local settlement date 35,990
Learning is a rough road that leads one away from the comfort of ignorance.
Ignorance is a box; no matter how beautiful, it will take no one anywhere.
King Namor Zujahrah
17 first invasion
Before leaving Castle City for Adrone. Rosh and Morhart had invited royal family member to an emergency gathering. In an auditorium that had been used for death games since it was built. Thousands of years. Rivers of blood.
"There will be no more Draves coming to Castle City to work and die for our entertainment. After generations of ignorant plunder and waste, our Castle life is over.
It is up to the royal family how many will fight the taking down of the Castle. Every stone, every plant, every animal, every Drave and every royal family member. We will build ourselves new homes. Build new cities. Turn the desert back into garden and forest. We have the water to make it work.
With the help of technology we brought from another planet."
Namor explained what a planet was. He explained what a star system was. Namor explained the magnitude of the universe. The Old King explained about the perspectives of new cities and technologies. The engineers explained about the evolution of technology. Namor explained about the 36 hidden libraries documenting every thing, plant and creature on the planet.
Then King Namor explained the likeliness of war as a result of the changes on their island.
"There are many more on Barbancor then the island of Castle City. We don't have time to kill one another over our collection of material and recorded wealth. The royal family and the Draves and the people of Adrone Island will have to work together. The other option is that we all die. Or perhaps become slaves."
Not everyone cared to accept the brutal truth of the Castle's end. But the mind virus would spread. There would be no more games. No more crying of the beasts.
Eventually, they would understand.
Latest when they saw what was under Castle City.
The Old King and the engineers stayed at Castle City to start the planning and the building. Building of waterways, fields and forests. Roads and cities.
Barbaralba, Namor, Karnalana, Zauqir, Rosh, Jimus, Luvuck, Fangen and Hanas set out to the coast to bring weapons craftsmen and war strategy to Adrone to teach and train and prepare for war.
Barbaralba understood all about invasion. She had read many of the patents. There was always an underbelly. They would find it and cut it open.
After their long journey back across the desert and the sparse wild and grass land, they were again at the crossing between two worlds.
"Chance can allow for some very beautiful moments."
Barbaralba kissed Namor and looked around at her little army standing before the tide bridge.
"King Namor, my love. Let us see how fast you can end the next war."
It was time to run. They had not set a signal fire. They were prepared with salt and citrus fruit to wait the day in the tower without a fire. Their running was all by night. Under the moons. Or the clouds.
Hanas had warned Barbaralba that something was wrong at his town. They were too far away to see anything other than where the town was. And there was no smoke. No smoke at all was a bad sign.
Zauqir made beautiful fish dishes. Some were of the fish fermented for the afternoon with citrus fruits. Other fish dishes he prepared with grains boiled in the last village.
"Up until two thousand years ago, the royal family had everything taxable, everything, imported on the bridge that stood here.
We can fight and destroy any enemy on this planet. We likely took down the bridge because there was nothing left to tax. In a very few years we can build weapons far superior to whatever they can make with their very limited resources. We have all the resources locked in Castle City.
To end the war without murdering a few billion Barbancorians, we will have to be prepared to build the bridge for export."
As usual, Namor had an attentive audience.
"We are the War Lords. The Over Lords. The most vicious killers of all creatures."
With that, Namor walked down the stone steps to watch the waves crashing against the bridge. Barbaralba went with him.
"We have yet to start, Barbaralba. The real battle is ahead of us."
"You have accomplished much already, King Namor. Royal Family Drave King. We will take each battle as it comes."
Namor put his arms around Barbaralba and let his nose rest on her head so he could take in the sweet smell of her head.
"It will take many years to take down Castle City. It might take a few generation before the royal family let go of the luxury of slavery to live side by side with the Draves. They know no other way of life. They likely had slaves on the last planet. It is part of us. Like enjoying seeing others hack out each others throats for entertainment. The gods picked a brutal creature to be capable of conscious reflection. And written language."
"We are beautiful creatures."
"The war with Barbancor would come quicker to and end and be easier if we destroy them. It would not take long to have the means."
"We don't need an easy way. We will prepare for defending ourselves. And take our time. There is no hurry to end a war that has no beginning."
"Not in written history. Even in the space ship log there was some kind of state of war. It just wasn't called war. Just like it hasn't been likely since we made the castle. It was called building a castle. Or protecting patents. Madness. We are a mad creature. Beautiful, I agree, in some ways brilliant. But we are so very mad."
"We could surrender the island."
Namor laughed.
"They would slaughter us. They would make us their slaves for the next 30,000 years. Maybe it would be the just thing to do but it would also be very stupid from our point of view. And I like us. Even if we are mad."
Barbaralba laughed at Namor.
"I believe in you, King Namor. I think we will see the day when only fishers and hunters carry weapons. Blood has been flowing freely since forever. We will take our time to make certain that we make us believe we want something more. Now let us get some rest, we have another long run ahead of us."
______ . . ______
The next day, after running through the night, prepared with bows and arrows, knives and swords, there was no one to be found in the village. No structure was left standing. The only creatures to greet them were dead people and dead fish. Being carried out by the high tide.
