BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan

by J. Eric Booker

  After sucking in a deep breath through his mouth, he added, “I even dreamt what Baltor—I mean my new Sultan—looked like, before my physical eyes had ever seen him…even once! Just before I had woken up from my dream, my Sultan had literally grown so big that he was able to hold the entire planet in the palm of his right hand, which I presumed to be ours.”

  “Wow…”

  “This is why I believe that your dream is true!”

  Just as Hawkins was saying the word “true,” both he and Bradmir heard Rumsfield’s magnified voice call outside, “Form ranks!”

  “Time for us to go, Lord Bradmir. Destiny calls,” Hawkins said.

  After delivering a friendly smile, Bradmir replied, “Yes, Governor Hawkins, you’re right.”

  The two made their way outside, and with the assistance of all the officers and Bradmir, they performed the final inspection on the troops.

  Once all was said and done, about a half an hour later, Hawkins began his final briefing through the megaphone, “Good morning to you all. Today is the day of truth! Today, the green team will arrive at the city gates. At the same time, the red team, will arrive and travel through the secret underground tunnel that leads directly into the palace, and execute anybody who stands in our way! If they force us into war, for whatever reason, we shall quickly sweep out and annihilate any resistors to the unification of the two Empires! Hoo-rah!”

  The entire regiment affirmatively roared out, “Hoo-rah!”

  Hawkins continued his briefing, “It is my intention, however, to avoid war and the tens of thousands of deaths that will inevitably result, as is my Sultan’s command! Therefore, the route we must all prefer is peace. That may or may not happen, as it greatly depends upon the convicting words of Lord Bradmir, who continues to promise his loyalty to our Sultan and Sultaness. Hoo-rah!”

  “Hoo-rah!” the soldier cried back in unison.

  Hawkins looked over at his second-in-command, who sat on his horse to his left, handed over the megaphone, and asked, “Commanding-General Rumsfield, do you have any final questions before you deploy your troops to the secret tunnel, and await further orders?”

  “Governor Hawkins, I have no final questions.”

  “Good—Execute plan A!”

  “Yes, sir,” Rumsfield said before placing the megaphone up to his mouth, and commanding, “Red team! Right face—forward march!” Half of the marching troops, along with a quarter of the officers still riding on horses, made the right face, and marched toward the spot the secret tunnel was located.

  Meanwhile, Hawkins looked over at the young lord, and asked, “Lord Bradmir, do you have any final questions before you deliver the command to deploy our troops to the city gates?”

  “Governor Hawkins, I have no final questions.”

  Hawkins ordered, “Good—Execute plan A!”

  After nodding, Bradmir called out through his megaphone, “Green team! Left face—forward march!”

  The remaining half of the regiment made the right face, and all made their way into the borders of the Vaspan Empire. Hawkins followed by Bradmir’s side in the front of the ranks, as did the guide-on bearer who was holding high both flags.

  Nearing noon, just as the green-team was nearing the city walls/labyrinth that surrounded Mauritia, Bradmir called the forces to a “halt.”

  Soon after they observed an army of at least five thousand on horseback who were quickly assembling outside the walls of the labyrinth, and so these three men began to ride forward at a trot.

  Manifesting in front of that army and riding toward their position at a fast pace, was the commanding officer that Bradmir instantly recognized as “Commanding-General Strums,” his top three generals, and of course, the guide-on bearer bearing the flag of the Vaspan Empire.

  Bradmir had known Strums ever since he was ten years old, and also knew that he was a reasonable and honorable man. Bradmir was all too aware that Vaspan liked to have “reasonable people” placed into positions of power whenever he was away as he knew that “other unreasonable people” would try to steal away his power and lands.

  Once all the leaders had gotten to within twenty feet of each other, they all stopped their horses in unison.

  Strums greeted, “Hail, Prince Bradmir! Please oblige me in allowing me to relay the ‘suspicious reports’ I’ve been hearing about for the last couple of weeks before you speak—please your majesty?”

