Under the Burning Sun:
The Beginning of the End

~ Chapter Three ~

Age 713, Harvest Season

Nappa carefully crept along a tree branch about forty feet into the air. His feet were bare, to provide himself with better footing and a silent approach. His tail was loose; it swayed from one side to another periodically, acting as a counterbalance. In his hands, he wielded a plumbata, a spear made of wood and bone. Between his clenched teeth was a masai blade, a flat dagger made of filed down bone.

In the other trees surrounding the twelve-cycles-old boy, other saiyan hunters were mimicking his movements. As they nimbly traversed the trees, they drew closer and closer to one another. They all had their attentions focused on the same target; a giant beast grazing on some of the flora down below. The tremanus they were stalking was an ursine like creature that stood twenty feet tall at its shoulders, almost thirty-five feet when it rose to stand on its two rear feet. Its massive height was the reason they crept towards it from so high in the trees.

Nappa moved into position, just above the animal's neck. The other hunters moved into position as well. They needed no verbal or visual signals to communicate; they were all linked as one unit, one mind, through their bond of duty – their duty of the hunt. The hunters all hefted their plumbatae, aiming for crucial spots on the beast; points along its spine, places in its limbs. Their spears would not be enough to kill the massive beast, they knew. Their purpose was to immobilize it so that they could deliver a fatal strike.

The creature lifted its head, suddenly on alert. It looked around with its two sets of red eyes; two in the front of its head and one on each side, giving it almost a full 360 degree range of vision. Yet another reason why they attacked from above. The saiyans grew still as the beast sniffed the air. Fortunately, the hunters had wisely approached from downwind. The tremanus's pointed ears swiveled from side to side, listening for any sound out of the ordinary. The saiyans remained still. When the animal failed to detect the presence of its predators, it returned to its grazing.

Almost as one, the hunters released their spears at the tremanus. With near perfection, the plumbatae struck their targets, penetrating the beast's shaggy, black fur and thick hide. The weapons pierced specific muscles, tendons, and nerves, crippling the animal. It roared with fury at the unexpected pain. It reared up onto its hind feet; its clawed front paws swiped the air, but there was nothing in front of it to attack. The creature's long tail lashed back and forth. With a muffled thud, the beast fell back down onto all four legs. It tried to run, but it was already too weak. It could no longer hold its own weight and stumbled to the ground.

As the tremanus struggled to climb back onto its feet, the second phase of the attack began. Nappa leaped down from his perch, hands outstretched and ready to grab a hold of the creature's thick fur. He landed on the beast's neck with a hard 'oomph'. The animal thrashed its head when it felt the presence of the intruder upon its body. It tried to use its front paws to swipe the saiyan from its neck, but was met with failure. It could barely raise its paws from the ground.

Nappa held on tightly as the tremanus shook and rocked its head. Although it didn't have the strength to run, it still had plenty of energy to fight with. The fight against the beast was long and hard. The preteen saiyan clamped onto its fur so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His legs, straddling the base of the animal's neck, gripped harder. His muscles began to grow sore. But he refused to give up. This would be his first kill of an animal of this size, and he would not fail. He would not disappoint his mentors, as they had put a lot of faith and trust in him to successfully make the kill.

It was several minutes before the tremanus began to tire. It eventually settled its head on the ground, too weakened to hold it up any longer. Its breathing became labored. Heavy puffs of breath was released from its mouth and short snout, stirring up dust and dirt from the ground. Nappa waited a moment or two to make sure that the beast had truly submitted. It would be a terrible mistake to release his hold on the animal only for it to gain its second wind, resume its thrashing, and end up throwing the saiyan boy to the ground.

