Miles fought feverishly with his sword against several soldiers on horseback. They circled him. Each took his turn to lunge forward to strike him with his sword. They wanted to kill Miles. Milles tried his best to dodge their attacks and had even managed to drag a few men down from their horses. Soon they were fighting on the ground...
Kingdom of Largo
Chapter 19
The Six Soldiers
Two full moons had passed already, and every evening the crew came back empty-handed without finding anything, and Baldwin was beginning to get discouraged.
However, this morning, Baldwin woke up feeling refreshed and hopeful. He sensed that something good was about to happen - that he might receive some positive information today. His team had never before endured such a lengthy period of time without finding out anything.
He stepped out of his tent and found that his men were busy, cleaning the cooking utensils. Some of the crew members went hunting the day before and brought back some rabbits and two small pigs and a wild boar. He had decided he would stay around to cook the animals for supper this evening.
Baldwin had already decided to take on the role as one of the cooks for his men during their time spent digging up dirt on Miles. He felt responsible for their well-being. He thought perhaps in the next meeting he would discuss with his men a better schedule to rotate the duty of this task. He needed time, too, to do his own investigative work.
He questioned Miles's motive for moving into the palace. Why would he? If King Aylard was his enemy, then why would he want to come to the palace? Wasn't he afraid of what King Aylard might do to him? Why would King Aylard want to invite such a man to come and live in the palace without knowing the man's background?
If Miles were an enemy of the kingdom, he should not live in the comfort of the palace, he should be in prison!
Baldwin could not understand a lot of things that had been happening in the palace, and now he wondered if he had fallen into their scheme. Perhaps he and his team were purposely sent away from the palace to the southern border so that they would not be in the palace to protest.
Yes! The more I think about it, the more I feel like a fool for accepting their deal! My team could have been down the street protesting on that same day and Miles could have been stripped of his knighthood already! Sheesh! What a fool I was! Baldwin told himself.
He hated the fact that he had been tricked into accepting the deal which saw himself receiving such a large sum of 1000 gold bars as compensation for his lost finger. He had not been thinking clearly on that day, he was merely following Samuel's suggestion to file a lawsuit – very likely the reason why he was awarded the 1000 gold bars on the same day he filed his lawsuit. They wanted to use the gold bars to distract him and his team!
How that 1000 gold bars had changed the direction of his team's purpose on that day! Baldwin only had himself to blame. He let his greed get the better of him. Now, it was too late to complain. If he returned to the palace without any findings, Miles would always be a knight, and he himself would still be Detective Baldwin, working towards knighthood. Miles' crimes would forever be buried. Now, the task to find out his true identity rested entirely on his shoulders. He and his team had to come up with some findings - if not they might as well forget about the whole thing.
What a cunning deal that was! Those scoundrels had taken me for a fool, tricking me into accepting this deal! Baldwin couldn't help but wonder what direction the case would have taken had he not fallen for such bribery.
And what was he to make of the warning he had received from the warrior in black concerning Samuel's “plan”? Who was he trying to harm? Baldwin hoped that he and his team were not the targets.
Oh, yes! That would be convenient, wouldn't it? Just send me and my warriors off to the danger zone, and then have some mercenaries tracing our steps and have us killed, then blame it on the bandits. That would have been a good plan to eliminate us, wouldn't it? Samuel! Don't take me for a fool! The more Baldwin processed his thoughts, the angrier he had become at Samuel!
Alright! Alright! I'd rather not think about that for now! This is just getting me mad! I should find a way to deal with Samuel later. I want to find out who he had wanted to kill. I'm sure he and I could work up a deal for my silence. Samuel, I know how to handle you! You and King Aylard are the same! I'll handle you both! Baldwin promised himself.
After all the utensils were clean, the warriors split up, off to accomplish their duties for the day.
Several of the men stayed behind to help clean the animals. All would be cooked before the dead animals begin to rot. Baldwin filled the fire pit with branches and stones his men had previously gathered, started up the fire and made sure the rods for each carcass were sturdy enough for the rotisserie process. Supper would be ready by the time his warriors return. He expected to hear good news this evening. He felt quite positive today.
