The Warlords Chronicles:
The Fair and the Evil
By Tom Lee Osborn
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Tom Lee Osborn
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Dedications
This book is dedicated to my two grandmas;
The best the world could have,
My mum and dad;
The perfect parents,
Micah, Benny and Anita;
Loving family,
All Sir-Gents,
The perfect union of great friends,
Victor, Brandon, Vincent, Dylan, Stephen, Kirima and Aggrey,
Great friends and inspiration,
Alliance High School,
Strong to serve;
And you,
For believing in the light.
proLOGUE
Blood! The throne was thirsty for blood!
It was the same setting, the same semi dark and dingy room, the same blood spotted chair. The same takers kneeling on the ground, kissing the floor in reverie as if they were worshipping some adored creature. The same man seated in the seat of splendor, the blood stained chair. Faladin!
By the expression on his face, he was not any other normal man; he was a man on a mission, a divine mission!
‘Stefanov!’ the cold voice of the dark master rented the air.
Instant panic and fear griped his ever awe-stricken loyal followers. They could not believe what they had just heard. It was a command that they knew, loathed and feared yet they had never heard it before.
It was the command to look at the face of the angry beast!
The men in the red
hoods stopped kissing the floor and slowly raised their heads to
reveal their fear ridden faces which met that if an angry Dark Master
for the first time ever!
Stefanov! The Dark Master Faladin, the
104th warlord was indeed angry!
‘The throne is thirsty, the gods that strengthen the warlord are crying,’ Faladin began in a thunderous high pitched voice cold dark voice. ‘The gods are mourning; the gods are thirsty for blood!’
The words echoed across the besmirched room sending shivers across the spines of the loyal Takers.
'Since time immemorial, the throne of majesty has been set apart from all the other meager thrones by an eerie characteristic, the blood stain! That blood is now dry, there must be blood! Stefanov, there will be blood!’
In a bust of anger or rather might, Faladin did what he had never done ever since he ascended to his throne as the master supremo of all evil, he stood up from the throne!’
Then like a wounded lion, he slowly brandished form his cloaks, a sword!
The sword shone in the dim light to display its sharp stealth.
‘The peak of my era of terror is yet to be initiated, the climax of darkness is yet to ensue, but till then, till when the Grand Master of the warlords shall be avenged, there must be blood!’
Amidst the Takers who were terrified looking at their enraged master was one who was literally trembling, he was shaking like a frail twig, He was different from all the other Takers, he had once disappointed the warlord, he had once betrayed Faladin!
The warlord slowly started walking around the room, muttering some kind of incantations that only he could understand, then he stopped, right in front of the shaking man.
‘Forgive me my master, I will never do it again,’ the man said as he fell down to the knees of the dark master.
‘The good book says that to whom much has been given, similar, if not even much more, is expected,’ the dark master said as he slowly raised his sword up, over his head.
Without the shred of any felling of remorse, without a second thought, the sword of the beast struck!
Blood!
The Taker, who had once betrayed his master, now had no neck to show for it.
The warlord laughed loudly as he looked at the blood on the sword, he smiled to himself as he licked the blood of the sword.
Stefanov, there would be blood!
CHAPTER ONE
Some are born to be great, some are born to be mighty, some are born to strong, some are born to attain great heights, some to make humanity even better, but perhaps others are born to be simply evil… that is the principle difference between those who are born to be fair and those who also born to be evil…
The town of Fedewah was indeed a huge town of great contrast as words were too superficial to describe the sharp differences it inhibited. On the Eastern side of this mighty town, were great suburbs marked with manicured lawns, tall, towering and conspicuous buildings, skyscrapers, sleek cars, rich and graceful men and lest you forget, hot and gorgeous women.
This part of town was called Ler Fedewah…
On the western side were sprawling shanties and ramshackle buildings with unkempt lawns, rusted bicycles, shabby, shoddy, poor and ragged men, not forgetting, the dirty, loose and used women.
