75 Forging the soul ring - 1

Hearing what the soldier had to say, neither Diogenes nor the other council members could breathe properly. Diogenes alerted everyone and summoned the entire army of the kingdom. He had decided to march towards Ambracia to support his master, but then came in a messenger sprinting at the best speed that he could and after announcing himself, he said,

"Master Nubeous has arrived. We saw him approaching from the clock tower."

Diogenes immediately got up and marched towards the central hall along with the other members of his council. It was a time for celebration for their master had returned and his return meant only one thing - his victory.

So he ordered the celebratory trumpets to be played and ordered the housekeepers to arrange for a grand welcome for Nubeous.

A couple of minutes later, they could hear the trumpets being blown and they all rushed towards the balcony to see the victory march of their master. But to their surprise, they heard him say.

"Stop all of this!"

"Stop it now!"

His mighty voice echoed and that made every single person unnerved, for they didn't know what would be the consequence of his raging anger. Petrified after hearing his voice, the trumpet keepers took a step back. They trembled like leaves of the tree which were being shaken by the autumn wind.

Seeing the demeanor of Nubeous, everyone was taken aback, as that was not how a victorious person was supposed to react.

He looked towards one of the palace guards, and said,

"Bring the ingot and call the royal goldsmith to come down immediately."

The guard obeyed and ran to relay the message.

Others, who had lined up around the carpeted entrance also inched back for their minds and hearts had been instilled with fear with just the roaring voice of Nubeous. Something had gone wrong, terribly wrong, but what and how they had no idea.

The ingot was present on the horseback, tied firmly along with the saddle, and seeing that Diogenes was baffled. 'If the ingot is with the master then obviously he was victorious. Then why was he sulking as if Moprhoeus had snatched the empire form him?' thought Diogenes and immediately rushed down along with other members of the council and stood near the entrance bowing his head.

Nubeous brushed past him, without even acknowledging either his presence or the council's and stormed towards the central hall.

The man looked disheveled and disturbed to his very core and it was quite evident from the way he was acting around. Pursing his lips, Diogenes turned towards the guards and said,

"Take the ingot down!"

and then turning towards his other council members he said,

"Do not stir his anger at any cost." and then turning ahead he said,

"Follow me!"

Although reluctant, but having no other option, the council members followed Diogenes and went to the central hall.

"Master!" Diogenes announced himself, but Nubeous yielded no response.

His bloodshot eyes looked like that of a bloodhound which had been denied its prey after being given a taste of its blood,

Mustering up a bit more of courage, Diogenes said,

"Finally the ingot is here master. In no time we shall forge you the ring! Finally, your dream will see the light of reality!"

Diogenes expected Nubeous's face to be a bit elated after hearing him, but his face turned even grimmer and turning towards him he muttered,

"My dream! My dream is to see that low life peasant begging for death. Instead of that ring, forge me his headless body in no time."

Hearing his tone, Diogenes knelt in front of Nubeous who was sitting on the throne looking all distraught and said,

"Your order is all that I live for my master!" and saying that he gave a light nod to two of his council members, who excused themselves and went in search of Morpheous.

"What happened, master? Can I dare to ask?"

"What happened? You are asking me what happened? That man, whom I roasted alive in front of my eyes, the man whose body was turned to ashes, came back alive in flesh and blood in front of me. That man dared to fight with me again," muttered Nubeous, and getting up from his throne he started pacing around.

"Did he..." dared to ask a council member but his tongue was silenced as Nubeous turned his wrathful gaze towards him.

"Did he what? Did he defeat me? Is that what you want to ask?" charged Nubeous and stormed in his direction.

"No my master! No, I didn't dare to insinuate that!" replied the petrified the council member, begging for mercy. He cursed his tongue for even asking such an atrocious question to Nubeous.

"That man did not, because nobody can defeat me! Do you understand that? Nobody can defeat me?" thundered Nubeous.

Diogenes looked at his council member disapprovingly for even daring to ask that question and immediately added, "No my master! He probably wanted to know what happened." He was trying to keep the situation under control which could easily go out of bounds because of the sheer stupidity of his councilmen.

"That man is an escapist. Whenever the situation turned hard, he escaped. This time he escaped too. But there will not be a next-time and I promise you that!" said Nubeous and clenched his fist.

They could see his veins popping out from his temple. Never in their life had anyone dared to stand against him. Yet this man stood in front of him twice and yet somehow managed to escape. It was nothing less than a miracle.

"Master!" the door-keeper announced himself.

"What?" asked Nubeous, venting out his irritation with his tone.

"They are ready to melt the ingot. They are waiting for your order, my master!" replied the door-keeper and hung his head low for he didn't dare to look at his master.

Taking a deep breath, Nubeous tried to calm his frayed nerves and marched ahead towards the armory where the smelting was about to take place. Seconds later, the council members along with Diogenes also followed him.

Even though the recent encounter of their master with Morpheous had overshadowed the joy of obtaining the ingot, the council members, the soldiers, the people of the kingdom held on to their breaths as their master was going to re-write the pages of the history.

The royal goldsmith was awaiting the orders of Nubeous. He had arranged for everything and all that was needed before starting the smelting process was a signal from their Master.

The moment Nubeous arrives, everyone stood in attention, but Nubeous didn't bother to look at anyone and commanded at once,

"Start it!"

Using a wooden pulley, the ingot was immediately hoised up to be dropped into the smelter which had been ignited for long to reach that optimum temperature. The onlookers looked ebullient, except for Nubeous for he looked focussed like a laser. His eyes didn't stray away from the furnace.

Immediately the men of the goldsmith turned to action.

They started to fan the tuyeres, to force the air into the furnace and the moment they did so, the flames started becoming even more menacing. The sound of the crackling from the smelter brought a strange relief into the heart of Nubeous. Slowly as he saw the fumes taking a menacing form, the crinkled surface of his temple started to smooth out.

His stance became more relaxed and the fierceness in his eyes metamorphosized slowly into an indefinite thirst that was to be quenched by the ingot. The goldsmith slowly came down towards the tapping-point of the smelter. It was time to collect the metal.

He raised his hand and immediately his man placed a huge granite container underneath to collect the molten metal. With a victorious smile on his face, he came close to Nubeous and bowed.

In his hand, he held a silken cloth and as he knelt in front of Nubeous, he removed his soul ring and placed it on the silken cloth. Holding that cloth with the utmost care, the goldsmith went back to the place where he had his tools and with extreme caution, he removed the soul stone from the gold ring. He placed the soul stone back on the silken cloth and went back to the smelter tapping point with his ring cast and a golden ladle, using which he was to pour the molten metal into the ring cast.

The men of the goldsmith brought him a deerskin leather made hand mittens to protect his precious hands from the heat. He wore them and turned towards Nubeous and bowed again and received a gentle nod from him.