  “No problem, Commanding-General Strums.”

  Strums acknowledged with a bow to his head, “Thank you, your majesty—two weeks ago, our advanced scouts reported that your army of around thirty thousand bears both flags of the Vaspan and the Sharia Empire held high, which army now appears to be halved. They also reported that they did not see any of your princely brothers, the Ruling-General Thorn, nor even Sultan-Sedious Vaspan in the mix…

  “Now the only reason we didn’t lay out our hundreds of thousands of defensive traps all around the city for miles, which traps would have easily destroyed your little army…is because you were recognized, my prince. And it appears to me that you are not being held hostage, but as we all know, appearances can be deceiving.”

  After clearing his throat, Strums continued, “Really, I have so many unanswered questions right now it isn’t even funny. Here are the most important ones, Prince Bradmir. Why are you the only royalty I recognize here? Where is your father, or any of your other brothers? Are you and-or they being held hostage? Who is this man who rides beside you, and most importantly, where is the other half of your army?”

  Bradmir actually became a bit nervous, as he hadn’t planned to have to answer the very last part first, but he didn’t let his face betray a single ounce of nervousness. He was poker-faced.

  After sucking in a very deep breath through just his mouth, an answer suddenly popped into Bradmir’s mind, and so he replied it, “You have done quite well in keeping both the Vaspan Empire’s forces to par, via your report, including asking me those very questions you just did, Commanding-General Strums…”

  Bradmir found he had to clear his throat several times, before he could continue saying, “In order to answer every last question, to your complete satisfaction, will take a bit of your time, as well some patience, which I am fully aware that you have a lot of patience and are very reasonable.”

  “Thank you, your majesty,” Strums replied with another respectful bow to his head.

  After sucking in a light breath through just his nose, Bradmir answered, “Nearly eight weeks ago, we—my father, brothers, the Ruling-General Thorn, the army and the mercenaries, and of course myself—did arrive at Pavelus. Not even an hour afterwards, the Sultan and Sultaness Brishava of the Sharia Empire met us in the very middle of the battlefield, but an all-out battle did not erupt. Well, it did, but not in the way that you think…”

  At Bradmir’s last statement, both of Strums’ eyebrows scrunched up, but he did not say a word, only continued to listen.

  After a three-second pause, Bradmir began to relay the story from beginning to end, regarding the deal, duel and victor between his father and the new Sultan over both empires—Sultan Baltor Elysian the Fifteenth. Truthfully.

  All the while, Strums and his top-generals listened very attentively without so much as a word spoken, though there were both thoughtful and mixed expressions on their faces the whole time.

  In the end, Bradmir introduced Hawkins as the new Governor of both Mauritia and Driven, though he never once relayed any of the information that the other half of the army was waiting for the command to execute “Plan B” at the secret entrance.

  Following that introduction, Hawkins immediately greeted, “Hail, Commanding-General Strums. I am Governor Hawkins. All that Prince Bradmir has told you is the truth.”

  Still suspicious, Strums said, “I see…governor. Well, I have another important question for either of you to answer. Where is Sultan Baltor Elysian the Fifteenth that you speak of, who doesn’t even bother to show up to claim his prize…his new
empire? Or at least send Princess—excuse me—Sultaness Brishava?”

  Bradmir was the first to answer, “Sultan Elysian is leading a campaign with the bulk of his army of more than a hundred thousand soldiers, along with Ruling-General Thorn, in order to recapture the city of Lasparus, which city was recently conquered by the Duke of Vispano.”

  “As for the Sultaness,” he added right away, “she is not only incredibly busy overseeing affairs back in Pavelus, yet is preparing the city’s defenses and offenses as there is still yet another army that must be contended with—not you guys, of course! That is why they sent us in their stead.”

  Strums asked, “How do I know that this all isn’t a trick by your father, in order to test my loyalties?”

