I am Reborn through Revenge

The cloud had promise of a rain

I was taking a walk in the field under a heavy morning cloud and mist that had the promise of rain. The weather wasn’t too bright and so was my body. I needed to cool off my head a little outside my quarters, maybe somewhere calm and that was why I decided to take a stroll. The field had a massive space, large enough to contain two battalions if it were to be a war ground. The green grasses on the field were uniformly spread across all areas with a height of my index finger. I was halfway strolling when I saw a group of soldiers training farther away. I decided to go closer and probably take a look at what they were up to. I got there and stood in a position where my presence wouldn’t cause a distraction.

There were about thirty men. I had my suspicion that they were elite soldiers; noble knights to be precise. They wore heavy shiny silver armor from their necks down to their legs. They wore dark brown boots which almost had the same design as the leather belt they wore over their waists. Some of their weapons shared the same colour as their armor. They had; maces, poleaxes, swords, and Warhammers. They seemed to be following a fighting technique displayed by a soldier at the frontline. The soldier's uniform was a little bit different from the rest of the men. He wore a swerving black cloak over his silver armor with a black boot that was halfway to the knee. He had no belt. I couldn’t see his face, at least not yet because of the mask he was wearing. Whoever it was under the mask wowed me by the swift battle moves he showed the men.

The soldier’s movement who was leading the training kind of pinched me so I became interested to know who it was, to see who could have such a fine skill in Zahrin. Someone that could lead a morning training of the knights. I crossed my hands on my chest, while I was standing and watching them. When they were through, the man on the mask looked at me and steadied his gaze where I was standing. He gestured with his head in my direction. Immediately he did that, the other soldiers looked at me as well, each taking a glance one after the other. What could they be talking about? I wish I had gone closer. Then shortly, the one on the mask started walking towards my direction with two swords in both hands. What was he up to? I was nervous. I was burning with weariness inside but yet, I tried as much as I could to make my face remain unfazed. I didn’t uncross my hands neither did I move back an inch from where I stood. I was busy calculating the intent and speed at which the soldier was striding towards me. I wished I could see his face, at least I would have easily found out what he was up to, I thought. In a battle, seeing your opponent's face helps a lot in understanding how to handle the situation. I already calculated that my first move would be to hurry to the safest direction as soon as possible depending on where his sword would go. Thanks to General Uzbek, I had secretly learnt the most horrendous and elitist military training any of the knights could dream of. So I wasn’t exactly afraid of any sly move from him even though I wished I had a weapon I could use to defend myself. From what I saw the man on the mask did, I realized that if I dared fight him without a sword or a good weapon, then my chances of winning would be slimmer than his. The only thing I had to do was to focus and read his movements. When he was three paces away from me, at that point, I was already expecting some kind of a surprise move from him but I was amazed at what I heard.

“Prince Anon,” he called me calmly. ”What are you doing here?”

Wait! That voice, could it be? I watched him as he slowly removed the mask. “Nightwinder?” I said surprisingly. My mind had totally skipped the fact that he was responsible for training the soldiers. Though I have only heard that from people but I have never seen him doing it for the first time. But today, I didn’t just confirm it but I also reevaluated my knowledge on the level of his sword skills which I had initially underestimated.

He laughed. He threw a sword at me and I caught it once with my right hand. It was an instinctive decision I regretted later. “Not bad, Anon,” he said then turned and gestured with his head to the direction of his men. “My men are so excited that you are here, Anon. They would be highly pleased if you would grace your presence here with a show of swordsmanship.”

What?

“Nightwinder,” I said in a muffled laugh. “I don’t think that would be possible. I know close to nothing to what these men know. They have devoted their whole life to the sword and what am I? An imp wouldn’t even come close to the description of what I am.”

“C’mon, Anon!” He laughed and turned around to the soldiers. He whistled to them. “Boys! The Prince would want to fight with one of you. Who would take up the challenge?” he said, his voice was loud.

“Night. . .” I called him but he didn’t listen. His men started gyrating from the distance and he responded by laughing at them.

He finally turned and looked back at me. “C'mon Anon. Even if you are an imp, you don’t need to show it to everyone here. Let’s go. I will ask them to take it easy on you.” He placed his hand across my neck and made me follow him.

I know a Prince wasn’t supposed to show weakness to the people but I had always been seen and regarded as a weak person. So what difference would it make? I know Nightwinder too well. I knew he was either trying to disgrace me in the front of the knights or maybe he was trying to know how strong I had become. Now the question is, should I let them disgrace me or should I let him know what is hidden under my sleeves?

Night's arm was still placed on my neck until we approached the knights where they stood.

“Meet Prince Anon,” he said. “As you all know, he is my brother. As a matter of fact, he is my elder brother and he has decided to join us today on the training ground. He told me he would love to show us some of his skills.”

They all laughed clashed their weapons together, shouting and cheering me.

“Now, it’s up to you Anon. Don’t disappoint your people” he whispered to my ear and then removed his hands from my shoulders.

I cleared my throat.

My people? When had they suddenly become my people? The way he said it showed that he really wanted to see me fight at all cost and I just don’t want that to happen. How do I get out of this situation? I know Nightwinder as a very conserved type of person. I was surprised to see him laughing and smiling and also chanting along with the rest of the soldiers.

“Who would fight the Prince?” he asked, raising his hands in the air with a sword on his right hand. “Who among you have the balls?” he shouted again.

A man from the crowd emerged. He was broad and short, kind of bulky for my liking. He had blond short hair and his jugular veins were too revealing—like a killer warrior. He had the eyes of a wolf and it sent shivers down my spine to think of what this man could do in a battle. He looked like someone who would prefer to strangle a tiger to death than fight it with a sword just to prove a point. “I will,” the blonde-haired man said, his voice was deep, it soothed well with his broad chest. The men started chanting and clashing their weapons together, cheering him up.

I turned to New to Night. “I am not ready for this” I whispered to him.

He smiled at me and turned to the men, with a loud voice, he said, “The Prince says that you should bring it on knight Simon.”

Hell!

The men kept chanting and suddenly they changed the chants to a bunch of repetitive words. “Simon! Simon! Simon! Simon!”… I swallowed my spit and shivered. I didn’t like the chant, it gave me goosebumps. At that moment, I wished I hadn’t gone there. It was obvious that the blond-haired man's name was Simon and his men would want him to win at all cost. Now, I was more curious about what Simon could do or would love to do to me. For him to agree to fight a Prince first among others would mean he wanted to show how strong he was to his fellow knights or maybe show how frightened I was or incapacitated I was, I thought. I didn’t know what Night told them when I came there so even if I was going to engage Simon in a fight, I won’t be taking any chances from him.

“C'mon Prince, show us what you’ve got.” Simon’s voice sounded like there was no fear in him. I was sure Simon must be a killer machine. I knew that there was no way I could defeat such an opponent with a well-structured silver armor against the all-white cotton attire I was putting on.

I looked at Night, he was busy chattering with the men. He had left me to decide my fate. But I still didn’t want to fight Simon with a sword, at least not yet. “Okay, Simon right?” I asked.

“Sexy name. I guess you like it?” he asked, he wasn’t even looking. He fixed his gaze to the Warhammer he had on his hands.

“I think we should play another type of game. Fighting you while you are on that armor…Ha! It will seem like I am deceiving myself you know.”

He looked up, fixing his wolf eyes at me like I said something that shouldn’t be said. “What other type of game? Besides, you can borrow armor from any of the men here. I assure you, they will be happy to give you.”

“Simon!” I called him, smiling. “I am a Prince. A Prince doesn’t go around borrowing.”