Story of a Gladiator

CHAPTER 2: Caught in the thicket

King Caiaphas: General Ferris are you ready for the attack.
General Ferris: Yes sire! Me and my men are ready to attack Dorrem.
(General Ferris and his men were heading towards Dorrem to attack one of its major fortress.)
(General Ferris is a tough man with a heart of steal. He is cunning and is very reliable. His wife Sheryl is also in the army. She is the daughter of a poor Weaver, they both have a son by name Garris. Garris is a young lad of age about four, he is a small, and a curious little boy. He even hid in his father's carriage and headed with him to the ambush.)
Sheryl: I am so glad, that our son is safe back at the Kingdom. I just wish we survive this attack, so that I can see my beloved little boy again.
General Ferris: Sheryl! In our lives Amestas is first, then comes our family and friends, if we die we shall die with great honour. For I have full faith on my son, he will become greater than I, and he will pull out Amestas from these dark days that we are going through.
(The army of Amestas are positive that they will win the attack, but what they did not know is that Dorrem were ready to slaughter the lamb at the altar.)
(Now it so happened that there is this messenger from Dorrem, by name Spock, he travels to Amestas in different disguises, sometimes as a beggar, sometimes as a merchant, and sometimes as an old man who has lost his way and needs some shelter.)
(He passed on all the information on how many men did Amestas send for the ambush, thier tactics, whether they had a back up or not, everything.)
King Dek: Here are a hundred gold coins for your noble work. General Hacks, get ready with your troops, it is time for an ambush.
General Hacks: Yes sire. Shall we surround them like a pack of hungry wolves, and squash them like little mice.
King Dek: Do whatever you want to do, but in the end, I want to see the blood of General Ferris on your sword. He has been an iron pillar for Amestas. And if you fail, just remember my lions are hungry.
General Hacks: Yes, yes sire.
(Hacks goes and prepares his men for battle.)
(Now there is this huge valley with green pastures that separates Amestas from Dorrem, the valley is known as the Skull of valleys. The army of Amestas stopped by.)
Rufus: General we have reached the valley, should we continue with our journey or halt with our journey and set out a camp.
General Ferris: Let us set out the camp, tell the men to take good rest, for tomorrow by sunlight we will attack Dorrem. Until then no bonfire's, for the people of Dorrem are very vigilant at night, if they spot anything suspicious, they will bring it down.
(The army settled down on the green pastures and were eating berries from the valley and were drinking wine.)
(Not so far away General Hacks were keeping a close eye on General Ferris and his men, they were planning various tactics on how to crush them.)
Sergio: Should we attack them now sir.
General Hacks: It will be foolishness if we attack them when they are awake.
King Dek: Foolishness indeed.
General Hacks: My Lord! Why have you come up here, it is a very dangerous place up here.
King Dek: There was no good entertainment back there in the kingdom, and I thought what will give me more pleasure than seeing the army of Amestas fall like a castle of cards.
Sergio: Or see us fall.
(At that very moment King Dek takes a spear and throws it straight into Sergio's ribcage.)
King Dek: I heard that Sergio.
Sergio: Hail King Dek, and long live Do Do Dorrem.
(And he dies.)
King Dek: They are drunk, and they will not expect us at this hour, so we will wait until they are all gone to bed, then we will surround them, then some of us will go into the camps and steal all thier weapons. Then Archers you set your arrows on fire and burn all thier camps down. And as the fire set in they will be scared and as they rush out of the camps we will slaughter them all.
(Meanwhile in the camp were General Ferris and Sheryl were resting in.)
(Garris comes in and starts crying.)
Garris: Mamma huhuhh huh...
(This awakes both the parents as they are in utter shock seeing thier young son in the camp.)
General Ferris: Oh my, Garris is here, it isn't safe for him to be around.
Sheryl: But but how has he reached over here.
General Ferris: There is no point for us to debate . Sheryl listen to me take this small boy and return him back to the kingdom.
Sheryl: OK no problem. Take care of yourself.
General Ferris: Hmm.
(She takes Garris and ties him around her back, she takes some food and drink, jumped on her horse and headed towards Amestas.)
(Now the army of Dorrem have already set thier plan into action, and were ready to attack. But at that very point King Dek's eyes fell on Sheryl and he fell in love with her.)
King Dek: Catch her, she's all mine. I think I have found the girl of my dreams.
(The army men catch her and takes her to King Dek.)
King Dek': General Hacks attack.
Sheryl: Attack no no Ferris... Nooooooooooo!!
King Dek: That's right my precious pearl ATTACK.
(The attack takes place, everything is destroyed, men of Amestas crying and howling, Sheryl tries to fight but fails, all the men including General Ferris die, Sheryl starts to weep as she has lost everything in her life except for her small child Garris, who is sleeping on his mother's back like a small cherub.)
(The army of Amestas were caught in a thicket and they all were slaughtered like lambs. So much agony and pain takes place as the fire settled down.)
King Dek: We have been victorious, and for you...

TO BE CONTINUED
Next chapter releases on this Thursday so stay tuned.
Alan Dsilva.