BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan

by J. Eric Booker

  “Before I could interpret this to you, however, Yaush unexpectedly asked all my kinsmen, ‘Am I correct, my brothers, that we—the Valakan Nation—would work better as a team with our friend Baltor’s army against a looming threat that may soon attempt to destroy our home and lands, as they have already done with King Cheo’s home and lands?’”

  Salami then concluded, “Once they all agreed with the “Hoooossshhhaaa” sound you heard them all make, Yaush then said, ‘Tell Humonus and King Cheo that Valakan will join Baltor and his Sharia Empire in eradicating this common enemy! We shall send our womenfolk, or those who can’t fight, to Pavelus as soon as possible!’

  “That is all that he had to say…”

  Humonus interpreted to Cheo, and a small smile of appreciation formed on Cheo’s face upon hearing all that news.

  Humonus looked over to Yaush, nodded, and said, “Gav.” He then added, “Tell Yaush that the womenfolk or those who can’t fight can ride on however many ever wagons it takes to get them all safely and quickly there—there will be an armed escort going along for the ride, of course. As for the rest of us, we must continue to head east as soon as possible—no later than tonight!”

  Salami first said, “Agreed.” He then interpreted to Yaush.

  Yaush and everyone else agreed with a “Gav.”

  Hastily the giants began the preparations to evacuate the village of Valakan, while the army patiently waited outside the town.

  By nightfall, a little more than three hundred old men, old and young women, and all the children, rode in the back of fifty wagons westbound—accompanied by two hundred soldiers from the assault and support teams.

  Two hundred and twenty-eight “brawny” Valakanese giants joined the ranks of the Sharia Empire. Not a single person knew that the “dark and evil army” was literally only days away from arriving at Valakan…

  CHAPTER XI

  Near the borders of the Sharia Empire and the Vispano

  Province—2 weeks earlier…

  The following day after Baltor had conquered Lasparus, he and his army followed behind all of Valiante’s forces, as they trekked their way northeast on the main road between Lasparus and the Vispano Province’s capital city of Parthway.

  Along the road over the next couple of weeks, not surprisingly, there were nearly a dozen encounters with platoon-to-company sized elements of the duke’s soldiers—on foot and/or on horses.

  Thanks to Valiante and a dozen of his Vispano Knights that proudly held their national flag high into the air, a red flag that contained a black, two-headed hawk in the middle, there was not a single battle that occurred along the way. Moreover, as this man was the third-in-command of all the Vispano Forces, he ordered that every soldier join his ranks. They did … approximately four hundred of them.

  Besides the duke, of course, there was only one officer higher in rank than Valiante, and that man’s name and rank was Senior-Commanding-Knight Travail!

  He was the only man who ever bested Barquoth in a friendly weapons-dueling contest, twice—in fact, Travail was known as the greatest weapons’ master throughout the entire Province, never before beaten in single-handed combat, battles, or wars!

  Moreover, Valiante believed, and knew by serving under Travail for more than fifteen years, that this equally honorable man lived his life by the book called The Code of the Vispano Knights. Travail even had this book’s words memorized in his head, verbatim.

  It is solely because of The Code that Valiante believed he could convince Travail the reason as to why he returned control of Lasparus back to the Sharia Empire. In turn, Travail could convince Duke Marlborough, or so he hoped…

  He also hoped that his Duke would be very relieved to hear his report that the Sharia Empire was not coming to attack, but assist against this common and powerful foe that lay to the southeast—a dishonorable and evil army who’s numbers contain at least millions … and not just in Sultan Baltor Elysian’s words.

  However, things did not work out for Valiante like he had hoped and planned. Not at all.

  Instead, the very second Marlborough’s advanced scouts reported that the Sharia Empire’s forces were marching toward his capital city—even though Valiante and his knights could clearly be seen leading them all—this duke became extremely surprised, fearful, and angry!

