Stone Warrior

(last part)

                           (Please see my post of 29th Dec for 14thpart of the story)

The spies were suddenly distracted by a loud, angry scream. Both of them looked towards the battlefield. They could feel that something alarming had happened in the battle. But then they quickly turned their eyes back to the statue. They were shocked. They could not believe their eyes. The statue had vanished.

In the battlefield Zoran had abruptly appeared, dressed in his fearsome battle gear. As he had entered the battlefield he had let out a loud, blood-curdling scream.

Every Brasian soldier saw Zoran. Every soldier looked towards the marble statue. Every soldier saw that statue had vanished. Every soldier felt a shiver of fear down his spine.  Every soldier was afraid of stone warrior. Even king of Brasia was terrified of fearsome stone warrior.

Zoran attacked Brasian soldiers like a man possessed.  He was moving among the enemy soldiers like a mad elephant; killing and wounding them as if they were nothing but paper dolls. Talvian soldiers began to fight with renewed vigour.   Soon the tables were turned on Brasian army. They were badly routed and every Brasian soldier ran for his life.

“Stone warrior will kill everyone; run, run for your life,” Brasian soldiers were shouting at one another.

King of Brasia tried to exhort his soldier, “Stop you fools; don’t run away like cowards; fight like brave soldiers; you all are strong and brave warriors; you have fought and won many battles; come with me and fight like great heroes of past.”

“Excellency, we can fight with soldiers, even bravest soldiers; but we can’t fight stone warrior; he can’t be killed or wounded; we don’t want to die like fools,” shouted some of the soldiers. 

Talavians won a great victory. Brasians lost both their men and their honour.

In the palace of King of Talavia, everyone was celebrating victory over Brasian army. Talavians were very happy. A troop of just fifty soldiers had defeated an army of five hundred well-trained soldiers led by king of Brasia. King of Talavia was proud of his brave soldiers. He honoured each one of them.

Zoran too was honoured. He received the highest award of bravery from the King. But he was not happy.

“My Lord, you have turned me into a secret weapon of war. Everyone is frightened of me. But that does not give me any happiness. I feel miserable. I am a warrior. I want to lead my soldiers and fight like a brave warrior and not as a secret weapon.”

“Zoran, my child, I think now we won’t have to fight any battle. My spies have told me that our enemies fear stone warrior. They are terrified of fighting stone warrior. No army will now dare to attack us. I think that, at least, in our life time we will not be fighting any more battles. It is all because of stone warrior. We are all grateful to stone warrior.”

Then the King turned towards the royal doctor and said, “I think you are not only a great doctor you are also a great planner. You performed a miracle by saving Zoran. Everyone thought that he was dead. But you did not give up. You kept trying. You tried every medicine. You gave him new life. And then you thought of a brilliant plan. I salute you.”

The brilliant plan that royal doctor had thought was to turn Zoran into a secret weapon. Zoran would remain in hiding. And to confuse the enemy his lifelike statue would be installed near the post.  

People would think that it was Zoran and not a statue that was guarding the post. Enemy spies would try to find out the truth. They would see that it was only a marble statue that was installed at the post. Talavian spies would then trap the enemy by spreading a rumour that Zoran was actually dead and a statue had been installed only to fool the enemy.

If enemy attacked Eastern Post then during the battle the statue would be shifted to a secret underground chamber. A secret machine would be installed in the underground chamber to quietly shift the statue. Zoran would then abruptly appear in the battlefield. He would attack the enemy furiously. Every enemy soldier would think that the statue had, by some magic, turned into a warrior. Everyone would be frightened of fighting a stone warrior. Frightened enemy soldiers would run away from battle.

Battle over, Zoran would go back and hide himself. The marble statue would be shifted back to its own place. No one would know the truth of stone warrior. But every enemy soldier would fear the stone warrior.

“I think your plan was wonderful.  Now our enemies will, for ever, fear the stone warrior. No one will dare to attack us again. We can now live in peace and proper.  Zoran, you are a great warrior. We are all proud of you,” said the King

“My Lord, what are you orders for me?” asked Zoran.

“You must go back to your parents. I know they are worried about you. Even they don’t know whether you are alive or dead. They have only heard rumours about you. Go back to your home and look after them. We will summon you whenever we need you.”

Zoran was happy. He had not met his parents for five years. He loved his parents and wanted to be with them.

King gave him precious gifts for his parents. His parents were overjoyed when they saw Zoran. They too were proud of him.

No enemy dared to attack Talavia for many decades. They were all frightened of stone warrior, who kept guarding Eastern Post every day of the year.

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                                                                                             © i b arora