The Prophesy: Book 4 - Armageddon

 

The Ark and Eden projects were in full swing along the Congo River. The progress toward the lakes that gave birth to the Congo River was slow and deliberate, as the number of different species kept exploding under every step. Things were going fine until a Spider, way south of the expedition's current position, met a column of Orcs.

Realising that it stood no chance to fight off the Orcs, the Spider moved north, followed closely by the Orc column. The Dragons were called in to intercept the Orc column and give a chance for the Spider to move far enough from the tenacious trackers. Remembering what had happened to their previous king, the Dragons began bombing raids rather then tackle the Orcs on the ground, while Pegasuses and Fairies added their own somewhat more precise bombing methods to the Dragons' carpet-bombing method.

Yamato regrouped a legion of Spiders and aligned them behind a line of low-lying hills, while the Dragons led the Orcs into the trap by forcing them to engage in a narrow gulch. As the sun set on the western horizon, the dragons forced the Orcs to pack tightly in the gulch by systematically preventing them from leaving it, using intensive carpet bombing that left only the narrow valley as safe heaven.

«The sun is down. It's time to launch the Spiders, Yamato. We will intensify the carpet-bombing behind the Orc lines while you charge. Hopefully, the noise will be so great they will not hear you coming until it is too late.»

«All right, Williams.»

The Dragons began bombing violently on one side of the dry narrow valley, returning to their rock supply at supersonic speed on the front of the Orc line. This had two effects: the Orcs became deaf from the eardrums getting busted, and they believed another bombing was being done on that side as well. Meanwhile the Spiders made progress, crouching low, and using the uneven terrain to stay hidden until the last minute.

«We see you, Yamato. After the next rise, it will be impossible to hide from the Orcs' watchmen.»

The Spiders moved into position, ready for the charge. The command posts were at the apex of the V shape Yamato favoured to penetrate the Orc defence. Time stood still, and then suddenly, Yamato gave the order:

«Charge!»

The one thousand one hundred and eleven Spiders suddenly stood at their full height, and began running down the side of the valley at over three hundred miles per hour. The Orcs, taken by surprise, never even had the time to stand and face the charge of the Spiders. The robots tore through their ranks, dismembering, beheading and gutting the Orcs with their mandibles. Those Orcs that did manage to stand up were quickly shaved down like hair on a face. The Orc column covered the entire bottom of the valley, and as the Spiders progressed in their midst, those on the far side had time to organize themselves in a defensive posture.

The number of Orcs, considerable as it was, began to hinder the movement of the Spiders by their sheer mass. Seeing the Spiders gradually slow down gave heart to the surviving Orcs, who redoubled their ardour in fighting the assailing forces. Yamato, also noticing the situation, decided to disengage his units while they still had mobility.

«About face! Return to the starting point!» Yamato ordered.

The turnaround rekindled the fighting spirit of the Orcs, who launched an ill-planned counter-offensive, trying to slow the retreat of the Spiders. The Spiders, on the other hand, easily jumped several thousand feet at a time in what appeared as a hasty retreat. It took less then two minutes for the Spiders to disappear over the ridge.

«Report!»

All Spider Decurions reported their units back and in line, ready for the next wave.

«The Orcs are following you and climbing the hills,» Williams informed the Prince.

«Tell me when they reach the steepest grade.»

After fifteen minutes, Williams informed the Spider Legate that the Orcs were at the base of the steepest climb and had begun their progress up the sandy, severely unstable hillsides.

«Your two passes on that slope has made it very difficult to climb up. The Orcs keep falling back on each other as the earth crumbles under their weight.»

«I hope some die from that.»

«Definitely.»

It took half an hour for the first orc to finally reach the gentler slope that would lead to the ridge's plateau. That was the event Yamato had been waiting for.

«Charge!»

The Spiders had the advantage of terrain and put it to its best use. The Orcs, in the middle of the climb, had no solid ground to hold on to and the passage of the Spiders buried thousands of Orcs in landslides. The Spiders did not even bother slowing down and continued toward the valley floor engaging a more organized Orc column. The first attack had thinned the Orc numbers considerably, but not enough to let the Spiders pierce the column from side to side. Again, the Orcs managed to slow down the Spiders enough to force Yamato to call in for a retreat.

The retreat itself was a bit touchier then the first one, as the Orcs now occupied the flank of the valley. However, their densities were still significantly lower there then in the middle of the valley, and their numbers were insufficient to significantly slow the retreat. A second passage across the steep slopes added to the Orcs' misery as the Spiders dug their way up the steep slopes, creating further mayhem and landslides.

«Should we do a carpet-bombing of the area?» asked Williams.

«No, the boulders would do perfect hiding places for the surviving Orcs. For now the ground seems to have been ploughed and the Orcs have nowhere to hide. Has there been any move to retreat across the other side of the valley?»

«Some units tried, but we flattened them. The column is regrouping and moving along the valley bottom toward its mouth. They are thinking we do not see them due to darkness. What's your plan?»

«Let me think Williams. Usually, the Orcs attack until there is no one left standing. It's the first time I see them leave a battlefield.»

