Author's note- Hello! Ok, prep chapter for what is to come. Fair heads-up, there will most likely be like a 2-3 week gap in this story. It will speed things up tremendously. This chapter will focus on Rayde, Dekrosna, and their troops getting to Tall Plains. Review!
******************************************
Chapter 11- Tall Plains
Rayde was sleeping in his room, after he was denied access to the Refugee area, he went back to his room to prepare to leave for Tall Plains in the morning. After he was done, he went straight to bed. Dawn was on the horizon at this time. For about 2 more hours, Rayde slept soundly. At least until someone started banging on his door. Rayde stirred as the person knocked, but otherwise remained asleep. The person knocked again, loud enough to make Rayde turn over, and fall out of his bed.
He grunted as he hit the ground, hitting his head on the hard floor. When the person knocked again, Rayde stood up and said, "Yeah yeah, alright, alright I'm up." Rayde then walked over to the door and opened it. He found Coal standing outside his door. Rayde looked at him and said, "Hey Coal, what is it?" Coal looked at Rayde and said, "The elder told me to wake you up, the troops for Tall Plains are leaving within the next hour."
Rayde smacked himself on the forehead and said, "Thanks, I should have gotten an alarm clock. Tell the elder that I am up, and I will be down in a minute." Coal bowed and left Rayde to prepare. Rayde watched Coal walk away thinking, Why did the elder sent him? Is Sparx not awake yet?. Rayde walked back into his room and put on some appropriate traveling cloths. Rayde then picked up his bag and headed down to the ground floor. Along the way, he passed Sparx's room, which was a small door about a foot tall and wide. Rayde grabbed the tiny door handle and pulled it open. He found Sparx sleeping in a small bed.
Rayde reached inside, and grabbed Sparx. Sparx woke instantly and started screaming. Rayde pulled him out and put a finger over his mouth saying, "Do you want to wake up the whole tower?" Sparx moved Rayde's finger away from his mouth and said, "How would you react if you saw a giant hand reaching for you in your sleep? You could've knocked!" Rayde shook his head and said, "If you slept like you did on the way to Fireground, the only way to wake you up is to scare you awake."
Sparx shook his head and said, "Why did you wake me?" Rayde smiled and said, "You wanted to see me off, didn't you? That and you should be up at this time." Sparx realized that he slept in and said, "Ahhh CRAP! Thanks for waking me up! I need to get going! I need to get to the gates." Sparx struggled to get out of Rayde's grip, but eventually pulled out and flew out the nearest window. Rayde shook his head, picked up his bag, and carried on.
When Rayde got to the bottom, he couldn't see the elder. That didn't really matter though, he needed to get to the gates as well. He was about to walk out of the building, when a voice called after him, "Young Rayde! May I have a word?" Rayde turned around to see Cyril walking towards him. Rayde turned to look at Cyril and said, "Yeah thats fine. You need to be quick though. I may be leaving within the hour." Cyril looked at him and replied, "Of course. I happened to come across this small book. It is written in Runes that even I cannot understand. I thought perhaps since you are a Human and have different writing than us, you could decipher it?"
Rayde stared at the Ice-blue dragon and said, "Let me see it." Cyril pulled out a small, black-leather book and handed it to Rayde. Rayde recognized it instantly and said, "Where did you find this?" Cyril shrugged and said, "It was in the Hidden Archives of the library. Why?" Rayde held up the book and said, "This book is unique. With it, Humans can control certain spells. The book will tell you all of the spells the user can use." Rayde looked at the book and said, "I don't need this right now. I know what to do. Make sure you hang onto this, it cannot fall into the wrong hands." Rayde then handed the book back to Cyril. Cyril grabbed the book and said, "Are you sure, chap? I can hang onto it if you wish, but why wont you take it?" Rayde smiled and said, "What would be the fun of knowing your spells, rather than learning them?" Rayde then left Cyril without saying another word.
Rayde was walking towards the gate thinking, That is not true. I would use that book. But while Kaze is inside of me, the last thing I want is for him to learn more spells. Within 10 minutes, Rayde arrived at the gates. The solders were placed outside of the gates, but there were many families saying their goodbyes. Rayde started to walk towards the gates when he heard a familiar voice call, "Rayde! Over here!" Rayde looked towards the source of the voice, and saw Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, Hunter, the elder, and to his surprise, Rose.
Rayde walked over to them and said, "Why are you all here?" Sparx laughed and said, "You didn't expect to leave without a 'goodbye' didja?" Rayde smiled at the bug. Spyro then said, "We wont be seeing you for a few weeks, there is no way you would leave without a goodbye." Rayde laughed. Hunter then said, "Tall Plains is a well-defended area. Not by just its troops, but by its environment. You will see when you get there."
