Chapter 11

Attack On The King

If there was one important part in a day of the life of Triple H, it had to be working out on the courtyard.

Staying in shape physically, as well as mentally, was a big priority for the King of Kings. As a ruler of such a mighty country, you needed to have fine skills and good health to rule and fight on the battlefield. He had been training for years, even before he became king of Rexxan. Triple H had been injured many times during training, as well as on the battlefield, but that didn't stop him from fighting for his country. Physical pain was only temporary, it would go away after you would claim victory; that was an important lesson he had learned throughout his life. Yes, Triple H would often end the training with bloody slashes and bruises over his body, even a broken nose one time, but he didn't care about that. He knew he became stronger and stronger, the injuries didn't do anything to him. The daily training made him feel invincible, and he showed that on the battlefield.

The training partially made Triple H the man he was today.

It was a warm day, a good afternoon to practice his fighting skills. Captain Seth had been his training partner for years, he was almost just as skilled as the King of Kings, which is why he gave him the title of the army's captain. Seth owed all of his fighting skills to Triple H, if he hadn't chosen to train with him he would still be a lower class soldier.

'Are you ready, Hunter?' Seth asked with a confident grin as he grabbed a sword, his weapon of choice, from the racks. He had lost a couple of matches with Triple H, but this time he was pretty sure he would win this round.

'You know me, Seth... I'm always ready for a fight.' Triple H responded, grabbing a sword and shield. His personal preference was the sledgehammer, but you always had the chance to lose a weapon during a fight. That's why it was always good to train with another weapon. The other soldiers halted their training to watch their king train with the army's captain; watching those two fight was never boring. Triple H tapped his shield with the blade of the sword. Seth knew what that meant; the training as begun.

The captain charged at the king and wanted to strike him already, but Triple H was smarter than him. Just before the blade of Seth's sword could touch his skin, Triple H hit him on the chest with his shield, knocking him to the ground. But the captain wouldn't give up just yet, no, he wasn't trained like that. He immediately got up and attacked the king once more. For a while the sounds of clanging swords and grunts filled the courtyard, along with the cheering of the other soldiers. Watching Triple H and Seth fighting was pure entertainment. These two men were the strongest men in the castle, it was always a thrill to watch them fight. Like always, Triple H and Seth put a lot of effort into their training. They attacked each other, dodged each other's attacks and one of them got the upper hand now and then. But eventually, Seth was defeated by a blow to the face with Triple H's shield. He fell on the ground, he wanted to get up, but Triple H pointed at his throat with the tip of his sword. Seth groaned in annoyance; the training was over. He had lost once more.

'You need to work on your defense, Seth.' Triple H said when he helped the captain to get up.

'Damn, I almost got you... But I will defeat you next time, you will see.' Seth answered with a grin, wiping away some blood from a little cut he received during the training.

'My lord! My lord!' a voice shouted in the distance. Everyone looked up. A soldier ran towards the king, clearly out of breath. Triple H cocked his eyebrow. Strange... he had never seen this soldiers before on the courtyard. He didn't remember seeing this face when he selected the men who were worthy of becoming his soldiers.

'I'm... I'm sorry to interrupt you... but...' Unfortunately the soldier still didn't catch enough breath to speak.

'Calm down. What's the matter?' Triple H asked.

The soldier took a deep breath, it seemed like that calmed him down. 'I have just received some news about Teann...'

'Teann?' Everything just a got a little bit stranger. The last time Triple H received news coming from Teann was when they had won the battle...

'Yes, my lord... The queen...'

Suddenly, the 'soldier' swiftly pulled out a large dagger and planted the blade deep inside Triple H's abdomen. The King of Kings let out a strangled groan of pain as the metal cut him open. The add more pain and damage to his body, the 'soldiers' twisted the dagger, making more blood coming out of the wound. The pain mixed with shock displayed on Triple H's face made the 'soldier's' mouth curl into a devilish grin.

'The queen of Teann sends you her regards.'

Just then, the 'soldier' was subdued in quite a gruesome way; Seth decapitated him with one swift slash of his sword. Even when his head hit the ground, he still expressed that horrifying grin.

Triple H collapsed to the ground while cradling his wound. The pain was immense, the wound wouldn't stop bleeding...

'Damn it!' Seth shouted when he helped the King of Kings to get up. 'We have to get him back inside the castle! Look for the medic! He needs his wound to be treated, right now!'


Last night Lorena ate her first meal in seven days like a hungry wolf.

It was a piece of chicken and some vegetables, a regular dinner for a servant girl, but after those hellish days it tasted like a king's meal. Damn, it felt so good to eat something again. From that moment one she would consider each meal as a blessing. At least now she had the energy to do her work.

