My first take on short story ,"The Ray of Hope".

“Wake up, Wake up” alarmed the King’s Steward.”What is it?” asked the king Edward Marcus, an impeccable administrator, known to the people of his Empire as a humanitarian, a dear friend for his allies. There has been an attack on our walls; a serious threat to our kingdom replied the steward.”Who could it be? “Edward was pondering.”Your Highness, it is none other than Hector Gonzalez, the evil king from the west” responded his right hand Francis.

And about Hector, a merciless warrior, always envied Edward and his kingdom Sicilia and it’s allies. He knew it would take a mountain to sneak through them and convince his allies. But he constantly persuaded them with his monetary wealth and land. At one point of time, he finally had their price and they agreed to fight for him under the condition ,that Edward shouldn’t be killed and should be given shelter good enough for his family and his needs.

And it was that day, Edward could have defeated his entire allies single headedly with his warriors in a battlefield, the very thought of betrayal him hard and he was dejected as hell. They had destroyed all his militants outside the wall by outnumbering them. But still ,Edward was confident that the wall of Sicilia was hard to break in and he would put all his archers on the last line and significantly reduce their power .But to his dismay ,a mob of so called field workers who had arrived  Sicily from the neighbourhood land were originally archers and were hiding in the warehouse looking for the right time to backstab them .And when the swordsmen had started hitting the door of the Wall of Sicily, the mob unveiled their mask and started attacking from inside and Edward’s men couldn’t handle both the hit from the inside and outside.

Edward understood the situation and felt the need for him to fight in the so called war .So, he saw his 9 year old Son Antonio Marcus into his eye. He could see something, which really gave the king a real confidence and it was like seeing a miniature of him in the mirror. That something was HOPE. He hoped that one day, even if the Sicily falls to that evil’s hand. Antonio would rescue it and the people. So he asked Antonio to promise him that one day he would bring back the olden days of Sicilia regardless of his father’s demise. He asked Antonio to go and hide inside a barrel .The king took his bow and went straight into the field and started attacking the opponent’s .He was killing them at the rate of 15 warriors a minute and Hector was speechless and though they outnumbered them by a large ratio, Edward was constant threat. But finally there were only Edward and a 10 warrior around him were alive.

Hector called Edward and mocked, “Stop your heroics, honourable king, it’s time for Sicily and Edward, I will spare your head and give you a place in the corn field “.”I would rather die as warrior than be your puppet” as Edward started pointing his arrow at Hector’s neck and 12 arrows fell upon him fiercely at the same time and he released his arrow from his bow and that scratched Hector’s neck and when Edward kneeled his one eye could see the barrel where he could see HOPE from Antonio’s eyes and knowing this Antonio dug inside barrel and to not reveal himself from anyone .And finally Edward before his head could fall down to the ground he said ,”The scratch will be complete”. Hector laughed harder thinking Edward was mad and stupid.

                After the war, the barrels containing vegetables and our beloved Antonio was transferred to Hector’s Homeland for their usage. The people of Sicily once was in their very honourable positions were made as slaves regardless of their talent and profession. On contrary to the promise made for the allies of sicily, Hector slowly conquered one by one with wayward tactics and his dirty style. Those kings were hopeless and realised their mistake and unforgivable sin they have done for their friend.

                There was a prophecy teller living among these people always told, “You will see Lord Edward back again and don’t lose Hope”. For many reasons, the statement seemed unrealistic for the people, yet they were hopeful that they would take their Land and lives back. For them, Edward’s family was also mercilessly killed in the battle and there was none to revive their faith, yet their instincts told them there is something.

                When the barrels reached, a couple bought two barrels of vegetables from the vendor. On transporting it to their home, they opened it and to their surprise, one of the barrels contained Antonio.”Who are you, son? “ asked the husband ,fancying his chances for life “Farm worker ,I’m .will be your son if you wish “.Impressed by his reply ,the childless couple adopted him and took care of him and taught him everything and expressed their sadness and hatred for their King’s activities and gruesome murders. Antonio quietly listened and started interacting with the slaves and in and around his place and they all had one thing in common, they hated Hector Gonzalez.

                Days passed and Antonio was in the military camp and he wasn’t the brightest of them why because he never revealed his true identity or talent rather he would train in the forest for hours teaching his friends who couldn’t learn that skill and to give hope they can also be a warrior. But he knew, his miniature secret army would not be enough to dethrone Hector. He was looking for something, some right time. Then one fine day a mob of people came to Antonio and questioned,”Why do you help our kids, who are you?”But didn’t reveal his identity and told he was fond of Edward and didn’t feel Hector as a rightful king. We would do anything for Edward; we would even spare our lives if it meant our kids could have a life in Sicilia.

                Antonio was surprised and was contemplating a plan as to how defeat Hector, the only way he could defeat them was to lower the morale of the warriors and to do that he should kill Hector first and the victory was theirs. And that was a paramount task. But somehow he gathered people and there were in their mood of Do or Die.

                So, they marched towards the East and started attacking the Kingdom and there was chaos but with their experience and talent, Hector’s men was slowly gaining momentum and it was hard to stop them and Antonio moved closely Hector and was clearing all his right hands and left hands and Hector wanted to kill him and end the war so was the case with Antonio. But Antonio purposely fell down from the horse taking a slight cut on his arms .Hector’s entire body was covered with steel armour ,the only time Hector could reveal his body was when he looked up and released his arrow where his neck will be visible.

On knowing this ,Antonio’s close friend who knew it was Edward’s son right from the start wanted to help him and was ready to make a sacrifice .So he jumped on the horse and stood up and told Hector ,your time has come and “Your Scratch will be complete, Marcus is here” and he voluntarily jumped out of the horse with a sword posing to attack Hector .Meanwhile, Hector looked up from his chariot and released the arrow towards the pour soul, Antonio could see Hector’s neck and it was one in a thousandth chance he can hit them in that gap and with that angle and his people’s worries ,the promise he made for his father flashed before his eyes. The Ray of Hope had struck him and thanks to his in numerous practise session in the forest and it was Bull’s eye and it was that one in thousandth chance and his arrow slit the throat of Hector and he shouted it pain and the whole battle field just paused for a while and removed his helmet and knee-led and Antonio jumped on the horse and told,”It’s Marcus, Antonio Marcus and I’m here to complete your Scratch”. Hector was shocked as hell and Antonio released the arrow which has hit the third eye of Hector.

                People’s blood pumped up and their attitude was all positive on seeing the ‘Reincarnation of Hope’ in him and their long heard stories were true and morale of Hector’s men went down and people fought like warriors until the end of the day. Towards  the end ,As a rightful son of Edward ,didn’t want to lose more lives and made an offer to them that all of them will be forgiven and be given the jobs based on their talent and would be ruled like Sicilia. On seeing the optimism and hope they all agreed and the war ended and Antonio ruled Sicilia happily ever after. Where, there is hope ,there is life. Where, there is life there is hope.

- Manoj R