Magnifico

Jonas has arrived

Arriving at the coast, the boatman stopped his boat near the shore and Jonas came down with his horse. He looked at the way leading to Quinax and wondered if what he was doing was the best thing to do or if going to Quinax will be the best idea.

“This is your way to Quinax, you must start riding to get there before nightfall. Remember, the way is always narrow.” The boatman advised Jonas as he started sailing back where he came from.

‘The road is always narrow' Jonas repeated it slowly in his mind.

“Bye old man, if fate brings us together once again, I will meet you again,” Jonas replies him as he waves his hand.

Jonas mounted his horse and started riding again to Quinax. It was nightfall when Jonas arrived at the gate of Quinax and he saw the torches the soldiers had mounted at the gate and also around the thick and long fence surrounding the fort of Quinax. The fence looks almost impenetrable and solid and the soldiers had mounted at the top of the fence with their bows and arrows, their swords, spears, and shields. He saw the slim watchtowers that were built in Quinax and he wondered why there are slim towers in Quinax while there are large watchtowers in Alaphas.

The soldiers stay in these watchtowers day and night to keep off intruders from Quinax. This place in Quinax is heavily guarded and fortified, Jonas saw for himself why Quinax was almost entirely impossible to penetrate for the people of Alaphas in the past and why Quinax had always triumphed against their enemies at every war they were brought to their doorsteps.

“Who is there? Identify yourself.” A soldier on top of the tower shouted.

“I am king Jonas. Go tell your king that I, the king of Alaphas had come to say hi” Jonas said while he de-mounts from his horse. The soldiers at the gate couldn’t believe what their ears heard.

“King Jonas of the kingdom Alaphas? Did I hear that correctly?” A commander asked.

“That is exactly what I heard too.” Another soldier standing with the commander, posted on the fence which was just above the main gate of Quinax. Most of them can not identify Jonas when they see him especially since he was seen when it was already dark but they quickly opened the gate and got him arrested. They just wanted to make sure that d take what they heard for granted. They quickly opened the main gate, arrested Jonas, and took him to General Sun without wasting time. They have heard rumours about Jonas so they definitely wanted to know what kind of joke the prisoner they had arrested wanted to play and also to confirm if truly he was King Jonas of Alaphas.

General Sun was having dinner with his wife Amara and little son Grizler when he heard that soldiers were searching for him. Late king Munah's wife Elizabeth had come to tell him that soldiers were outside with a prisoner waiting for him. General Sun wondered why the soldiers came with a prisoner to his house by that time of the night instead of going to meet the interior minister, Hariz. He came out immediately and to his greatest surprise, he saw King Jonas right in front of him. He couldn’t believe what his eyes saw, he wondered what may have brought Jonas alone to their kingdom, he also wondered what gave Jonas the gut to come to Quinax. He was totally intrigued if Jonas had come alone or if it was part of his secret agenda to deceive the people of Quinax.

“General Sun, I have heard much about you, it’s quite an honor to meet you here in Quinax and it’s even more dramatic to be here as your captive. You know I can’t believe it myself though but sometimes life takes an unexpected turn. Brothers may become rivals while foes may become friends, allies, comrades, or even partners. Don’t you think so General?”Jonas asked boldly.

It shocked the General, even more, when he saw that a prisoner who was supposed to keep his mouth shut and think about how long he will last in Quinax was talking to him boldly.

“Jonas, you have a lot of gut to come here. What I don’t understand is why you came here alone? Or you came here with your soldiers, hiding in the bush, waiting for you to give them some kind of signal to attack us?” Sun asked as he draws his sword.

“I wouldn’t be so stupid or that foolish General. My coming may be in your best interest General.”

Sun was enraged, he thought of killing him straight away to avoid stories that may arise in the future but he was so tolerant and he was also known for exhibiting temperament that was quite admirable so he decided to make another decision.

The General took Jonas to the palace and also sent for the former Regent to come immediately to the palace. When he got to the palace, a Eunuch rushed and told the King that General Sun had come to see him. It was already time for the King to take his sleep but he had to come out since it was General Sun who came to see him and Sun had told the eunuch to tell the king it was an emergency.

King Zulu quickly started wearing his royal clothes so he wasn't putting anything on by that time of the day. He put on his red cloak which contains a drawing of two Asian tigers and a crown in the middle of both lions worn over his shoulder to cover his back.

He came out to see General Sun when he saw King Jonas and he said “King Jonas, what a pleasing surprise,” King said excitedly.

“Former King Jonas by the way, more suitable if you address me like that, muhahaha! Well, it is also not a surprise to see you as well.” Jonas added.

“Former King?” King Zulu asked.

“Yeah... As much as I hate to say it, I am no longer the king of Alaphas. You know sometimes things change and we may not have control over it. Muhaha”

“And you expect me to believe that?” King Zulu asked as he laughed hysterically.

“Well, I expect you to believe nothing. I didn’t come from Alaphas for you to trust me but I came all the way to earn your trust” Jonas said.

“To earn my trust? Jonas, it seems like you don’t know what you have done or who you are. You are a monster and a beast, you are no different from that thing you brought to your Kingdom. You have killed so many people, murdered so many men, rendered so many families useless, made lots of children fatherless and motherless, and here you are talking of trust. Spare me that gibberish, why must I trust you?” Zulu asked.

