The Destineds

The Destineds - Sabotage

"You all know what to do right?", asked Karsh, to his friends' team.
"Yes", replied all the others in a chorus.
"Are you sure about this?", asked Jay.
"Of course. It's to teach the Deity guards a lesson of a lifetime", answered Karsh.
"Alright then. As the deputy commander, I'm at your service Commander Karsh.",said Jay.
"Stop it.....", whined Karsh, embarrassed at what Jay just told. "I'm not a Commander and you all are not serving under me. We are friends. Friends with a huge grudge against the Deitys for treating us like the dust under their feet. We'll show them that the same dust, when together makes the land that they stand on and we can take away that same land from beneath their feet."

The band of six friends set out to the border. They had worn dark green and black clothes to camouflage into the dark environment of the evening. They applied dark paint on their faces and wore masks and gloves. They wore rubber shoes to make the least sound.
They hid themselves well away from the gate but near enough to see the gate clearly.

Each of them had a slingshot, two knives and a packet of fainting-powder.
Karsh carried an aluminium rod and some iron pieces and refused to explain its purpose to the others. Jay carried a double-ended dagger, Hirag carried a sickle and Ral carried an axe, which are not hard to explain as... as weapons.
Vaini brought along a whip and Tuhi came up with a new type of sneaky weapon which could throw people off-guard as they won't expect it. It was a star-shaped disk with pointy edges, with a facility to attach thin threads for navigation or throw it at someone to hurt them. Tuhi's father was a blacksmith and it wasn't hard for her to make these new weapons. She was gifted with the knowledge about making new stuff using iron. She was the pride of her father and he would say that he doesn't regret having no male child.

The six friends were now hiding at the border, ready to ambush the guards of the gate. All of this started two months ago when Karsh shared his awful experience at the border with his good friends Jay, Ral and Hirag. They were boy-chatting when this topic came up. Ral, being 3 years older than Karsh, told that even he experienced similar mistreatments when he turned 15 and went for trade with his father. He hated every moment of it and later told his father that he wouldn't accompany him on his trades.
Jay being a few months younger than Karsh had went to trade with Karsh a lot of times. They had seen the mistreatment done to each other with their own eyes.
Hirag on the other hand, though being an year older than both Karsh and Jay, never went on trade practice. Hirag's father, Mr. Kriup had made a deal with Mr. Mihil, that he would take both their goods for trade. When he was back, he would give Mr.Kriup's share to him and keep his own share to himself.

"Why would Deity society guards treat you people badly when they are literally getting their daily needed products from us??", asked Hirag.
"Exactly", said Jay. "We should stop selling goods to them. Then they'll know our value."
"No. That can't happen. They have a strong military power and they'll attack us and we're defenseless. They even have powers that can be used against us.", said Ral.
"And our only source of income is the trade with the Deitys. We don't have any other Societies to trade with.", said Karsh.
"You are quite wise for the second youngest.", said Ral.
"This isn't about age... It's about the skill to understand politics and trade.", said Karsh, annoyed.
"We have to do something about these people. Though small in effect, it should warn the Deitys.", said Jay.
Everyone looked at him and after a few seconds agreed that they couldn't let them continue tormenting the Infirmas like this.
"Then, we will come up with a plan to ambush the Deity society's guards at the gate. How about that?", asked Karsh.
"I'm skeptical. But still.... I'm in.", said Hirag.
"Let's not tell the girls about this", said Ral.
"Oh, really?", said a girl's voice behind them. They turned around to find Vaini and Tuhi standing there, brows risen.
"How long have you both been standing there for?", asked Jay.
"Since your discussion about stopping the trade with Deitys.", replied Tuhi.
The faces of the boys went pale.
"So you know everything we talked about and our plan too", said Karsh.
"Yes. We do. So you better take us into the plan.", said Vaini.
"We can't. You are ladies and delicate and your hands must only wield the tools of life and not a weapon of bloodshed.", said Ral, dramatically.
"Cut it out, Ral. You don't have to tell us what to do.", said Vaini.
"We are joining you guys on this. That's it.", said Tuhi.
"You, however, need a genius like me to plot out your plan for you. You guys are too dumb to make a practical plan.", said Vaini.
"Heyyyyy... That's insulting", protested Hirag.
"Exactly...", said Tuhi, mockingly.
"Now that even the girls have joined us. We'll have to tone down the plan a bit too match the girls' strength.", said Hirag.
"Excuse me. You are underestimating us.", complained Tuhi.
"And don't tell me that you guys are planning to do an actual combat with the gate guards over there. Because, I don't want to be the one to explain why your dead bodies have returned home instead of you, alive. And DEFINITELY not explain what you people were up to.", said Vaini. Everyone there fell silent.
"She has a point.", said Ral.
"That is the reason why I'm necessary to you guys.", replied Vaini.
The boys rolled their eyes.
"So what are we supposed to do?", asked Hirag.
"We should do a secret ambush. We should be hidden and use our weapons and techniques. We should not kill anyone but hurt them enough to scare them.
We should mostly target the carts coming from Deity society to Infirma society.", said Vaini.
"Got it?', added Tuhi.
"No no no. We can't attack any carts, let alone Deity ones. If we attack Deity carts they'll find out that it was people from Infirma who did that.",said Ral.
"They'll suspect Infirmas first, even if we don't attack their carts.", argued Jay.
There was another silence among them.
"They'll suspect Infirmas, if we don't sabotage any carts.", said Karsh, out of a sudden.
Everyone looked at him with a questioning look.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not lying.", defended Karsh.
"How so?",asked Hirag
"There are many highwaymen groups in both societies.", said Karsh. "If we attack some carts of both societies and take some of the things with us, they'll think it's a highwaymen group and won't suspect Infirmas."
"How is that guaranteed?", asked Tuhi.
"It has happened before.", explained Karsh. "There were many incidents where highwaymen robbed some carts and Infirmas were not blamed"
"Now that's some brains.", said Vaini.

