The Ninth Prophecy

As another sun was rising above Nox, Spero grew more and more uneasy with every minute that passed. He had already started to worry about ever seeing any of the members of the two parties, including his daughter. However, six days after their departure, the horn announced return of one party. Spero ran out hoping to see his daughter. However, out of the ravine emerged an unlikely bunch. It was Faris, Sheda and the rest of their group. They were all there. Spero rushed out to welcome them. They went into the castle and reported to Spero what had happened. Faris concluded: “At the end they barely let us go. They did it only to honor the memory of my father, whom they owed some. Apparently, he had found out who they were once, but he allowed them to continue on. He even built up on the myth, as if he knew the day when we would need their help would come. They asked us not to speak of who they really are.”

- “So, will they join us?”

- “We don’t know, we are not sure,” Sheda concluded.

- “I don’t think they will,” Faris added pessimistically. “I invited them to do so. I gave them an explanation where they could be of most use. I told them that they wouldn’t even have to join us in battle. I only asked them that, if it comes to that, they help our fleeing women and children pass through the caves of the Snake’s Throat to the safety of wasteland. So, all they would have to do is wait behind the lines and help if it was to needed, without risking much.”

- “What did they say?”

- “They didn’t say anything. Their leader Sethon just made a remark that they didn’t survive for so long by exposing themselves to the ordinary straightwalkers. I just told him that if the Koprites come after our people to the caves of the Snake’s Throat, they won’t stop there. Any word from Yon and Hadera?”

- “No, nothing,” Spero replied, contributing to the grim ambiance in the room.

Days passed by and nothing happened. There was no word from Yon and Hadera, as Daors’s troops were tightening their grip on Nox, controlling all of the surrounding area.

On the morning of the eighth day, as Spero was looking over the eastern gates, he saw a welcomed sight. From behind the hills Yon, Hadera and their party emerged. Few seconds later, to Spero’s delight, tall shadows appeared slowly dragging on behind them. It was the Xelons. Spero exultingly looked at Faris, as both rushed down to meet the incoming party. Spero hugged the worn-out Yon and Hadera, as Faris first embraced Maedur, and turning to his brother with a smile on his face said in relief: What took you so long?!

- “Ask Maedur, he’s to blame for the most part of it, and we are glad that it is so,” Yon said winking at Maedur, acknowledging the relevance of the moment when the party turned around because of Maedur’s injury, which allowed them to get the upper hand over the Koprite throng. Then Raavi approached Spero and extended her arm in greeting. Spero responded with a simple “welcome, dear friends”.

Walking into the city, the locals and the Dabors looking at the giants with mixed emotions of amazement and unease, Raavi explained to Spero how they had to join them when they saw the argorite head. It didn’t take them too long to realize that they would probably be the next sacrifice, just like the Dabor bears. It took the Xelons a while to settle in. In the following days, special huts had to be built for them at the edge of the city, which diverted much attention from works that needed to be done on fortifying the city gates. Xelons themselves were of great help.

Yon, Faris, Sheda, Hadera, Goras and Spero were walking along the tall city walls, discussing matters of strategy. Faris was the first one to bring up an issue that was bothering him for quite a while: “You know, we lost Baan Senicore because Aegor had joined the Karosians, is that so?” All just nodded, some were not sure what to say. He continued: “The main problem lays in the fact that the Sciprians, whose Galian arrows were the only thing that could cut through Septors, were merged in one army. So, the question is this: How are we going to bring harm to them? Our metal is practically useless in combat against these two.”

Faris brought up a matter they were all mostly aware of. Hadera then replied: “Well, our catapults eject rocks, they will do the damage, we also have fire cloaks, ladder-breakers and tar.”

- “We had all that in Baan Senicore too, and more, and we lost,” Yon concluded pessimistically.

- “Yes, but our walls are much taller and thicker,” Spero pointed out the evident advantage.

- “Yes, but that will not do,” Sheda complied with the general opinion.

