THIRD PERSON'S POV
Back home, as Hector told the guys what Jared had said, Edrin listened silently...
The men turned to him in hopes of hearing him say something at least, even Kira waited for her husband's instructions. But he just stood there, thinking. Minutes later, he looked up at all their faces including his wife's...
"Prepare for battle". Authority dripping from his voice.
"Yes, your highness". They answered simultaneously.
"But we are just a few in number my lord, how do we go about it?" Kira asked the question in the men's minds.
Edrin stared at his gorgeous wife. Her big eyes look so innocent he could not help but hold her close to himself. "I will have the Verthonian army at the arena first thing tomorrow. The rest of you should go train and discover as many tricks as you can. Tell Richard to finish setting up the traps before nightfall". He ordered.
"Yes, your highness". They chorused again and went their way, leaving the couple alone.
She was curious as to how he and Jared drew a well-detailed strategy without her knowledge, as though reading her mind, Edrin answered her innermost question... "We came up with this whole thing back in Aakh, on our way here, my dear". He then stroked her soft cheeks. They have a lasting rosiness that never goes away no matter what mood she is in, which, he found quite pleasant.
In her eyes were glimmers of worry. "Are we going to be okay?". She asked, as her eyelids flicker most adorably, making the blood in his veins surge.
He caressed her cheeks and gave a gentle answer; "Yes, we are".
The look he gave her brought her to the realization of his burning desire, but she ignored it. This was no time for romance.
"I want to fight." She announced.
This put Edrin out of the mood he was in, and a crease appeared on his forehead. He pulled away. "No."
"Why?"
"Because I said so".
"Please Edrin, I want to fight for Verthona too"
"I said No!!!"
Before he could apologize for yelling, she walked out on him.
"I'd rather have you mad at me than let you fight".
___
Soon, everyone was training for the battle against the unknown. They understood the importance of ending whatever had stolen their peace. No matter what they had to sacrifice.
On the night-road
Jared and Victor followed the strange men silently as they marched like soldiers through the cold, dark, lonely path to wherever they were headed.
It was the seventh night after they began following their tracks. The night road is quicker than the normal route which would have taken longer.
There was something that did not seem right at all, the men did not go through the main gate of Aakh, rather they went through a secret gate where each man was being checked one by one. Victor made a noise from behind the bushes which caught the attention of the last man at the line; when he went to check, Jared quietly knocked him out, tied him up, and put on his armor. It was almost dawn so they had to hurry.
Jared put on the man's mask and went to take his position at the back of the long queue and since he had learned the Aakhian dialect during his stay, he spoke to the man in front, convincing him to come to see something he had found. The soldier reluctantly followed him to the bushes...
'This better be good', said the soldier in his native tongue before staring in the direction Jared was pointing at. To meet Victor's fist that knocked him out cold. He put on this man's mask.
The noise drew some attention, but the two instantly walked out acting as if they were at loggerheads.
"Stop it, soldiers!", Ordered one of them in the Aakhian dialect. They stopped their fake-fighting
Since they were both on masks, they didn't suspect a thing.
When it was their turn to enter, Jared stayed behind Victor to make sure the latter went in first.
The man at the gate asked for his name, Victor who did not understand the language, stood there gawking.
Jared whispered, "He is asking for your name"
Victor cleared his throat and started coughing severely... Jared covered for him by telling the man that Victor has a very terrible flu that is contagious. This prompted the man to back away and let Victor pass, even Jared walked in fast to avoid further questioning.
***
Outrage is an understatement for what they felt when they saw the kind of scheme these people had up their sleeves against Verthona.
Scientists used an unusual sort of equipment to brew lethal poisons that could wipe out an entire village and at the same time, make antidotes for poisons they concocted, all these are nothing compared to the kinds of explosives they were attempting to make. Blacksmiths were the busiest ones, developing more deadly weapons that can slice through anything.
Even for Jared and Victor who were fearless men, this is frightening. How could a nation plan such an end for another without any reason for conflict? It was up to them to do something.
They entered a very large hall that serve as a dormitory; it contained a hundred thousand bunkbeds give or take.
A voice echoed from the vents and ordered them to sleep for two hours, after which their rigorous training would continue. Jared and Victor laid down at the bottom bunk of two near beds so that they could have eyes on each other and possibly devise a strategy.
The men were so devoted that Jared wondered if they had families or if they are just like him, who had to sacrifice his childhood to start early, leaving his family behind.
Two hours later, a bell rang, and all the men got out of bed; marched to the training ground, and began their training. The grounds were wet as a result of a drizzle and were surrounded by a wooden fence on all sides.
