BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan

by J. Eric Booker

  A few moments or minutes later, Darius didn’t know, but he looked at Humonus’s face, observing with surprise that his eyes had opened and were now staring up into the dusky sky. He looked dead!

  Nearly four seconds passed, though it felt to Darius an eternity, before Humonus’s eyes unexpectedly blinked.

  It was then that Darius asked with great concern, “Ruling-General Humonus—are you in pain? If you are, I have some pain medication.”

  “Actually, I can’t feel a damned thing at all, other than a little headache, so I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or not,” Humonus answered hoarsely as his eyes looked toward Darius.

  “You can survive this, my friend,” Darius said with hope and determination, “but we must find you a surgeon really soon! If we’re careful, we can gently move you to Leshava and fly our way back to the army, and once there, the surgeons there can make you ‘good as new,’ okay?”

  Shaking his head ever so slightly, Humonus said, “I know I’ve lost a lot of blood, because I’ve been feeling more and more lightheaded as the time goes by…and won’t it take us over an hour to get back? I don’t know how much blood I’ve got left in me anymore.”

  “You must not give up, Ruling General—the army needs you! The Sultan needs you! The world needs you! Even I need you, my friend and brother.”

  Inside Darius’s mind, he cursed, Damn it—why don’t I have a blood-transference machine, so that I can donate some of my own blood to this most noble of men!

  Nearly ten seconds later, Humonus finally replied, “You’re right…I won’t give up! Let’s get to the hawk. You’re going to have to help me. Wait! Look—straight up in the sky. Tell me if I’m hallucinating or not?”

  Feeling goose bumps surging up and down his back, Darius looked straight up into the ever-darkening skies, though there were still colors that ranged from reds to violets—the sun had descended below the western horizon only two minutes earlier.

  Darius simultaneously observed that these skies possessed only four glimmering stars in the sky—ten seconds later, he observed a teensy-weensy black speck slowly circling around.

  About thirty seconds later, now with nine stars in the sky, Darius noted that this black speck was not only directly overhead them now, yet it was now plummeting straight down to the ground—he immediately began to suspect and fear it was the dragon who came back to eat its dinner!

  Three seconds before it landed on the ground, Darius and Humonus were finally able to identify that this creature wasn’t the dragon, yet the hawk named Praetor bearing two riders!

  Once on the ground, Darius glanced at the man in front first. Recognizing his brother right away, he greeted, “Hey Bro—it’s me, Darius! Get over here quick…we’ve got a major problem.”

  With concern in face and voice, Traes replied, “Hey Bro! What’s going on?”

  For the first time, Darius glanced at the man in the backseat, of whom was frantically undoing the straps holding him into the saddle … this person, he saw, wore black-plated armor with a gold-plated chest, a crowned-helmet, a black cape, gloves, and boots. Although Darius “strongly suspected” this man to be Sultan Baltor Elysian, his “main focus” right now was Ruling-General Humonus.

  Looking back down only a second later and seeing the man was once again unconscious, Darius answered, “This man really needs a surgeon immediately—that is, if he is to survive. Right now, however, it’s looking very dismal he will live much longer.”

  By this time, Baltor had already arrived with a first-aid kit in his hands, kneeling on the other side of Humonus. Looking back and forth between his ruling-general and Darius, he introduced, “I am Sultan Baltor Elysian, and yes, I do know a little something about surgery. What’s wrong, medically speaking, with the Ruling General?”

  It was only then that Traes had arrived at their position, keeping silent yet ready to help.

  Darius—who continued to look at Humonus with a worried expression—answered frantically, “All I know is that his stomach doesn’t look too good—his intestines are literally hanging out on his stomach, and it’s been pumping out a lot of blood ever since it was punctured by a dragon’s claw. Even though I’ve been trained in first-aid, I am not a surgeon who can do surgery and remove the pieces of jagged body armor still trapped inside his body. I don’t think he’s going to survive!”

