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The Trappings of War: Volume XIII
An UnOrthOdOx view of the Glory of War
It was well into the morning hours by the time we had properly carved up the beast and salted the meat to preserve it as best we could. This dragon continued to prove to be full of surprises, though. First we discovered the skin was much like leather armor and tough to cut through. This got me to thinking what would happen if we were to tan and harden it even further, and I ordered the whole thing skinned just to test this out. Next, a curious thick layer of fat lay right beneath the skin, I don’t know what possessed Hot Enamel to try it, but he soon discovered it became quite flammable when melted down and he ordered it all removed and placed in the bowels of his ship for further testing once he returned to the mainland.
Hot Enamel also set about making a diagram of the internals of the beast for use in future hunts. Hopefully finding a weak spot to bring them down quicker. I seriously doubted that there would be any more hunts for some time, though. There was more than enough meat here to last quite some time, and it would be far too long before I could procure enough ships. This adventure had proven to me that one was simply not enough to bring in these dragons on anything approaching a regular basis.
Once everything was finished, there remained a terrible stain upon the beach, and as the villagers quickly returned to their homes for some much needed rest after the night’s ordeals, I went in for a closer inspection of the skeleton that remained. You could see the gouge marks where the spears had brushed up against the bone, yet the bones themselves remained largely intact. Master Zen also remarked upon that, and ordered the whole of the skeleton be taken up to the cliffs of Mount Zen to be dried, hardened, and bleached by the weather.
“I’m afraid that I must be going now.” Master Zen stated. “There is much for me to do, this GS/Voxian war has really shaken the world. Barely a day goes by anymore that I do not hear from one nation or another.”
“I trust you have it all under control, though?” I asked.
“True, true. But, you of all people know that we can all use a little help from time to time. Which, by the way, Ghengis asked me to let you know he needs to speak with you as soon is convenient for you. Don’t know what he needs.”
Just then, as if Master Zen were expecting it, a envoy arrived carrying urgent news from some nation or another and he was off in a flash to return to his office and sort out the details. It did not take long for Hot Enamel to leave either, eager to get back to some new project that he refused to tell me anything about, and he was followed shortly by UberKrux and sEctArIAn who were off on an assignment from Ghengis that Uber could tell me nothing of. So it was that in a short time the beach was empty with no evidence of what had occurred save for the stain upon the sands.
“UnO, I need to talk to you!”
“By the Gods, Aro! Aren’t you asleep, yet. I am just on my way to collapse myself.”
“I’ve been thinking. There is no way that little boat of ours can do this on it’s own.”
“Yes, yes, I realize that to. I’ll start working on getting some new ships up here tomorrow, now let’s get some sleep.”
“No, no, what we need is a bigger ship!” Aro exclaimed.
“Look, you know as well as I there is no way to build a bigger ship. It’s been tried, and the wood simply cannot hold together properly to hold water, it becomes too weak.” I was becoming annoyed at this prolonging of my awaken state, only longing for my bed.
“That’s why we will use Lego material.” There was a glint in his eyes. And I noticed for the first time he was holding a parchment.
“Ok, look, I’m tired, what do you have in mind since I know you are aware we used all of that material on the small boat, and that I am not planning to go ask for more.”
Aro unrolled his parchment to reveal the designs for this new ship. I had never seen anything like it. Large curved sides led to a point far narrower than the standard galleys of today, this Aro explained would allow the ship to distribute it’s weight better allowing the whole of the ship to absorb the pressure, thus allowing for a larger design than the shallow design of our current galleys. The plan called for ribs of Lego material to construct the skeleton for the ship, since the Lego material was far more flexible, it could be designed to fit the steep incline, where there was no way to bend wood into that shape. I figured there could be no harm in dismantling the Lego boat, we could put it back together if we needed to later, and there was no need of it at present, so I gave Aro the permission to begin construction of his ship the following day and proceeded to bed.
The sky was black and there was a slight rain falling down. Looking around me, I appeared to be alone, but could not place my location. Lightening flashed across the sky and I could see I was wearing some kind of strange armor, what was going on? A horse was slowly kicking the ground nearby. My flail lay at the ground before me, and I picked it up and stood looking for some kind of recognizable feature to the land.
As I stood, the wind picked up and blinded my sight with the sting of the rain. I slowly turned to place my back to the wind. There before me I could hear the clanking of armor and the nervous gait of horses. Pulling my flail to the ready I tried to call out but could not even hear my own voice from above the growing wind. Stumbling forward at the fury that now beat upon my back I fell once more to my knees and the storm suddenly ceased. I only had time to be confused for a moment when the sky split open casting light finally upon the scene.
I was covered in blood, and all around me the ground was stained a bright red, the fury of the storm was unable to wash it away even. Glancing up I saw the horrified faces of everyone I knew, unable to meet my gaze. Suddenly feeling ashamed at whatever was offending them, I turned to escape, and there lay the dragon. Once again our eyes met. I could hear his heart beating, could see the slow rise and fall of his body with each labored breath. An impossible amount of blood washed from the wound that I had given him and through those eyes I could feel every painful moment. My own breath began to feel labored, and I could feel a warm wetness growing beneath my armor.
I wanted to look down, to flee, anything to escape that gaze, but I was unable to move and growing weak. The pain soon subsided and my entire body felt numb, falling to the ground my head spun as I was slowly losing conscience. Always present, though, was the eye that held me in this place, that was tugging at my soul, consuming me.