It would turn out that Baldwin was right! Something did surface! Two of the team members, Richard and Gerald, had a good report to present to the group when they came back.
According to them, they were at the marketplace when a fight broke out between two people. They went towards the crowd and were surprised to learn it was Miles and another person who seemed to have been a soldier on horseback. He was calling Miles a traitor.
According to Richard, Miles was negotiating with a merchant about a brown horse he wished to buy. He was in the middle of checking over the horse when suddenly, a voice shouted at him from the back.
“TRAITOR!!! TRAITOR!!!! What are you doing here?” The soldier shouted at Miles.
Miles turned around and was surprised to see the soldier behind him.
“Take a good look at a traitor, everyone! He even wears our enemy's armor! How soon has he forgotten about the death of his own brother at the hands of our enemy? Now, he is even serving our enemy!”
“TRAITOR! Everyone, take a good look at this man! He has the face of a traitor!” The soldier continued to rant.
Miles turned around and began to leave. The soldier trotted his horse forward to block his way, ans swung his sword at Miles. Miles dodged the sword and jumped to a further location and began to run. The horseman followed him in close pursuit. All spectators rushed to follow them both. Miles ran fast, but not as fast as the horse, and soon the soldier caught up to him and swung his sword again. Miles dodged again, and this time he drew his sword as well.
Soon the two men were fighting.
“How dare you fight me with your brother's blood on your sword? You are a traitor! You don't deserve to live!” The soldier lunged at Miles again. Soon, Miles found himself surrounded by several other soldiers as well.
Miles seemed to be lost. He was in a marketplace, not in the forest. There were hardly any trees around for him to do perform his trick of jumping high and low, nor was there anywhere to hide. He was desperately trying to defend himself.
He fought feverishly with his sword against several soldiers on horseback. They circled him. Each took his turn to lunge forward to strike him with his sword. They wanted to kill Miles. Milles tried his best to dodge their attacks and had even managed to drag a few men down from their horses. Soon they were fighting on the ground. Miles took over the reins of those few horses, then jumped on one of the horses' backs and rode away, together with all the other horses. The soldiers were left to chase after him on foot. What's strange about it was the people in the marketplace were laughing, not at Miles, but at how the soldiers had suddenly become horseless.
Later, the soldiers went into one of the eateries to replenish themselves. Richard and Gerald followed the men, sitting at the table next to them. They both knew they would be hearing some juicy information.
“Can you believe that guy wearing our enemy's armor? He must be a knight or something!” Richard heard one of them say to the others.
“He has no shame!” one of the other men groaned, twisting his lips and shaking his head in disgust as he spoke.
“I knew him and his brother,” said the older soldier, who appeared older than the other five, the one who called Miles a traitor: “I watched them come into the palace. The night his brother died he was lucky to have been sent away to another location. When he came back it was too late. Many palace guards have lost their lives, including his brother.”
“Who? Who killed his brother? When was that?” asked one of the other young soldiers.
“Oh, that must have been fourteen seasons ago. You all wouldn't have known about this. As far as I could remember, it was King Aylard and his troop. They came to Kebia to elope with Princess Isabella. I was young and timid then. I had never seen so many fierce warriors against us. I hid in a place where no one would see me and watched the fight. I witnessed the slaughter of the others. It was a sad sight to see. So many warriors fell dead, including his brother,” the older soldier paused for a moment when the food and the wine came.
“I later reported the incident to the King and the Queen, but apparently, they both knew it already. They, too, were hiding in their secret chamber. I was relieved to know that I was not the only one who had been hiding.”
The conversation was briefly interrupted by the serving of food and wine.
Richard and Gerald left to come back to report.
“You stupid fools! You should have captured those soldiers and brought them back to me. We can find out more from them!” Baldwin exclaimed. He couldn't believe his two warriors didn't try to capture those men.
“How could we? Do you remember we were supposed to be civilians? We were in civilian clothes and were not armed. They all were armed!” Richard protested to defend themselves.
“Okay, suit up into your armor and bring me to them now! We must catch them before they leave. Let's hope they are still in the marketplace,” said Baldwin.
