BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan

by J. Eric Booker

  Back in the bedroom, Maline finally arrived at the area that she wanted, and without warning, she turned around toward the curtains that she had earlier intrinsically cut, and leapt high into the air.

  After delivering a vertical slash of her short sword, a large section of the curtains dropped to the floor and sunlight penetrated into the room … and directly onto Baltor’s exposed face, neck, torso, hands, and feet!

  In that same moment, Baltor expected to instantly die from the sunlight exposure, as did Maline because she too strongly suspected that his weakness lay with the sun, but “death” strangely did not come.

  Even though Maline was in the process of turning around so she could watch Baltor die, the sword in his right hand sliced off Maline’s head, which head rolled upon the ground several feet until it stopped!

  As soon as Brishava had pushed her way passed all the guards and entered the bedroom, Baltor observed that she bore a terrified look on her face as she looked at Maline’s headless body lying upon the ground.

  In the next moment, she looked over at her husband, noting with surprise and shock that the sunlight from outside continued to stream upon her husband, which sunlight gave him an angelic appearance! He glowed.

  “My Baltor, you’re alive!” Brishava exclaimed for two major reasons—the assassin and the sunlight.

  “Yes, my love, I am,” Baltor said, while nodding his head.

  Brishava hurried over, and through her tears, she began to hug and to kiss Baltor.

  Two of the guards, knowing that their Sultan was okay, removed the head and the body from the bedroom. Another guard ran to get a servant to clean up the mess. The rest began to disperse back to their assigned posts.

  Once the kisses had abated, Brishava finally confessed while holding onto her husband in a tight embrace, “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been treating you—I’ve just been quite frustrated because…because I—”

  Baltor interrupted, “Because you’re not pregnant, despite all our best efforts—I know. I’m truly sorry—one day when the time is right, we’ll have our child.”

  Brishava pulled back from the hug so that she could look into her husband’s sorrow-filled face, and once so, she replied, “It’s not your fault, Baltor. I’m just glad to know you’re alive—by the way, you, you can tolerate the sun after all. I’m just as glad to know this, so we can take walks during the day from now on.”

  At that moment, Baltor’s peripherals noticed that several servants had arrived with tons of rags in their hands in order to clean the mess lying on the floor.

  With a whole lot of surprise to his voice, he said, “I guess I can, after all.”

  Brishava replied, “That’s wonderful news!”

  “By the way,” Baltor said confidently, “I know that we haven’t had a child yet, but let’s never give up the belief that if Destiny, Fate, and God decree it—it will happen!”

  “Yes, my love. You’re right!” Brishava said just before she kissed her husband long and hard upon the lips.

  CHAPTER XXIII

  As the “days of peace and prosperity” turned to weeks, which inevitably turned into months, Baltor came to discover that he didn’t ever need to sleep, though he occasionally did choose to sleep at least once or twice a week, just so he could escape from reality and/or be alone with his wife.

  During the times he was awake, he either trained with the troops, studied books in every subject imaginable, visited with family, friends, ambassadors, or leaders of other countries, created artistic paintings or sculptures.

  Finally yet just as importantly, he took an active role as a lawmaker alongside his Sultaness, which imperial laws they co-created were based on the concept of “peace, honor, and glory for all,” regardless of color or ethnicity.

  One such law was the abolishment of slavery of any kind in any of the lands or seas of the Sharia Empire. Another important law was that any and all street gangs were now illegal. Still another law was to stop animal cruelty. Violators of any law would minimally serve a one-year maximum-security prison sentence on the Isle of Thricka … not a nice place to be imprisoned for even a day.

  Two months and one afternoon after the incident with Maline, a messenger unexpectedly arrived through the portal at the palace, after of course he had proved his authenticity to the watch-commander, evident by the scroll he carried bearing the wax-sealed image that he was indeed from the Kingdom of Thorium.

  Upon being escorted into the throne room by the commander himself and a dozen guards, the messenger bowed deep and low before Baltor and Brishava, of who were both currently sitting in their thrones.

