“So, the head queen consort is a witch,” Zeya stated, his voice was low.
“The royal ruby ring is hers, so yes,” Mingye Yan Naing confirmed.
“I’ve known this before. That b!tch dares to do anything to get over me. She’s an old adversary of mine. Back in the day, well, she just couldn’t get over a womb-born witch like me. She won’t mind to get prostituted by the king just to pass me,”
Lady Saw Nan Mon cursed. Although it was a rude curse to the royal family, Mingye Yan Naing desired to take no further action. He was getting fed up with the royal family anyway. That head queen consort/witch fled as soon as her monster was out of control and made nothing to control her own mess. As a result, dozens of soldiers were devoured by her monster. It was only when Zeya, the foe at that time, defeated the monster, the soldiers were saved.
“It was U Agga who introduced her to the king,” Mingye Yan Naing said. Zeya spoke, “All problems lead to U Agga, isn’t it? He made cyborgs but I’ve seen none of them in your army, my Minister, why?”
“That ascetic said that a local rebellion was no match to his Nanarupas (cyborgs). Even in fights with other countries, he gave no more than a dozen,” Mingye Yan Naing answered.
“A dozen? There were hundreds of them in his monastery! Or should I call it “his palace”!”
“Huh?” Mingye Yan Naing exclaimed and said,
“We are now having the same fate as the kingdom of Āḷavī. First, we have to send the prisoners to turn them into cyborgs. Then, we got to capture young men at night time to send. All for his cyborgs making plans. We never got the same number of cyborgs as we sent. There were always fatalities and errors as he said. But, knowing the power of the cyborgs we got, we could say nothing further. We only took as much as he gave. After using them in war, we got to send them back to him for maintenance. Now, as per your words, there are indeed a lot more cyborgs than he showed us. Also, that creature you took called “Mutent” is in his hand. Oh, our country is on the edge of a cliff.
Mingye Yan Naing made a sour smile and grabbed the tea leaf salad that Zeya handed. He ate a spoonful of tea leaves. Zeya and Saw Nan Mon were delighted, and they ate one spoon per person. It was a Burmese court tradition to eat the tea leaf after having an agreement or resettlement. This also indicated their alliance.
They were in a tent inside the wall. It was a sweet morning, having no clouds in the sky. The surroundings were a bit in chaos with c*rpses and broken chariots, but the sun shone upon them. Smells of ashes began to fade away.
(the Kingdom of Āḷavī is an ancient region in Northern India. There’s a Buddhist myth that the king of Āḷavī agreed with a demon to send one person a day as prey for the demon. Mingye Yan Naing compared this to the situation of giving young men to U Agga)
Then, Shin Ye Htut and the riders came in, alongside the two commanders, Thadoe Saw and Nanda Mait. They were fleeing after the defeat and encountered the riders. They had no other ideas than to get captured. Upon seeing their leader, Mingye Yan Naing eating tea leaves together with Zeya and Lady Saw Nan Mon, they understood the depth of the situation. And Mingye Yan Naing called them,“Come, ye commanders!” and had to explain them.
…..
Mingye Yan Naing had to assemble his troops and retreated to the capital. The numbers were not as half of the beginning. All were in pain, cripples, and in fear. All were weary with sweats and tears. On the horseback, Mingye Yan Naing spoke to the commanders, “How shameful are we? What shall we do further? If we let U Agga do his havoc, our kingdom will be grounded for sure. Even if we send him no more young men, he can still destroy our country with his remaining ones. We counted on him to prevent the end and now, the end came because of him,”
“What if we unite other troops and raid his monastery, my Lord?”
“Welp, for that, we need to make the King understand. We only have this to do anyway. Not just me, I need the company of other generals and ministers,”
“But other generals are too into making Nanarupas, my lord,” Thadoe said to Mingye Yan Naing as he knew the others’ ideas. The generals had a close relationship with the ascetic U Agga.
“Also, if our raid failed, we will become traitors!” Nanda Mait said,
“Welp, that’s what I ought to explain to Min Swe” (Min Swe is the childhood name of King Narapati)
Thus, they approached the capital walls. To their surprise, the garrison troops closed the main door. Their outposts were clear, and there was a complete silence. Mingye Yan Naing felt a chill in his spine and immediately understood the condition.
“Get back!!!” he yelled, and others were stunned in a sudden. “Bang!”
Then, the main door was wide open, and waves of the garrison riders emerged raiding. …
“So, why that organization called Shembella did not allow the weizzas to attack U Agga? Can you tell me your knowledge about Shembella?”
To Zeya’s question, Saw Nan Mon answered, “I know nothing about them. Only Grandpa (Referring to Kavisara, the elder) does. Bo Bo (Grandpa) once told me that its main headquarters is hidden somewhere in the Himalayas. They order what the weizzas should or should not do,”
“Oh, Himalaya! Isn’t that the mountain range from the tale of Chaddanta, the elephant? There’re seven mountains and seven arrivers, they said. There’s a giant pool called Nawarat?” Shin Ye Htut interrupted the talk with his tales.
“It’s called ‘Anotatta’ and it’s a lake, not a pool,” Saw Nan Mon replied annoyingly.
For the Burmese people at that time, the Himalaya was a region fabricated with myths and tales. Being an undesirable region of dangerous travel and uncertain return, almost no one has been there. But Zeya didn’t care as he could fly. But the issue of having to find the secret place in the glacier did matter. If he got there he planned to talk to the council and get help. But this strategy was as hard as finding a needle amongst straws. Suddenly, he recognized,
“How about Kavisara, the elder? Does he have the connection?”
Just then, Saw Nan Mon realized, “I haven’t met him for days!”
“I was with him in the beginning. He said that Ava was in danger, went inside the portal, and I followed him. Now, where is he? Where was he when the imperial army attacked?”
Lady Saw Nan Mon had a hard time to answer. She, too, did not know where the elder was. The conditions that came after proved that there was no need to go to Shembella.
“Sorcerers!!” ‘Sorceresses!!” A sudden scream of the residents interrupted their thoughts, and they went outside the tent. The visions left the trio aghast.
There were male and female individuals in the sky, standing unshaken with stunned expressions. They were not flying but standing still in the sky just as pillars mounted on earth. They were painted in red, green, white, yellow, and blue. They were almost twenty in number. Their hands covey a strange posture in each person. They wore only small pieces of clothes that covered their private parts and all were topless. They wore garlands of skulls and crowns made of bones.
Saw Nan Mon saw their standing as well composed and forming a position. They were forming a pentagon. What stood in their center was…
“Zeya!! Move now!!” Saw Nan Mon yelled out her lungs and tried to push him but it was too late. A sudden burst of light rays fall upon him. An excruciating pain went through all nerves of his body. He felt as if thousands of thunderbolts had fallen upon him. His body was bursting energy. Within a second, everything went dark.
….
Zeya felt so weak. Noises were echoing, and his mind was hazy. His throat was sore and he desired for a drop of water. He desperately tried to open his eyes. As he tried to move his eyelids, his head was aching as if it would explode. He felt a coldness on his uncovered chest. He felt the same as he was drugged by Taterians.
“Vroom!!” A shower of water fell upon him, cooling his body and slowly healing his thirst. He used all his might to widen his eyes and see what was before him. Vision of a man arose.
“Zeya, have you awakened?”
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