Blades of Death

Chapter 9

"What should we do now?" Cloris shouted.

They both had managed to close the door to king's room and move the bed in front of the door to buy them some time.

"I.... Just let me think." Khizo snapped.

"There's a balcony in the room. Can it help?" Cloris asked.

Khizo looked at the balcony and a smile spread across his face.

"Yes, I may have an idea. Come with me." Khizo stated.

They both stared at the night view of Asjata from the balcony. The moon shone brightly over the city.

"If you're thinking of going down with the rope, I'll tell you that we can't cross the water. Shooting the crossbow is impossible while holding on to the rope." Cloris stated.

"I know. This is why I want you to shoot at that tree." Khizo pointed at a tree on the other side of the water.

Cloris carefully took aim and then shot exactly where Khizo told him to. He then grabbed the other end of the rope attached to the bolt before it could go along with the bolt.

"Nice aim." Khizo appreciated, tying the other end of rope to the bed.

"Now we'll go from here to that tree. Use a cloth to keep your hands safe."

"A zip-line?" Cloris asked. 

"Yes." Khizo nodded.

Khizo wrapped one side of the cloth around the rope and the other on his hands. He then stood on the balcony for some time before taking a gulp and throwing his body down. Cloris followed him.

Fresh breeze blew over their face as they descended down. For the first few seconds both of them throughly enjoyed the ride. However, the speed slowly increased until it reached an uncontrollable level. To worsen things, Khizo realized that there was a flaw in his plan. There was no means of stopping.

"We will crash." Cloris shouted.

Khizo struggled with the cloth, trying to break free from it. The tree slowly became closer and closer as Khizo tried to pull his hand out. At the last moment, he finally managed to break free from the cloth tying him to the rope and landed on the ground just a meter away from the tree.

He then quickly got up and stopped Cloris from colliding; after which he collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Cloris landed on top of him.

"Get off me." Khizo shouted, pushing him away.

"We need to find a place to hide for the night." Cloris said, dragging himself up.

"Let's go then." Khizo took a rest for few seconds before getting up.

They made their way past the deserted lanes of Asjata where the only source of light was torches hanging outside houses.

When they were passing through the market, two figures appeared in front of them. The light of the torches illuminated the faces of the two figures. Standing in front of them was Kota and Laing.

"Laing? What are you doing here?" Khizo inquired.

"You know him? He's my trainer." Cloris replied.

"He trained you?"

"Yes, he came to meet me two days after the killing and offered me a chance to get my revenge."

"So, this was your plan?" Khizo turned to Kota and Laing. "You wanted to reunite me with my brother."

"Yes. Let's go now. We need to leave the city before they realize that you both are loose." Kota urged.

"Where's Aron?" Khizo asked.

"Where's Cal?" Cloris asked.

Kota pointed at two horses standing near a stall.

"Let's leave before they close the gates." Cloris declared.

Kota shared horse with Khizo while Laing shared with Cloris. They escaped the city gates at dawn which brought them to the long trail leading to Krimagha.

"Shall we rest here?" Cloris let out a yawn.

"We shouldn't stop until we reach Krimagha." Laing stated.

For the next two hours, the journey continued in silence. Alongside the trail was a dense forest. The roars of the wild animals roaming inside the forest was very much audible to the travelling party. Every roar was a reminder for them to increase their pace. They would also pass through abandoned houses occasionally.

They arrived at Krimagha early in the morning. The news of King Vostok's death hadn't reached Krimagha yet because people were roaming around the city as if nothing happened.

"Now you both will stay at my house until the situation is tackled." Laing declared.

Khizo and Cloris covered their face to prevent themselves from getting seen and then rode to Laing's house.

"I suppose you both will be tired." Laing said once they were inside his house. "I have a spare room where you can rest."

This was enough for Khizo and Cloris. They both went inside the room where two beds were placed and collapsed on their beds. Unfortunately, sleep didn't came to them.

An awkward silence spread across the room as both of them wondered whether they should talk to each other or not.

"Listen, I don't want to give any justification for what I did to our parents. It was my fault. I don't even except any forgiveness from you for that." Khizo finally spoke up.

"Who exactly did you kill because of which Vostok's soldiers murdered our parents."

"A man who betrayed my father."

"So you managed to find out about your family."

"Yes, I know everything now. You'll find this hard to believe but my father was a Kodus."

"A Kodus?" Cloris sprang up from his bed and turned to face Khizo.

"The leader of Kodus to be precise."

"A leader? Your father? I don't believe this."

"You know Laing is a Kodus?"

"Yes, I know. He told me."

"Go and ask him then."

"I'll ask him later. First tell me everything." Cloris urged.

"So, as I said, my father was the leader of Kodus and a barrier in the path of The Great Alliance. That's when one of the Kodus who worked for my father revealed his location to The Great Alliance. My father along with my entire family was killed. I murdered that person who betrayed my father." Khizo stated. "Now tell me your story."

"It was the second day after their death. I was still broken. That's when a man arrived. He said he heard all about my parent's death and wanted to meet me. I found all of this weird but still allowed him inside my house. For some time, he kept talking about how he felt sad on hearing the news. Then the conversation slowly drifted to the killers of my parents. And then, he started talking about how I should make those people pay for killing my parents. There was a way of his talking that convinced me to take revenge. The next day onwards, he started training me and here I am." Cloris replied.

"You finally got your revenge. How does it feel?"

"The pain of their death still hurts but I feel calm."

"I know your parents more better than I knew my parents which is why I too feel that calmness. However, my adventure hasn't ended yet. Not until I kill this Davis." Khizo declared. "And what about you? What will you do now?"

"I will return back to our farm as soon as I can. Somebody needs to handle it now."

Both of them stopped talking. However, just when Khizo was about to fall asleep, Cloris said with an uneasiness in his voice, "When you're done with your revenge, you can come back to our house."

With that, Cloris went to sleep. Not even looking at Khizo or saying anything else. But his silence confirmed it. Khizo had been forgiven. At least for now.