Chapter 18

Departure for war

When the Indomitable woke up the next day, Xidor was no longer there. The Indomitable asked a servant. "Where has His Majesty gone?"

"His Majesty is waiting for you at the barracks, all the ministers and soldiers must go there. The king has great news to announce you."

The assassin headed for the barracks, crossing the city streets. He stopped on his way to give some coins to orphans who were begging in the street.

He was moved, the passages of his troubled childhood flashed before his eyes. No one helped street orphans, not even the bandits and criminals who exploited them as the guild master of the Icarius guild had done with him. Now he was free, but he had paid a high price for it.

He arrived at a sumptuous complex of several brick houses surrounded by a palisade. A door in the center of the fence led inside. Guards perched on the palisade guarded the entrance.

The Indomitable arrived and was greeted by two guards who came out of the complex and invited him to enter. He entered the complex and ended up in a large courtyard with barracks on either side.

There he saw King Xidor Cèdre, carried by two shield-bearers. He was looking at a crowd of soldiers, generals and ministers.

"Dear people, bad news has reached me. Prime Minister Cherryblossom and our dear Ministers Peachseed and Orangeflower have perished in a terrible accident. Their carriage hit a deer and they died in the crash. The deer population is getting out of control due to too many years of vegetarianism. Now it will stop! I have restructured the government to make up for the loss of our beloved ministers."

"Please welcome the new Prime Minister, Lerak Candelberry."

A man with cactus hair came out of the left barrack accompanied by several other tree-men.

Xidor continued to introduce them. "As well as Peter Cucumber, Minister of Carnivorism, Roseau Petaltree, new Minister of Commerce and a prominent member of our beloved Merchants Guild, and finally Pear Fruity, Minister of Livestock and Agriculture. Now, time for Lerak.

Lerak stepped forward and gazed at the crowd. "The Peacock King unjustly kidnapped and executed my brother, Karel Candelberry, and the innocent Joshua. Furthermore, he did not even bother to answer our letter asking him to come here and apologize to us. My dear people!  I cannot accept this, Karel was my brother and I deserve an apology! Shall we let them do it?"

"NO!" shouted the crowd.

"Today, we officially go to war with the avians. I’ll need brilliant strategists and generals to carry out this operation."

He raised his fist in the air. "But only the most determined among you will be able to reach the rank of general! But how to determine if you are fit? Through deer hunting of course!"

Lerak pointed to an Arbolarbre with green cypres bark.

"The great general Evergreen will oversee the operation. Soldiers, organize yourself in teams of five men, and elect a leader. The three winning teams will move up in rank, their leaders to generals, their men to strategists."

Evergreen spoke up.

"The team that kills the most deer will move up, so team up."

The Indomitable turned to four soldiers and offered to be their leader. He secretly gave 50 floraux to each.

Evergreen and five teams boarded carriages and drove to a forest outside the city. The Indomitable and his team won first

place, killing a dozen deer while two other teams took second and third place, killing 5 and 3 deer respectively.

The Indomitable sat back on a log, pondering and looking into the distance while his team butchered the deer carcasses.

What a stupid challenge to kill such beautiful animals that had done nothing. The Indomitable's stomach knotted, and he grimaced in disgust.

He had killed the ministers by slitting their throats, he was the only one responsible... so why did Xidor blame these poor creatures?

Why did he do that?

He broke a branch.

The Indomitable was dizzy as dozens of images and thoughts flooded his mind, the lifeless deer bodies, then the image of the slaughtered ministers, then the image of thousands of birds tortured on a spit, and finally the image of King Xidor Cèdre, smiling and congratulating his men for their carnage.

The Indomitable struggled to erase these images from his mind, but the cycle began again many times, etching itself deeply into his mind.

He was gagging, how much of an act should he put on? What would he give to be alone in the same room as Xidor and slit his throat, without Karel, or rather... Lerak.  

Karel pretending to have a brother to make people believe he was dead.

He had killed many Arbolarbres, many scum, very few innocents, but to kill again for Xidor? He'd rather die.

He would play the game until the end.

As this conflict raged in his head, a man with greenish cypress bark and green eyes appeared before him.

Evergreen.

Evergreen clapped his hands." Bravo, Indomitable.".

He offered him to be part of a special squad whose purpose would be to kidnap the Peacock King and bring him back to Xidor.

Evergreen put his hand in front of his mouth and spoke in a low voice.

"You would have the same powers and prerogatives as a general, but with more autonomy. However, you’ll have to keep your mouth shur. Not even the Prime Minister has access to this info."

The Indomitable forced a smile.   "I will be honored, if the pay is good."

"You’ll be paid a salary equivalent to that of two generals."

"Perfect."

"The squad will gather soon, King Xidor will give you a sign. Pretend that nothing has happened in the meantime and follow me to the main tent, the king has news to tell you."

The Indomitable walked towards his men and beckoned them to follow him. His hunting companions brought the meat and deerskin. The tree-men walked along a rocky, wooded path to a large tent made of cowhide.

They entered and saw the two winning teams and King Xidor.

The king approached them

"Real Brasilo, Welerson Brown and Eric Citrus." The Indomitable interjected, "Huh, it's Derek Brasilo,

Welerson Nuttree and Julien Cabbage"

"Ah, it doesn't matter, they all look the same."

The soldiers grimaced. Xidor reached into his pockets and handed them a medal.

