Page 20 of Light Up the Night

“I don’t know how you think we could possibly deter them,” she finally said while surveying the masses.

“Not deter...detour.” Ender laughed before pointing to the pasture beyond. A few dozen buffalo huddled in a coral. They were old. Good for milk and cheese but little else.

“Elephants will crush those…”

“They would if they could see them coming.” He lifted his hand and pointed to the thick fog that blanketed the distant mountains. “They’re going to hear a miniature stampede and hopefully startle.”

“We’re starving up here. I don’t know if you two forgot…” I tried to laugh, but there wasn’t much that could be done to soften the statement or my growing frustration.

“Take four buffalo out,” Ender ordered the men around him. “Bunch the rest in, provoke them and when the signal is given, light that stall.”

I looked between them like they were both mad. We couldn’t fight off an army if we were too weak to get out of bed. Adrenaline just didn’t feed the masses, but neither of them could be reasoned with.

We posted up on a hillside that gave us a nice view. Her men looked like a long line of ants spanning the mountain side.

“So much for her honeymoon?” Chalice mumbled. She pulled out her looking scope and squinted through it. “She has two elephants. Fuck, I think she’s riding one.”

Ender snatched the looking glass from her and gazed through it for several moments before shaking his head and offering it to me.

I squinted and hesitantly peered through the end of it. A huge grey elephant with symbols painted on its flank, and jewels draped down its forehead, marched with a throne atop it. A beautiful woman with long braided hair and stark-white bone paint on her face sat proudly atop it. She looked majestic and more than capable. It wouldn’t surprise me if she’d seen more battles than the three of us combined.

“She just looks mean,” I admired on a whisper only to have the tool jerked from my hand.

Ender

“If she meant to discuss things, she would leave that army and bring a small show of force with her. A good faith effort,” I reasoned aloud. “She’s coming for war.”

There was no mistaking it. Just having to explain such things made me feel doomed. Chalice’s mood was souring by the minute. She probably hadn’t expected to feel so trapped. There was no ocean retreat for us, we were stuck here.

Fight. That was all that was left to do. It shouldn’t have seemed so daunting; we’d all been doing it ever since we took the name Krypt.

“Send the buffalo and the first wave of our men,” I instructed as loudly as I could. The Fallen Gods raced about. A sea of blond hair and muscles that took up arms and prepared themselves. They were as glorious as they had that first day in the yard, shoulders back, shields at the ready, and spears high in the air.

Behind us, the stall began to smoke and crackle. Men circled the corral, yelling and lunging toward the terrified buffalo. They rammed each other and trampled about, trying to get away from the growing heat, but there was nowhere to run.

Not until Fish swung the gate open and the stampede began.

The men raced after the animals, screaming and waving their weapons. Chalice and I were ear to ear, taking turns looking through the scope. The occupied bend was sharp. The unmanned elephant was leading the long line of soldiers. A handful of what looked like Silk Lander women were poking and prodding at the beast to try and encourage it to continue.

The cloud of snow our herd kicked up was gaining on them. The women seemed oblivious. They pushed at the hind legs until the magnificent beast side stepped, crushing the girl closest to him.

“Fuck me,” I spat, giving Chalice back the glass. I didn’t need to see the carnage. I distinctly made out the dots in the distance. The big gray one wasn’t budging, and the smaller ones were falling, scrambling about it. A moment before our party collided with theirs, the elephant reared up and violently lost its footing. The animal’s trunk took out three women and two swordsmen on the way down the mountain. Two buffalo—they looked like buffalo—bigger than the scrambling dots smaller than the grey, went with it.

“Look at her!” Chalice laughed, bumping me with the scope.

I placed it to my eye just in time to see Azaria of the Savagelands sliding down the back of her war beast. Long, loud silky cries erupted from the elephant and echoed over the land while it bashed about for several moments before her warriors finally helped it over the edge of the cliff.

“Fated Few! That was…” I began, but all I could do was laugh. We might just have found level playing ground.

“If it pleases, Your Grace?” a solid looking young man called from beside Chalice. He stood at a respectful distance and didn’t meet her eyes until she tipped her head up in a silent acknowledgement.

“I’m known as Bard. I train the warriors of the Iron Inlet.” He seemed hesitant to continue but did so when she tipped her head again. “Such a loss will upset the Savage Queen. The elephants were no doubt a key part of her strategy. She will regroup… perhaps we should take a moment to do the same?”

Chalice glanced toward me and raised a brow.

“He’s right. And he should come if the men are more familiar with him,” I agreed. “Lord Bard, Commander of the Queen’s Army, hmm?”

The man flushed, but Chalice nodded deeming it so.

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