BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan (31 page)

Even though Humonus could not see, as he was
lost in one of those clouds himself, he instinctively stabbed his
sword deep into the gut of a female gnome who possessed a wicked
dagger and had just teleported to his position—she was dead!

As Humonus didn’t sense any other dark gnomes
right near his location, at the moment, he yelled out through the
darkness, “Forces, remember your training!”

The gnomes had already shot several dozen
arrows with precision into Humonus’s direction, but the man had
already performed two leaping somersaults—back to back—out of
harm’s way.

The troops neither spoke, nor moved, nor
attacked, nor used their shields, unless they
felt
they had
to, as per the orders of their ruling general.

In the next moment, the patch of darkness
that had been surrounding the very man strangely dissipated and he
could again see.

Just before Humonus had leapt back into yet
another cloud, he noted to himself that the giants were the ones
stomping all about and making a lot of noise in the darkness in
order to find the gnomes, or each other. At the same time, he saw
that the gnomes that now surrounded the camp were continuously
shooting more volleys of arrows whenever they saw their human
enemies, or heard noises, especially at the giants! At the same
came all the other combative sounds of swords or other weapons
slicing others—coupled with the sounds of people or gnomes
screaming out in pain!

Once again on his feet in the darkness,
Humonus half-whispered in the language of Thorium, “Salami, tell
your giants to stay still and keep quiet…”

Salami, who had been eating breakfast with
Humonus and was still nearby enshrouded in his own cloud only
twenty feet away, yelled out in Valakanese, “Silence—stop stomping
about!”

Nearly a dozen arrows would have just killed
Salami, but fortunate smiled on him as every single arrow had been
deflected and destroyed—with one swipe of Humonus’s sword.

Salami, however, did not know this fact that
his life had just been saved. Fortunately, the giants had listened
to Salami, stopped in their tracks, and were making no noises
whatsoever.

For a little over a minute, silence reigned,
except by the horses and camels that all had been snorting out
their nervousness and fears, as well the crying from the wounded
and/or the dying.

Not even thirty seconds later, ten thousand
gnomes simultaneously screamed into the air, just before they
swarmed like angry bees through the encampment in order to kill
every human and beast!!

Thanks to the troops’ expert combat training,
however, they had killed nearly a thousand gnomes in the first
round and injured another thousand, while only several dozen humans
were dead, and a few dozen more injured!

At the same time, the giants had killed two
hundred-or-so gnomes in that same first round—nearly a couple
thousand clouds dissipated in total, which made about one-tenth of
the entire camp—people, giants, and gnomes included—become
visible.

Even though Cheo remained perfectly, still in
the darkness, he heard the sounds of a sword zinging his way, and
based off the direction that the sounds were going, he dropped to
his knees while swinging his own sword horizontally.

The gut of a gnome was split wide open, and
the shroud of darkness that had covered over Cheo’s position
dissipated!

Now that he could see, he began pursuing and
killing all those female gnomes that were either teleporting, or
the males sneaking from cloud to cloud, in order to get to their
pre-selected prey. He had killed about two dozen of them, mostly
males, so far … and counting!

With every swing of Yaush’s six-foot
axe—whether in darkness or light—two to three gnomes were not only
hit and killed, but their corpses flew a dozen feet through the
air!

For the next ten minutes, a fierce “battle of
the ages” was fought, as wave after wave of dark gnomes continued
to attack with everything they had, including their magical weapons
and martial arts skills, in order to win! For some unexplainable
reason, whenever a gnome was killed, his or her weapon stopped
glowing. In the end, however, thousands more gnomes had been
slaughtered, and only a few thousand had successfully retreated
into the day.

After the very last creature was gone or dead
on the bloody battlefield, as well all the black clouds, the
Valakanese giants and the Forces of the Sharia Empire lifted their
weapons high into the air, and for several minutes longer, they all
cried out, “Hooray!” or “Hoosha!”

Once things had finally settled back down,
Humonus found Stormea, and so he ordered, “Commanding-General
Stormea, find out the number of men and giants killed or wounded,
and report this number to me on the double.”

