Crusaders Part 6

Present

"The desire of mine is not from the Tribe but of my hatred of them. My mother created my hatred when they killed her. I killed them for I hate them. And nothing you tell me would make a difference." Baron Helmut has a way to expressed himself as his heritage taught him to speak his mind first and then decide the action later.

"You are a true warrior I would admit. You also killed with no remorse but your ways are barbaric. Does every slash makes up for your emotions, Helmut?" Gabriel has a bad side to him; he likes to taunt the guys, including myself. "Is that why you killed your father too?"

"He was infected. He became one of them. I had to killed him. He would need to be stopped like the others." Baron Helmut stared at the Angel. "I had to do it even though he is my father."

"Exactly my words. You are all selected to fight his war, with no emotions. You have no loyalty but to me and God. We all fight to win as we are the selected ones. The only difference are you all have the blood in you. The blood of the original Tribes. I know its not fair but you were all doing this before we recruited you." Gabriel speaks the truth.

"If everyone is cleared of their objective, then can we go ahead?" Micheal always has a way with words. Among the three of us he is the only one without a reason to hunt the demons. He just wants to do it as he is a hunter in his days. He was raised in the colonies and his dad was also a big game hunter who later became a mercenary. The senior Micheal took to his task to teach the child the same skills. Micheal fired his first game at the tender age of ten and it was a young tiger.

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Twenty years ago.

The forest here in this hot humid continent is different from that of the ones back in our estate in Norwich. Here the undergrowth and bushes can be as high as you, plus the predators are large and deadly. They don't only move on the ground but on the trees and in the bushes. The local population prefer to use sound to deter the predators like drums and loud singing. The group of game hunters is riding into the jungle as they called their forest; although its only five of them but they take no excuse to their safety. They have no local drum beaters to drive the predators to out out to the open, as they intend to fight the feared predator in its natural surrounding. But we have certain extras which the predator may not know about.

The group traveled on a creature named as an Elephant with its rider to lead it. Its a large creature which tops the height of the long grass and the predator feared the creature. We traveled in a wick basket that can hold four of us in a cramped condition. The older man traveled with his personal native guard, Galim and they have a few pre-loaded arquebus with them. The other elephant at the rear carried another wick with the older man's son of twelve years with his two appointed native guards, Hakim and Bani. The guards carries long spears and scimitars to defend themselves but the boy is holding onto two sets of matchlock pistols and one arquebus.

"Sahib, is it wise to leave the beaters behind? The locals can be our backup in case we are trapped. Are you sure?" Galim is a dark man who served in the local army as a warrior. He was a ranking warrior who used to follow the local Lord in battle before he was retired due to an injured leg.

"Galim, the hunt without the danger is not a hunt but a game. I prefer a real hunt. The previous hunts were just games for today's hunt. So be with me, like you did in the battle with your Lord. Be my soldier and we would relive the glory of the old days." The older man was in the army before as a ranking officer. He was always in the front charging with his calvary.

The group halt in their talking as we picked our ears to listen to the sound which we have been awaiting for. The growl can be heard from afar but in this jungle it can be misleading. The older man raised his hand to tell the group to get ready with their weapons. He changed his signal to march on and the elephants went ahead. Soon the tiger was seen in the long grass by the Sahib and he cradled the arquebus to be ready.

"Sahib, we have a problem. There is another one on the side." This is unexpected as most times the tiger hunts alone, but this could be a family pack or a pair. The hunters are not sure, but the danger is double fold in such moves. The elephants are getting nervous to be so near the tigers, but the riders holding them steady. The first attack came at the rear and caused the elephants to panicked. The elephant which carried the older man ran to the right in fright, and it headed for the trees without stopping. But the rear one reacted in the only way it knows. It charged at the tiger and chased the predator. But in the process of doing it, it toppled the wick basket with the three occupants dropping down on the path. The tiger was not far away and it came back for the dazed ones on the ground.