Barbaralba already had a good idea what she wanted to do. After she explained it to the others, they set off over the mountain path to avoid detection on the road. They would avoid detection until they had an armed army ready to strike back at the invaders from Barbancor.
From where they camped the second night, they could see Adrone. With Hanas' looking glass, wooden ships could be seen in the Harbor. The Barbancorian ships.
"They have destroyed our ships."
"As we must theirs."
There was obviously much destroyed along the harbor front. The rest of the city was without visible damage.
"They believe they have made their first victory of claiming the port city as theirs."
"They are greatly out numbered. I count 30 of their ships. Maybe some have already gone."
"Not likely. They need time to load their plunder."
On a hill above a fishing village, about a day's walk from the city, a large camp was organized with every able bodied fisherman and farmer of the island to instruct the new fighters and build bows and arrows. Barbaralba had scouts bring the message to the people of Adrone for those who were fit to fight to leave the city and make weapons of any kind and smear their naked bodies with coal and dirt and make themselves look as frightening as possible.
"We are your Over Lords."
Namor said that for his ears only. Barbaralba's army was prepared for the first attack. Sixty fishing boats armed with arrow firebombs. Two man crossbows that would shoot an arrow most of the way to the horizon.
Over the dark ocean, the sixty fishing boats aligned themselves a fair distance from the 30 Barbancorian ships. In the fields and woods around Adrone were more than 50 thousand savage looking mad warriors. Most with very crude weapons, a few hundred with bows and arrows. They waited for the fire on the water.
All 30 Barbancorian ships were set ablaze. Arrow after arrow struck the ships so fast that there was no fighting the fire. Soldiers who did not fit into small ship to dock rowboats had to throw off their leather armor to swim from the burning ships. The small boats were also assaulted by arrows burning with oil and animal fat.
Many of the Barbancorian soldiers swam to shore. Some died. All 30 ships sank with whatever had been plundered from the city.
The city of Adrone came alive with naked mad men and women painted in black and earth red, carrying torches, wooden spears, pitchforks, clubs and any other simple weapon. All along the harbour front, 50,000 screaming creatures. A host of angels bringing terror to their unwelcome visitors or war.
The only chance for the Barbancorian soldiers escaping from the ships or from the city was to swim away from the city or run along the beach until they found refuge away from the city. Of the three thousand soldiers, less than 2 thousand had escaped the screaming demons of the night that had been shooting arrows, throwing spears or swinging pitch forks.
Instead of surrendering when the morning brought day light on their hopeless situation, they united on the beach and marched away from the city of screaming savages in search of a coastal village to storm into and take over.
Behind them marched, or wandered, 50 thousand Adronians.
Barbaralba had many fighters waiting in the woods above the cliffs of the beach. She had prepared a most brutal ambush. Patented before almost everything else.
The Barbancorian army marched with the authority and wrath of their mission into their death. The beach was prepared with oil, fat, alcohol and dryed plant and wood.
Namor, Kanalana and Barbaralba stood above the approaching army on the cliff in view of the approaching men. They were out of reach of any of the weapons the Barbancorian army carried. They tried, however, to throw stone axes, wooden spears and a few arrows.
"Lay down you weapons. We have an army of 50,000 fighting angels. You can not win against us."
Namor wanted to try protocol. For the record. To allow himself to understand that it was not the time for protocol. The time was ripe for killing. And it would be an ugly slaughter.
Seeing that it was pointless to communicate with words. Barbaralba raised her bow. Her army of archers came out of the forest to stand along the cliff.
Over 600 hundred firebomb arrows were set a fire. The Barbancorian army kept advancing. The last two thousand half drown soldiers with little armor and few weapons advanced toward the archers. Behind them a ways down the beach stood the 50 thousand.
"They have come too far, Namor. They will not surrender."
"Finish it. If they have come to die then let them die."
Barbaralba shot her burning arrow high into the sky. Six hundred burning arrows followed. Bringing a firestorm down onto the soldiers. The beach burst into an inferno. Screaming was heard in Adrone. Some escaped into the water. Most of them suffocated and burned. Some were shot with arrows as the scaled the cliff.
A few hundred of the Barbancorian army had escaped along the water and were on their way to the next village.
Barbaralba's army followed along the beach. Shooting arrows into the air and making random hits.
"They would rather die than lay down their weapons. The are mad."
By the time the cliff leveled off to beach level, the Barbancor army was down to a hundred tired men. They attacked with axes and spears. Namor let his frustration take him and ran at them swinging his sword two handed through one skull after the other. Barbaralba, Rosh, Zauqir, Jimus, Luvuck and Fangen swung their swords beside him. Cutting the last Barbancorian soldiers down like a farmer cutting wheat with his scythe.
Until all but three soldiers had been slaughtered.
"Take their weapons and keep them alive."
Barbaralba and Namor wanted some questions answered. One of Namor's questions needed an answer straight away. He looked through the clothing of the bleeding dead until he was covered in blood and finally understood what he was looking for. God's Word. Every soldier had a copy of God's Word.