After half an hour, Yamato came back with a plan.

«Let them believe they got away. It is ten minutes to compline. By matins, we attack them from behind. That ought to put them in a difficult position since their defences are likely to be pointing forward. Rotating a defence in a moving column, especially in a narrow passage, is very difficult.»

The Orcs made progress, running along the gorge. They engaged their column in a two-mile wide passage that was closed on both sides by stiff granitic cliffs. The Atlanteans let their forward units make their way through the gauntlet, and waited for the main Orc forces to be in the passage to begin bombing the column's lead.

While Williams dealt deadly blows to the forward Orc units, Yamato attacked the rear guard of the Orcs, pushing them to engage into the tighter passage. Apparently, orders had been given to disengage as quickly as possible should Spiders attack again.

As the Dragons blocked the exit, Pegasuses began precision bombing, dropping huge amounts of ordinance ported by Dunbar from the stockpile in Thebes. The shrieking sound of the diving Pegasuses adding to the concussion of the bombs while the Dragons roared overhead before dropping their deadly load made it clear to the Orcs they were faced with a formidable foe. However, the most unnerving were the very silent Spiders, that seemed to pop up anywhere anytime, killing indiscriminately before vanishing in the dark night.

Yamato was dealing with a compact group of Orcs when the command Spider shuddered under a violent impact. Turning around to face the attack that came from behind, he saw what he never thought he would see. There, in the middle of a group of orcs, someone had used offensive magic. Only the fact that the Spider shell was made of orichalque, that absorbed the magic, protected the Prince from the unexpected assault. Unfortunately, the assaulting orc was hidden in the midst of a compact group.

Yamato let the Spider deal with the orcs that seemed to protect the Mage in their midst. He could see the orc mage throw hex after hex, that got absorbed by the Spider's own magical core. Finally, the only orc standing was the Mage. Yamato decided to deal with the pain in the butt himself. He placed his Spider on neutral, ported behind the Mage, which kept trying to destroy the Spider.

Wearing his black legionnaire cavalry suit, Yamato was all but invisible to the Mage in the deep black ink of the moonless night. He walked to stand behind the Orc, less then an inch behind him. His fine wolf smell told him this was not a true Orc. Something was odd. It smelled like an Elf!

"So, Elf, betraying your king for power?" he asked sweetly, totally shocking the Mage. The Elf tried to turn and face the intruder, but the crushing grip of Yamato on his collarbone stopped the move and forced the Black Elf to keep facing the Spider.

"Who are you?"

Ignoring the question, Yamato continued.

"I wonder how King Enron will like this? The last one that betrayed him was killed very slowly. I hope your skin isn't too tied up to your meat?"

The last comment made the Mage shudder.

"Yes, you understand me. I think Enron will take Prince Harp's suggestion and have you skinned alive with a butter knife."

"My magic will protect me!"

"Tell that to the Prince of Magic! He can remove your magical core on a whim!"

"That is impossible!"

"So you think. He drains magic like you drain water from a cup. I've seen it happen millions of times."

"He isn't here and to get him you will have to release me!"

"Wrong, fool. I received the request for my presence here as soon as you used a spell on the Robot," said Harp, who had ported right beside Yamato.

"Where do you want to drain him, Prince of Magic?"

"Right here. Then he gets moved to Thebes for judgement."

With a quick move, Harp pressed his hands on the neck of the Black Mage and began draining the magical core. The Elf hollered in excruciating pain as his core unravelled under the constant traction applied by Harp on it. Finally, just as dawn broke over the horizon, the process came to a close. The glamour that had hidden its true nature fell, revealing a tall Elf that had black hair, a number of scars, and very black, dark eyes. He was nude, his body showed marks of rituals best left unnamed, but nonetheless dark.

"There we are. You have no magic left. You could start collecting some, but the court executioner may get to you before you have enough to even kill a fly. Release him. I'm taking him to the brig. Expect to testify tomorrow, Yamato. You know Enron. He believes in a quick justice. What happened here?"

"Oh nothing. We disposed of an Orc column. I'm sure there are more if Sitar wants some exercise."

"I'll let him know. See you tomorrow!"

Harp gripped the Elf by the balls and ported to Thebes' brig, before unceremoniously pitching the traitor in the room and locking it up.

"Try to sleep, fool! That will probably be your last night!" as the Dark Elf hollered in pain from the manhandling his genitals had received by the powerful pitch.

Meanwhile, Yamato and Williams returned to their base camp, where Dunbar had been busy preparing the next leg of the expedition.

***

Ian and his group moved up to another affluent of the Amazon. The streams were beginning to become ever more difficult to progress upriver. Ian had been getting ever more frustrated with all the obstacles his mission was faced with: first, each tribe was at each other's throat; second the prolonged dry spell made travel by the rivers ever more difficult; and the presence of clouds of stinging insects was getting on his nerve, even if they had decided to stay in dragon boy form for the duration. Certain days, he was grumpy at best, if not downright incendiary. As they reached yet another tribe, he exploded.

