SWNOVELS Chapter CHAPTER TWENTY
Akula Lingers in LIfe
Back at the Hall of the Ojibwe, Wulf gently laid the medicine man on a large table. He was unconscious, but still breathing.
The white youth stripped off the buckskin shirt from the white-haired mage, and noted with concern how near the bullet had passed to the heart. With his knowledge of wounds gained from extensive hunting of both animals and men, the white barbarian knew that it was only the magical protection of the Great Spirit that had saved the medicine man from instant death.
As it was, his pulse was weak. Trina, Nikan, Major Lee Anthony, and Jafiro were all about him, and Trina and Jafiro were crying. Other tribespeople were gradually entering the hall, and grief suffused their countenances. All had decided that there was no hope. And without their beloved religious leader and medicine man, they were gradually feeling more and more despondent. Without his magical intervention on their behalf, what hope did this small tribal nation have against the military might of the outside world?
Wulf, after dressing Akula’s wound as best he could, was the first to realize their immediate danger. “Jafiro- go outside, and test fire a gun- we must know the effect of Akula’s weakness on his sorcery!”
Jafiro, shaking aside his tears, went out through the crowd in the hall, and to the armory. Selecting a pistol from the many weapons inside, he fired it towards a distant tree. An instant later, the shot rang out- but the fired bullet only made it half-way to the target before falling sluggishly to earth. Jafiro, seeing the danger Wulf had sensed, ran back inside to the white youth’s side.
“It is as you feared- the magic channeled by Akula from the Great Spirit is weakening, just as is the medicine man’s life. The magic is bound to the life force of the mage Akula- as he weakens, so does his enchantment! The sorcery that negates modern machinery and weapons from working within the Ojibwe Nation is dwindling, in tandem with the life of Akula.”
Back in the clearing, Captain Manthey was confused, and without direction. Not a bad man, he was a mid-level military bureaucrat chiefly because of his ability to put his finger up, and figure out which way the wind was blowing. He really didn’t even try to figure out what was right and moral- merely, what would advance his career! In other words, he was a life-long Democrat.
He had immediately got onto the phone with his superiors, relaying what they already knew had happened. General Ron Williams, after listening to Manthey’s description of the slaying of the Chicago detective Gibbons under the hooves of Wulf Gott, after the wanton assassination of the Ojibwe medicine man by that same detective, had thought for a few moments. Being imaginative for a general, he made a request of his underling Manthey.
“Try something for me, Captain Manthey.” He nodded, not even thinking that his superior couldn’t see him on the phone. “Start up one of your small vehicles, say a small rolling drone, and send it into that forest that none of our machinery or weaponry will work in.”
“But sir,” said Captain Manthey, “you know that no weapons work, and no machines will either, so-”
“Just try it. Now!” ordered General Ron Williams.
Captain Roger Manthey strode over to the munitions wagon, and selected a small drone, which he set on the ground. Turning it on, he watched as it rolled on over the the edge of the forest. They had tried this over and over, so what was the point—”
“Sir!” he shouted into his phone- “the drone entered the forest!” And so it had, and as Manthey went on to explain to the questions of his general, “It actually entered the zone of the Ojibwe Nation as none has up ’til now, but…” he ran into the woods, warily, to report further, “It is rolling really, really slowly, and even stops periodically. But then, it starts up again!” He was very excited. None of their machines had worked in there- until now.”
General Ronald Williams, also a Democratic general that had avoided combat at all costs throughout his career, preferring to be part of that Washington “club” that always decried war, while simultaneously advancing his career by being heavily invested in the military, was still, as I said, rather imaginative for such a general. He gave an order without hesitation.
“Send in a battalion of drones. A dozen would be good. Arm them with advanced weaponry, and especially have them carry heavy explosives that we can detonate from afar! Flamethrowers on a couple, with rocket launchers on the advance drones, and large explosives on the last ones. You, Roger, will accompany this mission, riding in a smallish vehicle behind them, whatever you have. You may bring a couple of armed men, but your main mission will be to take video of the whole attack Video it all, and send it to me- this may be our chance to bring down this Indian/Barbarian uprising one and for all!”
“But sir- the natives are very violent, and the magic protecting them—”
General Williams cut him off- “There is no magic, you idiot! Just go- follow your orders, and shut up!” General Ronald Williams got a whiff of huge publicity in the offing- ’General Ron takes down Ojibwe Nation with Great Insight!’ How great would that publicity be?? He might even get invited to the White House!