[Imperial Struggle]Chapter 30: Test of brotherhood
Welcome to a new chapter of Imperial Struggle, the story of the young Emperor Marco, and the struggles he has with his new imperial position. Imperial Struggle is my first web novel, so any feedback is welcomed. This is chapter 27, so if you want to read from the beginning please click here
Cien leisurely walked toward the table where Marco and Saladin were sitting. He picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup, while measuring up Saladin, top to bottom.
“Your Highness” Saladin said. “I’m afraid I don’t know this gentleman”.
Marco chuckled a little bit, seeing the confused look on Saladin face and said.
“This is Cien Andrade, my teacher and the captain of my seven guards. And also one of my blood brothers. This is why I said that becoming blood brothers with me is not just about becoming brothers with an Emperor, which to be honest is quite a feat. But becoming brothers with me, is joining a band of fierce men. You will need their approval as well.”
Marco sipped from his tea cup and continued to explain to Saladin.
“You probably already know, but before my father named the next Emperor, I used to travel a lot. To be honest, I was looking for troubles all the time. In my travels I got to meet some amazing men, men that didn’t care about my status as a prince, men that didn’t care about politics, men that become my brothers, more than my own flesh and blood.”
“And you see, prince Saladin” Cien started to talk “I know you have good intentions. I admire your drive, to come here, in an Empire that hates your people, to propose an Alliance. And I’m most impressed about the proposal of marriage and becoming brothers with Marco. I truly admire you because of that. But, I have to ask your intentions as well. Because all of these are political moves. And this is not wrong, of course, is not wrong. But, knowing all of these, about us, about our brotherhood, let me ask you: do you still want to become brothers with him?” while asking this Cien looked directly into Saladin eyes, making him feel like he was looking directly into his soul.
Thousands of questions were filling Saladin mind right now. Of course he heard about the guards of the Emperor, he investigated the matters of Empire before coming before the Grand Council. But he never imagined that the bonds between Marco and his guards would be this deep. He thought that they were just some loyal servants, not a band of equals as it seemed. This intrigued the young desert prince. In the desert, tradition ruled. Everyone had their role and place and knew what they had to do. And this was a general rule that applied to the Empire as well. The nobles rules, the warriors protected, the peasants worked the fields. Why did Marco and his guards were like this?
This was a question that many heads from the Empire tried to answer, but they came up short. So it was the same with Saladin. But he had a chance to find out the answer. And that was to take the test of brotherhood. Whatever that meant.
After a few moments of thinking, Saladin, nodded to himself and said:
“Let’s do this. Although this was only a political move in the beginning, now you’ve intrigued me enough to try this test of yours”
A faint smile appeared on the faces of both Marco and Cien. But that smile lasted only for a second. Cien rose from his chair.
“Follow me!” he said to Saladin, while heading towards the small training arena that they were using a few days ago.
“There are usually three tests. But you already passed one of them. The test of the heart. You showed courage. Once when you made the proposal and one when you accepted our tests. This is very important for us. We don’t need brothers that are cowering in the face of danger.”
Cien reached the small courtyard where the test will take place. Saladin noticed that the rest of the guards arrived there as well. It seemed that they were around them all the time, he just didn’t see them at all.
“You will have to fight us in 3 duels. The first one it will be one on one with an opponent of your choosing from the 7 of us” Cien said in the middle of the courtyard.
Saladin pondered when he heard this. He looked at the men around him. He didn’t have any information whatsoever, so he just had to pick one and have a duel with him.
“Him” Saladin said, pointing towards Qat.
Qat smiled while entering the arena. He removed his shirt, revealing a muscular body and picked up two training swords.
“In here we all are equal, we don’t have anything to hide” Qat explained while taking his stance, pointing to Saladin to remove his shirt.
Saladin understood and removed his shirt. Then he picked up a sword as well, making a few swings to get used with the sword.
“Ready?” Cien asked. Both men in the arena nodded, so he gave the signal to begin the duel.
Contrary to the expectation, neither Saladin or Qat jumped towards each other. Slowly moving in a circle, they were studying each other. Suddenly Saladin jumped and swung the sword toward Qat, who parried it beautifully with his right sword, and made a counterattack with the left one.
To avoid the attack, Saladin rotated in the air, making a parry of his own, before landing safely on the arena’s soil. Cien couldn’t help to clap, seeing this first exchange between the two fighters.
Just as Saladin landed, Qat began to attack him furiously, using his dual sword technique, throwing a rain of hits toward Saladin. But Saladin was parrying everything that was thrown at him, reading step by step, until he reach the limits of the arena.
Seeing that he didn’t have any space to retreat, Saladin looked for a way to counterattack the furious rain of attacks. The only idea that he had was a low strike to the feet. He suddenly went down, and swiped the right leg toward Qat feet, that retreated fast to avoid the hit. Saladin rolled to the side and when he was back up, made another leg attack toward Qat waist this time, followed by a sword swing toward the neck. He rotated once again, making a few leg and swords attacks, until he reached Qat personal space and gave him a punch to the gut.
Smiling, he places his sword on Qat should and said smiling.
“He, he. I think I won this one, right?”
“Always pay attention to your surroundings, young prince” Cien said from the side. “This bout is a draw”
Saladin looked around, only to see Qat sword pointing to his gut. In a real fight, he could’ve died even quicker. In reality he lost, but since the judge called it a draw he couldn’t say anything. He was now curious about what will happen next.
It's been a while since I've posted a chapter for this webnovel. I don't know why it took me so long to get back on the track with it. But, hey, that was in the past. Now I'm back on the saddle and I'll be posting regular chapters every week from now on.