They called this part of town Moro Fedewah…
Just as light and darkness can never mix, so were the inhabitants of these two parts of a ‘united’ Fedewah, they lived worlds apart, divided by a huge and long imaginary bridge that could not be scaled or so they thought, it was way too long.
Fedewah was the capital of the Union of Federal States, a union of three states that had merged to form one united and independent regional bloc.
On a cold and eerie pitch dark August night, some fifteen years ago, the town of Fedewah was blessed with two bouncing bundles of joy, in the form of two twin baby boys.
Born to one Mrs. Elisa McGraw, the product of lust and youthful desires, their father’s identity concealed to all but Elisa. They were Max and Ron McGraw Villa, who were to grow up to be known as the Villa Twins.
Fifteen years and counting, they had matured to be two strong, well-built and handsome adolescent young boys.
Meeting them one would be forgiven to think that they were mere friends and not blood relations, let alone twin brothers…
Max was of a fair complexion, with deep set eyes, a pointed nose and strong cheek bones whilst Ron was his complete contrast, dark in complexion, a rather fat nose and jolly weak cheek bones.
Their differences didn’t stop there, Max was one reserved guy, born with a passion for writing, reading and who always kept solitude, inhibiting in his innermost heart, his deep thoughts. Ron though, had turned out to be the witty guy who loved playing, joking and bragging to anyone who cared to listen and of late, he had started to perfect the art of chasing after pretty damsels.
Even though, they exhibited such great difference, they weren’t of tainted blood as they were tied by a bond of love, tied by a knot of brotherhood, knitted to an inseparable fabric of cohesion and tranquility, they adored each other, took care of each other, loved each other, they, in simple, epitomized immense and intense brotherhood, a brotherhood that if only they had known was to be tested by fire…..perhaps, they would have been much more prepared.
On this night, they were with their mother at the huge McGraw Ranch and Mansion at Ler Fedewah, the huge estate inherited by their mother after the tragic death of his father.
They were cuddled close to each other by the fireside, getting away from the cold off the night and listening to the fascinating tales of the old great legends as was recited by the loving mother….
‘Long, long, long ago, in the land of mighty men…’ Elisa began.
‘Longer before the very long Longman Dictionary was invented,’ Ron jokingly interrupted.
‘Grow up for once Ron!’ Max barked at him angrily.
‘Come on you spoilt brats,’ Elisa continued, ‘now as I was saying, in the land of great and brave men of valor, in the land of mighty and expeditious kings, was born a strikingly beautiful fair maid, a damsel so beautiful that they compared her beauty to that of the goddess Venus, she was Mona Lisa, for which other woman had a curvaceous body to parallel hers, who else had an oval lovely face italicized by kissable lips as compared to hers, indeed she made the great man tremble at her sight, longing for a piece of her….’
She didn’t get the chance to finish the statement, as the aura of peace, harmony and quietness was shattered by the exploding sounds of two gunshots that rented the air, landing precisely on their target, the forehead of Mrs. Elisa McGraw, ripping her skull into two. As the blood oozed off, all and sundry was sure that she handed over to the world of eternal perish….
Amidst the screams, shouts, cries, mourns, anguish and despair among the twins, the only parent they had known of, the only being they had known to passionately care about them had gone never to return, without bidding them farewell.
***-***
Inspector Johnson could not come to terms with his predicaments, for the first time in his very successful career, he was stranded, with absolutely no clue as to which avenue to take next… he was awakened from his flight of thoughts by the entrance of Attorney Alice, a young and somehow beautiful lawyer.
‘Good morning, Inspector,’ Alice began as she sat down, ‘I don’t want to mince words, so I’ll be precise, is what I’m hearing true?”
‘Unfortunately Attorney Alice, it is very true…’
‘Damn what!’
‘You heard me right; the case has been temporarily terminated.’