  After taking off his armored gloves, Baltor said, “Please, Darius, open my medical kit for me and put the sterile gloves onto my hands. Only once I have removed the last of the bandages do I want you to slowly pour about a quarter bottle of the antiseptic directly onto the Ruling-General’s wound—understand?”

  “Yes, my Sultan,” Darius said, just before he followed orders by putting the gloves onto Baltor’s hands.

  Baltor picked up a pair of steel scissors, and began to cut through the bloody gauze tape covering Humonus’s torso. Once the last of the tape was removed, nearly ten seconds later, he then began to delicately pull out the blood-soaked bandages. After the last of the bandages had been removed, Baltor observed two things—one good and one not so good.

  The good thing—there was only a minute portion of Humonus’s small intestines hanging out to the side. The not-so-good thing—there were five large pieces of steel armor that jaggedly penetrated deep into his stomach cavity, which pieces would have to be ever-so-carefully removed without ripping any more tissue!

  Though Baltor realized that getting this armor would not be an easy feat at all, that didn’t mean for one single second he would give up. After picking up the pair of pliers located in the medical kit, he began the careful process of prying each individual piece of steel out…

  By the time Baltor had gotten to his third piece, about a minute later, he called out, “Darius, I’m going to need you to pour some more antiseptic on the wound.”

  Darius did as told. It was then that Humonus’s eyes opened a quarter of the way!

  Even though Baltor’s main vision was focused on the task-at-hand, his peripheral vision still caught the little movement. Without looking up or stopping in his task, he confidently replied, “Hang in there my friend, and you’ll soon be good to go…okay?”

  Most surprisingly, Humonus’s lips popped into a weak smile, blood spilling out of his mouth. He half-whispered, “Okay, Baltor… Thanks.”

  While delicately pulling out the fifth and final piece of metal, nearly two minutes later, Baltor asked, “Humonus, are you feeling any pain that you’re not telling me about, and if so, do you want some pain-relieving tonic?”

  With blood-covered teeth, Humonus half-smiled, “My Sultan, I haven’t been able to feel a damn thing since I crashed, so I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or not, but seeing your face is definitely a good thing, my friend!

  “And even if I should feel some pain soon, the answer is no, I don’t want any of that pain-relieving medicine. Though I feel light headed right now, I want my mind to be clear as possible, just in case I don’t make it… I know I’ve lost a lot of blood!”

  By this time, Baltor gingerly picked up the intestines, held them right over the wound itself, looked at Darius, and said, “Okay, Darius, what I’m going to need you to do is to quickly unlatch all the straps securing the chest plate to the rest of the body armor. Once done and I tell you to, ever-so-slowly remove it off the Ruling General—all the while, I shall keep his intestines clear of that metal. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, my Sultan,” Darius said, just before carried out his orders, which took a little over a minute and a half.

  Once Baltor had delicately placed the intestines back inside Humonus’s stomach, he said, “You’ll be okay, buddy, but just hang on, okay? A couple of minutes is all I’ll need, and you’ll be stitched up and bandaged up, and good to go…”

  After coughing out more blood, Humonus answered, “I’ll try, but I must confess something that I meant to tell you long ago, but forgot about. That is, until about a few minutes ago when I was laying here on the ground a
nd thinking about my life as far back as I can remember.”

  All the while working, Baltor asked, “Yes?”

  Humonus answered, “Remember when you were a little boy and I was your drill instructor, and I told you that there must be the defenders so long as there are the oppressors?”

  At this point, even though Baltor’s eyes squinted into contemplation to extract the memory, his left hand pulled out a sewing needle from the medical bag, which simultaneously pulled out the thread attached to the head of the needle.

  As he began to skillfully sew Humonus’s wound shut into tiny stitches, he finally said, “Yes I do Humonus. Darius, I need you to pour the remaining contents of this bottle of antiseptic. Okay?”

  “Yes, my Sultan,” Darius said, just before he did as ordered.

  “Yes, Humonus... I never forgot,” Baltor said as he continued to sew.