"Enough! I'll show these bastards what a pissed off Atlantean can do!"

The tribe had been trying to assault them as they walked along the narrow, almost dry riverbed. Piranhas kept tickling their feet; they were too dumb to understand you do not bite rocks and expect to take chunks out.

"Boil!" Ian said, pointing his hand at the water. The stream converted to vapour instantly, cooking the fish before evaporating. The boys didn't even flinch, since their skin could take to lava without even a burn.

"We'll be able to walk without having wet feet for a little bit, Ian, but that doesn't seem to have impressed these idiots!" Raja said.

"Maybe not, but let's deprive them of targets. Let's become invisible!"

The boys vanished, but their pirogue, which they had been porting over a rough part of the river, was still plainly visible. As it continued to crawl upriver, the natives were taken aback. When the strange life forms had been spotted, they had thought these would be easy prizes, but the fact that their arrows and darts kept bouncing on them had been pissing them off. When the boys vanished out of view, they thought their preys had vanished, but the movement of the pirogue told them that they were still at work on that strange boat. Enraged, and seeing that the piranhas were no longer a threat to their feet, they charged.

"These guys are more stubborn then an ox. I've had it! Port them to Thebes on contact. I got the emplacement of their village from several of them, so it should be easy to locate from here."

The sudden disappearance of their brethren should have made the head hunters rethink their strategy, but the result was the opposite. The thirty or so warriors all vanished to Thebes before a single one considered turning to run and report the advancing menace.

"Let's tie the pirogue here and take to that trail. Up river, it turns in and follows a stream. We cross over a fallen log, and then there is a false trail to the left, but the real one is after following a fallen tree and jumping from one tree trunk to the next five times, before taking to the ground anew. That is done so no footprint can lead to their village. It's a neat trick, if you can't read minds!"

The boys followed Ian and did as he asked. They reached the now narrow, almost invisible trail, and walked on it silently, keeping an eye for the next marker.

"I think that matches the image I got from one of the guys we expedited to Thebes. Below that tree is a narrow passage, which is almost invisible in the darkness offered by the root system. These people went to extraordinary extremes to hide their village's access. Beyond that another trail begins and it splits in two a little further, as it passes over a dry streambed. The trick is to follow the streambed down, while the false trail leads to quicksand."

The boys quickly found the rounded rocks that marked the stream, and turned downhill. By then the sun was at sext, and the temperature was uncomfortable for most inhabitants of the forest, except for the boys.

"Next path change is when that stream gives up and seems to vanish in lush grass. There we are. Does anyone see a cliff? According to the memories I stole from those guys, there should be a cliff."

"Maybe we are at the top, that's why we do not see anything," suggested Xianathan.

"That could be. It means their village is in a hidden valley. That would fit their preoccupation with safety. Let's spread out and check."

"No, Ian. If one of us finds it and falls over that would raise the alarm. We need to be more circumspect," said Edwin to the nods of the others.

"I see your point. Tie up!" replied Ian as he made a long rope of silky material.

After tying each other, the boys spread on a line and began looking through the tall grass for any indication of a trail. It was Hildegard that noticed there were a section of grass that seemed shorter then the rest, if only because he could see over its top edge. He pointed it out to the others.

"That is indeed strange. I wonder how they follow that trail?" wondered Raja.

"They crawl in the tall grass. By being able to peek over the slightly shorter growth, it lets them check if anyone is here, and when they return they use the same trick to follow the trail home," suggested Hildegard.

"And they make sure to step on these stones, which seem to be put haphazardly in the grass but in effect hide any footprint," said Ian as he showed them the presence of flat stones.

"And to complete the process, they walk on all fours, thus spreading their weight, so the rocks do not sink too deep in the soil," added Xianathan.

"You forget one thing, guys: they go so far as to straighten the grass blades after they have passed over them. Look at this broken grass blade. It stands up, like it's been fixed!"

The boys bent over and eyed with some astonishment the grass blade that had caught Edwin's attention. It was a marvel of workmanship. Other blades showed tiny signs of manipulation, indicating they had been set straight after the passage of the last party.

"How do we proceed?" I do not want to leave any trail either. If another party is coming behind us we need not advertise ourselves!" asked Xianathan.

"How many of you have small animal genetic maps?" asked Ian.

"We all do, but there are also predators in these tall grasses. I just spotted something I would not like to meet if I were a mouse: a big rat!"

"I was more in the mood to convert to a mamba snake, Edwin. I had fun handling one at the Ark project. It's almost invisible in tall grass, is itself a formidable predator, and we could safely crawl in the tall grass without chance of meeting unexpected predators. And there is a non-negligible advantage to the snake form: we can retain our rock scales with no ill effect!"

"Ian, I wonder how you could have found fun handling one of the most venomous snakes of Africa?" asked Edwin.

"I was in this form and it tried to bite me. I extracted the venom and give it to Thorsten to make anti-venom for the Elves that handle the snakes at the Ark project. I had visited the vivarium and one of the Elves complained that they had to call on mages regularly to treat bites. I don't think that mamba will be forgetting me any time soon!"

