War

The birds were singing, the sun was shining and the little village flooded with life. It was the annual HalfYear feast, and every farmer and shepherd from the vicinity had gathered to join the citizens in the Midnight dance. Noone noticed the little whitebearded man on the silverwhite horse at the south gate. He was worried, more worried than he had ever been for a very long time now. Something was going to happen. Soon. Very soon. And, what was worse, he couldn't predict what. Avarath frowned, and looked around.

Something was happening now. He heard angry voices and running steps. Suddenly a tall darkhaired man appeared around the corner of the local inn, heading towards him. "Give me your horse or die, old man!", the dark giant bellowed, but when he looked into the black, burning eyes of the old man, he suddenly was weak and tiny. The old man seemed to grow, his eyes turning red. Then the crowd was over him, and he was half carried, half thrown into the village courtyard. He looked around, and saw the little whitebearded man on his horse at the gate. He wondered who the man was.

Everybody silenced when the judge entered and seated. The judge cleared his throat. "What has this man done, as you come to me such a glorious day as this?", he said. "He stole my calf, and killed our dog!", Ucliu the butcher shouted. "And he wrecked my carriage!", Arnald the carpenter roared. The judge raised his hand and said "Alright! I've heard enough!". Turning to the accused he asked "From where are you, stranger, and what is your name?". "I am Knight Ingale, member of the knights of Intor and I come from the 4th city of Chomplexia!", he answered. "Well, Knight Ingale from Fourth City, you have heard the charges. Have you anything to say?". Ingale looked at the old man on the horse, but said nothing. "So let the justice speak!", the judge said and turned to the balance. Avarath watched from the horseback how the judge started to place weights in the left bowl, the penalty bowl. "Theft, violence, destruction..." the judge chanted. Then he turned to the freedom bowl. "He's a stranger and after all it is HalfYear." he said, placing the two weights. But the penalty bowl was clearly outweighing the freedom bowl... "Knight Ingale from Fourth City, you have been weight on the balance, and found guilty by the law of the land of Elementa. I hereby condemn you to a quinteryear in the Grotto for destruction and violence, and to lose your right hand for theft. This meeting is now over. See you all at the dance!". With those words the judge left. The knight was dragged away by the executors, and the crowd slowly dispersed. Finally Avarath was alone again, and his mind started to drift away...

"What a strange land Elementa is.", he thought, "It is so peaceful, so happy. The society is democratic, and what a democracy! Once a year, there is an election of which foundation that is to govern the land the following year. The foundations are the Priests (white), the Environmentals (green), the Warriors (red) and the Fishermans (blue). Every man who has trapped a mamasour, and every woman who have or has had the custom as to women, can vote. You vote by putting a marble in respective ballot-box. These are then balanced, the heaviest beeing the winner. It takes about a third of a day. The Elementians are mostly hunters and farmers, but lots of them are also scientists and knights. Whatever they are, they are considered alike. No profession is "better" or "finer" than the others.

When selling and buying, they pay with "Heads", small metal plates with different icons on them. A "Pig" is the fee to shoe a horse, a "Horse" is the value of a horse, a "Knight" is a "Horse" and a "Pig", a "Queen" is a "Knight" and a "Horse", and a "King" is a "Queen" and a "Knight". Many salesmen also define their price recursively. In this village, for example, an elephant costs a King, a Queen and a mamasour, which costs a Queen and a lobster, which costs a King, a Knight and a Horse. Simple indeed. And fair. But the most remarkable is the total lack of numbers. The only "numbers" are one and zero (exists and not exists). The year is divided in HalfYears (Coldhalf and Warmhalf), or in QuarterYears or seasons (Winter, New, Summer and Wet), which is divided in Thirdquarters or Months (Sis, Tosu and Mudo), which is divided in QuarterMonths or Weeks (Begin, Sodu, Meor and Last), which is divided in SepterWeeks, or Days (Sun, Moon, Mars, Morning, Thunder, Grass and Wash). So a "date" can for example be Sun of Lastweek in Sis of Wet. And a "time" is..." He was suddenly interrupted in his thoughts. There it was again! Somebody whispered his name! Avarath slowly dismounted and begun to light the evening darkness a little. Then he saw her. "Mirandor!", he whispered, and the eagle landed in front of him. "Bad news, master.", it wheezed...

The Prime Minister of Chomplexia finished her 385th turn around the room, and sighed deeply. She hated to wait. Then suddenly the bell rang, and a man entered the room. "Hail, Prime Minister Mrs Toe, may you live forever!", he called, and bowed deeply. "Hail, Lord Intor, leader of the knights! I hope you bring good news.", she said. Intor handed her the message scroll he had got from the courier 5:51:23 this morning, and she read it thoughtfully. When she finished reading she said: "Very good, very good indeed. Here are your orders. At 23:11:17 tomorrow night, our knights will attack simultaneously in 47 different places, as described under plan 5 + 12i on page 477 + 22i in the battle compendium. Now, leave please.". Intor bowed again, and left the room. The Prime Minister smiled to herself. She was a very privileged woman. As the Prime Minister she controlled all the Primes of the Chomplexian cities. Each Prime ruled a city or a castle. And they carried her orders into effect through either the Natourins, the temple masters, or the knights of Intor. The Natorurins where always positive to her, happily doing whatever she wished. You could hardly say that about the Intors.

