Chapter Three: General Ormek

King Talrid shifted uneasily on his throne while waiting for the arrival of his chief general with his report. It had now been fourteen years since the Tyfirians had begun their campaign for freedom. Back then Talrid had been the leader of a small group of liberated slaves. Now he was king of an entire nation made up of the former slaves.

The general which Talrid was waiting for was none other than Ormek, the young boy he found wandering in the desert towards the beginning of the war. From the time Ormek joined the Tyfirian army at the age of twelve, he demonstrated a remarkable skill for commanding troops in battle. He was accredited with coming up with some of the Tyfirian's most effective battle strategies. He was also responsible for many of the war's key victories towards its conclusion, even at times when the Cyntirians horrendously outnumbered the Tyfirians. With these skills already mastered at such a young age, Ormek had no problem becoming the highest-ranking military official in Tyfiria. The thing that was truly amazing though, is that this boy had reached this rank at the age of twenty-three. Talrid took a lot of grief for putting someone so young, in charge of the all the armed forces of Tyfiria. Many of the simple soldiers were older than Ormek was. Still, Ormek put to rest any qualms about his ability to command the army. Two months after being appointed to his new position, Talrid was able to declare to the Tyfirian people, that all the slaves in Cyntir had been released and the Tyfirians had been granted the entire northern half of Cyntir, to make their own country, all because of Ormek's ingenious strategies.

Three years had gone by since the end of the war, which brought the Tyfirians out of bondage. However, peace did not last long. Another war between the Cyntirians and Tyfirians erupted, just under a year after the previous one had concluded.

King Talrid was almost ready to go in search of Ormek himself, when the general walked in followed by his fairy companion Shriek. Ormek was dressed primarily in blue. His sleeves were a tattered grey and his boots and gauntlets were made of grey leather, which was standard uniform for all Tyfirian military personnel. Ormek also wore steel shoulder plates engraved with ancient Hylian text to indicate his rank. On his back, Ormek carried two swords of strange workmanship. They were ancient blades that Ormek took from a Cyntirian sorcerer after he defeated the magician.

Ormek had changed much since he escaped from the Cyntirians; he had grown considerably and was among the tallest Hylians in Tyfiria. Ormek looked a bit lanky compared to a few other soldiers, but he was deceptively strong. He was a man of plain face, he was not particularly handsome, but he was by no means hideous. His most noticeable feature remained his unusually short ears.

"General Ormek," Talrid said with a disgruntled voice as soon as his general entered the room, "I'm anxious to hear your report on our current situation with Cyntir."

"Our invasion is on schedule," Ormek began.

"Oh really?" the king interrupted, "My advisors inform me that our troops have been blindly running around Cyntir, terrorizing random peasants. That's hardly worth our time, don't you think, general?"

"I assure you, your highness" Ormek rebutted, "these so called 'random' attacks are actually strategic strikes, which are slowly causing the Cyntirians to lose control of the area in conflict. With our troops scattered the Cyntirians are having a difficult time defending all of our targets."

"That may be," Talrid said, "but this war is taking to long. We need that port as soon as possible. Our people won't last much longer without the resources coming in from the strait. We need more supplies than your troops are stealing for us…. I've made a command decision; we're going to pull our troops in desert out."

"What, but you can't. I…" Ormek pleaded.

"We aren't gaining any ground by holding our troops up so far north, dozens of miles away from the nearest settlement," Talrid continued. "You could easily move your troops southwest, out of the desert and into the Antarian plains."

"That would be a huge mistake!" Ormek burst out, "I promise you, your majesty; I will have gained significant ground by the end of the month. From my current position, that is. It will take four times as long to gain ground from the southwest. You see, out in the Antarian plains, we are vulnerable to attack. It would be too easy for the Cyntirians to march their troops over there and wipe us out. We have no natural barriers there. Up north, in the desert, we remain untouchable. The desert is far too vast for the Cyntirians to find our bases."

"However, stationing our troops in the desert makes it difficult to keep them alive. We have too ship in all their food and water," Talrid interjected.

"It will be ten times as difficult, to survive while under the constant attack of our enemies!" Ormek roared. The general stood in silence for awhile after the outburst trying to get control of his anger. "Talrid," he continued, "you must trust my judgment. After all, I was the one who was responsible all those crucial victories during the last war. Didn't my strategies seem odd then? Yet, did they not always work flawlessly? Trust me. I know what I am doing."

Talrid sighed and said, "Very well, my friend. I will allow the troops to remain in the desert for one more month. If your troops fail to make any significant progress by then…."

