Blood and Diamonds.

[Owlparrot3]

Chapter 14 .

A singular note had been pinned to the wall,written in French in beautiful European handwriting .William was just about to read it when he heard commotion outside .The arabs had returned .

He quickly put the note in his pocket .There was no time to retrieve the lost crossbow bolts .They would remain in his victim's necks forever .Now he quickly got to work .Taking out from his belt ,the explosive he quickly proceeded to cut of most of the fuse .Then with some friction matches the job was done .

The explosion was enormous ,it rocked the Arabs outside sending them into shock .William had managed to run into the bushes .The explosion and the resulting commotion rendered William invisible .All looked well when out of nowhere came a huge piece of adobe .William had just a few moments to watch it before it hit him squarely on the leg .It might have been okay .Losing control over one leg isnt a problem .But losing control over one leg when you have been seen by mad angry Arabs 'is' a problem .Unfortunately for William he had by now been seen .

He quickly took out his pistol and knife .If he was to go then he would go with honour like a man .Meanwhile the Arabs began to fire .The problem was that the bushes and the debris was making it difficult for them to pinpoint William's exact location in the bushes .William groaned as one shot nearly hit him .Then a second one grazed his leg ,that same damn leg .

He aimed squarely .Then he shouted in as hoarse and frightening an Arabic as he could "I am your death cowards ,come come ,come to your destruction " .If he was fighting then he would put himself at as much of an advantage as he could .In the dark jungles of the dark continent a grown man could get scared of something which could do unbelieveable tasks(Like destroying an entire store of weapons and ammunation) .
One of the Arabs temporarily flinched due to the sudden hoarse sound .That one moment was enough for William to aim squarely for the head though it hit him in the neck instead .

The issue was that ,the whole forest could get alerted and more Arab troops could arrive .By now the Arabs had realised their numerical power and started to get closer to the thick bushes................when a singular loud noise came .Everyone stopped firing .The king of the central African jungle had arrived .He went straight for the hard prey .It was not of the king's nature to hunt the wounded .The Arabs were dumbfounded when a queen and some friends also came .It took them a minute to realise that a whole pack of lions had attacked them .



An hour had gone by ,an injured William had almost given up hope .But he had finally made it .He had made it to the river bank .The question was 'How to get across?'

As the sun slowly set ,William pondered over his fate .He could have been in the exquisite 'Greek' baths that his father had built for a fortune in Boston or he could have been on the hot beach of Long island .Instead he was on muddy banks of a cold river in a dense malaria infested jungle with a bunch of mad Arabs scowring the forest for him and most importantly ...........his leg in shambles .He tried to stop the flow of blood .Apart from the wound ,it appeared that a bone or two must have also broken .He couldn't move it at all .Once again the same question 'How to get across?'.

A lone figure appeared on the opposite bank .It was on a canoe .In one hand he held a rifle .In the other he held the paddle .He was rowing furiously .It appeared that he was running from someone .William was overjoyed to see that the figure was a white man .He frantically waived to him .The man understood immediately and rapidly paddled the canoe towards him .For a minute or so more his face was still unclear ,but soon William saw the face .And he knew it well enough .Hill ,Danny Hill !

"What are you doing in this hellbent place Mr.Trent " asked Hill .
"I am hurt in a skirmish ,will you take me across ?"asked William .
"Can't friend ,you can take the canoe though ,i must run " said Hill .
"From whom?" asked William .
"From the Belgians ,they had imprisoned me for being a red " replied Hill .
"What ,they put you in the dungeons ?" asked William angrily .
"House arrest ,now i am in a hurry ,i will explain it all some other time "said Hill .
"Watch out ,there are Arabs in the whole damn place "said William .
"Ok ,i will take care ,i am no friend of the Arabs ,i just want to make it our from here ,i am done "said Hill running away .
William watched him go and disappear into the dense and rapidly darkening forest for a minute more after which he proceeded to cross the river .

