BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan (18 page)

“With the rest of your forces, conquer by
both land and sea until you reach the Vispano Province’s capital
city of Parthway; and once there, conquer it! Whenever you need
troop reinforcements and/or supplies, send back a detailed report
of everything by our speediest boat. Brishava will ensure that you
receive your soldiers and supplies in an expedient and timely
manner!”

Baltor cast his eyes over to Chelsea, pointed
with his index finger, and said, “As for you, I think it best if
you go along with your husband, and keep him company during this
campaign that could possibly take years.”

Looking over to his wife, Baltor said, “As
for you, my love of loves, I feel it best if you stay here in
Pavelus and govern the Sharia Empire, as well all her successes.
After all, I’m sure that there’s no one better for the job than
you, my Sultaness!”

As Baltor said the word Sultaness, he bowed
his head respectfully toward her … she bowed hers right back!

Pointing his index finger up into the air,
Baltor added, “Last but not least—we should promote
Commanding-General Hawkins to Governor, and have him govern
Mauritia, as well all the lands of the former Vaspan Empire. He has
certainly earned our trust, after all! Well, that is all I have to
say...” He sat down.

Humonus rose out of his seat at the same
exact moment as Brishava, but he obligingly sat back down so that
his Sultaness could say what she had to say first.

After throwing Humonus a respectful nod,
Brishava looked over to Baltor, and said, “I agree with your entire
plan, except for one thing, my husband. It needs to be you who lead
the campaign against Duke Marlborough! After all, the bulk of our
troops need to see and have their beloved Sultan amongst them…a
Sultan that I personally know is ready to die alongside them in a
blaze-of glory, though I seriously doubt this will be the
case!”

She gave a few moments for everyone to
consider her words, before she asked, “How about this? Let us send
Ruling-General Humonus and King Cheo to face and decimate the
gnome
army, along with our most-elite cavalry
regiment—twenty thousand strong on horses, camels and chariots!
That is all I have to say…”

Humonus rose to his feet and said, “I agree
with the Sultaness. Do not forget that I have a bit of magic in my
own bones, my Sultan. Please don’t take this question offensively,
but have you already forgotten who it was that trained you when you
were a wee little lad?”

All lightly laughed too include Baltor,
though none respectfully said a word.

Perhaps six seconds later, Humonus added very
seriously, “While en route, I shall train my cavalry so that they
can be proficient in blind-fighting—even on horseback! In the end,
we’ll destroy them, no matter their numbers, or race, or magical
powers, my Sultan and Sultaness—that is all I have to say…” He sat
down.

Baltor, upon seeing that Chelsea was rising
out of her seat, didn’t attempt to stand up, even though he was
initially about to.

Chelsea said, “I know that I’m not as great
of a fighter like the rest of you, but if there’s one thing I’ve
got, as you all well know, it’s a woman’s intuition!

“Remember who it was that had that
funny
feeling
the very evening that the cannibals attacked several
years ago, though I didn’t voice out my opinion because I thought
it was foolish?”

When everyone nodded their heads in the
affirmative, Chelsea looked over at Baltor and continued, “Well,
here’s what my feelings are telling me now… Brish—I mean the
Sultaness, and my husband’s ideas for you to lead the campaign
against the Duke are really the best solution, my Sultan. Now, more
than ever, the bulk of the troops will need to see you in
action!”

After casting her eyes at Humonus, she
continued to say, “As for me, well, I
feel
it’s best that I
stay here and help the Sultaness. Well, that’s all I have to say…”
She concluded just before she sat back down.

Even though both Baltor and Cheo stood up at
the same time, which actually caused a bit more laughter to erupt
in the room despite the gravity of the situation, Baltor was the
first to sit back down, though Cheo was only a split-second later
behind. This caused even more laughter to surge from everyone!

Baltor gestured with a wave of his hand for
Cheo to go ahead and speak.

Cheo stood up and signed, “I agree with
Chelsea, Humonus and Brishava. It should be you, Baltor, who leads
the bulk of the Sharia Empire to victory! With twenty thousand
soldiers, and most especially with Humonus at the helm, we can
annihilate a million of them, even if that’s how many of them there
ultimately turn out to be!” Cheo sat down.

