Following the Skywolf

[SoF]

The Opposition

It had been a few hours since the sun started to rise, the freezing cold was being replaced by the merciless heat gradually. The raiders were already out of their tents which were being protected from the sunlight by a deep cliff. They were doing their morning practices with a weapon called pala, resembling a long handled spear with blades on both ends, and could be used as a long ranged weapon with medium accuracy thanks to the rifle attached to one of its edges.

When the trio arrived to the scene, everyone were already paired up. Me and the old man Abdul had grown attached to each other over the years so we were training together as always. Despite his old bones, he was extremely agile and strong, rarely I could beat him in our sparring. When I turned my head to see the newcomers, he struck me just below the bladed area of his pala, then cut my feet off the ground. He was, as always, giving me advice... and this time it was about keeping my eyes on my opponent. I ignored him and let him to his ranting while I watched the trio being hailed by a big man. His name was Hadar, there weren't many who wasn't afraid of him. Many stopped what they were doing to watch this meeting.

"Hey hey, fresh meat... Did you sleep well?" Hadar blocked their path with his large frame while he spoke with a mischievous tone. "You should be out of your tents hours ago!"

The trio did not answer and tried to change their paths, but Hadar cut in front of them. To everyone's surprise, a second later, Hadar was on the ground kissing the sand. The one who was responsible for that was the bigger one of the trio, a huge grin on his face. But his friends were not so happy. Hadar got up as soon as he could and took out his pala, ready to strike the giant who brought him down, but fell to ground a second time. Then again... a third time, it looked really embarrassing for Hadar.

Everyone rushed to hold Hadar down so it wouldn't happen again. The one who looked like the leader of the trio spoke, apologetically "I am sorry for my brother's brash nature, please -" before he finished his words, a mobile descended from the fortress. On it a messenger bearing news from Sheik Darius. He spoke hurriedly without leaving his mobile "The Great Sheik Darius orders you all to prepare for battle! Our enemies are gathering close to the fortress!" He then scanned the crowd to find the man he was looking for, "Aeden you are summoned by the Sheik. He has instructions for the raiders."

Aeden was a great man, he was the most experienced of our raider group numbering three thousand. He was strong and clever, proved himself over and over in the battlefield. He had watched Hadar and the trio silently, and let them solve their problems raider style. Even though raiders had no leader officially, and they followed only the Sheik, when Aeden said anything, it was obeyed to the letter as if it is an order.

When they heard the messenger, raiders howled like wolves, then rushed about preparing for the upcoming flow of blood. Hadar stared grudgingly at the trio, his pride was devastated, but he was a professional, and knew he would have to rely on them soon, as much as they will have to rely on him. So it looked like he let it slide for now. I don't know if the trio thought they needed anyone else in the world though. They were still lazily staring at the other raiders. I stopped watching them to prepare my mobile, which hovered above the earth like a half meter. Fighting on these vessels wasn't easy, and they needed years of training. Pala is designed especially to fight on these mobiles, and the two were the symbols of the raider caste.

A short time later, everyone took their positions and were ready to meet the opposing Akkadians.