Chapter 10

The fighting chamber was a large room with a caged ring where fights were conducted. People sat on the balconies of the chamber, looking down on the raised ring. There were several seats filled with approximately two hundred soldiers, all cheering. Malin stood in the middle of the ring, awaiting his challenger impatiently. He had been in the ring for over five minutes yet no sign of the challenger. He had began growing suspicious that Mamadu played tricks on him, getting him out of the prison quarters in order to kill Revina. The chamber was full of soldiers but the Prince and the challenger were nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, the Prince was giving orders to his regiment commander. He wanted the attack started while the fight was going on. Four hundred soldiers were to lead the attack while two hundred remained behind, waiting the outcome of the fight, after which, the Prince himself will lead them into the capital city, capturing power from emperor Micaleaon.

" I want to be on the throne by sunrise, no mistakes this time, Ethan, no mistakes," he told his commander as he patted his shoulder and ordered him to leave. " I want the Emperor completely off guarded."

" My Prince, I assure you of victory by sunrise," Ethan answered, bowing before Prince Mamadu." However, forgive my asking my Prince, why waste time conducting such a useless fight? Why don't you just chop off the boy's head and stick it by the Emperor's door when you enter the palace?"

" I would love to do that Ethan but the boy is not that easy. He doesn't even seem capable of bleeding." Mamadu replied.

" What do you mean sir, he is just a boy," Ethan replied, confused by Mamadu's response.

" Don't ask me for alot of details, for I know almost nothing about the boy. I met him in the forest today in the company of the High Priest. Lord Parafon claimed he is the rightful heir to the throne and even called him a dragon. I suspect the High Priest is using him to prevent me from ascending to power but his schemes are not going to work. By sunrise I'll be the Emperor of Dalawa empire with or without the Lord's approval."

"Forgive me my prince but I find what you're saying quite unfathomable," Ethan responded. "How can the boy possibly be heir to the throne? He seems too young to be a Dalawan. Is the High Priest suggesting the Emperor sired a child outside Dalawa empire?"

"I don't know commander but according to the laws of Dalawa, the Emperor is forbidden from having such affairs, not even within the empire. So he couldn't have done what you are suggesting. Besides, that would make the boy an outsider since he was not born within the empire and as such, incapable of ascending to power," Prince Mamadu replied. "Secondly, the Prime Minister just informed me a few moments ago that the boy and the girl were arrested from the forbidden Medan Forest."

"What?"

"You heard me right commander. They were sentenced to death by the Emperor but somehow, the boy managed to fight off the Royal guards, killing and badly wounding some of them. According to the Prime Minister, had Lord Parafon not appeared at the time he did, a calamity could have befallen the empire."

Shaking his head, "my prince, don't you think the Prime Minister is exaggerating? What you are saying is impossible my prince. It amounts to challenging the Emperor himself by a non Royal boy. That's impossible my prince because had it happened, the boy could not be here right now, he could be dead already."

"Listen to me Ethan, nothing is impossible in Dalawa anymore. The empire has experienced a lot of things that were once deemed impossible. I have personally witnessed how the boy fights and I have to admit I have never seen anyone in the entire empire fight like he fights..."

"And you are just going to send my best soldier to his death knowingly my prince?" Ethan asked, getting frightened.

"No commander, I'm not," Mamadu replied. "I have had the Great Wizard coat the ring with dark rage magic that's powerful enough to slow down a cheetah's speed into a tortoise's. Either way, the boy is not leaving the ring alive. Once he starts to fight, the dark rage is going to enter his system and choke the life out of him. The soldier is only going to be a catalyst to the process."

"What about Ratego, isn't he going to die as well?" Ethan asked of the soldier who had been selected to fight against Malin.

"No. He has been shielded from the dark rage magic." Mamadu replied. Looking at his watch, "now commander you have heard enough to make you feel at ease. I want you to carry out my orders as per the plan. Attack the city as was planned, no mistake or delays. I don't want any delays on the schedule Ethan, not a single delay. By sunrise I want to be sitting on that throne, do you hear me soldier?" Mamadu ordered sternly.

"Yes my prince, I'll do as you commanded," Ethan responded obediently and bowed his leave.

Prince Mamadu walked into the fighting chambers confidently, the Prime Minister walking next to him. The Prime Minister, Makiaus, was Prince Mamadu's greatest allie in the palace. Together with the Prince, Makiaus had plotted the Emperor's downfall, accusing Micaleaon of incompetent leadership that had led to serious catastrophic consequences, one of which was the relinquishing of the Prime City. Both Makiaus and Mamadu disagreed with the decision of the Emperor to make Prime City a no-man's-land and had voiced their disapproval to the Emperor who dismissed their views as shortsighted and without thorough considerations of the graveness of the depopulating situation of Dalawa empire catalyzed by the constant warring between them and the Mukuro kingdom. Mamadu and Makiaus, however, dismissed such an act as that of weakness and cowardice and the Emperor was using the population situation as a sugarcoating for his inability to defeat king Orinda. In their views, with Micaleaon on the helm of the empire, the prognosis of the economic, social and political stability of the empire was dismal.

Makiaus, aware that he was not a royalty and as such could not ascend to power despite his misgivings about the man at the top, convinced Prince Mamadu to wrestle power from his brother since the Emperor had no heir. Unfortunately, the idea hadn't worked according to plan this far, forcing them to resort to a belligerent power take over. As the Prime Minister, Makiaus was the commander of the Royal Army, second only to the Emperor. He had used his position to radicalize some of the royal soldiers against the Emperor, luring them into joining the Dark Army of Prince Mamadu. Without the Emperor knowing it, the Royal Army had been weakened and several good and daring soldiers had shifted camps, choosing to fight alongside Prince Mamadu.

Things had seemed to be working according to plan until Malin showed up and complicated the situation once again. How Malin could challenge the Emperor and walk out alive still baffled them. How Lord Parafon could defend him and call him the heir apparent, the 'dragon', and the speed with which he fought were all qualities of a prince, a royal Prince from Dalawa. But he was too young to be a Dalawan and that complicated the situation for them even more. It was easier to challenge the Emperor since they knew who he was but to challenge someone they had no clues about proved an insurmountable task. But, with the help of the Great Wizard, they hoped that Malin would be dead as soon as possible and the smooth transition of power was going to take place undeterred.