  Humonus replied, “Well, the truth of the matter is, I knew all about your investigations into Vakshia’s disappearance. In fact, I secretly followed you just about every night, as you searched through and around those dangerous obstacle courses—I was even the one who provided all those torches…

  “Lucky for you, I happened to be there the very night you found Vakshia’s body in the valley, but couldn’t find out for sure whether it was her or not because you didn’t have enough rope. At the time, we both presumed, but didn’t know for sure, her to be Vakshia! Of course, I didn’t reveal my presence to you…”

  After coughing out even more blood, he added, “But early the next morning, just before I headed out the door to go to work, I brought along the sack containing the fifty-foot length of rope, and placed it into a semi-hidden area of the supply room, and skillfully threw lots of dust onto it....you found it.”

  At this point, Baltor had just finished sewing, and so he pulled out a fresh bandage and placed it on top of the stitches. He then searched his bag for the gauze tape.

  Meanwhile, Humonus continued to reveal, “I was even there the following night when you went back with enough rope, rappelled to the bottom, tied Vakshia’s body around the base of the rope, climbed back up, and began to pull her body up…

  “I watched as Thesmul confronted you with stiletto in hand, while confessing to the crimes of rape and murder, just before he attacked you. I watched you two viciously fight each other, until you finally kicked him over the valley’s edge that killed him!”

  Despite the shock at learning all of this for the very first time, Baltor actually managed to say with a bit of anger to his voice, “Humonus, why didn’t you come to my defense against Thesmul? Or at the very least, defend me during my trial with the High Council?”

  Without waiting for an answer to either of his questions, he said, “Darius, gently lift up his body so that I can securely wrap the bandages around his waist.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  As Darius gently lifted and Baltor began to wrap, Humonus answered, “Because…if the High Council had suspected that I was involved even one iota, then Master Salmot would have certainly claimed that I had been the one who schemed the whole plot up in the first place, which plot included Thesmul ever being around Vakshia in the first place. Not true, of course. Besides, I always knew you’d be a winner, even during your battle and your trial! You have always been destined to win—my Sultan…”

  At this point, Baltor observed for the very first time that there was a puncture in Humonus’s back about three inches in diameter, as the gauze tape on his backside was becoming increasingly slimy from the blood—the ground was totally soaked in it.

  Humonus was about to say more, but suddenly, an excruciatingly painful look crossed his eyes!

  A moment later, he confirmed, “Owwwwww…now my back really hurts! Really, really, bad! Listen, my best friend in the whole wide world and my Sultan, if I don’t make it, I want you to tell Chelsea that I love her and that—”

  In that moment, Humonus died with his eyes open.

  For the next several minutes to come, Baltor silently stared into his dead friend’s open eyes—eyes that no longer reflected the sparkle of life!

  Suddenly an incredible amount of pain surged within Baltor’s own stomach and chest. As his head turned up toward the night skies, his mouth screamed out his angers, grief and frustrations … while bloody tears steadily began to pour out his eyes!

  Meanwhile, Darius and Traes could only stare in utter shock and horror at Baltor! Especially from that scream that sounded just like ten people had been screaming simultaneously!

  Still sobbing uncontrollably, Baltor stood back onto his feet, turned around and began to walk—his chest plate was covered in his own blood.

  After walking for about thirty feet, he collapsed onto his knees and continued to sob on both hands and knees. It took him nearly ten minutes to regain a control over his grief-stricken emotions! This was one of the two worst days in his life, the first being when his parents had been murdered when he was just a little boy.

  Once he had finally regained control over his emotions, he began to wipe all the blood off his face with the sleeves of his shirt.

  He then stood back onto his feet, turned back around, and walked back toward his companions, who he saw were still kneeling close to Humonus’s body and quietly whispering to each other. They stopped whispering upon seeing Baltor nearing their location.

  Without a word, Baltor gently picked his best friend’s body off the ground, and walked over to the male hawk.

  After arriving at his destination, he turned just his head around and asked, “Would you gentlemen please help me buckle him into the backseat?”