“Closed? Impossible, you can hardly allow the imbecile who had the guts, to murder a harmless mother of two innocent boys, get away with murder…” she was now shouting.
‘I do agree with you, but that is how it is, you just have to understand my situation. Yes, I do know that she was your best friend, but we cannot proceed with the case any further!’
Alice could hardly believe it, her best friend murdered in cold blood with her sons watching and here was the police with absolutely no lead as to which inhumane brute committed such felony.
‘How can you bastards go lazing around with no clue!’ she now screamed.
‘Hold your tongue Attorney Alice; you don’t go hurling insults at me irrespective of my situation. What if it were you in my shoes at this very moment, a woman gets killed in front of her kids and the bullets used match those of a gun belonging to a man who happened to have lived more than thirty years ago, and the gun according to records was destroyed about the same number of years ago. It also happens that the children, who apparently are the only witnesses to the murder, only heard of gunshots and saw their mother fall down dead. What do you do yet Fedewah has more pressing security concerns that do not allow you to seat comfortably mowing your head for an answer. All you can do is to allow time take its course in unraveling the mysteries and giving you more clues….’
‘I do understand you inspector, sorry for the bother, nonetheless, I only now do hold a very small request, once you’ve compiled your report please send me a copy…’ she said as she picked her handbag and headed for the door
***-***
The setting was a semi-dark room; filled with about a dozen men in red hoods, kneeling and kissing the floor as if they were worshipping some revered creature; a look around the room could give no clue as to what this was, apart from a huge blood stained chair at the center of the room. However, humans worshipping a chair, that was absurd!
Suddenly the creaking sound of an opening door was heard and a tunnel opened just underneath the chair, a thin man squeezed through the small space and settled his thin figure on the chair and immediately the semi bright lights were on…
‘My noblest of servants,’ he began, ‘for ages and years have we braced and prepared to wag a successful war, after a myriad of foiled attempts, our time to conquer the world has finally come, from now henceforth, we shall battle on all fronts to finally conquer the Union and I, Master Faladin, the only man to be honored, revered, worshiped and exalted, will rise to the throne, at last the darkness shall have comprehended the light! The time to establish an empire that will surpass that of the Union has come, and that is not fantasy, it is reality that is completely possible. Somebody somewhere has to part way, somebody has to give way, somebody has to suffer, both the question that lingers in my mind, is that are we ready to conquer them all, to battle till death do us part…’
‘We are ready master,’ the men in red hoods replied in unison.
‘Then nobody shall stop us!’ Master Faladin shouted with a tone of vehemence in his voice, the tone of a resolution to stop at nothing but what he had resolved to do.
Indeed, mankind was in great trouble, its mere existence in jeopardy, it survival unknown and uncertain…
***-***
After three weeks, they could still not come to reality with the fact that their mother had died, gone never to be seen or heard of again, perhaps in the world to come, if it truly did exist.
Max and Ron could never swallow this bitter pill. Whenever they had it in their mouth, it was replaced with sweet candies of wonderful memories of the old good and now gone days: when they used to suckle from their mother, when they played hide and seek together, when they listened to her fireside bedtime stories, when they kissed and hugged each other goodnight, these they were never to experience again thank to one heartless brute…
They now stayed with Alice Buenevista, their mother’s best friend. The McGraw Ranch and Mansion was the source of great controversy between the government and the McGraw business empire.
Alice had on this day summoned them to her study room.
‘Will you take your seats, gentlemen,’ she asked pointing to empty chairs beside her huge mahogany table. Max and Ron reluctantly made themselves comfortable.
‘I know you are in no mood for lectures, so I’ll be precise, you are all aware that tomorrow you are going back to school…’
‘Well, speaking of going back to school.’ Ron interrupted, ‘Max and I thought about it and decided to drop out of school…’
‘There is no need for that, as I also have something to tell you, you all know that I am now your official guardian, but not anymore, I handed over the rights to Mr. Alex Tepeeclar, whom I think you all know…’
Immediately the door opened and a tall, huge and bearded old man walked inside sluggishly.
