THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 307: 307. THE KAI’S POV

”General, are you sure about this?” Moga, the right-hand man of the Kai, had not stopped pacing around ever since they had settled the supposed last N’folu.

You were with me, Moga. You saw what he is capable of. He wields the deadliest weapon in the land. I can see he has still not mastered using it completely, but that weapon only responds to the N’folu and especially the keepers.

”You saw his red hair and the beast in his hand. That is no doubt a sand beast. It may be small now, but that thing grows to the size of a house. It did not like that its master was threatened. It will definitely remember an enemy when it grows.” The general said. He had not arrived today after his messenger sent a message. He was already on his way to Thazir from Azreen Capital. When the message reached him, he was just a few vaara short of Thazir. He indeed had come ready to flatten the person causing a ruckus at the gate.

Had someone chosen to attack Thazir when he was in Azreen because they thought the city lord was just a boy and he was away?

Zifara had panicked when he felt the impact of the fireball, and he had pulled away from his men. He was not the kai just in name, but he was also a lethal fighter worthy of his name. He might have been in his mid forties now, but his strength had not lessened a day.

He and the previous city lord had not seen eye to eye, but they both had respect for each other. It is hard to trust anyone when you are a city lord. He had also fallen terminally ill just after he had ascended the seat of city lord. It had always been rumoured back then that the disease was not natural. The city lord had called Zifara and tasked him with protecting his little son and his seat. They were not best friends or anything, but neither were they enemies. They were just two men who had big responsibilities.

Zifara had sworn to protect the little lass who was three years old then. The rightful heir of the city lord. To say that he had to protect the boy, his seat, Thazir, and the south as a whole, for the past decade and more, and the boy was now special to him. Everyone knew that, and perhaps the boy was his weakness. He was not going to let a barbarian take advantage.

In the past months, many had come forth trying to act as if they were from N’folu, not just the few months, but over the years, some had tried to, but they had nothing to show as evidence other than their badly cooked fighting skills.

He had given the boy instructions to fire a cannon on anyone who threatened the city in his absence, and that was his mistake. When he felt the boom, he felt proud. He was now at the age of watching the fireball’s impact dwindle.

What he hadn’t expected was to see a figure within it when it had gone down. The figure was not dead, and it was in fact moving even after being charred black. Then a laugh emanated from the figure. A laugh so sick and tormented it had the hairs on his back rise to attention. He had never gotten such a heavy killing intent from someone that he had been completely frozen.

Then he had not blinked, but the next thing he knew, the figure was gone, and the next thing he saw was the weapon he had thought he could never see. The weapon tore through fourteen men as if they were nothing in a flash of a second, and then. The boy was above ground, so high up. He landed on the stone platform where the commander was standing.

He could not hear what the boy was saying from a distance away, but the next thing he saw was the captain being held airborne before he was dropped from the platform. Zifara could explain what he had witnessed to that point. He knew the person was hellbent on killing everyone. The blade had split into twenty. And with that, he was sure in a matter of seconds, no man outside of the wall could remain standing, and then the next person would no doubt be the city lord. From what he could tell, no one had died before the fireball was fired. The arrows no doubt launched at him were lying on the ground.

So the fireball was the reason he had killed. Damn it! Azir had angered someone he shouldn’t have this time.

He stopped them?!

Without thinking, Zifara drew his bow and the central arrow he had never used. He rarely used the Linka, the arrow passed down his clan. The arrow barely stopped the fall of the commander. One second late, and the man could have died.

By this time, his men had caught up. They must have witnessed the death of the fourteen, the suspended blades, and the landing from the stone platform.

Then the figure had turned around just as Zifara crossed the distance in seconds and jumped from canyon to canyon before arriving at the centre. What Zifara saw first was the red eye. Even redder than that of any keeper he had ever seen. Then a smile as that was clear from the eighty feet high place.

”Finally, someone worth killing.” The person said. before he jumped off the ledge. No one could fall or jump from that high and still live. Yet the boy was fine when he landed. Only the ground was hurt, Zifara could say. This feat could not be ignored. Zifara could smell burnt flesh and fabric, but from what his eyes could see, the wounds were already gone.

He could not accept what he was seeing, or perhaps he could not believe it.

”The Kai of the south. Your archery skills only rival one other man I have ever seen.” The boy’s voice was genuine. It was a true compliment.

Zifara just nodded slightly. He was still unsure what to do. The killing intent leaking from the person was still deadly.

”That man over there is mine. He tried to kill me twice, even after I asked to enter the city politely. Are the N’folu by any chance not allowed in the capital of Thazir?” The boy had asked. So it was true he was the one claiming to be N’folu. ”I will appreciate it if you don’t get between a man who tried to kill me and my fighters for no reason and me. Anyone who harms my friends, I don’t forgive easily.” Sagiri said, turning to the Zifara. Zifara had long been about a report from the veiled speaker. The supposed N’folu was indeed a boy not to be underestimated. He was also aware that the boy had conquered a clan that had grown from war between Safaya and Tagayia and had settled in the south.

So this was the boy? No one had dared act recklessly yet, but his presence in the south had not gone unnoticed.