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The following is a work of fanfiction: there is no intent of this author to violate, transgress, profit from or infringe upon the Copyright and Intellectual Property (IP) rights of the parent Copyright or IP holders of characters, events or locations belonging to the same which may be contained within this work. To reiterate; this is a Derivative Work meant to be used under Fair Use as described in 17 U.S.C. § 101 and § 107.
All language is either through Google Translate, or the site 'Bits'n'Bob-stones'
The Sons of Efrafa
.
This is getting a little tiresome. What is Buyuk so worked up about?
"I'm telling you, it's no big deal! I was just caught up in the moment."
"Hraka 'It's no big deal'; veheeri!"
"I didn't have a vision! You don't see visions of the past while dancing around a fire any more than an angry bearded goat with fidelity issues living in the clouds is responsible for lightning strikes."
How can someone tossing around such superstitious claptrap look so smug?
"Throughout our history, Owslafa have been guided by veheer; even Ephraim Stihrath-rah had a vision during the Kilic Hain before the Battle of Issus."
(sigh) "Alright, I'll bite, Kaan; braltholme? (What did he foresee?)"
"I'm glad you asked!"
Chrissakes! If he spontaneously breaks out in tweed, I'm jumping out the window; I don't care how fast we're going.
"History tells us that he saw a Stihrath bush, standing between a Nemean Lion, and a host of Aegean goats and aurochs. While the Stihrath protected the lion, his shadow stunted the bush so that it could not flourish and spread. Soon, the Stihrath became too sickly to hold back the onslaught, and the Stihrath was trampled and devoured. When the vision had passed, Ephraim knew that he had to break from the Achaemenid and Nemean Kings. That was the first veheer; ever since, every Owslafa has had a vision. It is one of the signs that sets the lines of Kings apart from the Efrafil in general."
That's, sort of what I remember Con-ni-Fa telling me, but, Hoo boy. "Alright, assuming a good Eastern Orthodox Catholic boy buys into magical King visions, are you saying I'm destined to be Owslafa because I had one of these veheer? I mean, mine wasn't prophetic; I imagined…"
"Ahem!"
"…Saw the battle of Edirne-Nin Altan. That's not prophetic, that's a History Channel mini-series."
"No, I don't believe it means you are destined to be Owslafa. Not all veheer become Owslafa, but all Owslafa are veheer; the veheer are kept and preserved by their family lines for their families alone, so don't bother asking about Campion's or Thlayli's. Those are for your family to know."
"Sure, great. Any other side-effects of pre-Owslafa onset I should know about? Headaches, dizziness, an urge to conquer Europa or an insatiable hunger for the flesh of the living?"
"No, but veheer always precedes a time of great strife, a crucible if you will."
"Great, another fire I have to jump over."
Chapter Six
Amelia sat in her dorm room at Barkley Law School looking over a list of foreign outreach programs available for college students on the university website. It had been a month since Jacob's last letter detailing his trip to Cappadocia and Edirne, and while she felt a little jealous of the opportunities he was having, to travel the ancient homeland, it stirred in her a desire to travel there herself; who knew, maybe she'd visit him while she was abroad.
While she was reviewing the application requirements for a cultural exchange program with the Anatolian State University, one of her classmates burst into her room.
"Amy, you gotta turn on the news!"
Amelia waved off the frantic bobcat "I know Danni, I've heard; Lionheart chose a sheep as his running mate. It's just a gimmick, Granby is a respected incumbent with a proven track record as mayor; plus, Lionheart comes across as too aggressive. The voters are looking for stability, not social reforms."
Dannielle emphatically shook her head, "Not that! Go to BBC Amerigo, your brother is on the news!"
Amelia opened the news service in a new tab, and saw the headline was a video report entitled, "Attack in Anatolia". Her paws shook slightly as she opened the file.
"Welcome back and thank you for joining us. We are continuing our coverage of the developing situation and Anatolia. The Associated Press has just been authorized by the LoN Forces to release a video of yesterday's attack on the LoNF Base Incirlik, taken by Valerie Coneja, a journalism student at the Schiller International University in Paris, Gaul. Viewer discretion is advised, as the following video contains graphic imagery, and may be inappropriate for some viewers."
Amelia began frantically calling her mother.
…
Mrs. Horowitz was one of Katarin's regulars at the J Street Fur Salon where she worked; the matronly Eweden had been coming to Katarin for more than two decades to get her wool shorn. Today's subject of gossip was mayoral hopeful Leodore Lionheart's choice of running mate.
"I would have thought that you would be more excited to have one of your own as a potential Assistant Mayor." Katarin said in Greek to the sheep in the chair.
"Sadly, she and her family are no longer a part of the Flock; the Bellwether's turned away from the faith during the Weimar Republic civil war, and the ensuing Holocaust. To this day, they carry such anger for what happened, and no matter how much we try to reach out to them, they feel that it is God who failed them; such a pity."
The shop's phone rang in the background and was answered by Matilda, a slight coyote and former classmate of Amelia and Jacob. "J Street Fur Salon, can I make a… oh hey Amy! Mrs. Rautha, your daughter's on the phone. What? Okay, hold on." She set the receiver down next to its cradle and walked over to the TV playing a 'Dynasty' re-run. "Amy says there's something we need to see on PBS Newshour; What channel is KCTS again?"
"It should be channel 9." Katarin turned to the television. By now, everyone had stopped what they were doing and had turned to the TV.
