Chapter 37: Fifth Episode: Chapter 1 (2/2)
”Ahhh...” Al Kairi plunged heavily on the ground, and he moaned loudly at the immense pain. The sergeant looked in horror as his wound kept sending out puffs of smoke like a pot of boiled water.
The smoke spread around quickly and up in the air. Its pungent smell forced Al Kairi and his men to start coughing violently as well.
Suddenly, there was a thundering noise of horse galloping across the woods. A vigilant patrolman turned around to the source of the sound while simultaneously keeping a constant eye on the direction of the arrows with his other companions, but at the moment he knew that they had made a fatal mistake.
”Damn it! Behind! At the back!” He shouted at the top of his lungs to inform his companions and pulled out his sword. The smoke burned his eyes, but he could still vaguely identify the immediate scene through his watery eyes.
An assassin rushed out of his hidden spot in the woods, and the angry horse ripped apart the formation of the men from the Ministry of Justice. The assassin then flashed through like a disappearing lighting, those who have been tortured by the thick pungent smoke did not even realize what happened.
”Watch out...” this poor man’s neck was pierced through by a sharp rapier before he could even finish his sentence.
”Oh God! What is happening?”
”We must get out of here immediately! Something is not right!”
”I can’t see anything...”
The men from the Ministry of Justice fell into hysterical confusion. They desperately wanted to get rid of this sudden nightmare, but no matter how much they moved around trying to find a way out they would be blocked or ran over by the horses of their own formation.
The thundering sound of horse galloping was clear to the ears once again, but this time they were much more intense than the last time.
A huge tomahawk that resembled a red sun, a shining machete like a sliver of crescent, and slender sabers reflected lights that shone across the foggy woods in fleeting gleams as the attacking assassins broke the patrolmen’s formation once again. The noise of blades cutting through bodies accompanied by several screams echoed long in the woods like a never-ending orchestra. Even though the shadows of the assassins disappeared after they rushed back into the woods, the killing did not come to a stop.
Three more lives were taken. Eventually two men under attack managed to rush outside to the periphery of the woods. While they were only beginning to breath in some fresh air, their bloodshot eyes noticed an archer not far away, sitting tall on a strong stallion.
The archer gently let go the bowstring. What a wonderful roar it made! He has not heard the trembling of bowstring for a while now. The arrow sailed through a beautiful arc and landed straight on a patrolman’s neck. The archer did not mind checking the result, he believed in his bow and arrows. Before the bowstring stopped beating, the archer already loaded it with yet another new arrow on the bow groove.
The companion's cry shocked the guy. He immediately realized what he should do, but it was obvious that the archer did not give him any chance. Before the war horse even had time to turn around, the man was greeted by a sharp bow that went straight through his chest and landed on the heart.
The irritating smog finally became thinner and the surviving patrolmen crowded together. Some of them have fallen off their horses, with dead bodies of their companions surrounding the compound.
The intense sounds of horse galloping began once again in the woods, and it resembled a pressing bugle call. The patrolman eventually recovered themselves from all these sudden stimulations, ”Over there! There! Come on! Block them!”
The patrolmen regained their alertness and positioned themselves in a defensive formation. The remaining survivors were seen standing in two rows of four each.
The thundering sound came to an instant stop, but what came out of the woods first was three long guns. Without missing, the three shots fired hit right at the neck of three patrolmen, leaving them no time to let out a miserable scream before planting their head down to the ground.
At this point the so-called defensive formation has already been torn apart. The patrolman who led the defense was now pinned dead to the horse back, and the rest of his men did not even manage to catch a glimpse of the murderer. After witnessing more deaths of their companions, two men thought it would be wise to leave the terrifying compound now in order to save their own skin.
”Ola!” The leader of the troop shouted loudly as a cue to continue the attack.
With a couple more swings of the sword, the already flawed defense broke into complete disaster. The sky was once again splashed with three more bright red gushes of blood.
The Fourteenth Criminal Investigation Team of the Ministry of Justice was left with only two men. The two of them hurriedly rode back to the direction where they came from, but out of the sudden a monstrous silhouette of what seemed to be a giant appeared from behind the woods. Unfortunate for him, the last thing the poor man saw before he died was the lower part of his own body riding away on the horse, while he observed from the ground with eyes wide opened.
Only one left. This other guy was already screaming hysterically when he saw in close vicinity his peer being chopped in half! However, he did not really have the chance to fully experience this crazy feeling as a few seconds later after witnessing the tragic death, he left the world filled with surprise with an ax deeply embedded at the back of his heart.
The frightened birds that flew far away because of the chaos returned to their nests, and these little singers sang merrily from above the tree. Though the bloody smell made them uncomfortable too, it did not prevent them from secretly observing the violent gathering of these aggressive creatures below.