"I understand," Ormek replied, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must prepare myself for my trip to join the ranks."

Talrid nodded his head and said, "You may take your leave." Ormek turned and headed out of the room. As he left, he struggled to suppress a grin of triumph.

As soon as the guards could no longer hear Ormek's footsteps, Shriek began to speak, "Wow, you've got that guy eating out of the palm of your hand. I can't believe he bought that bull about trusting your judgment. If only he knew what you are really planning."

"Shriek! Silence!" Ormek hollered, startling the fairy.

"What?" Shriek said in confusion. "No one is around to hear us." Ormek gave Shriek a scowl upon hearing this.

"Even the walls have ears," he said, "never forget that."

"Yeah, yeah," Shriek mumbled.

"Now go fetch Syrus for me." Ormek ordered.

"Yes sir," Shriek replied and flew off down the hall.

Ormek walked over to a near by window and scanned the rocky terrain. He pulled out a piece of paper from his gauntlet and began to carefully unfold it. He studied the ancient symbols written on the paper thoughtfully and began to chuckle. "Soon," He thought to himself, "soon all those barbaric Cyntirians will pay for what they did to my people. They'll pay for what they did to my grandfather. Yes, soon the Cyntirians will know what it's like to be the scum of the earth. They'll never harm my people again." After thinking about his vengeance a bit longer, Ormek folded the paper again, and replaced it in his gauntlet.

Ormek left the window and headed for his quarters. Once he entered his chamber, he shut and locked the door. He pulled a book of his bookshelf and began flipping through the pages. Once he found the page he wanted he reached up and pulled down a candlestick, which was mounted on the wall. His bookcase slid to the left, revealing a hidden staircase. Ormek began descending the stairs without ever looking up from the book. Once he had gone down seven eighths of the stairs, Ormek stopped and shut the book. He pushed on the wall to his right. It gave way and revealed another secret passage.

Ormek walked down the passage till he came to a locked door. He unhooked a key from his belt and unlocked it and continued on through. Ormek continued down a few more flights of stairs, till he came to a small room with a long table surrounded by several chairs. Sitting in one of the chairs was a large man, with Shriek floating above his head. Once Ormek arrived, Shriek flew over to him and rested on his shoulder. The man stood up upon Ormek's arrival. This man was one of the largest in Tyfiria. He towered over nearly everyone, including General Ormek, whose height was also imposing. His build was quite impressive as well. He was not as strong as he looked, but he still had more muscle than most. His blonde hair was long and pulled back in a ponytail, which was odd, for Ormek ordered most of the military to have short hair. Even Ormek kept his hair fairly short, but in this man's case, he made an exception. He was also dressed in the standard Tyfirian blue and grey, with the deviation of two silver armbands engraved with many symbols, which he wore to indicate his rank.

"Colonel Syrus," Ormek belted as soon as he arrived, "Do your men have it yet?"

"We are very close to retrieving it, sir," Syrus replied.

"How close?" Ormek asked anxiously.

"We've already located the orb and have sent our men to capture it. It may already be in our possession."

"We better have it," Ormek snapped, "otherwise this operation may be dead. The king appears to be losing faith. We must accelerate our plans. Syrus, ride out to camp three. Make sure they have the orb; and if they do not have it, get it. I'll come out to meet you after I have given my orders to General Reock. Also, I want you to dispatch scouts to search this area." Ormek ripped out the page in the book he had been looking at and handed it to Syrus. "Have them search every area with in a twenty-five mile radius. When they locate the temple, they need to notify us immediately. Am I clear?"

Colonel Syrus saluted Ormek and said, "Yes sir, we'll have your missing temple found with in the week."

Ormek and Shriek began to leave, but Ormek stopped to say one last thing to Syrus, "This mission is of the highest priority. If you fail me… well, let's just say your neck won't have to hold up so much weight any longer." Syrus was not frightened by Ormek's threat; in fact he laughed at the notion. He knew Ormek was not serious. He knew it was simply Ormek's method of motivating his troops.

"I understand," Syrus said coldly. Ormek left through the same door he came in. Syrus exited through another door and headed straight for the castle stables to ready his horse for the trip south. "It's a good thing this mission is so simple," Syrus said to himself as he rode of on his horse, "otherwise, I might actually be worried."

An hour after Syrus left, Ormek came to the stables to saddle his steed. "It's only a matter of time till we have all the power we need to conquer all of Cyntir," He said to Shriek as he mounted his horse. Ormek kicked the horse's side and rode off to meet his troops, knowing his revenge would soon be complete.