BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan

by J. Eric Booker

  “Me,” Baltor calmly answered.

  Jensa countered, “Baltor, you are certainly skilled and powerful, but not more than me. It’d be a piece of cake for me to take you out in a duel and kill you—if it were just me and you! Man versus man.”

  “Go ahead and try it…”

  “Are you serious?” Jensa asked with a really evil grin.

  After a laugh, Baltor confidently answered, “Absolutely…”

  “No, don’t fight,” Bayema interjected, while raising both unarmed hands into the air. She pleaded, “The Sharia Empire cannot take that chance of losing this new Sultan before battle with the Mauritians—a war that will affect us all! It will only be a matter of time before Emperor-Sedious Vaspan and his army of more than one hundred and twenty thousand—if the report of that astronomical number rings true—finds the Guild!”

  After taking a deep breath through her nose, she added, “We will not only lose our homes and our wealth if they should succeed, yet perhaps our very lives!

  “I like what Sultan Baltor Elysian has to offer, and from everything I’ve heard and known about him since he was a boy of twelve, he is both generous, honorable, and most especially, noble.”

  One female cried out, “I like my way of life as a thief—I’m not changing it for anyone!”

  About another dozen thieves, too include a couple of the masters and mistresses, cried out, “Me, too!”

  Baltor extended his hands and arms out into the air over his head, and challenged, “Listen to me…I have a proposal for all you objectors. Challenge me to a duel, right here and now!

  “At the beginning of this duel, of which I will initially be unarmed, I will disarm all contenders, yet when any of you becomes disarmed of your final weapon, you must immediately leave the arena, as your part in the contest is over…violators are to be promptly killed by the spectators.

  “By the end of the battle, I will become the victor with not a single death amongst you that occurs by my hand. And when I win in the end, which I will win, there should not be a single objector left…any and all remaining objectors will promptly die by my hand!”

  “And what if you die during the duel?” a female objector barked.

  “Then you win whatever prize money my head’s worth—fifty thousand parsecs is it?”

  “No, five hundred thousand parsecs!” she said with a crooked smile, just before revealing a rather wicked-looking dagger that she had been hiding behind her back—while the black leather handle was six inches long, the razor-sharp/dual-edged blade was twelve inches and slightly curved back and forth from the base to the pointy tip.

  Besides this female thief, only nine of the dozen objectors were willing to become contenders—too include Jensa, Laseva, and Welch! Of course, every single thief carried at least one dagger, as these types of weapons could easily be concealed just about anywhere.

  As for the eighty guards, they stood rigid in the position of attention, until Rolsch looked back over his shoulder, and called out, “At ease, men…”

  The guards did—only then did Rolsch look over to Baltor, and say, “Good luck, my Sultan!”

  Baltor looked back over at Rolsch, nodded, looked forward, advanced to the very center of the training cavern, and then stopped.

  All the while, these ten contenders slowly began to spread themselves around Baltor in a big spacious circle … even though Baltor was truly weaponless, he still assumed the basic ready position, and waited patiently.

  Not even ten seconds later, the female who had earlier threatened Baltor launched into a forward roll, and as she came out of the roll, she aimed her dagger so that it would plunge to the hilt into her opponent’s heart!

  Baltor not only evaded the incoming dagger strike, yet he then grabbed her armed wrist with both of his own hands, yanked and twisted—her body literally flew over Baltor’s own until slamming into the rocky ground, in which the first point of contact was her right shoulder and the second was the back of her head! She was “out cold.”

  Though he now possessed the dagger in his right hand, Baltor simply reassumed the same ready position, looking all around.

  Laseva, who was armed with two of his own vicious daggers and standing behind Baltor, believed he now had the advantage, and so he made his attack with both daggers coming in—sensing that someone was coming in from behind, Baltor simply threw himself into a sideways roll to the right, just barely evading both of Laseva’s daggers!

