Chapter 11

Ratego strode into the ring confidently, grinning and gritting his teeth in anger. He seemingly didn't approve of the idea of having to dismantle a common boy in front of his junior colleagues. He thought the boy deserved someone his size, smaller and younger.

Ratego was seven feet tall, muscular and heavily built. He was almost two times the size of Malin. His eyes were dark red, his nose short and wide, his chin long and sharp. On his chest was a tattoo of a cobra. Just like the other soldiers, he had a deep cut running from beneath his left ear to his left jaw. He wasn't scary to Malin but he looked tougher than all the soldiers he had faced in this villa. He looked tougher than all the soldiers Malin had faced in his entire life.

Ratego was the undefeated champion of Prince Mamadu's fighting challenge competition, an illegal activity he had started while he was still in good terms with his brother, the Emperor. Mamadu loved watching men tear each other apart and the adrenaline rush that came with it filled him with sensual pleasure. When the Emperor discovered what was going on, he ordered the closure and complete dissolution of the fighting challenge competition. However, this decision didn't please Prince Mamadu who dissidently moved the racket from Donerien, the capital city of Dalawa empire, to Oboke, a small town bordering Dalawa empire and Mukuro kingdom. When war broke out between Dalawa empire and Mukuro kingdom, and the eventual capture of the Prime City by Prince Mamadu, he moved the competition to his fortified villa. Ratego had remained undefeated for over ten years and several business men paid a lot of money to have their men challenge Ratego. Most of those who challenged him had some parts of their bodies broken. Killing was never allowed in the ring. However, the losers were to work for Prince Mamadu like slaves, doing anything he ordered them to do without question.

Despite the no killing rule, Ratego had on this particular day, been instructed to terminate Malin, a decision he had dissented to but eventually pandered to since he could not disobey the prince.

Malin looked at him fixedly, sizing him while calculating his possible moves. He had fought a lot of men back in Palawa Kingdom but none had the kind of physique that Ratego possessed. Malin looked at Ratego's clenched fist that looked more like a hammer than a human fist and felt a chill of fear twitch his stomach with pain. He closed his eyes and foresaw Ratego's moves, punching and kicking at great speed and strength. He tried to fight back, ducking and dodging and punching back but Ratego seemed too strong and smart, pinning him to the cage with blows and kicks that he could not dodge.

"You are going to lose badly if you decide to fight like him. He is too experienced and strong for you to handle," he heard a voice in his head, warning him. "The ring is coated with dark rage magic and you can't win unless you fight like a prince," the voice continued.

"Now young man," Prince Mamadu started, "I give you my word that should you defeat my finest and strongest soldier, you are walking out of here alive," he said as the crowd of soldiers cheered Ratego to victory. The Prime Minister sat next to the Prince on an elevated ground, watching the fight from a closer distance. He smiled mockingly at Malin when their eyes met, probably welcoming Malin to 'hell' in advance. "But if you lose, which I believe you are going to, I'm going to feed your heart to my dogs," Mamadu said amid cheers from the crowd. "Let the challenge begin," he finished and a bell was rung, signalling the start of the fight.

The spectating soldiers stood on their feet as Ratego advanced towards Malin, ready to strike. Malin concentrated all his energy onto his right arm, having already realized that his speed had been greatly compromised by the dark magic. His feet grew thicker and heavier, his chest dusted and he coughed out blood. His mouth slavered as his body numbed. The dark magic had started consuming him while he fought against Ratego in his mind and as he concentrated all his energy onto his right hand, the rest of his body became vulnerable to the dark magic, suffocating him.

Ratego threw his right fist at him, catching Malin by the left side of the stomach. But Malin had already foresaw Ratego's move and knowing that he could not move quick enough to dodge the blow, he decided to absorb it and retaliated instantaneously, hitting Ratego on the heart with all his body and soul. Ratego groaned, first in surprise as his eyes widened in shock, then in agonized pain. He reeled backwards and turned to face Prince Mamadu, his eyes smouldering with anger and painful anguish. He clenched his heart as he bent to his knees, groaning and moaning, his eyes still fixed on Prince Mamadu. When he removed his hand from his chest, he fell face-first, with a thud, lifeless.

