Necropolis (Book One of Book One), Penn Fawn [e book reader android .TXT] 📗

incapacitated wondered. They would never know as they agonizingly took their last gasps of air.

Those who escaped being trampled or crushed by a fallen animal would expire within the hour. Although much larger, their animals were struck much more frequently and would not fare much better.

Those who only despised and thought little of common men now feared them, conceding they were far more an inventive, enterprising, and parasitical scourge than they had imagined.

Those toward the back of the ranks, those who were beyond the range of the arrows, made a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn and headed back toward the direction from which they came, as man after man, beast after beast, continued to fall.

The notion of crushing their enemy like they were no more a match for them than mere ants was now long gone.

The idea of dismounting from their beasts to run them through with dagger or sword, while those still atop their elephants trampled the personal belongings in their villages, was now considered folly.

The idea of an invasion where every immortal would be put to the sword was now thought to be fantasy—and so their aggressors, those fortunate enough to have the opportunity to run, ran toward where they came from.

Nyeusi’s thoughts raced. He agonized over whether he should tell his advancing foot soldiers to hold their ground or retreat.

He wondered whether it made any sense at all to retreat, or should they fight to the last man to try and prevent the immortals from advancing toward their lands, or did the enemy have any intent on doing so?

Why were they so far out from their village?

What was their motive, and what prompted them to arrive at where they were, and in such numbers?

There was so much about them he didn’t know, so much about them and the developments that addled his mind.

He swooped down and flew low, in a parallel line to the advancing foot soldiers.

’Twas an act which meant they were to halt any further advancement, which they did.

He directed his mighty beast to fly higher, then to his left, and they headed back to the direction from which they had come.

Amri and Kifo, who watched his every move, directed their beasts to follow his, and as to what should he do next? ’Twas the question that gave his mind no rest.

He was sure he wanted a firsthand account on how matters were progressing on the battlefront. He headed there with haste.

“They’re all but a spent force,” Mbou shouted. “Look at them. What did they have to offer? Nothing!”

“Not one damn thing,” Pseudomann said.

Feignmann smiled, and everyone was in good cheer.

“What now, oh leader?” Feignmann asked. “They’re retreating. Are we to pursue them?”

“We will not,” Mbou replied. “Once we can be assured we’re no longer under any threat, we will return home.”

No further threat presented itself. Rather, many fleeing Shetani not quite out of firing range were struck in areas where they had no body armor.

Many of their elephants were struck in the buttocks or at the back of their hind legs or shoulders. The poison in their bloodstream from the arrow tips would ensure all failed to reach their intended destination.

“We were fools,” Akua said. “They’re but a specter of the fearsome image they would have us believe they are.”

“They are fearsome, but it is our cunning and their stupidity that gave us this overwhelming advantage. We were better prepared,” Mbou said.

Akua listened.

“Intimidating as their beasts appeared to be, now we all know they’re a liability,” Oluso said.

“There was no need for Dalia and the others to evacuate,” Akua said.

“Perhaps, but we had no way of knowing that. Did we?” Oluso replied.

“Right,” Akua said.

Nyeusi drew nearer to the battlefront and, in the distance, saw that his troops, or what was left of them, had aborted their positions and were heading back in the direction from which they came.

Further ahead were the stricken, those who tried to retreat but made it only so far before the poison-tipped arrows rendered them immobile. Of this group, who weren’t already dead were dying, and their carcasses were strewn like litter upon the open field.

Nyeusi’s face grew long, and his heart felt heavy, but further ahead still, or so he suspected, was what he thought he had to face above all else.

He didn’t have to fly much further before he saw the heap of Shetani and elephant carcasses. The fallen constituted the larger portion of his army. They all died during the melee and fell atop or alongside each other.

Not far from them was the cause of all of the death and destruction.

Nyeusi, Kifo, and Amri flew over them at a height too long a distance to be struck by arrows.

All eyes were locked onto what took place above.

They watched the three make a circle, and Nyeusi’s main interest now was to get back to his foot soldiers before any of his traumatized cavalrymen did.

“I have a feeling this is not over,” Pseudomann said.

“Of course,” Mbou replied. “How could anyone think otherwise?”

“And, what does that mean for us?” Feignmann asked.

“We will wait a bit more to see what they do,” Mbou replied. “We do not want to give up any ground.”

They didn’t wait long before realizing the dead, which stretched so far and wide, provided an obstacle neither army cared to circumvent.

An attempt to go around the carcasses would take a great deal of time. What’s more was, it would have taken them away from their preferred path, one that led directly toward the opposition.

A movement in the sky caught the attention of Nyeusi’s men on foot.

It was he, Amri, and Kifo, returning to the place where his men were told to await further instruction.

The three swooped down before them, and Nyeusi’s instructions were that they were to return home and be vigilant.

Amri was instructed to keep watch over what the immortals were up to.

Kifo was instructed to be another set of eyes for him and alert him in the event of any dire news.

“And, where would you be off to?” Amri