THE RISING SONS - Hour Three Ms. O'Brien continued the lesson into Hour Three without pausing. "Prince Cire was very pleased at the results of the raid. With that single action, he was assured enough food and water for his men to last out the remainder of the day. Cire knew that tomorrow was not a concern, at least not for now. It was in the third hour of the battle that Gen. Bravo and his mercenaries voted, the first vote ever in the history of the band. They voted to remain after the battle and homestead the newly conquered land. It was the chance of a lifetime for many of his men, a clean slate. For the first time they were fighting for their own homes rather than for someone else's. For the first time they found a man strong enough to follow, and were determined to win it all for him and themselves, or die. Now that his Army was well fed, Cire's only concern was to locate medical supplies to help his wounded troops. He and Bravo both knew that the last hours of the battle would be the crucial ones. Cire was well on the way to crushing his enemy. After his men had stored and secured the supplies, Cire ordered Bravo to overrun the main storage facility in Splat City. The Gray army was in a state of reorganization and Bravo was determined to take advantage of it. He was confident, seemingly overly so, but none questioned his confidence at this stage of the battle and the forces of the Blue Army moved rapidly toward the city and toward the much needed medical supplies that were being stored near Toddanson's stronghold. Prince Cire stood on the hill overlooking the city. His men spreading out through the streets fighting for every inch of ground. He lowered the binoculars and thought to himself how odd it was that so few had been left to defend such a precious storage facility?but he was pleased nonetheless. From his vantage point he could see the brave soldiers of the Red Army defending to the last. The courage and fortitude that they displayed made it hard to watch as they fell one after another to the onslaught of his forces. Cire kept thinking, "where are the rest? Why have these brave men not been reinforced? Yes - all was in place to counter such a threat, but why had they not come? He raised the binoculars to his face once more and watched through them as the flag posted outside the store house was torn down by Gen. Bravo's squad. It was then that a messenger arrived with information. On the other side of the battlefield, near the Vurki border, large numbers of Antony's and Toddanson's men were colliding in an attempt to capture the ground around the Fortress. Cire smiled to himself and raised his binoculars in time to see the raising of the Blue flag. "My brothers fight over ground that I do not need to defeat them. Let them waste their resources and their men. I now have enough supplies to win." |
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