The Thousand Mask Warrior

Flabby

“Heyaa .. heyaa ..”

Pratiwi stomped the reins of his horse hard. The horse raises and drives as fast as its breath can.

“Cracked!” he said while on horseback. He was referring to the de Jaager brothers whom he considered too bold to take reckless decisions against Jayaseta.

He understood that the de Jaager brothers could not face Jayaseta alone. He must have cleverly prepared the company soldiers behind him to support Jayaseta if the fight failed.

But as far as Pratiwi knows too, the last attack of the company soldiers ended not so well. Although Salman is dead and plans to put down the rebellion and interference with Walanda's government were carried out, too many company casualties with the presence of warriors on Jayaseta's side who appeared suddenly at that time. So, it is very likely that the warriors are also behind Jayaseta at the moment.

Jayaseta is a strong warrior. The De Jaager brothers would not easily defeat him, even when assisted by Koguro and Hideyoshi though. In addition, the most important thing is that Pratiwi felt that de Jaager did not deserve to touch Jayaseta, his lover.

For this reason, Pratiwi hastened to ride with ten native Javanese soldiers of his choice immediately following de Jaager to provide assistance. The eight walking warriors had already first run in front of them at the request of the Pratiwi. This troop walk consists of four pairs of shooters and their bullet fillers. They were armed with two shotguns and two pistols, as well as a sword. They have special abilities in using firearms.

Pratiwi ordered them to immediately run to the bamboo forest hill where the fight was planned between Jayaseta and the de Jaager brothers, while he needed a little time to gather his trusted troops to set off on horseback. This was done as soon as possible when he got the news that their 'employer' Walanda was working out a battle plan with Jayaseta.

Sebastian de Jaager from the beginning did not reveal this plan to Pratiwi, the leader of the local mercenary forces in Sarti's stead and the members of the Five Bloodthirsty Demons employed by the Company. He believed more in the abilities of his own troops and at least he heard the strange attitude of the young woman to the Thousand Mask Swordsman.

The Pratiwi and ten Walanda soldiers continued to race their horses until what was seen from behind was only a puff of dust covering the entourage.

The morning sun that was crawling hot sprinkled its rays that reflected on Pratiwi war clothes. He wore his trademark iron kemben which has now been repaired because Jayaseta tore two pieces of protective iron on his chest.

For a moment Pratiwi smiled imagining Jayaseta's face being anxious with her at the time of the plate's tearing the other day.

The long-barreled shotgun crossed on Pratiwi's back and swayed due to the roar of the horse he was riding. As the daughter of a Trisat Kenyan Mataram warrior, Pratiwi has also honed her skills in shooting, a bit like her late mother.

The two daggers hanging on his left and right waist were actually a pair of daggers with no lukes, but the handle has a characteristic that is not owned by the keris and is more likely to form a machete or sword handle. One long spear hung in the saddle of the horse.

Ten soldiers rode behind him wearing dark-colored uniform. They also carried with them a spear, a sword, a keris and a rattan shield.

Pratiwi and the soldiers rushed to scrape the bridles of their horses. He was determined to finish off all the warriors who helped Jayaseta before the warriors even finish off the company soldiers brought by the de Jaager brothers.

He will also rush to divorce the fight so that Jayaseta is not paused. He was very confident Jayaseta would win the fight with de Jaager. But on the other hand, he also did not want his heart to be hurt. Jayaseta will realize that Pratiwi deserves to be in his heart because with Pratiwi love will save him and there will be no more warriors Jayaseta's best friend. The swordsman will be killed and Jayaseta realizes that he only has one person in this world who cares about him.

Before long Pratiwi and his ten Walanda soldiers had already seen

the hilltop is thought to be a hard point as the fight de Jaager brothers and Jayaseta. The lush hill with bamboo trees outside and other lush trees in the interior is a place that Pratiwi and the Walanda soldiers are very familiar with.

At the foot of the hill lay a small forest with trees that grew thick enough to shade the path to the top of the hill.

During the day, a Walanda bulldozer explained to Pratiwi about Sebastian de Jaager's plan to capture Jayaseta or kill him by challenging him to fight against the canuragan. The soldier jokingly said that the swordsman will be easily finished off by Sebastian and Devisser de Jaager. Perhaps even before he could try both, he was dead at the hands of Koguro and Hideyoshi.

