Chapter 3

• About five years ago.
• It was summer, past midnight over the lush prairie beyond the thick stonewall of the Fronduro Border. Vice-General Ril’m studied the terrain. Two days earlier, one of her spies had sent word that the barbarians planned to attack by dawn on the third day. Her golden brown eyes were fixed on the overspread red bell-like petals of veinneux flowers that carpeted the grassland. With her astute knowledge of the unique flower’s secrets, she conceived an ambush that fused beauty with lethal precision.
• The veinneux flowers had a half-palm size with bittersweet scent, non-lethal if inhaled. But if stomped and contacted by the human skin, these were irrefutably deadly. It would only take thirty minutes maximum for the victim to bleed from all the body orifices—eyes, nose, mouth, ears, anus, and others.
• In the shadows, her troops, clad in their midnight blue combat garb and body armor, stealthily positioned near the bank of the lake. They were a good distance from the blanket of flowers, just in case. The wind went in the eastern direction, a good sign for them as they stayed southward. Unbeknownst to the approaching platoons of the enemy from the north side, the carpet of white petals once disturbed by massive forces like the horses’ hooves would eject venomous centimeter-long needle-like hairs to as far as two meters.
• Unwittingly, they galloped into the prairie. The Vice-General’s soldiers discreetly waited. They could faintly smell the scent of the seasonal flowers. It appeared that the enemies, even though they smelled it too, did not pay heed to its inevitable savageness. The half-naked enemies wearing only body armors were allured by the aroma and continued on.
• With the sea of petals ambush set, Vice-General Ril’m moved a hand to signal the archers. In a second, flaming arrows flew high and dropped like rain. This effectively halted the enemies from advancing towards the fiery line. Those who weren’t affected by the venom yet, leapt through the fires. Some were confused as their comrades dropped to the ground, convulsing and bleeding. Their faces were covered with warm crimson fluid. Their eyes were wide open, mouths gagging blood.
• The archers continued to assault the barbarians. Some had moved closer to where they were speedily. Cries of battle from the barbarians rang into the moonless night. The prairie was a chaotic mess of shuddering people, metallic smell carried by the wind spreading out fast.
• The half-masked Vice-General leapt into the air. Her saber was in her hand, brandishing it against the oncoming bulky leader of the barbarians. Her blazing eyes assessed that he seemed to be unaffected by venomous hairs of the veinneux flowers. She noticed, thanks to the fiery arrow that almost grazed her, that his skin was covered by black coals. She recalled that the highest-ranked Royan Gue military officer would traditionally do this to set himself apart from his low-ranking officials and troops. Now, she understood why he was able to get through that sea of petals ambush.
• “You sneaky bastard!” he roared.
• Ril’m was unaffected by his name calling. She knew this one. His name was Kanikous. Their blades clang between them, leaving white-and-gold sparks from the friction. Her hand vibrated from the clash. Her gloved hand gripped the hilt of her sword more firmly while her men moved forward to protect her from the oncoming enemies that had delayed reaction from the poison.
• Ril’m spun around while she wielded her wide and long saber. Her eyes narrowed as though into a smile upon breaking the enemy’s sword. The latter breathed laboriously and eyed his broken weapon with a dumbstruck expression on his face. Before he could recover and hurl the remaining blade in his hand, the agile Vice-General swung her sword. The man’s head separated from his body. Blood oozed, splashing in her direction, but she was quick to raise an arm to cover her face. Some drops of warm stench-filled fluid were unstoppable and landed on her mask.
• “King Kixik!” she uttered, filled with venom and eyes burning. “Show me your face next time, and I will peel your skin inch by inch!”
• She surveyed the bloody battlefield. She sprang into the air just when General Hild’m was about to be struck in the back. Her saber plunged from the enemy’s nape to his throat. When she retracted her left hand that held the saber, the man’s head lolled to the side, and he dropped to the ground with a thud.
• General Hild’m’s head snapped and saw what happened. He nodded his thanks to her and moved on to kill more enemies.
• She was being tested by the Commander-in-Chief, thus her first time to command the whole garrison for this ambush mission, to thwart the enemies. None of the troops under Daramir’s command opposed it, knowing she had potential. It proved that her battle tactic worked to its fullest.
• By the break of dawn, tens of thousands of enemies lay lifeless on the meadow. There were some hundreds of casualties in the Fronduro Army, but at least not as many as Ril’m or the old general had anticipated.
• ***
• The only one who escaped from the ambush was King Kixik’s right-hand man, and he went on to stealthily deliver the news. The barbarian king was completely incensed, setting aside the sorrow.
• “That old bastard is getting sneakier than before.” He ground his teeth and took a full swig of his wine while seated on his throne in the throne room. The place was spacious with several naked women lying on the floor. Some were covered by thin white and red silks, while others were completely bare.
• “No, High King. It wasn’t the old man who ambushed our men and killed your late brother, Prince Kanikous.”
• The dark-haired king was surprised to hear it, his dark eyes widening. “What did you just say? Then, who did this flower ambush, and I will repay him someday?”
• “His name is Ril’m, a mere Vice-General, High King. I heard he is favored by the Old Man of Fronduro Border.”
• The glass the king was holding was crushed in his hands. He did not even feel the pain, nor the blood that dripped from the wound. The general in front of him glanced at his bloody hand and offered a handkerchief from his trouser pocket. They were barbarians, but every man in the Royan Gue Kingdom carried at least one kerchief as was their tradition, for some practical purposes.
• King Kixik let General Thayzir clean his wounds. His gaze was in an empty space, his heart already mourning for his brother. If Prince Kanikous did not stubbornly volunteer to lead their troops of forty thousand to supposedly break into the stonewall of Fronduro Border, he wouldn’t have ended up like this.
• “Give me everything you know about this Vice-General Ril’m, Thayzir.”
• The fierce face of the general was set, and he nodded.