by John Nest
"It has been a long time, my friend." said Smoke as he pulled Adder in for a hug. Adder hugged back, but accidentally squeezed Smoke too hard with his regrown left arm.
"Ouch!" Smoke yelped in pain.
Adder apologized, "Sorry about that. I guess I still don't know my own strength. I've been practising every day, but I guess it isn't enough."
"It's okay, don't worry about it." Smoke turned to face other private army members when he saw three massive Maneators charging towards him.
An orange Maneator arrived first. Rasant was the fastest and shortest Maneator at a height of two and half meters, but he easily stood on par with any of the Tikbalangs.
Rasant spoke faster than a radio announcer. "Finally. I've been asking everyone how you were. Adder and Thyrsus told me stories about your adventures in the Simiavulg village and what about that new ability, huh? I'd like to see it one day, you know, if you're not too busy. Adder and Thyrsus have been doing a great job running everything in Verbrannt, but it's mostly Thyrsus because Adder is really focused on training his Condortlian Warriors. Anyway, I've also learned new attacks with the whip you gave me. Wanna see?" the orange Maneator said rapidly, in a single breath.
"Good to see you too, Rasant." Smoke hugged him awkwardly as his hands could not reach all around the Maneator's back.
Next, a red Maneator knelt down in front of Smoke.
"Stark give.. owner to you... new King of Maneators!" said Stark with beaming confidence as his nostrils flared with hot air.
A gray Maneator quickly corrected his brother, "Stark, it's honor, not owner." explained Weise.
Smoke smiled and patted Stark on the shoulders. "The owner's mine, Stark." The red Maneator showed the widest grin Smoke had seen and gave way for Weise to greet their master.
"Mitleid's legacy is well placed in your hands, King Smoke." said Weise as he bowed down before Smoke.
"Weise, I told you to drop that 'King' stuff already." Weise smiled, bowed down again and stepped aside.
The next one to greet Smoke was the beautiful brunette WoodElf, Vijaya. Six falcons perched on a special staff that her twin sister made for her.
She greeted Smoke with a sullen face, "Hello, Smoke. This is a good thing we're doing here...defending a helpless village. You've reconfirmed that it wasn't wrong of Thyrsus and I to choose you as our master."
"Thank you, Vijaya. I hope to always keep that in mind then." said Smoke awkwardly as he didn't understand what was going on with her.
As soon as Vijaya stepped aside, Ichaival walked over to him. "Sorry about that, Smoke. It appears that the lovey-dovey season started. She's just sulking because Thyrsus couldn't come. They've been going at it for almost a month now."
"What? Thyrsus and Vijaya are a couple now? When did this happen?" asked Smoke.
"Nah, you wouldn't want to hear the details. So, how have you been, boss?" asked Ichaival.
"I'm feeling more confident now that you guys are here." said Smoke after he gave Ichaival a hug. "So, if Thyrsus and Vijaya are going out, does that mean that you and Sharanga are an item now too?"
"Ha ha. Add salt to my wounds, why don't you?" Ichaival shook his head after laughing sarcastically. "The love bug didn't bite her. I don't know how Thyrsus did it, but I'm still happy for him."
Ichaival gave way for the last member of Smoke's private army who arrived on Laernea and Gandiva's carriages to greet him.
Jinggu, the forest-green OrkElf, bowed down before Smoke. "Get up, Jinggu. You know you don't have to do that." Smoke pulled him in for a hug, which Jinggu reciprocated for only a second.
"I heard you did a great job fortifying Verbrannt alongside the Maneators. Thank you for that." said Smoke with a smile.
Jinggu only gave a small nod and smiled back.
"Still not much for words, huh?" said Smoke and patted Jinggu's back.
After the OrkElf, Adder walked closer to Smoke and said, "Now that you've greeted all the primary members, I'd like to present to you the improved Condortlian Warriors."
Thirty Condortlian Warriors stepped down from the two armored carriages. Each of the Warriors was equipped with a shiny bastard sword, an ornate round shield and a skull helm.
Like the well-trained Warriors they were, they fell into formation and formed a single platoon. Smoke wished he could have brought more men from Verbrannt, but Laernea and Gandiva were the only ones capable of covering great distances within a day, and their carriages could only carry this many.
Despite their low numbers, Smoke felt confident that these thirty Condortlian Warriors would be very useful against Crucibelle and her Gobble Goblins.
"Wheeew!" Smoke whistled loudly, "All of them have defeated the boss in the mausoleum?"
"Well, we basically lived inside the mausoleum for almost two weeks." calmly replied Adder. "The one with the lowest level among them right now is at 96." he said as he pointed at a young Condortlian Warrior.
"And where did you get these swords and shields? They look expensive." asked Smoke.
"I forged them myself. I used the saved-up allowance you gave me and the zecs Gandiva and Laernea won for placing high in the Mounted Race to buy the required materials." said Adder as he gave a small nod to the Lioumereans.