After coming back to the friendly side William decided to read that letter he had found earlier before entering or rather crawling into camp .
It just read

Goods delivered exactly on time .Date-29th September 1892 .Only one batch for now .Take good care .Next batch wont come till atleast 4 months ore .Brand new Mausers .No peace in the land .
GRC .

William didnt know what was GRC but something somewhere smelled wrong .Towards night he staggered back into camp ,the letter put away in a part of his clothing where nobody would find it .

[Stone Cold Shogun Panther]

I like your writing. I always wanted to try my hand at a AAR type of thing.

[Owlparrot3]

First of all thanks so much for commenting .
And you are free and i encourage you to come and try your hand at the aar which you want to write .The WS is a great place full of helpfull people who will be happy to guide you .You may also ask any doubts you have to me .
Welcome .
Looking forward to seeing you here .

[Owlparrot3]

Chapter 15

William recieved a hero's welcome back at camp .Obviously the actual welcome ceremony was held the following day after his wounds and fractures had been treated .Accoring to the doctor ,nothing was too major but for a few weeks atleast William would not be able to take part in military activities .

Some native from the forest had informed the camp that a lone white man had destroyed with quite ease a whole building full of weapons .De Huesch was especially pleased that his mad dash had achieved something atleast .The doctor/commander however was excited to hear it all .William had came back at the night of the 11th and by the night of the 12th the doctor called him to as grand a dinner as they could arrange in a military camp in a faraway African colony .

"So now tell me Mr.Trent ,what ammunation was there and what other things were in that infernal place" he asked .
"Well it was a building full of Winchester repeaters ,brand new "said William and then he motioned with a hand that he didn't want to continue the discussion on this subject for now .Why he lied about the manufacturer of those guns was a mystery even to him as well ,but he was sure that it was the right decision .
"Say sir ,where is Danny Hill nowadays ,havent seen him " asked William ,.
"Huh ,he ,that villain is under house arrest in Lusambo as far as i know ,tried to forge some papers ,leftist anyway ,guy deserved it " replied the doctor .
"Of course " said William raising a toast and grinning in his mind .

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

January 1912 .

His throat dry from the talking ,W.G.T stopped .He adjusted his shirt .The other man in the room asked ."Oh ,i am tired too ,i will listen to the rest of the confession tomorrow .By the way Mr.Trent ,what will happen next" .
"War sir war ,real war started soon after .Not skirmishes ,a full on battle involving an Arab held fort ".
"Good" said the second man leaving satisfied .

The next day he was back and the first man continued with his third person account .

It was all a convulated mess ,yet there was a singularity .There were different screams and gunshots all around but the focus seemed to be on one dead Arab .His body was bloodied and the blood flowing from it seemed to be making musical notes .Then out of nowhere he realised that the screams in fact though seemingly from different sources were from just one .Slowly a woman appeared from the horizon .

"You killed him ?You hunted him ,just like .........just like an animal ? " her voice became shriller and she appeared to be sobbing .Yet there was anger in her voice .She continued "You hunted him down ,you stole the living breath out of him ,oh ,you are the worst Mr.Trent ,you are a villian ,a bad man ,oh.may the devil take you .may the devil take you .......you.you VILLIAN ."

Then a devil appeared ,he looked frightening and was red in colour ,he lifted his huge hands ,Willliam flinched .Then all of a sudden he brought them down with full force ..............................Ahhhhhhhhh.

"Mr.Trent,Mr.Trent ,what happened " said the doctor ,his arms on William's body pinning him down along with another soldier .
William had woken up .
"What happened ,did i do something ?" asked William .
"You were shouting ,loudly in your sleep ,so you too got the devil's dream right " asked the doctor .
"What's it ." asked William .
"It catches every soldier ,even specialists ,but buckle up ,the commodant has arrived ,we must be ready ,real war has come ,blood will flow ." said the doctor .Then he added "Drink some water and join us for some eat " and then he left the tent .

