Part 6 (7)

The new Commander of the imperial forces Babida then began to pass on key military intelligence to the youngster Baba who in a matter of seconds was no more a simple imperial sentinel but a henchman of the third most powerful man in the Batang empire.
"Well, comrade, we have here a war strategy drafted by Polo under the guidance of late Governor Kola II" whispered Babida to his aide-de-camp Baba.
The youngster was paying the utmost attention to his Master. His face looked serious as he was understanding that the moment required full focus.
"From now on till the return of Polo to the administrative headquarters, you will be in charge of this office. Your immediate mission is to study all parts of this war scheme, improve it if necessary and come back to me to advise me about how we can successfully implement it to defeat the newborn Monster of the forbidden mountain." The lumberjack instructed his new man of trust.
"At your service, My Commander." The youngster Baba replied with a heart filled with emotion.
The young man couldn't still believe how swiftly his life was changing.
"Well, comrade, let me leave now so you can occupy your desk and do whatever you have to do!" The woodsman then said and got off the chair.
Baba stood up as well and saluted his Commander as the latter walked up to the door and left the room.
The youngster was now all by himself in the spacious office that used to be occupied by the late Governor's henchman Polo and slightly shook his head, for he was still in the clouds.
He wasn't sure whether all that had just happened was real until he sat behind the desk and laid his hand on the top-secret defense document containing the war scheme against the newborn Monster of the forbidden mountain.
The youngster Baba sighed and prayed to the ancestors for their guidance.
Done invoking the divinities, the interim henchman Baba immediately started his assignment.
He probed all the sheets about the war strategy against the redoubtable beast above the cursed hill.
Bit by bit he mastered the contours of each stage of the scheme. Finding more studious than him in the empire would have certainly been a hard task, for the rookie was just a rookie by name.
The youngster Baba looked more like an experienced officer who had been accustomed to missions of high magnitude.
As the sun was about to set in Okunde, the interim aide-de-camp finished his study camp.
Feeling ready, he got off the chair and went out of the office to look for his Chief, Babida the lumberjack, and met him in the hall of the administrative headquarters.
"Greetings, My Commander!" The henchman Baba told the logger as he gave the latter a military salute.
"We may go back to the office shall you have some minutes." He then addressed the Commander of the imperial forces.
Knowing that the youngster was surely requesting his presence in the office for matters related to the war scheme against the newborn Monster of the forbidden mountain, Babida replied to him in the affirmative.
"Yes, I do. Please, let's go!" He said to his henchman.
And together they moved back to the circular bureau.
The youngster let Babida sit behind the desk, stood by his right side, and described to him how he thought the plan could effectively be put into action.
"My Commander, after carefully reading this masterpiece of strategy, here is how I believe we will get a victorious outcome." Baba began his explanation.
"We all know that it's a difficult and likely impossible task to go on a toe-to-toe fight with the villain." He then uttered.
"Therefore, though it's risky, instead of taking on the newborn Monster on its territory, we shall attract him to Okunde's north gate then drag him to the west gate where he would fall in the river and drown." The henchman advised the Commander of the imperial forces Babida.
"Hence we shall organize a commando mission to the forbidden mountain for two or three of our men to tease the animal and lure it to its grave: the river that flows on Okunde's west border.
Babida heard the words of the twenty-year-old henchman Baba and was in awe of his wisdom.
"Oh my goodness, the god of wisdom, Dibiyê, without any doubt lives in this young man!" exclaimed the lumberjack his eyes wide open.
"Comrade, let's then start without any further ado!" The Commander of the imperial forces Babida added as he stood up and looked at the now dark sky through the office window.
TO BE CONTINUED...