  Even before he had regained his standing position, two other thieves came in for an attack at the very same time, though their attack methods were completely different.

  The first thief had done a simple cartwheel, yet as he came out of the cartwheel, his dagger came down in order to stab Baltor in the shoulder—at the same time, the second thief had simultaneously thrown both of her daggers at Baltor’s current position!

  Unfortunately for the male thief who’s dagger was about to strike Baltor’s chest, both daggers plunged deep into the thief’s back, and he instantly died with a look of surprise on his face!

  Dozens of guards, and thieves—masters, instructors, and most especially, students—all gasped their shock in a multitude of ways—from “ooh,” to “ah,” to “whoa!”

  Welch—a rather attractive woman with shoulder-cropped auburn hair—had already retrieved a long sword from the weapons rack nearby, while analyzing both Baltor’s strength and weaknesses the entire time. No one had said she couldn’t grab another weapon.

  It was only then that she came in for her attack—her sword swung horizontally so that it would cut Baltor in two pieces across the midsection!

  At the same time, Laseva—who was on Baltor’s other side—had just completed a forward roll, just before vertically swinging both of his daggers in a wide arc, one after the other, in order to puncture them both deep into his opponent’s upper back!

  Baltor fell backwards, and after paralleling his own dagger with the ground a second before he made contact, he performed a backwards roll—this simple action not only caused Welch’s sword to miss its intended target, yet to slice Laseva’s guts open!

  Laseva died in the very next second with a very surprised look on his black bearded face, just before collapsing to the ground … at the same time, just about everybody gasped out in shock.

  Baltor did not pause upon regaining his feet, but launched his dagger like a dart straight for Welch’s sword-bearing arm, which dagger sunk to the hilt in the bicep and out the triceps!

  From the excruciating pain she felt throughout her entire right arm, Welch dropped the sword to the ground, while blood began to pour out of her wounds and down her arm, before collecting on the ground.

  While screaming out in agony and with a look of pain and rage on her face, she quickly yanked out the dagger and threw it back at Baltor! Thanks to this stupid stunt, blood flowed like a river now.

  At the last second, Baltor surprisingly leapt and caught it in mid-air by the handle, just before performing a forward somersault.

  Meanwhile, as Welch had just considered the distinct possibility that if she continued to battle, especially now that she was already bleeding this badly, she might quickly bleed to death, so she kept her anger and tears in check, and ran out of the arena to find a medic.

  The remaining five thieves too include Jensa, realized just how powerful a martial artist Baltor was, and they hesitated.

  Baltor, on the other hand, did not hesitate for a single second, but threw himself into another somersault to his left, and while coming out of it only a second later, he launched his dagger at the leg of the nearest opponent, a male thief!

  Baltor’s dagger sank hilt-deep through the man’s thigh—that thief collapsed to the ground, all the while howling out his anguishing pain with blood squirting everywhere!

  Meanwhile, just about everyone, other than the remaining contestants, was “thrilled to the bone,” and surprisingly, they fervently began to chant out one word, “Sultan—Sultan—Sultan!”

&nb
sp; At the same time, Jensa, who was still armed with a dagger, had just picked up Welch’s sword off the ground, and so he began to twirl and swing his sword all around his body, in order to intimidate Baltor through his masterful sword skills! Not surprising, Baltor wasn’t fazed one iota.

  As for the other three remaining combatants, not only did they begin to seriously fear Baltor, yet they all backed away, while dropping their weapons to the ground.

  All the while twirling his sword, Jensa angrily roared out, “Baltor—come and get some, you little bastard! I’m sick of your childish games!”

  After breathing out a little laugh, Baltor said, “No, Jensa…why don’t you come to your Sultan and get some?”

  Even though Jensa seethed at Baltor’s response, he was not stupid—not only did he keep his angers in check, yet he stopped swinging his sword as he began to advance closer to Baltor.

