CORONATION OF THE THIRD FORCE

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The king was under weighty pressure to reach out to a foreign kingdom said to be a magical kingdom, different from where I am to be trained in magic spells required for the combat challenge, but he refused to give the excuse that the kingdom will be exposed to ridicule if we consult another kingdom to solve our problems. The challenges of our kingdom are always independently solved and this one should not be different. When he asked my opinion on the matter I told him he should think first of the effect his decision will have my combat readiness if the magic kingdom is invited to solve our problem for us. What will the kingdoms of Sun and Wind think further of us?

‘Father, from what I perceived, in a couple of days from now, these mysterious deaths will cease as the kingdom prepares for the challenge ahead. I would not have Prince Radia and Bosakia handed another advantage to boast of’.

‘I thought of that first, son. We shall not seek out anyone for help, as you said I believed the evil will pass soon.’

‘Begin to look out for new nobles to replace the slain ones as it is our law that the nobility will be complete to make a binding decision. Soon, you shall seat with other kingdoms to deliberate on the combat system for the challenge.’

‘I have moved fast in that direction. For every day the death of a nobleman is announced, I have chosen another to replace him. All our lives depend on that combat.’

‘I am impressed father, our lives are on it. Without good preparation, nothing good is achieved. But, father, let me assure you again, that your son is ready to make you proud.’

‘From your resolve on the first day, I know you are ready and I and my nobles will give you all that you need. Only get stand strong as you will depart soon to acquire your magic spells.’

‘I am, father.’

After we had lunch, I moved to my quarters and perfected my plans for the three remaining killings which are within my vicinity. These nobles happened to be the closest to the king and so had their homes close to the palace like a kind of reserved area of those ruling the kingdom. The first pick, among them for night lives in a highly secured home with guards and lots of people living in the expanded property. But as always, I am unstoppable. I created confusion for the guards by unleashing lions on the premises which sent them running for their lives and I moved in swiftly to the special apartment occupied by him. I let myself into his chamber, and he was peacefully sleeping. I let him sleep and I thought his son and was taken to where he hid him, kept him among his other children, a trick to confuse anyone, but with me, nothing confuses me, so I took him with my extended arm and brought him to his father’s presence, he was in no small panic.

‘Wake your father’, I commanded him and he went about doing that with trembling hands and soon the noble stirred and found his son frightened and the boy pointed to me and in his terror he was speechless. The son clung to him as they stare in terror.

‘I am the avenger, nobleman’, I said.

‘But what have we to do with you? What has the noble lineage of the Water kingdom done to deserve your c*****e?’ he asked with hatred in his eyes.

‘The avenger is out to avenge the murder of his father, Ithaca. You nobles destroyed his family in complicity with your king, who is now my father.’

‘Who are you’, he asked.

I removed my disguise and he screamed, but none will hear him outside. ‘Prince Jokhara?’ he finally said.

‘Yes, Prince Jokhara, but that one is missing for long. I am the son of Ithaca, and I am reborn to destroy you all for your wicked deed.’

‘Go, go hold the king, he murdered your family, not his nobles.’

‘You consented, and that is your undoing. Only two nobles objected and stayed away. They will live to see the end of king Agorim. But for you and your neighbors living in opulence, none shall live beyond three days hence’.

With that, I unsheathed my golden sword and proceeded to chop his son into pieces as he watched, paralyzed, and wasted no time on him and left them soaked in their blood and their mutilated bodies like pieces of a log of woods. I was not seen in public during the day, I had my breakfast, lunch, and dinner alone and that night I was out again for the ninth kill.

The home of this also smells of wealth and he had his security patrolling his estate but he made it easier as he had his son with him play a game of target shooting to keep them awake. When my eyes found them I materialized in the room and they made instantly for the door, but my mechanical extended hands brought them back comfortably and threw them back to the large bed neatly dressed and covered with rich tapestry.

I have to burn them alive, and his room will serve the purpose but before then I let him know me and why he is dying in this manner. None of them has lived to talk about what happened to them and who did it as my revelation to them goes with them to the grave but opens their minds to eternal remembrance.