And here after two months of stalking the guards' routine and the regularity of carts from Deity society, they decided to execute their plan on this day.
A cart from Infirma crossed into Deity soil after the checking. The next cart was pulling up in front of the guards from Deity to Infirma lands. It was loaded with sacks of maize. Maize wasn't grown in Infirma society and was bought from the Deitys. It wasn't a necessary item. It was something the Infirmas were forced to buy just because the Deitys wanted to sell them. Another kind of oppression.

As expected, no serious checking was done other than documenting the trader's name, the goods he was transporting and the time.
This was their time. The six friends had to ambush that particular cart and the Infirma cart in front of it.
The group slowly walked closer to the checkpost and crouched behind a boulder. The road curved a few metres away. That was where they had to go to cross the road. Ral, Hirag and Vaini stayed hidden behind the boulder, while the rest crept towards the curve and crossed the road.

Karsh was leading the other two. Tuhi followed right behind Karsh while Jay kept gaurd at the back. They kept to the shadows as they made their way towards the post.
They hid behind a thicket of bushes, opposite to the boulder the other three were hiding behind.
It was time to put their plan into action. Karsh slightly peeked above the bushes and at the same time Ral from the other side did so too. They nodded at each other. It was play time.

Karsh and Ral threw one of their daggers at the sacks in the cart. Then the others followed suit. Tuhi and Hirag were using sling shots to pelt stones at the carts, sacks, traders and mainly the gaurds. The gaurds ran inside the checkpost room to avoid the stones. The team who were waiting for this opportunity, came out of their hiding spots and rushed to the carts. They held out their weapons at the people there and transferred few sacks of the Infirma cart into the Deity cart. Hirag and Ral dashed into the room with their sickle and axe, where the gaurds were now hiding in. Such cowards.
Vaini followed close behind with her whip outstretched.

The guards were sitting in a corner, hugging their knees in fright.
"I really thought you people had some guts!", said Ral.
"P- please- let us live.", stammered one of the guards.
"Who told that we'll kill you?", asked Hirag.
Ral looked at him, eyebrows raised and eyes widened.
"W- we are supposed to k-kill them?", asked Hirag, shocked.
"Obviously! What'd you expect? Leave them to go report is to the great Lilag clan of Deity society?", countered Ral.
"There will be no killing here. We have talked about this already.", came a voice from behind.
Hirag and Ral turned around to find Vaini, glaring at them. She continued, "Just robbing."
"Alright, madam." Hirag said. Turning towards the guards, he said,"You're so lucky that-"
He stopped in mid sentence, because there were no guards there.
The guards has escaped from the window while the group was busy talking amongst themselves.
"There you go. We lost them.", cursed Hirag.