Indeed the commodant had arrived on the 20th with De Vouters ,Lupungu a warlord ,Cerkel another officer and a big 4.5 Krupp artillery gun at the camp at Lomami .He had on the way sent Captain Michaux to N'gadu to reinforce the Force Publique and Gongo Luetet there because the Arabs were attacking somewhere nearby .

On the 21st two black officers by the names of Corporal Benga and Sergeant Albert Frees with 40 men were sent to fight against some of Sefu's forces that had crossed the river eight hours march time below the camp(downriver) .It appeared though that the Belgians had underestimated that particular Arab force and it was only the death defying and daring skills of those two that secured victory for the Belgians .After a day's fight they pursued the retreating Arabs deep into the night .

The next morning on the 22nd William Trent again disappeared from camp .The last anyone had heard of him was a young soldier who heard him talking to Fenderson "The red star at work again ,though working with blacks is deplorable , the commodant has agreed to let me ride out " .

That evening the commodant had agreed to some rest on the doctor's implorations .Even as he was paying his respects a man rushed inside .

In his hands was an Arab gun .

[Owlparrot3]

Chapter 16 .

Albert Frees ,Monrovian by birth was a little man of 5 feet six .He spoke English with an American accent .His intelligence and knowledge were extraordinary for a man who had taken no education .

Benga on the other hand was a native of Sierra Leone who spoke nothing except if he had something really important to say .His level of being quiet was extrordinary and for hours and hours he spoke nothing and remained eerily quiet .

Both were extremely close friends and apart from being born black(their only traits that most seemed to be noticing) they were also capital shots .
When William first came face to face with Frees that evening ,the latter bowed ,this caused a queer rumbling in William's stomach ,the kind that a younger man gets when someone older and grander than him bows before him .The only answer that he could give was to bow himself like those strange little yellow men do to each other when greeting .

Frees had been skirmishing for quite some time around the central interest in the region ,the Arab fort on the Lomami river .It was a large fort with one side facing the river and another facing a smaller fort which in turn faced the position of Frees on one side .On the other side of the fort beyond the river was an Arab camp .The biggest thing however was that ,Sefu Bin Hamid was in that fort .

"We must get Sefu "said Frees .
To which William replied "By god's grace we will".

Meanwhile Lupungu's force was also with them increasing the size of the force .

William aimed to have a good night's sleep to prepare for the incoming battle tomorrow like everybody else in the camp and in the enemy camp too ,but fate had something else in store for all of them .

A raging tornado came that night and followed by a persistent rain which fell all night like arrow bolts .The thick trees and bushes with the addition of rain meant that Frees and his force was virtually invisible to the occupants of the fort .

The rain itself was horrifying .Frees tried to stop the few men who deserted in the ongoing confusion but he got no success .To William however ,he had by now got accustomed to the rain after nearly 3 years in the Congo .Some of the other men were however not used to soldering in these conditions .Even as you stood ,the amount of mud and water around you increased and it got into your boots you couldn't even cry out because if you opened your mouth then the muddy(mud which had been carried by the rain drops from the trees to the ground) water would get inside .The temperature however was surprisingly normal no doubt due to the humid conditions .

By dawn however the rain had almost stopped and now Frees decided to attack .William felt like showing the red star to him as well but looking at the cool and calculated actions of the black leader he decided not to , for this was a man who had a clear plan and knew how to plot it carefully .Better not to disturb his plans .Instead he took out his scoped rifle and joined them all .

The first few men to go forward were extremely enthusiastic and ran excitedly towards the fort .

"They are gone sir " said Frees to William .

But no ,not only were the Arabs still fumbling with their weapons as the Belgians took aim .They still had not fired a shot ,when the black soldiers shot and killed several .The next Belgian volley took down about 3 Arabs standing on the battlements .The last one almost fell from the wall but his robes got stuck on the rod and his body clinged on to the same .Meanwhile the back ranks of Free's men had brought up the ladder carefully shielded from the rain of the previous night by thick cloth .

