THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN SWORD
“There shall be plenty of time to spend with women once you sit on the throne. I fear becoming too attached to a woman right now could be detrimental to our efforts,” the Crippler warned.
The Man snickered and said, “A king should be equipped to handle both, and I think I can surely do that.”
The Crippler pressed on, “Many have uttered those same words only to be forgotten forever. Nobody remembers the losers or the men that almost became king. They only write and sing about the winners. You must win.”
The Man announced confidently, “We will win.”
The Crippler kept arguing, “Not in the direction we are headed. We are going to need to exercise your mind again. Do you remember how well everything was going until that…that succubus arrived?”
The Man waved his finger in the air and warned, “Careful now, Duke Crippler, let’s not allow ourselves to become too rabid.”
The Crippler wouldn’t stop. “Rabid or not, this needs to be heard. Always remember that matters were much better, just a short time ago.”
The Man stared at his homunculus friend as the pair sat across from each other at a small table.
“What would you say if I asked to see you bleed?” he asked the Crippler, who instantly started to squirm in his smooth pine chair.
His mentor asked, “Are you insinuating that you wish to cause me harm?” The Crippler acted offended at the request.
The Man looked right at his friend’s dark eyes. “You know what I mean. Don’t dodge the simple question.”
The Crippler started to wave his arms around and progressively raised his voice. “I’d say that’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard. Do you really need to see me bleed? I’ve been right by your side when everyone else said, ‘let that bastard die’. Me, I’ve been there to teach you how to be a king, how to be a man. I could have taken all that gold for myself. I gave you all the gold that I stole from those castles. I’ve given you everything I have to offer. Don’t throw all that away for a woman you just met. Remember, Tarasoni Alber, remember you swore to never love again. Is this your will or someone else’s?”
The Man rubbed his temple with his fingers. “It’s my will, I mean, I just…I just don’t know who to trust anymore.”
The Crippler responded, “You are right to mistrust people. Just make certain they are the correct ones.”
The Man bluntly asked, “So why should I trust you?”
“Did you not hear what I just said? I’ve been right here the entire time. I shouldn’t need to prove myself to you or anyone. When no man wanted to follow you, I’m the one who encouraged you to go for the throne. You said it was impossible. I was the man who instilled confidence in you, remember? I said you could take Waters Edge. Do you remember? Do you remember the days when you doubted you could lead an army or kingdom? I helped you get past that. And now you call me a demon?” the Crippler sounded hurt.
The Man quickly countered, “I don’t doubt your allegiance or service to me. I don’t believe you are a demon, but I’ve seen too many seemingly impossible actions to dismiss anything.”
The Crippler said nothing as he rose from the table. He bowed and backed out of the room, making sure not to turn his back on The Man. The awkward interaction didn’t make him any more confident that the Crippler was telling the truth. He couldn’t really handle the thought that the Crippler was actually a demon.
The Man rushed back to his quarters to be with Gamelda. He caught her scent from down the long hallway and speeded up his pace. He was still trying to lie to himself and pretend he wasn’t in love with Gamelda, but a blind man could clearly see the mutual infatuation between the two. He got inside and kissed his lover.
She asked, “Are we leaving right now, right this moment?”
He replied, “We have their army ready to give up. A few more attacks, and we will be on our way back toward the Capitol. Won’t be too long from now.”
Gamelda spoke with concern, “I’m seeing bad visions in my ball.”
The Man huffed and told her, “You always see bad visions in that shiny skull of yours. So you were right one time about one thing. I can’t make our men vulnerable to an easy death because you saw a vision that no one else can see. My head will be on a spike so fast it would be like suicide, and then you will be alone.”
“Come, look with me,” Gamelda said and grabbed her crystal skull from the end table.
She set the skull on a large table and made The Man sit down. She sat on his lap and they both looked at the skull. A fire was burning on the opposite side of the room and the crystal seemed to attract it. The Man glared at the skull as fire collected and swirled around the sunken eyeholes. The flames became bigger and circulated around the entire frame of the skull. The orange blaze created a permanent ring around the outside of the head as visions began to appear in the middle of the face.
