WARBRINGERS: Revenge and Revolution

BAD BLOOD

[GON]

THERE were four soldier barracks in Cantata. They were placed strategically--or so they claimed--around the kingdom. Gon and Mastaro were tasked to go to the blue barracks, located just half a kilometer away from King Doroteo’s Castle.

It was called blue barracks because it’s blue. The walls were old, for sure. But they painted it light blue as if that whimsical color would mask the rottenness that lies beneath. The walls were tall too, a long rectangular building with a lot of windows. But before you could reach the building, you have to enter a big metallic gate that opens to a training field. It was a huge field as well, though rarely used.

Gon and Mastaro walked across the field without talking to each other. Gon was being teased by Mastaro, but Gon chose to ignore him. He climbed up the wide, blue marble stairs leading to the big wooden door.

Gon used the door knocker to knock on the door. The door knocker was a big face of King Doroteo. It was designed in a way that his nose would serve as the metal that would strike the door. Gon repeatedly used the door knocker until he heard footsteps approaching.

The door swung open and Gon saw a soldier, wearing only his underpants. His bare chest was exposed. You’d think that soldiers would be fit and trim. This soldier wasn’t. He had a slightly protruding stomach covered in dark curly hairs. Gon knew this soldier’s name--Kobold.

“Hello, sir,” Gon said, then bowed slightly. “We are the krills that are assigned to cater to your needs sir.”[AMS1]

The soldier gave him a grin then opened the door wide. “I need a blowjob,” he said.

Gon felt the anger rising within him. Even though he was used to this kind of treatment, he still wanted to punch the soldier. But that was a battle he knew he would lose. He was small and the soldier is imposingly tall.

“I’m just kidding,” Kobold said, that nasty grin still on his face. “C’mon and enter.”

They entered the barracks. The huge recreation room was in front. It was a wide space full of bookshelves. There was a huge fireplace that kept the place warm in ice weeping. Huge comfortable chairs were there as well, covered in lamb wool. At the center, there was a huge table with a lot of board games.

“Let’s go to the dining room,” Kobold said. “We’re having breakfast there.”

Kobold entered the huge door on the left of the recreation room. It opened to a huge dining room. The ceiling was so high a mythical giant could stand there without crouching. The four walls of the room were lined with lamps. The lamps were not lit because the light of the sun entering from the huge glass ceiling was enough to brighten up the room. The floor was covered with thick, black carpet. The table was long, fifty people can eat on it all at the same time.

Kobold was approaching the other four soldiers who were talking to each other while laughing. Gon was right behind him. The soldiers stopped talking when they saw them.

“Here are the krills that will serve us today,” Kobold said.

The fair-skinned soldier with a sharp nose and angular cheekbones smiled while looking at Gon. “They sent Gon?” he said.

The overweight balding soldier beside him laughed and slapped him on the back. “Jaider, I bet you’d be spanking your monkey again in no time.”

Gon felt so horrified and mad that he felt his cheeks got warm.

“He blushed Jaider,” said the overweight soldier again. “I bet he imagined you tugging it.”

Jaider grinned and winked at him. Gon bit his lip to calm himself down.

Jaider turned his attention to Mastaro. “Hey pig face, you can work on your own, right? We need all our rooms cleaned.”

Gon felt Mastaro stiffen beside him. He might be brave enough to bully other krills and even mock krill traders, but he’s too coward to cross the soldiers. “I can, sir.”

“Are you okay with Gon staying here?” Jaider said. “I want to talk to him.”

“I will clean the rooms all by myself?” Mastaro asked.

Jaider tilted his head to the left. “Didn’t you say you’re okay with working alone?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but I have to help him,” Gon said. He looked at Jaider’s brown eyes when he said that. “It is impossible to clean five rooms alone. Mastaro wouldn’t be able to do it well if he did.”

“Or maybe you just don’t want to follow orders, Gon? Maybe that’s why you’re making excuses,” said Jaider in a voice full of mischief. Jaider then smiled at him so sweetly that it looked like a threat.

“No, sir. I just want the soldiers to live comfortably in a clean room and I won’t be able to do that if I just sit here and talk to you, sir. Besides, we are not allowed to listen to your private conversations, sir.”

“Give it up, Jaider, he is not an indra,” the soldier with glasses said and even kicked his friend’s foot. “He won’t succumb to your advances, no matter how handsome you are.”

“Such a waste,” Jaider said, still looking at him. “If he’s an indra, I guarantee you he would already be on his knees right now.”

The soldiers laughed.

Jaider said. “What a waste,” he repeated.

Gon remembered how King Doroteo said that too. Camia’s demise occupied his mind again. He looked at the soldiers and he wondered if Camia was still alive when they found her. If they even planned to bring her to a doctor to save her. They probably didn’t. They probably thought Camia deserved to be killed for associating with rebels.

