The Masked Knight

Chapter 8

The Masked Knight’s P. O. V.

Tonight, neither I could ask Sabastian one simple question, nor could he answer on his own.

Because even when he wanted to say something afterwards, we got interrupted all of a sudden.

“Chief!!!! It’s me, Joseph. You need to come out and take a look at this.” A warrior from my troop came running to look for me in a hurry at that moment. His anxious and breathless voice was enough for me to know that there is some problem which needed to be taken care of right away.

“What is it now?” I muttered under my breath and went out of the tent in a rush without bothering to spare Sabastian one single glimpse, even when I knew that he was still waiting for my reply about what he mentioned in the very end of our conversation.

Even so, he was mature enough to know that it is not the right time to deal with this problem when we have another crisis in our hand to take care of, immediately. So, without even saying yet another word, he followed me like always.

“Let’s go.” I uttered as soon as I came out of the tent and saw Joseph who was waiting for me right outside and was shivering in the cold.

Only after seeing him this way, I realized that the nights are getting colder day by day as winter is on the way here already. And to fight with the snow, we need more supplies and warm clothes at the night time at least. But it would be good if I take care of this matter tomorrow, when I will be in my right mind to think carefully.

So, without wasting any other second, I took of the cloak that I was wearing today and handed it over to Joseph, and did not forget to say,

“Take this and lead the way.”

It seemed like my sudden action made him a bit startled as he was well aware of the so-called norm that no one can wear a knight’s clothes so easily. Of course, he would hesitate before doing anything out of the rules to avoid being criticized by others.

“It’s okay, chief. I am fine.” He uttered with a lot of hesitation but I have no time to argue with him as I was becoming impatient as hell.

So, I moved and put the cloak over his shoulder in just one go, saying, “it is just a cloak to keep human bodies warm in such cold nights, like tonight.”

After that, Joseph did not argue any more, neither I was patient enough to keep standing there and started walking towards our destination. Of course, Joseph led the way, just as I have asked him to do.

While the three of us were already on our way, the noises of some kind of commotion kept coming to my ears and I just did not stop wondering about what exactly happened within my ground that made my warriors cause such a chaos during their meals, which is quite unlikely.

Soon we came to stand at the huge clearing where we warriors usually gather up to eat every night. And tonight, there were no difference either.

No, actually there is something different.

And when I looked carefully, I saw that there were not just my men present at that moment but the warriors of Tristen’s troop came too to claim their space on my ground at the same time.

May be that’s why.

May be that’s why some kind of misunderstanding occurred which turned into a fight between my men and Tristen’s.

Ughhhh!!!!

How many times in a day now I have to deal with this name Tristen when the only thing I want to do is to stay far away from him. But I am quite grateful tonight that even when his men are present here, he did not come to make the situation even more difficult for me.

I stood there for some time without doing anything and tried to understand the situation right now.

To me, it was a real mess. Cause I was seeing my men fighting like animals with the men from the other troop just to show who is more powerful over here and who will decide things for others regarding any kind of matter, whether it is about meals or something else.

No!!!

No, no no…. this kind of things just can not go on forever. I just can not allow them to destroy the harmony among my men that I have build over the past five years with my hard work.

I have to do something, immediately, or it will go out of my hand.

“Enough!!!!!!” I yelled as loudly as I could and it just took a second or two for all of them to pause whatever they were doing until now.

Soon, except for the silence, there were nothing else. Not even a single sound came to my ears at this moment.

“What is happening here? Why are you all not eating peacefully? Is the food that you have been provided not enough?” I screamed loudly as I did not find any proper reason for my warriors to act like this way with the guests tonight.

But instead of some answer which I was expecting from my men at least, the irritating silence greeted me once again and I could not help but got even angrier.

“What’s the matter? Does anyone here even have any answer for what I have just asked? Don’t you dare to waste my time. Answer me.” I yelled furiously that even the entire ground shook with my aggression. It seemed that the cold and windy night did not feel cold anymore for the men who were present here at this moment as I saw them sweating miserably due to some kind of fear.

