BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan (30 page)

“Would you invite them to come here to
Pavelus for a month’s long vacation?” Brishava asked. Without
waiting for an answer, she added, “I promise that they will not
regret a second, as this is a city filled with many wondrous
paradises. Say one year from now?”

“I will ask them. Farewell, your Sultaness,”
Cartwright said. He smiled, bowed, and then left with his own
entourage of guards back to the harbor and his awaiting ship.

As for Brishava, she turned to face one of
the guards, and asked, “Would you please find Ambassador Chelsea
for me, and ask her to come to the courtyard, as soon as she
possibly can? Tell her she and I are about to go for a ride, but
don’t tell her on what!”

“Yes, my Sultaness,” the guard said before he
bowed, and hurriedly entered into the palace, in order to fulfill
her order.

Brishava turned back around until she was
facing the two riders that were still standing in front of the
hawks—holding onto the reins so the hawks would not take off.

She said, “Good afternoon, gentlemen.”

A second later, both men replied
simultaneously, “Good afternoon, my Sultaness.”

Brishava asked, “So, which one of you is
Darius?”

The man on the left, who was a short-cropped
blonde with a thin beard, identified, “My name is Darius, my
Sultaness. My counterpart here is Traes—he’s my brother.”

Brishava said pleasantly, “Nice to meet you,
Darius.”

Darius bowed.

After casting her gaze over to Traes, she
said, “As well you, Traes.”

He bowed. Unlike his brother, Traes had long,
black and wavy hair and a thick-black goatee.

Traes confirmed, “Even though we certainly
don’t look alike, my Sultaness, we oftentimes—”

“Finish each other’s sentences, as we think
parallel to one another,” Darius said. “Did you know, my Sultaness,
that we were—”

Traes finished the question, “conjoined twins
at birth? Just so you know, our skills are identical to one
another, as we both are not only hawk masters, fully trained how to
drive and to care—”

“For these beautiful hawks,” Darius
continued, “yet we are also fully trained in first-aid, and even
reading aerial maps.”

“Wow…” Brishava replied in awe.

“Thank you, my Sultaness,” both men replied
in unison.

Brishava asked, “Will they bite me if I pet
them? How intelligent are they? Do they have names?”

Even though both men proudly cast their gaze
upon his delegated hawk, Darius was the first to answer, “Since I
was first introduced to this lady hawk but a year ago, she was
never given a name. I’ve called her Chiquita. But, you may call her
what you will—”

Traes then continued, “My Sultaness, I’ve
called this boy Olifax, but as my brother said, you may name him
what you will. To answer your other questions—”

“Yes, these are very intelligent creatures,”
Darius continued, “and no, they will not bite—so long as you’re not
mean to them! Believe us, there’s so much for us to teach—”

“And so much for you to learn. Have you
decided on names for these hawks yet, my Sultaness?” Traes
asked.

“Yes,” Brishava said, while drawing near
enough to the hawk’s position, so that she could lightly pet the
hawk’s right flank. “I’m going to name him Praetor…”

After petting him for about a minute, she
walked over to the female hawk, began to pet her, and then said,
“And I’m going to name her, Leshava.”

“Excellent names, my Sultaness,” both men
replied in unison.

Just then, Chelsea arrived in the
courtyard—her eyes were filled with both wonder and disbelief, as
she slowly drew nearer to the hawks.

When Brishava heard footsteps behind her, she
turned around, saw Chelsea, and asked, “Aren’t they beautiful? Want
to go for a ride?”

“Yes…and yes!” Chelsea exclaimed.

For the next hour or so, Brishava rode with
Darius, while Chelsea rode with Traes—thousands of feet up in the
air on the hawks who proved to be unbelievably fast and agile.

Once the ride was over and they were back on
the ground, and the girls had their shoulder straps released, they
ran to each other, and gave each other an excited hug.

Sounding like she was out of breath, Brishava
was the first to ask, “Wasn’t that the most awesome ride ever?”

“Yes, it was! Whew!” Chelsea replied just as
excitedly.