The assassins gathered around their final, and most important target. Underneath their feet stood the only survivor of the Fourteenth Criminal Investigation Team of the Ministry of Justice.
Oscar made a grand appearance out of the woods. He was glad that with the backup of his perfect team of assassins he did not even have to lift a finger to participate in the killing.
The assassins gave way to His Royal Highness Prince. He crouched beside the sole remaining survivor, and he calmly looked at the crying officer sergeant.
”Ola! Do not be sad, it’s all over now! Can you tell me what is your name?”
Despite the excruciating pain on his shoulder; despite being blinded by irritant smoke; despite being trampled over by his own horse that resulted in a fractured leg, Al Kairi was still conscious. He knew that his good fortune has come to an end, but he did not want to admit this misfortune that was happening right under his own eyes. The whole incident was just too out of ordinary and inexplicable.
”I am Al ... Al ... Al Kairi, I am ... am ... Ministry of Justice ... Ministry of Justice .... ... the fourth ...”
”Hey! Hey! Enough! Al Kairi, aren’t you trying to trade with me? Then tell me what do you want?” Oscar was impatient.
”No! Your Highness! I ... just ... just want to ... secretly protect you! Really! Those criminals ... those criminals will hurt you!”
Feeling a little embarrassed, Oscar touched his nose again. It seemed like this gesture was becoming a habit when he felt nervous or embarrassed. Of course, he felt embarrassed not for himself, but for the sergeant. There was no need to waste time on this man anymore. ”You should understand the situation by now, right? I am very well protected, don’t you worry about me.”
Oscar stood up, tall and straight. Poor Al Kairi seemed to know that his death was coming, and he tried with all the remaining strength he has left to cling onto the young prince's feet.
”Your Highness! Your Highness! You have to believe me! I have a wife and three children, and my old mother still needs to be taken care of, I still have ...”
Oscar stomped on this nasty guy's face and replied mercilessly, ”I can only send them my regards, Godot!”
Godot raised his giant ax high up in the air and the whistling wind blew aside the young man’s hair. Everyone turned their head around at the disgusting sight, except Oscar. His foot remained on Al Kairi’s head, until the tomahawk brushed through his thigh and landed sharp and neat on the fella’s head. Oscar locked his eyes at the poor man’s throughout the whole process.
Oscar kicked aside that ugly head with disgust, as if it was only a small piece of rock. ”Let us get back on the road. There is a grand event waiting for our arrival.”
***************
Robinson Brickfield was brutally immobilized in the prison cart by some of the disgraceful fellas from the Ministry of Justice. However, he did not protest because he knew that it would be to no avail.
The escort team suddenly stopped in a secluded spot in the jungle, and the heart of the former Secretary of State trembled with fear. As the escort team began to deviate from the road to the south, the prisoner already knew that things were heading to a very bad direction. Now the entire convoy came to a halt. The sensitive Robinson realized that a real disaster was about to fall on his shoulder.
Oscar and his followers seemed to pop out of the woods from nowhere. They were still a little distance away from the convoy of the prisoners. The heavily-armed men sat upright on the stallions, and the young prince stood alone in front of them.
The captain of the escort team was taken aback when he met the young prince but the surprise was immediately replaced with an exaggerated smile. It would have been expected anyway, his satisfaction when encountering the man who made himself rich.
”Your Highness, you are on time.” The escort captain walked toward the prince and greeted him with a formal salute.
Oscar said nothing to the man. Although he has been dreaming for this moment for all his life, when this moment finally arrived, the young man found himself nervous without reason and noticed his hands trembled uncontrollably.
The escort captain did not mind the prince’s indifference at all, what he cared about was that he was a rich man!
”Your Highness, I will now bring forth the person you have requested.” The captain of the escort team blew his whistle, and in the distance a soldier from the convoy immediately dragged out a man off the prison cart.
Accompanied by cries of terror, by Robinson Brickfield’s angry screams, and by the melancholic sunshine shining on the ground, a bruised young man was dragged to the front of the prince. Oscar examined the person carefully and thoroughly. Even though he believed the escort team would not dare to lie to him, but this dishevelled, frightened man who peed in his pants was nothing like the Woods Brickfield he remembered from his memory.
Using the sheath of a machete, Oscar adjusted the guy’s face so that he was looking straight into his eyes. ”Prisoner! What's your name?”
The prisoner trembled like a frightened rabbit. He knew that for this person to be able to command these escort guards he must be someone of utmost importance.
”Lord... I'm Woods Brickfield, the eldest son of the Brickfield family.” He finally saw clearly the man who stood in front of him, he assumed that he was only a teenager.
Oscar’s pupil suddenly shrank and he narrowed his eyes at the sound of that name. He could not control his resentment!
