The Angkora Warlands, Page 3

  A lone DragonSlayer cargo ship cruised through the air. A smaller pirate ship appeared out of nowhere, moving fast towards the gunship.

  A Guard tried to give out a shout but was quickly silenced by an arrow that pierced through his throat.

  The pirate ship shot a hook into the gunship, and anchored itself onto the bigger ship and pulled itself closer to the bigger ship.

  Silhouttes jumped onto the gunship and made their way very quietly through the corridors. They killed everybody on board one by one.

  Robbery in the darkness. Everything in silence. In darkness.

  THE CHOSEN ONE

  Chinta looked lost, and stumbled into a butterfly garden. Dinda was playing with her butterflies, feeding them.

  Chinta greeted her. “Hello?”

  Dinda was startled. The butterflies flew towards Chinta to investigate the new visitor.

  “Umm, I just came here to get some water,” Chinta said.

  The butterflies seemed to adore Chinta. Dinda sensed the adoration and made her suspicious. “Water? Hmm… Don't you go to the kitchen when you want some water to drink?”

  “But I don't know where the kitchen is and I seemed to have lost myself,” Chinta said.

  “Hmmm? Hmmm? Hmph! You are strange!” Dinda said.

  “Everyone seems to say that.”

  “Are you really The One?” Dinda asked, a little jealousy in her tone of voice.

  “What? Please, I don’t know.” Chinta was beginning to get annoyed with the question.

  Dinda just tossed Chinta a pouch of water. “Here!”

  Chinta caught it and murmured, “Thanks.”

  “Are you truly The Lady White Naga?” Dinda tried asking again.

  Chinta tried to shrug off the question. “Truly I do not know.”

  But Dinda kept insisting for Chinta to answer. But eventually she just said, “You really are confused, aren't you?”

  Chinta gave more excuses. “ I don't even know where I am.”

  “Isn't that called stupidity?” Dinda said.

  “I'm getting tired from all this confusion,” Chinta said.

  Gajja suddenly appeared and got up from underneath a bush. He was munching some leaves and smoking his usual Spice Cigar. The butterflies fleed from him.

  Dinda was startled. “Ah! Gajja! What are you doing here?”

  Gajja spoke like a poet. “Your voices are like birds singing into my ears. I am in ecstasy.” Gajja levitated into the air.

  Dinda dismissed the fat blue elephant. “Oh, shut up!”

  Gajja paused for a while, then spoke with a serious tone to Chinta, almost hypnotically, “ Miss, can I tell you a story?”

  “Be careful of him,” Dinda warned Chinta . “Gajja’s a quack prophet.”

  Gajja spoke like an old man, full of wisdom. “It is a prophecy foretold by my grandfather, the great Elephant Oracle. It is a rule set by the Ancients. A relationship between a Human and an Animal is forbidden.”

  A vision appeared in Dinda's and Chinta's minds. A woman giving birth, screaming in pain. Twin sisters were born. One perfect human baby, the other one a blue baby with serpent-like features and a tail.

  A tall, dark shrouded figure lifted the blue baby with the wriggling tail. While Ninja Assassins murdered the mother violently.

  An old man in a monk’s robe in red and yellow with long white hair and beard appeared in a flash. He was too fast for the Assassins. He saved the other human baby and vanished into thin air.

  The vision vanished. Gajja looked sad as he told the story. He looked at Chinta from the side of his eyes. “They have been looking for the baby

  serpent ever since.”

  Then his eyes widened. “The White Naga will restore Angkora,” he said.

  Chinta was in shock. “I have a twin sister?”

  THE SEARCH

  Inside a laboratory dungeon, a pregnant woman screamed with her legs stretched wide open. She was giving birth to thousands of little snakes. Some of the snakes were writhing and falling off the table.

  She screamed as though her eyeballs were going to pop out from thier sockets. Her veins were trembling on the skin of her neck.

  She held up one of the little writhing snakes, crying uncontrollably.

  “No! No! No!”

  The surgeon monks scattered aimlessly. Soldiers moved in and killed the woman.

  THE DESTINY

  Still in the butterfly garden, Dinda strolled with Chinta deep into the garden.

  “When Rangga was still a child,” Dinda was saying, “his country was destroyed by the Shadow Kingdom.”

  “But what about the others?” Chinta asked. “They are fighting together, aren't they?”