- “The House of Kulins will not prevail unless we do more. We must stand tall and tough, be as bloodthirsty as those wretched argorites,” Goras added with bitterness and anger in his voice.

- “That will still not do,” Sheda spoke again: “We have to come up with a more practical, concrete advantage.”

- “We managed to defeat the argorite riders in a heartbeat. Argorites are not of much use against walls and enemies above them. They will save them for cleansing the city once they enter, or for charging at the gates. Sciprians and Septors therefore remain as the main threat,” Yon added.

- “Maybe if we turn to the prophecies again. The answer lies within them.” Sheda mumbled something in disapproval. Yon continued: “Doesn’t it say that with fire, water and darkness is a victor’s army to prevail?”

- “Yes, it does say so,” Goras confirmed.

- “Well, we don’t have the water, and darkness seems a little vague of a term, so we are left with fire, aren’t we?”

- “What are you trying to say?” Hadera asked.

- “All I am saying is that the obvious choice of a weapon against Sciprians and Septors is fire. It is the only thing they have no defense against. We only have to find a way how to bring the fire to them.”

- “You are right, we must find a way how to burn the bastards to ashes,” Spero went on.

- “Well, if there was a way, someone would have come up with it by now,” Goras reasoned.

- “Not necessarily. No one had the need to do it until now,” Yon refused to back down with his idea. “Few believed argorites had a weak spot, yet we butchered them with the help of simple peasants in the Red Canyon. Maybe they die best when struck under the jaw, but a swift blow behind the ears does the job too, as well as a dozen of arrows in their backs and heads does. Although the Laws of Wars don’t allow killing of neutral parties, that was their precise intention. Let’s find a way to remind them that these are our laws, as well as prophecies are fulfillment of our destiny and an end of theirs. Let’s find a way to scorch their asses.”

- “Do you remember how we used to burn animal shit when we were boys, brother,” Faris asked Yon.

- “Yes, I remember the time the shit blew up straight in your face! It was the time we mixed pig shit and some argorite crap our father brought from a posse when they chased the Koprites who were coming inland. Ha-ha-hah! You had burns and crap all over you. All your facial hair was burned. You looked ridiculous, like a bare ass!”

- “Thank you for the detailed depiction which was not all needed, my dear brother. Don’t you think that could make a pretty awesome explosion in greater proportions?”

- “Bro, we can’t just throw shit on the enemy soldiers and hope it burns. Even if we get it to burn, it’s not going to do much damage. Besides, although we used to burn it as kids a lot, it blew up only that one time.”

- “Yes, you are right.”

Sheda looked at the two and asked them: “Tell me again, if you remember, what did you do that time the shit blew up in your face?”

- “Well, if my memory serves me right, and I think it does, we filled some bellows which the maids used to carry milk, and we filled them up with shit. Then Faris put in a burning rag and closed the bellow with an improvised lid. When nothing happened after a while, Faris went to check on the bellow. As soon as he lifted the lid, the whole thing blew up. It was hilarious!”

- “So, all we need to do is find a way how to contain the fire,” Sheda came to a conclusion and went on to explain: “You see, fire needs elements of air to burn. It sucks them in and it extinguishes without air to feed on. When you provide a hungry fire with more air, it feeds on it quickly, it expands rapidly.”

- “Well, the bellows are far from sufficient containers. They are too small and too light,” Yon cancelled that option out.

- “My brother, you said you buried the Koprites and argorites which gave you that scar under the eye so they wouldn’t be found by the alliance, didn’t you?”

- “Yes Faris, that is so.”

Faris started to look excited.

- “What do you say about those argorite skins? They seem to be quite sturdy and heavy. They sure are big enough. Could they serve the purpose?”

- “I think they could,” Sheda answered. “There were some hundred and fifty of them, you say? That should be enough to make just as many projectiles, maybe even more if we use their skins rationally. We should stitch them together and make them into balls and fire them from catapults. That should do it.”

- “But they would still not be heavy enough. They would be like big child balloons,” Spero said.