"Were you rough? It is so not you!"

"No, Xianathan, but I guess it was particularly frustrated at me after I had taken its venom to the point its glands and venom sac were dry. It tried to bite me repeatedly, and never managed to even scratch the dragon skin. I put it in a separate container so it would not run its temper on innocent bystander snakes."

"That's good."

"It did not feel that way! I came back to help again a week later with another batch of snakes, and it became very agitated the moment I walked in the vivarium. It kept tracking me through the thick glass pane, and tried repeatedly to bite me across it!"

"Maybe it fell in love with you?" asked Raja. "Some like it rough I heard!"

"Don't make me laugh too hard! I might bite my tongue!" said Xianathan.

"So, how many of you can take serpentine form?" asked Ian.

Raja and Edwin raised their hands.

"Ok. We need other forms. Any suggestions?"

"I can take an egret form, but it is unsafe and unknown here. I can fly as a parrot. I think that would be best. After all we can keep an eye on the sky while you guys find the end to that trail, and when it's found, we fly to where you are, convert back to our current form and join you?" suggested Hildegard.

"That's a viable plan. Let's do it that way."

The first to convert were Hildegard and Xianathan. After they had flown up to perch on a thin tree branch, the other three boys took snake form: Ian as his beloved mamba, Enron as a green viper; and Raja as a yellow and black cobra. The boys then quickly slithered into the grass and progressed along the trail marked by the flat footrest rocks. After thirty minutes, they came to a cliff face, whose edge was well hidden in the tall grass.

«We are at the edge! I'm standing on my tail. Do you see me?» asked Raja.

«Yes, you are five hundred yards from your original position. We're waiting for that damn eagle to get lost before joining you. I think it sees us as lunch!"

«We see it too. I'm going to duck. I don't want to attract its attention either.»

It was past nones when the eagle decided to hunt something else. The two parrots glided silently to Raja's last reported position.

«Would you mind not stepping on my tail?» asked Edwin.

«Oh! I'm sorry. I did not see you!» replied Hildegard.

«It's a testament to the effectiveness of that camouflage,» answered Edwin.

«And it let you fill in your belly with that fat rat as well. I just hope it won't make you sluggish!»

«Somehow, I doubt it. Magic eats me up!»

«When it's not something else!» Ian replied as he remembered the previous night's activities in the improvised nest!

«How do they get down there? For humans, that cliff face must be a challenge!» asked Xianathan.

«While we waited for that interloper to leave, we studied the problem. We found an ingenious pulley system. Follow us,» replied Ian.

«I see that it is not everyone that is run by his stomach in this team!» noted Hildegard.

«Another comment like that and you are my next meal!» commented Edwin.

After hopping around to follow the mamba and the two other snakes, the two parrots saw a complex pulley system that had a weight attached to a rope that ran over a pulley, and a set of pegs that could stop the pulley from rotating.

«That is indeed ingenious. To pull the ladder up they drop the rock; they put the pegs in place and they can then climb up or down the rope ladder. Once they are done with it, a guy removes the pegs, stores them in these slots, and they pull the rock back up, To get the last guy down, he repels using the cable that holds the rock, probably sitting on it. It's then easy to pull the rock back up, lock the ladder down, and no one can use the rope to climb down unless he is suicidal. To climb out of that hole, the rock is let down, the village pulls the ladder up, pulling the man up as he sits on the rock, and he only needs to put a peg or two in place, climb off the rock and he is at the top. The process is repeated, and an expedition can leave the gorge to do anything.»

«That was our conclusion, Hildegard,» said Edwin.

«Ok, the day is progressing. Let's all fly down. Parrots would go unnoticed,» decided Ian.

«Did you notice how narrow that opening is? From above it would be impossible to see until you fall over!» commented Xianathan.

The boys reached the bottom of the wall and realised that the valley itself was narrow and that the stream at its bottom was small but well supplied in water. The higher part of the slope was covered with banana trees, and the lower part had a variety of fruit trees that included citrus, oranges and lime. As they flew from tree to tree, they discovered a field of pineapples, another of manioc, and rice paddies built into a series of layers.

«That place seems to have been unchanged for thousands of years,» Ian said.

«We are nearing the village. The forest cover is diminishing and we are seeing more open fields. Let's fly higher. These people are hunters,» suggested Hildegard.

«Hildegard, I think we need to walk the rest of the distance. I feel if we fly in we will be in trouble.» said Ian, as a feeling of imminent danger overtook him.

The five parrots dropped like stones in the tall grass along the trail and converted to dragon boys. They then walked in the grass, slightly off the trail, and progressed silently toward the village. As they came near a thicket, they saw a group of hunters scanning the sky for any prey.

«If we had flown over that clearing, we would have been targets. Now it's the other way around. I don't want to have to handle stubborn jerks. Let's port them right away to Thebes.»

The ten hunters vanished along with their kills, and the boys started walking toward the village again.

«It's right after that line of trees. They have a watch over on that tall tree over there, but since we are green, we may not be noticed until it's too late for the boy to call the alarm.»

