Chapter 14: Chapter 14

The next day started with work as the place needed to be

cleaned. Richard decided to keep all the tables and seats,

so they were left as they were! All flower petals and the

decorative items were removed. The tents were erected

once again and slowly the normalcy returned to the

campsite.

Ro was excited about the farm as corn seeds that they had

brought from the Earth have sprouted and growing

stronger than what he had seen on Earth!

Zo and Fe had solved the problems of watering the plants

as they have arranged the drip irrigation system…

Zo wanted to have his bio-lab as soon as possible but

unless they fixed their city location, they couldn’t do it.

He had flown around far and near but he did not find the

place he liked.

He came and sat beside Richard, ‘Richard, we need to find

a suitable place very soon or we may become too

comfortable here and will remain here for another

thousand years’

He left as he was called by Ro for some reason…

Richard was thinKing the same thing… He called one of

the oldest trees that was standing at one place for a long

time when all the others were helping the Reans!

The tree slowly came near him and the branches almost

touched the ground...It sat with the grunt…

‘

Hail Imperial Emperor!’

Richard gave an involuntary start! He realised that the

tree was addressing him…

‘

Oh old tree why you address me so!’

The tree said, ‘you are superior to the King and queen .. so

your title is Imperial Emperor’

‘

But how do you know it? Unless you have been

genetically modified with some human memory?

I don’t know! But I am as old as the queen but I think my

‘

end is near…’

Richard, ‘But you must have produced many seeds and

saplings of your own! So you don’t have an end!’

The old tree did not speak for sometime then it said, ‘I

wish that was true… I never produced any flowers or

seeds and unlike the queen, I don’t have any roots that

could grow’

Richard looked at the tree, ‘did you try using your branch

to grow a new tree?’

The tree shook its branches and said, ‘none of the fallen

branches grew into a new tree… I waited to see them

grow’

Richard had some idea and he asked, ‘could I cut some of

your branches?’

The tree immediately agreed without even asKing any

questions!

Richard cut few thick and young branches and the tree

slowly dragged itself to reach its place where it was

standing.

Richard cut them and prepared them for vegetative

propagation. He had around fifteen cuttings and he took

them to the opposite side of the lake where the shore was

narrow. He prepared the narrow sandy shore with some

more soil and planted all the cuttings in a single file with

enough space between them! Finally covered the tip of the

cuttings with some mud taken from the lake and watered

them…He sent a sincere prayer for them to grow like the

beautiful parent…

Ro came and inspected them. he was pleased that Richard

was interested in farming., ‘Richard, you have selected the

best place for these trees… they are going to make this

shore strong…They may need some fertilizer once they

sprouted… I will look after them…’

Richard was very pleased to hear the complement from

the farming expert …

They both stopped talking when Buddyone came running

in top speed. The flippers were banging the floor like a

continuous ricochet…

Richard moved forward and received it and petted the

head but he could see it was agitated…

‘Please help… a boothi mother and her calf are stranded

on the shore.. So many rufs and other beings are cornering

them so that they wouldn’t reach the water!’

Richard understood he was talking about the whales that

he had seen the other day. Such a gentle giants and he

thought this would be his first hurdle to make the water

beings to accept his authority as others had done.

He took his gun and asked for Zo and few team members

to come with him in invisible form! He checked his gun

and took his cleaver and ran towards the beach…

He could hear the ruf following him!

When Richard came down near the beach where they had

used the bubble, nothing could be seen. He feared the

worst! But then the weird noise came from far and he ran

towards it…

He would have never imagined seeing the Earth’s wild

carnivores all gathered in one place… He could see tigers,

cheetahs, wolves… but all of them with flippers just like

rufs. The rufs were the one that were making the weird

noise!

The lions were conspicuously absent. The whale was at

the centre of all these creatures and he couldn’t see the calf

of the whale. Then he saw it under one of the pectoral fins

and it was wounded.

He raised his voice and almost shouted, ‘ stop it.. all of

you’ A tiger which was about to leap on the calf, stopped

midway and fell. It turned his attention towards him and

growled. He turned his cleaver and whacked it on its

head...

All the other beings took a menacing step towards him…

Re’s voice boomed over the crashing waves and howling

of the beings… Re was using the microphone and was

invisible… so the impact was one of the fear of unknown!

‘

He is your King Richard … If you touch him we will

annihilate you all’

The tiger growled, ‘who says?’

The lion appeared from behind and roared, ‘well ! It is

true! I came here to know about the new rules about

hunting!’

