His Queen

Chapter 27

General Nihal’s POV

This was going to be an interesting tournament, the valor of the Marwan was not a thing of secret, it was said that they were great soldiers and the skills of their general was not hidden, as a warrior, I was always out to test my strength and fight new opponents, and so when Humair announced that I was to be competing against general Jawhar, I surely could not help the smile that curved my lips,

When I stood facing him in the tournament arena, I watched his stance, it was steady, his eyes watched me like a hawk, I took in his physique, he had a lean muscular build, the best physique for a good fighter, his feet were steady on the ground, as l watched him, he did exactly the same,

We both took our positions, we stood facing each other, my sword in my hand, he was yet to draw his, well the drum sounded signaling the commencement of the fight, I waited for him to attack but he stood exactly where he was watching me, when I realized he was also waiting for me to attack first, I decided to attack first,

I charged forward, my sword ready to attack but still he stayed exactly where he was, he did nothing until I was a few steps away from him, he pulled out his sword very quickly and deflected my attack, I sent a series of attacks his way but he only deflected them, he never for once attacked, after a continuous attack lasting a few minutes, I stepped back, I had used up some energy so my breathing was now slightly accelerated,

General Jawhar had resumed his initial position, he was watching me and his sword was tucked away behind him, his face betrayed nothing, this was going to be an interesting fight, it was difficult to beat and opponent you could not read, general Jawhar was an opponent worthy of been weary of, he was a person that was difficult to defeat because he gave nothing to his opponent, he fought by watching closely, I understood the tactic he was using,

He watched all of my attacks and he had no doubt studied them now, he was a fighter that studied his opponent’s fighting skills and how they attacked, he had no doubt measured how fast and how strong my attacks were, the longer we fought the more ways he knew how to defeat me,

A smile crossed my face, this was a battle I was not going to win, I was a good fighter because of my great speed and agility, my reflexes were fast and I had enough to prolong the fight until the opponent got weak and then I delivered the final blow but fighting against general Jawhar, those won’t work, his reflexes were equally fast and if I dragged the fight on, he had more time to learn my moves and how to deflect them and he will only be using a small amount of energy because he won’t be making any attack and by the time, he would be ready to attack, I would have been exhausted already and by the end of the fight, I would have learnt any of his attacks.

I took my position once again, I may lose but I will fight till the end, a smile crossed general Jawhar’s face and then he attacked, I had not expected him to attack, his attacks were fast and strong, I was quick, I deflected his attacks,

This was interesting, he had chosen not to study my attacks and just have a simple fight, perhaps he had learnt my fighting style in the first attack so he just decided on fighting it out.

The fight was long and hard, we both attacked and it was skillfully blocked on both sides, I was getting exhausted then suddenly, general Jawhar changed his attack style, they became slower and the strength with which he delivered his blows had reduced drastically,

Why had he slowed down? There was no time to ponder on that, I swirled my sword in my hand, I attacked and general Jawhar failed to block one of the attacks and I successfully knocked his sword out of his hand, the sword flew in the other direction, I placed the tip of my sword on his neck, he stopped, a smile on his face, he raised his hands up in a show of surrender, I had won but both he and I knew there was no victory here, he had let me win and I was not sure the reason,

“You fight well general” he said, the smile still on his face,

Before I could reply him, the air filled with the shouts of the cheering soldiers, they were chanting my name loudly and saying my praises,

I suddenly understood why he had let me win, this was the barrack of Atrabad filled with the soldiers of Atrabad and I was their general, if I had lost to general Jawhar then the soldiers would have felt broken and the respect and will to follow me will no doubt decrease, the army followed strength, he did not want to disgrace me before my soldiers,

A smile crossed my face, I removed my sword from his neck and said “But not as well as you, I hope we can have a real fight someday when there are not many eyes watching”

He smiled and said “I will forward to that then”

We shook hands and turned to the cheering soldiers and the king, Humair had a thoughtful smile on his face but he was also clapping, he must have noticed the changes that happened during the fight, Humair was a very skilled warrior, he had learned to use the sword since he was just a little boy, when his father was king, he had trained with the soldiers together in the army, he had fought in every war that Atrabad had gone to since from when he was fifteen years old.

I will very much like to witness a fight between Humair and general Jawhar, it will be an interesting fight to watch, a very interesting fight indeed.

We both bowed our heads to the king, he smiled and raised his hand, silence descended, then he said “That was one of the most interesting tournament I have seen in years and I look forward to seeing more, I congratulate you general Jaan on your victory and I must commend your excellent fighting skills General Jawhar, I am honored that a man of your great skills is within the walls of Atrabad”

The soldiers cheered the both of us, a small smile was on the general’s face and mine as well, then once again, the king raised his hand and everyone was silent,

“We have seen their skills in swordsmanship, now we will test their skills in archery and determine the champion, let us begin” he said, a smile on his face, he seemed like he was enjoying all this, I couldn’t help the smile that passed my face,

Archery should be interesting, I was good at archery and so was general Jawhar, so I believe this round will be completely fair fight.

The field was set and our bows and arrows were handed to us, the targets were set in place, the soldiers were cheering loudly, they were excited and I was glad, this was the primary objective of this very event and I must that the goal had been achieved.

General Jawhar had the first shot, everywhere became silent when he placed his arrow into the bow and took aim, I watched him as he released the arrow, everyone’s eyes followed the arrow to see it land square on the target,

Loud cheers exploded in the air, the soldiers hailed and chanted his name, a smile passed my face, this was one of the main reasons I