Then he turned to those warriors who had been helping him cook the animals and told them to stay and continue with the cooking.
Richard and Gerald led the way. When they returned to the eatery where the soldiers had been eating, they found the establishment empty.
Baldwin asked the owner of the eatery as to the whereabouts of the soldiers and was told they have left some time ago already, but he heard them say they would stick around the marketplace to look for some horses.
So, along with his warriors, Baldwin and his team scanned the marketplace for the sale of horses. They found the soldiers negotiating with the same horse owner that Miles had been talking with earlier.
While negotiating with the horse owner, the soldiers were suddenly aware of a bunch of warriors on horseback trotting towards them. They noticed they were also wearing the same armor as Miles whom they saw earlier. The soldiers began to scatter and run. The merchant rolled his eyes, threw both his hands up in the air, considered today an unlucky one.
Baldwin and his team soon caught up with the soldiers. They circled around them but did not try to hurt them.
“Stop running, soldiers!” shouted Baldwin, “Stop running and no one will get hurt!”
“Don't fight us! We just need to talk to you!”
There were six soldiers, and Baldwin's men sure had outnumbered them. They saw Baldwin's team closing in on them, but noticed that the team have not drawn their weapons. The soldiers didn't raise their swords either.
“Listen, soldiers! We just want to talk with you about someone you know. We would like to invite you to our area and we promise, no one will get hurt,” Baldwin reassured them.
“What would you like to know, and about who?” asked the older warrior.
“You will find out later. We just need to talk within the privacy of our own environment. Can we invite you to our place? I promise, we won't hurt anyone,” Baldwin reassured them again.
“Okay, we'll do it,” replied the older warrior. They laid down their weapons. Gerald went around to collect them.
“Our men will lead you to our place, but first, this is just for safety and formality, Gerald spoke, as he gave the signal to Richard to assist him in binding the hands of the soldiers. I assure you after you arrived at our place you will be untied,” Baldwin assured them. He thought he might as well be calm and courteous so that he could get the information that he needed from these soldiers. It was a good thing that they had laid down their weapons to surrender. Now, he really could appreciate what Samuel has taught him and why he needed to be more courteous when he needed people to work in his favor.
Richard and Gerald came forward to tie the soldiers' hands together, then led them to walk behind their horses' backs. Both Richard and Gerald seemed proud of themselves.
Once they reached the secluded, tented area, the soldiers were led into Baldwin's large tent where they were untied. They seated the prisoners at the table and served them wine and pig and rabbit meat for supper. All six soldiers were treated with respect. Baldwin's warriors were at a loss to understand the extent of kindness Baldwin showered upon these six soldiers. They had never seen this side of Baldwin before. It seemed to them that Baldwin was going out of his way to be nice to these soldiers. They had yet to see what Baldwin had up his sleeve.
“Listen...you are not our enemy. At least I don't consider you to be. All I need from you is information on one person. Share that with me and you shall be rewarded,” Baldwin began.
The prisoners looked at each other, then the older soldier spoke, “Who do you want to know about?”
“Miles.”
The older soldier spoke again, “Why do you want to know about him?”
“I will not lie to you. Sir?... Your name?”
“Wilkin” the prisoner responded.
“Sir Wilkin! I will not lie to you. My warriors and I are from the Kingdom of Largo. We are here on a mission to run an investigation on Miles to close off a court case. Depending upon the information that we receive from you, the court case could go one way or the other. Perhaps you would like to ask me why? I'll tell you why,” Baldwin said. He noticed there was some movement in the group. The six soldiers were looking at each other, and it seemed they were already willing to spill their guts out about Miles. Baldwin secretly congratulated himself.
The six soldiers looked at Miles and listened to him intensively. They thought they were the only ones looking for Miles, but then now they found him - thanks to Baldwin.
“Miles had recently been found inhabiting the forest, and for some unknown reason, our King Aylard had invited him to reside in the palace and had even awarded him with a Knighthood. We want to find out why. Why was he worthy of being knighted? Where was Miles serving before he decided to live in the forest? If you know anything about his past we would appreciate your sharing it with us. We have a court case pending the removal of his knighthood,” Baldwin continued.