Baltor stood up and said, “I am very
reluctant about making this decision because none of you, except
for King Cheo, have a clue about the gnome-army’s leader, but I
agree to your all decisions…”

He was about to sit back down, but then he
heard Humonus ask, “What do you mean we don’t have a clue, my
Sultan? Do you?”

Baltor continued to stand up as he hesitantly
answered, “The enemies that destroyed both your villages, King
Cheo, let you go because they knew you would get to me. Their
leader, which you saw hovering in the sky was no bird or bat, but a
black dragon, whose sole mission is to destroy me!”

Humonus was the first to reply, “Though I do
not believe in any type of mythological creatures myself, even a
flying dragon must die if its brain is punctured by an arrow, a
spear, or a sword!”

Brishava was also a skeptic in creatures like
dragons, and though she had seen and heard about many other types
of “unusual creatures” in the world, there was never so much as “a
peep” about dragons, other than in other fairy tales—after all, she
lived the life of a very well educated princess.

She patiently waited until Humonus had sat
back down. She then stood up, and declared dubiously, “There are no
such creatures like dragons—impossible!”

Baltor stood up and replied, “No, it’s not
impossible—especially for the fact that they all come from another
dimension! Brishava, you once asked me if I believed in Destiny,
Fate, and God. At the time, I really didn’t know how to answer your
question, but as it fits into the subject matter now, and makes
possible the impossibilities, let me answer that earlier question
for you all now…”

After taking a deep breath of air through
just his nose, he revealed, “It is now firm in my mystical beliefs
that souls are continuously being generated throughout the eternal
heavens, and some souls are very powerful. Yet for every powerful
soul that fills a life form, there is an equally powerful anti-soul
that erupts from the planes of hell!”

After taking another deep breath, he added,
“My anti-soul just happens to be a black dragon that can fly,
breathe fire, is magically gifted, and even comes from another
dimension…along with both a magical and deadly army behind her!
It’s possible that it will take magical weapons to kill even a
single one of them—though of course, I currently don’t know
anything about the subject of magic, so I can’t make magical
weapons…yet!” Having concluded with what he had to say, Baltor sat
down.

Cheo instantly stood up and signed, “No… I
know they can be killed! I killed a half dozen of them before I was
finally taken down—they wear only leather armor and black capes! If
you strike at them around their armor and penetrate their flesh,
they die like anybody else.”

Brishava stood up, looked on over at Baltor,
and asked doubtfully, “So your ultimate destiny is to destroy your
anti-soul, whom you believe to be a black dragon from another
dimension?”

“I believe that it is—yes…”

Brishava, compromising, asked, “Well, how
about this? You need to lead the bulk of your army to victory, so
that they can see you in action—no one has a question about that,
not even you!

“How about you first reclaim Lasparus,
conquer the capital city of the Vispano Province, but instead of
just stopping there, make your way southeast until you can face and
decimate the dark army led by your anti-soul that you claim to be a
dragon?

“Maybe by then you’ll have produced the
solution to creating magical weapons, or Humonus and Cheo can
simply steal the magical weapons themselves—if all this business
about magic and myths and dragons are actually true!

“No matter, by the time you arrive, Humonus
and Cheo and twenty thousand of our best cavalry should minimally
have already taken a good-sized chunk out of them, which obviously
can be done, and even better, you’ll be strategically outflanking
the enemy army from a completely different direction…”

After extending her left index finger into
the air to indicate she had one more thing to say, she concluded,
“Last but not least, you will face your dragon, and your destiny,
at the right time…allow Fate and God to decide when the times are
right, as it has done with everything else within our lives,
okay?”

Baltor agreed, “You’re right. Anybody else
have anything to add?”

Humonus stood up, and said, “Yes, my Sultan.
Your cavalry, King Cheo, and I will not only ride east to destroy
the dark army, yet we can hopefully save the villagers of Valakan
by having them hastily retreat to Pavelus, as soon as
possible!”