  “As you command, my Sultan,” both men gulped, just before they rushed on over. Together, they strapped him into the rear saddle.

  Once this task was over, only thirty seconds later, Baltor ordered, “Say nothing of what you just saw to anyone, regarding my bloody tears. Just so you gentlemen know, within these very jungles many years ago when I was just a young man, I contracted a mysterious illness—ever since, whenever I cry, which is very-very-very seldom, blood flows out my eyes. But trust me, I am very human. Be silent of what I just told you—okay?”

  “I’m sorry to hear about your illness, my Sultan,” Traes sincerely replied. “As you command…”

  “I agree with Traes, my Sultan,” Darius added. “Yet I’m also very sorry about Ruling-General Humonus. Just so you know, my Sultan, he fought most valiantly against the dragon, while I must confess that I was so petrified that I peed my trousers when we—him, the hawk, and myself—played chicken with it!”

  After revealing the gist of “Humonus’s heroic battle,” he concluded with a sigh, “Shortly after the dragon had landed on the ground with the lance still stuck in the wing, it pulled the lance out and that wing magically healed! It was about to even eat the Ruling General, but suddenly it stopped and sat there for awhile. Minutes that felt like centuries later, it changed its mind, took off into the air, and flew southeast! Only minutes before your arrival, in fact.”

  Baltor said, “Well, the time has come for us to move, before the dragon or her army has the opportunity to come back, so let’s go. Traes and Darius, you men ride on Leshava.”

  “Yes, my Sultan,” both men cried, just before all three men climbed into their saddles and buckled themselves in. Once so, about twenty seconds later, they launched into the air, heading northwest.

  Upon reaching a thousand feet in altitude, Baltor began to gaze all around, even through the darkness of night.

  Even though he discovered that the skies were mostly clear in almost all directions, the entire northern horizon was already filled up with dozens of storm clouds filled with rain, thunder, and lightning!

  Due to the strong winds also blowing in from that direction, as well the smell of rain, Baltor strongly suspected that this night would contain a tropical thunderstorm—his binocular-vision took effect, and his suspicions were immediately confirmed that the storm clouds were fast coming their way, perhaps within the hour. />
  A few moments later, Baltor drew forth a picture of Cheo in his mind’s eye before he drew a forth a picture of the world map.

  The very second Cheo’s location was known upon the map, but a few of them later, Baltor telepathically asked Praetor, Can you please fly a little bit more to the northwest and add quite a bit more speed, Praetor? There’s a nasty-looking storm coming our way, my friend.

  He heard in his mind, “Yes, my Master,” just before Praetor rapidly increased their altitude by a few more thousand feet—Leshava naturally followed right behind her brother.

  Once they had risen to a grand height of four thousand feet, both hawks angled their flight pattern so that though they would be descending at a slow rate, while their speed significantly increased so that they would arrive at their army even quicker.

  CHAPTER XVIII

  In a different part of the Galgaa Jungle, where the cavalry and the giants were camped…40 minutes later.

  One of posted guards near the command tent spotted—for about three good seconds—two black specks maneuvering their way around the large storm clouds and toward the encampment!

  There were two contributing reasons why this was the one and only guard who saw the specks at all—if one of these two following reasons had not been there, he would have also remained completely oblivious.

  One, a large and lengthy bolt of lightning had just zigzagged its way across the southeastern skies, which lit up that entire horizon for eight seconds. Two, the rain that had started thirty minutes ago had just stopped thirty seconds prior.

  That guard immediately looked over at his fellow guards, whistled to draw their attention, and stated, “Look—over there in the sky to the southeast! There are two creatures flying our way… don’t know what they are though.”

  Standing ten feet away was a female guard, whose uniform revealed her rank as a captain. She asked, “Where, Private Xayen?”

  While pointing, Xayen replied, “I don’t see them anymore, Captain Nova, but if you’ll look that way and stare hard, maybe there’ll be another flash of lightning. I wonder why there’s no more lightning right now?”