The Sketch: The Voyage of Soal

A Long Time Coming

It was early dawn as Soal led the armies across the endless plane of rock that lay before them. Walking in front of everyone, Porter was not far behind him, and neither were Kiwi, Retna and Anter. Soal walked like a cane with a spear he had stolen from a stray Dark Soldier on their way across the valley. Every night the forces would settle in the never-ending vastness. Not a single rock more than five feet tall existed here. It had been about a week since the Dark Hands attacked their camp at night, and so far, Soal was faring well, with the odds. The infantry was well on their way to the mountain. Since that night, they had not been attacked. It was almost as though they were being tricked by Articulus. And Soal knew this. But they kept moving, no matter what secrets were being held from the public. He asked Porter just for clarification as they walked along.

"Commander Porter," he asked, "Do you think Articulus is tricking us? He could be gathering all his troops. He's letting us through, the easy way, across this enormous valley. He's not sending any troops. And surely Shadow Hand has already reported to him of our location, and healed. Are you sure this is safe? We're in plain sight. An enemy could see us from miles past."

"The greatest victory is that which requires no battle. We shall seek this opportunity and reach our goal of reaching the mountain kingdom of Meinhaym before our foes do. We will attempt to travel as fast as we can walk, as running will exhaust us when battle is needed. Because we are far from the enemy, we should make them believe we are near." Porter always spoke in quotes from Sun Tzu's The Art Of War, which Soal believed he had read once at a previous boarding school. Speaking of which, Soal had long forgotten his days of being bullied. Gone were the days when he was Sam, a boy who was thrown out of buses, pushed to the ground by bullies, and insulted by everyone imaginable. Now he was General Soal, a valuable warrior who is looked up to by his army and his friends. And that's who he is now.

Those quotes made him wonder, how did Porter know about The Art of War? He was a resident of only the Sketch World, who had no copies of that book. Maybe he had learned it from Moth in the old days. But there was something suspicious about Porter. It wasn't just his character, it was this. Occasionally Soal noticed the minor, transparent Magical Hands controlling the characters; moving their arms and such. But as with himself, Porter never had any Magical Hands controlling him. Perhaps there was something more to Porter than meets the eye. But Soal kept his thoughts as they traversed the barren wasteland, on the road to Meinhaym. It had been a long time coming, but it would be longer to reach their destination.