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

interjected. This was Moto. “The question now is what would you have us do,” he added.

“Well,” Nyeusi began, “I am open to suggestions, and I was hoping I could get some good ones from you. As the old saying goes, two or more heads are better than one.”

“Given the casualties you sustained, do you now not have enough fighters to stand against them?” Moto asked.

“We have enough to give a good account of ourselves, but I need more,” Nyeusi replied. “A good account is hardly enough. I need assurance there will not be a repeat of what happened.”

“There are a million miles with all sorts of terrain, plus a sea between us and Urkran,” Moto replied. Urkran was the Shetani stronghold located south of Kimbilio, across from the Great Plains.

“I know,” Nyeusi said.

“You’re not suggesting . . .”

“Anything,” Nyeusi interjected. “Not yet. Not before I hear your suggestions.”

“But you want more resources. More fighters. Do you not?” Moto asked.

“I do,” Nyeusi replied.

“Then, the question of how do we get them to you is paramount,” Moto said.

“Without a doubt,” Nyeusi replied.

“Not only will it be a challenge, it will also take time,” Moto said. “More than you care to know.”

“Indeed,” Nyeusi said.

“Securing aid from our kin in the mountains is probably the better bet. They’re not quite as far away, are they? Plus, there is no sea between you and them,” said Firstson.

“And, what of our brothers north of the Forest of Souls?” Abysinnia asked.

“You know the answer to that,” Nyeusi said. “That would introduce the probability of facing another battle just to get to their village.”

“Another battle?” Abysinnia said.

“Where’s your memory?” Nyeusi returned. “The forest is infested with ghouls. No one wants any trouble with them if that could be avoided. Recall they are as plentiful as the forest bats there and well nestled within that terrain. They know how to fight from a position of concealment and would therefore prove to be no mere nuisance.”

Abysinnia said nothing more.

“And, what of our mountain kin?” Firstson asked.

“That will present some additional challenges,” Nyeusi said.

“Enough to make them the less viable alternative?” Firstson asked. “Come now, Nyeusi. When was the last time we saw you? You’re here for a reason. You never fail to think things over thrice. What’s on your mind?”

“Ideally, to punish them with a surprise attack,” he replied.

“And, what’s to stop this?” Firstson asked.

“I’d eliminate the lot before they could so much as raise a finger,” Nyeusi replied.

“You’re asking the impossible,” Moto said.

“Am I?” Nyeusi asked. “They all but did the impossible to us. Should we manage our affairs efficiently, that would be a just reward.”

“And, you still haven’t told us specifically what you have in mind,” Firstson said. “Or, do you have any specifics in mind? I suspect you do.”

“Sounds to me like no matter what choice is made, there will be heavy casualties. If they’ve grown into such a force, shouldn’t we consider a truce? I’m getting the impression this would likely be best for both parties,” a certain Betason added.

The room fell silent.

Nyeusi’s neck and head suddenly felt very warm, then hot.

If it were possible to pierce a man like one may do with a spear, but by using a cold hard stare, Betason would have been mortally wounded, if not dead, instantaneously.

“You’re getting the impression?” Nyeusi said, and he held him in this visual vice grip for the next few seconds.

Betason did not reply.

“I wonder what you know, or how much you think you know, about these invaders to dare mention what you did. Must be a lot.”

Betason remained silent.

“Well, let’s hear it,” Nyeusi said, but Betason thought it was best to say nothing.

“I suspect saying anything to you will be a waste of time, but I will speak anyway. Not because I’m interested in you or anything you or those like you have to say or believe. I’ll speak for the benefit of the others to hear.

“I have traveled longer and farther than you can imagine, and during that time, I have seen what this scourge you’d offer a truce is about.”

“I didn’t say offer, but rather consider offering, my lord,” he interjected.

“Be silent!” Nyeusi said emphatically.

“I offered you a chance to speak before. Did I not?”

He did not reply.

“There is nothing to consider!” Nyeusi added.

“I have seen what these invaders are about, both here and from the lands from which they came. I can see their world because I have traveled through the portal in the mountain. Have you?

“What’s more is I’ve had a view of what the future holds for all life there through the necromancer’s stone.

“This scourge you’d consider offering a truce won’t merely kill a wildebeest or two, and not for food but for fun. Or, as they call it, cull herds to make space for their ever-growing numbers. They will obliterate entire forests, poison, and kill all life in rivers and streams. Oceans, seas, nothing to them is sacred, and nothing anywhere will be spared.

“So, what do you think they will make of you, my foolish friend? The most they may offer you is not a truce, but if you’re lucky, confinement like we do to their kind in the mountains.

“Your fate, however, is more likely to sooner or later be extermination, given their penchant for doing this without exception to whatever does not look like them.

“Now, is such a profane creation something you’d offer a truce to?”

Betason looked at him.

“You may speak,” Nyeusi said.

He was slow to respond.

“I wonder,” he began, “if two wrongs make a right and if perhaps we ought to not lead by example.”

Nyeusi allowed himself a moment before replying.

“I’ll be kind and generous enough to offer you one of two options,” he began. “Meet me outside now, and you’ll be allowed the use of your sword in defense, or you may remain here in silence until this meeting is over, after which I’ll have your head removed. Which one is it?”

“My Lord . . .” Betason began, and he stood up.

Nyeusi raised his arm