Rayde then looked at the group and said, "Don't worry about me, it would be Drome's and Malefor's troops that should be afraid." The elder laughed and said, "Spoken like a true warrior." Just then, another familiar voice behind them said, "Indeed, with both of us, it will take more than Drome and Malefor to take us down." They all looked behind Rayde, and saw Dekrosna walking towards them. Rayde smiled and said, "Ahhh, good to see you made it. Is everything ready to leave?"
Dekrosna looked at Rayde and said, "Yes, supplies and other apparel are ready to go. All we need now is the rest of the warriors. They should be on their way. Messengers were sent to each of their houses to bring them here." Rayde nodded and said, "Good." Rayde then looked back to the others and said, "Guys, this is Dekrosna. He is my second-in-command and a friend." Dekrosna bowed slightly and said, "Pleased to make you acquaintance."
Everyone then started to introduce themselves, starting with Cynder, then Spyro, followed by Hunter, Sparx, and Rose. When everyone was introduced, Rayde said, "Well, we should get going. Take care all of you. Especially you, Cynder. You have more than one person to look after." Cynder blushed when he said this. Hunter turned to Cynder and asked, "What does he mean by that?" Rayde laughed and said, "You didn't tell them yet?" Hunter looked back at Rayde and said, "Tell us what?"
Cynder cleared her throat and said, "Well, I'm pregnant." Hunter looked back at Cynder wide-eyed and smiling, while Sparx flat out fainted and fell to the ground. Rose then said, "That's great! Congratulations!" Cynder smiled and said, "Thanks, we have both been wanting this child." Spyro smiled and nodded. Rayde was laughing at this point and said, "You might want to wake him up." pointing towards the unconscious Sparx.
Spyro smiled and picked him up, and carried him to the closest barrel of water, and dunked him in it. Sparx woke up instantly and said, "CYNDER IS PREGNANT?!?" After a moment, he passed out again. Spyro laughed and put Sparx on his shoulder. Spyro walked back over next to Cynder. Rayde then said, "Yeah, I'm amazed they didn't tell you sooner. Well, now me and Dekrosna are going to head out. See you guys in a few weeks." Rayde then walked off, waving as he passed the gates. Everyone else was waving back.
When Rayde and Dekrosna were outside the city walls, Dekrosna said, "We should be leaving within a few minutes. The rest of the troops arrived while we were talking. I saw them. It will take us about 21 hours of constant travel to get there. What do you propose we do?" Rayde thought for a second before saying, "We will stop somewhere at sundown. And sleep 2 hours past sundown. We will leave at sunrise and continue on from there. How are the divisions set up?"
Dekrosna quickly replied, "We have 5 divisions total. That would be 160 troops per division, 4 companies would be 40 people per company, 20 people per platoon, and 5 people per squad. Grand total of 800 troops." Rayde thought for a few minutes before saying, "2 people will watch the camp for 2 hours per company. That would be a total of 8 troops watching over their company. They will watch for enemy troops in case they try to attack us while we sleep." Dekrosna nodded and said, "Yes, I will inform the Division leaders.
Rayde walked up to the front of the group and waited. After a few minutes, Dekrosna came back up and said, "The Division leaders are ready to move out on your orders." Rayde nodded and asked for a Megaphone. A feline handed one to him, and he jumped on top of one of the storage crates that they were taking with them. He then shouted into the Megaphone. "Divisions, troops, bring your attention to me!" Everyone fell silent as Rayde continued, "This trip will take us until morningtomorrow. Stay with your platoons, Platoon leaders, stay with you company, Company commanders, stay with your Divisions! No one is to stray. If you find yourself wandering lost in the woods, heat beating down on you and the sun in you face, head south back to Warfang. For you are not fit to be in the Military if you cannot even keep up with your men."
Most of the troops chuckled at this. Rayde then continued, "If by chance we are attacked, make sure that no one plays the hero. It is likely that the other Divisions will hear you and join you. At sunset today, we will stop and prepare to bunk down for the night. You will be informed on who will have the nightwatch. We will wake at dawn tomorrow, prepare to leave, the leave. When we arrive at Tall Plains, I will not be able to watch all of you. Go to your designated areas and stay there. Do not cause trouble. Or I will personally flog you for disobedience."
Rayde continued to explain what should be done once they reach Tall Plains. When everyone was ready, Rayde ordered them to move out. The march to Tall Plains has begun. The overall trip was uneventful for the first day, nothing really happened.
(Yes, I'm gonna hop-scotch it here too.)
