₦airaland Forum

haydot95:
Sire...when are we getting the next update?

Tonight, if all goes as planned. Otherwise it would have to be tomorrow.

Oluwafunmilayo95:
no probs, u are forgiven... Great as usual.

Thanks ma'am.

faithgokz:
Well done

Thank you

mariemummy:
Thanks

You're welcome ma'am

haydot95:
Now this is getting interesting...immortal soldiers? Hmm

Glad you found it interesting. The next update will even be tighter. Stay tuned sir.

Oluwafunmilayo95:
Vantee...where at thou?

I am hither. I just updated. I'm sorry about the delay.

Kennybix:
VanTee baba, I take God beg you o, Update o

I don update sir.

Dammol:
Beautiful story. Great job, well done sir.
Like Oliver Twist, we need more. Keep the updates coming.

Thanks ma'am. Welcome on board.

kingphilip:
wow never knew I was missing something beautiful here
great one vantee ur description is one in a million.. ride on boss u r gud

Thank you sir. Glad to have you here.

Story updated! If you were here while I was doing it, kindly use the Go up button. Thanks.

"Do you know why the Romans still consider Venus the goddess of beauty?" He asked her as soon as she settled on the seat opposite his.

"No idea."

"Simple. They have never seen you. They will strip her of that title immediately they do."

Lady Suzannah let out that low chuckle, that Sir Millicent always considered as sexy. "Stop it Mills. You know, when you say things like that, it makes me weak in the knees."

"Fear not Milady. Even if your knees buckle, I will make sure you don't fall. And if you do manage to, you will promptly be carried."

"Hmm, I have no doubts I will be carried," She said with feigned thoughtfulness. "The only problem is where you'll carry me to. Will it not be the bedroom?"

"Dirty mind," Sir Millicent remarked as he threw back his head in laughter. "Now, don't tell me you dressed up like this just to come here. You are going somewhere else. Isn't it?

"As a matter of fact, we are going somewhere," Lady Suzannah replied, emphasizing on the "we".

"We? You and who?"

"You and I, of course. Have you forgotten that we are having a meeting with Finn and Lord Bradeigh concerning the men they are gathering for you amongst other things?"

"Oh, I forgot all about it. Wait a minute, let me get something decent to change to. I'ld be right back," Sir Millicent said and promptly exited the study.


***

"Do you like what you see?" Lady Suzannah asked Sir Millicent, who had his eyes fixed on the over five thousand men standing at attention in front of them. Each one of those men had the quintessential features of a warrior.

"I do. How did you come by this large army?" Sir Millicent asked the Lady in surprise, as they went through the ranks, inspecting the men.

"I conjured them up," Lady Suzannah replied with a voice laden with pride.

"Conjure? You mean they are not real men?"

"No, they are beings of magic."

"Are they immortal?"

"Physically, yes. Spiritually, no. I can easily destroy all of them with my magic."

Sir Millicent reached out to touch the closest immortal soldier to him. He wanted to verify Lady Suzannah's claims. The warrior caught Sir Millicent's hand mid-way and held it there. Sir Millicent tried to pull his hand out but he couldn't, his hand was held in an iron grip.

"They don't like being touched," Lady Suzannah revealed. "Even I have to cast spells before I can touch them."

"Tell this thing to release me," Sir Millicent pleaded after another unsuccessful attempt to free himself.

"Long Tongue, leave him," Lady Suzannah commanded. Immediately, Sir Millicent felt the hard grip on his hand slacken and the immortal soldier, Long Tongue, joined the others in standing at attention.

"Long Tongue? What kind of name is that?" Sir Millicent snorted. "Why not Buck Teeth or Hare Lip?" Of course, he said it in the way of ridicule.

"Aye sir," Two voices answered from within the ranks.

Sir Millicent was duly confused and he turned to Lady Suzannah for help.

"You just called their names; Buck Teeth and Hare Lip," She offered. "Among them, we still have Fair Hair, Crest Chest, Wise Eyes. . ."

"You gave them those names?"

"No. It is the literal translation of their magic names." she replied. "Would you like to take on one of them? To see if they are good in combats or not."