"This is really impressive. Great job, Adder. And good work on increasing their levels." Smoke clapped and the rest of the private army members clapped with him.
"Alright, let's all grab a meal. Espion, Ledur and I have prepared a feast for you guys. But we still have a lot to do and little time to do it." said a determined Smoke as he led the way to the emergency shelter.
On the way there, Laernea forcefully walked close to him. Smoke called the tigress Lioumerean, "Gandiva, come here. I have to tell you something."
Gandiva walked closer as well. "Listen, I have a very difficult mission for you two. Do you think you're up to it?" asked Smoke.
"Sure, we're ready for anything." enthusiastically replied Laernea.
"Bring it on, Smoke. You know we can do it." bravely answered Gandiva.
"Good. Alright, I want you to eat really fast and then head back to Verbrannt. Do you think you could do that?"
"What?! This might be our hardest mission yet." Gandiva groaned as she ran towards the shelter.
As Smoke and his private army members walked towards the shelter, he remembered the book he read recently.
"Hey, guys, have any of you heard of the story called 'The Saviors Tested by Fate'?" asked Smoke.
Vijaya heard this and quickly replied, "That's my favorite story! I remember wanting to be one of those princesses in the Magietrois."
"Magietrois? What's that?" asked Smoke.
"Its what that group of princesses was called." answered Vijaya.
"Oh, alright. Anyway, I was wondering how the story ends?"
"I don't know the exact story that's written in the books. I just heard it from a passing Bard who sang it to us when we were kids. According to him, the Magietrois obtained immortality and will appear once more to assemble their fearsome armies and protect the world against the Reptilian race." answered Vijaya.
"Hmm. Maybe we could meet those princesses and have them become our allies?" Smoke said out loud.
Ichaival walked closer to others and added, "With those legendary princesses as allies...I wonder if one of them would fall for my charms."
Gandiva, Laernea and Vijaya all smacked Ichaival on the head. "Quit dreaming, Ichaival. Besides, I thought you only had eyes for my sister?" Vijaya said sternly.
Deep in thought, Smoke continued to walk in silence. 'Where could I find this Magietrois group? I should search for the book containing the next part of the story.'
Chapter Nine: Forged in Flames
Jubilant sounds came from the great hall of Banal's emergency shelter. Igniz illuminated the otherwise bleak room. Smoke and his men cheerfully chatted away as they sat at a long table made up of several smaller wooden tables joined together.
Big chunks of roasted war eleph
ant meat were placed all over table and served as the main dish.
"Wow! You really pulled out all the stops on this one, Smoke." exclaimed Ichaival as he took a big bite out of one of the slices.
"No, no, this is all Ledur's work. I just made the side dishes." Smoke replied as he pointed to the mashed potatoes and fried crickets.
The winged Tikbalang shook his head. "It wasn't much. We were just fortunate enough to come across a stray war elephant on our way to Banal. The rampaging beast made such a ruckus that it practically called out to us."
Twenty Tikbalangs banged their hooves on the table as they laughed. Rasant and Stark matched the Tikbalangs laughter as loud as they could.
The orange Maneator rapidly tapped his hoof on the floor while the red one banged it loudly with all his strength.
Smoke could tell that the two Maneators didn't have a clue as to why the Tikbalangs were laughing and were just playfully copying them.
Weise, however, remained quiet. The gray Maneator merely observed the conversation that everyone was having.
"Well, I'm sure the great god Cuezaltzin guided this war elephant to you." added Adder as he joined in on their conversation.
"Pfft. I doubt Cuezaltzin still cares for us. Look at us, we're monsters now." said Ledur bitterly.
With the intention to console Ledur, Adder shared his past experience. "I used to feel the same way, but you just have to believe. The right time will come for you and your brothers."
"Stop preaching some hypocritical nonsense. You're only saying that because you've already been freed from the Lizardites' enslavement." said Ledur aggressively.
Smoke sensed that the joyful meal had quickly turned sour. He was about to intervene when his second-in-command spoke again.
"You're absolutely right, Ledur. I'm sorry, I was out of place." said Adder sincerely.
Before anyone else could talk, Ichaival suddenly spoke loud for the whole table to hear, "So, did you guys hear how Thyrsus and Vijaya's little love adventure began?"
The occupants of the long table replied with dead silence. Only Gandiva and Laernea's fast-paced chewing and swallowing could be heard.
"Everything was set in motion with their attempt to save Mitleid. Sierra had just assigned them to be our battalion's Wing Commanders." started Ichaival.
Still, the long awkward silence remained.
"Vijaya blamed herself for Mitleid's death, saying that they didn't act fast enough because she wasn't used to her new role. So she turned to Thyrsus for some advice. Of course, our friendly Thyrsus gave her his undivided attention. Then, she invited him to her room and..."
Before Ichaival could finish his sentence, six falcons came out of nowhere and pulled on his black hair with their talons.