The training was rigorous, and those who could not accomplish the desired outcome died in the process or were killed. The fights were to the death. They watched men get sliced up by their opponents who got the upper hand.
Soon it was his and Victor's turn; they were up against other remorseless men.
Jared was handed a sword as was his opponent. The man came charging at him but he dodged his first attack, and the next and the next until he notice that the opponent was becoming frustrated. Having been in numerous fights, Jared understands body language and knows that the best way to defeat your opponent physically is to break them psychologically. Making them question their potency.
His opponent grew annoyed and reached for his feet to fall him down. The man almost succeeded until Jared veered his feet off the ground and landed on his opponent's back, pressing him firmly against the ground. Before his opponent could twist himself to attack, Jared drove his sword through the man's neck, resulting in the detachment of the head from its body.
He got down from the dead man's back. Someone grabbed and lifted his arm to present him as the winner. Then he was taken to another site with Victor and the other men who won. Where another level of drills took place, more deadly than the first.
The training went on till midnight when they were finally given breaks to do whatever they wanted for a short amount of time.
Jared and Victor both knew they had a mission to fulfill, so they snuck back into the workshop. The scientists were working late, still working on their evil agenda. But the area for creating the explosives was empty; They snuck into the empty workshop and stole some of the combustion powders that were sitting in a jar on the table. Jared picked up a note and read the instructions; it reads that the component chemicals would react to the addition of mere water, and could go on to create an explosion that would extend to a distance of about ten meter radius per liter of the powder.
That means that they needed millions of liters to destroy the whole of Verthona. Victor collected about three liters for future use.
They created a little 'accident' near the workshop and watched the scientists leave their stations to go put out the fire. That was the perfect time to sneak into the poison concocting area, they stole a good amount of the lethal poison before returning to the dormitory where the soldiers were doing God knows what.
During their training, Jared had seen their water supply, so they went there to check it out. The area was quite dark as no one was training. They reached the reservoir which was an in-ground tank with its lid projecting out the earth's surface. Using his great strength, Victor turned open the rusting lid, and Jared poured about two gallons of the poison, hopefully, it would be strong enough.
Soon, the men were back to business, training continued, Jared and Victor wondered if any of the men had had water because it did not seem like the plan worked. It was almost time to head back to Verthona, the men were ordered to have a quick bath.
Jared and Victor stole some water from the pots outside which were not poisoned and they bathed with it. Then the time came for them to leave.
The scientists had been ordered to load the poisons but not the combustion powders because they planned on using that later.
Jared and Victor smiled knowingly at each other remembering the little sabotage they both arranged at the workshop the previous night; if water is the ingredient necessary to cause an explosion, then, a leak in the ceiling when it starts raining could be the undoing of the entire barrack.
They marched out with the soldiers, making their way back to the tunnel's entrance. Jared and Victor wondered if the poison worked at all because the men were still as strong and agile as can be even up to the third day of traveling. They both acknowledged that they failed in that area, but on the plus side, maybe the poison is fake and won't work on the Verthonians...right?
After traveling for a week, the soldiers arrived at the storehouse near the tunnel's entrance, there, they offloaded all the supplies they had carried from the barrack. The soldiers divided themselves into two large groups, the first group ran straight into the tunnel.
The cloud roared thunderously as a storm brewed in the distant sky. It will rain at any moment.
The second group which included Jared and Victor were each ordered to enter the storehouse to grab food supplies and one gallon of the 'worthless' poison to smuggle into the kingdom. On collecting the necessary items, each man marched out of the storehouse and headed for the tunnel.
Victor collected his items but diverted into the bush pretending like he wants to take a leak. Hiding behind one of the bushes, he brought out a tied cloth containing some combustion powder and hid it in the bushes, praying for the universe to do the rest. After which he joined Jared and the others to enter the tunnel.
***
They had just walked about twenty feet in when they heard a loud explosion coming from the outside. The ground trembled so bad that the entrance closed up. They thought the tunnel would collapse too but it had been supported so well that it stayed strong.
The soldiers panicked due to the blast, they wanted to go back but the entrance had been blocked and the only option was to keep moving forward.
Suddenly, one man cried out in pain, he fell to the ground, holding his head tightly. Another soldier fell and began shrieking as well, others followed and soon, almost all the soldiers were on the ground screaming in pain; their heads were hurting terribly, and they were bleeding from their eyes, noses, mouths, and ears.
Victor and Jared kept on moving, realizing that the poison had taken its full effect... they inferred that it starts working when the victim experiences a powerful feeling like shock or panic.
The ones who did not die were slaughtered by the two of them, it was necessary to reduce the number of their opponents as much as possible.