"No," Sir Millicent answered. "Long Tongue here has shown me what they can do."

"We should leave for the castle to meet Finn and Lord Bradeigh then. They will be waiting for us already," She reasoned.

"True, let's get going" Sir Millicent conceeded.

As they walked east towards the door of the underground room, Sir Millicent turned to take a last glance at the Lady Suzannah's army. He wondered if they really needed to gather more men through their cohorts, Finn and Lord Bradeigh. With this immortal army, he was Emperor already.

THE END OF CHAPTER SEVEN.

CHAPTER SEVEN (continued).

Sir Millicent sat at a reading desk in Lady Suzannah's study with his nose buried deep in a gigantic volume of Pankósmia geo̱grafíaa (παγκόσμια γεωγραφία), a book about the geography of the world written in the medieval ages by a renowned Greek philosopher and world sojourner, Plocrates.

That book had become Sir Millicent's bible since he returned to Casville. He had come across it in the famed, well-stocked library of Lord Alton, Lady Suzannah's late husband and he had been attracted both by the book's red and black cover and its fancy title. He had perused the content and had been blown away by how much relevant it was to his conquest plans. He had pinched it from the library, since it was quite a dangerous book to borrow and had kept it with him since then.

The book divided the world into three vast continents and four major empires; The Viking, Byzantine, Persian and Nersean empires. According to the book, Each empire continually strove for more wealth, fame, glory and power and the only way that desire could be achieved was for them to keep on extending their boundaries, to keep on annexing neighbouring lands. That sometimes brought the empires at logger heads with each other. Often wars ensued, with the stronger empires conquering and the weaker ones suffering.

The book described Persia as the strongest empire and Nersea as the weakest. However, it was quick to add that with the depth of her resources, the industry of her people and the wisdom of her emperor, Nersia was poised to become the leading empire in no distant time.

That had been in the days of his grandfather, the great Guldheries, Sir Millicent thought. Guldheries had ruled like the real emperor he was. He had annexed numerous lands, won hundreds of battles and had extended the boundaries far beyond what anyone could have imagined. Overall, he had been loved by his subjects and greatly feared by his enemies.

Unlike the current king, Gavyne, who ruled like a sissy. Everyone called him King because that was what he was. The king of Casville instead of the emperor of Nersia. He preferred treaties to war and feasts to annexation. During his reign, Nersea had slumped as a growing empire.

Sir Millicent cast his mind back to twenty five years ago, during the coronation of King Gavyne. He remembered he had been sulky all through the ceremony and his mother, Princess Luvalle, had asked questions, but he had answered with his own question.

"Mother, why are you not the one sitting on that throne? Why is it uncle Gavyne??"

Luvella had been slightly taken aback by her ten year old son's question but she had answered nonetheless. "It is his right to be King as the first born son of our father."

"But you are older than him. Couldn't they have made you queen and Father, king?"

His mother had smiled tolerantly. "No, It does not work that way. The throne always go to the first son. Do you understand?"

The young Millicent had nodded in acceptance and just when his mother had thought that the issue was done with, he had begun again.

"Mother, who will be King after Uncle?"

"Who else? Young Galleine of course."

"What about me? What would I be?"

"You would be an official member of the distinguished royal family after your induction at thirteen. You could be made the governor of a province if you are of good character."

"No! I want to be King!"

"Shut up!" Luvella had yelled, obviously galled by her son's sheer impertinence. "What do you know about being King? I don't ever want to hear you speak of such things again or I will report you to your father."

At the mention of his father, Millicent had lapsed into silence. He knew his sadistic father would only be too glad to take him through another gruelling session of herculean punishments.

Sir Millicent returned his focus to the book with a light hiss. He did not why he kept losing concentration easily these days.

He heard the sound of the door being pushed open behind him and then the sound of approaching footsteps followed. He looked back over his shoulder to see Lady Suzannah catwalking towards him. She wore a respledent, kneelength, low neckline, purple dress that hugged her superb frame tightly. A good proportion of her glorious bosom flashed in his face and he could well see her bulky backside from the sides. Sir Millicent suffered an unprecedented loinquake.

