The Thousand Mask Warrior

Pockmark

Of course Karsa the Poet Baka lied. He had lied to his granddaughter, Pratiwi, promising to force Jayaseta to marry his granddaughter, so lying was not difficult.

Karsa had ordered seven champions to come to the residence of Almira and kill him, a week after the departure of the jung whom Jayaseta was traveling to Sukadana.

They had to do it secretly because however Almira the Nyai had an army of warriors in charge of escorting and protecting him, the uncle and their merchandise.

***

The moon illuminates a halfway house at night in the suburbs of Semarang.

The building was surrounded by a wall of red brick fences as tall as the chest of an adult.

There was a torch lit in each corner of the fence wall while the building inside was made of teak and brick lit by oil lamps.

There were four men standing guard at the main gate. Despite maintaining the security of the building and its occupants, they look quite relaxed, talk to each other and trade a little.

It is seen that they armed themselves with spears, machetes and another one presented a king's weapon with a fairly unusual shape on the wall of the gate.

The weapon is called a caluk.

The shape of this weapon is slightly longer than the lower arm, there is also a length that is the same as the cleaver. This weapon has an arch at the end that is sharp like a sickle but there is a section that protrudes forward like an ax in the middle of the blade.

If you pay attention, there is indeed a kind of resemblance to the weapon kudi from Banyumas, but the caluk is slimmer and long and the ax in the middle is very prominent.

Caluk is a typical weapon used by warriors from East or Westan Java, especially Tuban.

Just like most sharp weapons, initially the cork is a tool used for agriculture where a short section of the cork weapon is used for cutting. While the longer part is usually used to reach the ready-to-harvest fruits that are too high on the trees.

When it becomes a weapon, you can imagine the danger of this weapon when used to attack the enemy's body. The hooks of the curved ends of the scratches and the impact of the ax on the center of the blades can cause very severe injuries.

The owner of the weapon is none other than Jaka Pasirluhur, Sang Kudi Langit.

Since my flagship and favorite was given to Jayaseta, he replaced it with a swig. The reason is because of the similarity of the two weapons, including the use and the moves can also be applied to the scratches.

Another reason, he was reluctant to call himself by the nickname Sang Kudi Langit again.

After meeting Jayaseta and coming face to face with her, all of her experiences and abilities felt just a fingernail rather than that of the swordsman.

He was ashamed and proud to learn such a valuable lesson.

Tonight is the last day he and his entourage of his daughter, Nyai Almira, are in Semarang. Tomorrow they will return to Mataram.

Semarang itself has a good connection with Mataram, especially to Kartasura or Kotagede. The journey by land to the Mataram Kingdom only took less than three days. When riding, less than two days can be achieved.

Nineteen of Jaka Pasirluhur's fellow bodyguards, half of whom were from Banyumas, were already preparing to escort the return of Almira, his uncle and some of their officers.

There are two main horse carriages, two with four towing cows in each pedati, and ten pelvic porters will bring a variety of merchandise back to Mataram.

Tonight is the turn of the four of them at the front of the gate. The back archway had four other bodyguards, while the rest guarded the inside of the building or rested.

Suddenly Jaka Pasirluhur saw the teak wood door open wide. The Nyai came out in a hurry and vomited in the front yard.

Jaka Pasirluhur grabbed his scratches and rushed towards the master master. His steps were also followed by another bodyguard named Indratmoko.

"Hey, what happened to Nyai?" jaka Pasirluhur asked showing his concern.

"Yes, Nyai. Early this morning I also saw Nyai vomiting, and yesterday. Maybe Nyai is catching a cold? Do we have to postpone our return to Kotagede tomorrow?" Indratmoko this time spoke.

The beautiful face of Nyai looks pale and tired, but a smile adorns her face. "We cannot delay our return, there are many affairs that will be disrupted. We've been postponing going home long enough. After all, my situation is not a bad thing" he replied. His smile was back.

"Or maybe, I can call a healer, Nyai?" jaka Pasirluhur.

"I met the doctor two days ago. I told you, this isn't a bad thing."

"Then, if it wasn't something bad, why did Nyai look pale and weak like this? He also vomits frequently, especially in the morning. If it doesn't hurt, what else? Or ...."

