BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan (45 page)

The next night, after Baltor had awoken, he
observed that a hot bath was ready, so he took a quick bath, dried
himself off, put on his undergarments—of course his two assistants
helped him into his armor.

Once all was said and done, about twenty
minutes later, Baltor observed four soldiers entering his tent,
each bearing a large silver tray with cover—but none of these
soldiers was Jewel.

Following behind the servers, in order, were
Cheo, Thorn, Petrol, and Travail.

Baltor greeted, “Evening gentlemen.”

“Evening, my Sultan,” they responded.

“Where’s Corporal Jewel?” Baltor asked one
soldier who had set the tray down in front of him, and removed the
lid. Steam, as well a very delicious smell, poured out from inside.
Once that steam had cleared, only seconds later, what became
revealed was a juicy prime rib with spicy potato-fries and green
beans.

The soldier answered, “My Sultan, she’s not
feeling well today, so she was given the day off, sir.”

“Okay, no problem, thanks,” Baltor said just
before he began to eat prime rib with spicy potatoes and green
beans.

“You’re welcome, my Sultan!”

While everyone ate, Baltor only occasionally
took a small bite here and there. Mainly, he discussed the “battle
plan” with his men.

Near the end of dinner, Cheo delivered the
“wonderful news,” which Baltor translated—fifty villagers had been
rescued in a cave not too far away. Of course he happily added that
he greatly hoped there would be more survivors!

Once dinner was over, twenty minutes or so
later, they exited the command tent. Baltor noted that everything
was now clean on the battlefield, except for the massive piles of
burning gnome corpses burning in fire pits, yet the troops were
already in formation.

“Forces of the Sharia Empire—attention!”
Baltor called out, not needing the megaphone to be heard by
everyone.

They snapped to attention.

“This war is not quite over. There are still
dark gnomes out there, and we must kill as many of them as
possible, so that we will not have to deal with them in numbers
again—trust me that they cannot repopulate. So our army will spread
out in all directions like a circle, but always keep sight of the
man to your left and to your right. Base camp is here. All your
superior officers have been briefed on the rest of the game plan,
so listen well to their orders and we will all come out of this
alive. Understand?”

“Yes, my Sultan,” the soldiers cried.

“Execute!”

Within the next three weeks time, most of the
gnomes were killed, yet a few dozen managed to escape deep
underground in caves—throughout this timeframe, the bulk of the
support team and the giants worked hard on burying all their fallen
comrades upon the battlefield! Humonus’s body was the only body was
going to be taken back to Pavelus, out of respect for his wife,
Chelsea. There, he would be given his funeral rites.

Once everything was cleaned up and completed,
which included the breaking of camp, Baltor drew the portal rune
into the air nearing two o’clock in the morning. Of course the
troops stood by in their brand-new marching formation, which were
in columns of twenty. Every soldier standing on the outside column
carried a lit torch.

Once drawn, only moments later, a three
hundred-foot length by twenty-foot tall prismatic portal magically
opened up in the middle of the air just next to Baltor’s
position.

With Cheo, Yaush, Stormea, Petrol, Thorn, and
the guide-on bearer in the lead, the entire army began the march,
or the ride, through the portal.

Once on the other side, they observed that
they were only about a half mile away from the exterior
six-hundred-foot-tall walls of Pavelus, and that the sun was only
now about to set below the western horizon beyond the Sea of
Albusina!

Of course, all the guards standing on the top
of the walls panicked by the abrupt appearance of a prismatic
portal opening up a half-mile in front of the city gates—only
seconds later, the major-general was gazing at the portal through a
scope.

While gazing, he said, “Be ready to shut the
doors, men, upon my command.”

“Yes, sir!”

Nearly a minute after the portal had first
opened, the general finally saw the first humans on horseback
exiting the portal … flying high in the front of the ranks was the
Flag of the Sharia Empire!

“I’m not one hundred percent certain,” this
general said, “but they look to be our boys are returning home.
However, because of my uncertainty, shut all the gates of the city,
and put us on ‘orange alert…’

“Also, send one of our fastest riders to
Commanding-General Runa, and another to the Sultaness immediately,
so they can be briefed of the situation.”

