KeYnNamM 

The Man-with-No-Name,

the King of No-One’s-Land

By: Ruwen Rouhs
(© 2022 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

RRouhs@tickiestories.us

Chapter 10
Gwasila's Problem

The next shock awaited Gwasila in the capital. The whole city was in uproar. Already at the city gate, the governor heard the news. "The emperor is dying!" he was told by one. "The emperor is already dead!" told another. Gwasila tried to advance to the palace with his little cavalcade. It was almost impossible. He had never seen before such a large crowd of people pushing toward the palace. Like waves at high tide, the stream of people pushed forward, and when it came to rest at a crossroads, it was only because of the wailing women who knelt there and with their shrill cries and desolate howls shooed the pigeons from the roofs and drove the rats from the streets.

What had happened? Governor was irritated! He asked one passerby, he asked the next passerby, but no one knew exactly. He pushed his horse through the crowd, even using his riding whip to clear a path for his horse. However he progressed only at a snail's pace. Finally, around sunset, he stood at the square in front of the emperor's palace. But neither he nor anyone else could get to the gate. It was impossible to break through the dense ring of palace guards, no matter how hard he waved his gold-emblazoned credentials, which gave him special rights as governor.

In the end, however, it did help him. A summoned lieutenant reassured him, "The emperor is not dead! The Emperor, God save and preserve him, was attacked by a leopard while hunting. Our invincible emperor had cornered the leopard. Just as the huge male leopard was cornered under an argan tree and the emperor was about to deliver the coup de grace with his lance, the animal’s queen leapt out of the tangle of branches.  It yanked our high lord from his horse. He fell and before his hunting companions could protect him, the two animals had their teeth driven into him. The devilish beasts were punished for the attack with death. However his majesty severe wounds also. Back in the palace the wounds got inflamed and none of his healers was able help him." The lieutenant admonished Gwasila before sending him away, "Pray Governor, pray for the Emperor! Pray that our dear, gracious master will recover."

Two days later, the fever had carried the governor away. Now the governor was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. What was to do now? He could no longer tell the Emperor his version of events at the crystal mine and lay all the blame on the prison commander. He had to act now. He had to solve the problem, no, both problems, the liberation of the prisoners of the Crystal Mine and the robbery of the precious crystals. He had to act now on his own initiative and in a way that proved to the noble who was crowned the next Emperor his ability and his irreplaceability.

Depressed, he fled from the court.  On the ride home, he developed a plan how to convince the new emperor of his abilities and his courage. He had to retrieve the stolen crystals, no matter the costs! He had to act quickly. He had to be faster than the soldiers of the emperor's court, he had to advance with an army into the territory of the Imuhagh and punish the culprits. Yes, perhaps he would even succeed in extending the empire into the enemy territory and at the same time unite the No-One's-Land to the empire. And the prisoners, he would have them recaptured and get new one.

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Governor Gwasila was aware that a campaign against the desert sons needed an experienced commander, a commander who could lead a campaign in the desert! He trusted himself to be the leader, of course! But did he really have to take on the inconveniences and, above all, the dangers of a campaign into enemy teritory? And if the campaign went wrong, the embarrassment? No, he had to find an experienced commander. That's when the old field captain Areksim came to his mind.

Field Captain Areksim, the old fox, still owed him something, not just a small favor, not at all! After all, he had saved the field captain's head, not just once. Areksim was a ruffian, a murderer, a woman abuser. The campaigns had brutalized him. At home he ducked under the whip of his wife Tudatt, but when he went to the brothel, which he did every week at least twice, he became a tiger and woe betide a girl who did not submit to his wishes. He had already slit the belly of two whores and cut off the breasts of one! None of them had survived. He, the governor, had to cover up the murders to protect his friend. The old fox Areksim was the right one. He was to lead the expedition into the desert.

But which one? He could not send the Emperor's soldiers into battle without his consent, and besides, only a few soldiers were stationed in Tinghir. The solution was a private army, an army of mercenaries. Who could help him, who could provide money for the campaign? He did not have to think hard and long. Of course, his three closets friends, the two fat buddies, the brothel operator and the grain merchant and his chummy gaunt the beardless merchant, the smuggler king. He was particularly important for the project, because his scouts, knew all the routes through the desert, including the one to the Kasbah of the Amenokal. The three had to advance the money for the campaign, while his secret police would recruit the mercenaries.

The governor was lucky. Areksim was happy to escape his wife for a few weeks. When he invited the three merchants to a meeting, they couldn't help but accept his proposal, money in exchange for the opportunity to rob the clans of the desert sons. Of course, the three did not voluntarily agree to the deal, but when Gwasila pointed with his index finger to the notebook in front of him they agreed. There is something compelling about notebooks in which the sins of the past are recorded. Who knows exactly what secrets are written down there? In addition, the pimp would have the opportunity to recruit the virgin daughters of the desert sons for his brothels, the bearded merchant would gain the monopoly on the grain trade deep into the south, and the gaunt smuggler king could acquire the customs authority over all the desert routes.

Luck continued to be with the governor. When he celebrated the success of the talks, better blackmail, in the evening with field captain Areksim and the three merchants in the brothel, they met an acquaintance, a well-known acquaintance to them, they met Udad, the former head of the kapo.

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Free at last! Udad and his helpers had been celebrating the unexpected gift of freedom in the brothel for days. "Finally, real women and no tight boy bussies!" Udad shouted exuberantly to the governor, knowing full well that the governor was also susceptible to blackmail. However, Gwasila had the right answer ready, "You and your friends owe the Emperor at least another 100 years. I'll cancel the debt for you and them, but in return you and your kapo will have the privilege of becoming sub-leaders in Areksim's expeditionary corps against the Desert Sons."

After a moment's consideration, Udad relented. Over the next two weeks he and his aides recruited the necessary participants in the campaign. Admittedly, the motley crew consisted not only of experienced former soldiers, but also of escaped convicts, simple-minded peasant boys and other young men who expected adventure and wealth from the campaign. The military training of the mercenary troops was scheduled for one week only, with drill during the day and brothel visits in the evening. This kind of training was quite to the liking of the hired cutthroats and crooks.

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To be continued...

Posted 07/08/2022