Book I of III: The Swords of the Sultan (58 page)

Still, despite this man’s venerability,
Baltor observed that this old man’s staring rather sternly at
him.

A moment later, the old man tried to sit up
by propping his hands into the bed and pushing up, but failed
miserably. Instead of trying a second time, he looked over to
Baltor angrily, pointed his bony index finger at him, and growled
out the word, “
You
…”

Immediately Baltor began to feel these slight
electrifying chills running up and down his spine, and he also
noticed that with each passing moment, those chills intensified in
degree until they started to get more and more painful like he was
being electrocuted to death—and that’s when he woke up.

Or did I?
Baltor began to wonder upon
hearing two final whooping noises coming from outside, followed by
complete silence. And at the same time, he felt his wife still
sleeping on his belly.

Ironically enough, it was then that the door
to the hut quietly opened up as Pa-cheu entered, allowing a tiny
bit of the dusky light to enter.

That light allowed Baltor not only to see
that Brishava’s eyes remained closed, yet she looked really
comfortable.

He then thought with a bit of amusement,
I
must’ve been dreaming, or she would have felt the electrical
surges, too
.

In the next moment, perhaps because of the
tiny amount of light that now cast onto her face, she released a
deep sigh.

Pa-cheu threw a sweet smile at Baltor, who
returned it. She then exited the hut, closing the door behind
her.

Once alone, Baltor asked lightly,
“Honey?”

“Yes?” she sighed, half in sleep.

“I just had the strangest dream.”

“Tell me your dream?”

“Okay,” Baltor said. After telling her the
dream in precise detail, he added, “I know now that it must have
been a dream because you obviously didn’t feel a thing. So, what do
you suppose this dream means?”

Brishava shifted her head so that she could
look directly into Baltor’s eyes and then she said, “I think that
this is the sign, my husband, that we need to head back to Pavelus,
so that we can claim our thrones before my father dies.”

After taking a deep breath through her nose,
she said, “If my father should die without me there, the next
person to become the Sultan would be my older half-brother,
Imperious-Lord Rasta…

“After all, my father has permanently
forbidden my Uncle Vaspan from inheriting the kingdom.
Unfortunately, although my brother pretends to look all just and
noble, he is really just as ruthless and sinister as both my father
and uncle.”

“But we have a kingdom here, as well,” Baltor
countered.

“Then let us unite the two kingdoms, my
love!” Brishava said as she sat up in bed. “But do not fight our
destiny, for Pavelus needs us as well—we are Pavelus!”

“But so is Chao-chu-sha-maen,” Baltor argued
though he continued to lie down.

She replied calmly, “We must make our own
kingdom—not take theirs away from them. Besides, who says that we
can’t honor them as royal kin whenever they come to our
cities…?

“Know this, my husband—I was born as the
heiress to the throne of Pavelus, for a reason. We cannot let that
reason be for naught. Besides, perhaps I can change even my
father’s stern mind, especially when he sees on just how much love
I have for you, my husband!”

“You are right, my love,” Baltor sighed.
“When do you wish to leave?”

After Brishava had playfully snuggled the
side of her face back into his chest, she then suggested, “How
about two weeks? That’ll give us plenty of time to say our
farewells to our wonderful friends!”

“Ok,” he said. After a few seconds, he
chuckled, “I love you, my Princess!”

“And I love you, my Sultan!”

That was the first time she had ever called
him sultan before.

Several hours later, as soon as they had
informed Humonus and Chelsea of the decision to return to Pavelus
in two weeks hence—they also agreed to come along and help.

That night at the campfire, after Baltor had
officially announced the group’s decision to the villagers, the
prince appeared to expect it, as he immediately signed, “Can you
guys go on a journey with me before you head home to Pavelus?”

“Sure, my brother. You got it, but as you
know, we need to be heading back in two weeks,” Baltor signed
back.