William too decided to join the action .He decided to go for the difficult targets .

By now some Arabs had came up and managed to load their weapons .One of them fired accurately and took down a man holding the ladder .At that moment the others ,scared ,put down the ladder and taking out their own rifles ,went for cover .

Then another Arab fired ,for a moment the bullet must have almost got out of the muzzle and then it stopped and the gun burst in the Arab's face ,killing him instantly .

It appeared that the Arab caplocks(Only a few of them had repeaters) already inferior in speed and dependability to the Belgian breechloaders had encountered some additional problem .

Finally after 4 to 5 more 'accidents' the Arabs broke defence and rallied out .

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

This is certainly fast-moving!

[Owlparrot3]

Chapter 17 .

There were multiple thousands of Arabs inside the fort .Lupungu had enough men but Frees only had 40 .The first few to appear were cut down by deadly Belgian fire .But then like a storm the horsemen appeared .There were only 12 ,but their speed and ferocity frightened the Belgian soldiers .

William did notice one thing though ,the Arab foot soldiers had not surged forward at all .They were still firing sporadic shots from the battlements ,it was almost as if all their hopes were on the cavalry charge .That he knew was the chance .

"Sergeant Frees ,we need to finish these horsemen ,not just kill but annihilate " shouted William .

"Hoo yes sir " replied Frees .

Encouraged by words like 'Annihilate' and 'finish' Frees took out his African tribal blood and surged forward all the while shouting 'Forward men ,shoot down these dogs ' .

William now aimed .The horsemen were still a few paces away when his first shot hit one of their ranks .It had been so hit that the horse stopped and thus formed an obstacle for the horseman behind it .1 horseman was shot down by some one else .

Then he worked the bolt ,aimed and fired at their apparent chief .

"Damn missed " said he working the bolt again .

2 more were killed in between by Frees's men .

"Missed again " he shouted after killing the Arab just behind the chief rather than the chief .

One more found his death at the hands of Frees's trusty aim .

By now the horsemen had reached the Belgian ranks .

William himself however was untouched due to the bravery of a soldier who himself charged to block William .

He repaid it by killing that horseman .

Thus outnumbered by the time they made contact ,the remaining 3 Arab horsemen decided to retreat after just a minute and a half of deadly hand to hand combat .

Unfortunately for the Arabs.......the chief was not one of them who survived,he had been killed by a single shot to the head rather than a bayonet cut .

After that all hell broke loose ,as expected the Arabs abonded the samller fort and retreated to the larger one behind it .As if Lupungu's men together with Frees weren't enough ,Michaux and Gongo Lutete joined them .

It was intriguing that a garrison of multiple thousand Arabs had been frightened by the loss of just 12 cavalrymen !

The combined assault of the Belgian armies destroyed the confidence of the Arabs and then unable to defend the fort ,a panic with unknown origins started among them and they made a mad dash to jump in the river behind the fort ,to escape from the Belgians .

Frees and Benga were the first to scale the fort .Very few of the enemies were giving covering fire to their mates .

William belonged to the second wave of fort climbers .Gongo Lutete and Michaux remained behind .

Once on top of the battlements William saw a lucky chance to take down a dozen men together .A singular gas lamp placed in such a position ,that if shot ,then it would explode causing many nearby men to die .
Quickly he placed his eye on his scope and was about to fire when he saw a certain symbol on it .He stopped .
Shocked ,he did not fire for a minute more .

When he did fire ,he managed to kill or injure about 9 men .

After that the Belgians just fired on the swimming or canoeing Arabs and massacred their entire army at will .The Arabs returned hardly any fire .

While Sefu had already crossed safely to the other side , the other Arabs were not so lucky .600 men had been killed inside the fort ,12 horsemen had been killed outside ,70 had been killed on the battlements smaller fort and a 2000 to 3000 were killed while crossing the river !