  “Yes, they met on the battlefield and fought together since then, but...”

  “So they are comrades?” Chinta asked.

  “They are supposed to be,” Dinda said. ”But Rangga is a loner. He always prefers to fight alone. Rangga was to become king. Even with his people and land all gone, he has to fight the enemy for as long as he lives. That is his destiny, because Rangga was born a king. But still, he is a very kind person inside... I know it.”

  Chinta sensed Dinda’s love for Rangga. She could see it in her eyes.

  THE DRAGONSLAYERS

  On a cliff overseeing a vast paddy field, the Dragonslayers waited for the Resistance caravan. The caravan that was carrying the precious cargo.

  The Resistance caravan was being carried by a Giant Tortoise wading slowly through the long willowy grasses, moving in waves blown by the wind. The caravan was made of wood but strengthened with steel. Cannons protected its side. The caravan carried about thirty people inside.

  Mudskippers skipped on the bank by the side of the small river. Scarecrows dotted the paddy field. A lone old woman tended to the paddy nearby. Rom and Jebat rode upon water buffaloes on the side of the caravan. They had not realised that the Dragonslayers had spotted them.

  Near a pool of mud, a swarm of flesh-eating black flies were feasting on a dead buffalo. The flies surrounded the carcass like a black ball. Suddenly, two human eyes popped out from the swarm ball, looking at the caravan.

  A lone fly flew into the caravan and spotted the Lady White Naga.

  “Is that it, Hannu?” Sawa asked. “Is it inside that thing? The 'goods' that Lord Karruva is seeking? How is it Jengking? Is it inside?”

  Sawa is a half-man, half-snake, and also half-male and half-female. Male face on the front and female face on the back. They took turns to speak. Siamese twins in one body.

  Sawa was the leader of the DragonSlayers, with a mission to hunt any Nagas and the Resistance. He was arrogant but reckless. Yet he was a very good spearman. He was nineteen years old.

  The lone black fly flew towards Jengking and landed near his ear. Jengking is half-man, half-scorpion with multiple limbs.

  “Yes, she’s in there,” Jengking said. “In the cargo hold... inside, a white clad girl... She’s there.”

  “Ah, white clad girl,” the female side of Sawa spoke.

  “Lord Sawa,” Hannu said. “The plan is just to capture the Lady.”

  “We just have to capture the Lady right?” The male side of Sawa said. “I know, I know. But, why not we just kill all of them…”

  “The Resistance are not to be underestimated,” Hannu said. “If you ignore orders and unnecessarily waste troops—”

  Sawa knocked Hannu off his horse. “Shut up!”

  “The sun will set while you complain,” Sawa the female said. “Now, let’s commence with the attack!”

  A swarm of frogs emerged from the water and jumped onto the caravan, spitting poisonous acid on any human beings they encountered.

  The lone old lady farmer transformed into a stream of leeches swimming towards the caravan.

  The scarecrows were Undeads and they each realigned themselves and started shooting arrows with hooks attached to ropes into the tortoise’s legs. The hooks pierced deep to prevent the tortoise from moving forw
ard. The giant tortoise let out a loud, painful moan and pulled back. The tortoise was now hooked from various angles. There was a tug-of-war and the tortoise could no longer move.

  A group of black Water Buffalo Shadow Soldiers started to appear out from amongst the long grass. They were being led by a monkey captain by the name of Rakssa.

  “Enemy attack!” Uma shouted. “Arjana! Incoming Shadow Soldiers!”

  “Seems like we will get to Tanamera late,” Arjana murmured.

  Jebat and Rom fanned out towards the Scarecrow Undeads to cut the ropes while defending themselves from arrows shot by the Scarecrows and spearing buffalo soldiers on the way. The Scarecrows suddenly turned and walked on stilts. With the elongated legs, they could walk a far distance in very short time. Jebat and Rom cut the ropes and speared down the Scarecrows. The Scarecrows spasmed before dying.

  “Lord Sawa,” Hannu said, trying to convince his superior. “All we need to do is confuse them. Please don't forget that!”

  But Sawa the male just shouted, “Attack!'

  “Don't let them get inside!” Jebat ordered. “Attack them when they get close!”

  Jebat commanded the archers to keep shooting and prepared some men to prepare for close range combat.

  A giant rock stood up and turned into a Stone Monster. The Black Fly Man sent in a massive swarm of deadly flies towards the caravan.