- “We’ll just have to fill them up with some rocks, along with the shit. It will provide weight and hopefully some killing power too,” Hadera provided the simple solution. “We should put in some black blood of the earth too. That should enhance the effects of the explosion, I think.”

- “I agree. If I make proper calculations, the skin will crack open upon hitting the ground and thus create the explosion, when the burning elements inside get in contact with the air and everything else around it”, Sheda concluded.

- “I am not sure how we stand with the black blood supply. As you all know, there are two sources - one in the south and one in the north. Guards, bring Dokal in, he will know how we stand.”

Few minutes later, Dokal rushed in, greeting the group: “My fair lords, generals and other heroes of the realm, I have been informed of what you shall ask from me by the guards who came for me. I had to make a quick recount of our resources. To cut the story short, we have more than enough of everything. We get a lot of it from Karos. The trade is successful - to our favor. It seems that the shortage of spices and fruit is great enough for us to get anything we want for some good old midland goods. We don’t even have to spend much gold at all. We have wax, tar, black blood of the earth, everything we need. We have over five hundred barrels of black blood. It is all safely stored…”

- “What do you mean you buy things from Karos? ” Faris was baffled.

- “Yes, I should be more precise: we get smuggled goods. Some alliance soldiers are more than willing to trade with us.”

- “But, that is wrong! We are at war with them,” Faris added, surprised to see that no one else objected.

- “No, it is not. We do it to support our cause. The Septors do it to support their own households, or should I say to expand them. It suites us just fine. We are practically under a siege, if you haven’t noticed, my dear lord Faris. How else would you expect us to survive? We have no access to the Venegoran market or to the open sea.”

Faris remained silent.

- “All right. That settles it then. Tonight, we will send men to dig up the argorites. We will give the order to all commoners to collect all argorite and other shit and we will store it in the cavalry barns,” Yon gave out the assignments.

It didn’t take long until Noxian soldiers returned carrying argorite skins. They had lost half of the soldiers in their encounters with several alliance patrols who were already very near Nox and closing in. Sheda was very excited when the skins came in. She saw it as a welcome mental challenge she lacked after leaving the ranks of the Illuminators. “Few skins will go to waste probably, until I determine the proper ratios of manure and rocks to put inside the skins.”

“All right. We will conduct the tests at night, when everyone is within the city gates. That way we will have no problem firing the projectiles out, and there will be no danger of enemy getting the word about what we are doing,” Yon said. That night, all of the councilors, including the newly acquainted Raavi and Goras attended the tests. Yon ordered all the guards to leave their posts. At first they were confused, but when Spero repeated Yon’s order they rushed off the wall. Hadera ordered the siegers to fire the first fur ball, which is what the projectile looked like. As they loaded the first steaming ball and fired it, it exploded just as it flew over the city wall, the heat of it reaching Yon and the company on the wall. They all twitched and duck down. After everyone confirmed they were unharmed, Yon ordered them to step further away from the catapult a bit more, just for the sake of their own safety. Sheda then made the second ball. Now she included a small fuse to delay the burning process. Once again, Hadera gave the order to fire. The siegers were much hastier in executing the order this time. They fired the projectile which fell short in providing the spectacular explosion they had all hoped to see. It simply fell on the ground and rolled off. As they kept looking at it, the outer layer started to turn red. Few seconds later it exploded into a quite solid fireball. The third time, Sheda adjusted the fuse. As the projectile was fired, it hit the ground and instantaneously exploded into a fireball twice the size of the previous one, pieces of rocks flying tenths, almost hundreds of lengths around the place of impact. “Oh, that’s bloody spectacular,” Goras screamed in excitement.

They were all very pleased, especially Yon, who tapped Hadera and Faris on the shoulder, as a sign of his content. Sheda then repeated the test one more time and the same thing happened. They decided to call it a day, as they didn’t want to waste any more argorite skins. They were all very pleased to have developed a new, secret weapon against the mighty army of the alliance. Fire gave them hope.