When we were half way above the ground two spears were pointed straight to our chest. When I was fully out of the pit I saw two soldiers holding the spears. They were dressed like old war movie soldiers with a red top and a grey pant. They wore boots upto their knees. White stripes of cloth made an ‘X’ on their top. They also wore a black hat which had a red feather at the top of it and symbol in the middle which was like a two headed shark. Then Eva climbed out and said
“Spears down, guards. It is me and the boy”. The guards obeyed as they were said. Then they stood in attention and saluted and went to do their works.
“Guardians of the pit. There are many of them in the exit of each and every pit. In case someone followed us the whole way. Now follow me” she said and went forward. I scanned the place. I saw many tents and a huge tent in the middle. I felt like I was standing in the backstage of the circus stadium where the animals were trained and grown. That huge tent was almost double the size of my house. Here the ground grew grass. There was a small groove at one end and a pavilion overlooking the battle. Despite the battle that was going on the ground this place seemed peaceful. From here I could hear the voices of the soldiers. I still didn’t know how I was going to fight over there. Then I came back to my consciousness. Eva was standing at the entrance of the huge tent. She signaled me to come in. So I went inside.
The tent’s inner part was more glorious, beautiful, massive (fill with words related to that) than the outer part. It was a replica of the throne room of a palace. At the far end of the tent sat the throne of the king. Then there were six minor thrones on the either side. So I assumed that the king has twelve ministers. A bright red carpet with golden designs was spread the whole length of the tent. The tent was held by twelve pillar width sticks. I had to keep on reminding my mind that this was a tent not a building. The tent was not empty. Actually the tent was full. All the twelve chairs were occupied by the ministers. They were sitting in a descending age category. The oldest ministers were nearer to the king and they seemed totally fit except their face was full of wrinkles. Then the youngest ministers sat far away from the king. They seemed about thirty. The king himself was present and he was talking to a man. The whole scene was like a classroom full of students talking among themselves while the teacher was doing some work. The man who was talking to the king was showing some kind of map to the king. I guessed that the map would be of the battlefield with all the secret tunnels that Eva had told me. When the king saw us he told the man to stop and ordered the guards to let us in. When we entered the tent, the whole place went silent like in a classroom suddenly the headmaster had entered. This seen was like the same day when I and Eva went to the river bank to play. At that time my friends stared at Eva. But now all the ministers started staring at me. Finally the king said
“Come, my brave warrior. We have a lot to talk.” Eva knelt down and I did the same. The king came near us and asked us to stand. I had the full view of the king. He was pure white like milk. His cheeks were a little pink like he blushed all the time. He had long dark hair that went upto his shoulders. He had a cone shaped beard and his moustache was twisted on both sides. Both the beard and moustache were brown and honestly they did not suit him at all. His eyes were golden in colour. He wore a dress that I could not explain. Imagine a man wearing a dress which is triple times his size and the dress went upto his neck and ended at a ‘V’ at his waist. He wore brown gloves till his elbows and knee long boots. He wore a balloon fit pant and it was blue in color. At his waist a brown belt was tied and it was holding a sword.
“Is this the one?” he asked.
“Yes, my lord” Eva replied.
“How could you confirm it?”
“He has the same scar in his neck like Carlo’s, my lord and our predicter couldn’t have lied, can he, my lord?” Then the king stared at me like he had X-ray eyes and he was looking at my skeleton. I was really small in front of him. My head ended just above his chest. Then he circled me twice. I became uncomfortable. The king and Eva, both were talking about me like I was a scape goat and they were deciding whether or not I would make a good dish.
“I don’t think he’s the one. He’s too weak, small and he is not brave at all. I could sense it.” For a split second I became happy thinking that the king would ask Eva to take back me to my own century. But any of that didn’t happen.
“He doesn’t have the sword, my lord.” Eva said.
“Ah, yes. The sword. Okay, Eva, listen. You have brought him here and it is your duty and responsibility to train him for the war. Let’s see if he lives or dies in the war” he finished.
“Yes, my lord. I won’t fail you. I promise” Eva said. Her voice was calm. But I could feel some scaryness in her voice.
“Okay, all of you give us a minute.” The king said. All the ministers, guards and servants went out leaving me, Eva and the king alone. The king saw me and said
“I’m king Augustin, boy. I guess you know the reason why you are here.”
“Yes, my lord. I‘m here instead of your great warrior Carlo. But I don’t know why she chose me.” As soon as I said that statement I realized that I should not have said it. The king stared at me like how this small fellow is going to lead an army. Then he said
“That is really simple, boy. The Carlo-qualities in you are hidden. We can bring it out. Especially, Eva will bring it out. This is war, boy. Our only policy should be kill the enemy on sight, no more second thoughts in killing the enemy and show your kindness to our soldiers alone. Do you understand?”
“Yes, my lord.” I said. Then he turned to Eva and asked
“How many days you want to train him?”
“Two to three days, my lord. That is enough for me.” She said. I stared at her and I wanted to ask ‘Are you kidding’ but I resisted myself. But I had no idea how someone can get ready for a war without any practice.
“You have not been here for seven days. Our army fought bravely but a little guidance was missing. We have lost many soldiers and our soldiers are getting nervous and afraid day by day. We can’t lose any more soldiers. So I’ll give you only two days. Within that you should train him and he leads.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Now, go. Start your training. From now on your name is Carlo, boy. I wish you luck. I’ll see you after 48 hours” he finished and went to his throne and sat on it. He started to fill a glass with wine and drank it. I and Eva went to the tent’s entrance. At that time he called us and said
“Listen, even if you both had your lives after this war and we have lost it, I will not punish any of the soldiers but I’ll punish you both. This is a promise. You two will face slow death. Do you want me to explain some of our cruel punishment, Eva? You know it. So train him properly. Go.” Then we went out of the tent. I have already started to sweat. I might have peed in the same spot but I didn’t know it. When we came to the backside of the tent I asked Eva
“What did he king just said, did he mean it literally? That cruel killing.”
“He meant it literally. When our king promises something he’ll fulfill it.”
“Okay then just kill me now. Certainly we are going to die. Why should we die cruelly? We’ll die peacefully.”
“Can you just shut your mouth? Why are you always thinking of losing and dying? Can’t you be positive for at least a minute? I’m here to train you but the training will be fulfilled only if you have some self confidence or at least you should have some hope in you” she almost wept.
“Hey, hey, hey. Okay I’ll think positively from now on and I’ll have full concentration on my training. We are going to win this war” I said but I didn’t know where I got this kind of courage. That created a smile in her face.
“Okay now where are we training?” I asked. She didn’t reply and went off. So I followed quietly.
Thank you for reading this chapter and supporting. Keep reading and supporting.
-CapWarrior