Woods Brickfield also observed this change of expression and immediately he knelt on the ground. ”My lord, my lord, I have no relation with Robinson Brickfield! I am innocent! Everything was organized by those two brothers, my lord, I'm innocent!”
Everyone shot him a contemptuous look, it hurt their eyes having to deal with such disgraceful garbage.
Oscar only managed to say the words after a long time. He seemed to have gathered a lot of effort to say this sentence.
”Do you not remember me? I am O’Neil Andrew Morisette. Years ago, I made an oath. Have you forgotten what you owe me?”
At the mention of O’Neil Andrew Morisette, Woods Brickfield struggled to escape, but the captain of the escort team knocked him back down to his lap with the sheath of the sword. Woods fell painfully to the ground, but he continued to crawl forward to move away from Oscar. ”Devil Devil! Devil!” The poor man mumbled in terror.
Oscar took two steps forward to catch the poor Woods who was trying to avoid him. This time the teenager was no longer holding a machete. Instead, in his hand was the weapon used ten years ago during the execution. The knife had been confiscated by the ministries as one of the evidence for the criminal record of His Royal Highness Prince, but the young man bought it from the Ministry of Justice at a high price to be used at this moment.
Woods Brickfield went hysterical when he saw the weapon that has been recurring in his nightmares, shouting loudly the name of God. He struggled like a madman to get away from the prince’s grip.
Oscar's anger was completely provoked by Wood's resistance. The young man’s powerful fists fell on Woods Brickfield’s body like drizzling rain droplets. Woods Brickfield was already dying, but he still tried hard to dodge his head from Oscar’s punches.
In the distant background came the curses of the former Secretary of State. Though no one cared about the weak screams of the father, but to Oscar’s ears they sounded extremely irritating. The annoyed young man turned and shouted loudly at the captain of the escort team.
”Shut that guy up! Are all your men dead? Do not let anything disturb me!”
The escort captain and two of his men immediately ran to the prison cart. Soon, the muffled noise of Robinson Brickfield’s curses was replaced with the sound of sticks hitting flatly on human’s body.
Suddenly the whole forest became extremely quiet. Woods rested his head powerlessly on the ground, his only eyes examining a very lively landscape; a bug hidden in the grass looked at him curiously, unknown wildflowers bloomed in the nearby meadow, and in the distance an energetic skylark was happily jumping in all directions.
Wood's head was pulled over so he was looking up to the blue sky. A second later he saw a flashing light and he unconsciously closed his eyes. After a moment of excruciating pain, his eyes remained closed forever.
O’Neil Andrew Morisette finally performed the ceremony that arrived a decade later. No one knew how much he sacrificed in the past ten years just for this one moment. Ten years! So much of his life has been taken away from him in the last ten years, but it also provided him with countless experiences.
Oscar was genuinely delighted as he watched blood oozing out from Woods’ throat. He was overjoyed and happily jumped up to celebrate the ending of the ceremony. It was finally completed!
”Hahahaha! Do you see it?” the young turned back, hoping to share with his team the joy of revenge. ”Hahahaha! Do you see it? Look at this guy, he kept me waiting for ten years! Ten years! Ten years!” Oscar again threw a couple of blows on the poor dead man.
Without reason, the young man suddenly lost interest in continuing to torture his enemy. He could feel his tear gland aching a little, and he retreated to under a big tree without noticing that he was sobbing softly.
”Ten years! Ten years!” Oscar repeated the two words unconsciously. His knights gradually gathered around him, but they could not find the suitable words to comfort the young man.
Oscar soon resumed calm after a few minutes. He blew his nose and put on what he thought was his best smile. Finally, the young man turned his gaze back to the city of Dulin, which stretched into the far distance.
”Percy, give that guy a look. Make sure to not let him die! Godot, can you not see my hands are full of dirty blood? Fetch me the water bag. ”
The young man carefully scrubbed both his hands that was covered with the blood of the enemy, until the pair of chubby hands was as clean as ever.
He casually shook off the excess water off his hands and turned to three Narcissus Knights. Although the knights were not intimidated by the violent scene just now, but once they met the prince’s eyes they could not help but involuntarily knelt down to the ground.
”Remember what you saw, my knights! No one can insult Andrew family without having to pay the price! Even the God of Light is behind Andrew family supporting us. I hope you will remember that you are first the knights of family Andrew, and then only the knights of God. The meaning of your existence is to clear the barrier that stands before family Andrew, to clear the vengeance against their enemies, do you understand?”
The knights promised loudly. However, the three high-positioned Narcissus Knights have not realized that this rule was not included in the handbook of the Narcissus Knights that they have been taught.
If you are a historian, we are sure you will rejoice at the scene you have just seen, because you will find that the turning point in history happened precisely in the dense woods in the south of Dulin. Though the Narcissus Knights have been serving the Andrew family loyally for the past 400 years, but it was only until then that they began to degenerate!