The Battle Of Titan's Desert

Chapter 4

It had only been a day since they set off for the desert and morale had already started to sink. They still had plenty of water and food, they were just incredibly irritated by the sun.

Daron tried to do what he could to keep the men happy from singing old song from their home to telling them stories about the town they were heading to. His efforts were appreciated and did manage to keep the soldiers that bit happier.

It was difficult to stay happy, however when all your eyes can see for miles is just sand. Some of the men never though they would see so much sand in one place, they never though there was this much sand in one place.

Over the next week the man had gotten more and more used to it. For some this land was still very strange as they hadn't been living in this desert land for too long. For the others; the native Andolese the arid enviroment wasn't noticable. The boredom was however.

Daqi, one of the chief scouts had come back to the camp after leaving to scout immediately after they had left the oasis. He didn't have much to report short of some good news. The town they were headed for was just a day away and there was a herd of Sandbears. They make for good meat and good leather. The report said that they were merely a mile away, roughly and the direction of the town as well. The leader couldn't wait to give this news to his soldiers.

Daron and his scout trotted along back to camp heads held high. His grumpy men were confused as to what could have made their commander so happy. Just seeing the happiness was already lifting spirits for some, for others a bit more convincing was needed.

"Men! I have just heard some great news. A mile towards our destination there is... Wait for it..." Daron taunted.

"Just bloody tell us!" A bald and grumpy soldier insisted.

"Alright, there are Sandbears! A whole herd of them! Easy to track and if we plan well, should be an easy hunt." Daron announced.

"Sandbears? That's great an' all but ain't we like nearly at the town?" asked the same bald man.

"True," the commander replied "But do you not still want to eat some proper food and make the last day of marching bearable? Besides, it saves us having to buy meat at the market and we can sell bones and trinkets in the town and make some extra coin!"

All of the soldiers were in agreement and were very happy now, including the bald man. They were all bickering and chuckling amonst themselves happily.

The camp was reminded that the Sandbears wouldn't be around for too long and they would have to start moving. The men had mobilised the camp at record time and were all fulfilling their roles within minutes. This was a change.

And hour went by as they made their way to the beasts. Soon enough they were in their sights. A large heard were roaming aimlessly. This seemed like easy pickings.

"How many do we want?" Inquired a young Andolese man named Maku. He had always been a bountiful hunter for his old village.

"About 3" Daron replied, "1 of them could last us a week if we rationed it carefully, a few days if we eat a bit more comfortably, and I think we deserve that."

The men were in agreement, all nodding their heads and whispering appreciatively. As they simmered down they started to devise a plan. The plan of action wouldn't use up too many men and was created rather quickly.

Despite their name, Sandbears were a type of cattle, they were named Ironically. The reason for this was because the fur of these Sand dwelling beast resembled bears and so early settlers had initially believed them to be before interacting with them and realising they were cattle.

Four Andolese men were chosen as the hunting party as they started to swiftly put their plan into action. Three of them; Laqi, Doma and Bamu moved towards the flank of the creatuers as Maku moved further towards the front. Waiting for the other three to get in place, the isolated hunter sprinted in front of the third from behind beast; seperating them from the rest of the herd.

Scared, the other Sandbears sprinted off in fear creating a terrifying trampling threat, as he did this the spear equipped hunters had thrown their spears by this point. The three chosen animals weren't in a trampling frenzy as the spears had been dabbed into a paralysing poison which takes effect within seconds, this toxin also stops pain within it's victim as well.

The hunter that had scared the herd off walked up to each Sandbear with his dagger; he quickly sliced each beasts' throat as he muttered an Andolese prayer asking the Desert-Mother to take the noble beasts into her home in the Above Lands.

They finished up with their hunting and packed up the corpses as they headed back to the moving camp. With a bit more baggage the movement was a bit slower, bumping up the destination's time to an extra half day. The men didn't mind considering the reason. They happily continued their journey without really any bumps on the way.