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Emperor
Local Time: 18:25
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: As cuddly as a cactus, as charming as an eel.
Posts: 8,196
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The Trappings of War: Volume VII
The Trappings of War: Volume VII
An UnOrthOdOx view of the Glory of War
I was awakened sometime before dawn by the sound of alarm being raised. In but an instant I was up and searching for my armor and a suitable weapon. Having fully dressed and locating a maul that would serve my purposes just fine, I noticed a detachment of Lego soldiers mounting up and preparing to meet the incoming threat of yet another barbarian raid. Having no mount of my own, I set out to find the stables to secure myself a suitable transport to battle when I was brought to a halt.
“UnO, this is not our battle.”
It was Aro, he had been awake and had been watching from the city guard posts for some time now.
“You are in no shape to fight right now with that arm. Wooden swords for fun are one thing, life and death combat is quite different. Come, let’s get your ship loaded, and put you back on your way.” He stated calmly.
“My arm is fine, damn it! They could use a helping hand, it’s the least I could do for the commotion I have brought about here.” I snapped back as I spun to return to my business.
Aro placed hand firmly on my injured shoulder, and I pulled it free suddenly, attempting to hide the pain it caused with an angry stare.
“Look, ‘dOx, Zargon has things well under control. Lego does not need, nor want your help. Think of it as a point of honor, if you will. Your debt has been repaid with the sharing of that great beast of a bow you brought along. Our business is done here, ok? There is nothing to profit from going out and slaughtering countless barbarians.” I had never seen Aro this calm with a battle just beyond his reach before. I was used to seeing him charge headlong into battle, not quietly pointing out particulars out of reach of battle. It suited him, though.
“When did you become such the diplomat?” I asked, a smile beginning to break on my face.
“Well, the Captain of a ship needs to be many things throughout the course of his journey, and diplomat is among the most popular it seems. Both with nations and with the men in his charge, now, let’s go and see about those building supplies of yours, shall we?” And with that, he placed his arm around my shoulder and we began to walk back towards the shore, and my awaiting ship. “Besides, when did you become so uptight, old man, anxious to head straight into combat like the idiot I came here to save. I thought you preferred to bark out orders as General safely behind your personal guard, too high and mighty to get his lazy ass off his horse and dirty his hands!!! No, why should you stoop so low when you could order poor old Aro to do all your dirty work, heh?”
This was more the Aro I knew.
It was quite a walk on foot back to the shore, and as such we both had time to reminisce together about the good old days when we had served together, Aro being my most trusted Captain at the time. We trained like it was a way of life back then, but found little to prove our training on with only pathetic barbarians and an enemy who seemed more apt to flee than to fight in Lux Invicta. Those days seemed long past, though, and we had both found more pleasant ways to pass our days since we had retired from the service of our military, leaving that job to much younger, stronger folks we knew could do the job as well as we had.
Having been awaken early as we had, though, we made our destination well before sunrise and lazily sat back to enjoy the subtle changes that occur to a landscape as the light of day and darkness of night wage war against each other, each struggling to maintain an air of dominance over the land. It took some convincing on my part, but Aro finally agreed to return with me and captain the ship that would slay the dragons. Aro may love his mapping, and I could not blame him, but he was still a sailor at heart, and I have yet to meet the sailor who would deny himself a chance to face a proven challenge of the sea, especially when there is a prize to be fought and caught in the end.
Daylight brought a frenzy of activity to the beach. Legoland had sent a shipment of their building materials down as promised, and my men were all rushing to load them, Aro was preoccupied with his own ship, leaving detailed instructions to the crew and appointing their best artist to the task of continuing his mapping. Meanwhile, Kloreep, the Lego’s own master builder, had come down himself to be sure I understood how to use this new material. Bouncing back and forth as he would connect a few of these blocks and wait impatiently as I attempted to repeat the process, only to have him tear it apart and make me reconstruct it again until he was finally pleased that I would not make a mockery of their materials. He did make it clear, however, I could never have been a builder under him, that I lacked the attention to detail needed. I, for my own part, could not tell a difference between his productions and my replications, but then, I am not one dedicated to the art of building, either.
I sat at the aft of our ship and gazed back upon Legoland as we left, silently wondering what would become of those strange yellow people and how the battle faired against the barbarians. Slowly, though, the peaks on the northern strip of Legoland faded to distance, and I was left once again to gazing into the depths and contemplating what would occur when I finally met my dragon up close. Aro, meanwhile appeared to be combing through all his maps, transposing them onto one massive parchment that would serve as a world map, anxious to present new information before our council when he finally returned.
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Excellent storyline UnOrthOdOx! I can't wait for the next chapter to be posted! 