Around 16 hours later, the sun was getting close to setting. Rayde gave the preparatory command to stop, and then ordered them to stop. Rayde looked at Dekrosna and said, "This is where we will stop for tonight. Have everyone prepare to bunker down." Dekrosna nodded and said, "Yes, I will get right to that." Dekrosna then headed off into the crowed. A few minutes later, Rayde could hear Dekrosna using a megaphone telling everyone to start setting up for the evening.
Rayde also prepared to settle down for the evening. He got his cot layed out on the ground and placed his bag next to it. About 20 minutes later, Rayde noticed that everyone else had settled down and campfires were set up. Rayde walked over to one of the campfires and sat down. There was conversation, just talking about families, and funny stories, Rayde sat quietly the whole time.
About an hour later, everyone started to settle down for the night. Just before Rayde lied down in his cot, he spotted a young feline sitting on a box. He appeared very tired. Rayde walked over to this feline and said, "It's getting late, you should get some rest." The feline shook his head and said, "No, I have the first watch." Rayde noticed that the feline was swaying on the spot. This guy isnt going to last for two more hours. Rayde thought. Rayde smiled and said, "Go on, I will take you watch for you. You need your rest." The feline nodded and said, "Thank you, commander." The feline then walked towards an empty cot that Rayde assumed was his.
Rayde sat back down on the cot and did his watch. The watch was also uneventful. Rayde was happy to see the next person come and take his shift. Rayde walked over to his cot and settled down for the night, eager to get some rest.
Later at Dawn
Rayde woke to the sound of a trumpet sounding off. Rayde slowly got up and prepared to leave. It took about 30 minutes, due to the fact that everyone had to eat. When everything was ready, Rayde called for everyone to march.
Within 2 hours, Rayde was able to see Tall Plains on the horizon. All that could be seen was the top of a pillar-like mountain. Rayde looked over at Dekrosna and asked, "How long until we reach Tall Plains?" Dekrosna smiled and said, "Your feet starting to hurt Rayde? About an hour, on schedule." Rayde smiled and said, "My feet aren't hurting me!" Rayde then stumbled a bit. After an awkward moment, Rayde said, "Ok, maybe a little." Dekrosna smiled and shook his head.
As Dekrosna said, within an hour, Tall Plains was completely visible. Tall Plains was a large, island-like pillar that stood in the center of a huge circular depression in the ground. You couldn't even see the bottom, just fog. The city was made of wood by the look of it. The whole thing wasn't visible due to the many mountains that surrounded it. The outside had many defenses. There were ballista, and Anti-air. One thing that Rayde noticed puzzled him, there was only one bridge linking Tall Plains with the mainland. This bridge was made of stone, and was very very wide. By the look of it, it was about a mile wide., and a few miles long.
As the troops got near Tall Plains, Rayde could notice that Atlawa were starting to move up the bridge. There was one Atlawa that stood out form the rest. As Rayde called the command to stop, he walked up to this Atlawa. Rayde stopped a few feet in front of him and saluted saying, "Troops of Warfang are here at your request. We are ready for your orders." The Atlawa saluted back and said, "Good, You must be Rayde, right?" The Atlawa dropped his salute. Rayde dropped his salute and said, "Yes sir." The Atlawa laughed and said, "Well, My name is Kane. I am you commanding officer from here, until you leave. You can address me as Kane. The elder holds you in high esteem. When your troops are comfortable, I need to talk to you with your second-in-command."
Dekrosna walked up and said, "Dekrosna, second-in-command of the Warfang Militia." Kane looked at Dekrosna and said, "Ahh, good to meet you too. The elder told me about you as well. About how you usually don't show respect to you superiors." Dekrosna smiled and said, "Only those who are equal, or better than me in combat I will follow. In this case, that is Rayde." Kane shook his head and said, "The elder also told me that would happen."
Kane then looked back to Rayde and said, "There is a large area of Tall Plains that we use for this situation. Your troops will settle there. Food, and supplies will be provided if needed." Rayde smiled and said, "Thank you, they will be glad to rest before the coming battle." Kane nodded and said, "That is what we will need to discuss when you are ready." Rayde nodded and said, "Let me get my troops into the city first, then I will make sure they are comfortable. Then we will talk. Where do you want me to escort them?" Kane smiled and said, "I have men who will do that for you. I don't want your troops to get lost in the city on the first day." Rayde smiled and shook his head.
Kane stared at Rayde and said, "On behalf of the citizens of the Atlawa, welcome to the Tall Plains."
****************************************
RAH SON YAH!!! Holy! Two chapters in one day! New record for me. Well, most of the pieces are in place. I would guess there is about 5 or 6 chapters left. Review!!!