The cheering soldiers calmed into stunned silence as their faces turned into terrified expressions of disbelief and horror. The Prince and the Prime Minister both rose to their feet, their mouths agape and their faces aghast, dumbstruck. An eerie silence engulfed the chamber as Malin fought the dark magic that was threatening to stifle the life out of him, his eyes closed.

He touched his chest with his right palm, radiating light inwards. The dark magic receded with difficulty, making Malin groan in excruciating pain. He felt as if he was fighting against himself with his different body parts pulling apart, his skin rebelling against his flesh. Overwhelmed with pain, he removed his palm from his chest, sending an electric and powerful lightening across the cage, transforming the chamber into a dance of light, dimming and brightening at fast intervals.

The dark-rage magic coaled onto the cage, hardening into a wall before being struck by a thunderous lightening and splitting into smaller pieces of broken charcoal. The light that stemmed from Malin's chest steadied blindingly for a moment before diminishing gradually into darkness. Malin fell to his knees, haggard. He stayed for a moment, huffing and puffing, kneeling down slouched as he tried to regain his energy.

The Prime Minister and the Prince could neither believe what they saw or understand what just happened. The bright scintillation had temporarily blinded them and when it diminished, they couldn't tell whether it was day or night. The soldiers, who were shocked and confused, stampeded in fright blindingly, each one for himself and God for them all. The diminished light had left a blanket of darkness hovering in the chamber and none could tell for certain who was standing next, behind or in front of them. It took a while for normalcy to return to the chamber and for Prince Mamadu and Prime Minister Makiaus to become conscious of their surroundings. When this happened, Malin was standing right in front of them.

"It's time for you to honour your word," Malin addressed Prince Mamadu who was still reeling from the death of his greatest warrior and the unimaginable survival of Malin against the dark rage magic. The Prime Minister slumped into his seat, befuddled and vividly distressed. Prince Mamadu stared at Malin absentmindedly, as if he was not seeing him at all. "I have won Prince and you gave me your word that I'll walk out of here unarmed. I now ask you to honour your word and let me and the girl walk away, peacefully without being attacked by any of your soldiers," Malin continued, explaining the situation to the dazed Prince.

It took Prince Mamadu a while for the words to finally sink. And when they did, his fear worsened. He had given Malin his word to let him and Revina walk away peacefully and unarmed if he won the fight. But he had given his word because he believed with utmost certainty that Malin was going to lose. He didn't even consider in a million distant miles, the possibility of Malin winning and walking out free. That was an impossibility that imagining it's occurrence was madness. But now, the impossibility was the result and he couldn't go back on his word and turn against Malin again. Despite everything, he was a royalty and royalties are people of their words.

However, letting Malin go meant that he had lost against a mere boy. "What a tragedy!" he mumbled to himself. How could he win against the Emperor if he couldn't defeat a mere worthless boy? No. He couldn't let that happen. He had to repair that damage. In order to repair that damage, he considered for a while, turning on Malin and betraying his own word. But who could be courageous enough to face Malin? After what just happened, even the Prime Minister himself couldn't agree to such a challenge. It was a death sentence. Maybe he could order the soldiers to shoot him down. That way no single soldier would have the misfortune of having to face him in person.

Just then, he looked at the stance where the soldiers had stood, cheering. In the confusion, he hadn't heard or saw the stampede. His face turned redder when he saw a number of soldiers lying on the floor next to the door, some already dead and others writhing in unimaginable pain, with broken limbs and broken skulls. He shuddered in horror when his eyes caught sight of one of the dead soldiers, recognizing him despite the blood covering his entire face as his Prince Mamarife Dafau, his first born son. His sword fell from his hand and he fell to his knees, dejected and defeated.

Malin, who had followed the Prince's gaze, sympathized with him and his soldiers. It was never his intention to harm or kill any of the soldiers yet he did nothing to stop them from killing each other in the stampede. He watched from the ring as they stepped on, pushed, pulled and jumped over each other as they scampered towards the exit door like blinded buffaloes. He was stunned by their actions since he had shown no intentions of harming or attacking them. What he didn't know was that the bright coruscant from his chest had temporarily blinded them and made them suspicious of the people next to them, fearing that it was Malin who had left the ring and wanted to attack them in the darkness, making them helpless against his attacks. Malin felt pity for the dead soldiers as if he knew them or they had a personal relationship.