All the beings started talking loudly and the whale came

forward, ‘Thank you dear King for saving our life… There

is an unspoken rules here if any being is wounded it could

be hunted… deliberately these beings wound us and then

hunt us down with permission… No one ask how the

wound was inflicted! Richard called Buddyone and it

came slowly, apprehension written all over its face.

Richard, ‘This ruf was wounded when we found him… we

cured him now he may live for a long time! If all the sick

and wounded must die we can make you all sick in no

time! But that is not our way… our policy is live and let

live!’

‘

I am not going to ask you the existing rules but the new

rules must be followed from now!’

The noise level again raised and Re’s voice came loud and

clear!, ‘silence! Listen quietly …we don’t ask your

suggestions …the King commands and you obey!’

Richard continued, ‘The beings that hunt are given

permission to hunt only the beings whose numbers

exceeded a million… if any one happen to kill another

beings like this Boothi ,you will be considered as a

murderer and we will hunt you down and kill you!’

He could see few orbs landing…

Few Aatians came forward and greeted Richard.

Re’s voice boomed again, ‘The rule for hunting is

applicable for everyone! You are allowed to hunt the

beings whose population is more than a million in a

particular area! If anyone breaks the rule of law, the

consequence will be severe punishment!’

The lion roared, ‘But we are hunted by the Aatians for

sport and we live in fear… This fear makes us attack

them! so do you give permission to the Aatians?’

Richard, ‘ the rule is for all the beings in Arda near and

far… The Aatians will have to abide by the rules of law, or

punishments will be inflicted on them too!’

One of the Aatians came forward, ‘we need to check with

our Cynig !’

The beings growled and moved forward menacingly…

Richard, ‘That is enough! Your Cynig has already agreed

to abide by my rule! I , the King of Arda command you to

go back Aatians! Inform all the Aatians about the new

rule. NOW!’

They backed off and took off in a breakneck speed…

‘

I appoint this boothi and this lion as the leaders of the

water beings!

The lion said, ‘ I am not lion.. I am a zion and thank you

for acknowledging my leadership! I will see they don’t

break the rules and appoint many leaders across the

aquatic realm’

The whale came out of the water completely and it was

really gigantic! The calf too came forward and sniffed

Richard’s hand . It was already taller than Richard and it

bent and licked his face and brushed against affectionately.

Buddyone butted him and it licked him too and ruf’s

flippers started wagging. They are friends forever…

The whale, ‘ Dear King, Empathy makes you a great

leader. You came to help me and we will remember it for

generations to come… we will take care of all the

beings… All the boothis give you our total loyalty and

support!’

Buddyone slowly edged towards his group of rufs… they

looked at him with such an admiration and

affection…They called him to go with him but he

refused… ‘The King saved me and I will be with him

only… But you can come with me if you want…’

Another orb came over and they waited… Victon greeted

Richard, ‘ Hail King, our Cynig wanted you to know that

all the rules would be implemented and the Aatians will

abide by the rules of law of Arda! We will oversee that the

aqua realm is safe and prosperous!’

A great cheer went up as all were happy to hear it…

The lion roared and asked them to disperse and all

dispersed… The whale made an eye contact with Richard,

‘hail King… I will be with you for always’ It turned

slowly and went in and the calf reluctantly followed the

mother after nudging Buddyone affectionately!

Finally Only Richard and Buddyone were left and the

Reans were still invisible. Re took the form of an eagle

and perched on his shoulder.

‘Congratulations King Richard … this is the first success

…

’

Richard smiled but he did not respond as he was thinKing

that it was a perfect plan to have the lion and the whale as

the leaders for the aqua realm but on land he needed to

have few!

‘Re, I don’t think of this as success, it was an added

responsibility…only when we have a proper system of

implementing the rules of law, we will taste the success!’

Re nodded his head wisely, ‘you are destined to be the

King …so naturally you will have some ideas… come let

us go now’He flew away!

Richard and Buddyone slowly walked and the ruf was

happy to play in the sea after many days!

Richard called him and started walking towards the

campsite and to his amusement a small ruf was following

them.

He asked Buddyone about it and he made a strange noise,

‘

she is my friend and could I have her with me?’Richard

smiled, ‘ sure …more the merrier!’

He called the small pup and it ran towards him and he sat

down to pet her for some time, ‘do you want to come with

us?’

She looked at him with her beautiful eyes , ‘ yes please!

Can I come?’

‘

yes you can… you will be called as Buddytwo…come let

us go!’

The three of them came back to the campsite and

Buddytwo was petted and fussed by all the Reans and

even few plants!

Both the rufs were happy to find a loving home!

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