“Dungu! You think Jayaseta will be easy to beat?” pratiwi said to this soldier at that time.

“But, he along with a dozen other soldiers who will take refuge in the trees so that when circumstances do not allow, the soldiers will surround him and kill him.”

It was then furiously that Pratiwi ordered his ten subordinates and four other pairs that were skilled in using rifles to follow him to where the fight was located.

“Just two sips of tea we will get to that place. Stop under the hill and slowly get into the fighting ground. Do not let anyone know that we are coming,” Pratiwi orders while continuing to shrink the horse's bridle.

Pratiwi finally saw the figures of the walking troops that he knew well. They should have reached the hill, at least they should have prepared themselves. However, why did they hide ducking and sneaking behind the trees?

***

Narendra hid behind one of the trees with two spears he held in each hand. His spear was on his back.

Both were given the task - rather volunteered - to guard the road, to block the advance of additional troops that Betawi might have sent.

Before dawn, the soldiers of Jayaseta's new best friend had already taken place around the area where the fight was. They had gone into hiding first, noticing the arrival of the de Jaager brothers along with the ronin hired assassins or zamurai characters, Takigawa Hideyoshi and Mishima Koguro, as well as dozens of allied troops of Caucasians and natives.

Now, from the foot of the hill, they saw the soldiers carrying rifles running towards them. Certainly they were additional troops sent from Betawi to help their master, the de Jaager brothers.

***

These Javanese soldiers were not great shooters. It was long for them to refill their rifle bullets, let alone fire them appropriately.

Narendra had managed to kill one soldier by suddenly throwing his javelin. The bed had also stuck his ginunting into the chest of one soldier.

It became a big problem for the shooting soldiers because initially they were ordered clearly by the Pratiwi, their leader, that they should really settle down when they reached the area. Do not let Jayaseta and his colleagues know their arrival.

What can be done, it turns out they have been greeted by a sudden attack that has succeeded in killing two of their members at once.

***

"*******! What'sthis?" cursing Pratiwi heard the sound of gunfire in front of him. Not once, but many times. He sped up the reins of his horse regardless of the gunners hiding behind the trees, then tilted his body on the horse when a spear was thrown at him.

Narendra's attack escaped. The spear struck the body of one soldier riding behind Pratiwi.

Pratiwi could immediately see the figure of the thrower from behind a tree. He immediately took the spear hanging in the saddle of his horse then with the speed of running the horse that did not decrease, avenging Narendra's attack by releasing the spear.

Narendra is looking back. The spear that Pratiwi threw stuck in the ground, a moment from his crotch.

Seeing Narendra's figure, the gunmen again showered him with a re-burst of bullets, forcing Narendra to roll on the ground.

The bed leapt high from behind the tree, thrusting the ginunting towards Pratiwi on his galloping horse.

Pratiwi is still not Katilapan's opponent.

The pratiwi laid his body on the horse. Ginunting passed through his body. Pratiwi pulled out a dagger, a keris without a luk, and chopped off the attacker's arm.

Ginunting slipped out of Katilapan's hand, thankfully he made the right decision to release him instead of having his hand severed by the young female swordsman's sudden counter-attack.

Pratiwi also shot far, but only a few cavalrymen managed to follow him. The rest were caught by Narendra's attack, which had passed his spear and directly attacked the Javanese soldiers sitting on horseback. So is the bed that engulfs the legs and bodies of horses with a pair of rotational batons.

The horses neighed, knocking down the riders. The shooters were getting more and more difficult to aim because of the chaotic circumstances ahead.

***

At the top of the bamboo forest hill, the de Jaager brothers looked at each other when they heard the sound of gunfire. But they were more focused on Jayaseta's body lying in front of them. The two then breathe. Sebastian de Jaager's chest. Finished already thought.

But hope is far from reality.

Jayaseta stood up slowly. The Hanuman mask he wore had blackened over much of its surface due to the loud explosion of the Sebastian de Jaager saber. There were some chipped wood parts, but the mask was still firmly attached to Jayaseta's face. His body was injured in many parts because Jayaseta then took off his white shirt without his buttons being torn, charred by burning and splattered red with blood.

From there, Jayaseta's body was injured everywhere, including the rapier vegetable Devisser de Jaager, which was still diverting blood. His chest up and down regulated breathing. The smoke in Jayaseta's head disappeared. What the hell is going on?