Binary

Chapter Four: Outsiders

Tatsu sat in her tent, her white samurai armor arranged around her. She was trying to focus on scrubbing it clean, and not the pain of hunger deep in her belly. She sat cross-legged on a pillow, out in the night air, the surrounding sand was black, and continued to be black for about a hundred yards from the mouth of the cave. She had not taken the Firestorm with her when she first descended the tunnels to Strom.

The desert had gotten very cold very quickly, but she needed the fresh air. It had been weeks in the caves, marching through ancient, abandoned tunnels, she was happy to be out in the open again. Though the mouth of the cave they had emerged from was not far off.

"Commander!" cried one of the Stromian foot soldiers, throwing a salute at the mouth of her tent, "please come quickly! It's the scouts, they've returned! There's trouble!"

The samurai was on her feet in an instant and unwrapped her katana. She followed the soldier as he led her through the camp, where her troops had set up tents in the black and grey sand. They were all rushing to see something going on at the edge of camp. Tatsu marched through them, her guide shouting at them to make way.

She saw past the edge of the camp, a group of her troops had seized one of the scouts and were beating him. They were shouting and jeering loudly, and a crowd was forming around them.

"Hey!" she shouted, but her words were lost in the crowd.

"Make way for the Commander!" cried her foot soldier, but they ignored him as well. He looked hopelessly at the samurai. She sighed and raised her hands. The soldiers of Strom weren't as disciplined as some of the other armies she had encountered in her adventures. They were more accustomed to fighting as a horde. She liked to think she had all but trained that out of them by now, but there were still moments when they needed to be reminded of who was in charge.

Besides, she needed to make sure the Firestorm would still answer her call.

Beneath them, the black sand began shifting. The fighting stopped immediately, as the soldiers stared in awe at it. It rushed around their ankles and out from under them towards the sky, like a black hourglass pouring into the heavens, and formed clouds overhead. The tents in the camp collapsed as the sand under them poured upwards. The soldiers of Strom stared at clouds that appeared, and then the sky burst into flames, and suddenly the night was as bright as day.

"Fall in!" shouted the samurai, and before she could blink there were perfect ranks in front of her.

The flames swirled overhead like tentacles of some fiery monster.

"You there! Step forward."

The scout stepped forward and stood at attention. He was shaking and his eyes kept shooting up at the flames overhead.

"What's the meaning of this?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Commander," said the scout, he looked like he was about to cry, "I went to find the food stash, I followed your maps as best I could, I know I was in the right spot, I double-checked the stars and the place, there was nothing there. No food has been left for us!"

No one said a word, but it was there in their eyes. They had exhausted their supplies underground, and now they were starving. Tatsu looked over her army carefully carefully.

"Everyone listen to me," she said, "up until now we've been safe in the caves, but today we are at the edge of Starlust. We have enemies here, many enemies. Chief among them is the Light, a group of underlings that serve the False Goddess. They will disrupt our supply lines, try to confuse us, and attempt throw us in disarray."

The flames above her crackled and snapped. She looked to the south, where she knew the very edge of Starlust lay.

"Take up your weapons," she said, "I know where we can get the food we need."