BabieGhagha:
dis update is short ooo,buh sha sha u hv done well.d sky is ur starting point

I'll make the next one longer. Thanks ma.

stuff46:
nice one sire
that servant boy have done the worst by lieinq,sha prince na strong man. He go come after him.
Alan na him go marry him 6ta? Even if the prince wan use her make e try undrstand na.

The updates short somehow o

No mind that Alan jare, the guy is a brute.

The update is short? Wow, I could have sworn it was longer than the last one I dropped. And nobody complained then. It's okay, I'll make the next one longer.

Thanks for airing your view sir.

Easy4reel:
Wonderful storyline so far......... waiting patiently for next update!

Thanks sir.

Therock5555:
Oboy come continue abeg

next update is on saturday. Stay tuned sir.

Kennybix:
VanTeeee...more grease to your elbow

Thank you sir.

haydot95:
Feed us more rice(updates)...good job man

I just served more rice.

mariemummy:
Can see uuuuuuuuuu. Waiting

Done.

Update complete. If you were here while I was updating, please scroll up to read the remainder.

"Thanks for telling me this," She sighed in relief. "Did he send you here?"

"Er yes, he did," Craig lied through his teeth. "He wants you to know that he is coming to rescue you out soon."

"Rescue? You mean pay my ransome?"

"Yes."

Melissa broke into an expansive smile. "I knew it."

Craig shook his head inwardly as he realised how costly his lie was. He was lucky that Melissa was light-headed or gullible enough to have forgotten that he had asked her what she was doing in the cell some moments ago. While he did not doubt the fact that as long as Prince Galleine was alive, he would come in search of his girl. He only hoped it wouldn't be too late before he came.



To be continued. . .

***

Melissa sprang up from the cold bare floor of the cell as soon as she heard the thumping sound of boots approaching. She had been sleeping. But, as usual with her, it hadn't been a deep sleep. Who could sleep soundly in a dimly lit, poorly ventilated, mosquito infested cell anyway? Well, her younger brother Alan could. She could hear him snoring away even as the thumping sounds got nearer.

"Alan," She tried to wake him up. No response. The snoring only increased a notch.

The cell door swung open and Melissa saw a figure walk into the cell. In the dim lights of the cell, she could see that the figure belonged to a man. Even though she couldn't see the features clearly.

Her heart began to pound furiously, pumping blood at an accelerated rate. Her second biggest fear, since the day she was abducted with her brother on the way to Sassule, was about to come true. They had finally sent someone to defile her.

"Alan!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Alan?" The figure repeated in a voice that conveyed surprise. "Is that Melissa?"

"Who are you?" Melissa shrieked.

"Craig."

"Craig, oh, Craig," She cried as she ran to embrace him.

Craig was more than surprised to find Melissa there. "How did you get here?"

She gave no reply. She just stood there, with her face buried in his shoulder, weeping unconsolably.

"What is happening here?" A voice demanded behind them.

They both turned to see a young man standing with his arm folded across his chest. It was Alan.

"Alan, this is Craig. I'm sure you know him very well," Melissa said, sniffing back her tears.

Neither Melissa nor Craig could have anticipated what happened next, as Alan threw a heavy punch in the direction of Craig's head. It caught him in the nose and sent him staggering backwards.

"Alan! Are you crazy?" Melissa screamed at her brother, but he wasn't deterred as he sent a vicious kick to Craig's midriff, causing the latter to stumble to the ground, clutching his stomach in pain.

Alan did not stop there. He pounced on the brown haired servant and began to rain blows on his face.

"Alaaaan! Stop it!" Melissa bellowed. This time her shouts brought the guards rushing to the cell. They forcibly seperated Alan from Craig, although the former seemed quite eager to continue his assault on the latter.

"It is all your fault," Alan yelled at Craig as he was being bundled out of the cell. "It is because of you and your Prince that my sister and I are here. Sucks to you! I will kill you the next time I catch you."

"I am very sorry. My brother can be unreasonable at times," Melissa pleaded with Craig after the guards had led Alan away.

"You call that unreasonable? I think st*pid is more like it," Craig replied angrily.

"He thinks he is trying to protect," Melissa continue as if he hadn't spoken.

