8. Help From The North

Days passed by and the Legendian army did not dare relax their muscles. The training session had been extended and training was done to the full extent. Simon Scorpio was made the temporary commander while Marlin was out of the city. His men were quite glad to have Simon as their leader because his practise sessions were the most entertaining of all; humorous at speech and skilful in fights unlike Marlin. It was six days since he, Marlin had left. Marvelo and Marco would visit the castle daily to keep themselves updated and discuss the strategies. Zimon had serious meetings and could be well noticed under pressure for the first time in history.

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Marco had his army standing in front of him; a total of one thousand and five hundred men. The knights stood on his right, with Peter standing in the first row. The archers were in front of Marco with Fred directly facing him. The soldiers stood on the left. The three groups seemed stronger than ever. Albert and Yoyo had already gained in the top ten swordsmen of Marco’s group. Marco wanted to take random tests with his men so he thought he would start with the archers and Fred being the newest member in his regiment, he was called to step up forward. Marco placed six target round boards in a circle and stepped out of the ring. “You will stand in the centre.”, he said to Fred who had his bow and arrow ready, “I want to see how fast you can strike the six boards.”

Fred walked in and stood still, gazing the six boards spread all around his sides. He took out his arrow and took aim at the one in front. The arrow shot out; the other was already in his hand and while the first one was in the air, turning slightly to his right he let go of the second one. He rotated with an incredible speed; five arrows already shot. It all happened in no time. His hands worked at an inhuman speed. The last arrow was ready to leave but Fred took a high leap in the air and with all the might, his arrow hit the centre of the only standing board and with that, all the boards went down.

The crowd cheered out aloud and Marco gaped at what he just witnessed. It took Fred just three heart beats to mow all the six boards down.

“Typical show off!”, Peter murmured under his tone.

“Fred... Since I never assigned a head for the archer’s group, you will take the charge of archers in my batch. Clear?”, Marco said smiling.

“Aye!”, Fred exclaimed.

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Marvelo’s back was aching badly. He was walking with Marco heading for the castle. “It was a long day today.”, Marvelo grunted, “Wish this all gets over soon and we get our hands on those swine.”

Marco remained silent. He was scared. There was a burden of the whole city resting on his shoulders which unwillingly stressed him a lot. Just when they entered the Great Hall, a short man in a silky travelling robes walked up from behind them and strode past the two commanders without greeting them and halted right in front of Zimon who sat dreamily on Blabber.

The man bowed low, “Hail to the King of Legendia! I come from the empire of Rovania, to deliver you a proposal from Lord Farwohm, Emperor of the north east.

“And?...”, Zimon said raising an eyebrow.

The messenger continued, “Our three main cities namely Yarolin, Rovania and Venozulae has decided to help you protect your city while you leave for the battle.”

“Why does your king, Farwohm, bring this favour upon us?”, Zimon asked.

“We are a foe to evil and a friend to righteous deeds and therefore Lord Farwohm wishes to exercise this petite act of guarding the outskirts of your city while you are absent for the time being.”

“And what do you ask for in return?”

The man did not hesitate to answer, “We ask nothing from you. It is only that we realize that we should help each other in such dark times.”

‘A worthy proposal’, Zimon thought. It was perhaps important to protect the city although there were fewer chances for an attack from the west.

Marco too agreed though the gates were heavily guarded but the fact was that there was no soldier left behind this time as they required a full force of army against Dark Dume. Thus, the inner city was vulnerable to attacks without any protection from the army.

“I’m glad to hear your proposal. I shall ponder upon it and send a message to you as soon as possible. Send my deepest gratitude to your kings and mention that I appreciate it.”, Zimon said.

The man bowed gently and went away. Marco and Marvelo took their seats.

“Farwohm was never interested in creating a friendly bond with anyone. This seems fishy.”, Zimon told them.

“That king is too hard to read. I’m telling ya’... he’s up to no good!”, Marvelo exclaimed.

Zimon nodded, “Ofcourse, he’ll have some gain in power if he does this favour on us. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to keep our city thoroughly guarded. You’ll never know what comes next.”

“What about Irasy? Can’t we approach Olgreg for support?”, Marco asked trying not to sound too excited speaking about Irasy.

“He was the first person to offer me the helping hand, but I asked him to protect his city only. It is dangerous for his people if there men join the battle or come here for guarding.”, Zimon sighed.

“So, anything important from the training?”

And so another night withered away.