When it became evident that the creature could no longer fight, Nappa slowly freed his hands. He compensated by tightening his legs on the tremanus's neck. The twelve-cycles-old boy paused another moment, carefully observing the beast. Still, the only movement it made was its heavy breathing. Its chest slowly rose and then quickly fell with each breath. Nappa removed the masai blade from his mouth. With his weapon in his right hand, he ran his left hand through the animal's thick fur. When he found the base of the tremanus'sskull, he pressed the tip of the dagger against the spot. With one strong thrust, he pierced the creature's flesh, driving the weapon through and severing its spinal cord. A final shiver ran through the animal's body and then it was completely still.

The other hunters dropped down from the trees. One by one, they removed their spears from the animal. When they were done, Nappa withdrew his masai and then reclaimed his own plumbata. Each of the saiyans placed their left palms on the beast, pressed their right fists to their chests, and bowed their heads reverently. Since Nappa had made the kill, it was his privilege to lead the prayer.

"d'Jitaba Saiya, we thank you for this gift. With this prey, our tribe will grow in strength so we may live on. Its sacrifice shall not go to waste."

"Its sacrifice shall not go to waste," repeated the hunters.

Immediately after the prayer, the hunters went to work. The tremanus was far too large to take back to the village as it was, even though they were only a day's hike away from home. They had no choice but to process the creature there in the middle of the forest. And because there was so much of it, they had to do it quickly before the meat spoiled. Processing the meat right away would delay their return to the village by several days, but that couldn't be avoided. It was much more important to ensure that the kill did not go to waste. This was their final hunting trip before winter settled in. They wouldn't have another opportunity to fatten up their village's food stores for the rest of the cycle.

The group of twenty-two hunters split apart to tend to different tasks. They didn't need to divvy up their duties; they had done this countless times before and they each knew what roles needed to be filled. A couple of the saiyans cleared away the fallen foliage on the ground, creating a large patch of dirt. A few others gathered rocks and stones and lined them up to form a large circle. Several others gathered tinder and filled the makeshift pit. Using flint rock, they started a fire. Those who had created the pit moved on to collect larger pieces of dried wood. Their goal was to get a large bed of coals burning so that they could eventually smoke the tremanus meat.

Meanwhile, the other half of the hunting party began to work on the carcass. They stripped away its hide first. The strips would be used to transport the meat once it had been dehydrated and then later, when they returned to the village, the fur and the hide would be used to make cloth and leather. They removed the entrails, separating the organs useful to them and discarding those that weren't. The discarded pieces, though not used by the saiyans, would not go to waste, as they had vowed to Jitaba. They knew that other animals, predators and scavengers alike, would eventually come along and feed upon them.

The hunters carved away strips of meat and passed them off to those tending to the coals, beginning the long process of dehydration. The strips were cut thinly so that they would cook faster, but making so many strips was also time consuming. Hours later, when they got down to the bones, these would be cleaned as best as possible and placed at the edges of the fire pit to dry out. When they would return to the village in a few days, any remaining tissue would be cleansed from the bones and then they would be crafted into tools and weapons.

Nappa assisted with smoking the meat. As he helped his elders, a few of them offered him praise for a quick, clean kill. It was important not to make the animals they hunted suffer needlessly, lest they invoke Mele's wrath.

"You did well today, Nappa," said Kadavo, the head huntsman. Having twenty-seven cycles of age, he was considered young for having a hunting pack of his own. But the many scars he bore on his torso and limbs were a testament to his ambitious youth and his many cycles of experience. "It will not be long before you become an master hunter. I can see that at some point in the future, you will more than likely become the head of your own hunting pack."

"Thank you," Nappa replied.

And once I have mastered the art of the hunt, the boy thought, I will be one step closer to becoming a warrior. For that was his true goal. Ever since the first sighting of the demon-bird, he had been devoted to following in his father's footsteps and becoming a warrior. Perhaps, one day, he may even become the war-adviser. But first, he had to become skilled in the way of the hunt. As his father once told him... "Only after you have learned to respect the value of life and the sacrifice of death, will you be ready to learn the ways of the warrior. For it is not a warrior's duty to take life, but rather, to protect life." With those words filling his mind, he continued working with fervor.

