This is Me

Chapter Six: A Step Up

Vix, Rix and Dix gets the Kalif Navy ready to receive Master Doli. Master Doli is known for multiple successful trade expeditions. He is a popular, successful and wealthy businessman. Very calculative. A man who knows his onions. He already has an aim and runs an estimate of expected returns before embarking on a business trip. He owns a lot of business boats. He can take with him as much as a hundred boats for his business on the sea. He envisages this as his last business trip using only boats. He talks about adding some big ships into the frey.

Still at the shore, the arrival of Master Doli is met with a bright atmosphere.

The presence of the navy is to protect the proceeds from the great expedition on the shores while they are subsequently handed over to the army. The army will therefore protect them till they get to the Kalif Palace where Master Doli will present his report to Queen Mendi.

"Welcome back our hero. It is good to see you. We had other thoughts about your boats when Initially spotted on the sea. We are indeed very lucky to have someone like you in our midst. You have contributed immensely to the growth of this empire. On behalf of every citizen, I say we appreciate you dearly. I see you came back with some useful resources. I trust you to deliver a positive news as you always do." says the Queen.

"Greetings your majesty. We have been away for up to three months. The conditions and terms in every negotiation have been so tasking but we found a way in each of them like we always do. We can not fail. Failure is not an option for us. Finally, I am back with all members of my crew. I want you to know that we suffered zero casualties. We are back with the same number of people we went with. This trade was a big one. I and my crew are back with plenty of good returns." says Master Doli.

The Queen asks him further saying; "How wealthy are we from this business trip?" Master Doli replies saying; "We are very wealthy. The profit we have gotten from this trip is so majestic. Queen Mendi asks; "How majestic?" "We can not run out of the profit even after ten years. I went with twenty eight boats but we came back with fifty.

The Queen thanks Master Doli saying; "Thank you for always staying true to your ways. You are a special businessman and I will reward you accordingly. We had a deal before you left. I am going to triple that reward. You spent three months. You know." Queen Mendi smiles and everyone present at the scene had a laugh over the Queen's slight joke.

Master Doli thanks the Queen saying; "Your Majesty. My Queen. I appreciate your kind gesture. You are a good leader whose words can be taken for it. Thank you for the rewards. I will forever be grateful to you my Queen."

Apart from the reward promised him by the Queen, Master Doli made huge personal profit. Though the Queen is aware this is inevitable. She does not deem it necessary to poke her nose into Doli's business since he does a very great job by improving the economic strength of the Kalif Empire.

"Master Doli. You can retire to your quarters. We have not forgotten your crew too. We will also reward them as we deem fit." says Queen Mendi.

"Thank you your majesty. You are so gracious." Master Doli says as he exits the palace. With so much joy in him. He is so eager to see his family after three long months. He quickly dashes out to meet up with his family who were already waiting for him outside of the Kalif Palace.

"It is good to see you my love" says his wife.

"We have missed you daddy" his three children echoed.

"It is a wonderful feeling to be back. I miss you guys more. There was hardly a day that passed by without your thoughts. I almost got sick at some point. But I held strong. I braced myself knowing that you will be waiting for me." says Master Doli.

His wife asks him to allow them leave for home with immediate effect.

The atmosphere seems tense in Alberom as the death of Collins the Wise still appears to be unreal. The feeling of some Alberomans is that the Old man will resurrect. Collins' death was a difficult pill to swallow. Though it has been more than a week, the death of Collins the Wise still rocks the whole Empire like it just happened.

On the streets of Alberom, the unrecovered shock of Collins the Wise's death is still being talked about even in the inner lands.

A man says; "It feels like yesterday. The Wise man is gone." Another man answers;

"Yes, he is but I hope he comes back to live."

"He has been part of my long life. I know I will soon meet him. I am old and will die. I definitely have not got enough time left than I have already spent here on earth." a very old man laments.

Far from the scene a set of Alberom youths is found having a discussion under a gigantic mango tree. Their topic is about the Unification Puzzle. These young men and women discuss at lent stating the importance of the puzzle to them and how they intend to make use of the puzzle whenever the time comes or if given the chance to decide how the puzzle should be used. Present are Modi, Fayi, Farue, Ginge, Magi among others. The following conversation ensued among these youths.

"My man." says Modi.

"Yes my Man. What is it? Is there anything I can do to help you?" Fayi asks.

"We have heard nothing about the unification puzzle." Modi replies. He continues his talk saying;

"As citizens of this great Alberom Empire, it is my opinion that we need to be updated about what the crown wish to do with the puzzle."

"I agree with every word you have spoken. I doubt if King Roman found the real puzzle" says Farue.

How will you say such a thing?" Magi says. Magi is one of the few females under the tree. She is always protecting the interest of the Crown and Alberom as an empire. She can be simply referred to as a patriot.

