The Frozen Spark

Chapter Eleven; Airborne Assault

.     “Gyr hun gha! Ywero gyn wqui nre!” Someone broadcasted; swelling and sealing the society’s attention.

     Grud looked to where he was supposed to go. He figured out that it was going to take a ktath or two to get to the meeting point. He started his dangerous trek across the planet. But he knew that he had a long time to get to the meeting point, maybe a few seasons, next Eloazez if they were lucky. Even a vak if people were slow. Without warnings, they were usually given up to a few vaks to get to the meeting point.

     Looking around at his large clan he made sure that they were rested enough for the journey. He looked around to see if there were any dangers or food for the journey. Seeing that there were no dangers, but food and drink plentiful, he turned back to face joar. Striking out at the aebit beneath him, he advanced forwards, following Aeludus’s trail of light.

     “Geu heg teu tru?” (Are you sure that everything is safe?) Nagging, Vrovleh, his mate, looked at him.

     “Gqu.” (Yes.) He exasperated.

     They walked on their hands to get to the nearest sea. Raising three daq above the ground, the grob floated there like jelly. Not even close to thirsty, the Douklax marched tirelessly on their journey. Stopping dead in his tracks, Gug looked around carefully.

     There they were. All orange and juicy. So many of them. But there was one question running through Gug’s stupid brain. Why were there no xyz or Beedar to stop them; or at least to eat the Panthalai? There was such a huge clump that he was sure that the Beedar would have spotted them. It was only twenty daq away from another lake, and there were thick amounts of Eesac around this lake.

     Gug was really smart for a Douklax. He was one of the few that wouldn’t just run into everything and kill who got in his way. He would think for three seconds before doing anything. One tenth of a ktath later he figured out his plan. He stood back up straight and continued parading down the field keeping his clan in proper shape.

     Halfway there he thought he felt something just above him. Gug looked up suddenly but saw nothing at all. Figuring it was just the wind he looked back to the Panthalai and did not stop trailing the sun’s path.

     Up above Gug was a small group of yellow birds with only one wing. Looking down they saw a ginormous Douklax laying down and snaking the ground, the bottom of its foot sometimes was getting a little bit ahead from the rest of it. But this creature knew their plans and tricks. It looked in front of the tribe and saw the beautiful spheres sitting in the middle of the little peninsula.

     This bird rotated two dree and chirped silently. Giving the orders out, it continued following the group while its friends turned back to their nest. This bird has had much banter with Douklax before, that’s one reason why he became the leader of his nest.

He knew their tactics after countless seasons; he knew just how many others he would need. And so did the elders. They were a great team together; he would always listen to everyone in the nest before making an opinion. The angry red of the creatures below no longer made him mad.

     The Douklax were just a couple daq away from the Panthalai the bird started to worry. His army wasn’t in sight and the Reds were coming evermore closer.

     Finally it decided to charge at the Douklax by itself. They could almost reach out and grab all they wanted, and the bird had no reinforcements.

     But right out in the distance it saw little yellow specks. Swerving back up, it flew towards them to meet them.

     Looking at its numbers, it thought it was a fair fight. There were about one hundred Douklax, and about one hundred of them.

     It turned back around, telling the others to do the same. Making sure they were all facing the food, the creatures began a dive. They knew they would not reach the food first, but they could at least delay them from reaching there before them.

     Now Gug knew something was really wrong. He was right in front of the Panthalai and the normal group of Yellows was not there. All of a sudden he felt something again. He knew it could not be the wind, and it did not feel like another Douklax.

     “Hug teq gec fep!” (Get ready for an attack!) He commanded to his clan, turning around. There he found out what he felt. The sky was a complete yellow, wins and tails in every direction. All bombarding his crew at once. He had expected this though, but it came later than he thought.

     Then it began. The Douklax jumped up to greet the diving Beeds. In acknowledgment, they turned around to smack the Reds with their tails. As a reply, the Reds brought their fists and feet to defend themselves.

     The angry red of the Douklax, the color that wrapped itself around the red in the visible light spectrum and went in front of it, turned into a furious scer, a color even more powerful than angry red.

     Fists flailing, tails swinging, the entire area was just a battlefield. Gug tried as hard as he could to kill the Beeds before they could kill any Douklax, but there were too many.

     Body checking, he tried to make his way to the Dous to defend them. But as soon as he got there, a dozen Beeds had taken them. Full of rage he leaped onto the nearest Beed and continually kicked it until it fell.

     The Beeds were almost out of his sight. Deciding to leave his companionship for the time being, Gug raced after them.

     The little Dous were trying to escape the sharp claws of the Beeds only to be met with digs into them. They were all terrified. None of the twenty had been in a battle before; they usually weren’t until they had evolved at least once.

     The pandemonium of the battle stretched out as far as any creature could see. Feet thrashing, wings fluttering, it was maddening. You could see that each side was losing numbers faster than a Dreable can lose its feathery fur. Quite a conundrum for the Douklax, Gug decided to take off unknown to the others.

     Turning at just the right moment, nine Douklax, including Vrovleh, saw him leave and decided to follow. Grouping together to take down the zooming Beeds around them, they ran towards the direction that Gug went.

     Behind them, the battle continued, no one was sure of how it would turn out. You could see the Douklax being impaled or falling out of the sky in the middle of an attack. You could also see, by looking up a little, the Beeds were dropping out of the sky faster than a starving Douklax could eat a Panthalai.

     To a more advanced species, that battle would be slightly pathetic. To a species that is about as advanced, it was a war for whichever reason. To a lesser advanced species, it was a war to end all wars.

     To them, it was a battle for food. Something that happens regularly. It was bloody and gory, something that neither creature really liked, but they had to.

     Just then, a Douklax foot kicked a Beed tail and both were impaled and the weight of the Douklax brought them both down into the aebit below.

     Then another Douklax grabbed onto the tail of another Beed, hopped on, grabbed the Beed in a choke hold with its feet, jumped off, and hit the ground. With the Beed in its feet it had all the power, it picked up the defenceless creature and threw it towards its flying companions.

     Many were dying, many were being killed. Yet even less were killing than before, the battle was still hundreds strong, but it might have been calming down.