The Boy From The Forest

There was jubilation in the combined army led by The King. They had defeated a rabble put together by the aliens from the great shining mountain. Men from the various kingdoms mingled, all celebrating together. This included men from the Forest. Those who lived near the demarcation line between Cultivated Lands and Forest discovered that they knew some of the same people.

Norman and Vincent strolled through the milling crowds. It was a holiday atmosphere like they had never seen before. There was a great feeling that from now on, things would be different.

“Norman, who is that man speaking over there? He is not military, so what is he even doing here?”

“Vincent, when there is any kind of army, you get camp followers. Some are hoping to earn some money doing honest work; others are opportunists of every kind. Let’s get closer and hear what he is saying.”

Norman and Vincent stood on the fringe of the crowd listening to the man. He was a good speaker.

“Yes, this is the dawn of a new day. The old labels that have divided us have been swept away. Now all humankind will be united in the bonds of brotherhood and unity. Yes, this is truly Peace In Our Time.”

Norman saw a big Gloodian listening with rapt attention to the speaker. He caught his eye and asked softly, “Who is this?”

“Reverend Neville Chamberlin.” Replied the Gloodian in a whisper. “A great thinker, a man of these new times.”

Norman and Vincent listened for a while longer, then moved along. Over the way, someone was giving away stygnian ale. If you weren’t feeling quite good enough, that would do the trick.

Icelandia strolled around the base of the big mountain of metal. No one paid her any heed. She had simply walked out the main airlock. There was a strong aura of frustration and despair. In the heart of the metal mountain, there was a hard core of self-recrimination and loathing. That had to be the Great Overlord. A lot of them were dissatisfied; he needed to watch his back.

The immediate area around the metal mountain was surrounded by some kind of indefinite something. It was actually quite peaceful in there. You could see panicked disheveled men running about outside the indefinite something, but they could not get in here where Icelandia was.

What kind of thing was that? Icelandia put her hand to the barrier, and was rewarded with an electric shock. Not that she knew anything of electricity. She tried again, this time much more cautiously. There was no more than a mild tingling. She steadily pushed against it with her hand.

Suddenly, her hand was outside the barrier. Yes, it was her hand, she could wiggle her fingers. What if…

Princess Icelandia very gradually put the rest of her body through. Now she was outside the strange barrier. In the distance, she could hear the confusion of a battle breaking up.

This was huge information. These creatures relied on this barrier to protect their base. In the right hands and at the right time, this could turn the war. Very deliberately, she put herself back into the strange barrier. The right time would come.

The kings were meeting. They were happy enough over the victory, but they were also looking ahead.

The King spoke first. “That was only the first little battle. Those things in the shining mountain recruited the dregs of the earth just to wear us down a little. The real war is still to come. Three of my knights encountered some of their actual soldiers. Worse than any possible nightmare. One of the knights sliced into one of them with his sword, and the blood was poison. His sword and armor had to be replaced.”

“So they can be killed. Whatever they are, they are still flesh and blood.” King Beauford seemed hopeful.

“King Beauford, they are flesh and blood. Their flesh and blood is very different from ours, but they can die. I think there are not all that many of them – Why else bother with recruiting a mob of undisciplined vagrants and criminals? And they are desperate, which is bad and good. Bad because they will fight to win at absolutely any cost. Good because their resources are limited. They are not the Archangels of Avalon that the storytellers sing about. We can beat them.”

“Our resources are limited as well. The logistics of keeping all these men and horses right here will be challenging. Especially after they run out of stygnian ale.”

That last remark brought a short laugh from all the kings. Yes, they had to pursue the war and bring it to an end.

King Cumberland spoke. “Our strength is in our mounted knights. But they need pretty much level ground to be effective. The rabble spent their time digging ditches all around the shining mountain. It was sort of like a dog that likes to dig holes in the ground.”

None of the kings spoke after that. There was no immediate solution to this problem.

“Great Overlord.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be in Engineering?”

“Great Overlord, the army of the natives of this horrid planet is still out there. I think it is actually several armies allied together. Each army shows cohesion and purpose. They are all out there looking at us.”

“Engineer, that is my department. Go tinker with some machinery.” This was Gdnaph. Gdnaph, the senior centurion, knew that the second assistant engineers mate was trying to climb above his station. Gdnaph reckoned that he was in line for the position of Lesser Overlord, not some silly engineer. It was time to show some initiative and impress the Great Overlord.

“Great Overlord, the ground outside our ship is all full of holes and trenches. That is what you get when you recruit inferior beings for helpers.” Gdnaph swiveled one eye stalk at the second assistant engineers mate. His meaning was plain.

“We warriors are large and heavy. It would be to our advantage to have the ground around the ship level. That way, each of us can stand and fight like true bsnglkds.”

“Centurion, are you asking for permission to fill in holes? I hope you realize how busy I am.”

“Great Overlord, we need to use the molecular redissapators. It will take just a short time; then things will be nice and level again. Would you graciously grant your permission for this?

The Great Overlord waved one appendage, as both permission and dismissal. He did not care whether he was gracious or not.

Gdnaph went over to a console and manipulated some controls. The second assistant engineers mate fumed. He was supposed to do things like that. Gdnaph did seem to know what he was doing.

“What’s that?”

“The ground is shaking!! It’s the end of the world!!”

The earth vibrated. Men cursed and prayed. Horses threatened to panic. A tremendous cloud of dust hid the great shining mountain. Norman and Vincent fell to the ground and stayed there.

The ground was still vibrating, but somehow, it was not as bad. How do you measure something like that, anyway? Then Norman realized the ground was not shaking at all; he was just remembering how it had been.

A fresh breeze rose up. The cloud of dust blew away, showing that the great shining mountain was still there. And the ground around it was perfectly level. Norman just knew it was perfectly firm and flat, ideal for mounted cavalry.

General Quisling was buried at the bottom of one of the trenches. All of a sudden, everything just fell on top of him.

The King looked at all the other kings. Some of them were getting up off the ground. “Mount up. Every man to arms. We are beginning our assault now.”