Suddenly Jaka Pasirluhur's face changed. Both of his eyes were wide. He then looked at Nyai as if asking for approval.

"What am I really thinking, Nyai?"

Almira just smiled.

"His mother pregnant, pregnant?"

"Is that true, Nyai?" Indratmoko asked to convince.

Unexpectedly, Jaka Pasirluhur jumped up in joy like a teenager. "Hisai we will have a son, Indratmoko. It's amazing, it's amazing."

"Lho, you know, you know ... I'm happy too, but why are you this excited? You are not the father of our future baby Nyai," said Indratmoko confused.

"Of course I'm excited. We will bear witness to the birth of the young swordsman, the descendant of Jayaseta the Incredible Swordsman of the Thousand Masks!"

"Are you sure Nyai's son is a boy?"

"Ah, even if he's not a man, it doesn't matter at all. The swordsman's blood is inside him, isn't it?" jaka Pasirluhur said.

"Good, fine. I was pregnant, Jaka, Indratmoko. No need to go that far as to talk about the future of this baby. Alhamdulilah, the Power has given me blessings. Unfortunately, her mama had not known that she would have a child" Almira said.

"Don't worry, Nyai. The universe will give this glad tidings to Nyai's husband" Indratmoko assured. He himself unknowingly followed the sumringah, let alone saw the look of happiness that could not be covered by the tired face of Nyai.

Although initially disturbed by the behavior of Jaka Pasirluhur who pranced like a teenager, Indratmoko did not deny that he was also happy to hear this news.

Two of their comrades who were guarding from the gate and watching from afar did not understand what was happening. But for the sake of seeing Jaka Pasirluhur's behavior that they are very familiar with, it must not be a bad thing that befell the Nyai.

At that moment, when Jaka Pasirluhur was prancing around by brandishing his swerving into the air, he turned around and accidentally saw a single figure standing on top of the brick wall fence.

Jaka Pasirluhur had seen quite well the figure illuminated by the torch with the dim light. The figure was wearing sagging knee-length pants, a buttonless long-sleeved shirt with an inferred tip.

His face was invisible because he wore a blind mask or a red giant with fangs sticking out of his mouth.

He seemed to be lifting one arm up high.

With the sensibility of a swordsman, Jaka Pasirluhur shouted to Indratmoko, "Indratmoko, protect Nyai, there is an intruder!"

Four pieces of secret objects were thrown from the raised hands of the figure.

Jaka Pasirluhur sontak membatkan his.

THE TANG!

TING!

THE TANG!

Three nail-like objects were driven away by Tuban's special weapon tank.

Jaka Pasirluhur looked back.

Almira lowered her head with Indratmoko's arms above her back. One nail struck and broke a flowerbed from the ground.

The nail that escaped from the stalk of Jaka Pasirluhur escaped the target because Indrarmoko had pulled Nyai and protected him.

Jaka Pasirluhur relieved and angry with the supporter. He was about to pursue the figure when he again flicked his scratches to brush off the secret nails.

Indratmoko grabbed her spear and directly threw it towards the nail thrower.

The spear shot an inch from the body of the figure that clumped behind the wall and disappeared.

The two people who were guarding the gate were immediately aware of this incident. They grabbed the spear, shouted and chased after the figure.

"You take care of Nyai. Get inside the house. Ask some people to come out to pursue the intruder, the rest to take care of Nyai," Jaka Pasirlihur told Indratmoko.

"Well, Jaka," Indratmoko said Almira was quite surprised. "Let's go Nyai, we have to get inside the house immediately" Indratmoko pulled out her cleaver.

Without the need to ask Indratmoko, it turns out that four bodyguards came out of the house and caught up with Jaka Pasirluhur. They heard the screams of 'Infiltrators ... Support ...' of their colleagues.

The guards guarding the back gate had entered the house with the others. Some went around the wall looking for those figures.

While the figure that failed to throw the secret nail to Almira still continued to run into the trees. He had been waiting for six other figures who also dressed similarly.

The figure that was new until it stopped and shook his head to his comrades.

"Bajing! You're so stupid that you can fail like that. We have to kill them here. I don't want to fail tonight!" said one figure dressed similarly, yet looking like their leader. His voice characterizes as a person who is old enough and aged. The red-blind mask could not hide his true life.