There was a slow, but steady work flow. Cuts of meat were added to a pile waiting to be smoked. The strips of raw meat sitting longest went over the hottest coals first. After the strips were cooked, they were moved to the cooler coals so they could continue to dehydrate. And finally, after many hours, the tough strips of jerky were bundled up into swatches of the animal's pelt.

The saiyans continued at this pace far into the night. The processing of the meat slowed after dark settled. They had to spare some of the hunters so that they could perform guard duty. Many more predators were known to come out at night. The scent of blood would draw them to the tremanus carcass and the saiyans had to protect their kill. Other hunters were spared so they could get some rest. The remainder continued to work. But the hunting party rotated shifts so that by dawn, each one had gotten some rest and also went on guard.

Five days later, Nappa, Kadavo, and the rest of the hunting pack returned to their village, each of them with large bundles of meat and bones strapped to their backs. They immediately dropped off their wares to their proper places; the meat and organs to the huts that stored their food, the bones to the weapons smith, and the pelt swatches to the craftsman's hut. As they made their rounds, the villagers welcomed them home and expressed their gratitude for the last, large bounty.

Nappa made his way to the weapons smith to drop of his satchel of dried bones. As he did so, a small throng of younger children congregated around him. They forgot about the chores and games they had been in the midst of to flock to him and ask him about the hunt. Just as he used to do to the elder hunters before he had been invited to join them. The twelve-cycles-old boy had become something of an idol to the younger cubs.

"You were gone a long time, Nappa!" said one boy.

"You got a big one this time, right?" asked another.

"Was it a tasmati?" one of the few girls guessed.

"I bet it was an amaki," yet another boy said.

Nappa grinned. "It was a tremanus."

The children stopped and gasped in awe and wonder. None of them had ever seen such an animal before, but tales of its size and strength were well known. The tremanus was often the subject of many tales told to scare the young ones; stories of how it stole cubs who wandered too far from the village and then ate them, bones and all. The children's shock wore off after a moment and they caught up to the young hunter.

"Was it really a tremanus?" asked another girl.

"Was it scary?" one of the smaller boys fretted.

"Did it try to eat your bones?" teased one of the older boys with a grin.

And so on, went the questions.

Despite the flock of cubs circling him, Nappa eventually made it to the weapons smith. The ground-level hut, like all the other public huts of the village, had been relocated during the past cycle and a half. No longer were any of the structures located in the clearing between the forest and the river. They had all been disassembled and rebuilt beneath the trees of the forest.

Chieftain Tarve and his council had decided the previous cycle that they had to camouflage their village as best as possible so that the demon-birds would be less likely to spot them during their overhead flights. The task had taken much of the summer season that cycle to complete. And it had taken away from other important tasks. A handful of the villagers had initially disagreed with the decision to divert labor away from some of the necessary jobs in order to complete the move. But the great-tribe's leaders were adamant that the safety of the village came first. And when the demon-birds had been spotted a second time by the village, all of those protests grew silent.

Since then, the demon-birds had been spotted a few more times. For the most part, they stayed to the west, flying in the skies high over the western mountain range. But these sightings served as an continual reminder that these sky creatures were still present and still active. The villagers had grown used to the sightings, so to speak. So long as the beasts stayed far away, they drew no panic or alarm amongst the villagers. However, the tribesmen were still wary. The intentions of the demon-birds remained a mystery.

Nappa entered the weapons smith hut. He added his satchel of bones to the large pile off to the side. Two saiyans were busy at work inside the hut; Feralo and his mate Opeta, both masters of their craft. With great care, they filed down the ends and edges of each bone, forming them into different tools. A selection of finished products lined the side of the hut opposite the raw materials.

Without taking his onyx eyes away from his work, Feralo asked, "How was the hunt, Nappa?"

The twelve-cycles-old boy sat down on the ground opposite the smiths. "It went very well," he answered as he picked up one of the bones with one hand and a picking tool with the other. He began to clean the remnants from the bone.

