Inquisitor's Promise (Act Three, Chapter Seventeen)

The Holy League had been united, but the Grey Globe continued to move towards Earth. Aeneas and the members of his inner circle knew they had much to do and little time to prepare.

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Chapter Seventeen: Shaka’s Birthright

It did not take long for Shaka to learn that Kunoichi had been captured. Before she left for the Boer Kraal, she had set up her brick so that Shaka would be aware of everything that was going on. Upon knowing that Kunoichi was in trouble, Shaka resolved to rescue her.

But to do this, he would have to attack the Boer Kraal directly. The problem with this was that he did not have the manpower to do so. All he had were ninjas who would be gunned down by Chief Arnold’s pathfinders if they fight out in the open.

Shaka would have to recruit others and his time was short. There was only one option: the liberation of the slaves in the Boer Mine.

It was still nighttime, the most effective time to make use of his ninjas. He had to move quickly.

Thankfully, it did not take long for Shaka and his ninjas reached the mine’s entrance. The guards were blissfully unaware of their presence. Shaka and his group thus went into action.

Ryu the ninja commander took the first step and cut down a guard from behind with his knife. The rest of Shaka’s ninjas followed suit and took out the other guards from the shadows. Shaka also took part in the assault, sniping the newly arriving guards from a distance. The work was efficient, and the mine was quickly cleared of the enemy.

With the guards killed or captured, Shaka knew that he did not have much time before his uncle knew what was going on. He saw a group of slaves now gathered together. At this point, the slave Louis van Zulu approached Shaka.

“Is this what I think it is?” he asked, his face showing hope.

Shaka nodded. “You are all free. But I need your help.”

“Tell us everything,” Louis said.

And so, Shaka gave a quick story on what had happened to Kunoichi. Afterwards, Shaka and his ninjas brought in rifles and energy shields for everyone — not just Louis, but the other former slaves who had agreed to help Shaka.

Quickly, the mines were emptied as all of the slaves left. Shaka stopped by his camp as he left behind the women and the children there. To protect them, Ryu and the ninjas also stayed behind. Shaka knew that the stealth focused warriors would be of little use in open field battle. Furthermore, Shaka had already gathered thousands of freed slaves for his army. And these former slaves were not just mere ranchers, they were also pathfinders.

Pathfinders eager to earn their freedom.

By the time Shaka’s preparations were completed, dawn had arrived. It was time for him to move. His brick had been beeping for some time, most likely calls from his uncle. The pathfinder ignored them, knowing that Chief Arnold would most likely try to use Kunoichi as a bargaining chip. Shaka had no interest in that; he knew his mission, so did Kunoichi.

Ideally, he wanted to rescue his wife. But he had accepted the possibility that they’d kill her in response.

Breaking through the Boer Kraal would be tricky, he knew that he needed the firepower that his pathfinders would not be able to provide. The answer to that question was his airship. Some bombardment at key points such as the gates would be key.

Care needed to be taken to eliminate or minimize civilian casualties. Thankfully, the Boer Kraal did not have any perimeter energy shields. No doubt Chief Arnold had never expected any real firefight at the Kraal. Something that Shaka had to take advantage of.

With everything ready, Shaka launched his attack quickly. His airship was the first to move. The crew began firing its bombs at the walls and the gates of the Kraal. Some hapless guards were at the gate when it was blown apart. Soon, the southern side of the Kraal was completely exposed.

In response to this, Chief Arnold’s pathfinders began to move outside to defend the Kraal.

The former slaves moved in first. Some set themselves up in a line formation, others hid behind trees and bushes.

A firefight ensued as both sides fired at one another. It was an even fight as both the former slaves and the slavers fell in equal numbers.

Meanwhile, Shaka crawled prone as he repositioned. Using the grass of the hills, he was able to keep himself undetected by the enemy. He soon found himself at the enemy’s flanks. Shaka took out his sniper rifle and began firing.

For every shot that he took, he was able to take out an enemy.

The defenders soon realized that they were losing badly. There was a panicked retreat as they ran back into the Kraal, but they were shot in the back by the former slaves.

