Benard's Rage

In Derbias the next morning, Vandrol, Stanley and the other members of the Snake army were waiting for more slaves coming from Derbias.

"I know my brother will bring home the price and I heard that they have really beautiful women." Stanley said with a smirk on his freckled face.

"You only think about getting more women. You already have 19 concubines." Vandrol replied.

"It doesn't matter. As long as the power is there, I can handle as many women as I want."

Immediately, Vandrol let out a little laugh.

"Let me tell you something. This was the mistake King Pipi of Dichan made that led to his downfall. He thought having too many women was great until we used one of his 40 wives to get to him and immediately, his nation fell easily. Listen to me Stanley, we are the most feared army in this continent and also the most dominant but that doesn't mean that people are not after us. Some nations might send their women to act as spies to discover how we do things around here and soon enough, they will " us so we have to be careful. Just look at Benard for example."

"Well whatever I am careful and if I discover that any of my concubines are spies, I will remove their eyeballs."

Soon Benard arrived with his horse looking all battered from his loss. The servants came out and took the horse into the stable.

"Brother, what happened to you? Where are the rest of the men you took? What went wrong?" Stanley asked with anger.

"The village head of Bawsi tricked us Stanley he tricked us. He was never going to surrender. I should have known that Kinla had always been looking for ways to get to me but I was overconfident." Benard replied.

"What about the other men?" Vandrol asked as they went into the palace.

"They are all dead. I want to call a meeting to attack Bawsi again. Kinla must pay."

As soon as he said that, Stanley and Vandrol left to deliver the message to other soldiers. After a few minutes, the throne room was filled with Snake soldiers wielding weapons of all kinds. Stanley and Vandrol went to sit beside Benard.

"My brothers, we have lost a battle today because we were tricked. Since we came from the dark forest we have never lost a battle against anyone and this little village must pay. No one from that village called Bawsi must survive are we clear?" Benard barked.

"Yes sir!"

"Let us show them why we rule this continent and end this village!" Immediately he left while Vandrol and Stanley followed.

"Yes sir." The soldiers said as they pulled out their weapons and danced while praising their god Fangs which is a ritual they perform before going to battle. They started moving out to prepare their horses.

"These Bawsi bastards will pay with their blood and I will make sure that Kinla dies in my hands." Stanley said to Benard.

"No don't kill Kinla, leave him to me. I want to have the pleasure of cutting off his head and hanging it in front of the palace gate." He said with hatred.

"Whatever you say brother. But what if I meet him first?"

"You weaken and capture him till I see him to end everything."

"Alright I have heard."

Soon a servant took Benard's horse and gave it to him. Benard then got on his horse and the other soldiers followed suit and they left for Bawsi immediately.

In Bawsi, James who just woke up from sleep after that long party had a nightmare of Benard coming back to attack Bawsi. He then went to meet Kinla who was just drinking wine.

"Good day sir." He said

"Good day to you too boy. You went to sleep too early. The party was better late." Kinla said as he gestured for him to sit down beside him which he promptly did.

"I was tired sir and I needed rest so I went to lay my head."

"That is fine son after all you fought Benard." He said as he patted James on the shoulder.

"About Benard sir, I had a nightmare. In the

nightmare, Benard attacked this village again with reinforcement."

"Of course Benard is going to return soon. I already told everyone to start packing their bags last night."

"Really?" James asked eagerly.

"Of course I know who Benard is. I know that he will definitely come back. He does not accept defeat. He has such a strong character but is on the wrong side."

"Okay, I heard Benard say something about Warfleck academy." James said while avoiding the part where he spoke of Stanley beating him in a duel.

"Yes boy, Benard and I were in Warfleck academy before I graduated and went to serve the ChanChanian army and was called to take my father's place as village head here."

"Wow I never knew." James never thought that Kinla was a product of Warfleck academy.

"Of course."

"So can you tell me a bit of what you know about Benard since you both trained together at Warfleck academy." James said this while expecting a big disappointment but instead he smiled and agreed.