A smile came across Sir Wilkin's face. He was more than ready to spill everything he knew about the traitor. How dare he join the enemy and allow them to knight him?! How dare he forgot how his brother had died?! He needed to bring this traitor back to his kingdom and bring him to justice!
“Miles once worked for King Kebia in the Kingdom of Kebia. He and his brother, Micah, were palace guards. They both joined the palace at a very young age. Miles got special treatment in the palace because he and Princess Isabella were about the same age and they played well together. However, that was just as far as they could take their relationship. Queen Matilda would often prohibit them from spending time together. Everytime she saw them together she would separate them and told Miles that his duty was to perform as a palace guard – not act as an entertainer to the princess. Soon the mother and daughter had developed bad feelings towards each other,” said Sir Wilkin. “Eventually the young couple had drifted apart, and Miles was forbidden to go near the princess. He and his brother were assigned to station at the King and the Queen's chamber. This way Queen Matilda could always keep an eye on them both.
He paused to take a sip of the wine.
“I knew it! I just knew it! I've always known he belonged to a kingdom but just didn't know which one,” Baldwin announced while making notes of what he has heard.
“There's more!” Wilkin responded, “To avoid the two being together, the queen had a plan. She and King Kebia negotiated the princess's hands in marriage with King Khaxaedia, who ran the neighboring Kingdom of Khaxaedia. He was almost twice the age of the princess. The marriage was to exchange for 10,000 troops of soldiers and also some weapons of war, and horses, but they were surprised by King Aylard, who had suddenly come to the palace to propose for the Princess's hands in marriage. He was met with an ill reception and was driven away by an angry King Kebia, who told him never to set foot in their kingdom again. If he did, he was warned, there would be war between them.”
“Oh, that's incredible!” Exclaimed Baldwin. “I don't even think King Aylard is aware of the friendship between Queen Isabella and Miles! Wait 'til Samuel hears this!”
Baldwin suddenly found himself more excited than ever about his juicy finding. He felt his life was about to change for the better. He calculated everything inside his head. He wanted more from his kingdom. Now, he didn't even want to be knighted anymore, he wanted an even greater title.
“There's more!” said Wilkin.
“Okay, let's have it! I'm all ears!” said an excited Baldwin with a wide grin on his face, shining with victory already.
“Then King Aylard broke into the palace one night and eloped with the princess. He had planned an elaborate scheme in which to elope, distracting the palace about what he was going to do and where he would be waiting for the princess, and purposely allowed that rumor to be heard. Many good warriors were sent to the location to fetch the princess back into the palace and King Aylard was supposed to be killed. But that was not the real plan that King Aylard had set up. His secret plan was to have Princess Isabella stay and hide inside the palace until he come for her. That night, Miles was purposely told by the queen to go to the location to meet and fight with King Aylard, but his younger brother, Micah, was left behind in the palace. When King Aylard came with his warriors I was afraid and I hid where no one could see me, but I witnessed the whole slaughtering scene. Miles's brother was among those warriors who had been killed. When Miles came back, all he could see were dead bodies everywhere in the courtyard, Princess Isabella was nowhere in sight.”
“So, that was it! I suppose that is why Miles doesn't think he owes loyalty to the Kingdom of Kebia.” said Baldwin, “So where is the king and queen of Kebia now?”
“After the fall of the Kebia Kingdom, the king and queen joined the Kingdom of Khaxaedia, which was a large successful kingdom, and that's where we've come from. We were told to either go our own ways, be nobodies, or join the Kingdom of Khaxaedia to become their army to fight wars for them.”
“So, obviously, Miles had preferred to be a nobody, since he was not well-liked by the queen anyway,” said Baldwin.
Well, you could say that too, but Miles had always been a strange fellow. Nobody really could understand him. He is a man of a few words, and doesn't talk much!”
“So, where is this Kingdom of Khaxaedia? And what are King Kebia and Queen Matilda doing in the kingdom?” asked Baldwin.
“They both serve as Councillors for the King and Queen. You can say that both Kingdom of Khaxaedia and Kingdom of Kebia had merged into one large kingdom,” answered Wilkin.
