81 Lion and the Cubs (1/2)
”My lord, We have successfully distributed the gold and silver to the families and people are very grateful towards you” Joel reported the recent situation to Don.
While Joel was reporting, Don kept honing his close combat skills by hitting a wooden dummy until it blew to pieces just like the previous wooden dummies lying around the room.
Seeing Don sweating due to hitting the wooden dummies Arrora handed over a white towel to Don. Don didn't say anything but nodded her and wiped the sweat using the towel and threw the towel away.
”What's the situation among the soldiers?” Don asked Joel while controlling the air and water element around him to clean up.
”Many of them are very loyal to Warren my lord so when he bends the knee, they will without a doubt follow you...”
”What?” Arrora said with a dazed look.
”What are we gonna do about the soldiers we captured, my lord. In a way, they were just doing their duty”
After the battle, the surrendered soldiers were sent to the underground jail as a usual procedure and till now they were sitting in their jail without a trial.
”How many are they?” Don asked.
”Not many my lord most of the soldiers joined us because of King Hedor's cruelty towards the military and most of the remaining soldiers were turned against him when they saw the explosion. So we just have hundred and twenty-three soldiers in the jail to be exact ”
”Bring them to me” Don suddenly said.
During the time Joel worked for Don, he became aware that this man wouldn't do anything without a reason or plan behind it so he learned not to ask any question but to obey his order and do his best.
”Yes my lord” as he said Joel bowed his head and made his way toward the door leaving Arrora and Don behind.
”You are going to recruit them, aren't you?” after seeing Joel leaving, Arrora asked Don.
”What do you think?” Don answered her with a question while Arrora started to think like Don and Knight as she rubbed her chin for a moment before answering.
”I think there are many reasons you would think to recruit them” Arrora said.
”Like what?”
”You require loyalty more than anything right? so you would have thought to recruit them because they have no king anymore so it'll be easier to earn their loyalty”
”Go on”
Seeing Don's look, Arrora noticed she's on the right track to guess his reasoning.
”If they were loyal to the end for even a king like Hedor, you are confident that they won't betray a ruler like you” Arrora was very sure about this point because she knew Don will treat them right because she herself was an example as well as the slaves they rescued who were now living happily in Everlight.
Even though Don and Knight orchestrated everything that recently happened in Emir, she knew the original King Hedor was not a saint, and because of his obsession with expanding his kingdom any means necessary would have eventually made other kingdoms unite against Emir and war erupt. She also knew that the original King Hedor would have imposed even worse tax rates and laws such as mandatory recruitment to militia than Gael did so as far as she's concerned Emir is in better hands now.
”My lord, they are here” as Arrora was talking with Don, Joel came back and reported to Don.
”Bring them in,” Don said and watched Joel going outside of the door.
When Joel came back he was followed by a group of men in ragged and dirty clothes in chains.
The soldiers looked at Don with a mix of fear and caution while their laid eyes on Arrora the fear turned into amazement because of her beauty and grace.
”Why do you think you are here?” Don asked the soldiers as the soldiers didn't say anything but looked confused.
”Let me tell you a small scenario. In the jungle often a male lion will challenge another male lion for territory, for the lioness. if the current king wins it will be alright nothing changes, however... ” Don could see some soldiers getting what he was going to say by looking at their terrified faces.
”If the challenger wins it will kill all the cubs of the previous king because it won't let anything alive other than the lioness because at the end of the day, they were the cubs of his rival ” the soldiers stood there and felt their throats become dry.
”In your case, the defeated lion is King Hedor, the lioness is Emir and the cubs...” Don didn't finish his sentence but pointed his finger towards them
Many of the soldiers before Don regretted thinking about them trying to protect a king like Hedor but at that moment in their mind, they were bound by the soldier's oath as they couldn't betray the king who they swore their loyalty to.