"Now I will tell you all I know about Benard and how I believe he got here.

Benard was not this bad brutal conqueror he is now. In fact he was against many social vices and most especially bullying." He said as James looked at him with disbelief in his eyes.

"That can't be true sir." But Kinla gave him a dark stare and he closed his mouth.

"Relax I have not started yet. You will understand everything soon." He then continued:

"So Benard Davis was a fellow aspiring soldier like the rest of us but there was no doubt that he was special. He was the first ever student to defeat a tutor while still at school and he did it multiple times. Things were looking good for him and he seemed to be the man meant for greatness in the Chanchanian army but everything got spoilt in one event." James just kept staring at him expecting him to say more and after Kinla took a sip of his wine and he then continued.

"The thing was that Benard's father James Davis was working with the Declairs who were a powerful family. He worked as a guard for them and was very faithful and loyal to them even though he didn't see his family much. But one day a brother of theirs Andrew Declair attacked a maid and killed her because she refused to sleep with him and when he realized what he had done, he then told Paul who was the patriarch and the whole family turned on poor James and went to the hall of judgement to accuse him of the murder after the family of the maid kept demanding justice. Immediately Benard heard of it, he went to investigate and after series of threats and interrogations, he found out that his father was innocent and he brought the people who would testify to the hall of judgement in hopes that justice would be served. But when he got there, he got the shock of his life." He then stopped and took a gulp this time and cleared his throat.

"Yes like I was saying, he got the shock of his life when the witnesses he brought all turned against him and testified against his father and his father was sentenced to death by burning on a stake. Everyone knew that James didn't do it but because of the Declair family wealth and power, they shut their mouths. Benard was extremely angry from that day and refused to speak to anyone save for Stanley his brother and they always discussed in low tones and in hidden places. There was a time I overheard them and I heard things like kill the judge somewhere outside school but I was caught by Benard and they considered killing me but instead they beat me up till I was weak and threatened to kill me if I said a word about it to anyone.

The very next week, news came that the judge and the false witnesses concerned with Benard father's case were all missing. I knew Benard had something to do with it but I did not just talk.

After about 30 days, we had a camp which involved everyone in the final year in Warfleck and our campsite was close to the dark forest and after pitching the tent, we all had fun activities there and then we had this game where we were grouped into fours to find edible plants. Benard was grouped with Paul who is a Declair and was the son of Andrew. I remember Benard smiling wickedly when he was in the same group as Paul and after everyone had gone to search, we all heard a loud scream coming from a cave and immediately, our instructor and some of us ran towards the cave and what we saw was bloody. We saw Benard holding a really sharp knife and we saw Paul's right hand separate from his body and Benard was pinning him down while trying to cut the other hand. Immediately the instructor went to stop Benard but he easily outmatched the instructor and ran away from the scene into the dark forest." He then drank the rest of the wine and cleared his throat

"The Declairs tried to find him but they just couldn't and besides the dark forest was dangerous and the men who went too deep never returned or even if they did, not whole so the search stopped and then Stanley also got missing so the Declairs could not have their revenge on him.

After about 4 years, I had already become a soldier and we were sent to the dark forest to find out what kept coming from the entrance to attack people who live nearby, we finally saw him but this time he looked bigger and when we tried to capture him, we were immediately surrounded by men who pointed swords and spears at us and I'll never forget what he said: "Tell the Declairs that I am back and I will make sure that their generation ceases to exist." I went to tell the Declairs what I saw and what Benard said but they laughed it off saying that they were protected. After about 3 months during the celebration of harvest, the Declair palace was burnt to the ground and everyone there died. The only Declairs that survived were Paul and William who were away and are still alive today but are on the run now that Benard knows that they are still alive."

James then shook his head sadly.

"So this was why he started this conquest."

"I feel like he wants to have power to use it to deal with people who oppress others but he is doing it the wrong way." Kinla said as he stood up.

"Thank you for your time I now understand things a lot better."

"You can go to prepare for the trip today son we have a long day ahead of us." James then went into his room and started packing up while reminiscing over Benard's story.