  Once Jensa had gotten to about seven feet away, he stopped in his tracks and suggested in the form of a question, “If I do kill you, with all of these people as witnesses, can I be the Sultan of the Sharia Empire?”

  “The Sharia Empire is not mine to give,” Baltor replied truthfully, “as it really belongs to everyone…so the answer is no, Jensa.”

  No longer able to hold his anger and hatred in check, Jensa leapt forward into the air, while jabbing his sword straight down as if it was a dagger at Baltor!

  Baltor instinctively rolled to his right out of harm’s way—while coming out of the roll, his legs performed a back sweep behind Jensa’s kneecaps as hard as he could!

  As a result of the contact into the back of Jensa’s knees, his sword flew out of his hands, spun around in the air several times, and finally stuck itself into the ground several feet away from Baltor!

  Furthermore, Jensa’s body did a back flip as it too flew out of control, and a moment later, the back of his head slammed so hard into the ground he was instantly unconscious.

  Right away, every thief, guard, and even the former ambassador, all burst out into enthusiastic cheering!

  A moment later, Baltor was back on his feet, and while looking all around, he yelled out, “Any other objectors?”

  Everyone stopped cheering, and then they began to look at each other to see if Baltor’s question rang true … not a single thief, as they discovered, raised an objection! In fact, most were shaking their heads negatively.

  Perhaps ten seconds later, Baltor called out, “Good…the name of this new Special Forces Guild is, ‘Shadow Force!’”

  “Hooray!” was the most common word used by the thieves, as they began to cheer and clap.

  Once the applause had subsided, about a minute later, Baltor briefed, “Mistress Tricia, tomorrow night at nine p.m., I will need you to come to the palace. We will need to discuss the changes, which are actually quite few. Also, I need you to bring the two-pieced world map that is rightfully mine.”

  After taking a deep breath, he added, “One last important thing I need to say before I go. I do not know who the Secret Chief is, nor do I care. The only thing I care about is that you let this person know that if he or she has any objections, please feel free to have him or her visit me anytime at the palace.”

  Without hesitation, Tricia responded, “My Sultan, the Secret Chief is not amongst us, nor has that person—whom I’ve been sworn never to reveal—been around for the last five years!

  “Nevertheless, I promise you that when that person does return, I will relay all of your commands…don’t be surprised to see the Secret Chief coming in the dead of night, and without invitation!”

  With a nod to his head and a pleased smile, Baltor donned his cape, put on the hood, left the Shadow Guild, and began the journey back to his own palace.

  He realized that by the time he would arrive in his bedroom, he would only have ten minutes to get back dressed into all the clothes he had worn at the start of his action-packed evening.

  CHAPTER IV

  Precisely two hours after the time that Humonus had left his Sultan’s bedroom, he and his wife entered the royal dining hall, only seconds before the exterior guards shut the main entryway doors.

  Now they were dressed in formal attire—he wore a “Class A” officer’s uniform, completely black in color except for the golden buttons holding his suit jacket together, as well the shiny, five-gold-star pin on each shoulder. She wore a very elegant and beautiful, sky-blue dress with a thin platinum necklace that had a small ruby amulet hanging off it.

  Besides all the other luxurious couches and coffee-tables spread throughout the room, they simultaneously observed that there was only one dinner table in the room’s middle, which square-shaped table had been covered with a red tablecloth: evenly spread on it were four sets of porcelain plates, crystal goblets and silverware.

  After confirming that there was no one else in the room, Chelsea turned to her husband before asking, “Where are Baltor and Brish—I mean the Sultan and Sultaness?”

  With a slightly concerned look on his face, Humonus shrugged his shoulders before replying, “Not sure where they are right now, but I’m relatively sure they should be here soon. Want to take a seat on the couch, my love?”

  Before she could answer his question and then ask what he meant by “relatively,” two guards concurrently opened their doors. Walking hand in hand were Brishava and Baltor—Humonus unconsciously sucked in and released a deep sigh of relief upon seeing that his Sultan looked “alive and undamaged.”