"I saw the puzzle with my naked eyes" Magi lays emphasis.

"One thing is to see. Another is to confirm its authenticity. if we really have the puzzle, we should have taken over so many Kingdoms by now" says Modi.

"Take over! We like peaceful talks. We are diplomatic." Farue says.

"Do you mean our approach to the Kalifs?" says Modi.

Every soul present at the scene begin to laugh uncontrollably at the mention of the Kalif Empire.

It is widely believed by some Alberomans that it was a tame idea to have held peaceful talks with the Kalif. Crushing them could have been easy and safe because the Alberomans are stronger in all aspects when compared to the Kalifs.

"They have been placed there to take decisions on our behalf. We have our interest well represented at the council. We have got to channel our observations through them" Magi says.

Ginge joins the conversation and he says; "Through them you say! Through them my foot. I can majestically walk up to King Roman. When I do so, I am going to express my mind to him without any negative implication. After all , he is our King. I am not afraid to directly air my opinion." Ginge is a man of just words. He can not back his words with the right and effective action. His friends know how tame he is when it comes to walking the talk. He is a confirm noise maker just like Modi.

Magi adds to the talk saying;

"We all know our King. He is wise, strong and considerate. He has no time for a first class drunk like you."

Magi's words are met with a series of laughter. Everyone literarily rolled on the floor because Magi has just described Ginge as a drunkard. Fayi had to express his amusement at Magi's lines saying; "That drunkard part got me. Hehehehe."

The laughter continues for a while but eventually fades off.

At the Alberom Palace. There is a meeting currently going on between The Crown and the Council of Chiefs. This meeting is done once in every week. The primary aim of this particular meeting is to decide the next step of the unification process. Alberom is now in accord with the Kalifs though they still keep a close guard of the happenings in Kalif incase of any surprise.

The council seeks Alberom to win more lands either by the crook or by the hook in order to attain their goal.

Present in the meeting is King Roman himself, General Roy, General Benson, General Stead as well as Thoms the Wise. The council which has twenty members of whom all are present in the meeting.

"The time has come for us to launch a surprise attack on Mezcal. says the head of the council chiefs, Sir Rodwan.

"We can send Thoms the Wise to negotiate with them instead. I am hopeful that it will be a successful negotiation process." says Chief Woodie.

Thoms the Wise contributes saying; "I know the Mezcals pretty well. They are very violent in nature. Let me tell you a brief story Collins the Wise told me about them."

"Go ahead. We are all with you." King Roman orders him. Thoms the Wise starts narrating. He says;

"Some decades ago, when Collins the Wise was just twenty years of age. He went with his father, Collins Senior who represented Alberom in a meeting with the Mezcals. The meeting was a business one that concerned the benefits of the raw materials present in the boundaries of the two kingdoms. The Mezcals did not want to share the wealth of that area with Alberom that they did not even listen to what Collins Senior had to say. He went there to make it known to them that Alberom no longer had interest in the raw materials present in the land of the Mezcals. Collins Senior was beheaded and his head was handed over to his son who brought it back to Alberom. I think young Collins had his stars to thank for returning home unscathed. To them, a clear message had been sent that they do not want any connection with our people. I need not remind us about the recent attempt to bind with them by blood. The Mezcals knew what we proposed. They totally declined our gesture to marry from their people. They do not want a bond of any kind with us. This is a sign of disrespect. I am talking about the failed move we made to make peace and bind with them by blood. I do not see a set of people who declined all these to be ready for an accord with us. That is about all I have to say about the Mezcals. They are so weird. I implore we learn from our past engagements with them."

General Benson quickly states that;

"If we must defeat Hudem. We can go through other routes but the most precise way to conquer Hudem is to annex Mezcal and launch our parade via their route towards Hudem. I also cannot live with the news that twenty of our citizens were brutally killed by these Mezcals last night. We can not sit down and do nothing. We know what has automatically become of their bodies. I mean our citizens who were murdered by these Mezcals."

Affirmation for the adoption of the war approach could be seen on everyone's face. King Roman then says. "I would have loved to think extensively on this matter but what is left to think about especially after listening to the pathetic story. Let us gather our men in thousands and get ready to crush these good for nothing Mezcals. They are rascals. We have agreed to annex Mezcal by force. Let us go and do just that. Myself and my generals will carve out strategies to defeat the Mezcals in a battle with less casualties. However, the army will need time to strategize for an effective attack. We must attain swift victory so we must plan well. Thank you. May we disperse and return to our various chambers."

"Long live our King." This sentence is chewed by all as they end the meeting.

King Roman asks his generals to stay behind. It appears the King has a special information to pass to them on specific actions to prepare for the battle. Alberom had her mind made up on a clear assault. The attack on the Mezcals seem imminent and unavoidable.