"The God Wars" - Chapter Twenty-seven: Feint

The God Wars

Chapter Twenty-seven:

Feint

By Dwayne MacInnes

Lt. Rogers marched down the corridor towards General Theena’s office. Fort Knopso was complete and fully manned. There were soldiers from the United States Army as well as from the new Republic of Atlantis.

Things were finally looking like they should. After months of waiting for production to begin the fort was finally beginning to get some newly manufactured M1 Garands, artillery and ammunition. It appeared that the production plants around Zakrostas were finally working.

The muzzle-loading rifles once used to train the recruits were now part of the Kingdom of Atlantis’s arsenal. The new president Greer was sharing some vital secrets to their southern neighbors so that they could defend themselves. However, he was cautious never to give them the top of the line goods, just in case the kingdom wanted its lands back.

Rogers knocked on the general’s door. The comely woman inside promptly bid the lieutenant to enter. Rogers started to hand Theena some of the latest reports when a great thunderous boom exploded over the fort.

Greer instinctively reached for his sidearm before realizing it was only a thunderclap followed by the relentless torrent of a cloudburst.

"The weather certainly changes around here pretty quickly," Rogers observed.

However, Theena had jumped from her desk and was running towards the door. "Sound the alarm!" she ordered to the stunned officer. "We are under attack!"

* * * * *

Corporal Daniels was in the one of the concrete pillboxes lining the fort’s wall. The rain reminded the corporal of being under a waterfall by the sheer volume falling from the heavens. It would not be long before the parade ground was flooded and the soil turned to the clinging clay-like mud that tended to steal your boots when walked through.

"Hey, corporal?" a private sharing the defensive redoubt asked. "Do you see what I see?"

Daniels looked out through the embrasure to see dark silhouettes moving through the watery veil. He quickly grabbed a pair of nearby field glasses and put them to his eyes. After a couple of seconds of focusing, Daniels could make out an army of beasts marching towards the fort.

"Private!" Daniels ordered. "Alert the fort we are under attack!"

However, before the private could reach the phone to call headquarters, the alarms around the fort started to blare into the soggy air.

* * * * *

Weeks had passed and still there was no sign of Reno. No one had seen the scientist leave the city and many speculated that he either was at the bottom of the harbor or abducted by one of the gods. The mere thought that a god could walk into the city and collect a person without being notice bothered Crist very much.

The general watched as the rain poured heavily down around the city. Lightning danced across the skies and thunder boomed in the air. He was grateful he had the foresight of having the carrier planes returned to the Kiska.

The seven new Hercules fighters should be enough to protect the city from any invaders. Moreover, if they could not the Kiska was at anchor in the harbor. All it had to do was build up steam and turn into the wind to launch the carrier planes.

Before Crist could muse much further on this, his phone started to ring. Crist walked over to his desk and picked up the black telephone.

"This is General Crist," the general said in an official voice.

"Sir!" the anxious voice of a soldier quivered on the other end. By the sound of the accent, Crist could tell it was an Atlantean. "Fort Knopso is under attack!"

"Damn," Crist burst out. He had hoped that after his latest victory Ares and the other gods would leave them alone. "How bad is it?"

"Reports say it may be those minotaurs and the cyclopes again. There is also a report that there are some men mixed in," the youth reported.

"How is the fort holding out?" the general pressed.

"They are doing well so far," agitated young man reported. "However, reports state that they are outnumbered."

Crist cursed mildly to himself before hanging up. The only roads outside the city so far were only dirt and that meant mud right now. The railroad had just laid some tracks but they did not extend very far. Therefore, he would not be able to send any tanks to support nor could he send up his planes.

Crist quickly dialed some numbers and started to give orders, "Send the Kiska out to sea and get ten tanks loaded on the LST immediately!"

* * * * *

Brian Mills was at the top the latest rig constructed on the oilfields outside Little Houston. The sun blazed down on the oilman born in the real Houston back on earth. He could see a great dark cloud on the western horizon. It stretched hundreds of miles across and would occasionally light up in bright flashes.

"Hell of a storm," Mills said to himself. "A little rain would be welcomed right now."

Mills looked towards the east. He could see the dark and forbidding Dragonspine Mountains forming the backdrop. In front of the jagged slopes another cloud was rising. However, this one originated from the ground up.

Brian Mills quickly scrambled down the oilrig and ran to the wooden shack. Several of his fellow oilmen watched in amazement as Mills ran passed them and rushed into the shack.

Jeb Korsky the foreman stared in dumb silence as Mills grabbed the phone off his desk and started to dial. Before he could ask Mills what he was doing, he heard the oilman yell, "Alamo! There is an army on the move to your east!"

Jeb’s jaw fell open in surprise. If there were an enemy force out there, the incomplete fort they called the Alamo would not be able to withstand it.