Blades of Death

Chapter 13

The soldiers were too stunned to react to the assassination that had just taken place. Khizo, Triston and Ben took full use of it. They bolted out of the room along with King William before the soldiers could even regain their senses.

"Catch those Krimighan murderers!" They heard one of the soldier shout from behind.

All the soldiers inside the room charged at them but the Krimighans kept running. When they reached the garden, Khizo reunited with Cloris and the other soldiers.

When they looked back, they realized that an army of almost hundred was chasing them.

"Run faster." The king urged. Given his age, it was surprising how fast he was running. Nothing like being chased by a hundred soldiers to get you back in shape.

As soon as they were out of the Palace, Khizo stopped in the middle.

"What are you doing?" Cloris shouted as he eyed the soldiers who were gaining on Khizo.

"I need to get Kota." Khizo darted in the other direction.

"Wait, I'm coming with you." Cloris followed him.

The soldiers chasing them separated too and fifteen soldiers started chasing Khizo and Cloris.

Khizo and Cloris took advantage of their lead and disappeared behind bushes. When the soldiers reached the place they appeared confused.

"Where are they?" one of the soldier asked.

"Search the area. They must be—" Before the soldier could finish the line, an arrow knocked him down. Then Khizo appeared from the bushes.

He kept the soldiers engaged by parrying their attacks while Cloris continued taking down more soldiers from his hiding place. However, when one soldier started giving Khizo a hard time, he countered his attack by bringing down his shield on the soldier's sword with such a power that the soldier almost dropped his sword. Khizo took advantage of it and spun around, stabbing the soldier on his back. Meanwhile, Cloris nocked arrows at two more soldiers and finished the entire army.

"Nice work." Cloris got out of the bushes.

"Same to you." Khizo wiped the blood from his face and sword. He had received a cut on his cheek, but he ignored it as if it was nothing.

"I don't think every soldier here survived." Cloris looked down at the bodies of soldiers. Most of them were only able to move their hands or legs a little while others remained lifeless.

"Not much we can do. Let's go find Kota." Khizo said.

They silently walked through the jungle for some time until Khizo suddenly stopped on his way.

"What happened?" Cloris asked.

Khizo pointed at the lifeless bodies that lay on the ground far away. Two Petukian soldiers were walking away from the scene, limping.

Khizo didn't bother much with those limp soldiers. They both simply knocked them down with their shields and then Khizo dashed towards the bloodshed.

He stared in absolute horror at both the Krimighan and Petukian soldiers who had been killed. However, as soon as he spotted Kota's body in the middle of the bloodshed, he let out a scream and then sunk into the ground.

"Khizo...." Cloris tried to comfort him.

Khizo ignored Cloris and continued sobbing. However, he stopped sobbing upon seeing Kota's blade which was tainted with blood.

"How can this be —"

"What happened?" Cloris asked.

"His sword has blood on it. He was scared of killing people but he still fought. And he slayed many in the battle. His sword has so much blood on it."

"That's why only two soldiers were remaining."

"Davis will pay for it." Khizo got up and started walking away, sobbing.

Cloris dug his sword inside the earth, leaned on it, and bowed so low that his head touched Kota's feet.

He then retreated his sword and rejoined Khizo.

"What were you doing?" Khizo asked, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Just an honorary thing Krimighans do to pay respect to someone who died in battle. Laing taught me this."

Khizo didn't respond to Cloris but continued remaining lost in his own world.

"Wait." Cloris stopped him.

"What happened?"

"I think we should take a rest for sometime otherwise we will catch up with the army that has been chasing King William."

Khizo let out a sigh and then laid down on the grass below him. Cloris laid down besides him.

"Why did you agree to come on this mission? You said you wanted to go back to your farm life." Khizo asked.

"You want me to choose farm over being king?" Cloris smiled.

"There's another reason. You are never too greedy about things."

"Yes, there is. Returning back to farm and living a calm life forever is a utopian thought. I killed a king. Someday, somebody will come to me for revenge. I am never safe anymore." Cloris said.

"I don't know what will happen now. Davis still lives."

"That will be decided later. Take a rest for now."

When Khizo and Cloris arrived at Krimigha, they found the city gates closed.

"The king has ordered that nobody will be allowed to enter Krimigha." A soldier spoke from behind the grilled gate.

"Tell him it's Khizo and Cloris." Khizo said.

The soldier departed and came back after sometime with the orders of opening the gate for them.

The city was functioning normally but Khizo noticed heavily armored soldiers patrolling every area.

The Palace de Saobe, named after the founder of Krimigha, was heavily guarded. However, the guards allowed them to enter the magnificent yellow building of the Palace.

Inside, the Palace was brightly lit up by chandeliers that hung from the ceiling. The walls were decorated with weapons, paintings and hides of different animals.

Nobody objected them as Khizo and Cloris reached the throne room which was decorated with red curtains, fabulous designs on the pillars and the huge portrait of King William in his royal yellow robe.

Inside the room, King William sat on the throne while the King's advisors, Triston and the other officials stood on the chairs around the throne.

"Ah, they have arrived. Sit down, Khizo and Cloris." The king requested.

"Yes, my lord." Both Khizo and Cloris bowed to the king and sat down on empty chairs.

"So, as we were discussing, all the rulers of Great alliance except Davis have been assassinated. For now, Mirton, Kimba and Cevera won't be a problem for us as they will be busy in their internal dispute about who gets the throne. Then there will also be many rituals that their new king will have to perform before he can start ruling. We shouldn't waste this time." King William said.

"And what should we do, my lord?" Triston asked.

"Attack Petuk." The king replied.

"But that's a suicide." One of the advisors complained.

"Petuk is much stronger than us." Another said.

"It indeed is difficult but that's our only way. If we manage to secure victory in that battle, the other kingdoms of Alliance will fear us. We can manage to force them into a truce." The king said. 

"But what if it doesn't happen?" Someone asked.

"Petuk has enormous resources. If the kings don't sign the truce, we can still manage to keep ourselves safe with the help of those resources."

"But tell me, my lord, how can we defeat Petuk. They are much more powerful than us." Triston stated.

"I have an idea for that too. Davis is a dictator and the people hate him. It is only fear for Davis that binds the army together. Khizo and Cloris will attack Petuk with an initial army. They will take advantage of the chaos to sneak inside Davis' Palace and assassinate him. If the assassination succeeds, the Petukian army will be weakened, and we might even manage to convince some soldiers to join our side."