The Boy and The Man, Offer R [ereader for textbooks .txt] 📗

little time, then. They ride well, and their horses never tire. We must make haste and intercept them before they've reached the fork in the river", the prince concluded briskly, looking at his Lieutenant for his opinion. The Boy merely nodded in consent and all one hundred of the members of the Guard were rallied and dispatched without delay.

Let us digress shortly from these latest developments in the interest of clarifying several terms which the readers would do well to recognize. First in both chronological order and order of importance are the Capitals. The Capitals lived beyond the mountains to the west, in the area's largest and wealthiest kingdom. They were at generally peaceful terms with our kingdom, but occasionally made attempts to gain access to more of the region's resources, often to our king's concern. You see, the kingdom wasn't particularly rich in certain natural resources and couldn't afford to compromise what it had. This leads us to the terraces, which were rice paddies grown on the slopes to the south of the western mountain range. They could only be grown in that part of the range, since elsewhere the slopes were too steep and couldn't be accessed. It was a well-known and much despised fact that the Capitals had their greedy eyes on the terraces, but so far their only advances in the matter were on diplomatic grounds. They would dispatch high-ranking officials to consort with our king and offer him peace, protection, and even gold in exchange for control of the slopes. But the king had always been steadfast in his refusal, since rice was among the people's favorite and most important food staple, and the paddies on the slopes were important sources for it. And since our king's first and foremost concern was his people's needs rather than being liked or making important friends, giving away the paddies wasn't an option.

This was the first time the Capitals had mounted what seemed to be an attempt to take control of the paddies by force. It's worth mentioning that by virtue of their superior size and especially their superior wealth, the Capitals had the strongest army in the region and their troops were much better equipped than ours. They had bigger, stronger horses, lighter cuirasses, maybe even sharper swords. Therefore an advance on the paddies two-hundred strong was cause for great concern.

Finally there's the fork in the river which the prince had designated as the Guard's destination. The river in question was the one that has been previously described, which runs from north to south along the valley, and which the Capitals had to cross if they wished to reach the paddies. Fortunately for us, even now that the river was relatively calm, it was too wide and deep to cross and the current was still dangerous strong. Therefore the first point where the Capitals could hope to cross over to our side of the river was where the river forked into too thinner, shallower and calmer streams. This was at the very south of the kingdom's western border, and fairly close to the paddies. And since it's a much more feasible task to repel the advance of an enemy before he has reached his destination than to drive him away from the destination already settled in, the fork in the river was the key point.

Now that light has been shed on the focal points of the setting, we may return to the events where we left off.

The Guard compensated for its slower horses and for being caught off guard with tremendous will power and a great sense of urgency, and reached the fork in the river before our enemies. They stopped there without crossing, so that the two streams would serve as buffers, though narrow, from the superior advancing forces. But the Capitals were already within range of sight, and many of the Guard's members for whom this was the first time to see a Capitol soldier, including the Captain and Lieutenant, were awestruck. The Capitals advanced as a formidable unit, the thin metal covering their bodies glinting in the sunlight and their horses draped with fine red fabric, on which their trademark coat of arms of a blue shield dotted with white stars impressed any onlooker. They marched with terrific precision, two hundred warriors united in silence except for the click clack of the horses' hooves on the grassy plain. It was very clear that they were well aware of their significant advantage over their enemies, and that they wouldn't hesitate to make the most of it. They were famous for their noble etiquette, but also infamous for their mercilessness in battle.

The clinking of metal told of the fear that gripped many among our ranks, who couldn't for all the shame in the world suppress their trembling. The Commander of the Capitals, a large, burly man riding a massive horse that seemed also to be charged with the winds of war, distinguished himself from the others and marched ahead after they'd come to a stop. He stopped a few horse-lengths' way in front of the others, and the prince did the same.

"Prince Conan!" The fierce Capitol bade with great excitement and no fear. With metal covering most of his upper body and the glare of the sunlight beaming down on the valley, little could be made of his features other than what has already been set forth. His arrogant demeanor suggested that he, too, was much closer to his youth than to old age. "Congratulations for the appointment. I see the king has found a curious way of forcing you out of the palace." A roar of laughter issued from behind him, shooting out from one hundred ninety nine reveling throats though only the first few rows of soldiers could possibly have heard his remark.