“Yes sir!”

Nearly twenty minutes later, Stormea reported
the information that four hundred twenty-three men had been killed,
and eight hundred had been wounded in all degrees, including the
four hundred soldiers who were still dry heaving from the poison,
as they had nothing else left to puke up. Nine giants had been
killed with thirty wounded—twelve of these were also dry heaving!
Last but not least, an approximate count of the number of dead
gnomes—at least eight thousand.

Only seconds after hearing the report,
Humonus called out through his megaphone, “Attention!”

The army assumed the position—he briefed,
“Forces, we have finally met the evil enemy face to face, and we
have lost more than four hundred good lives today—let there no
longer be any doubt amongst any of you that the words of our Sultan
bear true!”

He stopped in his speech and nodded at
Salami. In turn, Salami interpreted in Valakanese … and in turn,
his brethren cried out, “Hooooooosha!”

Humonus only then continued, “Today, we shall
pick up our camp, move the wounded into the back of our support
wagons, and move a half-mile down the road, where we will set up
our new camp and properly treat all the wounded—and let’s triple
the guards, while the rest of us rests and recuperates. That way,
we will have three times the chance to raise the alarm and fight
back should they make another attack!”

Salami interpreted.

Once it was his turn, Humonus added, “Come
tonight, we ride with even more haste toward the Galgaa Jungles,
which should only be about four days away. After all, our chances
of beating the gnomes in the jungles will be far greater than
fighting in these very narrow valleys.”

Salami interpreted.

Humonus asked, “Are all my orders clearly
understood?”

“Yes, Ruling-General Humonus,” the troops
cried out in unison.

Salami interpreted what Humonus had just
said—in turn, the giants again cried out, “Hooooooooosha!”

Humonus concluded, “Make it so.”

That evening, after their new camp had been
broken and dinner eaten, the army went back on the trails that, for
the most part, descended.

Four uneventful mornings later, just before
sunrise, the army had once again finished setting up camp, this
time within the borders of the Galgaa Jungles.

Until all of a sudden and coming from out of
nowhere, a giant hawk carrying an unknown man landed only twenty
feet away from the command tent.

Not even a second later, “the alarm” got
raised as hundreds of nearby soldiers—with weapons drawn and ready
to kill—quickly began to surround the hawk and rider. At the same
time, many of them soldiers were yelling out, “Intruder alert!”

The man looked all around real nervously,
before gulping and then asking, “Is there—is there a Ruling-General
Humonus or a King Cheo around here?”

Though these very men had exited the command
tent in the next second with weapons drawn, Humonus answered using
suspicious tones, “Yes, this man and I are the ones you seek. Who
are you?”

“My name is Darius, and I bear a sealed
message from Sultaness Brishava Elysian!”

Now sounding a bit curious though mostly
suspicious, Humonus asked, “Really—where is the message?”

“May I be allowed to get off my hawk, sir?
The scroll is in a saddlebag.”

“Yes… Soldiers, at ease.”

The soldiers relaxed their weapons, but of
course they did not leave the area.

Immediately Darius climbed down to the
ground, pulled out a scroll case out of one of his saddlebags, and
extended it out for Humonus to take—he did.

Humonus then opened the case up, and pulled
out a scroll that bore the unbroken seal bearing the symbol of the
Sharia Empire. After handing the scroll case back to Darius,
Humonus cracked the wax, unrolled the scroll, and once unrolled, he
verbally read aloud this message:

“‘Greetings King Cheo and Ruling-General
Humonus,

I trust that your campaign against the dark
gnomes and the dragon is going well, and that the Valakanese have
joined us in our crusade against these abominable monsters…

To let you know, this man who stands before
you is named Darius. Darius is not just a hawk rider, yet he is
also the special caretaker and trainer of hawks—a hawk master.

Please listen very carefully to everything
Darius has to say regarding this most beautiful female hawk I have
named Leshava, of whom is a very sensitive, proud, and intelligent
creature I already love.