  Immediately he, along with his new earl, about-faced their thirty thousand forces on the road, hastily retreated back to Parthway, and entered the fortified city made of waterproofed steel—walls that stood at fifty feet tall, thirty feet thick, and five-squared miles. This square-shaped city had only one steel-gated entrance located at each quadrant.

  Once safely inside the city walls with the gate securely shut behind them (as well his ninety thousand infantry soldiers, twenty thousand archers, and last but not least, forty-five thousand Vispano Knights), the duke’s fear and anger turned to outrage!

  While his forces were still in formation, he declared to them all, “Valiante, and sixty thousand of my troops including knights, have not only abandoned their posts at Lasparus, but now they must be trying to mutiny against me, as they are coming directly this way!

  “If you include the Sultan and his forces following behind, there are more than one hundred ten thousand men now rallying against me…against us! They are all trying to %$#@ steal my capital city and our riches, our way our life, even our families! We, of the Vispano Province, cannot allow this happen, no matter the costs.”

  Of course almost every last Vispano Knight present believed that there must be a logical and honorable reason for what was going on, especially with Valiante in the lead, and so it was only because of Travail’s strongest suggestions that the Duke agreed not to shoot on sight, but ask questions first…

  As soon as the two armies had neared the Capital City, just after sunset nearly two weeks later, Marlborough immediately set all his archers upon every inch of the walkway that existed at the top of the walls. He next headed to the armored podium that sat safely behind and above the walls, yet overlooked the entire area.

  The second Baltor first gazed upon the massive steel walls of Parthway, from a little over a mile away, he called out to his men through his megaphone, “Halt—set up camp…and chow!”

  The forces of the Sharia Empire first halted, and then they began to do as ordered.

  All the while, Valiante and all his forces continued to draw closer and closer to the city gates, but even upon their arrival about ten minutes later, those gates never opened a single inch.

  Upon getting within ten feet of the front gates, which still had not opened, Valiante had to order his forces to halt, and of course they did.

  Right away, the duke’s voice called from above and with an outraged tone of voice, “Commanding-Knight Valiante, what the hell is going on around here? Why have you all abandoned your posts in my city of Lasparus? Why are there more than fifty thousand ground forces of the Sharia Empire behind you in the distance? Valiante, I should seriously have you flogged to death for your treason against the Vispano Province! Before I flog you, I should—”

  At this point in the conversation, Valiante had had enough. He replied in a loud but respectful tone of voice, “My Duke, please allow me to deliver my report at this time, before you make any hasty and harsh decisions!”

  After the duke had heard his “number two” clearing his throat, he gruffly replied, “Go ahead…report!”

  “My Duke, first of all, I would like to remind you of the Code of the Vispano Knights, which as you well know was written by your ancestor—Duke Artesium Vispano the First,” Valiante began.

  After clearing his throat, he then continued, “By The Code, which you also know all too well my Duke, Sultan Baltor Elysian won honorably in single-handed combat against the greatest warrior we had available, Commander Barquoth! In fact, this Sultan even spared your commander’s life at the end of the battle, which is the reason why we have peacefully relinquished control of Lasparus back to the Sultan—by the book.”<
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  The duke snapped out angrily, “It is not up to you to make this type of executive decision, it is up to me! So why in the hell has the Army of the Sharia Empire followed you all the way here to Parthway?”

  Valiante answered, “There is a common enemy that both the Vispano Province and the Sharia Empire share—a dishonorable and evil army who’s numbers are reported by the Sultan to be in the millions—they may already be heading this way, my Duke!”

  After a six second pause, this time without interruption, he added, “Also from the Sultan’s reports, this army annihilates everything in its path, and thus poses a serious danger to the Vispano Province, as they are most likely spreading their way outward like a plague, sir!”

  The duke asked, “Another army to the southeast?”

  Valiante answered, “Yes sir, the Sharia Empire’s forces have not come to conquer Parthway, or any of the Vispano Province whatsoever, or fight us at all, but hopes to ally with our forces, and fight this new foe together, while reestablishing the peace and trade between our two great countries, my Duke!