An UnOrthOdOx view of the Glory of War
It was well into the morning hours by the time we had properly carved up the beast and salted the meat to preserve it as best we could. This dragon continued to prove to be full of surprises, though. First we discovered the skin was much like leather armor and tough to cut through. This got me to thinking what would happen if we were to tan and harden it even further, and I ordered the whole thing skinned just to test this out. Next, a curious thick layer of fat lay right beneath the skin, I don’t know what possessed Hot Enamel to try it, but he soon discovered it became quite flammable when melted down and he ordered it all removed and placed in the bowels of his ship for further testing once he returned to the mainland.
Hot Enamel also set about making a diagram of the internals of the beast for use in future hunts. Hopefully finding a weak spot to bring them down quicker. I seriously doubted that there would be any more hunts for some time, though. There was more than enough meat here to last quite some time, and it would be far too long before I could procure enough ships. This adventure had proven to me that one was simply not enough to bring in these dragons on anything approaching a regular basis.
Once everything was finished, there remained a terrible stain upon the beach, and as the villagers quickly returned to their homes for some much needed rest after the night’s ordeals, I went in for a closer inspection of the skeleton that remained. You could see the gouge marks where the spears had brushed up against the bone, yet the bones themselves remained largely intact. Master Zen also remarked upon that, and ordered the whole of the skeleton be taken up to the cliffs of Mount Zen to be dried, hardened, and bleached by the weather.
“I’m afraid that I must be going now.” Master Zen stated. “There is much for me to do, this GS/Voxian war has really shaken the world. Barely a day goes by anymore that I do not hear from one nation or another.”
“I trust you have it all under control, though?” I asked.
“True, true. But, you of all people know that we can all use a little help from time to time. Which, by the way, Ghengis asked me to let you know he needs to speak with you as soon is convenient for you. Don’t know what he needs.”
Just then, as if Master Zen were expecting it, a envoy arrived carrying urgent news from some nation or another and he was off in a flash to return to his office and sort out the details. It did not take long for Hot Enamel to leave either, eager to get back to some new project that he refused to tell me anything about, and he was followed shortly by UberKrux and sEctArIAn who were off on an assignment from Ghengis that Uber could tell me nothing of. So it was that in a short time the beach was empty with no evidence of what had occurred save for the stain upon the sands.
“UnO, I need to talk to you!”
“By the Gods, Aro! Aren’t you asleep, yet. I am just on my way to collapse myself.”
“I’ve been thinking. There is no way that little boat of ours can do this on it’s own.”
“Yes, yes, I realize that to. I’ll start working on getting some new ships up here tomorrow, now let’s get some sleep.”
“No, no, what we need is a bigger ship!” Aro exclaimed.
“Look, you know as well as I there is no way to build a bigger ship. It’s been tried, and the wood simply cannot hold together properly to hold water, it becomes too weak.” I was becoming annoyed at this prolonging of my awaken state, only longing for my bed.
“That’s why we will use Lego material.” There was a glint in his eyes. And I noticed for the first time he was holding a parchment.
“Ok, look, I’m tired, what do you have in mind since I know you are aware we used all of that material on the small boat, and that I am not planning to go ask for more.”
Aro unrolled his parchment to reveal the designs for this new ship. I had never seen anything like it. Large curved sides led to a point far narrower than the standard galleys of today, this Aro explained would allow the ship to distribute it’s weight better allowing the whole of the ship to absorb the pressure, thus allowing for a larger design than the shallow design of our current galleys. The plan called for ribs of Lego material to construct the skeleton for the ship, since the Lego material was far more flexible, it could be designed to fit the steep incline, where there was no way to bend wood into that shape. I figured there could be no harm in dismantling the Lego boat, we could put it back together if we needed to later, and there was no need of it at present, so I gave Aro the permission to begin construction of his ship the following day and proceeded to bed.
The sky was black and there was a slight rain falling down. Looking around me, I appeared to be alone, but could not place my location. Lightening flashed across the sky and I could see I was wearing some kind of strange armor, what was going on? A horse was slowly kicking the ground nearby. My flail lay at the ground before me, and I picked it up and stood looking for some kind of recognizable feature to the land.
As I stood, the wind picked up and blinded my sight with the sting of the rain. I slowly turned to place my back to the wind. There before me I could hear the clanking of armor and the nervous gait of horses. Pulling my flail to the ready I tried to call out but could not even hear my own voice from above the growing wind. Stumbling forward at the fury that now beat upon my back I fell once more to my knees and the storm suddenly ceased. I only had time to be confused for a moment when the sky split open casting light finally upon the scene.
I was covered in blood, and all around me the ground was stained a bright red, the fury of the storm was unable to wash it away even. Glancing up I saw the horrified faces of everyone I knew, unable to meet my gaze. Suddenly feeling ashamed at whatever was offending them, I turned to escape, and there lay the dragon. Once again our eyes met. I could hear his heart beating, could see the slow rise and fall of his body with each labored breath. An impossible amount of blood washed from the wound that I had given him and through those eyes I could feel every painful moment. My own breath began to feel labored, and I could feel a warm wetness growing beneath my armor.
I wanted to look down, to flee, anything to escape that gaze, but I was unable to move and growing weak. The pain soon subsided and my entire body felt numb, falling to the ground my head spun as I was slowly losing conscience. Always present, though, was the eye that held me in this place, that was tugging at my soul, consuming me.
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