“Yes, Major-General Lockheart!”

Nearly three hours later, Baltor was the last
soldier to step through the portal, which was an hour after
sunset—the second he arrived on the other side, he passed out from
exhaustion yet again. This time he could not be revived…

Only a few seconds earlier, Brishava had just
arrived at the top of the defensive walls, in order to see what was
going on for herself.

After Lockheart had given her the scope, she
observed the portal for only a split-second before it vanished back
into thin air. Never before had she seen such anything like it, nor
would she ever forget!

As her right eye scanned through the scope
all the way up to the front ranks, a few minutes later, she at last
saw the Flag of the Sharia Empire, as well Cheo, Yaush, Stormea,
Petrol, and Thorn. Even at six hundred feet up in the air, she
still observed that though the people she recognized all bore
smiles upon their faces, their eyes all tried not to show sadness
and grief. Unfortunately, she did not see Baltor or Humonus
anywhere! This worried her greatly.

“King Cheo,” she called out through a
megaphone the general had just handed her, “Is that you?”

With a smile, Cheo cocked his head from side
to side, indicating the affirmative.

Brishava looked over at Lockheart, and
ordered, “Major-General, open the front gates. I’m going to ride
out personally on my horse.”

Lockheart, on the other hand wasn’t
convinced, and so he asked, “Are you sure that’s wise, your
majesty? We don’t know one hundred percent that it’s them. It could
be a tri—”

“I know it is them. I feel it in my heart,
mind and soul.”

“Yes, your majesty,” he replied. Looking over
at the soldier who stood next to the drawbridge lever, he barked,
“Make her command so!”

That soldier replied, “Yes sir!”

While the front gates slowly opened, Brishava
hurried down the stairs of the lookout tower; and once on horseback
only seconds later, she rode out to the army—her entourage of
guards followed.

Once she had neared to a distance of ten feet
away, a few minutes later, she stopped her horse before saying with
a delighted smile on her face, “Greetings King Cheo, Yaush, and
everybody! How are you, my friends?”

Returning the smile, everyone said or signed
back, “Good!”

Brishava asked, “Where is my husband?”

“He is currently passed out in the back of a
bunk wagon,” Cheo signed back.

Confused, Brishava asked, “Why? It’s
nighttime.”

“That’s a very long story, which I would
rather have him tell you all about when he wakes up,” Cheo signed.
“For now, will you please command all your troops to set up camp
outside the city? I don’t think there’s enough room for everyone to
fit comfortably inside the city. Is there?”

“We’ll just have to make the room for
everyone, even if we’re all a little cramped,” Brishava said.

Looking over at Stormea, she smiled and said,
“Commanding-General Stormea, nice to see you again!”

Even though he recognized that she had used
his old rank, he still happily said, “Thank you, my Sultaness. As
always, it is definitely a pleasure to see you, and to see home,
too!”

He purposefully had not said anything about
his new rank, because then she would easily figure out that
something happened with Humonus … after all, there had always only
been one Ruling-General of the Sharia Empire, since this empire had
been established five centuries ago.

She ordered, “In one minute’s time, command
the Forces into the city. Meanwhile, I’m going to spend some time
with my man alone—even if he is sleeping.”

With a bow, Stormea replied, “Yes, my
Sultaness. His wagon is on its way up here now as we speak—a few
minutes longer tops is all you will have to wait.”

“Oh, by the way, where is Ruling-General
Humonus?”

“Umm, that is another question best answered
by your husband.”

“Okay…” she said hesitantly, while her
eyebrows slightly furled.

Once the bunk wagon had arrived, soon after,
Brishava hopped off her horse and hurried on over. Climbing inside,
she saw her husband Baltor soundly sleeping on the bottom right
bunk.

Despite the fact that he was unconscious, she
still laid her body next to his, wrapping her arms lightly around
her husband’s waist, while kissing him all over his neck and
face—Baltor did not wake up at all…

One minute after the kisses had begun, but
not yet stopped, she heard Stormea call out, “Forces of the Sharia
Empire—forward, march!”