  “Last but not least, I’d like to conclude my report by swearing on my honor and my honorable ancestors that my entire report is accurate to the best of my knowledge.”

  The duke replied, “So what? So what if the Sultan of the Elysian Empire won honorably in single-handed combat against Commander Barquoth? No disrespect to the commander, but he is not the best warrior from our faction, and you, Commanding-Knight Valiante know this to be true. Senior-Commanding-Knight Travail is!”

  Valiante countered, “True sir, but he was not there at the time, which time is obviously a very pressing matter for the Sultan! After all, he has already committed he and his forces to make their way and fight this most-evil army, and I believed we could perhaps assist him, my Duke. Especially considering that this army may soon become a threat to the Vispano Province?”

  Instead of answering the question, the duke asked his own, “Again you mention this supposed enemy army that exists to the southeast? I have certainly heard no reports of any enemy activities happening in that direction—bah!

  “The only armies I’ve heard about, besides my own standing right behind you, are the enemy Forces of the Sharia Empire who have tricked you. You are a pathetic excuse for a commanding officer, Commanding-Knight Valiante—I hereby strip you of your command!”

  Looking over to the second-in-command who sat upon the horse to Valiante’s right, the duke ordered, “Senior-Commander Ransche, you are now in command of the army below—in a moment, I am going to have the city gates opened. Once opened, you are going to command my army to enter the gates. Once the gates are closed, with Valiante by your side, you are going to order him to lay his ‘commander’s sword’ down upon the ground and you are going to mantle it upon your own belt. Do you understand me, Commanding-Knight Ransche?”

  Ransche replied, “My Duke, I have loyally served twenty years under Commanding-Knight Valiante, who has always been loyal to you and the Vispano Province, and I must concur that he did everything by the book and nothing wrong, sir!

  “Even you, my Duke, cannot dispute the infallible logic written by the first commander-in-chief, nor can I! Please let us honorably fight the enemy that—”

  At this point, the duke interrupted, “What talk is there of any enemy besides the one that is now in the process of setting up camp directly behind you, so they can wage war in the morning? The only thing I’m really surprised about is that they haven’t attacked yet.”

  Without pause, he looked to the commanders on Valiante’s left, Barquoth and Parse, and said, “Commander Parse, you are therefore promoted to Commanding-Knight in charge! Order my forces to enter the city gates.”

  Parse, who had originally been the third-in-command of Valiante’s forces, replied, “I, too, must concur with both Commanding-Knight Valiante and Senior-Commander Ransche, sir!”

  The duke snapped, “I have heard of no reports of enemy armies moving to the southeast—it is an obvious trap that any fool can see! Is there anyone who will lead my army back into the city? Even a private? No…? That’s it—you are all fired! Archers, fire!”

  Instantly five thousand arrows zinged toward them all at once, which in the first round, killed one thousand, five hundred eighty-two, and wounded in all degrees one thousand, eight hundred and five! Tens of thousands more would have died or been injured, but all of these soldiers wore armor and helmets.

  A moment later, just before the second volley of arrows was shot, Valiante called out, “Retreat!”

  The forces turned around and began to retreat, but not before another one thousand, seven hundred fourteen immediately dropped to the ground, mainly dead with arrows stuck in their backs!

  The third volley of arrows killed six hundred twelve, including Ransche, and wounded nine hundred twelve! The fourth volley killed eighty-three and wounded twenty-five, and the fifth neither killed nor wounded any.

  The grand total of dead reached four thousand, three hundred ninety-two troops in under a minute’s time, and two thousand, seven hundred forty-two men had been wounded! Fifty-eight thousand, two hundred forty came out unscathed…

  An hour later, the first words from Valiante to Baltor in his command tent were, “Your Sultan, I—I can’t believe he fired upon us!”

  Baltor shook his head from side to side as he grimly replied, “I’m not. His conquering Lasparus in the first place is clear proof of his lack of honor, Commanding-Knight! Come tomorrow morning, my forces and I shall be moving southeast to face the army, as time is of the essence.”