“You have to”

“Shut up” Zulu shouted as he draws his sword. “Give me three reasons why I must trust you, Jonas?” he added.

“Unfortunately, I don’t even have a reason” Jonas answered.

General Sun started laughing and asked, “You don’t seem to have thought your answers through before coming here because your replies aren’t quite convincing at all you know.”

As they were questioning Jonas, king Zulu had already wanted to kill him at the spot when Lucas arrived.

“Wait, don’t kill him yet,” Lucas shouted as he saw King Zulu trying to wave his sword towards Jonas's head.

“Tell me why we shouldn’t kill this monster, Lucas, because if I kill him now, we will deal with one less problem at a time. Or don’t you think so Regent?” King Zulu asked.

“I don’t only think so but I know so. We will be putting all our eggs in one basket if we don’t try to know or understand what might have carried him all the way from Alaphas to Quinax alone. We don’t need to entertain silly mistakes that could have been avoided by King Zulu. Please, put down your weapon.” Lucas begged. King Zulu listened to Lucas and he took down his sword but with an unsatisfied mind.

“You must be the Regent of Quinax, I have heard much about you, sir. I expected you to appear older than you already look you know, you never get old. Muhaha! Staying in Quinax must be refreshing I see. I will get used to it soon.” Jonas said smiling.

“How did you know I am the Regent?” Lucas asked Jonas.

“Your king just mentioned it”

“Oh, yeah. By the way, what made you come to Quinax alone?” Lucas asked.

“Well, I guessed I have answered that question before”

“Well, let me categorically tell you that saying it again this time, with the whole truth, may still guarantee your head to still be on your neck in the next moment” Lucas advised Jonas. Jonas noticed that he will be missing this chance if he doesn’t clear the air in a manner that would make them know the real reason why he had come to Quinax alone.

“First of all, I am no longer the king of Alaphas. I was stripped of my title by Magnifico and he made himself the king of Alaphas after he disgracefully deposed me from my throne. Staying in Alaphas could further put my life in danger and that is why I chose to come to Quinax.” Jonas was still saying as king Zulu cuts in.

“Why didn’t you visit other kingdoms? Why did you choose to come to Quinax instead? Now, you have exposed my Kingdom to a possible attack from Alaphas any moment from now.” King Zulu angrily said.

“Well, not like I was followed when I was coming here. The thing is, I can be of help if you really want to defeat this Magnifico. I have some knowledge about Magnifico and know a lot of secrets that may interest you to know if you really want to penetrate Alaphas” Jonas said.

“What secrets?” Lucas questioned.

“I escaped from Alaphas from a secret passage that is only familiar to me because I hold the map that could lead to it. I had in my possession a sacred scroll that could lead to Magnifico's destruction but it was taken by him.”

“You know I still don’t believe you at all. Your story isn’t convincing enough to me.’’ General Sun said as he nods his head in disbelieve.

“General, your emotions have totally beclouded your judgment and it has blinded your reasoning. You just don’t want to see reasons why I took all the risks to come all the way down here. Look at my index finger, do you think I inflicted this injury to my self? Magnifico cut off my finger because of some useless reasons” Jonas said as he raised his voice a little.

“Now, that sounds sweet. Magnifico is more merciful than you though, I would have gone for the eyes if I were him” King Zulu said while General Sun on the hand started laughing.

"This is not a laughing matter," Jonas said in low tune.

“Alright, gentlemen. So Jonas are you saying you wouldn’t go extra miles by cutting off your finger just to convince us to believe you?” Lucas asked Jonas.

“I am not that stupid, I know I have done lots of crazy things in the past but cutting off my finger isn’t in any way my style,” Jonas said with a more convincing tone.

“So how are you going to be of help to us then?” Lucas asked.

“Good question Lucas, you never disappoint. I can take your army into Alaphas through the secret underground passage anytime you feel like attacking Alaphas. We may need to try out our luck to see if we can get Magnifico killed or seized.” Jonas said.

“ You want to take my people in a secret what? You see, I said this criminal can’t be trusted.” King Zulu said angrily.

“There is no point trying to deceive anyone here. Look, I know I am a bad person or used to be a bad person but not anymore. Please give me a chance to prove that to everyone here.” Jonas pleaded.

“We will see what we can do about it,” Lucas said.

Lucas called the King and also called General Sun to a separate place to discuss with them what to do with king Jonas.

“King Zulu, General, I want you all to listen to me, please. I don’t think there’s any need to further kill him or send him out of our kingdom. I don’t see any reasons why he would want to deceive us all or cut off his finger to deceive us. It doesn’t just make sense and I could read from his eyes that he was telling us the truth.” Lucas pleaded.

“So what do you suggest Lucas?” King Zulu asked as he puts his two hands on his waist.

“Yes, what do you suggest?” General Sun added.

“I suggest we leave him be for now. Since we don’t know much about Magnifico, I think the best thing we can do now is to listen to the person who does. Jonas has stayed with Magnifico much longer than anyone else here so we should at least pay attention to what he had said since we don’t have a composite plan yet that could get rid of Magnifico. I know he is a bad man, I know he had once planted a mole in our kingdom, I know he doesn’t deserve our forgiveness but we only need to put that behind our back and look forward to the future.” Lucas begged.

They all didn’t agree so well with their agreement with Lucas but they had to try out their chances even if it means liaising with an enemy. It was already late that night, so they all retired to their respective houses while Jonas was kept in the cell for further survey.