Now I am going to allow the both of you, King
Cheo and Ruling-General Humonus, to equally borrow and share her,
until the war is over—after all, she is a special gift to me from
King Amnion and Queen Tessa.

Leshava will serve you best as a scout that
can literally climb miles up into the sky, or sharply dive with the
simple tugging of the reins.

Please try and keep her out of direct combat
situations, as I would very much like to keep her alive, so that we
can breed her with the male hawk counterpart, whom I have given to
your Sultan.

Speaking of my beloved, Baltor successfully
continues onward with his mission. Not only has he successfully
recaptured the city of Lasparus without so much a drop of blood
spilt, yet he and his army are marching northeast toward Parthway,
in the hopes of uniting his forces with the Vispano Province’s
forces.

How much greater our odds, and how much more
wonderful it would be, if we had them fighting alongside us,
despite our recent past grievances? Well, that is the last word I
heard from any of my husband’s messengers, which was but a few
weeks ago—of course I love reading every word your Sultan has to
write…

Finally, know that we have peacefully
reclaimed Mauritia, as well another successful city of the Vaspan
Empire we did not know about previously, called Driven—so great is
the news I bring to you in so many ways! The Sharia Empire grows
more and more each and everyday.

Good luck with your campaign, Ruling-General
Humonus and King Cheo…and God speed,

Sultaness Brishava Elysian of the Sharia
Empire.

P.S. Please ensure this message is relayed to
King Cheo, okay?

P.P.S. Once the war is over, we will breed
our two hawks, Praetor and Leshava. Both you and the king will get
your pick of the first batch of baby hawks, okay?

P.P.S.S. Ruling General Humonus, your new
battle armor is ready and is sitting in a large bag upon Leshava.
King Cheo’s should be done in another month.’”

Upon having concluded the letter, Humonus
rolled the scroll back up, placed it in the scroll case, shut the
case, and wedged it between his arm and armpit.

“So,” Humonus asked, “is it possible if King
Cheo gets the first ride on the hawk with you for about an hour?
And then I can be second for another hour, after of course you’ve
given me my armor so I can try it on, and make sure it fits and
works properly?”

“Yes, sir,” Darius replied with a smile and a
salute. He immediately unclasped the bag that held the armor from
the saddlebag and handed it over.

While Humonus entered the command tent with
his two generals-in-tow to help him put the armor on, Cheo took the
rear seat of the hawk’s saddle, while Darius took the front
seat.

As Humonus came to find out, thirty-or-so
minutes later, his armor fit just like a glove! While waiting for
the next half hour so he could have his turn riding on the hawk, he
began performing somersaults and other acrobatics, in order to see
that he had his “flexibility.” He did … and after the hour was
over, he got his ride on the hawk, which ride was, in his opinion,
“incredibly exhilarating.”

Following, they—and the army—got to watch as
Darius allowed the hawk to hunt on her own … and once over,
everyone ate dinner and went to bed.

For the next week, the army spread itself out
into their original battle formation, before they began to maneuver
at a slower-than-normal pace through the Galgaa Jungles, due to the
lush jungle environment that existed everywhere—Humonus had also
ordered the army to be very flexible, and to avoid any areas that
looked un-traversable. So, very rare was the time when a chariot or
a wagon actually got stuck in the mud, which immediately had to be
pulled out.

Throughout the evenings, whenever the army
had made camp for the night, Humonus and Cheo quickly learned how
to fly the hawk … per Darius’s instructions. It was just like
riding a horse, as they quickly found out, except for the fact they
could additionally go up and down.

Strangely enough, there weren’t any other
encounters against the gnomes the entire time! Nor had it even
rained even once, which was highly unusual for a jungle
environment.

Back in the Vispano Province—1 evening
later…

Only seconds after the sun had set on this
particular night, Baltor woke up out of his deep sleep in the
command tent.

Upon having completed with his bath in the
portable bathtub, drying himself off, and putting on all of his
underclothes, his assistants came in so that they could fit him
into the armor and equip him with his swords … just like every
night.