Chapter 3 Three

TINA

"I have to go back!" I declared barely two days after Amro brought me to a wooden house secluded in the woods and far away from Sultra. We'd stopped here to rest and collect some needed supplies before embarking for the final destination. I didn't know where Amro intended to take me but he'd said it was a village far away from Sultra.

"That is a very foolish idea if I've ever heard one, young Miss. Your father would have my head if he were here"

"But he isn't here, is he?! He's dead!" I shouted at the top of my voice, tears rolling down my eyes. "He's dead, Amro, along with my brother and my mother. I watched that beast behead my father!"

"Which is why the whole idea of you going back is nonsense, don't you see? You've seen for yourself how ruthless he is, why on earth would you want to go back? I can not let you step a foot back in there" Amro deadpanned, hands cutting through the air.

I stopped my pacing about, burning a hole on the spot which I walked up and down, and looked straight into Amro's eyes as he sat cross legged on a chair, marking something in a parched notebook.

"It's either you help me, or I'll simply run away. With or without your help or your permission I am going back there. I have a plan, I refuse to run away while the beastly General takes over my village after ruining my family. No, I will not accept it"

Amro dropped the pen on the table and sighed heavily before turning his full body to face me.

"You're only one and twenty, young miss. What can you do? How do you expect you would gain entrance to the indoors of the manor without one of his men beheading you even before you meet the General himself?"

I stood straighter, spine stiff and jaws squared. "Like I said, I have a plan. Now, will you help me or not?"

**************

"Halt!"

From my hiding place tucked inside a sack bag and being hefted on Amro's shoulder, I heard a voice, probably a guard planted by the General, call out.

Amro stopped as I listened to their exchange.

"Where are ye going to and from whence are ye coming from?" The guard asked.

"I'm coming from the village and I'm looking for the general. I have a gift to present to him" Amro replied, surprisingly calm.

"What's in the bag?"

"A gift. For the General"

"Reveal it to me at once!"

Amro's voice dropped down a notch. "It's a very private gift for the General and meant for him and his eyes alone. If you understand what I mean"

Silence followed as I held my breath. Waiting for the guard to finally give us entrance.

At last the man conceded. "Very well. But be warned, if the General finds your gift displeasing, your head will go for it, understand me?"

I released my breath. "Thank ye" Amro bidded and continued walking. Then he stopped suddenly.

"Pray tell, where can I find the good General?"

The good General? My stomach churned. The General was anything but good.

"In the drawing room to the left"

From my hideout I could hear how busy the manor was. Voices of unknown people. This place used to be my home, the only home I ever knew, and one beast came from nowhere and swooped it from me.

"Is the General in?" Amro asked another guard, I guess we are now at the door of the drawing room.

"Who's asking?" The deeper voice of this guard asked. I made sure not to squirm or make any movement to indicate that it was a person in the sack bag that Amro was carrying. This was our little secret.

"I have something to present to him," Amro replied. I was pretty sure apprehension would be making him sweat. He was a good fighter, no doubt, but compared to these animalistic warriors and their number, Amro would be nothing but an inconveniencing fly on the wall.

"Wait here" the guard boomed after some minutes. I heard the door open and his voice sounded out. "A villager is here to present a gift to you, sire. Shall I let him in?"

Pause.

I held my breath. If he should refuse our entrance now then all these risks would be for nothing. My plan would be squashed at the inception stage.

"Let him." A deep voice replied from within.

I released my breath through my mouth and steeled myself for what's to come next. The next 5 minutes would determine if Amro and I lived or not and if I had just allowed my imaginations derived from reading too many books get over my head.

Amro proceeded deeper into the drawing room and instantly, the smell of cigars wafted the air. It seemed all the men in the room were smoking cigars, probably celebrating their recent conquest.

"State your business or lose your head!" The General barked.

At last, Amro dropped the sack bag that was me to the floor and as slowly as I could perform, I let my presence known to everyone in the room.

I gently let myself out of the bag and shimmied my body, kicking the bag to the side. My eyes went over the room and over every pair of eyes staring at me mouth agape.

I noticed how the current state of my father's drawing room was in disarray. Plush and comfortable chairs flung aside and a big long table brought to the center with wooden chairs lined up on each side of said table.

About fourteen men sat on these chairs and were previously staring at the big map spread out at the center of it, with the giant man who was the object of my attention standing at the head of the table, leading the men.

Eyes still staring and mouth still opened, the men stopped what they were doing and the cigar in their hands left unattended.

I called my beating heart and steadied my shaking hands. I batted my eyes at the men in the room before shifting the focus of my gaze to the one man in the room that really mattered. The General.

"Hello, General"