After Brishava had her fill of kisses, about
two minutes and a hundred-or-so kisses later, she cradled her head
upon Baltor’s chest, patiently waiting for the driver of the wagon
to take them to the palace.

Once they had arrived in the courtyard of the
palace, forty minutes later, the guards carried their Sultan into
his bedroom, and laid him into his bed.

It wasn’t until the following night that
Baltor finally awoke. Upon opening his eyes, he saw that Brishava
had her head comfortably lying upon his stomach.

With a happy smile that instantly grew upon
his face from ear to ear, Baltor happily exclaimed, “Brishava! How
are you, baby?”

“I’m very good my husband, especially now
that you are back,” Brishava cooed with her own smile.

Using his right hand, Baltor ever so gently
grabbed the back of his wife’s head, and just as gently pulled that
head closer to his own. For nearly an hour or so, passionate bliss
erupted between both husband and wife…

Once that “quality time” had passed,
Brishava—very sweaty and out of breath—gave one final deep kiss
upon the lips of her husband who was lying right beneath her. She
then climbed off, threw on her robe, and assumed a seated position
with her legs crossed and her elbows leaning upon her knees.

“Whew…” Brishava sighed. Still slightly out
of breath, she asked in between those short pants, “So, I should
have thought to ask you before, but where is Ruling-General
Humonus?”

After sliding a silky sheet halfway up his
body, a look of deep sadness quickly began to cross Baltor’s eyes
and face. A few seconds later, he breathed deeply before answering
sadly, “He—he died valiantly fighting against the dragon
single-handedly.”

“No…” Brishava whispered, just before she
turned her head to look at empty space. A few seconds later,
teardrops began to pour out her eye-sockets and down her
grief-stricken face.

Fighting back his own tears, Baltor somewhat
changed the subject as he asked, “Where is Chelsea?”

After wiping away much of the tears with both
of her hands, as well sniffing back all the accumulated mucous in
her nostrils, which combined actions took nearly a minute, Brishava
answered, “I sent her to Thorium several months ago with a two-fold
mission. One, establish our new territorial boundaries with Queen
Calitta’s help; and two, warn all the Thoriumites about the dragon
and its army. So, it is safe to assume that the war is totally over
by your return? No one would tell me anything.”

Baltor answered, “Three weeks ago, I killed
the dragon myself. As for the gnome army, a few of them did manage
to escape far too deep underground, but most were easily outflanked
and killed—fortunately they can’t procreate!”

After a look of remembrance crossed her face,
Brishava informed, “Chelsea’s pregnant.”

With shock in his voice, Baltor sat up in bed
and asked, “What?”

“Yes…” Brishava sighed, as more tears began
to pour from her eyes. Through the tears, she answered, “She will
be very sad when she learns of Humonus’s death.”

Still shocked, Baltor stammered, “I—I didn’t
know she was pregnant…”

She had once again begun to wipe away even
more tears that sprouted, while answering, “None of us knew until
several weeks after you guys left. It was going to be a
surprise!”

Due to the gravity of the situation, Baltor
could no longer control the bloody tears that had begun to pour out
of his eyes, down his cheeks, and drop onto the white silky bed
sheets.

Only a few seconds later, he cried, “This is
still such an unbelievably hard thing for me to deal with—my mentor
and my best friend’s loss. I was so close to saving him, and yet
not close enough!”

As Brishava was fully aware of her husband’s
mysterious illness, she simply placed her right hand on his right
shoulder, answering, “I know how much you loved him—we shall build
a statue of him in commemoration and memory, and place it in the
very middle of Pavelus! He’s a hero…”

Looking over at his wife, he sadly sniffed,
“Yes…”

With the corner of the cotton sheet that was
now completely ruined anyway, she began gingerly dabbing away the
blood off Baltor’s face. All the while, she sighed aloud, “Yes…and
you know what else? I personally believe Humonus is in heaven, as
he was a very good and noble man throughout this whole life!”

After a five-second pause, she added, “True
I’m sure he made his fair share of mistakes, as we all do…but it’s
how we learn. Yet we must also know that death is a part of life,
as we shall all die one day, including you and I. So, we must
treasure every precious moment we have. Right?”