  After the messenger’s bow was complete, nearly thirty seconds later, he again pulled out the scroll, pointed to the authentic seal to prove its legitimacy, broke the seal, unrolled the scroll, and began to read aloud,

  “‘Greetings Sultan Baltor and Sultaness Brishava of the Sharia Empire—thank you for spending your valuable time to listen to my dutiful messenger, of whom brings a message directly from me, Queen Calitta Dumont of the Kingdom of Thorium.

  ‘Now the reason for this message is because we have been in a very nasty war with the barbaric Kamanites for a little over six weeks now. Perhaps you’ve heard about these blood-thirsty and savage people before, whose numbers rank between ten and twenty thousand, but if you haven’t, let me first say that we think that they originate from the Swamps of Florima. This area exists a little over two hundred miles to the northeast of my kingdom’s forestland borders…

  ‘One town at a time at random the Kamanites would attack with all their numbers using guerilla warfare, and in the middle of the night; before morning arrived, they murdered everyone, guards and peaceful nobles and citizens. Instead of advancing any further, they would set that town or city on fire, and then retreat back to their swamps, where my arriving forces couldn’t penetrate due to their own sophisticatedly nasty defenses. Overall, I’ve lost more than ten thousand soldiers and eight thousand citizens.

  ‘We thought we had these murderous pests under control; that is, until about two hours ago when we realized how wrong we were. Right before sunrise, they launched a sneak attack upon my capital city of Politesse, and now we are completely surrounded. I only have twenty-five hundred soldiers left, and five thousand citizens, to defend. Thankfully you have one of your magical portals here, or we would have all been dead by the time my messenger would have made it to your city by ship…

  ‘So I must ask. Is your offer still good in that you will assist us militarily?

  ‘We are seriously in dire need your help—please and thank you. Queen Calitta Dumont of the Kingdom of Thorium.’”

  After briefly looking at her husband, Brishava was the first to nod her head and say, “I think we should help her out. What do you think, my Sultan?”

  He looked over and said, “I agree, my Sultaness. I will go to Thorium, talk things over with Queen Calitta, and then come back, so I should be back shortly.”

  Just after having risen to his feet, he asked, “So would you like to come too, honey?”

  Brishava rose to her feet, walked over to her husband, gave him a hug and a kiss, and then said, “No, I trust that you’ll handle the situation just fine—love you, babe!”

  While still in the embrace, Baltor kissed her on the lips, and after the kiss was over a few seconds later, he caressed her cheek with his hand, while saying, “Love you too.”

  He exited with the messenger out of the throne room, as well those dozen guards. They all went to the room with the teleportation mirror in it, but it was only he, the messenger, and the commander who walked through that portal.

  Once the three were in the capital city’s palace, a split-second later, the messenger immediately escorted Baltor toward Calitta’s throne room.

  Upon entering, a few minutes later, Baltor saw that Calitta was sitting upon her throne—even though her facial expressions appeared quite serene, his mind still sensed that she was worried sick.

  Surprisi
ngly, Calitta sounded almost happy as she sang, “Greetings, Sultan Elysian.”

  Baltor bowed his head respectfully, and after looking back up, he said, “Greetings to you, Queen Calitta. So, what can the Sharia Empire do for you?”

  Now revealing a very worried expression upon her face and eyes, Calitta began, “Whatever it takes to stop these pests…whatever it takes.”

  “Okay,” Baltor replied calmly.

  “If you are successful, then Kingdom of Thorium shall fall under the banners of the Sharia Empire. Yet, just like how you arranged it with King Cheo and Queen Chelsea, I wish to retain my title of Queen, and my rule, until my death. I have no heirs to the kingdom, nor will I, as I am now too old to bear children.”

  Baltor looked shocked at Calitta’s proposal, yet he managed to ask, “Are you sure this is what you want?”

  Calitta smiled, and said, “After having given it much thought, my answer is yes. Although I have had many suitors during my adult life, there hasn’t been a single man I’ve found honorable enough to be king. If you weren’t married, however, that would have been a completely different story long ago.”

