Suddenly the air was filled with smoke. The whole place became blurred. I watched. After sometime, four soldiers came into sight. They were carrying spears and they were marching. I knew why they had come here. At the back of them almost a fifty soldiers were carrying blow torches. Those torches explained the reason for the smoke. The whole place became bright. At the back of them five soldiers were riding their horses. No! wait. Not all five were soldiers. Four men were soldiers and the man in the middle was the king. Even though he was in the middle of the four soldiers he was clearly visible. His horse was massive. Max would have looked like a pony in front of it. At the back of the king many soldiers gathered around the ground. The first thought came into my mind was ‘Do I have to fight all of them?’ and the second thought was ‘Oh! These many friends have come to watch my death.’ I waved off both the thoughts and then watched the king as he climbed down from his horse. The king came near me. I bowed to him with one knee on the floor.
“Have you trained well, Carlo?” he asked. I resisted the urge to say that my name is Oliver. Instead I said
“Yes, sir, er, my lord”
“Okay boy, listen. Tonight you have to fight six soldiers,” he gave a pass as if he wanted to see if my expression was scared or not. “, but not at the same time. You will have three chances. First chance, you fight a single soldier. Second chance, you fight two soldiers. And the last chance, you fight three soldiers, but with one condition. You shouldn’t rest for a single minute. Can you do that?”
My mind trembled in fear. My hands and legs shook like they were trying to escape from their sockets. But I had to control the fear. ‘Do not let your opponent know that you are in fear’ Eva had said. So I controlled my whole body and said
“I can do it, my lord.”
“Good, but one more thing. The soldiers will kill you if they get a chance and you also have the full rights to kill them. Okay?” with that condition fear flowed right from my brain through my back and upto my toes. I was definitely going to die. But I said to myself, I have killed a tiger and escaped one. So I can kill these soldiers. I thought about Max, Eva and Bella. All were really brave. A tiger is an undefeatable opponent for a horse. But Max and Bella had chased it. While a horse can, why can’t I? I didn’t know how I got so many positive thoughts at this situation. A new flow of courage flowed into my veins and that courage overthrew the fear that was filled in my body.
“Yes my lord. I will kill the soldiers if I get a chance.”
“So, that’s it. Let the fight begin” the men with the torches ran around the ground and set the torches in their stands. The men with the drum gave a fast beat and finished with a loud DUM! I took my position in the centre of the ground. A soldier entered the ground. He was thin and scrawny. He was in full battle armor. He could barely walk with it. He also carried a cavalry sword, a little longer than mine. He seemed too weak to be a soldier. ‘I’ll defeat him in a minute’ I thought. At that time I realized the meaning of the proverb ‘DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER.’ He was two times faster than Eva. He didn’t give me a single chance to attack. I kept on defending. He was not getting tired also. So I performed a stupid thing. I ran a little away from him like I was scared of him. From him look I guessed that he was confused. So I ran towards him and with the hilt I gave a nice dint on his chest. He let out all the air and groaned and stumbled back. Before he could gain his balance I gave a nice hit on his face. He fell. The crowd waited for me to kill him and my sword was in his neck. I saw the king. He gestured like ‘Go on, kill him.’ but I didn’t obey that gesture. I caught his hand and lifted him up. He was barely able to stand. He gave me a last look like saying ‘I’ll be grateful to you.’ And he also gave me a look like ‘You should have killed me.’ Then he went into the crowd without looking at the king. But the king was staring furiously at him. He nodded to a nearby soldier. I didn’t understand that nod. Whether it was go-and-kill-him nod or take-him-to-the-infirmary nod?