Fires burned in a driving rainstorm at night. Two men were locked in a sword fight as the clanging of the blades rang in The Man’s head. He recognized the combatants as they parried back and forth until one man gained the advantage. No, it can’t be. That could never happen. This is all fadoodle.
The Man slapped the crystal skull from the table in a fit of rage. The fragile object tumbled perilously toward the stone floor until it stopped and remained suspended a few short whiskers from the ground. Gamelda used The Man’s chest to forcefully push herself up and retrieve the prized possession. She shot him an evil look as she put the skull back on the small table.
She asked in an annoyed tone, “So did you see him bleed yet?”
The Man took a deep sniff to clear his clogged nose. “As a matter of fact, I did. He was more than willing to put the rumor to rest.”
Gamelda lowered her eyes. “Really? I am shocked. You wouldn’t be lying now, would you?”
“What? Why would you think that?” The Man asked.
She quickly responded, “The fact that I know you are lying tells me. I know when people are lying. From everything you’ve seen from me, do you believe I cannot tell when a man is lying? You have to find out whether his blood runs pure or that black cloud will hang forever over your head. If we can get rid of these ugly spirits, the visions in the skull might change, but only if you flush out the negative power.”
Every day that they weren’t marching to the Capitol increased the possibility of losing the crown, and the pressure had started to take its toll on The Man. He swam courageously in the overflowing river of stress and hadn’t consumed wine or ale for over a week, which probably didn’t help his normal ornery state.
Later that day, Benroy and The Man sat at an ornate octagonal table in the audience chamber. The Man complained, “I’ve got one person advising me one way and the other saying the complete opposite.”
Benroy said in his soft voice, “That’s why you’re the king. You need to take all the information and make wise choices based off that knowledge. If you keep intelligent and loyal people around you, everything will be fine.”
The Man smiled and said, “You’re a good man, Benroy the Builder. Have you set plans for after we conquer the kingdom?” The Man could see hope in his friend’s wide eyes.
Benroy rubbed his chin. “With my new title and salary, I assume I’ll be able to find a decent wife. A nice castle life for my sons wouldn’t be a terrible upbringing either. My children will have everything that I never had. I hate to get back on task, but if we don’t leave before winter, I don’t think any of these plans will matter.”
The Man became angry again. “Those damned Wamhoffs. They cannot win. They know they cannot win but those stubborn foxes won’t go away. With their depleted force of barbarians, they don’t pose a true threat to the crown. “
A serving girl entered with a ewer of water and two clear green chalices. The young woman filled the glasses, pinched some coarse grains of salt from a golden dish and broke up the crystals into both of the chalices.
She looked
at The Man until he said, “That will be all.”
She curtsied and left the room.
“Jon Colbert grows more powerful with every passing moment as we languish in this backwards region. We need to finish off the Wamhoff party once and for all, and soon, or we can forget about putting the crown on your head,” Benroy warned.
“I know. He’s going to have every opening along the Blue Caps well garrisoned. If we take these secret tunnels, we could be crawling out of these holes only to be butchered. The longer we stay, the more the problems will mount. Even if we don’t lose a single man in dispatching off the Wamhoffs, just the delay in time will hurt nearly as bad,” The Man lamented.
“Hopefully, our sons won’t have to face these problems,” commented Benroy before taking a big gulp of his water. “And our daughters too, I should suppose,” said Benroy as he started to cough.
He grabbed at his throat and took another drink from the green chalice. He choked and spewed out the water as his face turned a deep plum color. His bright scarlet eyes started bulging out of his head. He coughed again and blood shot out of his mouth and nose. The Man watched helplessly as Benroy fell out of his chair and landed face down on the floor. The Man crouched down and turned the dying man over. Benroy’s desperate eyes searched for the fleeting bits of elusive life and The Man knew the struggle would be in vain. He held Benroy, one of his only true friends, as he stopped shaking and let death take over. His top advisor closed his eyes and finally went completely still.