«I see him between these two thick branches. He is well hidden but his body heat is giving him away,» Raja said. «It's looking the other way, probably over the village at the far end. Let's study the behaviour and see how we can take advantage of the situation.»

The five boys, well hidden in the grass, watched the boy's actions for half an hour. It became apparent that the boy would rotate his watch every five minutes or so, and scan another area. And he was good! He did not simply follow a set pattern but would focus on different areas rather then simply rotate a fixed angle; furthermore, he would change the interval spent on a specific area.

«I see. Let's wait until he eyes our area. When he looks elsewhere we move in the opposite direction of his gaze.» Hildegard decided.

It took fifteen minutes for the boy to eye their current position and he kept looking at it for over eight minutes before turning his gaze elsewhere. The five boys quickly moved across the path and forward, hiding under a tree. The boy again looked at their old position, seemingly trying to figure out what had changed, and spent several minutes eyeing the place. The dragon boys used this respite to progress even further off angle and closer to the tree line, this time crouching behind a spiny bush.

«That child is a professional watchman!» said Edwin. «We need to be careful! I suggest we lower our body temperature! I think it is able to locate mosquito swarms that bug any warm-bodied animal, even us!»

«That is true. I noticed we do attract way too many stinging insects,» Xianathan replied.

As they watched the boy do his duty, the expeditionary force couldn't help but admire the dedication and quality of surveillance the boy was putting in. He managed to track each and every position they had taken a halt to wait for his gaze to pass over. He kept eyeing the bush they were hiding behind, and that kept the Atlanteans pinned down.

«What is it we are missing that he sees?»

«I think it's not what he sees, but rather what he doesn't see, Xianathan. See that bush over there? It's the same variety as the one we are hiding behind. Do you notice the number of birds eating the little red fruits around it? Yet there are none around this one! We are disturbing the normal behaviour of these birds around this bush.»

Edwin's revelations took the others by surprise. Then they remembered that as they made their way to the bush, there had been a flight of these birds suddenly leaving its vicinity. They had dismissed this but now it was apparent it had attracted the boy's attention. He could not see them but he sensed something had disturbed the tiny birds.

«Invisibility mode, and we crawl at random. We need to follow the wind's direction and make sure we do not disturb the grass. I would not be surprised if that eagle eye could spot the flight of insects our passage creates!» said Edwin.

«I agree. Let's target that row of trees that seems to lead to the...»

«No. It's there for a purpose, to lure idiots that think they can make it to the tree line encircling the village safely and hidden from view!» said Ian, as he countered Hildegard's instructions.

«But the rest is open field! We cannot hope pass through it unnoticed!»

«I have the perfect solution for us. See that hummingbird? It's coming this way and it doesn't see us. I'll wait until it comes to get nectar from that flower and capture it for a second. We will then touch it, in effect collecting its genetic pattern. It will then be possible for us to convert to hummingbirds and fly. Remember, we need to imitate the hummingbird's behaviour. That boy seems to be a genius at detecting anomalies!»

Ten minutes later, the boys had their genetic map for one hummingbird and they converted to it before taking flight. They hopped from flower to flower, making their way in zigzag toward the boy's perch. They then flew up the tree, and took station around the boy, watching him do his job. He still kept an eye on their last position, but his face showed increasing perplexity. He held a horn in his left hand, and seemed to debate whether to blow it or not. Meanwhile Ian scanned his memory and found a lot about the tribe, its mores and their advanced knowledge of their ecosystem.

Ian decided he did not want to hurt or shock the boy beyond reason, so he decided to perch on the boy's shoulder. If the boy was surprised by the familiarity of the hummingbird, he hid it well and did not become overly alarmed. Ian scanned the brain and found its fundamental frequency and range, well within normal human values.

«So, little one, what is bothering you so?» Ian projected.

The boy, more then mildly surprised, dropped his horn on his chest, where it hang from leather straps tied around the boy's neck.

"Who is talking?"

«Just think your answer. You need not talk. Anyway your voice is like thunder to my ears.»

«Who is talking?» replied the boy heeding the instructions he had heard in his mind.

«How many of my kind visit your shoulders, boy?»

As the boy peeked on his shoulder, he asked the next logical question given his culture. «Are you a spirit of the forest?»

«You could say that. Look around we are visiting you.»

«We? There are more then one of you around me?»

«You cannot call a forest a single tree, can you?»

After giving some thought to the question, the boy had to agree. Ian read the silent acceptance of the statement.

«Why have I been chosen for such an honourable visit?»

«Well, we had thought of visiting the adults, but we were received with arrows and needles when we met your head hunters.»

«They what?»

«They tried to kill us, since I need to tell everything.»

«What happened to them?»

«What happens to people that attack a superior force without regard for their intentions?»

The boy became sad, and Ian immediately picked up on the change of mood.

«Why are you sad?»

«My father, three of my uncles, and eight of my cousins were in that hunting trip, not to mention my big brother. He was a prick, but I still loved him. I will miss them, but they should have known better then to attack spirits of the forest.»

