Hunter and General

The hunter jumped like a gazelle at the window, looked around but did not perceive any dark clouds, was confused, was sure to hear clearly the outbreak of a storm, then saw in the distance a dense cloud of smoke and understood, were the King's horses. His mood darkened, he dressed as quickly as he could in a cloth shirt and dark trousers that matched the thick straps where he carried his weapons, which slid subtly down his back.

The General who was leading that squadron, when he arrived in front of the small hut of the Hunter, dismounted his braves, having a slight air of superiority, he called two of his many soldiers to accompany him together without knocking at the door, they entered the rustic house of the Hunter.

- Tell me, General," exclaimed the Hunter, trying to conceal his surprise and anger at seeing those figures invade his home, he turned his anger to the block he was holding, which he bit compulsively at the sight of General Laos, and his two heavily armed guards, walking slowly into the small room of his house, where they took their seats in the only decent furniture in his little hut; a chair set made of a wood whose name he did not know - which brings you and your small group of men to my home.

- We are not a small group, we are a hundred men in all," replied the General with a smile. "We are a battalion; Each one was carrying a sword and a shield reinforced with an anti-magic incantation that he recognized by the blood engraving in the form of a picture crossed out with a cross in the center of each shield. Frustration ran through his body and he had to force himself to calm down, while he took a seat on a small wooden bench that left him under the General and his two men.

- Really, I swear I heard at least fifty horses," the Hunter uttered in a feigned voice, making it sound calm and distant.

-My regiment is always mixed, Hunter," the General said, pouring coffee from a cheap porcelain jar into a small, hand-carved wooden cup.

- Do your men want me to serve them some breakfast as well? - the Hunter asked with some irony.

-Thank you for your offer," the General replied with an air of irony, "but everyone is already well fed.

- I'll come straight to the point," said the General, "I'm sure you'll remember a certain incident that happened three years ago, where you ended up rescuing the queen's niece from a foreign slave-trader.

- Of course I do! - commented the hunter proudly, "That night I had the best food I've ever tasted, the nobility really knew how to fill their stomachs and the best of all; the King realized his mistake and forbade the slave trade in the kingdom.

- Don't worry about that," replied the General, with a heavy burden of contempt on his every word. "That was just a common family business, which I never got involved in, not even my secretary managed it, it was run by one of my relatives, a distant uncle, it didn't affect me in the least.

- It's a joy to hear that," replied the Hunter as he drank quickly and held tightly the cup of hot coffee in his hands.

- Finally," he exclaimed, stopping immediately to take a small, fine sip, "from that day on the King has a high regard for your abilities in battle; he even considers you the best fighter in our kingdom.

- That... is a great honor, although I don't think I'm the best.

- Hunter: The General said very kindly: "The King, in one day, made you go from being one of the most wanted criminals to one of the heroes of our land, and he also fulfilled your dream, didn't he?

- I eliminate slavery," answered the Hunter with an aura of gratitude. "There are times when I can't believe it and I think I'm living in a dream.

- Then," he commented dryly, as he took another slow sip, "it is time for you to show how grateful you are to the King and be part of our war party.

- Excuse me - he answered immediately and with discontent - Company, I don't understand you, the King himself said that he was free from any obligation because he had saved his niece.

- You are forgetting something - The hunter could feel the coldness in the words of the General - The King can undo and modify his laws as much as he wishes - The hunter tried to speak again but was quickly interrupted by the General - Before continuing let me explain the situation to you - He pronounced with a gelidness very typical of the nobility - I suppose you are aware of what has happened on the political level over the last weekend, right?

- The attack on our neighbouring kingdom, is that right? - Mirror the Hunter containing anger in every word.

- Perfect you are more up to date than I thought." The General commented as he unfolded a map of the continent on the table where you could see the three kingdoms divided by imaginary lines and in the distance, almost hitting the edge of the map, you could see a small island, where the invading kingdom was located.

- Yes, I thought it had become a war of attrition - he answered soberly as he poured himself a glass of coffee again.

- That is what we all thought, but it turns out that the Federation has been defeated in a single day - The Hunter choked on his coffee when he heard the news - Apparently Lunku's forces managed to crush the federation in a single day, although not completely - as he spoke, The Having her marked with her fingers a small fortress on the border between the Federation and the kingdom - The remaining forces managed to gather and resist at the border with our country and that's when they invoked our help through the Ankai - Fear and surprise were fleetingly drawn on the Hunter's face when he heard those words.

- It seems to me a stupid thing, a huge thing - he answered, as he held one of his hands to his head, to turn his hair - a tournament to the death where between two sides, it is something stupid no matter which way you look at it.

- Me too, but it's obvious that it's only a means of buying time," said the General, as he poured himself some coffee again, "but anyway; because of the sacred pact we have with our neighbouring kingdom; we are obliged to send three fighters to this tournament, and the King himself has chosen you as one of them.

- I'm sorry," he replied dryly, as he clung tighter and tighter to that worn-out cup, "I am not a warrior in the service of the King, however much I may think about it, I am not obliged to take part in this foolishness, as I had already told you.

- And I repeat," said the General with a certain air of pretended disappointment, "the King can change his will, and I fear that if he does not accept I will have to arrest him at this very moment.

- I beg your pardon?

- The king," the General said with a smile, as he drank the last of the coffee left in his cup, "will declare slavery legal again, if you dare to decline his order, But he only came across a frozen face that could at most convey an air of contempt - and therefore you will once again become one of the most wanted criminals in the kingdom and be arrested for violating the trade laws of our country by attacking and murdering merchants, middlemen, nobles and of course stealing their merchandise.

The Hunter wanted to rebuke them quickly, but he knew it was in vain, for a few moments, his hand was shaking with fury, they wanted to go on their own, to the hilt of his crossbow, the pressure on the cup increased in an instant, until it exploded spilling all its contents burning his pants, before the explosion the two guards jumped and held their weapons, Nevertheless they were stopped by the General himself, he could hear how outside the house, the rest of the soldiers were beginning to get restless and when feeling how the boiling liquid ran down his leg it began to get cold, he understood that it was useless to resist, much less before a simple link of a chain of power, that enjoys too much his work and after meditating a few seconds he let go his answer.

- I suppose, that one cannot trust the nobles - He answered with brusqueness, try not to reveal the hatred that was in the house one of his words.

- Exactly - that was the only answer he got from the General.

- All right - He spoke reluctantly, the General nodded and immediately set off with his knights, the Hunter came to the door to see how the knights in their gallop raised a dense cloud of smoke and ashes, then he looked at the sky and realized that the storm was still coming.