Year 1534.
"Where were you all morning?"
Julia looked at her son's disheveled attire. His clothes were covered in mud, and he looked exhausted and out of breath.
Cyrus, after gathering his breath, answered,
"I was with father. We had a disagreement, so he decided that a round of wrestling would get us somewhere."
She palmed her forehead and let out a sigh. While she did love them both, her husband and her son were no better than barbarians.
"Where is he?"
She looked outside the door to see if her husband was there, but the entrance to their house was empty.
"At the farm. He decided to stay back and tend to the fields alone-"
Before he could finish, she interrupted and said,
"After beating you up."
Cyrus had his neck bent down towards the ground in shame. He did not dare to look into his mother's eyes.
"He isn't going to let you go to the capital. You would spare me a lot of worry if you would just accept that and started working at the farm."
She picked up a wooden basket filled with food and left. Cyrus knew that she meant well, but it was not something that he wanted to hear. He looked around, and said,
"I don't want this."
He clenched his fist out of frustration. He had spent 15 years of his life in this village, but for 10 of those years, the only thing on his mind was to leave this place. Adelie was a small territory, located near the southern border of the Kingdom of Gaul. It was a long way from the capital, and it was a place where people were content with their way of life. Cyrus, on the other hand, had been working himself to death, trying to gain his father's approval to leave and make a name for himself.
He walked outside and grabbed a bucket with cold water, pouring it directly over his head. As he watched the muddled water flow into the soil, his mind kept going back to the argument between his father and himself.
"My word is final. You will never have my blessing, should you choose to leave this village."
He closed his eyes.
'No matter what, I will convince them.'
The stories that his mother read to him as a child, were of heroes and kings that inspired thousands of men to lay their lives for the greater purpose of conquest. He was drawn towards such tales, and becoming like them was all he ever thought about. And unlike most kids who grew out of such delusions, his conviction was unwavering, despite the efforts of Julia and Justin.
'Let's begin'
He cleaned himself up and went back to his room. From under his bed, he took out a worn-out book, titled,
'Imperial Records of Wars and Battles.'
He flipped through the pages, before stopping at the chapter that had the records of the battle that he admired the most.
'Barcar-The ruler of Qarta against Samuel-The Ruler of Gaul.'
A war which ended in a single night, and a war in which the upstart ruler of Qarta was heavily outnumbered. 8000 soldiers and 700 cavalries, against 30000 soldiers and 4000 cavalries.
Samuel, who was the more experienced ruler, wanted to crush his enemy with pure strength. His idea was to intimidate his opponent with his numbers and launch an assault to conquer Qarta and annex it as a part of Gaul.
Before the war began, Barcar had a plan. A plan that would not only shock the Gauls, but the entire world.
He allowed the opposing army to march into his territory, unopposed. The Gauls had anticipated that the two armies would have met the second they stepped into the territory, as per the reports given by the scouts ahead of the battle. However, when they marched into the border, it was as if the Qartan army had vanished. Taking this as a sign that the Qartan army had retreated, Samuel ordered his men to march further into the territory, until they reached the river Ines, where Barcar made his first call.
During the night, after he had confirmed the scouts from Gaul had relayed the message regarding the position of his army to Samuel, he ordered half of his men to cross into the border, which was done at an unprecedented speed, and with complete secrecy. Any living being that they found on their way into the border, was killed without mercy, and they decided to hide themselves within the terrain covered with trees. Their orders were to follow the opposing army from behind, and standby until they reached the river. Samuel's confidence in his army, and his disregard towards the skill of his enemy, ensured that there were no hiccups so far in Barcar's Plan.
When the Gauls Reached the river, on the other side, stood Barcar with the rest of his army. Samuel noted that the size of the Qartan army was smaller than they anticipated, and that the only thing left to do was to go north and cross the river through the shallow end to destroy the Qartan Army. Barcar, noted to have understood their plan, relayed a single letter through his messenger to Samuel prior to the battle.
"Sleep Well."
Samuel was enraged by this and decided to behead the messenger on the spot, sending his head back across the river along with a note stating,
"Prepare."
As his army retreated to their tents, on a new moon night, Barcar made his final move. He relayed his next order to the army that was positioned behind the Gaul camps. It was to kill and only kill until none of the Gauls remained.
And the army did exactly that. The guards were murdered before they could alert the other soldiers and their king, and the camps were ransacked by the cavalries as well as the soldiers, who did not hesitate to murder each and every Gaul that they came across. They destroyed the armory; they released the horses after lighting fires to their tails, created as much pandemonium as possible to ensure that the enemy does not have the opportunity to regroup or resist. It was a one-sided victory, and in a single night-20000 men from the Gaul army were killed, while the others were taken as prisoners of war. This included Samuel, who tried to flee from the battle on his horse, but was stopped after his horse was killed by an arrow from the enemy, and he ended up falling to the ground, breaking both his legs.
Barcar meanwhile, stood at the other side of the river and looked towards the Gaul camp with a wide smile. As he heard the terrified screams of his enemies, the joy of his victory was visible all over his face.
The next morning, Samuel was brought as a prisoner of war, and famously, Barcar said to his face,
"I have prepared your demise."
He then Beheaded Samuel and released the remaining prisoners of war back to Gaul. He wanted his enemies to know the cruelty that he would inflict if they decided on going against him, and the Gauls, after losing their king, were forced into a truce by Barcar.
The name given to him was,
"The Tyrant King."
Cyrus was entranced.
'This is my ambition.'
He thought to himself, prepared to do whatever he could to fulfil his goal.