A look of worry instantly crossed Baltor’s
face—in the next moment, he pointed at Humonus with his index
finger, along with a nod to his head, and then said, “Extremely
good point. Anybody else have anything to say?”

Cheo stood up, and signed, “Thank you all
very much… from the bottom of my heart, mind, and soul!”

This time, everyone cocked his or her head
from side to side for a few moments, indicating the
affirmative.

Baltor asked, “Anybody else?”

Chelsea asked, “I hope it doesn’t sound like
a ridiculous question, but…what’s going to happen to Vaspan’s four
sons? I know you made them into all into nobles last night as
they’re still your family, but are you going to actually send them
back to Mauritia, or keep them here?”

Brishava answered, “In three nights from now,
when our army is ready to go their separate ways, General Hawkins
will be going to Mauritia, but he will not be going alone.
Accompanying him will be a guide-on bearer holding the flags of
both Empires high into the air, a commanding general to lead
thirty-five thousand of our most loyal troops, and finally yet most
importantly, my youngest and most trustworthy cousin, Lord
Bradmir…

“As for my other lordly cousins, they will
comfortably reside in separate yet lavish homes in the upper class
neighborhoods of Pavelus, and be both guests and collateral—that
way, there will be no accidental rebellions! That’s the plan with
them,” Brishava concluded just before she sat back down.

Baltor asked, “Anybody else?”

Everyone said or signed, “No…”

A few moments later, they all began to rise
to their feet—before stepping away from the table, Baltor said,
“And so this’ll be the battle plan we tell our armies tonight at
nine.”

After Baltor and Humonus had verbally briefed
the “battle plan” to all the assembled troops, which briefing took
a half-hour, they then began to do all the “field promotions.”
Statistically, Baltor only had one promotion to incur, which was
Hawkins, who was promoted to governor.

Humonus, however, had thirteen general-ranked
promotions to do, including Thorn … twenty minutes later Humonus
finished the last.

It was then that Baltor declared through his
megaphone, “Forces of the Sharia Empire, before I allow
Ruling-General Humonus to dismiss you all for the night so that you
can get your much-needed rest, I am going to say right now that you
better get your sleep tonight, and that in the morning, you better
eat a hearty breakfast. For, come seven a.m., we have formation
right here.”

He added, “Following the formation, we will
all need to give one hundred percent in prepping the Forces of the
Sharia Empire for deployment!”

Before handing Humonus the megaphone, he
concluded his briefing, “Ruling-General Humonus, you may dismiss
the troops for the night whenever you are ready...”

For nearly ten seconds, Humonus remained
silent. Finally, he broadcast, “See you right here at seven in the
morning… Forces, dismissed!”

The soldiers, without hesitation, headed to
their recently-assembled tents just outside the city walls, and
went to bed.

Come morning at seven, following formation,
all of those soldiers designated to deploy began the process of
packing up their personal gear, sharpening their swords, polishing
their armor, etc., etc.

The soldiers selected to stay in Pavelus all
assisted with the process of packing up and preparing absolutely
everything else. Just about all of them were disappointed that they
would not be riding off to war, but they understood the importance
of defending the city, especially against a dark and powerful army
that could already be heading in their direction!

Precisely at nine, three nights later,
Baltor, Brishava, Humonus, Chelsea, Cheo, and Hawkins gave “one
final inspection” as they rode on horseback before the two hundred,
twenty-eight thousand assembled troops. Prior to that inspection,
during dinner, the group of six had already delivered their warm
farewells with each other.

Once the inspection was met with
“satisfactory results,” about an hour later, and the six were once
again seated on their horses or chariots in front of the ranks,
Baltor called out through his megaphone, “Forces of the Sharia
Empire. I have said everything that needs to be said, but two
important pieces of information… One, trust in your leaders’
decisions, and I promise you that we shall all ultimately
succeed!”

After taking a deep breath, he added, “And
two, I’m not much good at saying goodbye nor do I like saying it,
so let me say this instead… Until we meet again, in this life or
the next—I shall always do everything for the honor and the glory
Sharia Empire. My question for you now is this, will you?”