Chapter 3: SHADOW OF DEATH

The Fasha warriors were good. The Fasha warriors were very good. They were bold and fearless. Even when their numbers were being culled by the twin princes, they still persisted. They outnumbered the twins by far and knew it was only a matter of time before one of them dealt the twins a death blow.

The twin princes were fighting with all their strength and skill. They were now bathed in their enemy's blood and presented a scary sight to behold. Joda ducked under a spear, rolled towards the attacker, and with a mighty slash of his sword, the man came tumbling down as one of his legs was cut clean off his body.

Joda went to deliver the killing blow, but before he could, pain spread through his body from his back as a spearhead went through his flesh. The prince let out a pained grunt but didn't let the attack deter him from finishing the man on the floor with a slash to his throat that almost decapitated him.

This attack though left him open to more attacks and soon, the prince was getting attacked left and right. He had no opening to perform an attack of his own as the men showed perfect coordination in their work.

Blood flowed freely from the wounds that were amassing on Joda's body and he knew a single mistake on his part could mean a fatal blow for him so he put all his energy into defending his vital parts.

Still, he regretted not calling he and his brother's troops as he caught a glimpse of Jada fighting like a mad man. He was powering his way through the Fasha men with yells and grunts as he speared and cut them to death whiles ignoring his own wounds that were flowing freely with blood. This sight pained and empowered Joda at the same time.

His younger brother was so brave. He wouldn't fail his brother. He would deliver justice to Pilad and their mother's soul. He thought as he threw his sword straight into one of the Fasha men's chest. Now weaponless, prince Joda went to work with his bare hands.

Punching and kicking his enemies without even seeing or knowing who he was attacking. The Fasha men didn't know which was scarier. The prince with a weapon, or the prince without one. He was still deadly as ever.

A little distance from the battle. Not too far from prince Jada. The Fasha captain stood with his assistant. The captain was really impressed with the twins. They were fighting 200 of his men alone and were almost winning. That was some power he wished the Fasha's had.

"Such wasted talent. If only they had been born in Fasha instead of this dump. Now we have to kill them." The captain said with a shake of his head and stretched out his open palm towards his assistant who filled it with a shiny golden spear.

The assistant watched his captain take aim at the twin who was making all that noise. The one who had thrown his own spear back at him.

The Fasha captain threw the spear with all his strength. The Spear's target was locked and its path was true. The assistant Captain smiled as he watched the spear hit its target. The blow was fatal.

The prince was kneeling with half the spear length buried deep in his stomach and the other half poking out from his back. He was now a sitting duck for the rest of the Fasha warriors who saw this as their chance to remove the troublesome prince from the equation.

How wrong they were. Before they could get close to him, he jumped back onto his feet and continued fighting again as if the spear buried in his stomach wasn't there at all.

The Fasha captain shook his head and stretched his open palm at his assistant again who filled it with another spear. The captain once again aimed carefully, if the prince wouldn't go down with a spear in his stomach, he would like to see if the boy could keep fighting with another in his heart. He took careful aim and moved his hand back.

Before he could throw the spear though, a loud war cry burst out from on top of the hill, and out of nowhere, fifty Pilad warriors joined the battle. The Fasha captain sighed and looked at his assistant.

"I believe it is time we joined this battle ourselves. Else we will lose more than just our men" He told his assistant who nodded and the two of them ran into the blood-filled battleground.

The twin's men had joined the battle just In time to save the twins from certain annihilation. Joda let out a sigh of relief as he saw his men burst into the fray.

With their arrival, his load lessened and he was able to deal with the Fasha warriors surrounding him quickly. But soon though, the Pilad men started falling one by one under the coordinated attacks of the Fasha men, led by their captains.

The two captains had taken it upon themselves to reduce the already small army of the Pilads and with the help of their larger army, the task had been simple. The Pilad army had been far easier to deal with than the two princes and in no time at all, they lay hacked to pieces.

Some had multiple spears penetrating their bodies. The two captains had then turned their attention to the younger prince who was still slaughtering their men like animals, even with a spear in his body.