Once Brishava had finally calmed her
adrenaline down by taking a few deep breaths, she then looked back
over at the brothers, took still another deep breath and asked,
“Would you two gentlemen like to join us ladies for dinner tonight?
Just to let you know, this is not a date as we’re both
married.”

Darius replied, “We’d be delighted to join
you for dinner, my Sultaness—”

“But we have about an hour and a half of work
to do with these hawks before we’ll be done for the day and ready
to eat,” Traes concluded.

“Perfect,” Brishava said with a pleased
smile. “In one hour and thirty minutes, inform any of my guards
that you are ready to be escorted to the royal dining
hall—okay?”

“Okay, my Sultaness,” both men replied.

After saying their quick farewells, Chelsea
headed to her bedroom to finish packing while Brishava headed to
the throne room.

Once on her throne, she ordered the guards to
retrieve the cooks … they did.

Upon their arrival, five minutes later,
Brishava revealed all the things she wanted for dinner—tonight it
would be rotisserie chicken, roasted potatoes, green beans, a fruit
salad, and a nice bottle of red wine.

Only minutes after the cooks had left to
carry out their orders, Ruksha delivered a dozen official documents
that needed her signature. He also delicately reminded her, while
she was signing away, that the following day was Moonday, which
meant that she would be spending most of tomorrow listening to the
concerns, complaints, and crimes of her people—nobles and
commoners.

Following eating that very delicious dinner
in the royal dining hall with the two brothers and they had left to
go to bed, the two girls said their fond farewells to each other
down in the courtyard. They stood next to a horse-drawn carriage,
which had a driver sitting in the front and another man holding the
door open.

Immediately after the last hug, Chelsea
climbed into the carriage, in which the doorman shut the door
before climbing up into the seat next to the driver.

Right away, the driver snapped the reins,
spurring the horses and the carriage on—their destination was the
harbor, where a personal ship waited for Ambassador Chelsea to
arrive. This ship’s destination would be the capital city of the
Kingdom of Thorium, called Politesse.

Chelsea’s three-fold mission: one, to be the
voice of her Sultan and Sultaness; two, to continuously ensure that
both peace and trade exist between the two nations; and three, to
warn them about the evil army that could be on their doorsteps at
anytime.

Right before going to bed that night, only
thirty minutes after Chelsea had left, Brishava handwrote a letter
on a scroll to Baltor, sealed it with wax, stamped it with her
ring, added some spicy smelling yet delicious perfume, and then put
it into a scroll case. The letter read:

Dearest Baltor,

My sunshine…and my love! I am willing to bet
that you are just as surprised and delighted to see this giant
hawk, as I was earlier this very day…and even more so by smelling
that spicy perfume you love me to wear—perfect!

I have named this hawk “Praetor” and he shall
aid you in the fight against the evil gnome army and the flying
dragon! He’s now yours.

Praetor is but one of two gifts delivered
today from King Amnion and Queen Tessa of Rolinsa! In gratitude, I
have already dispatched an invitation for the king and queen to
stay here in Pavelus for a month long vacation in one year’s
time.

I hope and pray that by the time of their
arrival, you will have returned to Pavelus, so that you can meet
them yourself, and then we can give them several wonderful gifts of
our own—you and I!

Please do your absolute best in keeping
Praetor alive, so that we may later breed him with the female, whom
I have named Leshava…she has been dispatched to aid your friends,
King Cheo and Ruling-General Humonus.

Once the war is over, I am going to keep
Leshava for myself, and as I said before, Praetor is yours.

And once we’ve bred them, hopefully in a
year’s time, I have promised both your friends—that they will each
get the first of the litter!

Also, please listen carefully to whatever
this hawk master named Traes has to instruct, as this boy-hawk is
very sensitive, proud and intelligent.

I’m sure you will come to love Praetor as
much as I already do in the brief time I got to meet and fly upon
him, as he reminds me so much of you when you fly!

Of course, my Husband, you are forever my
Love, my Life, and my Sultan.

Sultaness Brishava Elysian.

The following morning, after handwriting yet
another rolled-and-sealed scroll and then putting it in a scroll
case, she ate a light breakfast alone outside on the patio, in
which she felt a bit lonely because Chelsea was gone.