«I see. Contrary to what you think, they are not dead. They were moved to a place where they will learn proper respect for us.»

«I wish you a lot of luck with my brother. He burned his hands three times before learning you do not grab fire my dad told me once. He told me that story in the hope I wouldn't be that stiff-necked.»

«We have means, some of which are not that pleasant.»

After taking some time to digest this last bit of information and imagining the worst possible scenarios concerning the fate of his big brother, scenarios that made the Atlanteans chuckle, the native boy relaxed and asked another question.

«What is it you expect of me?»

«We already know a lot about your village. We know your duty to watch is coming to a close and we have insured that your village is safe from surprise attacks. We want you to accompany us to your village to introduce us. We also know your grand-father, the chief is probably the biggest prick in the forest, and he has royally displeased the Gods. He will abide by the Gods' rulings or he will visit his ancestors. I hope you are not too attached to the rotten tree he has become?»

«Actually, I will be glad to see him meet his ancestors. Just don't count on me to eat his heart, I am not too into eating rock!»

«Do not worry... The only thing that may eat him is the God of Fire, Raja, which is perched on that branch beside your left ear.»

«Why is it I always get the ugly task of disposing of hardened meats, rotten trees, and leftovers?»

«Because your stomach is like this boy's: a bottomless pit!» Hildegard replied, much to the amusement of the native boy.

«Climb down, boy. We have to go to your village, and I want this done before the sun dips out of sight. We will follow you down.»

The boy did as asked and the five hummingbirds flew down behind him. As they reached the bottom of the tree, the boys took their Dragon boy form.

"Lead the way. Do not worry about anything. You are under the protection of the Gods." And truly, the boy was enclosed in a force field that would have resisted the assault of any mage.

"I wonder how long we will keep up this charade."

"We will do so as long as we need to, Xianathan. For them, we are gods. Hopefully, after a full reprogramming in Thebes, they will accept us for who we are, and stop seeing us as some sorts of gods. I feel as bad as you about this, but if it helps us get them to safety, then so be it." After taking a sip of water, Ian continued. "I know that sounds much like the old saying the end justify the means, but in this case I think it does."

"Knowledge brings us closer to God said a scientist of the Ancients. If there is a proof of this, it is this one," added Edwin.

"I feel a bit too close, much like an usurper, if you want to know," replied Hildegard.

The native boy listened to the Gods speak between themselves, and found their language so beautiful he wanted to cry. It was like a song to nature and it made his heart flutter. He wanted to learn that language so much! He realised that birds seemed to reply to them, and that consolidated his thoughts that gods came from above. How else could they have the voice of birds and be understood by them? As they made their way to the village, Ian began singing a soft march song, and the others took their place in the canon, creating a marvellous five-voice quintet that was accompanied in backdrop by the birds. The young boy felt like he was walking on clouds, and his vision blurred from tears of joy. Needless to say, it was the Atlanteans' magic that brought the boy six inches above ground and gave him this impression.

They made their way to the main entrance of the village unhindered and progressed to the centre. There, dominating the central circle was the Rock of Sacrifice, its exterior marked by dried blood of innumerable human and animal sacrifices. Their passage through the village had gone totally unnoticed due to the Atlantean magic. As they came to a stop, the song faded and they became visible to all.

"Let's wait for everyone to congregate to the area before taking action. I plan to give these people a lesson they will not forget any time soon!" said Ian.

Turning to their guide, he continued.

"I understand that the villagers are now converging to the village for the evening meal. We will wait until everyone is present before the introduction," said Ian

"If grandfather waits that long."

"He will, because I have binded him to the Earth. To leave his home, he would need to move the Earth itself," replied Raja, softly.

"He will be infuriated."

"That is fine by me. I like my meat boiled from the inside."

It took over an hour for all villagers to move to the sacrificial plaza. They were surprised to see the future sacrifices were not tied and gagged, but since they recognized the boy standing with them as one of their own, they thought he had managed to capture them himself which was quite a feat! No one dared contest his right to handle his prisoners the way he saw fit, since he was the son and heir of the ruling family.

"Everyone is here except your grandfather," said Ian.

The fact that a prisoner had dared talk to the boy without being asked a question first shocked the onlookers, and some comments about giving youth too much leeway were heard from the onlookers. The boy was not going to let this go on any longer they thought, as they saw his face scrunch in fury. But to their total surprise his fury turned on them!

"Villagers, if I hear a single bad comment from you on my actions, I will personally slice your throat on the sacrificial rock! I do not want to hear a single peep!"

Just then the boy's grandfather made his way to the amalgamated villagers and they parted to let him pass through. He walked resolutely toward his grandson and stood a couple of feet from the boy, looking at him with a sneer.

"You may be my grandson, but I am yet still the chief here. It is I, and only I, that decide who faces the bite of the sacrificial knife!"

"Grandfather, you know the rules as much as I do. I brought them here therefore I decide their fate. However high your status, you are not above the law."

The old man tried to hit the impertinent brat, only to find his face flattened hard against the sacrificial rock, with a broken and bloody nose.