The fight that ensued had been nothing short of legendary. The prince had fought the two captains like a wounded lion. He had slashed and speared. Dodged and kicked. And had powered his way through the two men's attack even when he had started looking like a porcupine with all the thrown spears hanging from his body.

Bleeding from several wounds, one of his eyes swollen shut from a heavy blow, and wobbly on his feet, The prince still refused to fall.

The two captains, who were now the only ones left from the team that had attacked this particular twin and who were now weaponless, had gone to work with their fists.

They had cursed and pummelled the prince to mush, still, he refused to fall. They had beaten him unto his knees several times but the stubborn prince, even at death's door refused to yield. He still held his spear in his hand but had no strength to use it. Instead, he used it as support to keep standing on his feet.

It was during their assault on the prince that a spear flew from the other prince's direction and lodged itself straight into the assistant Captain's heart with a sickening crunch. The assistant captain's eyes had been full of regret as he fell onto his side, dead.

The senior captain turned to the other prince who had thrown the spear. He and his assistant had been so engrossed with the twin they were beating that they had forgotten he had a brother who was just as dangerous as him.

Fury coursed through the Fasha captain as he saw the other twin butchering his men who had now been reduced to less than a dozen. His two hundred men were almost all dead. Enough! He thought and picked an axe he had seen at his feet. "Hey!" He called the twin who had killed his assistant.

Joda jumped back from the men he was fighting and turned towards the captain who had called him. The Fasha warrior had an axe in his hand and was smirking at Joda as he walked towards his brother who almost looked dead on his feet. It didn't take a genius to know what the man planned to do. 'no!' Joda thought and kicked up a spear at his feet.

The captain seeing what the other twin was doing turned and raised his axe high over his head. Joda grabbed the spear he had kicked up mid-air and as if in slow motion, saw the captain bring his axe down on his brother's head with a yell of fury just as Joda let his own spear fly with a similar cry.

Joda saw his spear run through the captain's back and no doubt hit his heart just as the latter's axe lodged itself into the side of his brother's head with a loud sickening sound that could be heard even from Joda's distance.

"Nooo!!" Prince Joda yelled as he saw his brother collapse to his knees with his spear as support. He made to run to his brother's side but before he could even move, pain flooded him once again as he got stabbed in his side.

This pain though was nothing compared to what he felt in his heart and with a wave of anger so great, he turned and rammed his head into the attacker's face. The rest of the Fasha men realized a little too late that they were fighting a losing battle.

Before they could even think of escape, the enraged twin jumped into their midst and with tears streaming down his face, started cutting them limb from limb with all his strength.

Blood flew everywhere, dying screams rang through the air and the men prayed to their gods to save them from this demon, but no help came and they watched as he butchered them one by one until none was left. The great Fasha scout team of 200 men had fallen.

(Back To The Present)

Prince Joda's whole body shook as he removed the last weapon from his brother's body, the axe that had dealt the death blow. He lifted his brother's body and hugged it tightly whiles crying like a woman.

They had won, but at what price? This? His brother's death? He didn't feel like they had won anything at all. He would have preferred they lost so he could still be with his brother.

"Oh, Jada. What am I to do without you by my side?" The prince brushed his fingers through his brother's hair as he asked this question, tears streaming down his face endlessly.

Prince Joda was so focused on his brother that he didn't see the figure he had thought dead rise from behind him. It was only after the figure shouted that the prince turned. He was just in time to see the man thrust a spear towards his heart.

Prince Joda could have dodged the spear. He could have grabbed hold of it, but he did neither. Instead, he smiled as the spear went through his heart and out from behind him.

"It doesn't even hurt," the prince said with a mouth full of blood and turned to lay by his brother, even before the darkness started to claim him. "I'm coming brother," Prince Joda said as his vision turned hazy, then the darkness came, and prince Joda of pilad was no more. The tigers of Pilad were dead.

The Fasha captain watched the last twin die before he himself lost strength in his legs and came tumbling down to the ground. He knew he was dying. His vision had already turned blurry and his heartbeat was almost non-existent. Still, his mission here was done. The tigers of Pilad were no more, and without them, this kingdom would fall to the Fasha's.

"The great Fasha's...al.. always w-in" the captain said under his breath as his senses failed him and he also got lost in the dark shadows of death.