"That is good to hear," Opeta replied. "We certainly could use the extra meat this winter."

Nappa nodded. "This last hunting trip should help a lot. Our last kill was a tremanus."

Both Feralo and Opeta froze. "A tremanus?" the latter repeated.

The preteen cub nodded.

The smiths set their work aside with an excitement that defied their forty-plus cycles. Like young cubs, they pawed through the newest collection of bones, coveting them like sacred relics.

"It has been many seasons since we last had the opportunity to work with such strong materials," the elder male explained. "I thought all the tramanusi had migrated to the colder regions of the north..."

Nappa said nothing, uncertain how to respond to Feralo's speculation.

"These will make very durable weapons and tools," commented Opeta. The brown-haired female scrutinized every inch of the bone she held. "This is wonderful."

"Yes," agreed the black-haired man. "With these we might just be able to forge a few new ulak blades and gisernes before the warriors depart for Bafalyl lands."

This bit of information perked Nappa's interest. "My father is leading a band of warriors into battle?"

The widened eyes of the two older saiyans snapped to those of the boy, then to each other, then to the boy again. Nappa observed their nervous expressions. Where they not supposed to tell me? he wondered. If the slipped information was actually true, then it was certainly a big deal. The Vegetabyl Great-tribe hadn't engaged in any major battles during Nappa's twelve cycles. The possibility was both exciting and frightening at the same time. Nappa eagerly waited for either one of the smiths to answer him.

After a few moments, Opeta carefully elaborated. "The announcement has not yet been made, so you must not say a word of this to anyone else. Chieftain Tarve commissioned us to craft extra weapons and to repair those that have been stored away."

"He did not specifically tell us that we are going to battle," Feralo continued. "But it appears as though the council has decided to supplement the armies of the Steridyl and Bafalyl Great-tribes with a battalion of our own warriors. It is possible that they plan to engage the invading birds and beasts that have overrun the Karofyl lands."

"But it is also possible that they only intend to establish a perimeter as the Malvakyl have done," supplemented Opeta. "Considering the rumors that the creatures have begun to migrate towards Bafalyl lands..."

Nappa considered this information, choosing to believe Feralo's theory. Father is going to fight the demons. The idea of his father becoming a war hero was exciting and invigorating. With every passing season, with every new story about the demons, the preteen cub felt with increasing certainty that the invasive creatures needed to be confronted. The damage and destruction they had wrought could not continue unaddressed.

Visitors to the Vegetabyl Great-tribe and Vegetabyl delegates returning from western lands always returned with updates of the activity in Karofyl territory. Nappa recalled a particular incident while away during a hunting trip during the prior season. He and his hunting party had been settling down in one of the many campsites scattered throughout their lands when a traveling messenger from the Bafalyl Great-tribe had come upon their camp. The messenger, named Lenti, had shared with them strange tales from Karofyl lands...

Nappa and the other hunters listened raptly as they learned about the invaders.

"We have observed the demon-birds for quite some time," Lenti said. "We have determined that there are two different varieties of the sky creatures. The first does not appear aggressive, but remains dangerous. We have noted that they are spies, using those strange beams of light to inspect the land for whatever it is they are searching for. We have come to call them 'bird-scouts.'

"The second, is quite aggressive. We are certain that these are the ones responsible for the destruction of the Karofyl forests. They look almost the same as the bird-scouts, but they behave very differently. They do not manipulate light like the bird-scouts, but they have mastered control over fire. They release spheres from their bellies that fall to the ground. When these spheres strike the earth, they unleash a fiery wrath upon the landscape, desecrating everything in their wake. We call these demon-birds 'fire-droppers.'"

"Jitaba," gasped Kadavo. "You have seen this happen?"

Lenti nodded. "Yes. But these sky creatures are not the only invaders we have discovered," he warned. "The appearance of the demon-birds was eventually followed by the presence of invaders we have called 'land-crawlers' due to the fact that as they travel across the lands, they crawl across the landscape on several sets of insect-like legs.

