Magnifico

Patience is the key

“I suggest we all wait for a while,” Sun said as he sits down on the ground.

“Wait? Why should we wait?” the phox man asked?

“I can still see a fire burning over there. They may still be awake so I suggest the best thing we should do is to wait for a while for most of them to start sleeping before we move in” Sun replied...

“If we are going to wait for all of them to sleep before we proceed to action then we won’t do anything today because I don’t think they will ever do that” Owen said.

“I didn’t say we are going to wait for all of them to sleep. Of course, I know some of them will be standing guard but what I mean is we should be a little bit patient and wait till most of them retire to bed. From the way I see it, I can hear chants and noises from the mountain even though it isn’t that noticeable but they are celebrating something. If we move in now, it will be a death sentence and suicide. So let’s wait for most of them to sleep so that we will have a swift victory over them” Sun said.

“Ok. We heard the General. It’s in our best interest we wait for a while before we move in,” Jonas said.

They all adhered to the instruction and they all settled down in the area. They carefully tied their horses to trees around and they sat down just close to them waiting for when the bandits would go to sleep or at least when the chants they are hearing from the top of the mountain to lessen. Jonas went close to the General meanwhile Viruz and the three other Phox men were sitting very close to each other.

“General! I must confess, I like this mountain. The breeze up here makes me like sleeping,” Jonas said as he laughs hastily.

“I can feel that too,” Sun said as he picks pebbles of stones from the ground and starts throwing them away one after the other as though he was playing with them.

“I must confess, I am scared. I don’t know how you can handle this situation, ” Jonas said.

Sun turning right, looking directly into Jonas's eyes, he stopped throwing away the stones. “What are you afraid of?” Sun asked.

“General, I am afraid of this mission. These bandits are people we are not familiar with. We don’t know their antics or what they are capable of neither are we their enemy. What if this mission doesn’t go well? How do you guarantee that this will all be successful General?” Jonas said with this mean and regrettable expression.

Sun could notice Jona's sad mood and he knew it has changed even though he tries to hide it.

“Jonas! Look” Sun paused and took a deep breath. He continued “I don’t even know if we will succeed on this but I just believe we will. The thing is, I am not afraid of these raiders but I am afraid of what they will do to the people of Phox if we don’t succeed. So you see, we have to succeed and we must.”

“That’s right. The reason I am embarking on this mission is that you are leading it. I am trusting that we will succeed and that is why you will always have my support General” Jonas said relaxing his back at a tree.

“Thank you. Let’s all keep our hopes high and always be optimistic. The only thing that keeps me frightened is how to find Kylian and the scroll. But like I said, let’s be optimistic and always be positive” Sun said.

“Okay!” Jonas replied.

The night was slowly getting deeper and the chants and noises coming from the mountain were gradually diminishing. It was quite obvious that whatever activity that the bandits were engaged in on top of the mountain was receding. It was so dead quiet that the sound of a flying bee quarter-mile away could be heard by anyone who pays attention. Sun who was biting his fingers, his legs crossed was patiently waiting for the perfect time to make a move up there.

“I think it’s time we make a move,” Sun said as he stands up. They all stood up and took their swords with them. They all started walking quietly towards the direction of the sound of the chants they heard. They were almost there when Sun told them to squat down and wait for further instructions from him. The General went out alone to take a glimpse of the domain and get a better judgement on how to deal with the situation. After spending some time alone inspecting the situation, Sun came back to where the rest of the men were squatting.

“Gentlemen, listen up. I went closer to their camp but I couldn’t count how many men are there. But I assume that they may be up to fifty men or seventy men judging from the size of their camp. I can clearly see about thirty men still awake but dispersed. They are still drinking and chatting” Sun said.

“Now what do we do?” Owen asked.

“Did you bring the poison?” Sun asked Jonas.

“Yes, I did.”

“Give it to me.”

Jonas inserted his hands into his small bag and brought out a small cylindrical brown bottle of wolfbane mixed with cobra venom. He gave it to Sun and he took it and inserted it inside his pocket.

“I think you all should be here while I go again with Jonas inside the camp and find a way,” Sun said.

Jonas immediately followed him while Viruz and the rest stay low-key where they were hiding. Sun went around with Jonas and hid behind a big chunk of rock where they could clearly see what was going in the camp without being detected.

“What’s the plan General?” Jonas asked quietly.

“The plan is patience. We wait.”

“Wait for what?” Jonas asked again.

“We wait for them to sleep one after the other or at least for half of them to go to sleep then we move,” Sun said.

“I think that’s the best idea in the world. We wait till eternity” Jonas said laughed.