  Once the guards had closed the doors, the group of four approached each other, exchanging friendly greetings and warm-yet-quick embraces.

  Everyone then took their non-assigned seats around the round table, whereupon the servants came in bringing steaming trays of five-star foods.

  After the delicious seven-course dinner and dessert had been concluded, nearly an hour later, they began to converse until the wee hours of the morning.

  The very first topic came from Humonus, as he relayed many of the important specifics about the training grounds that he had personally designed from scratch and made into blueprints the night before. Once he had double-checked everything this morning, he gave them to his generals with the orders to have every carpenter and soldier to assist with building, so that training could begin the following night at ten.

  Following Humonus’s report, Brishava began talking about her hectic day, and then followed Chelsea.

  Shortly before midnight, everyone looked at Baltor, and it was only then that he decided to relay his “today’s adventure”—of course, his wife grew upset to hear that her husband had gone alone, but that emotion changed to happiness upon hearing the results!

  At two in the morning, she became the first to retire to bed, as she had to wake up at seven and had a tediously busy schedule all day long—Chelsea stayed up until three.

  As for Baltor and Humonus, they discussed further details regarding the Shadow Forces until minutes before sunrise … and by the time the sun rose above the eastern horizon at five, Baltor was sound asleep in his bed with his wife.

  At seven in the morning, Brishava awoke, bathed, and allowed her handmaidens to dress and groom her. Upon their completion, an hour later, she made her way back to the royal dining hall, where sat Chelsea and Humonus in one of the couches. This time she saw that they were dressed in casual attire; he in his battle dress uniform.

  Because Humonus had an important meeting with his officers at nine in the morning, he left right after breakfast, after of course giving his wife a quick kiss on the cheek and bowing before his Sultaness. Chelsea, only minutes later, retired back to bed, as she was still exhausted.

  As for Brishava, she made her way directly for the throne room. After comfortably sitting on her throne, her first command was to summon Jamar, the coordinator.

  Perhaps five minutes later, he arrived—today he wore sheik robes comprising of vertical stripes of gray, white, black and gold.

  After he had grandiosely bowed low, Brishava greeted with a smile, “You may rise
—good morning to you, Jamar.”

  With a confident and charming smile upon his face, Jamar rose from his bow and greeted, “Good morning to you, my Sultaness. By chance, were you happy with your coronation and public welcoming ceremony?”

  “Everything was absolutely perfect, and yes I am extremely happy, which is why I’m once again calling for your services, Jamar,” Brishava replied in delighted tones.

  “That is most excellent news to hear, your Majesty,” Jamar said, only a second before he delivered yet another grandiose bow.

  After rising, he asked, “How may I be of service to you today, my Sultaness?”

  “Jamar, I am going to need one my father’s old bedrooms completely remodeled, so that it can house my husband and I. Specifically, I’d like you to create a curtain that will completely block out all sunlight that can possibly come in from the balcony and windows during the day…”

  After taking a deep breath through her nose, she added, “It is very important that not even one ounce of sunlight ever enter our bedroom, not even by the most tumultuous of winds, unless of course we manually open those curtains so that we can step onto the balcony. As for everything else, I will leave that up to your clever imagination. Do you understand, Jamar?”

  Jamar replied without hesitation or doubt, “Not only do I completely understand about the sunlight-impenetrable curtains, my Sultaness, yet I even have a perfect picture in mind for your new royal bedchambers.”

  “Excellent,” Brishava answered, “I know Jamar that you are the perfect man for the task…thank you very much! That is all. ”

  “Yes, my Sultaness,” Jamar said with a smile, just before he delivered one final bow, and left the room.

  While Brishava spent the next hour tending to other political affairs, Jamar spent the next hour in the royal bedchambers itself, creating the new designs and measurements for the curtains and the room. Once the blueprints were drawn up, he hired three different teams to work around the clock in order to complete this project as soon as possible.