This is Me

Chapter Five: The Life of a Kalif

The day breaks so fast. It is the early hours of another promising day. The weather is so clear but cold still had its way.

The effect of the cold is felt to the teeth of everyone in Kalif.

"My man. What's up? What is going on?" This is Mendel's voice. He is addressing one of his right hand men who seem not to be grooving with the vibe. The vibe in this sense is the intake of palm wine and some very hot fish. The man answers Mendel, saying; "I need something different. Something hot. Not palm wine." "But the fish is very hot my man. Take it and let us all feel very warm and good." The man responds saying; "I need tea. Hot tea with this same hot fish. It will gladden my heart, mind, body and soul." Laugh becomes the instant order of the day as all men present laugh off with great energy. If present at the scene, one could easily notice the serious cold as everybody present are padded in thick clothes.

Mendel quickly instructs the attendant to get the man a very hot tea. The man becomes so happy that he starts to dance. Every other man in the room joins the dance with their own unique dancing movement, everywhere becomes so noisy and uncoordinated.

Mendel shouts again saying; "Give everyone whatever they want. The bill is on me. Serve everyone here now." The level of happiness in the room increases by a notch. The atmosphere turns noisy as everyone start shouting; "Mendel the Prince. Mendel our prince. Mendel the warlord. Mendel the great. No one can test you. No other man born into this world is equal to you. We honour you. We will do so for the rest of our lives. You are the real deal as far as we breath. We hail you our future King."

This chant goes on till they were all served what they had ordered.

After full consumption of their desires in courtesy of Mendel. They all depart to their various working places all in search of their daily bread.

The work and economy of the Kalifs is so diverse. There are a handful of occupation in existence in the Empire of the Kalifs. Infact, they are known all over for their energy and hard working attributes. They do not enjoy playing around as they understand the full essence of working. The people of the Kalif Empire, both male and female are predominantly traders. They love to explore but do not like settling down in foreign settlements. A typical Kalif will bring all proceeds gotten from every trade expedition they embark on back home to develope their homeland rather than settling in another man's land. This is why the Kalif Empire is regarded in that region as the fastest developing Empire. Kalifs are known to be travellers. They travel via land and sea, infact anywhere business takes them to or anywhere profit is. They are trade oriented.

Mendel is not easily intoxicated. He can drink a whole ocean of alcohol and still remain conscious.

On his way to the palace to start his work for the day, he meets a violent scene. A crowd of spectators were urging two fighters on. The two men clashed after a misunderstanding. Mendel could hear the crowd cheering the men with the words; "Finish him! Finish him! He deserves it."

Mendel quickly rushes to the scene with his three secret escorts. Mendel appear to be a lone man. Most people do not have the idea of his three secrets bodyguards. They go everywhere he goes but are always undercover. Vix, Rix and Dix are Mendel's three right hand men. They are specialists in martial arts, sword fights and battle trickery.

Mendel appears in the violent scene saying; "stop this. Halt this at once. This is not a proper way to combat. If you two really want to fight then you will have to do that at the palace fields where the Queen will be ready to witness the encounter."

Queen Mendi is a lover of combat sports. She loves watching people fight for fun but frowns at killing while engaging in such combat. She considers the act as pure sports. Whoever wins the fight is guaranteed a massive reward. It is a way of entertaining herself and thoughts. This action is a tradition in Kalif that has been passed for generations. The killing part of the sport was abolished at the start of Queen Mendi's reign..

"Take them in. The Queen will be more than happy to have you two fighting it out at the Palace Fields. Take them." Mendel says to Vix, Rix and Dix. The three huge men takes the two men into custody. Off they continue their very short trip to the Kalif Palace.

At the Palace Fields one could hear the voices of people who are present for the impromptu entertaining fight between the men who started their go at each other from the streets of Kalif where Mendel and his men picked them from.

"Your Majesty. My name is Kall." One of the men says to the Queen.

The Queen says; "and you? What are you called?" "I am Sali." The other man replies the Queen.

"You know how we do it. No swords, no shields and no weapons of any kind is allowed. The fighters are to go head to head. Today, the strongest or fittest will be known. So you can begin."

Kall and Sali begin to trade punches to the delight of the Queen and the spectators.

All present at the event were so happy because the fight is super entertaining.

The fight goes on for up to an hour. At this moment, Kall and Sali were both very tired and this could be seen in their faces and every step they take.

Seeing how tired they look, the Queen comes to their rescue saying; "Enough. Kall! Sali! You two have put on a great show. You are both the showmen of our time. I was entertained. I like the fact that you are not ready to give in. So I make this pronouncement. Take them, bath them, treat them and let them rest. When they fully recover, I will like you Mendel to train them to become proper soldiers. They are so resilient. Our empire needs this kind of soldiers with endurance and athleticism."

