Part 7 (2)

The first stage of the war scheme was underway. The Commander of the imperial forces Babida and his henchman Baba were now preparing the next one.
The three volunteers were already gone to the forbidden mountain to tease the newborn Monster and entice it to the river at the west gate of Okunde.
However, without a strong backup on their return to the village, they would have had a hard time trying to push the villain to the deep water of the stream so it drowned.
The two strategists, Commander Babida and his aide-de-camp Baba, had therefore planned to build a huge bridge over the river that would be steady on its extremities but weak in the middle.
And for that, they estimated a massive workforce of two hundred imperial warriors, was necessary.
The final stage of the scheme was simply for the men in uniform to attract the beast to the unsteady center of the infrastructure so it would break under the heavy weight of the giant bird that would thus collapse straight inside the deep water below and die by suffocation.
Hence, all night long, the lumberjack and his henchman perfected the plan. They re-wrote it countless times, for they knew a mistake would have meant the end of the Batang empire and the beginning of the Edimo kingdom.
Very focused and determined to succeed, the two men didn't even stop their work when an imperial sentinel came to announce to them that the dinner was ready.
"For later, comrade!" the Commander of the imperial forces replied to him without even glaring at him.
The woodsman couldn't simply take his eyes off the paperwork.
Nonetheless, at some point, the logger as well as his henchman could no longer keep up the infernal intensity of work.
They got hungry and weak. It became urgent for them to take a break and refill themselves.
So the Commander of the imperial forces Babida uttered to his aide-de-camp Baba: "Good job, comrade! It's enough for today. Let's go to the canteen and after to our bedrooms!"
They halted their work and left the office.
The Commander of the imperial forces Babida and his henchman Baba arrived in the dining room and ate as fast as they could, for it was late and they were tired and sleepy.
As soon as they finished their repast, they got off their seats to go to their respective rooms.
The lumberjack was still occupying the main guest room of the administrative headquarters whereas the youngster Baba was lodged in the imperial sentinels' shared apartment.
So before they parted ways, the Commander of the imperial forces Babida told him that he would order the following day in the morning that they arrange a private room where he could stay all by himself.
To this, the interim henchman Baba was very pleased and impatient to have a taste of the benefits attached to his new function.
And when he was about to walk away, he realized that there was a vital question related to the war scheme that had remained unanswered and he couldn't wait till the next day before he could ask the Commander in chief.
Knowing the topic was top-secret, he came closer to the lumberjack and said to him: "My Commander, I have something I would like to ask you regarding..." then extended his lips to the Commander's left ear and whispered the rest of the question.
"Ah, ya! I already have a plan for it. You shall know about it tomorrow." Babida whispered back in a way that was inaudible to the imperial sentinels that were standing at the two ends of the canteen.
Everything being clear, the two men finally separated and went to rest.
Babida stepped into his room and immediately jumped on the bed.
And while he was lying, the question of the youngster Baba popped up in his mind.
"Yes, indeed, how are we going to build the bridge in a short time before the commando sent to the forbidden mountain comes back, and hopefully, is pursued by the lured newborn Monster." The logger repeated the youngster's relevant remark to himself.
However, he was too exhausted and couldn't go to the bottom of his reflection since he unconsciously fell asleep.