"One of these, we call 'rock-beetles.' Their bodies are small and round, but they have four massive claws that they uses to move earth and rock. Their arms are long and strong and flexible. We have watched as these rock-beetles transformed rugged and rocky terrain into flat and uniform lands."

"How bizarre," one of the male hunters whispered.

"The rock-beetles are not the most peculiar," Lenti divulged. "The rock-beetles have a larger cousin that we have named 'soil-eaters.' The soil-eaters are very fat. They have no arms, but they do have several sets of teeth that chew into the earth, gobbling up the soil, and then releasing neat rows of their excrement in their wake. It appears that their purpose is to cultivate and fertilize the land. They are capable of tilling large swatches of land in a fraction of the time it takes an entire village of saiyans to do. Endless fields cultivated in a matter of days instead of several fortnights."

"Amazing," Nappa heard a female hunter murmur.

Lenti continued. "We did not see how the creatures planted their crops, but they have been growing plants the likes of which I have never seen before. We have attempted to approach these fields, to learn what they are and how they are growing there, but they are heavily protected."

"Protected? How?" asked Kadavo.

"There are two land-crawlers that guard the fields day and night. Truthfully, to categorize them as land-crawlers is a misnomer, as they have no legs. Instead of traveling by foot, they seem to float over the ground," Lenti shook his head in his own disbelief, "but we cannot figure out how they do it... They are much thinner than the rock-beetles and the soil-eaters, but they are also much taller.

"We call them 'screechers' and 'blinders.' As they patrol the fields, they frequently raise what appears to be their heads into the air. They have large round eyes and ears that they use to watch and listen for us. If we are discovered, they unleash one of two attacks upon us. The screechers howl a deafening scream, one that is unbearable and persistent. It feels almost like having sticks jabbed repeatedly into one's ears."

"How horrible!" another huntress proclaimed.

"That is not all," Lenti revealed. "The blinders use a visual attack. Unlike the soft glow that the bird-scouts use in their investigations, the blinders use a harsh and painful light as a weapon. Any who look upon the light of the blinders is rendered sightless. Fortunately, this blindness is only temporary. But it makes escape very difficult. Because of the screechers and blinders, we have not been able to approach Karofyl lands."

"This news is unfortunate," Kadavo replied solemnly.

Lenti nodded in agreement. "Infiltrating the creatures' defenses has proven impossible. So much so that we still have yet to learn what fate has befallen the Karofyl Great-tribe. The worst news of all, is that these creatures have been expanding slowly to the south. We fear that by cycle's end, they will have crossed into my great-tribe's territory."

Knowing that these creatures were slowly conquering additional lands in the northwest, Nappa's excitement about the battle preparations shifted towards feelings of trepidation. If the creatures were spreading, then it was most likely because they were in need of more resources. And if they needed more resources, it could only mean that they were growing in number.

The growing sprawl of the invaders through Karofyl lands had continued with no resistance. It wasn't because the saiyans weren't willing to oppose them. It was because they had yet to find a way to do so against the creatures' unusual atttacks. The Malvakyl had been fortunate to ward them away only because the western borders of their lands were too mountainous to cultivate. But the Bafalyl were not so lucky. The open territory made the Bafalyl vulnerable to the creatures' spread.

Nappa's worry grew. What will happen if the demons cannot be stopped? What will happen if we fail? Will the demons become angry? Will they attack? What will happen to father? What if he is injured or... killed? And then another thought plagued him. Does Mother know?

Nappa immediately set aside the bone he had been cleaning and the pick he had been using to do the job. "Sorry, but I have to go," he blurted as he leaped to his feet.

Feralo and Opeta barely glanced away from the tremanus bones they had begun working on to see him go. "If you must," the older man replied.

"Do come back soon," requested the short-haired female.