Max and Ron knew him very well; he had been their headmaster for the last two years that they had spent at Villamort Academy.
‘Good evening young men, I believe you have been informed of the changes, and you know that with school opening tomorrow, I am a very busy man, so just pack your belongings…’
***-***
Two men were hurrying across the unkempt lawns of Moro Fedewah, past the stinking shanties and ramshackle buildings; it was pretty obvious that they were arguing about something.
‘What are we going to tell the dark master, we missed the asset, our only available weapon?’ One of them said.
‘They knew about it forehand, they knew we were coming and they had gone by the time we were there.’ His friend replied.
‘It sure means that we have an inside man, somebody is leaking our secrets to the Union, how could they know and now Tepeeclar has secured the weapon.’
‘The dark master will be angry, very angry and I am sure that however the green snake is he will have to die.’
CHAPTER TWO
The ancient and magnificent buildings that hosted Villamort Academy were surely, a wonder to behold, as it mingled both ancient and modern infrastructural masterpieces, a clear indication of its rich history and bright future.
It had emerged, after six hundred years, an envy if its peers; leading in the field of producing men and women strong in body, mind and character, boasting of having attained quality education, for it was Villamort, the peak of academic pedigree.
Located at the middle of Fedewah town and led by Alex Tepeeclar, the greatest philosopher and thinker of his time; he was an eloquent and affluent orator, a marvelous writer, a renowned chemist, a skilled soldier. Some thought that he simply portrayed pure genius; a fact not contrasted by one a many persons.
As Max and Ron heard him speak that day at the common hall of Villamort they had never got enough reason to call Villamort home.
‘A great man,’ he started in his perennial calm loud voice, ‘is he who in the midst of raging wave and billowing storms, keeps with him the perfect and unprecedented independence of tranquility and serenity of his mind, threads of the academic fabric, I great you. Great men are not judged by the mighty heights they attain, or by the records they shatter, neither by the bulk of their pockets but by the content of blood that runs in their veins to dispel their character. To the freshmen, we welcome you to this great school and to our old guns, it’s yet another chance to re-oil your guns. History states that Villamort only produces the best there is to produce, the cream of great men, and for this term to be great is to be good, I wish you all, a succession of successive success, as your battle to unleash your true potential of sheer greatness in the arena of life…’
***-***
‘WILL YOU CONCENTRATE, MR. VILLA?’ an angry Mr. Fred shouted during lessons, awakening Max and Ron from their fantasies to the reality of being in a classroom.
Max momentarily stared at Mr. Fred a teacher he had so deeply loathed and abhorred since his first day at Villamort, a favor the Mr. Fred had been more than delighted in returning.
‘When I grow up,’ Mr. Fred continued with his Philosophy class, ‘I want to be a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, a philosopher, a goddamn great person. All these thoughts flood our minds whenever we are asked a very simple question; what do we wish to be when we grow up? Perhaps great, perhaps mighty, somebody out of this world, but do we ever stop to ask ourselves that which things determine our future? That some two animals in the name of fate and destiny have mingled and ganged up to make our worst nightmares a living reality, or even better our best hallucinations, daylight truth? This is why others become what they wish to be whilst others live their worst nightmare. Mr. Ron McGraw Villa, I have a very simple question for you, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
‘Sir, I sincerely don’t know but all I know is that life simply wants me to be evil…’ Ron answered, the fury of seeing his once bright future overwhelming him, he clinched his fists tenaciously, a grip to avenge, to make life miserable for as many as he could. He was surely being tied by tentacles of the evil…
***-***
Max was walking down the corridors of the fifth for of the Villamort Castle, when he heard shouts of ‘…help…you’re hurting me…let me go’, a female voice desperately moaning and crying in agony, ‘somebody help…’ it continued to bitterly weep for help.