“Go on then,” said Kobold. “You know that you can find the rooms on the left side of the barracks. The first five rooms on the fourth floor are ours. Clean the rooms but be back to serve us the lunch prepared by the krills at the kitchen.”

Gon and Mastaro bowed at the same time.

“And Gon,” Jaider said. “Make my room sparkle.”

***

IT WAS noon and Gon was not done cleaning Kobold’s room. It was so cluttered and the room smelled like sour sweat. He almost threw up when he saw his used underpants on the floor.

Someone knocked at the door of Kobold’s room. “Gon, we need to serve their lunch.” It was Mastaro.

Gon opened the door. He nodded at Mastaro. “Let’s go.”

As they were going down the huge metallic stairs, Mastaro spoke to him. “That Jaider is a scum,” he said.

Gon was about to say that Mastaro wasn’t exactly different, but he looked at him and he saw that his face was red with anger; his hands were clenched into fists.

“They shouldn’t talk to you like that, Gon. You should report it to the krill trader so he would no longer assign you to assist the soldiers.”

“I tried that already,” Gon said. “It didn’t work.”

The krill trader told Gon he wasn’t a woman, so it was probably just a harmless joke.

“Then maybe you should try again. Don’t be such a wimp. You shouldn’t let soldiers make a pass at you like that--”

“As if you’re any different,” Gon couldn’t help but say. He wasn’t planning on saying that, because he knew it would cut deep, but he was too overwhelmed with everything that was happening in his life already.

Mastaro couldn’t say anything anymore. Silence came between them, only broken by the sound of their steps.

Mastaro tried to kiss him once. They were seventeen and they weren’t enemies then. He teased almost everyone except him. One day they were asked to find a lost sheep and they got tired and sat beneath the shade of a mango tree.

They were smiling then, making fun of how absurd the task was. Gon rested his back on the tree and he looked at Mastaro. Gon said he didn’t get why he was so nice to him when he’s such a pain in the ass to everybody. Mastaro looked at him, his face flushed. And then he suddenly leaned towards him.

Gon knew he was about to kiss him so he pushed him away. “What are you doing?!” he exclaimed.

Mastaro was stunned. Then tears filled his eyes. Gon was about to apologize when he ran away.

When Gon went back to camp, Mastaro became his enemy.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,” Gon said. “I just… I’m just too emotionally exhausted.”

Mastaro didn’t reply. Gon couldn’t look at him. They didn’t talk to each other anymore until they reach the kitchen.

Only three soldiers were there. Kobold, Jaider, and the soldier with the glasses. They were talking to each other and stopped when they noticed them.

“The food is ready,” said Kobold. “It’s in the kitchen. Bring them to us.”

Gon nodded and walked to the far end of the dining room. There is a door there that leads to the kitchen. He opened the door, the huge kitchen greeting him. The female krills were talking to each other while putting bowls of soup on a tray.

“Bring the soup first,” said the female krill to Gon. “Mastaro, bring the bread.”

Gon nodded and smiled at the female krill. He reached for the tray then lifted it. Soon, he was walking slowly back to the dining room again, scared of spilling the hot soup. He could smell it, the smell of corn and crab meat. His stomach grumbled.

Gon was approaching the table when he heard Kobold spoke, “I can’t believe the king told everyone the rebels killed her.”

That stopped Gon dead on his tracks. Their backs were onto him so they didn’t notice him. They kept on talking.

“Well, even if the truth comes out, who would care?” said the soldier with the glasses. “She is a rebel anyway. Cantatans are happy to see her dead. Even her fellow krills are happy. I know that, they told that to me.”

Gon’s heart was hammering inside his chest. His hands were shaking. His eyes stung with tears.

“Maybe the king did it to discourage other people from joining Millos,” said Kobold.

“That’s a smart move,” said Jaider. “But I’m smarter. I got the chance to fool around with that bitch.” That was followed by laughter.

Gon almost gasped. Mastaro was beside him now. He can feel his gaze on him.

“We all had the chance,” said Kobold, slapping his knees while laughing. “She had it coming. Remember how brave she was at the beginning? And then when I was giving it to her… she f*****g cried. She cried like a baby. Whooping wisdom, I came so hard!”

The soldiers laughed reverberated in the dining room. Gon’s entire body shook with rage. He threw the tray to the floor; the bowls broke in a loud crash. Gon could hear his heartbeat, fast and loud and he was gasping out of breath.

The soldiers turned. And before Gon could stop himself, he ran towards them, intending to hurt them, making them cry like a baby.

“Gon, stop!” Mastaro yelled. “For the love of the elemental gods, stop!”

[AMS1]