With the hill cleared of enemies, Shaka and his army entered the Boer Kraal. Once inside, Shaka scanned his surroundings to ascertain both friend and foe; he saw Louis and his group entering the Kraal’s huts. They were grouping the civilians, most of them women and children, and escorted them out of the Kraal.

Knowing that the civilians were taken care of, Shaka took his own squad of pathfinders and started their sweep through the Kraal. Shaka himself climbed on top of the huts. From the rooftops, he scanned the Kraal as a whole. This was a good position for Shaka to help his army, proven when he took out incoming enemy pathfinders from a distance.

Shaka knew that he needed to move fast. He saw that there were two buildings taller than everything else in the Kraal, the Chieftain’s House and the Church building. The two building were located close to one another.

The pathfinder moved from rooftops to rooftops but as he was nearing the Church building a shot rang out, grazing his arm. Nothing more than a glancing blow, especially with his energy shield protecting him.

It was then that Shaka saw his uncle Arnold at the top of the Church building. Behind him was the Church bell, in front of him a statue of the Virgin Mary. The Chieftain was clearly upset at the turn of events.

“Shaka, I can see that you intend to reclaim your birthright,” Arnold said. The distance between the two was such that he had to yell.

“I don’t,” Shaka cried back. “I just want my wife back. And I want her clone.”

“In case you forgot, your wife is the more recent clone.”

“I don’t care! Where are they?”

“Like I’d tell you.”

Arnold then fired his own sniper rifle at Shaka, but the pathfinder saw it coming and was able to dodge for cover. Shaka aimed his rifle at his uncle, but then quickly realized that the Blessed Virgin was obscuring his view. If Shaka was to fire, he would risk hitting her.

Unacceptable.

Shaka gritted his teeth. His dastardly uncle had most likely planned for this. Shaka jumped down to the ground, taking care to remain in cover. But it was at this point that enemy pathfinders found him. They opened fire on him, one of them was able to land a hit on his stomach. His armor and energy shield prevented a mortal hit, but Shaka still felt great pain — it was like being punched in the stomach.

Shaka fired back and took out one of the pathfinders with a headshot. Then, he quickly ran behind a wooden fence.

The enemy continued to pursue but Shaka was rescued by a squad of former slaves. They fired at the slavers, driving them back.

Unfortunately, the former slaves soon found themselves shot from above by Arnold. Two were killed outright.

“Fall back!” Shaka barked at his allies.

With the former slaves retreating behind a safe cover, Shaka attempted to reposition himself. But Shaka was so focused with trying to make his way to the roof of the Church building that he failed to spot an enemy pathfinder on his flanks.

The enemy fired at Shaka, hitting his side. Shaka fell over bloodied. He could see the bullet had managed to pierce his armor — only possible because his energy shield had run out. That enemy pathfinder would have finished Shaka off, but he was shot by Shaka’s allies.

From above, Arnold saw what was happening. He could hardly believe his luck. Though his nephew was still moving to find cover, he was clearly a sitting target.

Arnold grinned evilly. “I have you now…”

The usurper chief quickly moved his rifle to aim at Shaka. But he was in such a hurry to do so that he bumped over the statue of the Blessed Virgin. This caused Arnold to lose his balance and he fell down to the ground below.

Chief Arnold hit the ground headfirst, a sickening crack was heard. Blood poured out to the streets.

The battle was as good as won after that. Upon learning that their chieftain was dead, most of the enemy pathfinders surrendered themselves to Shaka and the former slaves. Finally, Shaka had reclaimed his birthright as the Chief of the Boer Kraal.

But that was the least of Shaka’s concerns at the moment. As soon as he was sure that his uncle was dead, he began questioning those who had surrendered. One of them had agreed to bring him to where Kunoichi was being held.

Where she was supposed to be held, in any case.

And so, Shaka was brought to the basement of the Chieftain’s House. He was told that Arnold and his guards had left one Kunoichi to guard the other. However, it was clear to Shaka that something was wrong.

The door which was supposed to be closed was wide open. There was a chair that was fallen over, the prisoner had told Shaka that his wife was supposed to be tied up there. But the most alarming thing was found on the inner door handle: blood.

Shaka knew at that moment, that Kunoichi was in grave danger.

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