[Alwyn]

Your writing conveys the urgency as William and his men fire at their approaching enemies and desperately try to re-load in time to fire again.

[Owlparrot3]

Thanks for commenting Alwyn and Calliagh .
And thanks for repping ,now my rep is on two lines for the first time!!!

[Axis Sunsoar]

Wow! There's been a lot of new updates here since the last time I checked on it... you're working quick! I'm glad to see you're enjoying writing and releasing updates, but I would suggest, as a reader, maybe leaving a bit more time between updates - it was a little overwhelming coming back after a week and having four chapters to read!

I like the introduction of the new character of Albert Frees, and like Alwyn I enjoyed the way you were able to convey a real sense of urgency in the conflict between the riders and William's company. Further back in chapter 14 you did an excellent job of creating some tension when William was thrown into a very difficult situation and had to drag himself out of it. It really set up a situation where I didn't see how he could get out of it, and the arrival of the lions was a spectacular and unexpected twist.

Keep up the good work, your writing has been distinctly improving since you began this tale, as well as your formatting and presentation!

[Owlparrot3]

Thanks .Actually i wasn't sure if i could get that reloading scene right .I just took a deep breath and wrote in one shot .Its good that you commented .
I unfortunately cant leave much time between my chapters ATM .
I am currently near Las Vegas in a base ,with my secondary PC ,and my secondary PC unfortunately has a defective wordpad and notepad so hence i just post when i get the ideas .Sorry if its tedious .

But thanks again for commenting .For me comments hold a lot of value .They show me if i am good or bad .

[Owlparrot3]

Chapter 18 .

By afternoon the Belgians had killed all those that they could and those they could not ,had long fled .It was a clear victory .Commodant Dhanis had arrived on the scene too .
He let lose the blacks and Bangalas and other allied tribes on whatever booty he did not want to take ,after all that was the chief reason they helped Belgium ,for booty .
But not Frees ,he was a man of morals ,almost like a European .That earned him William's respect .

3 chieftans and some more men had however been captured .Among them one was an old man name Sadi .Many years ago ,in his youth he had helped the great explorer Stanley for money .His arms and legs had been fractured and his skull had been broekn in several places .This all apart from the many bullets shot in his body .He still lingered on in that state for 3 more days too .

The doctor's army arrived too .He told William a funny tale .
A man had came carrying an arab gun .He was a dwarf and an envoy of the Arabs .He told them that his master wished to give them the last chance for surrendering .When the doctor had refused ,he had spat on the carpet and had left saying that his master Sefu would ruin the Belgians .
While the tale was still being told Michaux joined them .
"Mr.Langford(doctor) ,Mr.Trent ,the poor fools had left their ammunation in the open last night ,that's the reason their cheap caplocks couldn't fire properly " said Michaux .
"You must thanks Frees for that ,he did a brilliant job out there " said William .
"Huh ,so something came good out of the black's limited intellect " answered Michaux .
"Ok ,i will take your leave now gentlemen " said a disgusted William and then he left .

Before leaving the place William thouroughly checked the place for clues on something sinister .But he found nothing .

The commodant now decided to follow the Arabs into their country .Some like De Wouters and Michaux questioned this decision .

"We would violate the treaty of Zanzibar " said a shocked Michaux .

The said treaty forbade the Belgians to act outside their own borders .It was signed between the British ,Germans and by extension ,the Belgians .
In exchange for Heligoland ,Germany and Britain and their allies fixed the sphere of influences in east and central Africa .

To which the commodant daftly answered "Sefu Bin Hamid is an official soldier of the army of the sultanate of Zanzibar ,he has already broken the treaty by crossing the Lonami and attacking us ,and anyway ,the British and Germans would be least bothered ."

He was proved to be right .

On the 28th of November William found himself with the doctor and Michaux in the 'advance' guard .They had just rushed a small town name 'Chile' .The similarity that the town had to that wonderful south American country was the name and the sheer beauty .