  Without hesitation, Bradmir answered, “My father is dead—I swear on everything this is no trick and all I’ve said is the truth!”

  A moment later, Hawkins confirmed, “This is no trick from anyone—I swear upon my soldier’s honor as a former commanding general, just like you are now, good sir. If you like, I can send the request to have Sultaness Brishava sail this way, which I’m sure that she would be more than happy to oblige this request…or even better, how about bringing over Prince Bradmir’s brothers, so that they can confirm our truthful story?”

  “Hmmm,” Strums replied, “I need to talk this over in private with Major-General Noose and my other generals for a minute…okay, gentlemen?”

  Once Bradmir and Hawkins had both nodded their heads, Strums cocked his head to the side, turned his horse around, and spurred it on. A second later, his generals and the guide-on bearer followed behind.

  They stopped about fifty feet away, and began to discuss things quietly amongst each another. Nearly five minutes later, they rode back and stopped at ten feet away.

  Strums first bowed his head, and after he had looked back up toward Bradmir, he informed, “My generals and I wish to speak with the other princes of the Vaspan Empire before we can make any sort of major decision like this, in order to be one-hundred percent sure this is no trick. I’m going to send our fastest frigate ship to Pavelus in order to retrieve them, so that they can confirm your story—two-to-three tops, depending on the weather.”

  Strums added, “In the meantime, you and your army can safely camp at this spot until they arrive. By the way, where is the other half of your army? You never answered this question for me.”

  Hawkins replied, “The other half of our army is the rear detachment. They will join us once the command has been issued, which it will momentarily.”

  “Very well,” Strums neutrally replied. “Any suspicious tricks from your part at any time, and we will be forced to destroy your army, no matter its size. And trust me, we will be watching you… through our scopes.”

  “Understood,” both Hawkins and Bradmir replied both simultaneously and coincidentally.

  Bradmir added right away in promising tones, “I can assure you—Commanding-General Strums—that soon enough, this just, wise, and powerful Sultan, Baltor Elysian the Fifteenth, will rule the entire world.”

  With a laugh, Strums replied, “We’ll see…I’ve heard that one before—a few months ago as a matter of fact!”

  After chuckling and shaking his head a few times, he next looked over to his generals and guide-on bearer—they had not laughed once, yet bore poker faces throughout. Strums, once again serious, ordered, “Let’s go, men.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  The four then rode their way back into the labyrinth of Mauritia … as did all the rest of the troops.

  Meanwhile, Hawkins had already delivered the order for the red-team to not only stand down, but to come to their coordinates. About an hour later, not only was camp set up and hot chow being served, yet thankfully, the red-team returned without having been spotted by the Mauritian scouts.

  Two in a half weeks later, the three princely brothers arrived at the docks of Mauritia on her fastest ship, and without hesitation or trickery, they confirmed Bradmir’s story. So, without so much as a drop of blood spilled, the Vaspan Empire merged into the Sharia Empire!

  Once all was said and done, which included peacefully apprehending Driven not even a day later, Hawkins ordered that same fastest ship back to Pavelus to report about his “successful mission.”

  CHAPTER X

  Back to the very night the Forces of the Sharia Empire split—

  9 weeks and 4 nights earlier…

  Humonus, Cheo, and their army of twenty thousand cavalry soldiers began the even longer journey eastbound across the Sharia Desert.

  By the order of Baltor, this army belonged to both men equally, and whenever Cheo had a command for the troops, he would sign language it out to Humonus, who would then verbally broadcast the king’s command to anyone.

  Yet it was all three men—Baltor, Humonus, and Cheo—who had strategically planned this “very special” cavalry unit, which had been split into two separate teams—the fast-paced “assault team” that led, and the steady-paced “support team” that followed behind.

  The assault-team consisted of sixteen thousand troops that rode on saddled horses, or upon horse-drawn chariots. The riding formation with which they traveled was in four rows riding at a safe distance of twelve feet away from their fellow rider on either side. Because there were a thousand soldiers in each row, the length of the row spanned for two miles!