The Man with the Golden Sword immediately thought the serving girl had poisoned Benroy and ordered his guards to track down the tiny woman. Before too long, his guards came to his quarters with the serving girl. She denied every accusation but there was no other plausible explanation for the poisoning.
The Man started to draw his sword to kill the girl when Tucker burst into the room.
“Stop, highness, stop right there.” The Man turned with sword in hand and heard Tucker say, “It’s spread all throughout the city. The entire supply of water has somehow been poisoned. I’ve already sent messages all over to alert the people to stop drinking the water.”
By the time the messages circulated, nearly five thousand soldiers had died as well as several hundred people from the castle. The Man didn’t feel safe and worried even more about the woman he loved. He had just lost one of his closest companions and got a bitter taste of dirty war tricks. He now understood that the city walls were meaningless if they didn’t protect the city.
How did someone get inside and poison our entire water supply? There are over ten different wells, all heavily guarded. Ali-Samuel, you bloody bastard, you’ve infiltrated my castle. Now, I’ll be certain to kill you myself. Now, it’s even more personal. No more of these filthy games, it’s time to end this with honor.
The next day at the somber council meeting, The Man announced, “Due to recent circumstances and our delayed march, I am inclined to accept the offer of a duel.”
The Crippler spoke first, “We don’t need to do this. Our enemy is nearly defeated.”
The Man rubbed his pommel and said, “That is the problem. Ali-Samuel Wamhoff has been nearly defeated many times over in his life. He always comes out on top. We have to kill him or events like the poisoned water will keep occurring. The man is relentless, but he can’t be relentless if he’s dead. I’ll have to kill him in a duel.”
The Crippler disagreed, “I must say, I think this is a foolish move.”
The Man looked around the room and asked, “Does anyone else wish to give another opinion that I didn’t ask for? This isn’t an open forum where this matter is up for debate. I will fight and kill Ali-Samuel Wamhoff. Have everything packed and ready to move out because we march immediately after the victory.”
“Pardon my questioning, your highness, but if you say he always wins, how can you be so confident?” Tucker asked.
The Man replied, “He is much better when using tricks and surprise. We are as evenly matched with a sword as you could ever imagine except for one matter. He is well older than me. I will wear him down and claim victory due to my stamina. I wouldn’t accept a fight I didn’t know I could win. I will defeat him in single combat where he can’t use any shifty tactics.”
A-EMILIA
A rare smile crossed the lips of Ali-Samuel Wamhoff as he said, “Hot damn, he accepted our offer of a duel. What a fool!”
The excited man dropped the parchment and the paper rolled itself back up. You mean my offer, it was my idea. How soon you forget about others’ contributions.
The war council sat at an uneven table with its legs dug deep into the moist gray sand. The flapping walls of the pavilion made everyone speak in a louder tone. Emilia and Ali-Steven looked at each other and a smile came over the former queen’s face.
Ali-Steven spoke barely loud enough to be heard over the whipping wind, “Listen my son, it pains me to tell you this, but you will not fight in the duel.”
Ali-Samuel looked around in disbelief and asked, “What in the good Gods do you mean I’m not fighting in the duel?”
Ali-Steven composed himself for a moment before he said, “Do I think you can beat this man in a duel? Absolutely, I do, but we’ve both been in many wars. We’ve seen battles. We’ve seen firsthand, some of the greatest warriors lose their lives to the hand of a lucky strike of the sword. Whereas I have confidence in your victory, we can’t lose you to a lucky defeat, or unlucky as it should be.”
Ali-Samuel was still incensed and snapped, “I can’t lose. This is certain.”
His father retorted, “But you can lose just by being involved in the fight and for that reason, Cobra shall slay your old friend. Cobra has been exposed to the western ways of fighting. He knows how to defend himself against a long sword. I don’t think the bastard has faced very many Histoman warriors. Not to mention, Cobra is the best of the best, battle tested scores of times over.”