“I know…my brother…” Cheo replied in the
language of Pavelian, which indicated that he had been listening
and learning when the group spoke to each other in their native
language, and which surprised the heck out of them all, too. He
then added, “Tomorrow night we go. We back…seven nights…from
tomorrow night…okay?” A sheepish smile crossed his face.

“Okay,” they all answered back in
unison—though several different languages, including sign language,
were used to answer Cheo back. This caused everyone to burst out
laughing a moment later from the hilarity of the situation.

The next night, the party of five began to
travel straight north. Over the course of the next three and a half
nights, they saw several breathtaking sights along the way,
including the abrupt addition of jagged mountain peaks that went
hundreds of feet up in the air amongst the thick and lush jungle
vegetation.

Continuously, the temperatures remained in
the high 90’s coupled with thick humidity. The only person who
never sweated at all was Baltor.

About two hours before sunrise, Cheo stopped
next to a gigantic bush that bore thick leaves, resting right in
front of a cliff face, and said in his native language, “We’re
going to need some light to see in here.”

“In where?” Baltor asked back.

Cheo verbally answered, “In the cave behind
this bush.”

Baltor translated Cheo’s request to
Humonus.

Humonus pulled a torch and some flint out of
his backpack, and began the process of lighting it. Once lit, a few
seconds later, he then handed the torch to Cheo.

Carefully keeping the torch flames away from
the bush, Cheo walked around it into a small cave with a tunnel at
the end of it angling downwards—the rest of the group followed
behind.

About fifteen minutes later, and still in the
same tunnel that continuously angled downward, the group began to
see something glowing a strange gold color far ahead of them.

About two minutes later, the tunnel
transformed itself into a huge cavern that literally consisted of
pure molten gold, covering the floors, the walls, the stalactites
and stalagmites, and even the ceiling.

“
Wooooow!
” Chelsea was the first to
say in disbelief.

Baltor sighed aloud, “My God. This is
unbelievable!”

Cheo asked in Pavelian, “What is God?”

“God is that which made us all, I guess,”
Baltor said in sign language. “I just used that phrase as a figure
of speech, for I was amazed by the heavenly qualities of this
place!”

“Oh. As you already know, we call God,
Shava-Tula-Suah-Lakasa-Casusea. We never use God as figure of
speech.”

“I see. I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“Ah, do not apologize to me, my brother.
Apologize to God. Come, if you think you were amazed by the
heavenly qualities of this place, wait till you see what lies
ahead!”

Cheo then led the group to the far end of the
cavern, where there was yet another tunnel leading downwards.

After having passed two other junctions, yet
still going straight for another half an hour, they entered another
immense cavern.

This breathtaking chamber even had an
underground waterfall that cascaded into an underground lagoon.
Now, the reasons that everyone could see everything so crystal
clear here wasn’t because of gold—but from the small, medium,
large, and even enormous colored lights reflecting back from a wide
assortment of precious crystalline emeralds, sapphires, rubies, and
even diamonds.

“Whoa,” was the group’s response.

Humonus signed, “Do you know how much money
this all is worth?”

Cheo signed, “What is money?”

Humonus answered, “Money is used to buy and
sell things like food, clothes, homes, whatever.”

“I see, as you know, we have no such thing,
as we are a utopian society. Do you think that these are worth a
lot of money?”

“You have no idea…perhaps billions of
parsecs!”

A smile formed on Cheo’s face, as he signed,
“Really. We did not know that they were valuable—we just liked them
because they are pretty to look at!”

“Aren’t they though?” Humonus signed
back.

“Perhaps we could establish a trade sometime;
after all, we have lots of pretty and useful things in Pavelus,”
Brishava suggested in sign language.

Cheo verbally answered in Pavelian, “Yes,
maybe we can.”

The group decided to set camp in the cave
just near the surface, until the following night.

Just after sunset, everyone in the group but
Humonus left.

Meanwhile, he stayed back to conceal all of
the tracks, and once done several minutes later, he then ran to
catch back up to the group.

After the group had returned to the village
three and a half nights later, they partied almost non-stop for the
next six days and nights. On the final night, hundreds of fond
farewells were exchanged between everyone, including King Cha,
Queen Che and Prince Cheo.

