Yipion - part 8

“Sir, you are awake!” seeing the confusion on Yipion’s face, the Royal Physician was quick to calm him down, “Don’t worry, sir, you are safe now.”

Yipion was in his father’s bed. At the door stood two guards, and inside the room the Royal Physician had been busy with the making of medicine while a housemaid went about cleaning the room.

“What happened?” the prince asked.

“Oh my dear boy, we rescued you, yes. We climbed the Black Mountain to help you, and during the war we eventually found you in that crevice, bloodied, almost dead.”

“I told my father I didn’t want his help.”

“Well, you see sir, that is the reason for you being in that bed, yes.” The Royal Physician looked deeply into Yipion’s eyes. “Your father was heartbroken with your attitude and decided to abandon you. King Yulid of Orago didn’t share his opinion, nor did your father’s generals for that matter, yes. They put him away and King Yulid took over the operation. Your father knew he wouldn’t be allowed to rule anymore, so he chose to take his own life to preserve his honour.” Yipion was shocked, more shocked than he thought he would be.

“What about my mother? What happened to her?”

“Oh, dear boy. Your mother died last year. An assassin targeting your father. Yes, you are king!”

“How long have I been asleep?” the prince made king asked, frightened.

“Almost a week.”

Yipion got up and pushed the old man aside. Putting on any clothes he could find, he rushed out through the door, much to the perplexity of the guards.

“Leave him be,” said the Royal Physician. “He needs to deal with all of this.”

And indeed Yipion would deal with it, in the only manner he knew: battle.

Not a battle against Yulid, no. He had to find out his real enemy.

“Did you kill Hamut?” he burst through the door to the First General’s quarters.

“No, sir, we did not. He and most of his followers escaped.”

“Where did they go?”

“I can’t tell, the only thing we know is he went south, towards the Forest of Ant.”

Just as quick as he had entered, Yipion was out of the room. He made the Royal Counsellor fetch his armour, and especially the blue stone, and in that same day he was off Southwards.

“I will not be beaten by this measly soldier,” thought Yipion. “I am more than that. I am superior. He who knows nothing of the Arts defeated me. How could he?”

“Do not be so quick to judge Hamut. There is more to him than meets the eye. He is a master of the Arts. Just not your arts. It does not mean he is weaker than you. Always be mindful of your enemy,” the voice sounded in a very patronising tone. That madness it had before was not apparent now, and Yipion could also not feel it in himself.

Days passed and Yipion thought only of the devil who had made all of this. If he hadn’t betrayed the Kingdoms, none of this would have happened. His mind had been long since set on vengeance, and he felt so close to it, now that that dreaded army of Hamut’s was slain.

Yipion had travelled southeast towards the Eye to the Star, as they called it: a gap of a few kilometres between where one of the Mountains ended and the other started. The White and Black Mountains started near the ocean to the West, circling around the Great Plain – where the kingdoms of Inur’l and Orago were located – and almost joining to the East at the Eye to the Star. The gap had that name because looking through it from the Plain you could see the greatest and brightest stars over the horizon.

The south-most part of the Black Mountain turned slowly into a dense forest, which then became a fully-fledged forest a couple of kilometres past the foothills – the Forest of Ant.

Yipion intended to go through it in search of tracks or other clues of the rogue Warlords. He hoped to reach Hamut, wherever he was, in a few of days. His horse was stronger than normal horses, and the prince’s magic aura made him faster and more enduring.

The prince and his steed eventually went through the forest and came out the other side. He had seen fresh horse tracks heading south, and he followed.

Evening came. Yipion came by a village on a slight hill. Not a big one, in fact it seemed as if it were abandoned, but some light could be seen from within. He decided to stop for the night and try to investigate whether the Warlords had been seen.

The first few houses were abandoned, falling apart even. When he reached the first house with light, a man came to the door to see the visitor. His face showed surprise, but he rushed inside immediately, and Yipion just kept on his way, looking for some kind of inn or a place to stay.

The streets were desert, and a deafening silence could be heard. In fact, it was so quiet Yipion even started doubting his senses, and maybe that was in fact a desert village. As he approached what seemed to be the central plaza of the village, the voice spoke to him.

“We should go back,” it said.

“Yes, I feel that way too,” Yipion mumbled.

And as soon as he turned his horse around, he saw a hooded man pointing a finger at him. In an instant he was thrown off his horse, and from all the houses came people running at him with weapons drawn. Startled, he got on his feet and tried to run, killing a few in the process.

The only place he could find to hide was an abandoned house. Inside he found a trapdoor which led to a sort of tunnel. Having run for about five minutes, he noticed another trapdoor above him. It led to another house, almost at the edge of the town. But what he found upon lifting himself up was even stranger.

“Hello boy. It’s about time you died.”

Hamut punched his jaw so hard a gulp of blood came out of Yipion’s mouth. Before he could do anything, Hamut grabbed hold of the blue stone from the prince’s pocket.

“This will come in handy, hey oh brother!”

He then stomped on Yipion’s chest and cracked his breastplate with repeated stomping and kicking. From the ground, the badly-lit face of the Warlord appeared as a demon, dreadful, evil. From behind him came two other soldiers who spoke to Hamut softly.

Yipion could not believe his luck. He had found what he sought, but had he been lured? All of it was very strange. His only chance to live was to teleport, but where? He could try to go back to the tunnel, but it could be flooded by enemies now. Or he could try to reach the streets, where he could more comfortably evade enemies. And so he did.

The air was sweet, and the stars were gazing upon the village. To Yipion’s amazement, the street was empty, and so he entered a house, hoping to recover energy and riposte. His chest was throbbing with pain, and he suspected a broken rib. There was some food and water in a cabinet, which he gladly ate. He took a sack and filled it with bread, smoked meat and a water canteen. Decided upon vengeance, he left and went straight toward the house where Hamut had found him. With a clenching of his fists a large explosion blew the house apart and set it ablaze. From within came Hamut leaping forward, the flames drawing a devilish silhouette.

The fight was more furious than ever, and they ended up destroying half a dozen houses before reinforcements came for Hamut and the prince had to flee. He had not been able to recover the blue stone, but at least he could live to fight another day. With his remaining energy he teleported and ran as fast as he could, not knowing where he was headed.

When day came, Yipion realised he had been traveling east. He had never stopped walking. The terrain was mountainous, but without many hills, so the way had been somewhat easy. He reached a high point and saw to the east a high stone wall sheltering a big city. No roads lead there, and he saw nobody outside the wall. He knew that town, and decided to make for it. Tired, he had to walk slowly and heavily, but the city of Mascath would surely be revealed a safe haven.