She had just finished cleaning the sheets of the royal's couple bed, and of course, like every piece of furniture in the castle, it looked beautiful. It was large, was made out of oak and had scarlet red sheets. Lorena had never in her entire life slept in a bed like that, she wondered how it would feel like... but she wouldn't dare to try and sleep in it.

Lorena wanted to go downstairs to the throne room to report her finished chore to Stephanie when she suddenly heard the queen's voice in the distance.

'Hurry up! Get him in there!'

The servant girl blinked her eyes in surprise. What was going on here? Was someone getting punished again? But Stephanie's voice didn't sound angry, like it always did when she was shouting at somebody. No, it sounded rather... panicked.

Just when she wanted to head downstairs, she met Stephanie, running up the stairs, followed by Seth who was supporting Triple H. He had his face crunched in pain... what was wrong with him?

'Get out of the way, Lorena!' the queen snarled at the servant girl.

'Your highness, what's going on?'

'None of your business! Move!'

Lorena immediately obeyed her and got of the way, dreading another gruesome punishment if she wouldn't comply. The three walked past her, Triple H was practically hobbling at this point. He could feel his head getting lighter and lighter, he wasn't sure if it was due the blood loss... or that something else entered his body with the blade. They got to the bedroom as fast as possible, but Seth forgot to lock the door behind him in a hurry.

The servant girl heard the pained groans from Triple H echo through the hallway, it made her skin crawl. It was the kind of groan someone would emit if he was in true pain, which was Triple H's case. Why did he have his face crunched in pain? Did something happen on the courtyard. But by the look on Stephanie's face earlier on the stairs, something went terribly wrong.

Once again, Lorena couldn't control her curiosity. She just had to know.

She walked towards the open bedroom door and carefully took a peek. The sight shocked her; Triple H was lying on his bed, his abdomen was completely covered in blood. Dear God, what happened to him?! Lorena covered her mouth with her lips, trying to suppress a gasp.

'Where the hell is the medic?!' Stephanie shouted at Seth.

'I ordered the soldiers to go fetch him, he could be here at any moment.'

'You already said that ten minutes ago! Damn it, Seth!'

Stephanie looked at her badly injured husband and frowned. She immediately noticed there was something wrong with him. He was shivering and sweating, as if he had a really bad fever. His lips slowly turned pale, it looked like the blood was being drained away from them. Triple H himself started to feel weaker and weaker by the second...

'What is wrong with him, Seth?!'

'I don't know!' The captain of Triple H's army had seen many soldiers who were stabbed during a fight, but he had never anybody with this injury show such symptoms. Something must have entered his body when he was stabbed, as if the blade of the dagger had been dipped into something...

'Your highness... I know what is wrong with him.'

Both Seth and Stephanie looked up. From a little distance, Lorena had seen the symptoms... and she knew damn well what was wrong with the King of Kings. She had seen this symptoms many times in her past.

'Go away, Lorena!' Stephanie shouted. 'This is...'

'I know, I know, my queen! But please, listen to me...' Lorena walked into the bedroom and took a look at Triple H's wound. She could see a little trickle of purple liquid trickling out, down his abdomen, staining the sheets. Just like she thought...

'He has been poisoned.'

'What?!'

'Whoever did this to him, he really wanted him to suffer. I have seen this many times, your highness. You see, when I was a child, I grew up on a farm. Many farmers have been poisoned like this, this is the poison of the Rexxanish red-tailed viper.'

It was true what Lorena said. Growing up on a farm outside Wrestar, she had been living with cattle for almost her entire life. But farming wasn't as easy as anybody thought it would be; there were times were plagues of rats, worms, mice and other kinds of vermin tormented the farmers, ruining their crops and making it worthless to sell on the market. But if there had to be one vermin who had to be dangerous, it had to be the Rexxanish red-tailed viper. As beautiful as this creature may be, their poison had been lethal in some cases. Cattle who had been bitten by this viper would often drop dead in a day, making their meat inedible. Almost every farmer had been bitten by the Rexxanish red-tailed viper once, and if they didn't get treated, they would die a painful death.

And Triple H was doomed to die if the wound was left untreated.

'I know how to treat his wound.' Lorena calmly said. 'He needs to eat a special kind of herb, it's called the sunlight herb. In the meantime, I need to keep his head cold to subdue the fever a bit, like a wet cloth. Please, your highness, allow me to take care of him.'

Of course Stephanie had heard about this kind of herb before, it grew outside Wrestar, not too far away. For a moment, she didn't say anything, as if she was thinking about the offer. She took another look at her suffering husband, then looked back at Lorena.

'Alright.' she answered. 'You seem to know about this, so I will let you treat him. But I warn you, Lorena...' Stephanie's voice became cold and she narrowed her eyes, glaring at her. 'If you let my husband die, I will have your head impaled on a spear. Got it?!'

Lorena nodded. 'Yes, your highness.'