The two men were taken away and everyone was happy they had a wonderful time at the Palace Fields.

Mendel pays his mother the Queen a visit. He requests for a plan to protect Kalifs from any external threat that can be poised by the Alberom Empire. He says; "Your Majesty. I feel we should put in place a plan in case the Alberomans act funny. We should be ready for anything mother."

Queen Mendi replies saying; "I understand you too well. I had this at the back of my mind but I instead chose not to communicate this with you now. I wanted to give you two more days to use your initiatives. As a King, you have to be multiple steps ahead in everything. Now that you have come of age. I am so happy."

Commander Mendel says; "Mother. When will you have total confidence in my abilities? I am ripe to rule. I know you know that. This age barrier is the only hindrance."

Queen Mendi replies him saying; I believe in you and I want you to get to a state whereby you will no longer need help or consultation from me."

Mendel says; "I will be fine mother. Trust me."

The Queen says; "My son. You will make a very good and wise King. This I have never doubted since you came out of me. I will always hold on to it. Even in my absence or death as the case may be. I am confident you will lead my people in the right direction."

"Mother. what is the plan?" Mendel asks.

Queen Mendi replies him saying; "What plan do you have. You must have a plan as a King on every matter before consulting your advisers. Your advisers are to complement your reasoning. You should have a plan my future King."

"Okay Mother. If I may."

"Go on." says the Queen.

"We have received positive feedback from Alberom about the alliance but I think we should prepare Incase they intend to bring the war to us. We should also intensify security activities along our borders. By this we will know in time if they are planning to invade us." says Mendel.

Queen Mendi claps for a while and says; "Wow! Wow! Wow! My son have grown. You are now a man. You have said a lot. But there is one thing missing."

"Mother. Please hit the nail on the head. What is that?"

"We also need to send scouts to Alberom, Hudem and other neighbouring villages. This will make us be on the look out for any suspicious movement from them. Hudem should not be left out. We must plan against any surprise attack from them as well." The Queen says.

Mendel responds; "That is wise and calculative. I have learnt one more thing from you today."

"You can never stop learning. You learn as long as you live. I learn a lot as a kid. I learnt from your father. I keep learning. It is a continuous process. Trust me when I say you must know the appropriate medication to save every situation you experience as a leader. You must also be careful. These decision you make can make or break your reign or to a large extent the entire empire." says the Queen.

"I see now." says Mendel.

"My son. Now you have to go and put in place what we have discussed here. Take Vix, Rix and Dix with you. Ensure we have a complete implementation of what we have discussed here. It is very essential we move fast and effective."

"I will make sure all these things are perfectly implemented. Can I have your permission to be discharged?" says Mendel.

"Yes. you are dismissed." says the Queen.

Mendel walks straight to Vix, Rix and Dix, gives them a comprehensive briefing and further instructs them to implement the outcome of his meeting with the Queen. Vix is to get the army ready. This include recruiting new officers into the Kalif Armed Forces, increasing the number of guards all over the Kalif Empire and across its borders to the east, west, south and north as well as the interiors. He is also vested with the power to ensure adequate and reasonable shift duty among soldiers in Kalif.

Rix's duty is to ensure that weapons of the highest quality and quantity is circulated and available to all soldiers across the Empire. He is also in charge of boasting weaponry in the Kalif armory. Dix is responsible for hand picking suitable scouts to be properly planted in every nook and cranny of Alberom, Hudem and other neighbouring settlements.

All these they look to perfect in not more than a week.

At one of the sea banks very close to the Kalif Empire. The sea is in a good mood. It is so positive. The sea could be seen as very quiet. Sixty boats is spotted by the Kalif Navy.

"Wow! What!! Commander Vix must here about what we are witnessing here."

"Sure. It is important he does." Two Naval officers of Kalif discuss between themselves. A quick message is sent to Commander Vix in order to inform Mendel and Queen Mendi about the current happening at the sea coast.

Vix gets the hint just in time. He swiftly seeks an audience with Commander Mendel on the impending matter.

"Row the boat. Hive. Faster." says Master Doli.

"Aiiiiiieeeeee Sir. I see land." says a member of Master Doli's crew.

"It means we are almost there." another crew member adds.

Everybody on the boat starts chanting in one voice;

"Yes we row. Here we go. When we row faster. We feel stronger. Row like our lives depend on it. Our families are waiting for it. We can not wait any longer. For our wait is now over. We are always triumphant. Our heart is so fat. We are one. After this we are not done. We are like warriors. Strong survivors. Even when we feel pain. We know we will still reign. We were there. Now we are here."

Every crew member abode chant these lines passionately. It is a traditional chant of motivation amongst them.

Message of the arrival of the boats on the sea coast gets to Commander Mendel.

"Commander. They are here." Vix says to Mendel.

"Let us get ready." Commander Mendel replies.