Stone Warrior
(part 7)
(part 7)
“What a beautiful bird it is!” said
one of Traytur’s friends.
“Is it a parrot?” asked other.
“No, it is not a parrot. It is a
strange bird, I have never seen such a bird in this area,” said the first
friend.
Roock did not even look at the bird.
He was eager to befriend Traytur. He had learnt that Traytur was a brave and
powerful man. He had fought many battles. But he was jealous of Zoran. He was
unhappy because he had to work under the command of Zoran. Roock thought that
he could use Traytur to kill Zoran.
Roock incited him, “But it is unfair;
it is really unjust of your king. How could he ignore you and make that young
boy as the Captain? It is insulting for any brave and experienced soldier to
serve under man who has not fought even two battles.”
“Well, that is what has happened and
I feel so bad.”
“Did you not protest?”
“Protest? How can a soldier protest?”
“But how can you accept this
injustice?”
“But what can I do…”
“You need to fight for you honour;
honour is the only thing that a true soldier values more than anything else.”
Traytur was just confused and did not
know what to say. Alcohol had clouded his thinking.
“I think you need to prove that you
are as brave and strong as Zoran.”
“I am more brave and strong than
Zoran and everyone knows it.” Traytur shouted arrogantly.
“Yes that is what I was saying; but
you need to prove that and your king must realize that he made a mistake by
ignoring you. Why don’t you challenge Zoran to fight a duel with you?”
“Duel with Zoran?”
“Yes, and you will surely defeat him.
You don’t have to kill him, just inflict a few serious wounds and beat him.
King will realize his mistake. He will make you the Captain and Zoran will
serve you as your soldier.”
By now Tratur was drunk and could not
think clearly. He got incited and decided to challenge Zoran.
“Yes, you are right; I will challenge
Zoran and I will kill him. He thinks he is the strongest person on earth. But
he is a fool. He has only fought Brasian soldiers. But all Brasians are chicken-
hearted; they are scared of dying; they only run away from battle. Zoran has
never fought a fierce and a brave soldier like me. I will teach him a lesson.
Yes, he needs to be taught a lesson. My friend, you have done me a favour; you
have shown the right way; I must thank you.”
Roock smiled at his cleverness; he
knew that he had found a chink in the armour of Talavian army; he was sure that
he would be able to achieve his goal. But he hid his happiness and said in all
seriousness, “My friend, you need to think carefully before doing
anything. Zoran is undoubtedly a great
warrior and he has killed many brave and strong soldiers. He is your Captain. If
you act rashly you would do a great harm to yourself. I don’t want to lose a
good friend like you.”
“You think I would lose to him in a
duel; you think so because you have never seen me fight the barbarians of
north. Had you seen me fighting those brutes you would have never doubted my
strength and bravery. Rest assured my friend, I will win and the King will realise
his mistake. He should have made me the Captain.”
Traytur left the Moon’s Inn in anger.
All this time the strange beautiful
bird had been sitting on the window. It had been looking at everyone who was
present in that inn. And it had been attentively watching Roock. It appeared
that the bird was trying to read the mind of Roock; that it was carefully
listening to what he was saying to Traytur.
When Traytur reached Eastern Post he was still
angry. He went straight to Zoran and challenged him to fight a duel.
(To be continued)
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