All this time, Sabastian was standing just behind me without saying a word. But seeing me getting infuriated by the menacing silence, he just could not hold himself back from coming forward to help in such kind of situation. He might have realized that if this goes on any further, I might have ended up doing something worse to them all.

“Jordan. You were present here since the very beginning, didn’t you? Tell the chief, what exactly happened? What started the fight?” Coming a step forward, Sabastian called one of the warriors and asked him to elaborate on the matter.

And at last, someone dared to come in the front to answer.

“Chief!!! We are facing troubles to co-operate with the other troop. The rules we follow here does not match with theirs and we kind of failed to compromise regarding that matter. Their manners while eating, during the training and even while addressing one another are way different from us. And we just could not stay silent and watch them ruin our decorum here which we strictly follow since the very beginning. That is the main reason why someone among us ended up fighting with the men from the other troop and the chaos started even when none of us were intending to do such a thing.” Jordan replied without bothering to keep his head down while talking to me. Cause he knew that they did not do anything wrong. They were just following the rules which is quite expected from them.

Hearing what the actual problem is, I could not help but sigh deeply.

To me this is indeed a problem.

While allowing the warriors of Tristen inside our territory, I have never thought about the fact that in future a time might come when both of our troops will face difficulties to settle with each other due to the differences in our life.

Now, when the problem has already raised and came to my sight, I am kind of confused as I could not see anyone wrong here. But still the fight and the conflict within us just can not go on forever when we all know that we have to stay together on this ground from now on, at least until I think of some idea to give my men a completely separate space.

“Chief!!! What we are supposed to do now? Any orders?” Sabastian asked, seeing me standing quietly for some time now.

“Yes!!! I am thinking about making new rules from now on. As we all know that we will be using the same land from now on to eat, sleep, train and to stay, we must follow certain instructions which will be the same for both the troops which are present here. And because both the forces have different manners and decorum, there will be several issues just like this one in the coming time as well.

And only to avoid such problems, we must distribute our times while using a specific land or a specific object.

Do you understand?” I declared my words loudly which was enough for each and every single one present on the ground to hear my orders crystal clear.

But all this time when I was busy coming up with an easy solution to such a problem, what I failed to notice that someone else have already come to stand by his men’s side by the time and was watching me quietly.

I was not at all going to know about his presence among us all this time, if he did not choose to interrupt at the very end.

But, unfortunately, he did.

“Why do you think, only you have the right to make rules on this land which must be followed by both of our men, when you should only be responsible for your own troop, not mine. Have you never considered the idea that we should be taking decisions by mutual consultations when we both know that we are going to share this land for a while?” I heard his deep voice somewhere from the crowd all of a sudden which made me startled for a second.

I looked around to find out where is he exactly and it seemed like I did not have to work hard as he came out to stand in front of me in the very next moment.

An unknown sigh came out of my throat without much my consciousness. I just cannot believe that at the end of the day I had to stand in front of the very man with whom I am not ready to meet yet.

But here he was standing in all his glory right before my eyes.

Tristen.

With his almost six feet and five inches height and a well muscular body, Tristen looked very much dominating without any doubt. Tonight, he was wearing just a loose black tunic along with a pair of trousers and that’s all. It seems like tonight, neither he needs any of his armor, nor even a cloak to keep himself warm in such a chilly night.

But being a true knight, he did not forget to carry his prestigious sword which was dangling from his waist belt and was kept protected inside the sheathe.

Seeing him tonight, I realized that we really did come a long way which turned the blue-eyed boy from the western market into a grown-up man who had won a battle of seven long years, whereas it turned me into a masked knight with no identity from the past. Life is indeed different for everyone.

Cause, the familiar Tristen with whom I grew up once did not stay familiar to me anymore.

“Well then. As you are already here, let’s discuss the matter once again. I guess you have already heard what the real problem is. If so, then do you have any better idea than what I have suggested?” I uttered with a stern voice, yet I tried to be as polite as possible towards the leader of the other troop to show my utmost generosity.

“Yes. I have one.

Why don’t we equally split up the land and mind our own business peacefully?” said Tristen.

And for the first time I saw wickedness in those icy blue eyes.