Magnifico

Invaded

The soldier accompanying late King Munah's wife and daughter had arrived Quinax where they thought that their safety would be guaranteed. They were granted a pass after the soldiers guarding the gates of Quinax noticed that they were nobles from Dreeks.

They were taken to the office of the interior minister, Hariz. The interior minister Hariz questioned them and they told him about what had happened to their kingdom. He took them to Regent Lucas who also asked the same question. They were made to stay in a guest house for a while which was to be their temporal home till further notice.

“I need to see the King at once and the General, something needs to be done very fast,” Lucas said as the soldier and the late King Munah's wife and daughter was shown their way out to where they would stay. Regent Lucas has arrived at the palace and was served a herbal tea to drink by Zulu's servants while they were waiting for the General to arrive. They wanted to know how prepared the General and his men were as regards to going to war with Alaphas.

“My king, I greet you,” General Sun said as he came in with his full regalia, coated with sky blue from his chest up to his neck. The rib region of the regalia was made with robes of thick leopard skin, where he holstered his fine sharpened sword. “I was summoned, my king” Sun said.

“Yes, you were. I asked for you because it seems to me we may be running out of time. Magnifico and king Jonas attacked the people of Dreeks and something tells me that we may be the next animal to be haunted. So how far have we gone towards repelling against any possible surprise attack from Alaphas?” Zulu asked anxiously.

“I wouldn’t say that we are prepared fully but I can categorically say that we haven’t been sleeping very well for days. We have been practicing, training and getting ourselves and also our mind prepared for any eventuality” the General said.

Lucas told them that they may be missing a part of the puzzle and if they can get it together, they may be moving a step closer to getting a solution that will help them to either stop Alaphas or delay their attack.

“I think we are overlooking something, we overlooked Seth and now that I remember him, I don’t know exactly how we are going to use him,” Lucas said. “Oh yeah, I think it’s high time he is released, his services may quite be useful again to us” Sun added.

“No, I can’t allow that to happen, there’s no way we are going to release that traitor,” Zulu said in anger.

Lucas and Sun countered the king, stressing how imperative it may be to use Seth as a bait which may distract King Jonas. Seth was a mole the Alaphas King was holding unto to leak vital information to them which would be used against the Kingdom of Quinax, using him against Alaphas will be like beating them to their own game. After much deliberations, the king agreed to get Seth released only on the condition that his wife and kid don’t get to stay with him.

Seth was out of prison, told not to feel too relaxed, or think a stupid idea that could cost him his life. Seth wasn’t in any way planning to betray his country again because he knows quite well that the fate of his wife and kid lies in their hands.

“Seth, you will be going to Alaphas very soon. You are going to meet up with your friends over there and tell them what they need to hear, you know you are a good liar so I trust you will make something up to distract them for now” Sun said.

“I don’t really know how this will pan out but showing up all of a sudden before the king of Alaphas will be suspicious so I don’t think it will be a good idea” Seth replied. “Shut up! You are in no position to make any suggestions if you are told what to do, you do it” Zulu said in anger to Seth. “I think he has a point, we need to be very careful in our plan before we lose this chance to something that may have been avoided” Lucas added.

They were all looking for ways on how Seth would be of service to them without jeopardizing his chances. They got to the conclusion that Seth would be traveling to Alaphas to inform them about the increasing deserters from Quinax.

Seth was to tell them about an unknown and undisclosed illness Zulu was suffering from, he was to give them a day his home country Quinax would be susceptible to any form of invasion and was to give them a fake map that would lead them directly into an ambush General Sun had planned for a long time. General Sun was hoping they would take the bait because he had taken out time to device all these methods, their fate depended on it, their fate depended on Commander Seth. They were hoping that Seth would succeed because if he doesn’t, things may take a new turn.

Seth was asked to leave the palace and return to his house to get his things ready for the journey he was about to take. Few minutes after Seth left, noises were heard right outside the King’s chambers, the General and the Regent went out at once to know why this happened. Few steps right outside the door to the King’s chambers, they saw Seth lying in the ground, soaked in blood and his body was vibrating, the atmosphere was tensed. What could be happening in the King’s chambers?

“What happened here? Seth!!” General Sun asked inquisitively as he rushed towards Seth who was lying almost dead on the floor, breathing heavily and was almost about to die.

“Call the Royal doctor, immediately” Lucas shouted. Seth was taken away by some Royal guards to the physician’s place.

The man that attacked Seth was an elite soldier, a royal guard as well posted to guard the King’s chambers. He was taken to the interrogation room and was chained to a chair where he will be questioned to know why he did what he did. Regent Lucas and General Sun had moved in at once without delay to the interrogation room, they thought that they have another mole who may have been sent by the Alaphas King to assassinate Seth. “Who sent you? And why did you attack the former Commander?” Lucas asked angrily. “shhhhh!!! Commander? He doesn’t deserve to be called a Commander because that commander murdered my brother and I know that my Brother’s spirit has refused to rest since his killer was released and wasn’t punished for his crime” the elite palace guard said while crying. It turned out that the guard was a senior brother to the soldier Seth killed while riding home when General Sun was attacked by Magnifico in the border between Zuix and Quinax. He wanted to take his revenge on Seth because he believed that his younger brother’s spirit hasn’t rested since then. After hearing what he had to say, the General and the Regent felt nothing but pity for the palace guard. They had to punish him severely anyway to serve as a deterrent to others even though they never wanted to but they did anyway.