Chapter 45

"Look at the stars! Aren't they marvelous?" Ishar said as he lay on a thin blanket facing the expanse of the midnight sky. He had his hands crossed behind his head and his legs were languidly propped on the blanket and crossed at the ankles with one foot tapping in tandem to the chirping of tiny creatures. Ishar looked calm and relaxed, one might have even mistaken him for a wealthy merchant surveying his bountiful treasure chest and not a man doomed to soon meet his death.

Ten soldiers stood around him with their blades drawn and pointed at him. "Any attempt at escape, any indication that you're even thinking of doing anything other than laying still will result in you being gutted like sheep." The soldier he'd tussled with and kicked in the groin at the Ganidan plain had said to him with evident contempt in his voice. Ishar had complied and settled down on the blanket he had been provided with. All around him soldiers lay in various spread out formations that oozed military professionalism and a tent had been propped up where he assumed Princess Dahli resided.

The events of the North Local were fresh in his mind. After the shock that had enveloped everyone once he'd gorged out the eye of a man he'd later learned was a Highlord, everyone had ceased taking him lightly. More guards were allocated to his management with their swords drawn at all times. The man in the black cape whom he'd also come to learn was the Commander of the Binorian Legions had prevented consequences from befalling Ishar for his actions against a Binorian elite. However, this did not prevent the Highlord from denying them hospitality and they'd been forced to seek shelter in a village past the North Local's fortress.

This was their third night of travel and darkness had fallen while they were quite some distance from any refuge. The villages had condensed throughout their travel as they neared Binoria's capital but it appeared the last stretch of their journey was void of any habitation. The topography so far consisted of grasslands with the occasional hill and trees. They'd found a clearing and decided to camp for the night beneath the stars that Ishar found marvelous.

A certain star twinkled brighter than the rest and caught Ishar's eye. He wondered what a star was. Mairek had once told him that stars were the spilled seed of a God who pleasured himself beyond the realm. Ishar wondered if Mairek had been pulling his leg, he also wondered if the said God had been pleasuring himself to images of sheep. Ishar laughed, his laughter carried on into the night and the soldiers around him shifted their weight from foot to foot nervously and held tighter to their weapons.

"Shut up you fool." Ishar had come to recognize the voice of the man he'd kicked in the groin, it was bitter and held with it the threat of violence. Ishar wondered why a stranger, someone he'd only met once before in combat, would hate him so. The soldier stood a foot away from Ishar's feet with his sword in hand. The dim light the stars offered allowed Ishar to see the soldier's silhouette alone but the aggression held back by restraint was clear upon the man's stance.

Ishar played over the man's uttered words in his mind over and over. "Shut up you fool." There was a tone to them, something underlying that was masked by all the aggression. "Shut up you fool." There was an emotion to it that went deeper than anger. "Shut up you fool." No, not a single emotion but multiple ones. "Shut up you fool." The stance the man held looked solid but something was out of place, it did not have the necessary confidence to pass it off as truly formidable. "Shut up you fool."  Ishar got it!

Ishar sat up abruptly and all ten guards around him flinched and moved their blades inches closer to him but he remained unfazed. Ishar tilted his head to one side as he observed the man standing at his feet. "You wanted to show her your worth." Ishar said. "Right there, at the Ganidan plain, you wanted her to see you, to notice your presence and to acknowledge your existence." Ishar rubbed at his chin which made the soldiers fidget with tension. "You fancy Dahli, am I a fool to assume so or am I not a fool?"

"What is he talking about?" One of the soldiers to the left of Ishar asked. The soldier Ishar was addressing did not say a word, instead his sword visibly trembled in his hand. Ishar felt it as the man broke the bank of his inhibitions, letting go of whatever semblance of control he had. Ishar felt the oncoming danger, it was like the baying of a Yendw wolf who'd been driven mad by bloodlust. Most would have been frightened and forced to react. Most would have stood up and started running as far away from the danger as possible. Not Ishar though, the threat of danger meant only one thing, he was right in his assumption regarding the man. He was not a fool.

Ishar leaned back down onto the thin blanket and resorted to observing the stars. He heard the step of the soldier he'd angered draw the man nearer to him. "What are you doing man?" A soldier to the right of Ishar asked. Ishar didn't need to raise his head to see what the angered soldier was doing. Somehow he just knew that the man's blade was raised, posed to strike.

"Killing me will indeed make her notice you, but she will take note of you from a place of hatred which I presume is worse than where you currently are." Ishar said. Deathly silence enveloped them, the only sound being the heaving of chests as they drew in air. "I guess I'm not a fool huh?" Ishar laughed. "I surmised all that about you from four simple words that were part command and part insult."

The silence was a continued blanket upon them, broken only by the occasional shuffling of feet. But not a sound from the direction of the soldier Ishar had addressed was heard. Ishar's eyes focused on the bright star overhead. He wondered why it shone brighter than the rest. Why is that particular God's seed illumination brighter than the rest?  He pondered.

"Kolotian." Spoke the soldier Ishar had addressed. "My name is Orgeeg and I vow upon the Realm of the Valiant, upon Tabrimas itself! Just as I have given you my name so shall your mangled flesh from the Nula Anyl be given to the crows and the vultures by my own hand. I will make sure you don't receive a Valiant's burial. Dooming you to be reborn upon this realm where I shall slay you myself by the will of Meena."

Ishar chuckled. "Shut up you fool." He said and closed his eyes to sleep.

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