The Chronicles of the Red God, Year 4
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:16 am
Seboma and Ukinnu sat together beneath the tattered tent, glancing at the burning sands around them, and the many other tents set around their ward. The Impis had been stationed there for months, while sages studied the strange discovery; to Seboma, though, it all seemed a great waste of time, and that... thing... made him uneasy. Heh, he thought, I've seen friends laying on the ground in a pool of blood, their viscera spread around them like necklaces, shattered ribcages through which one could see a heart still struggling to beat... and I haven't flinched. And now I am uneasy? Yet, he could not shake the feeling. If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought he was afraid... but that was ridiculous.
"... and rumor has it that Bel's forces are pushing hard to eradicate our ally from Noptae..." Ukinnu continued to drone on. Old loyalties ran deep, and it was well-known that Ukinnu would have wished to fight in the war against the so-called "god of peace", no matter how it was going. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, he somehow managed to get fresh news from that front - no small feat, that. Normally, Seboma was interested in these news, but not today. There was something... different... about today. A current in the air, like the quiet before the storm.
War, Seboma thought. he felt his blood afire with anticipation. He was familiar with this feeling... the stillness, the excitation. Had the goddess of light finally decided to war against uKulwa? Perhaps Vashitva's erstwhile followers were seeking to wreak havoc in their mad grief? Maybe another deity sought to carve a homeland from uKulwa's own plains? It would not matter. Who could hope to best the soldiers of the god of War? Seboma's weapons were sharp and well-kept; he was not afraid. Instinctively, his gaze ran to the horizon, where he half-expected to see the shadows of an army slowly approaching... but no, nothing was there.
Yet something was coming, he felt it in his bones. All the little scars he bore were burning; he had always heard of old men complaining that their wounds hurt when the weather changed, but to him, they had always hurt when war was about to come. Finally, then, we might see some action, he thought. I wonder if someone figured out what we're doing here.
Something caught his eye, a gleaming that should not be there. Scholars had gathered to discuss their latest findings, yet their faces looked worried as they glanced at the object of their studies. What was going on there? Ukimmu droned on, "... can still turn the tide of battle, I think..." but Seboma did not pay attention. There was something there, he now noticed. Something had changed.
Continues...
"... and rumor has it that Bel's forces are pushing hard to eradicate our ally from Noptae..." Ukinnu continued to drone on. Old loyalties ran deep, and it was well-known that Ukinnu would have wished to fight in the war against the so-called "god of peace", no matter how it was going. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, he somehow managed to get fresh news from that front - no small feat, that. Normally, Seboma was interested in these news, but not today. There was something... different... about today. A current in the air, like the quiet before the storm.
War, Seboma thought. he felt his blood afire with anticipation. He was familiar with this feeling... the stillness, the excitation. Had the goddess of light finally decided to war against uKulwa? Perhaps Vashitva's erstwhile followers were seeking to wreak havoc in their mad grief? Maybe another deity sought to carve a homeland from uKulwa's own plains? It would not matter. Who could hope to best the soldiers of the god of War? Seboma's weapons were sharp and well-kept; he was not afraid. Instinctively, his gaze ran to the horizon, where he half-expected to see the shadows of an army slowly approaching... but no, nothing was there.
Yet something was coming, he felt it in his bones. All the little scars he bore were burning; he had always heard of old men complaining that their wounds hurt when the weather changed, but to him, they had always hurt when war was about to come. Finally, then, we might see some action, he thought. I wonder if someone figured out what we're doing here.
Something caught his eye, a gleaming that should not be there. Scholars had gathered to discuss their latest findings, yet their faces looked worried as they glanced at the object of their studies. What was going on there? Ukimmu droned on, "... can still turn the tide of battle, I think..." but Seboma did not pay attention. There was something there, he now noticed. Something had changed.
Continues...