing enemies ..just surviving ...now ..where I m going ..?
Kaal “Well I still don’t have the answer to that question Krim’s...”.
Kaal was still thinking when he notices someone was coming toward him through the door. It was Rickert he was calling Kaal “Sir !!,...Kaal sir!! ”and he suddenly opened the door and pushed the Kaal in the river who was standing next to the door and made him fall in the river.
Rickert also became surprised after he knew what he did. After Kaal got on the river surface Kaal started shouting “What’s the big idea ..?”. and Rickert started apologizing to him “Sorry! ... I m sorry!... “and after that, he continued saying, “I thought I’d come to congratulate you ... I heard you had ten men placed under your command! That’s amazing !!...well it has not been even two weeks since you joined us and you got this promotion .. I would not be surprised if it was a hundred men in a year, sir!!”.
Kaal
This has really become one wet day...
Rickert extended his hand to help Kaal and said: “Now you have earned a place in the band of the hawk!... Congratulations!” Kaal saw towards him and smiled.
Kaal
Well ..for now.
Kaal “Just call me Kaal “and took his hand. Rickert started to pull him.
Rickert “*hnnn*..!!” When Rickert nearly pulls him out of the river suddenly Pippin came there and seeing him suddenly surprised them and both of them lost their balance and fall in the river. Kaal started shouting again “You Fat Head.... *blorrg*..”.
Rickert “Pippiiin!! “Pippin wasn’t able to say anything after what happened.
Casca was seeing all this from the castle wall and thinking about Kaal.
The few days passed just like that and the time for the next battle now came. the Band of Hawk was moved to its next battlefield. Griffin was commanding the hawks everything was Same like all the other battle excepting one thing it was Kaal’s first battle as commander. he was the only commander of ten men but still, it was a big change for him cause until now he only fights all battle by himself without giving or taking orders. So this was a really big change for him but still, he moves forward will full confidence and took the part of this change.
CHAPTER 6
A SECOND STEP TOWARD THE DREAM
Three years have been passed since Kaal joined the band. In these three years band also made a lot of name for it. Now there is hardly anyone who didn’t know the name of Band of Hawks after winning a lot of hard fights they are right now known as one of the most powerful mercenary groups.
Somewhere near the midlands kingdoms border.
The midland kingdoms army and the empire’s army was about to engage in a battle. The thousands of men were fighting in this battle cause the place they are fighting for could make a huge impact on the 100 years war, so both armies were trying to win it with all they got. Spears, swords, and shields are clashing with each other. Both armies are fighting on nearly ground when sudd
enly a new unit of the army came from the empire’s group and started massacre midland’s army. In just a few minutes they killed more than hundred of men of midland’s army. They were wearing a full body armor sitting on the horse and thrashing any enemies that come in the way, they are looking like the army of demons.
And suddenly their army commander shouted, “Onward, onward!!...trample them down !!!....show the whole land how valiant are we of the Black ram iron lance heavy cavalry!!....”
“Kill them all !!...crush them!!”.
At the midland’s army base
The king of midland was also present in the base, he was seeing the whole battle from a cliff. After seeing the battle for quite a sometime he said “*Hnn*...What a disaster !! To think that a mere three thousand horsemen could confront us...and make us stop ...this is... ”.
Suddenly a soldier came running toward him “Reporting, sir!! ...the enemy’s black ram iron lance heavy cavalry is so fierce, we are sustaining heavy losses !! .....at this rate, even our headquarters here may be in danger ....!!!...”.
King “*Unggh* What are our generals doing ?!........ Anyone ...anyone how could do .....IS...
Is there no one in midland who can stop these black devils of Chuder?!”.
At battlefield
The black knight is still attacking the midlands kingdoms army and shouting “*Ahhhhh!!!*.....Onward, onward!!..kill them all !! ”.
When they suddenly notice a single soldier is standing on the field with a little distance from them and he is not running from them. The soldier was a little bit muscular than an average normal person but that is not what makes him different, even after seeing hundreds of men coming towards him and still not running away from them made him a little different. He suddenly took his right hand behind his back and took out his huge sword, his sword about the Same height of his own but still he was able to lift that thing with his only one hand.