  “I see,” Baltor said. Changing the subject real quickly, he added, “We have a deal, Queen Calitta. I shall immediately have approximately two thousand, five hundred of my elite soldiers dispatched here, so we can quickly dispense with the enemy before sunset, which is what…in about nine hours from now?”

  “Yes,” she answered. “But is that it? Two thousand, five hundred soldiers?”

  Baltor laughed out his nose, and answered, “And myself—trust me, my Queen. That’s all we’ll need. General Tar.”

  “Yes sir!”

  “Go find Ruling-General Stormea and tell him to report to Pavelus’s throne room at once. Tell him to ready the Shadow Force for action.”

  “Sir, what Shadow Force?”

  Without having cast his eyes away from Calitta for one second, he answered patiently, “Just tell him…he’ll know what I’m talking about.”

  “Yes sir,” Tar snapped, just before he exited the palace’s throne room to head for the portal room.

  Baltor bowed his head for a second. In the next second, he looked back up and added, “Queen Calitta, it is really not necessary to hand over your kingdom to the Sharia Empire for our help. After all, you are our good trading partners, allies, and most especially, friendly neighbors.”

  “Sultan Baltor,” Calitta said, “As I already said, I am too old to bear any heirs to the throne. Once I am gone, who will justly rule the Kingdom of Thorium after me?”

  Baltor sighed. After cocking his head to the side, he asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you? You only look but thirty-five or thirty-six years of age!”

  Calitta laughed as she answered, “Ah, thank you! But I am actually forty-five.”

  “Wow,” Baltor said with a whole lot of shock.

  “Thank you,” Calitta smiled. She then asked, “So how is your lovely wife?”

  “She’s doing well,” Baltor answered. “Busy as usual tending to all the diplomatic affairs of the Empire—I typically handle the military affairs.”

  “That’s good to hear, Sultan Elysian,” she chimed. “I love it when a man and woman share their power equally.”

  “Me too,” he replied with a smile and a nod to his head. After delivering one short bow, he did an about face—the messenger led him back to the portal room.

  This time, Baltor walked through the portal alone.

  Once back in the throne room, nearly two minutes later, he saw that his wife wasn’t busy at the moment, and so he said aloud, “My Sultaness, we have agreed to assist the Kingdom of Thorium in their time of need…

  “In return, Queen Calitta said of her own accord that her kingdom would join under the banners of the Sharia Empire once the Kamanite enemies are vanquished. She, having heard the deal between King Cheo and us, wanted the same deal for herself. I, having figured you would agree as well, did agree.”

  Brishava returned the smile, and said, “Very well done, my Sultan!”

  “Thank you!”

  By this time, Stormea and Tar arrived in the throne room … both were nearly out of breath.

  After saluting, Stormea asked, “Shadow Force, my Sultan? What in the world are you talking about?”

  Baltor laughed, and said, “Shortly after I began my reign, myself, the Sultaness, and Ruling-General Humonus established a ‘top secret special forces unit,’ otherwise known as Shadow Force.

  “Because I now implicitly trust both you and General Tar, I feel the time has finally come to show you, my Ruling-General Stormea. Therefore, prepare an armed escort to accompany us to the Shadow Forces Guild, of which only myself and your Sultaness know the location only a short distance away, and then you’ll see.”

  “Yes, my Sultan!” Stormea answered.

  Within five minutes time, Baltor, Brishava, Stormea, Tar, and a battalion of palace guards arrived at Rolsch’s palace, which palace also contained the former thieves guild. Rolsch had, nine years ago, accepted the invitation to become the ambassador to the country of Linsa, and was currently in their land on a diplomatic mission.

  After they had all descended into the basement, Stormea’s mouth dropped open upon seeing all the black-uniformed troops training through the obstacle courses!

  Hundreds of troops of varying ages from young to middle-aged … even a few elderly were out there as well, he saw with quite a bit of shock!