The Prime Minister who had been dead quiet all this while as if hiding his presence from Malin, rose to his feet, feigning confidence and composure. "You have won and freedom is your reward," he addressed Malin. "On behalf of the Prince, I tell you to leave the chambers and get out of the villa this instance. Just like him, I give you my word that nobody will try to stop you on your way out."

"Fair enough," Malin responded, restricting himself from calling the Prime Minister a traitor. "I'll take my leave now." He turned to leave but then looked at the weeping Prince Mamadu and took pity on him too. He must have loved his soldiers so much to be this hurt by their death. "Prince Mamadu, I know this may sound corny but I am sincerely sorry about the soldiers. It was never my intention to hurt any of them. I'm sorry," he said truthfully.

"Save your apologies for yourself," the Prime Minister retorted. "Neither your apologies nor your sympathy will bring any of the soldiers back to life, leave alone Prince Mamadu's son whose skull is split into two down there. You'll be saving us a lot of trouble if you just left and returned to wherever it is you came from and never come back to this villa again."

Malin felt torn apart. Learning that Mamadu's son was among the dead soldiers deeply wounded him. Somehow, he felt like he knew the dead Prince, that they had even been friends and the strangeness of his familiarity stabbed his heart with sharp pains. A few days ago he couldn't have cared, he couldn't have bothered. He himself a serial killer, the leader and commander of an outlawed army, The Seventh Estate, back in Palawa Kingdom. An army whose main objective was to cause chaos with the aim of destabilizing the government led by Queen Cindy, assassinating government officials and those closest to the Queen. A responsibility he had carried out with pride and honour, not caring who was caught in the lines of fire.

As he walked out of the fighting chambers towards the prison chambers, he felt torn between two personalities. One part was the Malin that slit people's throats without mercy or sympathy while on the other part was the Malin who valued people's lives and pitied and empathized with them when they fell. It was a shift he never expected but it was a shift he began to love. However, it was making him feel week. In battles and war, there is never a room for pity or sorrow. You begin to lose when you start to feel. The victory of a soldier was never in the sympathy he felt for those he had slain but in the pride he felt from their cries. That's the lesson constantly hammered into his brain by the man he had believed to be his father, Nicholas Ocholla.

The soldiers who were guarding the doors of the prison chambers gave way as he walked in. It became clear to him then that even those guards never expected him to walk out of the fighting chambers alive and in one piece. It must have been a massive disappointment for them to have to see him alive. If only they could do something about it. But their hero had fallen and even the soldiers, who for so many years had believed Ratego was as immortal as the royal members of the empire, began to fear for their lives. Whoever Malin was, he must have been a monster to kill the monster and none of them could dare raise a finger.

Revina rose to her feet when Malin entered the chamber where she had been held captive. She kissed him on the cheeks compassionately before hugging him tightly for a moment and planted another kiss on his forehead.

"Thank God you are back," she said tenderly, her golden voice soothing his heart and consoling his confused emotions. "How are you feeling? Were you hurt?" she asked as she touched his chest tenderly, her words caressing his ears, almost making him forget everything that just happened. To know that someone cared this much for him filled him with much joy and happiness. It excited him even more to know that it was not just anyone who cared about him, it was Revina, the adored princess of Palawa Kingdom.

"Yes princess, I'm ok," he replied, looking straight into her appealing eyes. "But now I'm feeling much better, here in your comforting arms." He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her small body, feeling her breast press sensually against his chest.

"I'm glad to hear that my prince," Revina said as she pulled away, not from Malin but from the sensual desire that was starting to build up in her belly.

"Please, princess, just call me Malin. Don't forget I'm just a commoner and you are a princess."

"I will if you just call me Revina. Don't forget we are in another dimension where you are supposed to be the prince."

"Ok. I'll call you Revina then, princess."

"You just added 'princess' at the end of it, prince."

"Did I?"

"Yes you did."

"Ok. From today on I'll call you Revina and you'll call me Malin, deal?"

"Deal," she replied as they locked their fingers into a promise.

Malin raised his head and saw Jonathan who was frantically trying to catch his attention, something that was complicated by the presence of the soundproof mirrors between their rooms.