Nappa nodded. He started for the door, then remembered the tremanus pelt he had used to carry its bones. The boy doubled back, scooped up the hide, and dashed out of the hut. He raced through the new village proper, heading in the direction of his clan's collection of diyando. On the forest floor, beneath the web of bridges and ladders, a singular large hut had recently been erected. This was where animal pelts were processed into fur clothing and leather armor. The preteen hastily entered the building.

"Mother! Is it true? Is Father going to battle?" Nappa blurted.

A woman with long, chocolate brown hair looked up from her apprentice's work when her son entered the hut. She didn't respond immediately, but the fire in her eyes and the sudden snap of her tail were enough to tell Nappa that he had spoken with a complete lack of descretion. He assessed the other occupants of the room. In addition to his mother Tasoi and her apprentice Sunako, there were a few of Nappa's younger cousins sitting among the piles of pelts. Kalia, Brusse, and Talio. From the three youngsters, he felt through their kinship bond a lingering sadness and anxiety. From Sunako – also a cousin of Nappa's, but much more distantly and many cycles older than the younger cubs – he felt annoyance. From his mother, he sensed irritation and displeasure.

Tasoi's dark eyes finally left Nappa's to address her apprentice. "Sunako, please watch over the little ones while I speak with your inconsiderate cousin."

The teenage female nodded her obedience while the older woman approached her son. Tasoi grabbed Nappa by the base of his tail and pushed him out of the clothier hut.

The twelve-cycles-old boy wailed in protest. "Maa! Stop! That hurts! I am not a child anymore! There is no reason to scruff me!"

The pain racing up Nappa's spine was horrible, but his embarrassment was much worse. He could feel his face heat up as onlookers averted their gaze from him and his mother.

Tasoi released her son once they were beyond earshot of the clothier hut. "You are still my child, no matter how many cycles you have behind you, and you will never be too old to receive a scruffing from your mother," she scolded.

The boy rubbed his tender appendage and scowled at the brown-haired woman. "I do not even know why you are mad at me."

A short pause. "Your father is not going to battle," the older female finally spoke.

Nappa forgot his irritation as it was replaced with confusion. "But I thought Feralo and Opeta said-"

"What they said and what is truth are two different things."

"So... we are not going to battle?"

"Your father is not going," Tasoi repeated. "But we are sending a small regimen of our warriors to supplement those of the Steridyl and Bafalyl Great-tribes."

The boy furrowed his brows. "Then why is Father not going?" As the war-adviser, Nappa knew that it was Kailan's duty to lead warriors into battle.

"The Chieftain requested that your father remain here. Tagaru will be leading a small battalion in your father's place."

That was when Nappa realized his mistake. Tagaru was his uncle, younger brother Kailan, second-in-command over the Vegetabyl warriors... and father to the three young cubs huddled together inside the clothier hut. Their sadness and anxiety, Sunako's annoyance and his mother's anger at him... They all knew Tagaru would be leaving and would most likely be going to war. And Nappa had burst into the hut and callously reminded the young cubs of this fact.

While the prospect of battle was tied to the virtues of courage and honor, the intruding demons were a completely foreign and mysterious threat. It was understandable that Tagaru's children – who were all still very young – would feel fear for their father's safety more than they would feel pride for the leadership he would provide in the future battle. While battles against enemy great-tribes always ended with casualties, a battle against these formidable foes would likely be no different. There would be casualties. The saiyans could only pray to Jitaba to grant their warriors with his strength, to plead with Mele to bestow her protection upon them, and to hope for their safe return.

"I am sorry," Nappa softly apologized.

With those three words, Tasoi's wrath greatly diminished. "Do not apologize to me. You will go back in there and comfort your cousins. And do not mention battle to them again."

"Yes, Mother."

Half a fortnight later, nearly two hundred warriors from the Vegetabyl Great-tribe departed for lands to the northwest. Lining the main road that lead out of the village and towards the northwest were almost all the members of the great-tribe. They saw their warriors off, offering words of strength and courage. Any sorrow or sadness to see them go were suppressed. These warriors would bring their great-tribe honor and pride. They went to ensure the safety of their homeland and of their families.