Following breakfast, she headed down to the
courtyard with a scroll case in each hand, as well her personal
guards—one scroll case for each brother.

Upon arrival, Brishava observed that the two
brothers appeared to be all ready to go, as they were already
buckled into the saddle of a hawk.

She first handed the scroll case in her left
hand to Traes, as well a copy of the world map.

Once he had taken both items, she pointed out
Baltor’s approximated location on the map, and said, “Sultan Baltor
Elysian and his army of more than seventy thousand strong should be
located somewhere around here at this time…easy to spot from the
skies. Once you have found my husband, give him the scroll case,
please. In the meantime, if I were you, I would keep this map
protected in that scroll case I just gave you, when not in
use.”

“Yes, my Sultaness,” Traes said with a bow,
before putting the map away. He looked over at his brother and
said, “Farewell, my brother. I’ll see you soon… in this life or the
next!”

“Farewell, my brother! Be safe…”

After throwing a salute, Traes put the map
away and launched his hawk straight up into the air, and once at an
altitude of a thousand feet, took off northbound.

Meanwhile, Brishava walked over to
Darius.

The very second she had handed him the scroll
case and the other copy of the world map, she drew an imaginary
line on the map with her index finger, a line that ran from east to
west, and said, “Ruling General Humonus, King Cheo, and their army
of twenty thousand cavalry soldiers took this route to the east.
They should be located somewhere around here, maybe even as far as
the Galgaa Jungles by now…got it?”

“Yes, my Sultaness, and I too shall keep the
map safe in the scroll case when not in use. Farewell,” Darius said
with a bow.

“Farewell, my friend, and good luck!”

After another bow, he launched Leshava
straight up into the air until reaching the altitude of a thousand
feet, and took off eastbound.

In the same moment, Ruksha came prancing out
of the palace’s entrance and saw Brishava looking off into the
skies. After bowing, he cleared his throat before asking, “Your
Highness—are you ready to see your people in the throne room?”

Looking over, she answered with a nod and a
smile, “I am.”

Ruksha returned the nod. With that, he and
Brishava reentered the palace, and went to work…

30 miles to the east of Valakan—2 nights
later…

Cheo, Humonus, and their army continued to
ride in the same formation that they had been using since having
first entered the Bospa Mountains—in the rear of the formation
marched two hundred twenty-eight powerful Valakanese giants.

During this first night of travel, a night
without any encounters or problems, they made their way eastbound
via the safest routes that Humonus remembered by heart, as he had
traveled this very route twice before.

Thanks to the fact that both of the
half-moons were in the sky providing quite a bit of illumination
throughout the tree-filled valleys, only a few soldiers at the
front and the rear of the formation were needed to carry lit
torches.

Twenty minutes before the sun was about to
rise, and the skies had already been lightening up, which was at
four-forty in the morning, Humonus ordered the troops to set up
camp and chow in between two mountain passes—they did.

That evening, after a day without any
problems or encounters, camp was unset and dinner ate before they
trekked their way through the valleys. Other than hearing the
sounds of howling wolves off somewhere in the mountains, there were
no worries all night long.

Thirty minutes before sunrise the following
morning, they again set up camp and made chow.

While everyone was quietly eating breakfast,
only twenty minutes later, however, the “red alert” came.

“Gnomes!” was the word heard way more than
seen, especially for the fact that tens of thousands of
seven-foot-diameter circular patches of pitch-black clouds had
instantly sprouted in the middle of the air just about
everywhere—especially where large congregations of exhausted troops
or giants sat and ate. Magical clouds that enshrouded most of the
camp and surrounding area in utter darkness—not even the lights
from any of the burning torches could be seen!

From a widespread volley of poison-tipped
arrows shot by the attacking gnomes in the first round, thousands
of arrows, more than sixty men on the friendly side were already
dead, injured and/or poisoned, and one giant had instantly been
killed from an arrow puncturing his throat! Those individuals who
had been wounded from the arrowhead, but not killed, began to get
nauseous from the poison and puke their guts up.