EVERNA Ring of Fire

DABONGSANG Part 4

On the other hand, Nirya, Arumi and his team were now standing on standby, ready to fight desperately at the dock of Dabongsang Port.

But strangely, the masses in the distance just stand in place, never attack. This gurgle made Nirya and Arumi meet each other with faces of astonishment.

The crowd moved to two sides, as if it was split in the middle. From that hemisphere, it appeared that a woman was walking gracefully. The beautiful nuances on his face seemed to emit a glittering light, in contrast to Ni Luh Gusti Widuri, Rangda's droplets that seemed dark.

While brushing her long and wavy bluish-green hair, the woman spoke, “Include me, my name is Mora Nggarai, the second-in-command of Dabongsang. Are you guys messengers from Jayandra?”

Arumi took this opportunity to diplomacy. He held up the admiral's command medal while exclaiming, “Yes, I am Senopati Arumi Dyahrani, and this is my aide, Nirya Panigara. We are special envoys of Prabu Narendra and Admiral Begarwana. In addition to demanding the cooperation of Dabongsang to supply this ship for free, we are also carrying out a mission, the details of which we can only tell Dabongsang a.”

“Ah, so it looks,” Mora said as she developed her brightest smile. “To be honest, only this time did I know a great kingdom sent two senopati women to this city of thieves' nest. However, considering that Dabongsang himself assigned me as the head of the frontline troops to ‘welcome’ all comers, I guess surely Jayandra knew about being snowed and sent you guys in my honor.”

“Not really,” Arumi shiny tongue. “We were sent because we were indeed the flagship senopati of Admiral Begarwana. Had he not been at war with Swarnara at this time, he might have personally visited Dabongsang. And of course we both know the reason, ‘kan?”

“Hahaha, sure, sure.” Even while laughing out loud, Mora's voice sounded melodious. “Alright, I will take you to see my lord, Dabongsang. Of course I don't need to remind you what you should and shouldn't do as ambassadors, right?”

“Not necessary, please.”

Nirya walks with Arumi behind Mora. Only after passing through the blocking mass did Nirya quietly breathe a sigh of relief. Because, his heart seemed to be dislodged earlier. But Arumi turned sharply towards him. Nirya so instead looked straight ahead with a serious face, hoping no one suspected he was not a military officer.

Escape the suspicion of the layman and most of the city residents, the road to the headquarters of the Dabongsang Gang turned out to be the same as the streets in this city in general, narrow, slum and dirty. In fact, the road is in the foothills of the mountain which should be classified as the most prosperous in this city.

The problem is, “outsout” or newcomers do not necessarily understand the unique “falsafah” that may once only apply in Dabongsang City. The philosophy that the more dirty the environment of a city area, the more prosperous the environment. The smell of garbage mixed with dirt, plus the smell of bubbly and it could be the smell of dead animals or abandoned corpses makes Nirya very nauseous.

However, Nirya continued to fight hard so as not to vomit. If you vomit or show signs of disgust, the play will be revealed. Hold on a minute, Nirya! Any minute! Inner Nirya.

Shortly after, Mora stopped walking. He then spoke to Nirya and Arumi, “Sorry, your team please stay here. It's a ration reception and supplies place near the warehouse. As for you, two female officers get on this train. We'll close your eyes, and you won't mind, will we?”

“Absolutely not,” replied Arumi firmly.

Nirya's heart was pounding hard again. Does this mean they have to trust these criminals? Although he had learned “fight without eyes” from his teacher, Panigara, Nirya felt he had not mastered the science enough until this moment.

With the twin kerambit ready to be unsheathed at any time, Nirya just sat on the train with her eyes covered in a thick black cloth that was tied very tight. His ears were also half-closed, yet he still heard clearly. So, Nirya continued to focus her mind, capturing the slightest sound with the hearing that had been sharpened through practice. One sound of slashes, punches and swirling energy blows of some sort, he had to be ready.

Time keeps passing. What Nirya heard now was the swift whirling of a chariot wheel, and the neigh of a galloping horse. The sounds of the hustle and bustle of the city slowly getting more and more dim, changing the sound of rustling branches of trees blown by the wind.

After a while, the horse carriage stopped. A female criminal under Mora opens Nirya's blindfold. The first thing Nirya saw here was Arumi who put on a astonished face after her blindfold opened. Arumi's reaction made Nirya look around her.

Apparently, currently Nirya and Arumi are at the foot of Mount Tubar’e. But the scenery around them only consisted of trees and rocks. So this area was clearly outside of Dabongsang City.