The houses were built of wood and were built two feet above the ground on platforms .On the inside the walls were plastered with white clay richly decorated with ornaments and swords and shields giving off an other worldly somewhat frightening beauty to it .Nearly all houses were furnished with regular fireplaces and seats .Windows are not the fashion in any African hutment and usually the only opening apart from the main door is on the roof shaped like a big chimney .

The headman had not been inviting though .He had rallied out with his sons(who themselves numbered 8) and other chiefs making a grand total of 35 men .The Force didn't lose a single man but even then the headman and his eldest son along with 5 other chiefs were hanged in the central square .The others were to be jailed and sent to Lusambo .Thus the Belgians made the town a temporary camp .

That night William volunteered to help the men guard the prisoners .It was a gloomy dark night .Beyond the prison(The natives had built a wonderful prison with wood) could be seen the silent town ,further beyond was the dark forest .The flag of Belgium which fluttered along with the flag of the force publique with it star on a blue background were the only indications that this town was taken .

At about 10.30 pm in the night according to the one clock that Michaux had installed in the main square ,loud noises begin to erupt from the prison .William and the other guards immediately went inside .What they saw was horrible .A minor chief was being kicked and brutally hit by his own sons .One can only open a big lock in so much time and by the time the guards had opened the lock ,the man had been so badly beaten that he had deep wounds on the chest and head .The guards dragged out his sons even as they were shouting something in old hard Arabic of a different script .

It was only after nearly 2 and a half hours when the shooting of all of the man's 5 sons had commenced and everyone had gone back to sleep that William asked a guard (who knew Arabic of that script) "What was the son saying" .

"He was swearing at his father for behaving like a coward " replied the guard .

Hardly had everyone settled down a bit when a Belgiun soldier ,a young guy named Celestine began to scream wildly .
Even as everyone rushed to see the problem he screamed loudly in French "Enough ,enough of this .this hell ,i want to go back ,back to Bruseels ,enough of this hell ,let me go " .

The soldiers caught him .He had gone into shock and there was spittle coming from his mouth .

Suddenly he threw off the soldiers and went aside .Then...........

"Let me use the one last heavenly thing remaining in this damn blasted hell" saying this he took out his pistol and the Belgian soldiers feared the worst when ..............................one single crackling shot hit the man on the forehand forcing him to drop the gun and fall unconscious .

The shooter had been none other than William .

The guard was then taken to the doctor .

Everyone could finally breath peacefully for after that there were no more conflicts that night except for the ones in everyone's minds .

[NorseThing]

I missed to comment on the ch. 17 post. Nice to see a change in pace to something more like the traditional AAR style of writing. For all following the Mad Orc's creative writing journey -- the earlier posts have be edited for appearance. In other words spiffied up a bit.

[Tigellinus]

I've noticed the new formatting! Nice going to the both of you!

[Owlparrot3]

Chapter 19 .

After meeting back with the commodant ,the commodant held a small celebration for some obscure local European festival .One singular rough cake was the only speciality apart from the generous amounts of alcohol .

During this time ,a fast horseman arrived carrying with him letters ,one for the commodant ,another for the doctor ,one for Michaux and a last one ,marked 'special ' for W.G.T .

Inside was written .

William Trent .

I am bored .I fail to understand why its taking Dhanis so much time to put down a minor rebellion .Atleast the news papers say so ,recently i had a bout of fever which meant i cannot go to office to read the real reports and i have to depend on the newspapers .
I have written this letter to tell you that you may do anything you want ,tell Dhanis to send you on 'interesting' operations .If you refuse ,then you can always retuen to the port at Elisabethville and from there board a ship back to New York .If he refuses then tell him that you have the authority of the red star .