  Sawa the female was very pleased. “Here we go!” She laughed.

  “Stay together!” screamed the Resistance Captain.

  Jengking pulled his four bows taut with his multiple limbs. The four eyes focused on different targets on the caravan. When he let go, the four arrows directly hit four different targets. The Resistance Captain and others immediately fell off the caravan and into the water.

  Many of the Buffalo soldiers were now inside the caravan. Dinda unleashed a swarm of deadly butterflies onto the soldiers. The butterflies emerged from her sleeves and swirled around her. They attacked the soldiers when Dinda instructed them. The soldiers fell onto the ground with mouths foaming and gasping for air.

  Jebat tried to get Dinda's attention. “Dinda, the flies! The flies!”

  Jebat and Rom tried to spear as many Buffalo soldiers as possible.

  A black cloud emerged on the horizon. It was actually flies sent by the Black Fly Man.

  Dinda stepped onto the deck. “Fly, my butterflies. Fly…” She instructed her butterflies to fly as high as possible into the sky. The butterflies formed a beautiful and poetic formation. Then they spread out and flew into the black storm of flies. When they were inside the fly storm, they exploded into clouds of poison dust. The cloud of flies dropped like dust into the water. Dinda looked inside her sleeves. Only a few butterflies left.

  “Good job, Dinda,” Jebat said.

  The stream of leeches had made its way into the caravan. It transformed back into the old lady. A soldier spotted her. She vomited a high speed stream of leeches onto the soldier. The soldier died wriggling in pain as the leeches sucked and burrowed into the soldier.

  The Old Lady saw Dinda and Chinta and threw fainting dust at Dinda and threw a ball of leeches onto Chinta. The leeches jumped and burrowed themselves into Chinta, sucking deep and filling themselves up very quickly. The leeches inflated themselves like water balloons.

  “N-no!” Dinda screamed.

  Chinta cried for help but Old Lady Leech simply instructed the leeches, “Come back.”

  The leeches quickly dislodged themselves and returned to the Old Lady Leech.

  Chinta fainted. Rakssa, the monkey soldier came and carried her away.

  Sawa was on his horse, galloping through the paddy field. “Send in the suicide bombers!” he commanded.

  Giant black striped yellow frogs with impossibly big bloated ballooned lungs emerged from the water. They quickly attempted to jump into the caravan.

  “The suicide bombers!” Jebat warned. “They carry explosive gas in their lungs.”

  Arjana pulled his bow and let fire a few arrows. Three arrows split separate ways and killed three Dragonslayers.

  Meanwhile, Rangga was battling a Water Buffalo inside the caravan. He saw Dinda, unconscious.

  Jengking's arrows have been killing many soldiers on the caravan, sniping from afar. Multiple eyes, multiple limbs, multiple arrows. All bulls eye.

  Arjana’s tattoo on the forehead opened as the third eye. He let go an arrow towards Jengking and hit one of his forearms. But still his other six limbs remained…

  Uma saw what the Old Lady could do. She unleashed two snakes at her. The Old Lady pulled out daggers and sliced the snakes into two. Uma pulled out her daggers and a fierce battle ensued.

  The Stone Monster pounced and cracked the tortoise’s hard shell. The tortoise let out a loud groan. Jebat tried to spear the Stone Monster but his spear just snapped in two.

  Rom jumped onto the caravan and loaded one of the cannons and shot at the Stone Monster. The Stone Monster blew into pieces. A few of the pieces hit the buffalo soldiers, sending them to the ground.

  Arjana took aim at the Black Fly Man, trying to prevent him from unleashing another swarm. The Black Fly Man had already camouflaged himself, looking like the mud of the paddy fields.

  Suddenly, an eagle appeared on top of him. Arjana was looking through the eagle’s eyes, and released his arrow. The arrow hit the Black Fly Man. The Black Fly Man slowly transformed and emerged from the mud and died.

  One of the suicide bombers managed to jump onto the caravan. The frog lit a match and detonated itself, releasing a big explosion. A few Resistance soldiers were killed, while the caravan rocked and was left with a big gaping hole.

  “Shoot the suicide bombers before they get on board!” Arjana commanded the archers. A few of the archers took aim. But before they could shoot, a few of Jengking’s arrows got them. Arjana took another aim at Jengking and managed to hit another of Jengking’s arms.

