Inside a large room in the Castle of Remna, Vizier Kaljar sat along with two men. The first is his trusty Vice Vizier Lajek. The second is a bandaged man named Valik whom the guards had brought to Kaljar.
The guards told Kaljar that Valik is a villager from the Chocked Villages. He ran away from the villages as Lorope massacred them. The guards could not confirm whether he is a spy or an actual villager.
"So you are saying that the Chocked Villages got massacred," Kaljar said while thinking about the consequences of such words.
"That is correct," replied Valik. "They first burned the village and proceeded to slash everyone they saw, but abducted a few ladies."
Initially, Kaljar thought that Lorope would rush to invade the Castle of Remna because of two reasons.
First, no one could enter the Djinn Kingdom unless they passed through the Castle. The mountains beside the Castle are too tall to climb, so there is no other way but the Castle. Second, it is almost impossible to invade the Castle thanks to its thick walls.
Hence, Lorope's safest bet was to invade the Castle before the Djinn army reached it. This meant Lorope had to completely ignore the Chocked villages to save up time. But they did not do that.
But Kaljar, along with his 10,000 soldiers are already inside the Castle... What could Lorope hope to achieve now? Not to mention that the current Lorope 5,000 army is half the Djinn size.
"Lorope does not seem to be taking the correct chess move, do not you think so Lajek?" Kaljar asked his second-hand man, who had also listened to Valik's story. "They wasted their time on the Chocked Villages instead of spending it on the castle."
"It is quite a basic mistake for Lorope to make," replied Lajek. "I feel like they have another plan... Also, the common tactic of starving us inside the Castle is impossible because they only have access to the northern gate."
The Castle of Remna has two large gates; one at its North and another at its South. Lorope can block or siege the Castle as long as they want at the Northern gate. But they cannot access the southern gate due to the blockage of the mountains.
"So you are saying they might surprise us, but In what way?" Kaljar asked.
"I cannot tell exactly," Lajek replied. "But do you not find weird that Lorope sent just 5,000 soldiers? Attacking the first villagers instead of the Castle is also another weird element. If it is a single mistake, I understand, but if it is more, then most likely it is not a mistake."
Lajek is a well-studied person. Despite being 25 years old, he possessed a sharp mind well beyond his age. He often broke up all the complexity of the war situations to their original aim or purpose.
"Thank you Valik, I find your words trusty enough," Kaljar said as he noticed that Valik was going more fatigued and sleepy. "I asked the soldiers to provide you a room to rest in."
But Valik's eyes did not seem satisfied.
"I want to fight," said Valik. "I need to avenge."
It is quite a sight to hear such words from a person who had just seen his heaven get burned down. That despite being tired and wounded, Valik still showed a glitter of light and confidence to fight.
"Being a soldier is one of the toughest jobs Valik," I said. "What you have received are just a few bruises and lost an eye, no big deal for us. Instead, it is more common in a war to lose your life in either the quickest or the most brutal way you can imagine."
After thinking for a few seconds, Valik replied. "My current life, my future, and my past had been heavily indebted to the villagers and my family. This body remained alive thanks to their sacrifice. So, the only way I can think of to repay this debt is by avenging them."
"Why on Earth would their sacrifice put you in debt?" Kaljar asked. "I had enough with this childish heroism. Once they see you killing another person, staining their name, they would instead curse you in their graves."
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"Then what should I do? What can I do to repay them?" Valik shouted.
"It is too late to repay them," Kaljar replied. "But you could do what makes them happy. And if you have no idea what that is, you will never be wrong in doing good to others."
Valik started to lose his light of hatred and instead got drowned in thought.
"Do not be hasty," Kaljar said. "It could be the most important decision in your life. Relax in your room and think about it."
People's eyes often turn blank they receive such words, for their brains are too lazy to process them. They instead let their hatred, their emotions return them to this typical revenge cycle. Time only can tell whether Valik will be among such people.
Valik stood up, thanked Kaljar for the advise, and left his quarters.
"Well then, we need to rethink about our defense plan Lajek," Kaljar said.
"There is not much of a change to our plan," Lajek replied. "The Castle will do all the job."
