Zenak Read Online Free PDF Page B

into the tent. He pushed the mercenary so hard that the man fell on the ground. The mercenary was a man of average height. He had scars of many battles written on his face and the scars on the top of his bald head suggested that his baldness was not the consequence of any hereditary or disease problem. Zenak walked up to the sprawling man. The scout looked up at Zenak’s fearsome countenance but showed no sign of fear. On the contrary, he smiled slyly at Zenak.
    â€œWell, well, King Zenak, the most fearsome fighter on the Island. Do you want information? Is that why you kept me alive? For a price I’ll tell you all,” the scout said.
    â€œGet up,” Zenak ordered.
    The man rose stiffly on his feet. “I’m not as young as I used to be,” he said. Zenak moved close to him.
    â€œNow, I want information. How many marksmen does this army have? How many infantrymen march in this mercenary army? Who is your leader? And who hired your leader?” Zenak fired off.
    â€œWell, we are full of questions, aren’t we?” the scout answered. “I’ll tell you the name of our leader for free. His name is well-known throughout the Island. Tabilo is his name.”
    â€œTabilo!” Habor screamed out. “I thought I killed him before we overcame Mara’s father at the battle of Dorman. My sword struck him across the face and he slipped to the ground in his own blood.”
    â€œHe bears the scar well, even though one of his eyes is missing from the ill-fated blow,” the scout told Habor.
    â€œI care not about scars or missing eyes,” said an en­raged Zenak. “Now tell me how many marksmen and infantrymen are in your army?” The king grabbed the man by his shirt and lifted him off the ground. The scout leeringly looked into Zenak’s eyes.
    â€œI will tell you nothing more until I have 1,000 gold pieces in my pocket,” the scout said evenly.
    Zenak glared at the man and then let him go. As the man was straightening his shirt, Zenak, as swift as the western winds, drew a dagger out of a pant leg pocket and before the scout could even move from natural reactions, Zenak sliced the mercenary’s right ear off. The pain had not even regis­tered in the man’s mind when he saw his neatly sliced ear on the ground. “Oh, my gods,” the man screamed. He tried to fall to the ground but Zenak impeded him by holding the mercenary by his shoulders.
    â€œNow,” Zenak said quietly, “how many marksmen, how many infantrymen, and who hired your leader?”
    The scout spoke readily now. Apparently, an ear was worth more than 1,000 gold pieces to him. “Seventy thousand marksmen and 25,000 infantrymen are with us. We also have 10,000 slaves working for us. But I swear on every sword I’ve ever owned that only Tabilo knows who hired us. Now just let me wallow in my misery, please.”
    Zenak let him drop to the ground. The man writhed in pain.
    â€œAlmost two to one,” Zenak said to Habor.
    â€œWhen do you march?” Zenak asked the scout in a de­manding tone.
    â€œTomorrow at sundown,” the scout said weakly. He was holding his hand against the wound but could not stop the pro­fusion of blood that was spilling on the ground next to Zenak’s feet.
    â€œThey were going to surprise Deparne at dawn,” Zenak said. The king looked at the man crumpled on the floor. He drew his massive broadsword and like a great pendulum Zenak swung his sword down and severed the scout’s head from his body. Then Zenak immediately sheathed his sword and ordered the guards to remove the body.
    A guard, not wanting to touch the bloody head, kicked it out the door of the tent.
    Zenak turned to Habor and said, “We march tomorrow at dawn.”
    â€œWhat will be our plan of attack?” Habor asked.
    â€œFrom the information we have received, I think that it will be best for Captain Zimon to take his marksmen and