"Prince Dansalot! Your swords shine bright and your horses are well-cared for, but it seems you've lost your compos. Here, have mine. Use it well so you will avoid finding yourself in a rut like this one in the future", our prince retorted, and he fished out his compos and tossed it to the ruffled Dansalot. Our Guard was so pleased by its prince's poise and wittiness (we will refer to the one hundred valiant warriors composing our Guard as a single being, as for the time being only by acting as a single unified entity did they maintain the courage to stand their ground), that the laughter that emanated from it was twice the volume of the Capitals'.

But Prince Dansalot wasn't one to take an insult, and he flung our prince's compos into the river and cast him a deadly look.

"Let's test if your sword is as sharp as your tongue!" He snapped, and with a single elegant, lightning speed motion and a sharp hissing sound his sword was unsheathed and pointing across the stream at our prince.

But our prince, though young, was neither rash nor proud, and didn't yield to the temptation of obliging his counterpart's pointless challenge. "Enough with the show. What is it you seek here? Surely this isn't an attempt to take our rice paddies by force?" He said pointedly instead. Several of the Capitals sent sidelong glances to the slopes on their left, where the paddies stood dry and empty. This was the low cultivation season, therefore there was no activity in the paddies.

"What are these allegations you make against us? I'd be more prudent if I were you. You know, prince, words can be far more scathing than the pointed edge of a sword. We're on a reconnaissance mission that has nothing to do with your little rice fields, so I suggest you clear out of or path at once. Or do you wish to challenge a peaceful army twice your size and thrice your strength?" This plea of ignorance on Dansalot's part was of course counterfeit. In theory he could openly declare his intentions and easily force his way through the Guard, as his assessment of the balance of power between the two armies was quite realistic. But to do so would be a brutal act unbecoming of a cultural empire and of Capitol's famed rules of etiquette. And where better to test one's moral standards than in the battlefield, where they are most easily disposed of? But in his characteristic roundabout way, Dansalot wished to leave our prince with a choice between two evils: either clear the way and surrender the paddies, or stand his ground and accuse the Capitals of aggressive intentions without proof. If our prince chose the first evil, the Capitals will have occupied the prized paddies without the use of violence, and would only have to protect themselves if our Guard dared attempt to drive them away. In essence it's just as much an act of violence as initiating an attack on the Guard, but not so in appearance. In appearance it will have been the Guard's decision to attack, and the spilling of blood imputable to them. And in those times as well as in any other, essence was important only where appearances were inconclusive.

If our prince chose the second evil and obstructed the Capitals' progress without proof of their evil intentions, the latter would be perfectly justified to attack, then take the paddies as the spoils of victory. And so it seemed that not Dansalot but our prince was in a rut, and if he didn't do well to pull out of it not only the paddies he would lose not only the paddies but the lives of his Guard. For the first time that morning and perhaps for the first time since he could remember, our prince was vanquished by that mortal enemy of all soldiers and most men, fear. Being untrained in taming it, the he didn't do well to disguise his state of mind and invited more of Dansalot's audacious wiliness.

"I see you aren't prepared to make decisions on the lives of your soldiers, prince. But I don't blame you, for I was no better when I was your age. On the contrary- I praise your humility! Out of sympathy I propose this: go back to your father and tell him that his confidence in you was excessive. Take your Guard with you and we shall forget this little skirmish of ours. Knowing the king as I do, he will applaud your sincerity and surely reinstate you when he sees you are truly ready."

Detecting his friend's plight, The Boy took courage and prodded his horse forward so they formed a unanimous front against the imperious Dansalot. There was such silence among the two armies that it seemed the valley would've been noisier if it were empty. The prince didn't take long to consider his enemy's proposal before responding:

"Here is my counter offer: turn around and ride your beautiful horses home. Tell your king that you ran into a dogged prince who was so deranged he wouldn't clear his Guard from your path and was willing to shed the blood of a hundred only to obstruct your innocent enterprises. Explain to him that you swallowed your pride and turned back so as to spare a pointless bloodbath. No doubt the king will award you the golden star that's the height of your desires. Do it now and I will try my best to hold my men back from charging you from behind."

The Boy was stunned. The Guard were stunned. Prince Dansalot was stunned. Even our prince was stunned by his own audacity. There was very likely no man in the entire region who would've dared take such a tone with Prince Dansalot, especially when he was backed by his terrible army. Again an ironic silence fell upon the valley as the Gods debated on whether our prince's outrageous remark would go down in the history of the kingdom as courageous and brilliant or reckless and catastrophic.

"So God is my witness, I will not leave a single one of your men alive-" an infuriated Dansalot began,