"The God Wars" - Chapter Twenty-eight: Observations

The God Wars

Chapter Twenty-eight:

Observations

By Dwayne MacInnes

Ares was on the march again. This time he had a more formidable army. Hades in his chariot drawn by two jet-black horses joined the god of war. His Necro-lords were at the head of a long line of undead warriors. There was Charon the boatman holding the leash belonging to the three-headed dog Cerebus whose jaws snapped and drooled in anticipation of the coming fight. There also was Thanatos, or as many referred to him as Death. The skeletal Necro-lord rode an emaciated black horse and carried a scythe ready for his grim reaping.

The large army also contained Hephaestus' ten-foot tall bronze warriors the Talos. As their legs moved, their metal joints groaned and creaked. The god of the anvil did not march south with the army for he was intent on extracting more information from the abducted scientist.

Ares scanned the skies near the Dragonspine Mountains. He was still waiting for Hermes and his Draco-lords to join the army. The long serpentine dragons and their riders would join Ares as they neared the Skalandos River. The wild and terrible griffins would also be available. No one else could control the part eagle and part lion monstrosity except Hermes. He could speak to the untamed animals and more importantly, they would listen.

* * * * *

From the seclusion of a wooded hillside, Hunter Running-Deer observed the latest army marching south towards the Skalandos River. They were near the headwaters and many fords across the wild river were available for the huge army to cross.

Hunter was a Cherokee Indian who grew up on a reservation in Oklahoma. His family raised him to learn their traditional ways such as hunting and tracking. Naturally, he also was versed in their native language and other customs. Hunter learned English when he went to school and joined the military like many of his tribal brothers when the war broke out.

Right now, his skills, like those of the other few dozen American Indian soldiers, were in high demand. His commanding officers sent him ahead of Ares' latest army in order to observe the huge army without them noticing him

Even though there were small hamlets and villages around the area, Hunter‘s instructions were to bypass them. He would need to scout out the land without even friendly citizens knowing of his existence just in case Ares decided to interrogate a local. He could live off the land and move quickly and quietly with his horse that the Atlantean army issued him.

Hunter put the field glasses to his eyes again. He was careful not to let the sunlight reflect off the lenses. Even if Ares and his army did not know someone was observing them, a flash of light could still tell them that there was something or someone out there they may want to investigate.

When Hunter first started watching the army, he was shocked at its makeup. The giant metal statues moving across the land was one thing, and the shambling dead warriors were another. However, something about the Necro-lords really made shivers run up Hunter's spine.

Hunter had faithfully followed and observed the army for days. He made one report with his field radio each day. Even a tenderfoot back at the Alamo could tell that Ares latest army contained thousands and thousands of troops. However, what Ares' game was no one knew and that was where Hunter came in.

Hunter found it strange how it took the transportation to a strange world for people to treat him and the other minorities like equals. The Atlanteans did not seem to find that skin color mattered to one's status, as the white man did on earth. Even the Negro troops the Atlanteans regarded as equals despite the lingering racism still found amongst some of the Americans.

Hunter watched the army cross the river and was about to pack up and make his daily report when he saw a speck in the sky above the jagged tops of the Dragonspine Mountains grow into a large swarm as it neared Ares' army. Hunter took in a deep breath when he trained his glasses upon the flying horde.

Black scaled dragons with men in black armor flew towards the army. A strange half eagle/half lion beast flew alongside. Hunter remembered them from a textbook in one of his childhood schools as griffins. By the way the beast flew circles around the army below Hunter realized that Ares just added a new element to his forces.

* * * * *

Colonel Farnsworth at the Alamo listened as his scout reported in. On another world in another time, Colonel Farnsworth would have had the man brought up on report for drinking. However, nothing surprised the colonel anymore. Therefore, when Hunter reported in about the addition of dragons and griffins to Ares' forces Farnsworth merely wrote it down and passed it on back to headquarters back in Zakrostas.

According to General Crist, another army was currently attacking Fort Knopso and a heavy rainstorm was keeping Crist from sending reinforcements. The latter, Farnsworth had figured out himself. The dark thunderclouds to the west were visible even to those at the Alamo. The ground would instantly turn to a mire of mud and anyone or anything moving through it would become stuck.

The worst thing was that the heavy rains also kept the Hercules fighters grounded. Even though the USS Kiska with its compliment of aircraft headed for the open sea, the aircraft onboard still would not be able to penetrate the storm.

Therefore, Hunter was the best hope Farnsworth and Crist had of learning what Ares intended to do with his force.

* * * * *

Hunter rode his horse hard, it was night and the large silver half-moon provided the only light the Indian needed to navigate the landscape. He was surprised that Ares had turned his army southwest after crossing the Skalandos River. Hunter figured either that Ares was going to try to circle around and hit Zakrostas from the south in a surprise move, or that he may have another target in mind.

From the local map given him, Hunter knew that the only other object worth Ares' time and effort was the city of Atlantis. The god of war was already in the Kingdom of Atlantis so attacking the weaker and more primitive city would be a hard object to resist.

The only way Hunter could determine Ares' next move was for him to again race ahead of the army and try to ascertain what Ares had in mind. It was a decision that Hunter would have to make shortly so that General Crist could make the correct decision as to where to send the army. However, if Hunter guessed wrong the army would be in the wrong place and it would mean the destruction of both the Republic and Kingdom of Atlantis.