“Where can I find this kingdom?”
“It is located on the northwest side of Kingdom of Largo if you must know. It may take you several days to reach there on horseback.”
“Then why are you six warriors wandering around? What brought you here to the marketplace on the southern borders? Isn't this far away from where you're from?” Baldwin wondered.
“I supposed we've broken the law. They must be looking for us now. It would take us forever to get back now without our horses. We had decided to venture out a little but got lost in the forest. I don't even know what penalties await us when we get back,” Wilkin confessed.
Baldwin's warriors' jaws dropped. They had not expected that they would capture some outlaws from another kingdom. What were they going to do with them?
“I was excited to find Miles in the marketplace. I thought I could capture Miles to compensate for the mistake of our misadventure. Unfortunately, he got away and took our horses with him too,” Wilkin said. He wondered what he could do next, and whether or not Baldwin and his team could help them.
Baldwin's head started to calculate his fortune again, musing at the chance that he could get what he wanted.
“Listen... all of you!” Baldwin suddenly had an idea. “Why don't you all come back with me to the Kingdom of Largo? As I promised you I would never harm you.”
“What could we possibly do there?” Wilkin wondered, but the idea sounded good for now.
“You all can become our citizens, or even join our army,” Baldwin proposed, “All you'll need to do is to be witnesses for my case against Miles.”
The six soldiers listened intensely. They wondered if it would mean that they, too, would become traitors like Miles.
“No one will call you traitors over there! We welcome you! You will be welcome to join our army and will be trained as fighters for our kingdom. You will get paid handsomely for your testimony about Miles. How about that?”
The six soldiers looked at each other. They thought this was probably the only way they could survive, as they did not know what fate would await them when they return to their own kingdom.
“You each will get 500 gold coins for your testimony,” said Baldwin. At this moment Baldwin was so ready to spill everything he knows about Miles he would not even mind digging into his own pocket to give out those gold coins himself for their testimonies. That was how much he had wanted to bring Miles down.
At the mention of the 500 gold coins, the deal was sealed. The six soldiers happily enjoyed the evening. They heartily ate their supper which consisted of pig meat, rabbit meat, and duck. They were also served wine. The following day, six horses were brought in from the marketplace as gifts to the happy soldiers.
Baldwin and his warriors stayed on for another day to pack up everything before setting off back to the Kingdom of Largo. Baldwin secretly congratulated himself many times. What seemed to have been a difficult task turned out to be the easiest of all, and it did not take them long to do it. They didn't even have to stay there for the winter. He was proud of his team of detective warriors. It was due to their quick action and diligence that this case would soon be resolved.
Aside from dealing with Miles, he needed to deal with Samuel as well, but first thing's first: he sort out Miles first. It would give him great pleasure to bring him down. He would be so happy when Miles found himself stripped of his knighthood and is sent to prison where he belonged. Baldwin wanted to make sure to request prison time for Miles. He looked at his severed hand and stroked the place where his pinky should have been. He was about to get his revenge. Miles was about to be brought to justice.
ENJOYED SANDIE! VERY WELL DONE, ENTERTAINING AND CERTAINLY IS STILL GRABBING MY ATTENTION. LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE. THANKS FOR SHARNG. LOVE, BLESSINGS AND FAITH...HIS+INSPIRATIONS
It seems that many things are stacked against Miles. Somehow, I don't envision Baldwin's scheme going exactly as he plans. His ambitions are getting in the way.
Great suspenseful story that has more twists and turns than a mountain road. Baldwin is to eager to get everything to turn his way because of his dislike toward Miles. I suspect that Baldwin is going to over play his hand and eventually alienate everyone and that Miles is going to work his magic and come out the winner.
Another good chapter that connects to the characters in the past. It all make sense now why Miles would choose to alienate himself to live in the forest, and also explains why he would accept the king's invitation to live in the palace. Your story is progressing very well. Well done, Sandie!
The third book of the trilogy, The Chronicles of Henry Roach-Dairier, this volume, as with the others, will appeal to both adults and young adults. Readers will experience several levels of meaning from literal to social satire.
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