"You’ll rise to the rank of strategist, the high command will provide you with training. Today we leave for Skyhigh. The armada is waiting for us at the port."

***

But it's huge. He’s not pulling any punches.  The Indomitable thought as he looked out the window of his caravan and saw the port.

The harbor extended for several hundred meters all along the beach. A fleet of a hundred ships had already been launched and a multitude of sailors was bustling on their decks. More than 10,000 Arbolarbres had answered the call to war, far exceeding the royal fleet’s loading capacities.

Only the generosity of the Merchants' Guild had saved the war effort by providing them with some sixty merchant ships all filled with barrels of water, food, and citrus juice. Of course, the prominent members of the guild were eagerly awaiting the return of their ships loaded with slaves. They had even bribed Admiral Seaweed to become the guild's eyes and ears in the armada. He hastily agreed, believing that Greko the pirate was in Skyhigh.

The guild expected the king to succeed in the conquest because failure would jeopardize their investment.

Evergreen, Xidor, and the newly promoted soldiers went down to the beach and approached a huge warship made of solid cedar, with 40 cannons and three masts. Sailors climbed down a ladder and greeted the new arrivals. A tree-man with a leafy beard and a pirate hat greeted them.

"Hello, welcome to the Bragança, nave madre of His Majesty Xidor Cèdre, you have built an excellent room, my king." said Admiral Seaweed.

King Xidor blinked.

"Thank you. Indomitable, please join me in the officers' cabin to share tea."

Seaweed smiled through his teeth. "My dear king, may I join you? I have martello[1]. Tea is such a good drink, especially with a little touch of rum."

Xidor gave a small sneer of contempt. "My dear admiral, this drink is only for special occasions, wasting such a precious gift on a crude palace like yours? Hell no!"

Seaweed glared at the Indomitable. "What special occasion, are you celebrating?"

The Indomitable shrugged, not knowing more about it.

"This doesn't concern you, go back to your post," shouted Xidor curtly.

Xidor and the Indomitable made their way to the officers' cabin. They passed through the warehouse where water, food, citrus juice, and alcohol were stored. Then they went through the dormitory where the sailors slept and finally arrived at a large steel door that was padlocked. Xidor took out a key and turned it in the lock, "Click". The lock opened and they entered a spacious room with gray walls, two armchairs, four leafy bushes and a closet.

Xidor marveled at the seats. "See these chairs? They're designed from the feathers of a couple of avians I captured, you should have heard the kingfishers screaming 'Stop, stop' as I was plucking their feathers, it was a thing of beauty."

An ear pressed against the lock opening as the two tree-men conversed. Admiral Seaweed came to spy on them.

The Indomitable forced a smile.

"Beautiful. may I sit down?"

"At your ease, the squad is already here, but you don't see them. Right?"

"Indeed..."

Xidor looked to the back of the room. "Squad, come out!"

 Four tree-men removed a blanket of leaves from their faces, revealing their presence.

The Indomitable clapped his hands. "The age-old trick, the Arbolarbre who disguises himself as a tree. Well done."

"A classic, isn't it? What if the Arbolarbre disguised itself as a bird? The avians wouldn't know what hit them."

"Indeed..." repeated the Indomitable.

Xidor opened the closet. "My team of seamstresses designed these disguises for you."

He showed him five penguin costumes. "With these disguises, any avian would consider you as one of them and invite you to their city.

Xidor pointed at the costume’s arms with his finger.

"You see, these costumes are excellent since penguins can't fly. No one will realize the deception."

"Indeed." nodded the assassin again.

He stared at the Indomitable, the latter's face remained impassive.

Xidor felt as if knives were piercing him.

His chest tightened.

He’s always so cold... he thought

The king took a breath and continued speaking. "Since the peacock king has not shown up, we shall go get him. You’ll climb the stairs."

"When will we leave? I'm looking forward to getting to know this peacock king," the assassin questioned, enjoying the effect his words had on Xidor.

Xidor painfully held the assassin's gaze. "You’ll leave as soon as we set foot on the island. We’ll wait to hear from you before we attack."

The Indomitable laughed, secretly stroking his blade. "Don't be afraid, Xidor, you shall hear from me soon "  And from your brother. thought the Indomitable.

Xidor crossed his arms. "I hope so, Indomitable. There's no point in climbing the mountain and risking our men’s lives, if we can bring the Avians to our hunting ground. Your mission is paramount. Immortality is at hand."

Xidor took the costumes and put them back in the closet.

"You’ll only pick up these costumes when the time is right. I’ll make sure that no one notices your arrival or your absence. Now return to your quarters."

Xidor saw the Indomitable leave the room first. The others  remained in the room. Xidor turned to the other four members of the squad.

"Don't let go of the Indomitable for a second, give me a daily report of his actions. If he threatens you, execute him."

***

the Indomitable saw a pirate hat lying on the ground outside. He slipped it stealthily into his coat and returned to the deck.

Ah Seaweed, what were you doing? Are you doubting Xidor too? That's good. Xidor won't even see it coming.

The Indomitable spotted the admiral on deck, he was sipping a bottle of rum, giving orders to the sailors to keep the boat moving.

"Cast off the moorings! All ahead, Skyhigh!" The fleet began to move forward, and the boat began to pitch.

Maintaining his balance, the Indomitable approached

the admiral and showed him his pirate hat.

"Admiral Seaweed, we have many things

to discuss... how about a visit to the warehouse?"

[1] I have martello = I am jealous (Farizianism).