Somebody was in danger and Max had to help whoever she was. He pressed his ear and keenly listened on the nearest door and the groans became even louder and clearer, he turned the door knob only to find it locked. He moved a step back, bracing himself to knock open the door.
The door abruptly opened… Ron shot out of the room at a neck break speed knocking down Max in his flight to only God knows where….
Astonished and perplexed, Max recollected himself and entered into the room, only to find a girl writhing and groaning in pain on the floor.
She seemed to be in so great an agony, her clothes torn at the top revealing a bit of her breasts. The rest of her beautiful body was safe from Max eyes behind her clothes.
‘What happened, Angela? What did he do to you?’
‘It was Ron…’ she answered weekly.
‘Yeah, what did he do…?’Max asked hoping against all hopes that it wasn’t what he thought it to be.
‘He dragged me in here, locked the door… he then started making advances at me…when I protested… he tore off my clothes and pinned me to the floor…he then started hurting me, it really hurt…’ she said while sobbing and gasping for breath.
Max could seldom take this in, Ron of all people, his only brother and in fact twin, committing such an evil and atrocious act, no, it could never be Ron, but he had seen him, had he?
Yes he had, no matter how painful it was; Ron his only brother, seemed to have taken advantage of a hapless young woman.
***-***
‘How could you!’ Max barked.
‘I don’t know how, I just found myself doing it; I was out of my senses…’ Ron replied.
‘You call it being out of your senses, taking advantage of an innocent young girl, she didn’t deserved it.’
‘Why ask me such stupid question, why don’t you ask the brute that killed my mother what he was thinking of, what the hell he thought of when he fired the trigger to kill mum.’
‘Collect yourself, I know that you are traumatized but that doesn’t give you the right to go around molesting young helpless girls.’
‘Stop pestering me, it’s over and done with, I cannot reverse it, all you have to do is to help me get my way out of this shit…’
‘Partake of such felony, never will I?’
‘Come on, you are my brother, my only kin, remember the old golden days, the promise we made to each other, the promise we made to mom!’
Slowly, Max remembered the happy days, the promise they had to their mother, to stand with each other in thick and thin, in joy sorrow, in light and in darkness. He couldn’t back away from it now that his brother needed him more than ever! He could never forgive himself.
Ron though now turned into a beast was still his brother, and that would never change no matter what! But would his mother have done what he was going to do?
‘I’ll help you Ron, I do know the one secret passage out of Villamort, which I’ll show you for old times’ sake and after that we are done!’
‘You stinking piece of venom, do you think I’m dumb enough not to know my way out of here, all I want from you is that you accompany into this dark walk and venture to finally avenge our mother’s death, we escape together comrade.’
‘Justice shall always prevail, brother, I’ll let the cops do their dirty work, I am not going to be a criminal, never, and I’d rather I die…’
‘Then so be it, you’ve just stepped on my toes and in due time you’ll feel my wrath…’ Ron said as he shot out of the dormitory.
***-***
‘Strange occurrence, Inspector,’ Tepeeclar calmly told the inspector, ‘the boy who is alleged to have committed the crime is reported to have fled from Villamort and his twin can testify to that.’
‘Old dear Tepeeclar, be it not that you are hiding the rascal from facing justice…’ Inspector Johnson said.
‘Excuse me but I think that you are a little overboard, you just file your case at the chambers of children justice, as for now you are aware that the entire Villamort Grounds and students are out of your scoop and you cannot search or interrogate any of my student unless you have a warrant…’
‘Sorry sir, but I think I’m entitled to your report on this case.’
‘You sure are but remember I need my student back in the shortest time possible, so go searching for him.’
***-***
Max stared blankly at the newspaper, he couldn’t believe what he read:
BILLIONAIRE TWIN ESCAPES SCHOOL AFTER MOLESTING GIRL