  Valiante asked, “What about the Duke? Aren’t you afraid he will attack you from your rear flanks?”

  “My forces and I will be prepared for it should he make the attempt, but I cannot wait any longer! I am not really sure of what to tell you or your men, except to say that I am truly sorry about your losses of good men.”

  Valiante breathed out a deep sigh, and then he said, “I’m not really sure of what I should tell them, either. Wait—what if we simply hold them back until you and your army are long gone?”

  Without waiting for an answer, Valiante added, “Once you have departed the Vispano Province, then this ‘act of peace’ will prove to the Duke that your intentions were completely honorable all along!”

  “Excellent idea, Commanding-Knight Valiante,” Baltor sighed wearily. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to be getting my rest for the night—after all, tomorrow shortly before dawn, my army and I leave.”

  Valiante left Baltor’s command tent, headed back to his own men, calmed them down, and ordered them to set up camp for the night, but to the south side of Parthway, safely away from archers.

  During this very same night, coincidentally enough, a squad of four soldiers arrived at Parthway. They originally had been stationed in the third largest of five cities within the Vispano Province, a city containing tens of thousands called Scarthan, located in the far southeastern quadrant.

  It had literally taken these four soldiers six days of furious galloping on horseback before they arrived!

  The route the squad entered into the city was through a secret underground passage that directly led to the army barracks. Once inside, the lieutenant-in-charge of the squad reported to the first higher-ranking officer he saw.

  He asked, “Cap’n? You’d never believe the news I’m ‘bout to report, except for the fact that I’ve proof—proof’ll need to be directly relayed to the Duke!”

  The captain first looked strangely at the lieutenant who was holding a bloody sack in his left hand, and then he asked, “What is your name, Lieutenant?”

  “Lieutenant La Pax,” he said while snapping a sharp salute with his right hand.

  “Lieutenant La Pax,” the captain asked, “what is the news you speak of, so that I can relay it to my supervisor?”

  “Sir—Scarthan’s in utter ruins ‘n all forty-eight thousand, one hundred ‘n fifty-two citizens, soldiers, ‘n even Earl Grean—dead! We watched
as hundreds of thousands of ‘em set fire to the city, ‘n killed just about everybody! Though they’re humanoid in shape, they’re definitely not human, and act like beasties…”

  After releasing a deep sigh, he added, “The only reason me ‘n my squad survived was ‘cuz we were on patrol—we’re pretty damned certain they’re headin’ this way!”

  At that news, the captain asked, “What nonsense are you talking about?”

  La Pax opened the bag, and pulled a body-less head out of the bag by her long silvery hair, which head really stunk and was hideous to look at. The female’s pitch-black face might have been considered extremely beautiful, had it not been for the razor-sharp teeth in her open mouth, the red-tinted eyeballs, and the pointy-ears that had silver-hoop-earrings all around the tips!

  The captain’s nostrils caught whiff, and he immediately hurled all of the contents of his stomach on the ground.

  La Pax obligingly put the head back in the bag, and then he proudly stated, “Killed her myself, I did, sir! Sir, even weirder was the fact that she magically appeared outta thin air, right in front of me ‘n my men, though she was facin’ the other way from me, ‘n didn’t see me ‘til my sword sliced off her bloody head! Well, cap’n, believe me now?”

  The captain looked up, and said quite queasily, “Yes, lieutenant, let’s get this news relayed to the duke as soon as possible!”

  Within the next twenty minutes, La Pax again delivered his report to the duke, as well warned him to put something over his nose, as it was a very-very nasty smell—the duke obligingly did!

  When he saw the head, he replied with several layers of perfumed silk veils draped over his nose and mouth, “Thank you for your report, Lieutenant La Pax! You have served the Vispano Province well by relaying this information to me…have your men get their rest. As for you, stick around here—I’m going to need your services real soon! Oh, and take that smelly bag somewhere out of this room for now—but don’t set it on the ground, please…”