19 The commander

"What is the meaning of this Zarek?" The King yelled when he saw the head in the hands of his son.

Zarek tossed the head, and it rolled to a stop in front of Lucien.

"The head of the man that caused the death of our best soldiers," he replied smugly.

"Ansell!" one of the councilmen shrieked.

The queen rose to her feet, "My son!" her eyes gleamed from unshed tears, proud of her son's feat.

"Why kill him? How do we find out who sent him?" Lucien asked, stepping back from the dead man's head.

"He told me he was paid by the Valorian King to infiltrate our army," he shrugged.

"You should have brought him alive!" Lucien raised his voice in anger.

"Don't you dare raise your voice at him?" Lucretia yelled.

"He has done something that none of you could, he found Ansell and brought him to justice. Instead of thanking him, you are busy yelling at him!"

"Lucretia sit down!" the king said quietly.

"But my lord…"

"Sit down!" he yelled.

Lucretia reluctantly returned to her chair.

"Take this away," the king motioned to one of the guards.

The court went silent, everyone waited in anticipation of the king's next move.

"Zarek," King Magnus started, "You have made your father proud," he said in a lowly tone.

Some of the councilmen nodded in agreement.

"Now we can finally put this Ansell story behind us and move on," King Magnus continued. "And as a reward for a job well done, you may ask of me whatever it is you desire and it shall be yours."

Zarek smirked wickedly, his gaze fixed on Lucien's cold blue eyes. He knew what he wanted more than anything, more than the throne itself. To bring Lucien to his knees, to forever wipe away his cocky smile and take everything he held dear.

Zarek looked at his father and bowed his head slightly, "Make me the chief commander of your army."

...

Zarek was saddling his horse at the stable when Reggie walked in with his hands akimbo. He ignored the greetings of the guards and walked up to Zarek. "Good morning my Lord," he bowed his head slightly.

Zarek acknowledged his greeting with a bright smile, "It surely is a great morning Reggie." He tugged at the saddle to see if it was put on correctly.

"You seem to be in a good mood," Reggie rubbed the neck of the black, muscular stallion and the animal gave a low neigh in response.

"What can I say?" Zarek straddled his horse, "It is a good day to be alive."

"With the stunt, you pulled last night, anyone else in your position would also be basking in euphoria." Reggie said, eyeing Zarek through the corner of his eyes.

Zarek did not respond.

"Ansell was a very difficult man to find," Reggie continued, his voice low and questioning, "And you knew where he would be and the time he would be there. That was something, wasn't it?" He looked at Zarek and flashed a daring smile. Zarek smiled back.

"Care to join me for a race, Reggie?"

Reggie looked away, a slightly hesitant look on his face.

"Hey, you!" Zarek pointed at one of the guards, "Saddle a horse for my good man here."

He turned to Reggie, "Don't worry, I will take it easy on you old man."

Reggie gave a short laugh and then nodded his head. He searched the stable with his eyes and it fell on a brown hose that was eating quietly in the shed.

"The brown horse please," Reggie gestured at the horse.

"Poor choice for a race don't you think?" Zarek asked astonished by the man's surprisingly bad choice. There were a lot of horses, neighing energetically in their shade, and trotting impatiently for an opportunity to expend pent-up energy.

"What do I know, my Lord, I am an old man," he said with a cool smile and an unruffled air.

The guard quickly saddled the horse and the two men rode out the shade together, and then pulled their horses to a stop.

They stood behind an imaginary line, "Ready?" Zarek asked giddily.

"Whenever you are my Lord!"

Zarek kicked his horse by the sides, "Hiya!"

The two horses sprang forward. Zarek's horse was at full gallop and in the lead. Zarek looked back occasionally with a victorious smile etched on his face. He positioned his leg on the stirrup, lifted his hips from the saddle, and leaned forward. The air raked through his hair, as the euphoria of two consecutive wins swept away his worries and fear. It swallowed him whole and spat him out, a new person.

As they closed in on the finish line, his horse slowed down, Zarek looked back and to his surprise, Reggie was on his heels, his face unruffled by his almost defeat. Shocked, Zarek sat back onto his saddle and kicked his horse even harder, the animal neighed in response. Soon Reggie was galloping head-to-head with Zarek. Zarek's face contorted into a deep grimace, and he pushed his horse even harder.

Reggie laughed dryly as his horse overtook Zarek's; he kicked his horse's side and leaned forward and crossed the finished line, which was the end of the tracks. Reggie reined in his horse and the beast reared in victory. Zarek rode over and dismounted his horse.

"You did a good job taking it easy on me, my Lord," Reggie said, sarcasm evident in his voice, as he dismounted his horse.

"You got lucky," Zarek grunted in annoyance.

"I did, didn't I?" Reggie said with a cool smile. "There's a trick to picking just the right horse," Reggie continued, steadying his horse by pulling at the rein and rubbing its back.

"I'm sure there is," Zarek rolled his eyes. He patted his tired horse on the back, frustrated that the stallion couldn't win the race against an old man.

"You go for the one with spring in his stride, one that looks alert. Nervous horses like yours would expend way too much energy; and toward the end of the race," Reggie paused and looked at Zarek, "It runs out of power and slows down."

"Whatever man," Zarek dragged his horse along.

"This principle applies to life too," Reggie raised his voice.

Zarek walked away without responding. He might have lost this race with Reggie, but he will not lose the war with Lucien.