"Who is God."
Barbaralba's army was a little surprised to see Namor is such a bloody wild state. Swinging a book around. The three soldiers of Barbancor look stunned and terrified. They made horrible babbling sounds and tried to escape from Namor's wrath.
"Namor. Stop it. They are from a different world. They think you are mad."
"I am. If someone doesn't tell me who God is I am going to become much madder."
But he did understand it was pointless to be screaming at the last three soldiers of an army that had been destroyed before they could understood what had happened.
______ . . ______
By the end of the morning, the local soldiers left the short battle to go back to catching fish and farming. Making and trading things. By those who had witnessed its brutality and smell, it would be remembered as the first invasion in over 30 thousand years of written history.
Karnalana escorted her three prisoners and Barbaralba's visiting army into the city of Adrone. The streets were crowded with hundreds of thousands cheering and somewhat astonished citizens.
Barbaralba and Namor attempted to get some information out of the three soldiers from Barbancor.
"War, Barbaralba, is a very scary creature. It has a life of its own and we will have to become much smarter creatures to control our lust for it."
"War is a monster and your three war prisoners are more afraid of the monster than they are of us."
"The monster will send more. The slaves to the monster have been dreaming of the time, the now, when they awake and take the island with all the riches. It is most likely all written in this book. A guide book how and who to hate. Forget that your are a slave till is is far too late."
Namor laughed. Though it hardly seemed a funny thing.
"I like it when you laugh, it shows a better light. I don't think things are as bad as they seem, they are just much harder than we might have hoped for."
"Whoever this monster God is. He has instilled a fearful ignorant servitude in his soldiers. They haven't spoken, eaten or drank. If we don't force them to eat, they will die. Rather than speak to us."
"We can either torture them or let them be."
"Then we will let them be. We are not children playing with flies."
Barbaralba smiled and they left the three in their cell. There were no real secrets. War was simple. It always was and always would be simple. War Lords play death games. Not wanting to share the wealth of a planet. Like a little boy might not want to share a toy.
A general city meeting was called to inform the island that Barbancor would likely take a course of unrelenting attacks. This meant the temporary need to adapt some of the industries to developing and making weapons to defend the harbor.
Namor wanted to explain what he thought about the space ship. That even on Barbancor, the people were the same family. Fighting over ownership of things that should not belong to anyone. Stealing whatever was to be owned, back and forth.
"Metal and unique stones. We have them. They want them. And with them we have ownership of knowledge. We have everything locked in the castle. It was a secret to us but it was not to them; now we all know that we all know. They want Castle City. And we will have to be prepared to give them of it what we can."
Namor was aware how important and impossible protocol would be.
"We can build ships in our salt lakes, cut canals to the ocean. Cut enough reef away to let out our ships armed for battle. The war will take years. Building the first ships will take us a year. But we have no choice. It won't happen faster and if we can end this war at all with some kind of permanent agreement from both sides so that there are no barriers to the sides, it won't matter if it takes fifty years. We will have won an end to a war that we most likely brought with us from our last planet."
Namor understood how fast a few years were after 30 or 100 thousand. He also understood that, had they not had an active civil war at home to force open some of the history of the royal family, they might not have had such good odds against the monster behind the soldiers.
The island, Castle City Island, could be a deadly war machine before Barbancor could build enough ships that enough made it to the island without being burnt. Now that they had seen that they were coming, it was close to impossible to get enough ships landed to have a chance at taking the island.
"Let them come. Maybe it is not important that they don't have a chance as long as we wait for them here. They don't know it. Maybe they do. But it is an attempt at simple protocol. When we have our ships, we will go. Attempt the next protocol."
"Read their book, Book King. Learn how they see. Know our enemy."
Namor did read the book. He had read it twice before the next attempted invasion. Sixty ships from Barbancor came. An army of forty thousand was prepared to meet the couple thousand who had escaped their burning ships. Hit by high velocity firebomb arrows.
"I am the one true God. Anyone who believes it will have paradise with rivers running through it. Those who don't believe. Strike them down and burn them."
"What's that."
"That, Barbaralba, is the essence. It is something repeated in various ways throughout this book. When it comes down to it, it is like we said. Terror is the one true god. Terrorism the religion. Fear your god. The big monster the War Lords wear as their hats. Laws of mute obedience. And the most important lie of the monster is, you must obey only the one monster your life long and serve only the one monster or you will burn forever after you die. And if you are a good warrior and kill who you are told to kill and bring back the spoils for the War Lords, you can have whatever you desire when you are dead. But not before then. Unless you are one of the War Lords. There may be a bit more to it. Detail distractions. We'll see when we get there."
"It doesn't sound so different than the monster that is the power of Castle City."
"No. Barbaralba. It is the same idea with a different robe on. Different coloured hats."
"Then we are being very silly. While we play our stupid war games, the condition of the planet for the rest of the creatures is simply ignored. And perhaps that is a crime."
"Fish Queen. Be assured. It is our biggest crime. For if we, with our grand talents that life has given us, don't make the difference for the planet to help the planet than we are not a necessary part of the planet."
chapter 18
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