BOOK II OF III: The Reign of the Sultan Read Online Free Page B

there were
thousands of chariots, catapults, and of course, supply wagons
carrying food and water. Most importantly to Vaspan, he saw
standing proudly in front of their horses—his five sons!
    Thorn whispered in his lord's ear, “We have a
grand total of one hundred forty-one thousand twenty-five soldiers
in our ranks right now, my Sultan! Per your orders, twenty thousand
of these men will remain behind to protect Mauritia while the rest
of us deploy to Pavelus.”
    “Really,” Vaspan said, sounding quite
pleased. After a curious look had grown upon his face, he then
asked, “How long will it take for us to reach Pavelus with this
size of an army?”
    “My Sultan, believe it or not, it will only
take us between six and seven weeks.”
    “Excellent!” Vaspan then asked, “Are we ready
to deploy now, or do we need more time to prepare?”
    “No, my Sultan…we are ready now!”
    Vaspan ordered, “Perfect job as always—bring
the army to the position of attention, my Ruling-General!”
    Thorn boomed out at the top of his lungs,
“Attention!”
    Even though ninety-nine percent of the troops
hadn’t heard Thorn relay this order, as they had been quietly
talking with one another, two of the trumpeters nearby did, and so
they began to blow out a two-tone tune that was the call for the
troops to assume the position of attention.
    In unison the soldiers did, by placing their
feet into a forty-five degree position, slapping their weapon or
shield into their chest at the same time, and shouting in unison,
“ Hooooooooooooaaaaaaaahh !”
    As for all the mercenary divisions, they
stopped talking amongst one another and looked to the front of the
ranks to see what was going on. Even though they had arrived by
ships and would return to their vehicles following the formation so
that they could sail to Pavelus at a slow speed, they would only
dismount on the beaches inside the harbor when the order came
through from Vaspan, and attack mercilessly—“amphibious
mercenaries” was their trademark.
    After spending a few more minutes inspecting
the dense crowd of troops under his command, Vaspan called out
loudly, “Forces of the Vaspan Empire, and the mercenary divisions
whom I have recently hired. I am…Sultan-Sedious Vaspan the First,
and the time has finally come for me to claim what is rightfully
mine—the Sharia Empire!”
    He took a deep breath through his nose,
before he added, “Join me now, and once I have achieved what is
rightfully mine, I will give to you what is rightfully yours—the
everlasting plunders of Pavelus, and soon after, the entire
world!”
    Like frenzied maniacs, the troops began to
slam their weapons chaotically into their armor-plated chests,
which caused booming sounds for miles around—the four mercenary
divisions began following suit, and the chaotic noise became
extremely loud and deafening for about ten minutes!
    Once silence reigned, except for the maniacal
laughter of Vaspan that continued for a few moments longer, he
commanded, “To war….we march!”
    Excluding those soldiers who had been
selected to stay behind and protect the city, as well the
mercenary-marine divisions who had already begun to head back to
their ships, the bulk of the army immediately began the march
northwest toward Pavelus…

CHAPTER II
     
    Back in Pavelus—3 weeks later…
     
     
    The throngs of people that surrounded the
palace had remained ominously silent, for nearly two minutes; that
is, after Baltor had popped his question. This nerve-racking
timeframe felt to him like “two eternities.”
    Until suddenly, an anonymous woman’s voice
cried out, “Hail to the Sultan!”
    Then another man’s voice joined in, “Hail to
the Sultan!”
    In less than ten seconds, the majority of the
crowd had also joined in, and soon enough, even the eighty-foot
tall palace’s exterior walls began to reverberate from the
deafening volume!
    Somehow, Baltor’s voice managed to become
even louder than all the other voices