  Jebat managed to make his way towards Jengking. Jebat dived at Jengking, knocking him off his horse. A big struggle ensued. Jebat’s dagger was finding it difficult with Jengking’s multiple daggers. Jengking pinned Jebat to the ground, preparing to thrust daggers into him. But suddenly, a cannonball hit Jengking.

  Jebat looked up to see who had shot the cannonball and saw Rom jumping excitedly. “Yeah!” Rom shouted.

  Uma was having difficulty with the Old Leech Lady. Uma had drawn a long sword and sliced the Woman. The Leech Lady simply dissolved into a ball of leeches, which attacked Uma momentarily. Then the stream of leeches disappeared into the water and swam away.

  Rangga held Dinda in his arms. “Dinda! Dinda.! Open your eyes, Dinda! Dinda!” She murmured, “Enemy has... Chinta... They got her.”

  Rangga looked up and saw the Monkey Captain that had abducted Chinta. Rakssa was getting away on a horse. Rangga chased Rakssa. Sensing Rakssa needed some help, Hannu followed from the back.

  Chinta awakened on the buffalo. Rakssa hissed, “Don't move!”

  “Who are you...?” Chinta asked.

  “If you stay calm I won't kill you,” Rakssa warned.

  By this time, Rangga had caught up to them and was riding besides Rakssa.

  “Chinta!” Rangga shouted. “Are you all right?”

  Chinta was dazed. “Y...yes,” she managed to stammer.

  “Stop, Rakssa!” Rangga shouted.

  Rakssa was surprised to see somebody he had not seen for a long time. “P-Prince Rangga?” he asked. “Is that you, Prince Rangga of Angkora?”

  “Why are you getting involved with other people's fights?” Rangga asked. “This has nothing to do with your kin.”

  “It was the humans who got us involved in this!” Rakssa replied. “Our land was destroyed and the survivors taken captive. We, inhabitants of the wood valleys had no chance against war-trained humans. We cut a deal to save the last of our kin. If we capture that girl, the captives' lives will be spared!”

  “I cannot let you have her!” Rangga insisted. “Retreat,
Rakssa! I don't want to fight you!”

  Suddenly, a spear hit Rakssa in the chest. Rangga screamed, “Rakssa!”

  Rakssa fell to the ground.

  The spear had been for Rangga. “Bad luck, I missed,” Sawa the male said. “Then again, who cares, one less useless underling. Hannu, we only need to get that girl, right? We don't need him, do we? So I can do as I please with him.”

  Rangga was by now very, very angry. Rage roiled in his eyes, and seemed to unleash some kind of innate power. Chinta was not sure whether Rangga was all right.

  “Rangga?” she said, slowly.

  Rangga caused Sawa's horse to explode with his psychic power.

  Hannu warned everyone around. “Stay back! He is using magic! Hold the distance!”

  Sawa the female says with a droll, like an old woman. “I'm messing with the Resistance... I forgot that. So, you are the rumoured Prince.”

  Hannu was well aware of what he had just seen. “That skill...”

  “Chinta,” Rangga said, “stay behind me.”

  Lightning flashed and it began to rain.

  “Oh no, I'm all wet,” said Sawa the female. “I hate rain, it always makes me depressed. Some of my soldiers died just now. Those weaklings died, just like that. Had they been strong, they wouldn't have died. Anyway, let's play a bit... entertain me!”

  Rangga and Sawa began fighting on the cliff.

  Sawa attacked with his mind magic, sending a thunderbolt towards Rangga. Rangga blocked it with another thunderbolt. A big explosion erupted where the two bolts met.

  Rangga counterattacked and they started fighting with swords. They clashed the swords violently. Rangga's sword shattered into pieces and flew into the air. Sawa used his magic power to control the pieces and sent them towards Rangga. Rangga saw the flying pieces and bent his body, trying to avoid them.

  But some pieces managed to lodge themselves deep into Rangga’s chest. Rangga fell to the ground. Rangga was hurt badly. Rangga knocked Sawa back with his powers and gave him a death blow that shattered his body into pieces. Sawa’s multiple organs lay scattered on the ground. The organs seemed to have worms in them, and they crawled out slowly one by one.

  Slowly, the organs took lives of their own, and helped by the worms, crawled back and formed a whole human body again. The head crawled back and reconnected with the neck. The right arm crawled back and reconnected with the shoulder. The left leg reconnected back with the hip.