My daughter recently helped a lot to nurse me back to health .But i could see it in her eyes .That she is bored .She wants to come over there .But then she has always been one to reject tradition and pursue or go off with something completely different than what she has been offered .
So do your job well so i can take her down there to a quick safari and get her married to her would be husband .After marrying he wants to merge our two business together ,what a splendid idea .In bed i have many ideas for working out the share after merger ,but too bad ,he has gone to Baden to acquire some export quality goods .
I bet you have just ignored this last part ,huh ,why would you listen to an old man's ramblings .

Yours sincerly
Kruger .

After that the army attacked and captured Kitenge's town and secured Kabamba town .On the 5th of December the commander came to meet William in his tent .After the welcoming words were done he instructed William to go urgently and meet with Michaux and Gongo Lutete ,the reason being that for the next week or so ,Dhanis would not be conducting any major operations but Michaux and Lutete would .They would perhaps need his expertise .

It was a rough day of riding that allowed William to catch up with Gongo Lutete and Michaux who were currently hovering around the town of Lusuna which was Arab and was being heavily protected .

Inside the tent William was told everything about the town's defences by Michaux .At the end Michaux said "The locals were about to surrender when this ill chief of theirs wakes up from his disease and tells them to fight back .All of their morale is based around him ".

"Suppose something would happen to the old man "asked William .

"Its impossible" uttered Michaux .

"I will try " said William showing the red star .


​

[Alwyn]

I'm intrigued by the 'authority of the red star' and wonder what effect this will have on Michaux.

[NorseThing]

That obscure European holiday celebration sounds a bit like the Friday Afternoon Clubs in my working days. A small delicacy cut into small sample pieces and generous amount of booze. To old today to go that route, but I guess that is why we refer to those days as the 'good old days'.

Seriously -- there is trouble brewing. Something 'could ' happen to the old chief.

[Owlparrot3]

Chapter 20.

There was a hole in the wall of the fortress of Lusuna .Like all other great fortresses of the past ,this one too had been compromised by a traitor who knew William would come .The old man inside had cut up the traitor's brother for theft .So the said man had turned traitor .But despite that ,the mission was still hard .Successive wars against Arabic and African foes had taught Europeans that a white man can ,with intensive grooming and makeup look like a native ,especially in the pitch dark .

Lusuna was a very narrow town .That is ,its hutments and the 3 big houses(obviously belonging to the old man) were all narrowly fit in a straight line .Ahead of them was just one average sized park .Currently it looked like all the people had assembled in the park .His binoculars told William that a woman was being whipped in the park .Adultery seemed the only possible explanation .The details may be given but there is something called the 'Textbook of Scholasticism' or TOS which every storyteller has to respect for without it ,his story will lose its sanctity .

The Ḥashāshīns were a highly feared order of spies and Assasians during the crusader era .In fact the word 'Assasian' has been derived from them itself .In 1910 an old Mohhamedian came to Brussels .He came as an official envoy for the sultan of Zanzibar .After the meetings and official duties (In which he spoke perfect English) ,some young nobles forced and coerced him to spill some interesting stories .

"I want to tell you about something sadistic and horrifying .Let me tell you something the happened in my youth . It was a dark night at Lusuna .There was no moon .But i was in a sombre mood .Just a few days ago the chief of the town had executed my brother .I had sworn revenge for it .The question was 'How to get it'? .Then when the whites came ,i saw the perfect opportunity .There the old chief who's name by the way was Faizal ibn Shahid ibn Ameen al-Omani was holding out against a force of whites smaller than us and being led by lazy men who did not want to risk losing a few men to fight a battle they could have easily won .Instead they contacted me through some special methods and asked me to make some moves .

Now thankfully the overseer of the walls was my cousin and from the same clan .He too disliked Omani but was loyal to the same .A quick drinking party and i had him flat .Then i took his seal and told the men to clear off from the west side of the walls .They agreed .Part of why they agreed was the soon to come whipping and death sentence of a woman named Laila who had committed the sin of Adultery .Poor girl .Young and charming .Had she been born in this(referring to Belgium and Europe in general) heaven ,she would have been a queen .Instead here she was ,in the darkest pits of hell .Her revenge would come to .