Ali-Samuel just shook his head. “I am the only reason he accepted the offer of a duel. If I hadn’t risked my life by sneaking directly into the teeth of our enemy’s territory to poison the water, we wouldn’t even be having this talk.”
The elder Wamhoff raised his eyebrows and pointed at Ali-Samuel. “There it is. You performed the activity you specialize in and you performed the task rather well, I must say. Cobra became the leader of the Histoman by fighting duels; that’s his specialty. Trust me on this matter. Making decisions, that’s my strong suit. This is the correct choice, whether you like it or not.”
Ali-Samuel muttered something under his breath, crossed his arms and rested them on his chest.
“After the victory, we will need to capture all the enemy’s resources. Food, coin, soldiers, we need all we can get our hands on. We will need to raid the Duke’s Castle unless our predecessor has already cleared out all the valuables. We cannot truly mount a real offensive on King Colbert unless we convert all their supporters,” Ali-Steven informed everyone.
Ali-Samuel responded in a monotone voice, “And none of this plotting will mean a thing unless we win the duel.”
Ali-Steven yelled, “Stop it. Stop it right now. You’re too old for these childish antics. You’re a fine warrior, always have been, yet still hopelessly foolish to match.”
Ali-Samuel lowered his head like a scolded child and didn’t look up.
Emilia spoke in a voice that was almost a scream to be heard over the rippling wind. “I have an unorthodox plan. We win the duel, of course, and claim Waters Edge as our own kingdom. We make Jon Colbert come to us. Make him cross the Blue Caps so we can easily pick off his men as they come across.”
Ali-Steven bobbed his head back and forth and said, “Only problem is that he could attack by sea and our fleet and shore protection are basically nonexistent. He would crush us easily and it wouldn’t even be fair.”
The former queen argued, “If we establish ourselves and heavily garrison the coast and mountains…”
Ali-Steven cut her off, “We don’t have
enough men or resources to do so. The King will eventually find a way in. Waters Edge doesn’t seem to be in great condition if a usurper can come right in and conquer the region. We can reassess these ideas once we see the inside of the castle, to say the least. I do like the idea of drawing them to us somehow though. We might need to tweak the implementation.”
Sir Ralph said, “What if we created a War of the Nobleth thenario? We know the Capitol and King’th cathle.”
“What is the War of the Nobles?” Emilia asked.
Ali-Samuel didn’t raise his head, but said, “My, my, my, how soon they forget. We sacrifice our lives so they can get drunk and not remember our grand deeds.”
Ali-Steven explained, “The jade crown that hangs above the throne of Donegal was taken in the War of the Nobles.”
Emilia looked confused and asked, “I thought it was won in the Battle of Parismore?”
Ali-Steven reassured her, “Yes. That is the other name for the war.”
Emilia was skeptical. “How or who could infiltrate the King’s inner circle and gain that much instant favor without cause of alert?”
Ali-Steven responded, “We don’t have anyone yet. But if we take over the region, that would open a new set of possibilities. I suppose we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves and remain focused on the duel.”
The meeting came to a close and Emilia walked back to her tent.
As soon as she entered, Ali-Samuel barked at her, “What was that? You think I didn’t see that smile you gave my father before he announced I wouldn’t fight in the duel. Is all this funny to you? Is everything a great big joke to you? You told my father to keep me out of that duel, didn’t you?”
“I just don’t want you to get killed. I couldn’t take something like that happening. I was doing it for your own good,” Emilia told him.
He grabbed her by the throat with his right hand and spoke in a dark, gruff tone, “Don’t you ever get involved with my affairs.”
Emilia gagged as slobber poured out of the corners of her mouth and her face started to turn a strange mix of midnight blue and burgundy. Emilia felt like she would never take another breath until Ali-Samuel relinquished his grip and stormed out of the tent.
Six Heads One Crown (The Pearl of Wisdom Saga Book 3) Page 24