  As for Humonus and Cheo, they rode in the very center of the first row … as for the other officers in all four rows, ranging from lieutenant to commanding-general, one officer was strategically placed between each and every forty enlisted soldiers.

  Later that evening, when the assault team had stopped for the night, and camp was set up for both teams (the support team wouldn’t catch up until the early morning hours), Humonus then taught his assault team (whose trainees included Cheo) the two main secrets to blind fighting.

  The first secret for everyone to learn was to wear blindfolds and fight with training weapons and random partners. The not-so-simple second secret was how to learn to utilize the other senses—besides sight—in order to become proficient, especially the sixth sense Humonus called “intuition.”

  Of course Humonus easily proved the effectiveness of his blind-fighting skills to everyone—after all his demonstration had been completed, not a single person had any doubts. During the course of these training sessions that happened every single night for up to three hours, not only did the troops practice with random partners who were not blindfolded, yet so did Humonus and Cheo.

  The third and final secret, which Humonus never made any mention to anyone at all, was the fact that he had learned his first two secrets from his former profession as a master thief, shortly before he became this army’s ruling-general.

  As for the support-team that followed behind at a trot, this consisted of four thousand troops riding upon, or within one thousand horse-drawn covered wagons, that traveled in three tight columns, with no more than five feet spaced between each wagon. In fact, this formation resembled a mile-long snake!

  The single wagon that led the support team was the support-command-station, and within this wagon was the second-in-command assigned to oversee them all—a just-promoted commanding general whose name was Stormea.

  Riding behind this wagon on horses were half of the commanding officers of this unit, who protectively surrounded the nine hundred ninety-nine horse-drawn wagons.

  Not only did these covered wagons carry tons of medical supplies, food, water, and even bunks, yet the majority of the support troops. Those soldiers not assigned to drive the wagons, or to continuously scan their horizons, were trained in the back of the wagons by the medics during the day, and later at night. One final mission they had was to make hot chow for both teams before early morning came.

  Once the support team had joined up with the assault team, typically at about one or two in the morning, they served hot chow to everybody. Once dinner was over, other than those scheduled on guard duty, the entire army wa
s allowed to sleep until one hour after sunrise.

  And once that hour was over, the support team cooked up breakfast, while the advanced team unset the tents and broke up camp. By the time breakfast was ready to serve, the assault team had just finished packing all the gear back into the wagons. Finally, once chow was over, nearly two hours after sunrise, the riding recommenced.

  It took nearly a month’s worth of hardcore training for the assault team to show serious improvement; training that first consisted of blind fighting against another non-blindfolded opponent.

  Once they had all gotten decent, but still needed much more practice (in Humonus’s vocalized opinions), he began to instruct them how to ride blindfolded upon their horses during the day, after of course having already assumed the riding formation.

  Just before they practiced this for the very first time, Humonus specifically instructed, “Rule number one—never veer the direction of your horse or chariot for any reason, without first alerting your buddies to your left and right, by calling out the direction you now need to travel…yell, if necessary. Rule number two, if you don’t alert your buddy, you will cause a very serious and painful accident!”

  At first, the riding was at a slow gait, but as the days progressed into weeks, Humonus had the assault team gradually quicken their paces, ultimately into full gallops.

  With only minimal injuries sustained throughout, once the assault team had begun to show serious improvement with this task nearly three weeks later, Humonus then integrated the training so they would learn how to fight blindly, while riding at a full gallop. Moreover, because the troops had gotten good enough to keep themselves at a safe distance of twelve feet away from each other’s horses through the sense of sound, it wasn’t very hard for them to pick up this bonus feature.

  An hour after breakfast, eight weeks and three days after having departed Pavelus, the army began to see a vast mountain pass that covered the entire length of the eastern horizon—the Bospa Mountains.