At the edge of the village, Chieftain Tarve, his council, and their families bid the final farewell and tidings upon each warrior as they marched. Nappa stood with Vegeta and Aleguu in a niche between Kailan and the chieftain. Nappa watched as Tagaru proudly led the warriors up the road; the villagers saluted them with their right hands fisted over their left breast. Tagaru's mate Druha watched the procession draw nearer with a nearly stoic face. Nappa knew that she had already worked out her emotions and concerns in private so that she would not dishonor her mate publicly with her fears for his safety and her sorrow for his departure. Their cubs, however, could not so easily hide their sadness. But still, they stood tall and proud for their father. They did not shed a tear over his departure.

Tagaru reached his mate first. He stopped in front of her. Their eyes met. Nappa didn't know what was transpiring between them, but he knew enough that there was a lot passing between them via their bond in that moment. Finally, Druha saluted him and their three cubs followed suit. Tagaru silently looked upon his children, one by one, for a long moment each. As his gaze met with each of his offspring, the cubs nodded to their father, silently agreeing to whatever he had said to them telepathically. Then Tagaru moved on. War-adviser Kailan and Tasoi were the next to salute the junior war-adviser.

"May your strength and courage guide you to honor," Kailan wished.

"Thank you, brother."

Tagaru's gaze then fell upon Nappa. The twelve-cycles-old cub saluted his uncle. "May your strength and courage guide you to honor, uncle," he repeated the departing words.

Tagaru allowed a small grin to tug at his mouth as he nodded acceptance towards his nephew. Nappa felt his uncle briefly brush his mind. It was too quick to interpret all the emotions that Tagaru fed to him, but the strongest one that Nappa felt was one that was bittersweet. After that short moment, Tagaru continued onward along the line to receive salutes from Vegeta and Aleguu, then Tarve and Alaria, and finally the shaman Tabos.

It was Tabos's blessing that Nappa found most interesting of all. Unlike the standard departing tiding that everyone had bestowed upon the warrior, the shaman performed a small ritual. Tabos painted the symbols of protection and courage onto Tagaru's cheeks before blessing him with a prayer to the Deities. Then, the shaman saluted the warrior. Tagaru then turned back towards his village, his fellow tribesmen, his family clan, and his leaders, and saluted them all. Afterwards, the rest of the warriors received the same honors that had been given to the junior war-adviser. The procession, which had started immediately after the morning meal, did not end until it was almost time for the mid-day meal when the final warrior exited the village.

From then on, those that remained behind could only hope and wonder what would come of their warriors during the upcoming confrontation with the invading demons. They knew that it would be quite some time before any word would come back to them. What they didn't know was that news of the war front would not reach the Vegetabyl Great-tribe until near the end of the following winter season.

Story Notes:
plumbata – a light weight throwing spear fletched with leather to improve accuracy.
masai blade – a flat knife for stabbing or piercing.
tremanus – from tremarctos floridanus, or Florida spectacled bear.
tasmati – from tasmanian tiger.
amaki – from makira woodhen.
Kadavo – a loose anagram of avacado.
Feralo – from moringa oleifera, also known as a horseradish tree or benzoil tree.
Opeta – from moringa stenopetala, also known as a cabbage tree.
ulak blade – a knife or dagger whose blade curves down and away from the hilt; the blade curves in front of the weilder's hand.
giserne – also guisarme, a spear weapon with a pointed narrow blade coupled with a smaller curved blade set perpendicular to the main blade meant for hooking the target.
Tasoi – from tatsoi, also known as spoon mustard.
Sunako – from komatsuna, or Japanese mustard spinach.
Kalia – from collard greens.
Brusse – from brussel sprout.
Talio – from alliaria petiolata, also called garlic root.
Tagaru – from rutabaga.
Druha – from moringa drouhardii, commonly called the bottle tree.