The night before they left, they launched a
party and during this party, more ideas were shared about
establishing trade between Pavelus and Chao-chu-sha-maen, sometime
soon. After the discussions were over, the celebrating continued
until the wee hours of the morning.

They—Baltor, Brishava, Humonus, and
Chelsea—all began their journey west the following night. Right
before they had left, Baltor had hung on the outside of the wagon
two very large sacks, each containing a cah-su-cahn berry bush with
roots and dirt. He figured that he could plant them once they
reached Pavelus. During the course of their trip, which included a
month-long stay in Valakan, they even discussed and perfected a
plan on how to get to the Sultan, himself.

The plan’s conclusion was to simply walk in
through the front gates, inform the guards that they had rescued
the Sultan’s daughter, and that they were coming to collect the
reward. The guards would have no choice but to bring them before
the Sultan. It was in all their greatest hopes that the Sultan
would then accept Baltor as her husband! A little over four months
of time passed until they reached the borders of Pavelus.

After arriving at the city gates, fortune
smiled upon them as the plan worked out exactly that way, up to a
point. When the guards informed the Sultan that a group of three
people had found his daughter, he was overjoyed, though he truly
was lying on his deathbed.

Because he heard the news that there were
others with his Brishava, he commanded that two squads of guards
fill his bedroom, just in case things should turn underhanded. The
Sultan knew that his Ruling-General Glacius couldn’t attend, as he
was very busy training the troops for war in the coliseum.

Once the guards had escorted the group into
the bedchambers of the Sultan, Baltor realized that this was the
same old man and the same exact bed he had seen in his dreams!
However, he was not too surprised at the revelation, nor that
guards filled the entire room, either.

Without hindrance, Brishava immediately
passed the guards surrounding the Sultan, and sat next to her
father as he still lay down in his bed. Once she had passed, the
guards immediately blocked the way leading up to their Sultan.

Sultan Brishavus said gently to his daughter,
“Oh how I have missed you these last few years, my Brishava.”

“I’ve missed you too, Father!” She laid her
hand upon his chest and looked at his face.

After giving his daughter a tender smile, he
revealed, “Soon I will die, and the kingdom will become yours, and
Duke Marlborough of Vispano. I have just dispatched word for your
marriage to be prepared for tomorrow. For the last year, he has
been eagerly waiting here in Pavelus for your return, my daughter.
He has also brought along with him seventy thousand of his best
knights and troops. They are all camped to the north of the city,
in order to help protect us from—” A sudden seizure of coughing
erupted!

Once the coughing had abated, several minutes
later, Brishava countered, “But Father…I cannot marry the duke, for
I am already married! Actually, I have been married these last
couple of years, since my disappearance. Baltor, my husband, is
standing over there.” She pointed toward Baltor.

“Impossible,” the Sultan retaliated without
even having looked where she pointed. “You must marry the duke or
this empire will fall. My brother is already on his way to attack
Pavelus—he has even hired several divisions of mercenaries to
assist. So tell me then, who in the hell authenticated your
marriage?”

“God did,” Brishava answered. “And I will not
marry any other man, ever.”

The Sultan said, “Let me see this man.”

The guards made space so that Baltor could
pass, and as he neared the bed, he saw the Sultan tried to sit up
in bed but fail, point at him, and then heard him growl out the
word, “
You
…”

Just like in Baltor’s dream! Also just like
the dream, chills now ran up and down his spine, but this time, he
was wide awake. Despite the chills, Baltor took a deep breath
through his nose before replying boldly to his father-in-law, “I am
Prince Baltor Elysian.”

“Prince? Prince of what? I have never heard
that name of Elysian before,” the Sultan scoffed. “Where is your
kingdom?” “I am the Prince of Chao-chu-sha-maen.”

A myriad of chuckles erupted around the room
from the guards. Brishava snapped, “That’s not funny!”

The guards stopped laughing.