CHAPTER 9: [The curse land] - [Smell lost] - [The strange being]

Ying-ba had been thinking in his tent about the suspects in the arson incident and how to handle it so it doesn't happen again or give any ideas to his soldiers.

'What should I do? There wasn't any way for them to enter the reserve. How did the arsonist pull it? The reserve didn't have any holes that could be used to enter, the only entrance was heavily guarded and kept shut at all times before the incident. I only see two possibilities, either we have a traitor in our ranks or a monkey was agile enough to enter one of the times they had previously opened the door and left without being seen.'

After thinking for a while, he got up from his seat and headed out of his tent. Entering the generals' tent that was ten meters away from his.

Entering the tent he was greeted by one of the generals that was previously looking at a map of *the curse land*. The map had 5 temples represented in two different colors, orange and red. There were three orange temples that symbolize the monkeys, the temple of Ubaoo at the left riverside, the temple of Aankh at the right riverside and the temple of Kaan at the end of the river.

The two red temples in ruin represented the lost temple of the eagle, finally there were fourteen camps drawn on the map that represented the approximate location of the eagle settlements.

The general had been moving small figures representing the two armies and had been trying to find the best strategy possible to attack the Ankh temple and how to react to different strategies from the temple's forces. The map was quite big as it represented the whole topography of *the curse land*.

"At ease general. I see you are working on the different strategies to put in place depending on the enemies responses." Ying-ba said in a pleased voice.

"Yes my lord, the other generals will be arriving at any moment from now as we had planned to meet before going to your tent. We wanted to be able to directly present to you the best strategies without making the lord lose his precious time." He responded in a tone that transpired deep respect.

"General Gu-washi I hope you know that you are my most trusted general, you were the only one that understood that my actions were not the act of a tyranny but necessary in a time of war. You came to me by yourself and offered me your help with sincerity, even now you are coming to prepare before our meeting, and it is most likely you that told the generals to do the same." Ying-ba said in a sincere tone.

"My lord it is my duty as one of your generals to do such things, moreover I was also told by my father that humans will be the signal for us to take back what is ours. It's our duty to guide those of our kin that have not been pasted down the flame of revenge by their ancestors."

"You are right, Gu-washi. It is like hearing myself talking when I talk with you. I want you to be the next lord of eagles in the future when I will have lived my life. I can see that you will lead the eagle race on the right path."

As Ying-ba had just finished his sentence five other generals entered the room, the six generals in the room were the two best warriors of the settlements that had allied under the same banner for war.

All the generals including Gu-washi may have been the best warriors of their settlement, but they still lacked in comparison to Ying-ba. Even though Ying-ba was stronger than Gu-washi, he was a very powerful warrior that had always kept a low profile as had done Ying-ba.

"My lord, you are here already ? Weren't we supposed to meet later in the afternoon." asked one of the generals that had just arrived in a worried tone.

"You don't need to worry, you were not late, as I came here in advance to talk about a more pressing matter. I am sure you have heard of the fire that occurred a few hours earlier, I came here to ask you about your opinions on the event." He said with a displeased tone as he fought about the precious time they had lost.

All the generals went to the table and sat on their respective sites, waiting for Ying-ba to talk. They all seemed tense apart from Gu-washi who looked calm but fully preoccupied by the new subject.

"I don't know if we have a traitor in our ranks, my lord, but I am sure that a lot of problems have been happening lately. During lunchtime today, a fight started while I was getting my tray. After stopping it, I ordered them to tell me their reasons, and I discovered that one of them was attacked by the other. I then asked the other soldier for the reason behind the attack. He responded he didn't know why, he had felt a great rage against the other soldier and had felt the need to attack him. As I couldn't find anything else from him, I made him do a few push-ups and let the other go." Explained one of the generals.

"I two have witnessed a fight happening without finding the real reason for it starting." Another general added.

All the generals were explaining to Ying-yi strange situations that had happened during the past week, but his attention went to a general that seemed to be hesitant to talk.

"Tell me general, what information are you withholding?" Ying-ba suddenly said while looking straight at the seemingly tongless general.

The room went blank, and all the generals turned to see which one of them had the guts to withhold information from the lord. It was Gu-shisan, he was quite strong, but his most remarkable trait was his habit of making his presence so indiscernible that people forgot about the fact he was here.

Ying-ba found his ability quite interesting, it was one of the main reasons he had been given his position, Ying-ba had a few ideas on how to use his innate ability after fostering it some more. He had been following a special training made by Ying-ba in order to straighten his ability. Ying-ba wanted him to be ready to be an intelligence collector, a spy, an assassin or even a scout.

Ying-ba was looking at Gu-shisan with a stare that could kill, the air became heavier and all the generals could feel a huge pressure pressing them on their chairs.

All the generals felt greatly suppressed, but Ying-shisan's case was worse, his head was forced down on the table by Ying-ba's aura. The force he felt was five times stronger than the one felt by the rest of the generals because the aura manifestation was targeting him.

"My Lord I am sorry, I am not trying to hide anything from you, it is just that I am myself unsure of what I witnessed. I am doubting what I saw really happened, it was so unreal." Gu-shisan responded with great struggle.

"Speak!" Ying-ba thundered while removing some pressure to let him talk freely.

"A few days ago I took a path between the tents to avoid the main path that was crowded with soldiers, as I don't like noisy places. I witnessed two soldiers standing in a kneeling position in front of a strange being. It was covered in a thick demonic aura that hid its body and felt as if it was sucking the light around it." He paused, took a breath and continued explaining what had happened.

"I could feel in my hole being that I wasn't strong enough to face it, so I quickly retreated before it detected my presence. At least I fought I had, the being turned around and appeared near my location, thankfully I was able to hide myself the moment in between his disappearance and reappearance. It looked around for a while and repeatedly fixed in my direction, scaring me to death, but it left after not being able to find me."

"Strange indeed, they shouldn't be anything that resembles what you tell me in this forest." Ying-ba said in a pensive manner now that he had fully calmed and retracted his aura.

"I propose we use a soldier as a spy to find who is the mysterious being which is causing difficulties for us." Gu-washi suggested.

"Good idea Gu-washi, but I think we should send someone stronger than a regular soldier. It should be someone capable of hiding well and can infiltrate locations easily. Gu-shisan should be the best suited for the job." Ying-yi corrected Gu-washi.

"My lord, I won't disappoint you." Gu-shisan quickly responded.

"I believe this is all, the meeting about the fire in the reserve is not needed anymore as we can all agree on the fact that we have already found our suspect. Gu-shisan you can leave and start the infiltration of the army as a night duty soldier." Ying-yi ordered, and as Gu-shisan left the tent, he started reviewing the invasion plan with the other generals.

TO BE CONTINUED...