Blades of Death

Chapter 4

The wind struck on Khizo's face as he galloped on his horse, spurring the horse to go faster than he ever had. After all, his whole family was at stake.

As he rode through the countryside roads, he spotted the old tower where he and Cloris used to go. And just in front of the tower was Cal, Cloris's horse.

"Cloris! Are you here?" Khizo shouted.

Cloris's face peeped down from the tower and as soon as he saw Khizo, a joy appeared on his face.

"That's so great. You returned so soon." Cloris exclaimed.

"Now's not the time for that. Mother and Father are in trouble. Hurry up back to the farm." Khizo went ahead without waiting for Cloris.

After some time, his farm appeared. The rows of crops were visible again.

He entered the farm, but saw nobody outside. However, he could see rows of crops destroyed. It look as if someone had trampled on them. Realizing what that meant, he rushed inside the house.

When he entered the house, the past collided with the present. A sight just like the one he had seen fifteen years ago appeared in front of him again for in front of him lay his parents. His father had a dagger stabbed to his gut and mother had one stabbed in her forehead. The blood was still fresh which meant the murder hadn't been done long before.

Khizo's world had collapsed once again. Just when the old scars were finally starting to recover, new ones had appeared. And Khizo knew that all of it was his fault.

With eyes full of tears, he knelt down in front of his parents.

"I'm sorry. It was all my fault. Forgive me mother and father." he begged to their lifeless bodies.

Suddenly, the gate burst open as the figure of Cloris appeared. He gazed at his parents and then at Khizo.

"Mother! Father!" he cried, making his way past Khizo.

He shook his father's body and when his father didn't respond, he yelled, "No!"

Then his face turned to Khizo, eyes red in rage, full of tears. "What did you do?"

"It's-It's all my fault. I killed a man and then his people...."

Cloris pounced on Khizo, clutching his throat and pressing him against the wall.

"Mother warned you to take a step back. Yet, you didn't listen to her." Cloris shouted, releasing his throat.

"But Cloris...."

"Get away from this house." Cloris hissed, "You got them killed. Now we both are equal."

"Cloris, please.... I didn't mean it. I'm sorry." Khizo sobbed.

Cloris removed the dagger from his father's body and pointed it at Khizo.

"Go away or I will kill you."

Khizo took steps backwards until he was out of the house.

"Go wherever you want and kill whoever you want. And take your b****y Aron with you." Cloris slammed the door.

With the slamming of doors, Khizo's world became colourless, again. He had lost everything again. Even Cloris.

He dragged himself back to the top of his horse, making his way back to the city.

The whole journey was a blur for him as he sank deeper into his thoughts, burdened by guilt and crying all the time. He only came back to the world when he had arrived at Laing's house.

He knocked at Laing's and Laing immediately opened it.

"Khizo, what happened?" Laing asked.

"It's all over. I got my family killed. I should have listened to you." Khizo admitted.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear that." Laing said, comforting him. "But don't blame it entirely on yourself. You had years of anger built up against your family's murderer. And then, when you just heard the first person responsible, you let out all your anger on him." Laing explained, "Now what are you going to do?"

Khizo stood still for a moment and then finally spoke up, "I want to finish the whole Great Alliance. That's all left of my life. Now I don't even have anything else to do. What more could they possible take from me?"

"Are you sure about it? You should consider things very carefully before taking an action or you'll take some reckless step."

"The decision is made now. I just want you to teach me how to fight so that I can take down The Great Alliance."

Laing turned silent for a moment and then replied, "Kota runs a fighting school. Perhaps you can train from him."

"Where does he live?"

"His house is just three houses ahead of your old house."

"Thank you." Khizo walked out of Laing's house and hopped on his horse. Laing 

eyed him with concern as he went away.

After some time, he arrived at Kota's house. He knocked on the door and waited for Kota to open.

"Oh, it's you, Khizo." Kota said, opening the door. "What happened? Did you manage to save your family?"

"I failed, Kota. My parents are dead and my brother doesn't wants to see my face again." Khizo said.

"Oh no. I'm so sorry to hear that. Come inside, Khizo." Kota said, opening the door fully.

The interior of Kota's house wasn't very impressive. It was in a bad condition. The furniture was old and dusty.

"So how can I help you?" Kota asked.

"Laing told me that you run a fighting school."

"That's true, indeed. Why are you asking all of this though?"

"I want you to train me how to fight. I want to take down the whole Great Alliance. I want revenge for both my families."

"But Khizo, you said you won't continue on this vengeance path."

"But Great Alliance took everything from me. What more could they possibly take from me. Just train me, Kota."

"Well, I can if you want to. I mean, who am I to stop you from doing what you want in your life?"

"But, there's one problem. I don't have any money to pay you or even any place to stay."

"Ah, you don't have to worry about it. You're the son of a person I deeply admired. You don't need to pay me. I also have an empty room you can use."

"Thank you so much for your help."

"You don't need to thank me. Now let me show you to your room."

Khizo followed Kota to a small room where the only furniture was a bed and a wardrobe.

"I know it's not in a very good condition. Hope it'll do."

"You don't have to worry about it. My room wasn't much better anyway."

"Okay then, I'll go and prepare some food for you. Take care of yourselves." Kota went out of the room.

Khizo sat down on the bed and as soon as he did, tears started coming out of his eyes again. It was only when he heard the steps of Kota coming to his room that he wiped off his tears.

Kota brought him meat and eggs.

"I am not a great cook. Hope you find this at least eatable." Kota smiled and then went out of the room.

Khizo slowly started eating his food, barely even paying attention to the food. Once he was done eating the food, he came out of his room. But Kota was visible nowhere in the house.

"Kota?" he called aloud a few times, but when no response came, he decided to search the house.

Kota's house was short. One door led to Kota's bedroom and another to a storage space. However, there was one more door which led him to a large compound. Some wooden swords and bows and arrows were kept there. This must be the school, Khizo thought. Then he spotted Kota. He was sitting on the roof of his house. Only his back was visible. 

Khizo looked around and spotted a ladder leading up to the roof. He climbed on the ladder to the roof and sat down besides Kota.

"What are you doing here?" Kota asked.

"My question is the same." Khizo replied.

"It's just that hearing about your family made an old memory return to me. I too feel myself responsible for the death of a very loved one."