Author: Yours truly
Editor: HahliNuva
Altum Bellum
Chapter I
Victory. What a wonderful word. I loved hearing it, but I loved living it so much more. And now, looking down into the muddy trenches of the desert where a skirmish had begun, it was what I felt.
So there I, Pior, high leader of the Rock Tribe, stood, watching the battle commence. Only minutes before, I had taken my strategy-driven post of as-far-as-possible-from-Noca, and my men- the finest warriors in the Tribe, naturally -had ambushed an elite group of Magma Tribe warriors. Now, while I knew Noca was fierce and strategic, she had her weak points. Connecting the dots and exploiting them was simply too easy. She was much too eager to strike out and fight. It was certainly one of her more...vivacious attributes. I had just set eight of the lesser-skilled men in front of her group with swords and smug expressions, and watched the chaos ensue.
"Attack!," she had yelled, a throwing knife exploding from her hand into the chest of one of my men. She was fond of her throwing weapons, as were all of her troops. Knives, spears, and axes alike all fell into her category. Her range scared even one such as myself. But what scared me more was the feeling of loss that I felt as all eight men (rather predictably) died horrible deaths. I was sure the letters to their friends would be great fun to write. I could imagine it already: "Um...yes. I think it was a spear to the solar plexus. Or was that Rhen? No, it was Yurark. Yeah. Rhen took a knife to the forehead. My deepest apologies."
However, their noble sacrifices allowed more men to attack from behind. The first of the Magma warriors fell as an arrow sprouted from their back. The second was decapitated. Those were simply the drops of water that fall before the storm. All of my men charged, slaughtering the elite troops by merely catching them off guard. Noca and her inner circle (a minority at this point) fought back, having no shortage of weapons. An axe found its mark in a bloody display of Noca's skill. She then took out a knife and simply stabbed another warrior. Didn't she ever run out? I, of course, was hidden far above. I didn't want to end up like Rhen or the others, after all. I had a club, though. I could drop it on Noca's head...but that left her a chance of living. No, I needed something more subtle. Something that would curse her last moments and make her feel all the pain of loss and failure.
Fire is what I needed.
________________________
It was relatively simple to make fire in this heat. All I had to do was focus it on one of my mens' arrows. I plucked the lens from a pair of binoculars that I commonly carried on my person. The idea seemed utterly ludicrous, even to me, but easily worth it if successful. I looked for an opening, but most of my men were in open battle and not using bows and arrows. I spotted one, however. He always had been my favorite (of the day.) Just as he brought back the string in preparation to fire, I focused the lens under the sun. The beam of light hit the wood of the arrow just right... The arrow was flaming. That was just as he fired, and it sailed over the heads of fighters towards Noca. Of course, my tactic had set the bow on fire as well and in the process, the man himself, but that was collateral damage. I looked back to Noca, and smiled cruelly. The arrow had missed her by millimeters, but had accomplished something else. Her leg was on fire. She tried putting out the flame, but it expanded instead. It looked painful, so I knew I'd done my job.
However, even as I was preparing to perform my victory jig, I realized they were retreating. Noca (who had extinguished her leg) and three others were outrunning my warriors. Noca herself was a disadvantage, of course, and had to be helped along. But somehow they were making it. However, with overwhelming numbers and fresh men, I knew victory was not far off. Then...I saw it before it happened. There were loose rocks all along the side of the trench. They looked extremely dangerous, as if a simple tap would bring them down. Not just that, it was as if they were in some sort of pattern. Connected some way. Then it happened. A spear flew through the air, striking a boulder and sending it toppling down, knocking into another and triggering a chain reaction. In seconds, the entire trench was blocked off. One man down, one with minor injuries, enemies quickly departing.
"Well?," I said, standing over what remained of my troops with my hands on hips expectantly, "Get to work on those rocks. We can't be delayed!"
One of the soldiers looked up indignantly. There was no moving this pile. They could try, of course, but failure was bound to occur. And I despised failure. We'd have to take a shortcut. Most of the time, I could see easy ways, but this was difficult.
"See if you can climb over it."
They tried. They failed. They were just too heavy. But it didn't matter. The enemy was gone.
I had failed.
______________________
Later, in a Sea Tribe Conference Room, Noca beseeches the Sea Tribe to assist her in destroying Pior...
Things weren't going well. Pravu was refusing to help us. Only three of us had made it to the city.
The city. Ah, yes. It was a glistening metropolis full of large houses. The economy was a practically utopian system. There was no upper class. The entire city was the upper class.
I had nearly fallen into several "puddles" which were, in reality, a transport system. Stepping into them would propel you through the city, using a variety of gears and pulleys to rush the water through the ground to the destination. You were pretty much set- that is, if you had an air bladder handy. On the other hand, it seemed like it would be an awful nightmare for those with claustrophobia. Horribly inconvenient, in my honest opinion.
There were even daily sport sessions, where wealthy citizens would gather and watch athletes compete. I doubted the players even had any jobs that were truly beneficial to the city.
With all these luxuries, I could easily see why Pravu was the oversized goliath of a leader he was. I glared at the behemoth that was completely ignoring the problem I was faced with.
"While you sit there, bossing around a city of ignorant fools who couldn't possibly know what work really is, we're getting ambushed and killed because there are Tribes with more funds and men than us. You might as well condemn us to death if you won't support us."
Pravu, clad in nearly as much robe as he had muscle, was silent for a moment, looking back at me.
"I do declare war on the Rock Tribe."
I smiled.
"Now you've found your senses. At least now we can-"
"As well as the Magma Tribe!" he thundered.
My jaw dropped. How could he be doing this? I had once been told the Sea Tribe was petty to a fault, but I never expected their leader to have this capacity for callousness.
"You can't be serious."
"I am, Noca."
"So be it."
A knife flew from my hand and struck a rope, cutting through it and dropping its contents into the floor. As the light disappeared, Pravu would realize I had decimated the chandelier.
By the time light had returned, the three warriors were gone. Far away, I smiled. Maybe the chutes weren't so inconvenient after all.
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