"But with the irregular moves of Lorope relying on the Castle alone is insufficient," Kaljar replied.
"True," Lajek replied. "But what extra precautions can we make? We have all the useable manpower in the Kingdom, the 10,000 soldiers, residing inside the Castle. Along with the equipment and the food there is not anything left to do."
"Lajek, you are cornering your thoughts inside a box, I do not like that," Kaljar replied.
"I do not get what you are getting at Kaljar," Lajek said.
"Think of how Lorope would act based on their actions thus far," Kaljar replied. "They had a reason for pillaging the Chocked Villages as you have mentioned. I think it is linked to the same reason for sending just half a legion."
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Valik left the room of Vizier Kaljar and kept on descending the stone steps. Some of the soldiers ascending and descending the stairway eyed him with jealousy. As on why would a stranger spend so much time with the Vizier but not with us? Others gave him eyes of pity, they knew his story, and it had touched their heart.
The Castle of Remna was composed of a long stairway made of large stones. The stairway starts once you open the gates of the castle until you reach the roof. The stairway leads to all the rooms, large and small, that could hold up to 50,000 soldiers.
Vizier Kaljar had given the rooms at the beginning of the stairway for the scouts and the guards who patrol outside the Castle.
Above that are the rooms for other lower ranked soldiers. Followed by the food court which is placed at the center of the stairway. This helps keep it at around the same distance for everyone.
Just beside the food court is the jail. It allows for quicker food transportation, and if the prisoners ever thought to run away, they will be trapped by soldiers above and below them.
Above the food court and the jail, we reach the rooms for the cohort leaders and vice cohort leaders. Each cohort leads one of three cohort groups; a sword, a shield, or a bow cohort. These people interact more with other cohort leaders like them. Thus it is most logical to place them close to each other. Though the only downside to this placement is that the cohort leaders are placed far from their subordinates.
The rooms of the highest men in the army like Vizier Kaljar is at the very top of the Castle. Why? Privilege is one aspect that can't be denied. But placing Kaljar's room in the accessible ground rooms would bring him endless noise of soldiers running back and forth. They would further greet and talk to him all the time to gain his favor.
Despite all the noise of armor and chatting at the stairway, Valik's brain was elsewhere. His brain was chewing the last words of Vizier Kaljar while his right eye throbbed.
It would be better, as Kaljar had said, to help the poor for instance or do good for the people instead of killing the Lorope army. In fact, if Valik ever murdered the Lorope army, would not he be the same as them?
But what about your own sake Valik? A dark thought spoke to him. What about your loss? You lost your love, your family, and your village. Is it fair?
The thoughts of good and evil surged within Valik as he entered his room located just below the food court. Valik immediately collapsed on his bed and succumbed to his overflowing thoughts.
But life did not plan the same. Within a few minutes, the door to his room was flung open.
A soldier shouted at him, "Are you from the Chocked Villages? What happened?"
"Who are you?" asked the surprised Valik.
"My name Laiban," replied the soldier. "I am from the Chocked Villages like you. I left to join the Djinn military two years ago."
Laiban? The name sounded familiar.
"It can't be," said Valik. "Are you... Shaiva's big brother?"
There is a firm rule in the Chocked villages that everyone followed; they could not use the same name for more than a single individual. So when Valik asked about Shaiva, both him and Laiban knew they were talking about the same person.
"Yes," replied Laiban. "Do you know her? Do you know what happened to my family?"
Laiban was unaware that he was talking to the one who had married his sister.
Deep inside Valik did not wish to respond. It was bitter to resurface these memories that he was about to bury deep in his soul. Though, as one of the few survivors of this massacre Valik had a duty to say what happened.
"They were massacred," Valik replied. "All of them. Lorope killed and burned everything they saw. Nothing was spared beside a few ladies whom they decided to abduct."
"And what about you?" shouted Laiban as he grabbed a fistful of Valik's shirt. "You ran away?"
"Yes," responded Valik. "You think it is a disgrace? Dishonor? No, if I were to defend them nothing would have changed. We were too weak. It would have been nothing but idiocy."
Laiban tossed Valik, shouting, "Those bastards... Shaiva!" as tears appeared on his cheeks.