"Young one, protect him." The two warriors took their position by the young boy. The young boy was not without weapons as he has retrieved one pistol and the arquebus. The tiger came out of the grass and walked in front of the trio from one side to the other. Its not attacking it as it knows the spears can harm it. That was not their only concern as the

second tiger has arrived. Its a smaller one and may be a female. On the arrival of the smaller tiger, the earlier one took to leap at the warrior on seeing their attention diverted. The guard panicked on seeing the leaping tiger and dropped his spear. He paid for it with his life, and the second guard thrust his spear at the tiger. He managed to hurt the tiger before it ran for the grass. The guard who was attacked is in a bad condition, as the tiger has taken its bite on the left shoulder. The second guard now holds his scimitar in both hands to protect his friend and the young boy.

The larger tiger on seeing his pair running off hurt was enraged and charged the trio of humans'. But the tiger did not reach the trio as the steel ball pierce the bottom of its neck and hit the heart. It ruptured the heart and the arteries broke loose with blood spurting inside the cavities. The dying tiger fell on it side and writhe in pain from the injury. It let out a deep growl which brought the other tiger to the battled clearing. The smaller tiger which was injured by the spear on its right hind leg limped into the clearing. It did not pause for long as its lunged at the guard. The guard immediate reaction was to thrust the scimitar into the tiger's exposed neck, but his action did not stop the tiger from mauling him. The tiger deadly front paw lashed out at the guard's neck and he was soon dead. The tiger on seeing the boy turns his attention but the boy was ready for the tiger. The point blank of the pistol hit the tiger in its left eye and the steel ball reached the brain.

The runaway elephant later returned with its master and guests to find two dead tigers on the clearing. And one boy still holding his arquebus like a walking stick.

Two weeks later, he was still in bed with dreams of the attack every night. The physicians attended to him but he was not to be cured. That particular day, a priest came from the Portugal's colony of Goa, to attend to him.

"My son, my name is Francis. I am not here to heal you but to guide you. You must not fight the dream. Embrace it. Run it through and overcome your fear of it. Heed my words." The dark cloak priest stands before the boy's bed. The priest placed his hand on the boy's forehead and then at his heart. "You must win, Micheal of Moor."

So he did. He walked his dream and see the elements in it. He braved the creatures that appears and overcome it. He was given assorted weapons but he prefers the one with the ability to kill at a distance. He prefers that as he does not like the close proximity to his victims. He tried them all in his dreams; the bow, the darts, the sling and also the guns. The last was his favorite and he dreamed more of that.

When he is awake, he picked up the guns and practiced with it. He learned to load and reload with quick moves and shoots well from any position. But he kept one more weapon for himself; a short dagger for the moments he may use it to end his own life or the other. Or when the guns are not there.

The last words of the priest was the one he holds dear; "quell your dark dreams by serving the Lord to remove the vile creatures. One day, he would come to you to be his soldier. But then, learn and trained well so that when the call come, you would be ready."

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Present

"Gabriel, enough of this. We all know what we have pledged to do but we stand to question is why do we need to rescue the one who spawned these creatures. Since you have explained, we shall now do as you have said. But if I find out that your words and our action to come is to cover for you, we would not hesitate in the considering you as a demon in the disguise of the angel. So be warned, Gabriel as God's wrath may be greater than ours, but fear ours as ours would be pain you more." I am now packing my things on the horse.

"Crusaders, your words are heeded but your idle mind would feeds you other fears. So my new task is to avoid your mind being idle. Be ready, Crusaders. I come bearing you new task." The three warriors bowed to no ordinary man or any weak King but now bows readily to the God's messenger.

"We hear thee and we heed thee's words. Yours is ours to perform and we prepared to be commanded." The trio spoke out in unison to the angel. Unknown to the trip, a fourth has just returned and its stooped on the upper branches to hear the words of the angel. Its jaws still coat with the blood of the prey while its body is still in the colors of the beast. The beast picked up the clothing from the branches and soon dressed itself in it as its slowly descend to the listening trio,

"Clawler, you finally rejoined us. Please do sit as I tell you of your new task."