"Okay, okay, I give up. Call them off already, Vijaya!" Ichaival pleaded as everyone smiled at him and the blushing Huntress.
Immediately afterwards, the mood at the table returned to its pleasant nature. Smoke stood up, walked over to Ichaival and patted the Hunter's shoulder. He gave him a knowing nod, which Ichaival returned in kind.
Smoke moved from one seat to another to hear how all of his close friends had been. He couldn't have been prouder of leading such an amazing assembly of Zectians.
His only regret was that most of them had seen better days, but this only fueled his resolve to help them. In a way, he understood both Adder and Ledur's feelings.
'I'll make sure to remove the curses afflicting the Centaurs and Sierra.'
Smoke's train of thought was derailed when he heard Espion call out to the Lioumereans. "Hey, Gandiva and Laernea, you two are leisurely feasting here at the table while your stag moose outside haven't eaten yet. I bet you haven't even unloaded all the stuff in your carriages. Which reminds me, didn't Smoke ask you to bring..."
Espion couldn't finish his sentence as the two Lioumereans grabbed a coil of rope lying on a barrel behind them and tied him up neatly. They gagged him with their napkins after they were done.
"That should keep you from bothering us during our meal." said Laernea.
"He's turning out to be even worse than Ichaival." Gandiva scoffed as both Lioumereans returned to their seats and resumed stuffing their mouths with food.
* * * * * *
KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG!
Before the break of dawn, loud noises of pounding metal filled the air of Banal village. Jinggu, the muscular OrkElf, stood beside Adder and ten other Condortlians in a makeshift blacksmith area that Smoke created.
Without a furnace to be used to melt the iron ingots, Smoke asked his dark purple symbiote to help Adder and his men.
Since Banal had no Blacksmiths, Smoke had to make anvils himself. He ordered Igniz to melt the iron ingots and some of the low-quality weapons they had gathered around Banal and pour the metal into casts he created with Earth Manipulation.
Adder lifted a hammer with his regrown left arm and swung it down hard at a rough-looking anvil, masterfully shaping some of the iron ingots into horseshoes.
Smoke had thought about this for a while. Horseshoes would be weapons to Tikbalangs, similar to an iron knuckle, and should increase their attack.
KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG KLANG!
Jinggu and the Condortlians were busy forging spearheads. Smoke gave them the near-impossible task of producing at least nine hundred spearheads.
Adder, Jinggu and the Condortlians' exceptional strength allowed them to wield basic hammers, usable by all Jobs. They used them in a manner similar to how a Blacksmith would use a Blacksmith's hammer.
Only the sound of clashing iron and hammers could be heard until Adder spoke out.
"How many left?" Adder asked Jinggu.
"Still have six hundred more to do." he answered without looking up.
"Don't worry, Jinggu, I'll help out with the spearheads as soon as I finish fitting all twenty-one Tikbalangs."
The OrkElf gave a quick courteous nod and remained silent as he kept on reshaping the iron ingots on the anvil in front of him.
* * * * * *
Ichaival entertained the Banalite volunteers with his crazy antics as he prepared them for Basic Archery training. Sadly, out of the sixty Banalite volunteers only twenty-seven were willing to participate in the battle.
So, he taught the non-combatants how to make basic bows and arrows. Ichaival made several target dummies and placed them at a convenient distance of only five meters away.
He had the Banalite Archers-in-training take their stance. They took offense at first, but they realized that five meters was not that close right after they tried using the basic bows.
The black-haired Hunter struggled teaching the Banalites, but all of them persevered during the ten hours of intense training and ended up with the target dummies placed thirty meters away from them.
"Whether you can or can't, the answer's up to you. As long as you're determined, I know that you can do it." Ichaival said as he congratulated them.
Aside from Basic Archery, Ichaival also taught them the basics of first aid. Smoke often thought that Ichaival Jackal would have probably been better off as a Bard due to his flair for entertainment.
Smoke had gotten to know Ichaival's true nature and knew that he was serious about Sharanga. He also thought that Sharanga needed someone who could make her laugh, which was why he hoped that the two of them would have paired up already. However, it seems that Sharanga was immune to Ichaival's charms.
Subsequently, Smoke finished checking on the indoor preparations and proceeded to the rooftop of the emergency shelter. He stood in front of an earth tower ten meters high, with a floor area of twenty square meters.
Smoke and Ledur created this towering structure on top of the emergency shelter in order to use it as their command center.
Smoke planned to use three perimeter walls around the emergency shelter. The first wall was Banal's original wall, which surrounded the village.
It had two gates: the main iro
n gate at the village entrance and a small back gate on the opposite side. Given the limited amount of time before Crucibelle's arrival, he decided to leave Banal's original wall alone.
He envisioned the second wall to serve mainly as a blockade, which was why he used the Digger's Wand to create trenches at specific sections around the emergency shelter. The trenches were a hundred meters long, nine meters wide and ten meters deep.