  Tricia, who happened to be overseeing the training, recognized Baltor, and immediately she began to approach. After arriving near his location, she bowed, and sang happily, “Greetings, my Sultan and Sultaness. How fare you this evening?”

  “Very well, Commanding-General Tricia,” Baltor said with a smile. “Yourself?”

  “Great, my Sultan!”

  Getting immediately down to business, Baltor declared, “The time has finally come for us to use the Shadow Force! How many fully trained soldiers do we have that are ready for combat?”

  “We have exactly two thousand, five hundred fifty-four, my Sultan,” Tricia proudly stated. “Additionally, we have four hundred twenty-three students, and an assigned instructor for each of them. None of these students or instructors shall be coming with us.”

  “Excellent,” Baltor said with a pleased smile. “Have Shadow Force ready for deployment here within one hour’s time. Understand?”

  “Yes, my Sultan! I can speak for everyone when I say that we have all been eagerly awaiting this news, in that we shall finally have the opportunity to utilize our supreme battle skills,” Tricia said with a smile.

  “Thank you, General Tricia. Last but not least, please give Ruling-General Stormea a tour of the place. Will you, please?” Baltor asked with hope.

  “Yes, my Sultan, with pride!” Tricia stated. She then bowed, looked over at Stormea, snapped her salute, and asked, “Are you ready, Ruling-General?”

  Stormea returned the salute, while nodding his head and saying, “Yes, Commanding-General Tricia. I am.”

  “Very well, please follow me. I’m sure you’ll be quite surprised to see just how enormous these training grounds are!”

  Stormea replied, “I already am!”

  The two then went their way.

  Brishava gave Baltor a kiss on the cheek and said, “I know you’re going to get ready here, so I’ll just head back to the palace. I’ve got some business of my own to tend to.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Baltor,” she said, just before giving him a kiss and leaving with the entourage of troops.

  By himself, he entered the wall-locker room, and saw several assistants already getting his battle armor and helmet out of his wall locker—he had two sets of battle armor.

  An hour later, once Baltor was ready, Stormea and Tricia entered the room.

  After saluting, Stormea said with amazement in his voice, “That was simply amazing! They fight almost as well as you, my Sultan!”


  Baltor smiled, and said, “This is where I learned my martial arts skills, Ruling-General Stormea. And I learned all mine from Ruling-General Humonus. Now, to keep with business—Commanding-General Tricia, have the remainder of my Shadow Forces arrived yet?”

  “Yes, my Sultan,” was her crisp response.

  The three then walked back out into the training area, noting that it was completely filled with people also donning armor similar to their Sultan’s. The one thing they were equipped with, which Baltor was not, was a shield strapped to his or her left or right forearm.

  Baltor began his speech, “Shadow Forces of the Sharia Empire! We are going to war, yet again. This time, we shall be fighting against the barbaric Kamanites, whom fight and kill without honor or compassion…

  “Our battle plan is simple: to join with the Thorium Forces inside their capital city through a teleportation spell I will cast when I am done with this briefing. Once we have all arrived at our destination, take a break. After all, it will take some time to get everyone through.

  “Yet once we are all there and I give the word, shortly before sunset, we will head in a pyramid formation to the city’s walls at the front gates, which is the only thing keeping the Kamanites out. While they try to rush in, we—as a single unit—will move our position onto the bridge. Do not worry about the few Kamanites that get passed us, as they will be taken care of by the soldiers of Thorium. I shall personally be leading the assault! Is that understood, Shadow Forces?”

  “Yes, my Sultan!” the troops declared with passion and excitement.

  “Good…” Baltor said. He turned around, drew a teleport sigil into the air, and a large portal opened up. Looking back over his shoulder, he called out, “Forces—follow the ruling general in columns of three. Ruling-General Stormea, order the soldiers to ‘march.”

  Without another word, Baltor opened the portal.

  “Forward, march!”

  With Stormea and Tricia in the lead, the troops followed in columns of three.