"Give me a minute prin... Revina, sorry I almost forgot our deal," he smiled and walked towards Jonathan's room, leaving Revina while standing next to the chair where she had been formerly tied.

A soldier stood guard by Jonathan's door while a few more soldiers stood scattered along the hallway. Malin tried to walk past the guard but the guard blocked his way and asked him to produce his pass-card that could allow him access the room. "I'm sorry sir, I didn't know I needed such a thing to access the room," Malin said respectfully. Jonathan noticed the standoff and nodded to the guard who reluctantly allowed Malin entry.

"Hey Malin," Jonathan greeted him. "I hear you survived a Ratego massacre. You are one hell of a beast young man."

Malin chuckled and then responded in a calm and friendly voice, " I don't consider myself that way Jonathan, how are you doing."

"It's funny you should ask me such a question after almost splitting me into two with a sword. How would you be doing if you were me?"

"But you asked for it..."

"No. No. No. I didn't ask for it. I only suggested it."

Malin laughed before bending down and touching his wound. "I can see they got it stitched."

"Yeah, stitched but not healed," Jonathan replied before smoke started emanating from his chest. "Are you roasting me or something?"

"I'm saving time," Malin replied as he channeled the light from his chest through the veins of his right arm and onto Jonathan's chest, healing him completely in a fraction of a moment.

Jonathan touched his chest, roaming the area that had been wounded with his fingers as if looking for a wound or the gate that would lead him to the wound. He still couldn't believe that such kind of healing really existed. "Who are you, really?" he asked Malin, clearly bewildered by his healing prowess. Malin just laughed at his question and gave him no response, at least not the one he was looking for.

"We need to go and now," Malin said, sensing they had taken too much time in the villa and fearing Prince Mamadu or the Prime Minister might try to stop them if they came out and found them within the compound. He could fight his way through but he wasn't prepared to kill anymore people.

"Of course," Jonathan replied, taking his sword and tucking it onto his belt. "After you," he said as he opened the door for Malin to exit first. He picked a coat that was hanging next to the door and covered his chest, pretending it was still hurt and followed Malin.

"Hey, stop right there!" commanded the soldier who had been guarding his door. "Where do you think you are going?"

Jonathan stopped while Malin proceeded into Revina's room and brought her out. "Dosi, Dosi, Dosi. Since when do I have to explain myself to you?" Jonathan asked the soldier who was standing menacingly in front of him, blocking him from moving forward. "Have you forgotten I'm your superior?"

"I'm sorry sir but I have orders not to let you leave your cell," Dosi replied.

"Oh really? And may I know who gave such an order and why?"

"The orders were given by the Prince himself sir and as for the reason why, well he didn't explain. So please sir, just head back to your cell. I don't want trouble with the Prince."

Moving closer to Dosi, "and what if I refuse to head back into the cell, are you going to make me go back soldier?" Jonathan asked, his eyes glaring with anger.

Dosi drew out his sword and stretched it in front of Jonathan who responded by drawing out his sword too. "Yes sir, I'm going to make you go back or die trying to," Dosi replied just as threateningly.

Malin who was holding Revina by the hand behind Dosi moved between them, creating a barrier between the two soldiers who were glaring at each other, ready for battle. "Take it easy soldiers, you don't have to kill each other for such a small misunderstanding like this one," Malin said. "We can still work things out without resorting to violence soldiers."

Dosi, who was still glaring at Jonathan belligerently, responded in a hoarse and angry voice, "I don't care who you are boy. I only care about my orders and right now my orders are to keep Jonathan in his cell and I'm not going to do otherwise."

"I understand soldier and I'm not asking you to disobey your orders and neglect your duties. I'm only asking you not to resort to violence, that's all."

"Then tell your friend to resort to peace and head back to his cell and there will be no need for violence," Dosi replied, anger still boiling in him.

"Alright," Malin said appealingly. "Let's all go inside and have this conversation calmly, shall we?" he suggested and turned towards the cell. Dosi and Jonathan both returned their swords to their places and followed Malin into the cell. When Dosi entered the cell, Malin gently pushed him to the bed where Jonathan had lain, making him unconscious. "We certainly don't have much time to waste on dialogue right now. Let's go Jonathan," he said as he quickly walked out of the cell, Jonathan on his tail, smiling.