"Try to touch the boy again, and you will be taking your last breath!" said Raja, as he held the man against the bloody granitic extrusion. Raja's intervention had been so quick that none of the villagers could even figure out how the strange boy had moved, much less managed to immobilise their chief. As the villagers began to converge toward them, Raja looked at them with contempt. He then slowly broke the right forearm of the old man by pressing it against the rock while the man whimpered and cried his pain.

"Continue getting closer and he will not have a single bone intact by the time you take three steps forward!"

The boy looked at his grandfather and admired his resolute face. He must have been in excruciating pain but his jawbone was set and he looked defiantly at the God of Fire. How stubborn must the old man be?

"Grandfather, meet the God of Fire. I told him you would be a stubborn old log, but he laughed at me telling me he had means of splitting logs. I had my doubts, but now I don't."

Clinching his teeth against the pain, the old man replied defiantly.

"I see no gods here, but only six sacrifices: these five strangers and you, traitor!"

Raja was not going to let that pass and he slowly crushed the man's left hand to a bloody pulp.

"No more jacking off while watching victims writhe under the blade, old geezer! You better be polite to your grandson, or I will continue my work." Turning to their guide, he continued: "I told you I could tenderize my meat when I wanted it, young one! Your grandfather is already feeling my loving care!"

"Grandfather thinks he was born from an extract of the right tit of a goddess. Nothing short of absolute, raw power will break him. He uses power to intimidate, abuse and torture."

Ian moved closer to the grandfather and touched the man. After a few minutes, he backed away and told Raja to keep him pressed on the rock while he decided what to do with him.

"That piece of rock is more then what it appears. It has a ten percent concentration of amorphous orichalque. It neutralizes magic. That is why this old man is unable to heal himself. He has been trying to do so ever since you smashed him face-first in the rock. That one is a Black Mage. He has not heard of the Keep for a long time and has carved his own little kingdom here."

Ian took a few more minutes to think it out then waved at Raja.

"Let him drop, Raja."

The man backed away from the rock and began healing his body.

"That was the mistake of your short life, little bastard!" said the Black Mage, spitting on Ian, which brought Raja's fist to his face faster then the blink of an eye and sent the man smashing in the rock behind him. The Black Mage, ears ringing from the impact, stood back up and eyed Raja wearily.

"Check your language! I'm growing hungry."

Fully healed, the Black Mage looked at Ian and the others in turn. He understood that these boys were hiding something, but for his life, he couldn't figure it out. He began collecting his magic to strike them down, but refrained from lashing out as he saw the smirk on Ian's face.

"What? No assault with magic? Could it be you had a few un-fried brain cells?"

Ah these were mages! That is why he had been taken by surprise! Now he knew what to do. He reached out for a machete used to cut down the sacrificed after their heart had been taken out over the sacrificial rock and charged Ian. Ian jumped over the man and landed behind him, pulling his own sword from magic space.

"You finally understood, I see. Do you know how we gain power from other mages?"

As the Black Mage tried to cut Ian's head off, the Prince ducked below the swinging blade and inserted his own sword in the left armpit and turned it, in effect separating the left arm from the torso. The Black Mage roared in pain and sealed the wound. He would have to grow back an arm, a very serious pain session in perspective! The fallen arm burst into flames.

"Damn it, I won't even have anything to dig my teeth in!" said Raja.

Meanwhile the Black Mage backed away from Ian, his balance compromised by the missing arm. Not only had he lost an arm, but also his secret weapon: ambidextrous handling of a blade. Ian watched the old man move and dance around, as he simply walked toward him. As he passed near his grandson, he tried to cut the boy's head off, to hit an invisible wall. The blade became red and hotter then fire, and the old man dropped it while losing a good portion of his skin to the handle.

"I told you we would protect you, boy. Promise given, promise kept."

Ian then proceeded to walk slowly to the Black Mage, which kept trying to send hexes toward him. Each magical assault backfired, as each spell met a block in the Black Mage's hand. The arm was being destroyed from the inside as each hex rebounded. Yet the man continued, eyes wide with pain, lost to all reason.

Ian suddenly jumped up and neatly sliced the head off. The Mage's magic, suddenly freed, exploded upward before curving toward Ian who absorbed it like a desert absorbs a light rainfall. The Black Mage's body, lying on the sand, was charred beyond recognition. Raja walked to the empty husk and pointing his finger, said:

"Burn!"

The body burst into a bluish fire, and less then three minutes later, nothing was left but a black shadow on the sand where the body once had been.

"I told you he was the God of Fire! Does anyone want to taste his breath?" asked the young boy, as he looked at his people with contempt.

Edwin eyed the Sacrificial Rock.

"What do we do with that?" he said, pointing at the protruding rock. "We can't move it to Thebes in its current shape."

"Paschal is preparing and porting mining Spiders. It will digest that thing from top to bottom and extract everything, including the orichalque. There is several tons of it underground. I gather he is adding a new type of spider, what he calls carriers. He told me to be ready for a surprise. Knowing Paschal, I'm intrigued."

Just then, five standard Spiders materialised in the middle of the village, creating panic amongst it population.