“Do you have a better suggestion, Jonas?”

“Well, I don’t. But I prefer we even attack them instead of waiting aimlessly" Jonas said.

Shortly after Jonas made the last statement, one of the bandits stood up and started walking towards their direction.

“We got a problem. Do you think they might have heard us discussing?”

“No. I think this is the answer that we need” Sun said calmly.

“Answer? What answer?” Jonas inquired.

“Let’s hide first. We will kill him.”

They both hid properly and waited patiently for the man to come closer. When he came closer and wanted to pee, Sun slowly crawled closer and brought out a small dagger, lob it inside the bandits lower throat and holding his neck. While he wanted to struggle and create a scene, Jonas rushed in too and covered his mouth tightly while Sun aggressively lobbed in the dagger more inside his throat till he dropped dead.

“He’s dead. What next General?” Jonas asked.

“Help me remove his clothes”

“what do you intend to do with it?” Jonas asked.

“I am going to wear it and disguise like him while I enter their camp and find a way to poison those drinks,” Sun said.

“Are you crazy?” Jonas asked slightly raising his voice. Realizing his voice was raised, he lowered it and said “I can’t watch you do that. Please don’t get me wrong. I can't allow you to go there General, we can’t afford to lose you, General. Please, let me do it.”

“No. I can’t allow that to happen. I believe I will succeed and I will. Remember I am always optimistic unlike you” Sun said as he smiles. There was a sudden c***k sound near the bush, it appeared someone was hiding and listening to them all these while, surprisingly Owen appeared.

“What! Were you guys attacked? What are you doing here?” Jonas asked.

“No, we weren’t attacked. I came to help” Owen said.

“I don’t remember asking for your help. You have to go back and watch each other back. Go back now” Sun said.

“No sir, please I can’t.”

“What did you just say?” Sun asked angrily.

“Please, I came to help. I know exactly how here looks because I have been here before. I also heard you saying that you would wear the bandit's clothes and enter the camp. I will do that for you. You both should stay put while I go do the job.”

“How am I supposed to trust what you just said? Do you think you will just tell me to let you go and I will let you go?”

“Sir. Believe me, I want these guys killed as much as you do. They took my wife from me, the only treasure I have in this world and I won’t forgive them for that. Allow me to go instead, our people need you more than they need me. Please sir” Owen begged.

“I think he is right General. We should allow him to go since he has been here before. He should know here more than both of us here so we need to let him go” Jonas begged.

“Okay. No problem. What is your name?” Sun asked.

“My name is Owen.”

“Alright Owen, you can go. But first, change your clothes.”

They removed the clothes of the bandit and Owen replaced it with his. He took the fur hat that the bandits were wearing as a headcover and also put it on. The fur hat has ear flaps and perfectly enveloped Owen's chin and ears. It provided Owen with a perfect disguise and made it to be difficult to distinguish the real bandits from him.

“You are good to go,” Jonas said.

About to leave, the General called him “Hey Owen, be careful and take this with you. Inside this is a poison, use it when it is necessary"

“Alright, sir.”

Owen left and walked away to the camp while Sun and Jonas were watching, hiding behind the hunch of rocks close to their camp. Owen waddled through nine men sitting in a circle, drunk and singing, fire burning in their center while they sit tight like the heat wasn’t affecting them. It appeared the mountain top was cold and that was why the bandits were sitting close to fire to always heat themselves. Passing the first nine men, Owen was consumed in anxiety but he tried all he could to maintain his footsteps to avoid being detected. Owen came close to the first tent. This tent appears to be guarded by two men who were standing close to the entrance and beside the entrance door, we’re two well-placed flammable torches. Owen noticed that someone important may be sleeping on this tent so he avoided it and walked past through it. When he passed the tent, turning around, he noticed that someone familiar came out from there. It was a tall, slender long hair woman. He watched closely and saw it was his wife that came out from the guarded tent. He quietly followed her as she walks away from the tent and went around back to another entrance into a tent. Owen quickly followed her up as she was walking fast, he noticed he may not catch up with her, so he whistled and she turned. He came close but she didn’t recognize him.

“Can I do anything for you?” she asked.

“It’s me,” Owen said sharply. He removed his fur hat. “it's me” he said again.

“Oh goodness!” she exclaimed and hugged him. “I have so much missed you”

“I have missed you too Naomi,” Owen said as he paused to look into her eyes. He caressed her face and hugged her again.

“Here is not safe. Wear back your hat and follow me” she said.

“Okay,” Owen replied and wore back the hat and followed her.