The scene shown was the inside of a beige, utilitarian foyer. A brown jill in denim jacket and skirt knelt facing what must have been a hand-held camera, due to its shaking; a cloud of smoke was visible through a shattered glass double door. A line of LoN MP's and AEP officers in utilikilts, rifles and body armor were pouring past her through the wreckage. Katarin gasped when one of the MP's turned to yell something back into the room; it was Jacob.
"Are you recording?" the Jill asked frantically.
"Yeah, just go!" came an equally agitated response.
"Okay, okay. This is Valerie Esperanza Coneja reporting…" Both she and the camera mammal flinched at the sound of automatic weapons fire, "…reporting from the front gate of LoNF Base Incirlik, where an explosion has just occurred. We're going to move towards the door now, to try to get a better sense of what's happening."
As the camera and reporter began to move, everyone in the salon began reacting; most converged on Katarin with offers of support and assistance, both moral and practical. The Rautha matron pinched her eyes closed for a second and took a shuddering breath. She opened her eyes again when Mrs. Horowitz clasped her arm.
"Dearie, you need to call the Red Cross; give them Jacob's name, duty station, unit and commander. They'll get in touch with him and his commander will have him call you." The elderly ewe's eyes conveyed calm and sympathy for the mother's plight.
The view on screen settled near the broken entryway; to the right was what appeared to be a large vehicle gate which had suffered the brunt of an explosion, though the structure remained largely intact. The still burning wreckage of what might have been a truck was tangled up in the middle of a series of metal posts sticking out of the ground, effectively blocking access to the base. Mammals in LoN uniforms could be seen dragging victims out of the damaged portions of the gate complex, while the sound of gun fire continued.
"We can see what I can only guess was a car bomb caught in the, I believe they're called Dragons Teeth, and though serious damage has been done, the gate is still intact. We can see that personnel are currently being evacuated…" Valerie stopped as a quartet of grey shapes buzzed overhead, causing her and the camera mammal to look up in time to see the LoN marked Ornicopter gunships break formation and began firing to Miss Coneja's right.
"I don't keep that information with me, it's in my desk at home. I'll have to go and get it!" Katarinbegan moving until Amanda Adame rested a hand on her shoulder.
"You stay here, I'll go to St. Agnes' and get your little ones. Matilda," the last said almost as a bark, startling the weeping young canid out of her stupor, "…tell Amy you'll call her back, then call up Mr. Rautha and tell him to bring Jacob's contact information from Katya's desk." The young coyote seemed to rally, being given something to do. "We're all here for you." The Anatolian vixen said before departing to bring Katarin's small children to her from the local Reman Catholic school. The report droned on.
…
"The Hell you say it's not news!" Horace Hornblower the second raged into his cellphone as the report played out on the television in the Hornblower's living room. The camera panned over to the right, showing the LoN MPs and AEP officers behind a line of parked cruisers, laying down fire as a new group of civilian vehicles arrived, disgorging a motley assortment of armed ungulates. "The base my son is stationed at gets attacked, and I have to find out the next day from PBS! Why aren't we covering this?!" The bull moose stood up from beside his weeping wife and began pacing the room as the 24-hour-old video report continued to play.
"We're seeing more mammals arrive and begin to press the assault on the base; I can see a mix of fallow deer, sheep and goats with…"
"RPG!" The shout was all the warning anyone had before a shriek filled the air, followed by a blast that rocked one of the cruisers and knocked one of the AEP officers into the open; before the enemy could capitalize on the opportunity, a black hare in LoN livery dashed over to haul the AEP red fox back into cover.
"What do you mean, 'Granby put a gag order on the report'? That kind of censorship is not only a violation of the Civil Liberties Act, it's a breach of our contract with the Polis; who does that toady little mule deer think he is to try and censor ME?!"
The camera view shifted back towards the gate, showing several armored mega-fauna rushing towards the gate, before a pair of elephants took a knee and hoisted large tubes to their shoulders.
"We're seeing reinforcements from the base garrison, the Africorps' UHI, or Ultra Heavy InfaAHHH!" Both the reporter and camera mammal jumped in shock as the heavily armored mega fauna discharged their shoulder-fired cannons, though they soon recovered and panned back to the left to show the shredded remains of several of the attacking vehicles. The military-police line was now advancing on the attackers under suppressive fire.
"I Know damn well how the public reacts in an election cycle, I've seen enough of them; you call Granby back and tell him I'm pulling Bull-Horn's support of his campaign… not his office you ponce, him! Have it delivered in a candy-gram for all I care!"
"SHUT UP!" Margret Hornblower was clutching her manual hooves to her ears while squeezing her eyes shut. "Our son could be dead and all you can think about are the election ratings and Civil Liberties violations, just shut up!"
Horace the elder was stunned into silence by his wife's outburst; what was he supposed to do? The attack was 24 hours past now, there was nothing he could do about it; nothing he could do to ensure the safety of his only child, whom he had sent to the military to try and teach him a lesson. All he could think to do was deal with his company and hope that his son was still alive.
"I, I think the fighting's over now; I can see the LoN and AEP forces coming back with some mammals in tow. I'll try to get some interviews out. In the meantime, this is Valerie Esperanza Coneja, signing off."
The scene shifted back to PBS Newshour desk as various pundits began weighing in on the attack, and its broader implications.
"Nate, first things first; find out how my son is doing… I don't know, that's what I pay you for, now get it done! And find out about that Coneja girl, see what it'll take to bring her on with ZNN." Horace hung up, threw his phone to the side, and scooped his wife into his arms, and tried to hide his own tears.