"I thought we had the time to get these idiots to Thebes. Luckily we thought to put a force field around the village or we would have to hunt them down in the surrounding forest."

"Get your backsides here, you bunch of cowards!" cried out the young native. "If they had wanted to hurt you, they would have done so a long time ago! And where do you think you can hide from Gods?"

«That kid impresses me every time he opens his mouth!» said Xianathan.

A force they couldn't see gently forced the villagers back to the village square. Some clawed at it desperately, and others assaulted it with everything they could find. As everyone was trying to escape, they indeed presented their backsides to the boys.

"They sure are obedient, young man. You must have ingrained leadership!" said Hildegard with an ironic laugh.

"Face us! Now!" said Ian. Not getting the expected response, he had lightning strike the Sacrificial Rock repeatedly. It took several dozen strikes and quite a few bowel movements for the people to turn around and look, awed, at the top of the rock, now glowing with static electricity.

"It seems that not all Gods have the same impact!" commented Edwin.

Ian ignored the barb, and began speaking.

"We know you are a single tribe, all within this village. We are here to move you to a safer place. You have no choice in the matter. You need not bring anything. As for these things that scare you, watch them!"

Ian gave a mental command to one Spider and it walked to the Sacrificial Rock to begin its disintegration. Within a few minutes, the rock had been brought to the level of the ground. The Spider then stopped.

"Human sacrifices, in fact, all sacrifices, are now banned. We noticed you also practiced cannibalism. That too is over. You will be moved to a place where you will learn a new way of living. Again, you have no say in the question. You need not get anything from your homes. Stand up and stay still. You will be moved to your destination!"

After moving everyone to Thebes except their guide, Ian looked at him expectantly.

"I feel there is something you wish to ask us?"

"Yes, but I dare not."

"Ask away. All you can get is a no."

Taking a deep breath, the boy launched himself. "Can I stay with you?"

«That kid's bright. Maybe we should acquiesce to his request,» said Xianathan.

«But he has not developed any magic yet,» countered Raja.

«It's almost bursting to the surface," Edwin replied. «I think it will take very little training to get him to show magic. He already has mage sight, and he is untrained.»

«But he will be a burden to us until he can protect himself. And he can't shape-shift until he bonds to a dragon.»

«Understood, Hildegard. Two are in favour and two are against. It's my decision.»

Ian eyed the young boy and saw his determination.

"Do you have any idea of what lies outside of your valley? This may seem hellish, but it is paradise compared to what we still face in our mission. We have seen many horrors.»

"Oh, I know horrors. Watching my friend's body get opened slowly by my grandfather so he could extract his still beating heart is hard to forget."

"Let me think about it while we move the rest of what must be moved to the new emplacement. Walk with us. Ignore the noise you will hear behind you. The Spiders will start working as soon as we leave the area."

The boy followed the Atlanteans and, as the boys left the village, the noise level climbed considerably behind them as the Spiders began their mining operations. The Atlanteans began porting the farmland to Thebes, as well as the trees and everything alive within the valley.

"Nothing living will be lost. However the huts, the weapons, and other implements of domestic life will be left behind unless they are examples of specific cultural traits."

Just then, absolutely huge Spiders came into being, ported to the location by Paschal.

"Well, I wonder what Paschal meant by carriers. Now I know. Paschal blew up a fuse when he designed these things."

Indeed, the new variety of Spiders was impressive: One hundred feet long by twenty-five feet wide, their interior was almost completely hollow, except for a conveyor belt that dumped the mineral inside for transport. The legs were massive, thicker then the Temple's Columns. Each step taken covered several yards. They moved into the abandoned village, crushing anything in their way and presented their flexible trunk to the miners, who fed them minerals from their rear exit while their forward claws continued eating away at the rock face. The native boy didn't understand what he was seeing, but was awed by the size of the carriers.

"Ian, we are finished here. It's time we leave. The Spiders do not need supervision."

"All right, Xianathan. Come here boy."

The boy walked to Ian's diminutive size. He was totally taken by surprise when the much smaller boy lifted him easily to put him on his shoulders.

"Hang on. We will be flying."

Ian converted into his gold dragon form and flew out of the narrow valley, followed by the other Atlanteans.

«Do you like flying?» Ian asked, as the young boy clung to his neck for dear life.

«It is beautiful from up here, but I feel like I'm slipping. I don't want to fall!»

«Do not worry. I can carry you to the ground slowly if you slip. Just enjoy the sight. Maybe, one day, you will be able to do this on your own.»

The dragons flew back to where they had left their pirogue and landed in a noise worthy of the end of the world. Ian shifted back to his dragon boy form and ported the boy into the pirogue.

"Well, back to work. We have to finish this stream and then we go down back to the main river. By the way, boy, what name would you like to have? I sense your given name has negative connotations."

"I do not know."

"I can suggest the name of that beautiful honey bird, the hummingbird, or Colibri in a dead language. I find it fits you perfectly and the name sounds as nice as the bird."

A large, very large smile met Ian's suggestion, so Colibri was the new name the boy took.