Part 11 (5)

"Your Highness, Your Highness! You may rise! The Emperor has sent us backups," whispered the imperial warrior who precipitously went to the tent of Babida the lumberjack to tell him about what was going on outside.
The Governor of Okunde opened his eyes but he remained half-asleep. The informant then repeated with a low voice what he had just said previously: "Your Highness, you may come outside. His Majesty Batang V has sent us a one thousand men battalion."
However, the newsman was walking on the palm leaves that covered the ground, and his steps made a crispy noise. So the henchmen Polo and Baba also woke up.
"What's happening, comrade?" asked the woodsman Babida to the informant.
"Your Highness, there is a thousand men battalion sent by the Emperor and that is at the moment about five hundred feet away from us," revealed the newsman.
"Oh really?" replied Babida the lumberjack who instantly stood up so pleased by the news that he just received.
The aides-de-camp Polo and Baba, like their Commander in chief rose. The big news ended their desire to sleep.
In the meantime, the young maiden Suzie was back from the river where she went to purify herself before her marriage with the Governor of Okunde later in the day.
"Good morning, my love! We have an impressive number of new men in uniform coming to reinforce your depleted troop." The young bride excitedly shared the news with her groom.
"Good morning, young Miss. Well, that's what we are about to go to witness." The woodsman answered her.
He immediately left the tent with the henchmen Polo and Baba and the informant. The bride Suzie stayed alone in the shelter.
"Wow!" Governor Babida exclaimed when he perceived the one thousand men battalion who kept advancing to Okunde's garden at a regular and artistic pace.
The parade of the backup troop was so agreeable to watch and marveled not only the lumberjack and the men in uniform next to him but also the inhabitants of the village who began to come outside in big numbers and acclaimed the new battalion.
The one thousand men backup troop was led by a charismatic warrior that looked from a distance almost as enormous and tall as the logger Babida.
They kept on the march ahead proudly and when they were around three hundred feet away from Okunde's garden, Governor Babida decided to advance toward them to give them a warm welcome.
He instructed his henchmen Polo and Baba to accompany him and meet halfway the new men of honor.
"Come with me, comrades!" The Superior Commander Babida told them and they commenced moving forward.
After a few feet, they were now in front of the one thousand men battalion that stopped at the command of the army general that was leading them.
"Be welcome to Okunde, General!" said Governor Babida to the Commander of the backup troop.
"Greetings, Your Highness!" He replied as he gave the woodsman a military salute.
The General then invited the Governor of Okunde to inspect the troop.
"You may review the troop, your Highness." The General told him.
Babida the lumberjack stepped forward, leaving the henchmen Polo and Baba behind.
Rank after rank, the one thousand men backup battalion greeted the Superior Commander Babida as he walked past them.
Once the inspection of the new men in uniform was done, the logger Babida told the General to command his men to resume their walk ahead, which the superior officer executed instantly.
"Forward, march!" The General shouted with a big voice and the new men in uniform moved once more at the same impressive and organized pace that caught the attention of the crowd before.
They arrived in Okunde's garden where their counterparts had lined up to welcome them.
The old and depleted troop was barely two hundred men after the walking tornado aggression.
The survivors were emotional and began to silently weep at the sight of their new comrades.
Governor Babida then ordered the senior henchman Polo to introduce the old troop to the General.
The officer reviewed the tired and decimated troop that greeted him as he moved around them guided by Governor Babida's senior aide-de-camp Polo.
Done, the lumberjack invited the old men to embrace then assist the new men with the bagage and show them around.
"Comrades, you may welcome and thereafter help the new men unload the vehicles and animals before strolling with them around so they can quickly measure the extent of the damages and the work that awaits them." Governor Babida instructed the old men.
"You are under the orders of my henchman Baba. You shall report to him your needs or troubles." He added.
"General, you may come with me, please!" Babida the lumberjack then told the leader of the backup troop.
"Comrade, your company is needed. Come with us!" The woodsman addressed the senior henchman Polo.
And they walked in the direction of the wreckage of the administrative headquarters.