"By battering my face?"

"No. By trying to break my association with the Prince. He always said the Prince only wants to sow his wild oats in me after which he will on go to marry Lady Mina," She explained.

Despite his anger against her brother, Craig saw the need to reassure Melissa of the Prince's love for her. "He is wrong. Very wrong. The Prince loves you with the whole of his heart and I can tell you, he feels nothing for Lady Mina."

Melissa wasn't convinced. "But she is betrothed to him. Why can't he break that arrangement off if he truly loves me?"

Tricky one, but Craig thought he knew exactly what to say. "He truly loves you, but he cannot just break a betrothal arrangement that has been made since his childhood without a geniune reason, which in this case is non existent because Lady Mina has done nothing wrong to him. I will implore you to be patient till he becomes the King. He can then break the arrangement off without anyone challenging him."

CHAPTER SEVEN

Craig felt a sharp tug at his thick leather belt. A strong hand was trying to drag him by the buckle of his belt out of the tiny cart which had housed him for the past three days. Craig did not resist, he did not have the energy even if he wanted to. He was famished, dehydrated and ached all over. He simply slackened his body and let himself be dragged out of cart to the sandy floor.

"Get up!" A terrifying voice ordered as soon as the brown haired servant crumpled to the floor.

Craig scrambled to his feet and came face to face with a
tough looking mountain of a man. The same huge man who had abducted Craig from the Ruinous cave. The same man who Sir Millicent had introduced to the royal court as his saviour. Finn!

"Move on in front of me," Finn ordered. "Don't make any suspicious movement or I may be forced to kill you earlier than I intend to."

Craig nodded dumbly and promptly began to shuffle down the narrow bushy path that Finn pointed out to him.

"Your legs are not tied. Move faster!" Finn hollered from behind him.

Craig increased his pace from a shuffle to a trudge. His leg felt as heavy as lead as he took each slow, painful step. Worse still, his stomach growled furiously. A testament to the fact that he hadn't eaten since he was abducted.

He tried to isolate the pains he felt by focusing his mind on other things. He wanted to lucidly remember what had happened at the Ruinous cave but he couldn't. His memory seemed to have lost its sharpness. He didn't know if it was due to the pain he was feeling or because he had been knocked unconscious by Finn.

"Stop!" Finn commanded soon, after a long time.

Craig, grateful for an opportunity to rest his aching legs, quickly eased himself onto the ground. They must have come a long way, he thought as he observed the new environment. They were now in a natural clearing in the middle of a forest.

Finn let out a high pitched whistle. He waited a few seconds and did it again. In the moment that followed, eight men dressed in the ninja like uniform of the rebel troops joined Craig and Finn in the clearing.

"You took too long man. What happened?" The leader of the rebel troops asked Finn.

"Is that how to address a superior officer?" Finn answered with his question of his own.

The leader of the troops chuckled dryly. "I'm sorry. Is this the Prince?"

"Does he look like the Prince to you?"

"I'm afraid I don't know. I haven't seen the Prince since he was a baby."

The other rebels laughed, but Finn did not find it funny, infact he struggled to keep his hands by his sides. He would have punched Dunstan in the face if he gave in to his twitching fists.

"He is the Prince's servant. We. . ."

"Servant?" Dunstan said mockinginly. "Or you mean gay lover?"

The corners of Finn's mouth twitched in suppressed fury. He clearly saw now that Dunstan was challenging his authority. Openly for that matter. He would deal with him and his uncouth mouth soon. Very soon.

"Not everyone is like you, fo*l," Finn spat. "Now, take this chap to our facility in Cevout. Clean him up and serve him a good meal, we can't afford to have him die of hunger."

"Then?"

"What else? Put him in the same cell with the girl and her brother."

"You think that is a good idea?"

"Just do as you are told, id*ot," Finn bellowed. "I hope you haven't done anything with the girl."

"Not yet."

"Don't try it all," Finn warned, shaking his fore finger threatingly in the air to emphasize his point. "I'll be on my way now."

Dunstan gave no reply. He simply yanked Craig by the collar of his shirt and hustled him, in the most ungentle fashion, in the direction of the rebel camp.