The sun beat harshly down on the savanna as the two opposing sides stared each other down.
To one side stood a battalion of the king's antelope guard, standing side by side with their shields locked.
Across from them, grunting and squealing, stood a mass of painted and tattooed warthogs, their Stone Age weaponry bristling in anticipation of the coming battle.
"Draw!", the antelope commander ordered.
The warthogs bellowed loudly as they raised their shields above their heads.
"Loose!", the antelope commander ordered.
Thwang!
The archers released their bowstrings, sending a salvo of arrows arching towards the warthogs.
Thwap!
The warthogs bellowed triumphantly as their shields thwarted their enemy's attack.
"Encircle!", the warthog's chieftain ordered loudly, his greenstone mere twitching in excitement as his comrades rushed the enemy's flanks, forcing them inward.
"Stand fast!", the antelope commander ordered as one of his comrades beside him fell with an arrow in his throat.
"Loose!", a warthog shouted to he and a few of his fellows darted around behind the antelope.
"Ahh!", an antelope screamed as an arrow sunk into his back.
"Form a circle!", the antelope commander commanded as he caught a sling stone on his shield.
The antelope obeyed, preventing the warthogs from attacking them from behind.
"Ha ha!", the chieftain louder as the king's guard were surrounded.
The two sides traded blows for awhile, spear thrust from spear thrust, arrow for arrow.
Eventually, it became clear the antelope were losing.
"Rahhh!", the antelope shouted, thrusting his spear towards an enemy.
The warthog caught the spear in his hooves and wretched it from his enemy's grasp.
Crack!
The warthog broke the shaft over an archer's head, knocking him to the ground.
"Help me!", the antelope cried out as he unsheathed his dagger.
"Curses!", the antelope commander swore as the warthog thrust the broken awl pike into the antelope's shoulder, pinning him to the ground before smashing his skull with a stone mace.
"There's too many!", an antelope shouted, before three arrows in his back silenced him.
"Kings above help us.", the antelope commander breathed as one of the warthogs hooked his stone axe over the rim of his shield and tore it from his grasp.
The antelope's numbers had dwindled, leaving but three archers and ten of the infantry remaining.
"Tighten!", the commander ordered the antelope.
His soldiers obeyed, huddling closer as a number of warthog archers and slingers stepped to the front of the ranks.
"Loose!", the chieftain roared.
Twang!
A volley of arrows and stones struck the antelope, many finding the gaps in their shield wall.
The screams of the dying filled the air as the king's soldiers collapsed, coupled with the bellows of triumph from the warthogs.
The victors began to drag the corpses away, only to find one still alive.
"Rarghhh!", the commander roared, twirling his spear as he sprang up from amid the dead.
The warthogs jumped back in surprise, their weapons leveled at the survivor.
"Hold!", the warthog chieftain ordered. "Clear space!"
"Come on who wants some!?", the commander shouted as he menaced the surrounding army with the spear.
"That would be me.", the chieftain replied as on of his warriors handed him a pouwhenua.
"Well then let's g…ack!", the commander gasped as the warthog suddenly jabbed him in the throat with the blunt end of his staff.
The impala responded with a thrust at the warthog's belly, only for his strike to be intercepted by the staff and deflected.
Letting the point go to the side, the impala swung the butt at the warthog's head.
The warthog countered, blocking the weapon's haft with his own and shoving the impala back.
The impala thrust again.
The warthog batted the point aside and thrust his own at the impala's neck.
The impala sidestepped, and thrust at the warthog's belly.
The warthog carried the point down, leaving it embedded in the ground.
Snap!
The warthog struck the spear haft just behind the head, breaking it off.
"Argh!", the impala shouted, swinging the shaft at the warthog furiously.
A furious exchange of blows and parries followed, ending with the impala managing to wrest the pouwhena out of the warthog's hooves.
Wham!
Teeth flew from the impala's mouth as the warthog's hoof connected with his jaw.
Lifting the dazed antelope over his head, the warthog threw him head first onto the ground.
Crack!
One of the impala's horns broke off as he connected with the dirt.
Got to get back up, the impala thought groggily as he drew his dagger.
The warthog let him get up, drawing his mere and wrapping his cloak around his offhand.
"Ahh!", the impala shouted, thrusting at the warthog's belly.
The warthog blocked the strike with his cloak as he struck at the impala's head.
Crack!
The impala gasped in pain as he defended his head with his forearm, feeling the bones fracture.
He landed several frenzied cuts on the warthog's wrapped forearm, none managing to pierce the layers of cloth about the chief's limb.
Thud!
The impala's legs buckled under him as the warthog's mere connected with his head, just behind his ear.
Pain blasting through his bones, he fell to his knees.
The warthog bellowed in victory as he raised his mere over his head.
Kings forgive my failure, the impala thought, closing his eyes as the mere descended upon his head.