So while the whole town (Including the guards who were more interested in the show than in the guarding) assembled in the garden ,i dug my way a small hole in the wall which i covered up with a dark black woman's robes ,after that i put the a dead goat near it.Then i too mingled in the crowd .

It was an hour later that i noticed the fruits of my actions .By god ,that was a devil who had entered inside .He looked arab enough .But his confidence was that of a white man .His wolf like eyes could kill with a stare alone .In his hand was a huge knife of an unknown origin (descriptions interpreted by the young nobles confirmed it to be a Gurkha weapon called a Kukri found north of the Raj) .Once inside he made straight for the dense thicket of trees which were inside the wall .By this time the whipping had been completed and the whole army had returned to their positions .Suddenly somebody shouted .The hole in the wall had been found!

But i was not a fool ,the dead goat confirmed the guard's suspicion that a dead goat had struck down the wall and the weak walls had given away .Then the devil taking advantage of the commotion went straight for the middle of the town .Ah i said ,how an entire army can be fooled by one single man .The white men were intelligent .That's why i guess you have conquered the world .Then i went to sleep ."

An abrupt entrance of the foreign minister forced everyone to stand up and the old man's story was interrupted never to continue again .

Back to 1892.
The center of the town held three small villas .Fortresses in their own right .William fully dressed in Arab clothes now entered the garden .The foolish guard at the gate couldn't see clearly the figure at the extreme other end of the garden and decided that their was no danger .William could see that to the right was a gardeners house .One guard's path did pass through the cabin ,but William avoided him and skillfully set about opening the cabin as soundlessly as possible .Inside ,the gardener was sleeping .When he woke up the gardener's mouth was tied and a horrifying man who was none other than William had tied him up .In William's hand was a giant Kukri .

"Your wife has been taken by the chief my dear man" said William in Arabic .
The man tried to scream from his gag but William motioned to him to write on a piece of paper .Most people of his class wouldnt be literate but William was surprised when the gardener started writing in perfect Arabic .William lighted a lamp to see what the man had written .
"Untie me you ,you villian" .
"Your wife my dear man is being taken by your chief and you don't care ,shame on your masculinity"
"I know you are full of lies "
"No ,i am not"
"How can you be sure ,why should i believe a thief!"
"Ok ,so you want to take the risk ,then okay ,i will cut you down here while your wife is in heaven with the old man ,imagine him with your beautiful wife "
The man's hands stopped writing .After about three minutes his weak alcohol ridden mind started writing again .
"What do you want me to do?" he asked .
"Good boy ,i want you to call the guards inside this room for something other than help,and believe my word ,if you do anything other than this ,then i will murder you before they get me " said William .

After two more minutes of preparing the man was ready ,he had a pistol on his head after all ."Money ,money ,there's money hidden in my hut ,come quick" he shouted .The two gurads in the garden came running out immediately .

Four minutes later William exited the hut which now contained three dead bodies .

The man who entered the chief's room was heavy on alcohol .Inside he didn't see the chief .Instead he was transported back to the days of the prophet.Satan was in front of him.The followers were cheering .His glowing red eyes had been cut out and tied to his hands .His head was missing and his remaining body lay sprawled on the dark sands of Medina .The members of the Uluma too could not resist putting their hands on their mouths in shock .The issue was that the prophet himself was nowhere to be seen .

The prophet had already reached camp by then .

Lusuna fell the next day .

[NorseThing]

An interesting episode you posted here Mad Orc! I could sum up the whole by taking the first paragraph and the last two as well. Yes, much would be missed, but it is good style to let the casual reader to know what is going on even if in a hurry. I did appreciate the bit about the masculinity:

"Your wife my dear man is being taken by your chief and you don't care ,shame on your masculinity"

It is subtle and I did not get as much meaning the first read thru.

[Owlparrot3]

Thanks so much for commenting Norse Thing .Soon i plan a new turn .