‘Nobleman, the avenger is here for you and son. Evil always returns to the head of the evil’, I said to him.

‘I have done no evil I can remember. But today the answer to the deaths of nobles has been found. Who are you then, avenger?’

‘I am Ithaca’s son, whose family you destroyed. And all who took part are paying the price.’

‘King Agorim’, he said, and I cut in, ‘You mean my father?’ and with that, I removed my disguise for his view and he screamed,

‘Prince Jokhara! How on earth are you Ithaca’s son? I burst into a pearl of deep laughter.

‘King Agorim’s son, the lazy Prince is long-missing. I took his place to punish the evil ones in the kingdom of Water so that no such evil is repeated in our kingdom. Your king shall taste my wrath when his purpose has been served.’

‘He destroyed your parents; we played along as the king to be.’

‘No, Ithaca was the next king before the wicked plot that gained wide support from the nobles like you. You are paying for that wrong.’

 I took him and his son and bound them with a cord and had them covered with a heap of flammable materials and set them ablaze as I stood at one end of the vast chamber filling up with clouds of smoke. When the smoke finally found its way out, I heard the effort of the men trying to pull down the door and I walked away from the room through another exit into the yard full of confusion and to my quarters not far away from the scene of the murder.

In the morning the entire kingdom was up in wailing but my father the king was unmoved saying that the evil would surely pass from the kingdom. Many questioned why only the nobles are targeted but none could provide answers. I rested the whole day taking walks around the palace, visited my mother, the only being my heart yearns to care about, and spent time with her urging her to not take the load of the kingdom into herself so she can live long for me. We laughed some more and I returned to perfect the last of the kill.

I duly left for the home of the last noble but he was not there and when I listened to my mind I was directed where he and his son have taken refuge. It was in the home of the kingdom’s leading gladiator, Umkhamo Isca. It is rumored that he is raving mad with the king for accepting to have his lame son represent the kingdom in the combat challenge, but the word of the king is final in the kingdom. This same noble is his kinsmen and had offered to protect him. But with me, nobody is protected. I arrived to survey this sullen fighter’s home and found that it is quite large as he has been maintained by the kingdom for his services of defending the kingdom against hostile neighbors. Thought of the guest lodges within and I spotted the nobleman and his son in the very important visitors’ lodge and I made for it while the guards posted all over the yard roamed within and without.

I spotted Umkhamo himself in his living room awake with his footmen around him seemingly waiting to hear any sound of intrusion or scream or cry. But they will not get any sound as I intend to leave the blood-soaked remains of dismembered bodies’ right where I found them. I thought again of the lodge they are in and I was transported into the room and in their presence but they did not panic as other nobles have and I realized that the noble thought I am one of Umkhamo’s guards checking in on them periodically. I have to be about it in haste.

‘Nobleman’, I greeted.

‘Guard, is all well?’ he asked me.

‘All is not well and would never be well when evil is done to the wrong person’, I said.

‘What is it guard, are we in danger?’

‘Nobleman, the avenger has found you. You cannot hide from the evil you partook.’ He began to panic now, ‘Who are you, speak’, he said.

‘But I told you, the avenger has found you. The blood of Ithaca cries for revenge, and I am here to quench that cry forever with the last death of all the nobles that plotted his destruction.’

‘King Agorim murdered Ithaca, not his nobles. Go for him’, he said.

‘I will, but you supported him as nobles. The rest conspirators have paid their price as you know, you shall not escape it.’

As I finished talking my sword was on his son’s heart and out it came with his heart and then to his abdomen splitting his intestines to the ground. His father watched in horror as all their screaming circulated within the confines of the room. I moved on to him, again to his heart, and brought out his heart and his intestines as I did his son. I exited without Umkhamo and his men knowing what has happened. I have completed my first assignment and the moment this thought came to me I heard my grandfather’s guiding voice,

‘Excellent, excellent performance my son, your steps are ordered. Now take your rest as you proceed to the magic academy. As the bigger challenge approaches I am ever with you’, he said and he was gone from my ears. I returned home and had a bath and slept as I had never before in all my tumultuous existence.