Actually she disliked Lord Intor a lot. He was a nobody, but still he annoyed her, and she didn't know why. It must depend on their education, or something. She, the other Primes, the Natourins and the Intors belonged to the Realisians, the educated class. Even when you knew that, you always associated the Realisians with scientists. Scientists are divided into 3 classes. The Rationalists, who constantly argues which eachother who is the most rational, the Algebrains, who have solutions to everything, and the Transcends, who are the largest group but also the least known. The most famous Transcend is professor Phil E. Rootwo. The Prime Minister ruled every one of these, and all of the other chomplexians. And soon she would rule the poor Elementians too. She never missed a chance to enrich her land with what other folks and tribes had come up with. The Elementians, a peace-loving people, would be a piece of cake to defeat and conquer. Mrs Toe giggled merrily. "Tomorrow dawns a wonderful day!", she said to herself.

"...And I saw the Chomplexians marching against the capital, where they built a camp." the eagle squeaked. Avarath pondered deeply. "Well done Mirandor. Let's go to their camp. I want to have a look for myself", he finally whispered. He mounted his horse and rode silently out of the village, where the Midnight dance had just begun. It was almost dawn when he arrived at the camp. He mumbled an invisibility spell, dismounted and went into the camp. He heard some of the knights discuss the attack at 23:11:17. When the knights went to sleep, Avarath called out for Mirandor with a short whistle. Back at the horse he saw her coming, and dispelled the invisibility. "We got to help the Elementians!", Avarath said, "The Chomplexians will attack tonight. Now listen...", and he begun to whisper into the ear of the great bird.

"All right, let's go!", Lord Intor said to his closest friend, Knight Mare. But suddenly he stiffened up and began to shiver, his lips moving soundlessly. Standing in the edge of the camp they saw a beautiful silverwhite horse, and on top of it with the moon as a glowing halo around his head stood a gigantic old man with flashing red eyes and a monstrous bird on his shoulder. Knight Mare screamed in horror, and stumbled backwards into the nearest tent. The whole camp soon was in a commotion. Some of the knights desperately tried to attack the horrible enemy, but only to be chased away by the furious giant bird. Soon none of the brave knights were to be seen anywhere. "Aah! Good work Mirandor!", Avarath warcried, as he put the spurs to his horse, galloping towards the capital.

When he arrived, the whole city was up and armed. He could hear the couriers shouting everywhere. "They have Birada!", "Battle at the Mirnach ford!", "The chomplexians are marching against Muumrach!". He gathered his vocal powers, added a pitch of demanding, and roared: "Silence! Listen to me! The chomplexians won't attack here for a while. Unite! Gather the scientists, the poets and the authors. Fight brothers! They might outnumber us but we outsmart them! They are divided against themselves! Scientists! Which is the strongest geometrical object?" "The circle!" "Right! Form a circle around the city. Outermost stands the warriors, and inside the scientists. Scientists! Make weapons! New weapons! Come on, let's fight!" Soon the whole city was organised, ready to fight. A circle around the city had been formed. Outermost the brave warriors stood and inside the bards, the poets and the scientists. The bards played, the poets sang battle hymns and the scientists built strange machines. You could hear them discuss parabolas, angles and halfcorners. Some of them where digging mysterious holes in the forest, others were climbing in the trees hanging up stones, sacks and nets. Suddenly Mirandor came falling from the sky, landing on Avarath's shoulder. "They are coming, sire.", she hissed. "Prepare for battle! The Chomplexians are coming!", Avarath yelled, "Everyone in position!".

There they came, the mighty knights of Intor, dressed in shining armours and colourful helmets. They had no idea what was about to happen to them. As they caught sight of the human wall around the city they yelled triumphantly and put the spurs into their horses. The leader of the scientists, Aelfric Noble, raised his hand and shouted loudly. Then all hell broke loose. As they had been told, the warriors shot fire arrows into the trees which caught fire. In the trees hung sacks filled with oil, which also caught fire. Liquid fire, stones and burning nets fell from the trees onto the screaming knights. "FIRE!!", Aelfric yelled, and the catapults begun to haul sacks containing some black powder, which caused thunder and lightning when hitting the ground. In fractions of a quarterday the whole chomplexian army was on the run. "Follow them!", Avarath shouted, and so they did, all the way to the Elementian border. "Which is the steadiest geometrical object?", Avarath roared. "The equilateral triangle!" "Right! Form a triangle and go for the other cities!" The people warcried, and begun the march against Epiphedi, the nearest village. But Avarath remained where he was, waiting for Mirandor's report. After a while she landed on his shoulder. "A complete victory", she whispered, "The chomplexians lost half their army, including Lord Intor himself. I doubt they will ever come back again.". "Wonderful! And we, we have a visit to pay!", Avarath said.

The Prime Minister was angry. Those incompetent fools! Lord Intor and his rabble had really ruined her day this time. But never mind the capital. It could always be captured later. She still had the rest of Elementa! Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. "Go away, whoever you are!", she answered angrily. The door was disintegrated by a strike of lightning, and veiled in a soft, white smoke, an old man with cold black eyes and a gigantic eagle on his shoulder slowly entered the room. "God afternoon, lady!", he boomed in a sepulchral voice. "W-w-who are you, mister?", she whined. "Never mind who I am!", he roared, "You have been trying to destroy a good land. My land in fact. I will certainly not tolerate such an offence one more time. To be precise, if you ever, even in your dreams, think of conquering Elementa, I swear I will find you, and when I'm finished with you, you'll look just like that door of yours. I hope I have been clear enough?". With a glance on the flowers on the table, which immediately withered away, he left the shaking, terrified Minister and headed home. Noone ever troubled the elementians again...

By Danaul the dwarf