Chapter 27: The crimson of blood - 1

"What did you just say?" questioned the head soldier, snarling and gritting his teeth to which Morpheous gave the same statement as before.

"I said, then you shall never go back to that kingdom."

Drawing his sword, gripping it tight at its hilt, the soldier pranced towards Morpheous and hissed,

"How dare you?"

Seeing the soldier marching towards Morpheous with nothing but an intent to kill, Nicholas, pulled Morpheous back and pushing himself to the front and raising his hands high up in the air, he screamed,

"Forgive him! Forgive him for he has lost his sanity."

In that momentary lapse of judgment, Nicholas pushed himself as a shield in front of Morpheous, even though a few seconds before he had given him a silent poison to affect his circulatory system. He had been sent to Ambracia with the sole aim to prevent Morpheous from challenging Nubeous for a duel and the simplest solution to it was to get rid of him, yet here he was, standing in the frontline like a warrior.

'What am I doing?' thought Nicholas, as he was surprised by his own response.

"So you have a death wish too?", screamed the soldier and then yelled before swinging his sword.

'Hiyaaahhhh'

But then all of a sudden he couldn't even move his hand even by an inch. He was surprised that how could a man who wasn't even five feet tall, have the strength to block his attack.

'Gaaahhhhh'

He yelled as a strong force repelled him back. It was then that he noticed that it wasn't the man in the front, it was the man who was standing behind, who had blocked him.

The remaining soldiers who were busy excavating the land area were stunned to see the sight in front of them. Their man had been pushed back by a couple of feet by just a shove from this peasant. They assumed that this strength was because of the anger inside that man.

They had been toiling hard under the sun for long and this was a welcome sight for them. Something to make their lives exciting! After all, they were soldiers. Nothing pleased them more than a good fight.

Raising their fists in the air, they started shouting,

"Fight! FIght! FIght!"

Seeing that his men were even considering a mere pheasant as someone who was worthy of a fight against him, angered the soldier even more.

"Move...."

Yelled Morpheous and pushed Nicholas behind with full force as he saw the soldier retaliating with a swing of his sword. Nicholas stumbled and fell on the ground and crawled a few steps back instantly.

'Clank'

Came the sound as the sword was flung as it hit a rock. With a deft movement of his hand, Morpheous blocked his attack, and with the next, he snatched his sword and threw it away.

'You...'

Unable to believe that he had been disarmed by Morpheous, the soldier charged ahead, wanting to rip him apart with his bare hands. He couldn't take the show of mockery anymore.

"At ease..."

Yelled Morpheous and raised his hand, showing his open palm to the snarling soldier. There was so much weight in his voice, that the man in front of him halted immediately. The voices of the remaining soldiers who were rooting for their man was suppressed in silence. The only thing that echoed was Morpheous's voice.

He took a step ahead and said,

"We do not want any bloodshed. We just want you to give us time. That is all that we want."

The soldier didn't dare to say anything for a moment as he was silenced by his bravery,his strength and in fact, his sheer presence had become overbearing for him. But the very next moment he looked around and realized that instead of cheering for him, his fellowmen were silently jeering and that was a big insult that his ego couldn't bear.

So ignoring what Morpheous had to say, ignoring the bitter taste of his power that he had tasted a second back, he ran to fight with him with his bare hands. Such a grave mistake that was for Morpheous was not a man who could be daunted.

'Yeahhhhhhh'

He leaped in an attempt to strangle Morpheous's throat with his hands. His hands were inches away from gripping his throat, but unfortunately, before his fingertips could even come in contact with his skin, he lost his footing.

He could no longer feel the ground underneath for he had been hoisted up in the air. With his left hand alone Morpheous had lifted him up, grabbing his neck.

His hands which wanted to strangle Morpheou's neck were desperately trying to unlock his grip that was around his neck. Choking and on the verge of death, he started to pat his hand on Morpheou's arm, accepting his defeat as he desperately wanted to hold on to his life at that moment.

"Morpheous, he will die."

Said Nicholas and slightly patted on his thighs as he got up. But the grip of Morpheous became tighter and tighter pushing the soldier on the brink of death.

Seeing one of their own being crushed to death by a village farmer, the other soldiers who till now were enjoying the show like a mock spectator, dropped their spades and shovels and marched towards Morpheous with their weapons.

They ran towards him with one intention, an intention to kill him.

"Morpheous run !!!" screamed Jerome and started running towards the field as he could no longer keep looking from behind the woods. He could no longer wait and see his friend battling death all alone.

Hearing the voice of his friend, Morpheous turned momentarily and saw Jerome running towards him.

"Jerome stay back....." screamed Morpheous with all his might, but he didn't listen. Holding a stick in one hand and the metal coal dust balls in the other he came running.

'Shwoooooop'

And in the split of a second, an arrow whizzed next to Morpheous.

Releasing the soldier from his grip, he slumped on the ground. The only thing he could see was the crimson of the blood.