Nirya and Arumi get off the train, escorted by four female warriors who seem quite tough. Guests are deliberately allowed to carry their own weapons, with a note that they must be ready to face the resistance of tough criminals if they commit stupid actions, for example attacking Dabongsang.

Nirya then entered a cave whose entrance door was surrounded by stone pillars. He noticed the sculptures on the stone pillars depicting a beautiful woman with butterfly wings. Allegedly, this cave was originally a temple to worship figures like goddesses on the sculptures. And this temple was even abused, desecrated as the headquarters of the Dabongsang Gang.

Tracing the cave passageways, Mora drove the two “tamu” to a rather spacious cave room. “This is the training room. His Eminence Dabongsang will meet you after this exercise is over, so please wait here and watch it.”

Together with Arumi, Nirya stood at the edge of the training room and tried not to say a word, even though the host was in front of them.

The sound of the shabby screeching, “Please, forgive me. Please...!”

Instead, the second man laughed. “Hey, I told you I'd forgive you if you managed to survive my three moves, right? Don't act so cowardly, there are still two more moves anyway?”

“Please... please...!”.

Clearly, from his appearance alone, the burly, tall, gondrong-haired man and his entire body and face full of scarred scars was like a dragon and a worm rather than a shabby one.

The only healthy, intact burly eyes highlighted disdain. “Huh, who told you to quote the tax money that a full sweater should have! You think there's absolutely no law in this town, huh? Wrong big! There is the only law that applies, which is the will and words of Dabongsang! And you should be punished for breaking that law! Never mind, just live your punishment, at least give your strongest resistance! Comeing! You can go ahead this time!”

Challenged like that, inevitably the condemned man yelled while knocking his machete with all his might.

The burly deliberately gave a pause by saying, “Just like that?” Then he went forward anyway.

With incredible athletic agility, the burly swung the two axes in his hand while spinning as if dancing. In a breath, he slashed twice vertically and twice horizontally into his opponent's body. Surprisingly, after the burly finished and stood his back to his opponent, there were no new scars on the body of the shabby.

“Haha... not hit, my body feels stung, but not hurt!” The ugly face turned bright. “What does this mean, I have been.. pardoned? Oh, thank you, thank you!”

Instead, the burly instead called for an order, “Remove the corpse from this room!”

“What!? But I'm at all...!” Before the shabby had time to finish his protest, blood spurted profusely from his body. It turned out that only now the wounds of the axe were open, in the form of an elongated double cross. His body seemed to split six, and he collapsed instantly on a pool of his own blood.

“Dabongsang Law was successfully enforced,” said the burly, reclining his two axes casually, as if the massacre was just a mere warm-up. Nirya's roman fur creeps, it turns out Dabongsang can be cruel and cruel.

The burly then exclaimed, “Well, who else will be my training opponent?”

Mora replied, “It just so happens that there are two female messengers from Jayandra who visited us. How about you show your abilities before His Majesty Dabongsang?”

Nirya replied, “Sorry, but we are just ordinary messengers without great strength and high-level martial arts.!”.

But Arumi's palm stretched out right in front of Nirya's mouth. “I told you, let me talk!” whispered Arumi. “As you know, it's tradition that every envoy of Jayandra always tested his martial arts before being allowed to talk to Dabongsang. If he is not happy, the messenger's head immediately floated! Here, just hold this Sthira machete!”

Arumi just put a big mandau and her scabbard in Nirya's hand. Nirya's slender body was bent and shaken for a moment by the sudden heavy weight.

“I forgive my new aide from Swarnara,” exclaimed Arumi to Mora and the burly one. “Let me, Arumi Dyahrani, Senopati Jayandra alone be the opponent to train-tanding!”

Nirya gasp. Could a woman like Arumi keep up, even overcome the mighty power of Dabongsang? If Arumi, whose role is very vital in this mission to death, Niryapun will be killed too or become an escape, and the entirety of the big mission “Cing Api”.

“Alright!” Dabongsang. “In return for that confidence of yours, I will fight empty-handed!” He threw both axes into the corners of the floor of the room.

“I also don't use a gun!” Arumi left a bow, a pouch full of arrows and a long dagger on Nirya, so that Nirya almost fell by the weight of four kinds of weapons in her arms.

With her heart pounding, Nirya could only watch Arumi fight alone.

Illustration: Dabongsang Zakuay and Dabongsang Hurek by Andry Chang.