Impure: Godslayers

The march was not a long one. They were barely a mile away from the river and into a savannah, before they reached a huge army camp. The camp looked like it had been abandoned long ago. The thick timbers that the large shelters were constructed from were rotting. Circles of ash were sprawled around the camp, where fires had once burned. Yet the four demi-gods only saw twenty soldiers in the camp, all of which were either injured or caring for the injured. It was only when they reached the end of the camp, at the periphery of the jungle, before they saw more men.

There were just over forty soldiers. Some were chopping huge trees and using the wood to fuel huge clay furnaces. Others stood around the furnaces, forging the shafts of the spears. Several soldiers dumped bags full of iron that they had scavenged from the battlefield. Then they marched past the furnaces along the jungle tree line until they reached a cave that seemed to rise out of the ground. The sound of grunting men hard at work, and the clatter of crumbling rocks were coming from the wide cave. Outside the cave was a hulking man.

“Another Immortal,” Lee said as he clenched his fist.

“Not yet,” Osy said eyeing the large peacock feather that was bound to the man’s head.

The iridescent glow of the peacock feather in the sunlight gave him an undeniable aura of royalty. He was on one bended knee in front of a massive worn tree stomp, which he used as a table. Stone-faced, he was chipping away at a translucent gem with the aid of a chisel; which seemed to be made of the same mineral. He hammered the nail with a huge mass of the same mineral in his other hand.

“My King,” the General said as he fell on one knee.

Several long moments passed as the King continued his work in silence. Finally he picked up the finished piece, a fine sharp gem in the shape of a large spearhead.

“You lost very few men on this day. You are turning out to be quite the general,” the King said as he evaluated the shape of the spearhead.

“Thank you my King but I cannot take all of the cre-”

“But why is it that you have not killed these interlopers!” the King asked abruptly.

All the soldiers raised their weapons at the demi-gods. Avida gasped loudly as Lee, George and Osy encircled her protectively. They had spears pointed at them from all sides. The General stood up and approached the King.

“They are no spies my King they came to our aid…we had to fight one of your brothers!” the General yelled.

The King looked up at the demi-gods, with a flabbergasted expression on his face.

“Their eyes... your eyes, they are just like my mother’s. All of you put your weapons down,”

Despite the King’s order and the obedience of their comrades, the twin soldiers remained on-guard.

“These wars have hardened my heart and I can no longer tell friend from foe. The prophecies were true, the god-slayers,”

The soldiers lost their military discipline and began to mutter amongst themselves. Subsequently, the General shot them a malevolent look, and the soldiers all stood up straight and fell silent.

“So that is why Wazenio sent my brother. The demi-gods have come and she is wary. The mortals were right after all… Welcome to Amoro,” the King said contemplatively.

“Wazenio… is that the name of the goddess of these lands?” George asked.

“I am sorry… you said your brother. Are you Wazenio’s son… why side with mortals against your own mother?” Avida asked.

“Why is she talking?” Lee sighed.

Although Osy wore a frown, George seemed to have no problem with Avida’s outburst.

“The light gods ascended, the children of the dark god split the world amongst them-selves. Wazenio...my...Mo...Mother gained the southern part of the central continent. From birth I and my brothers became her enforcers, destroying any who refused to recognise her….divinity. We thought when all submitted to her, the killings would stop…but it just became systematic. She is unreasonable. She demanded the life of a man and a woman from each region every year. I questioned her, and she said the mortals were as cattle and she could do with their lives as she pleased. I pleaded with her; she questioned my loyalty and said that I must slay my own father to prove myself…..”

There was a tense silence as the giant king slammed the spearhead on the flat of the tree stump..

“…..I did,”

The King sighed with bloodshot eyes, as he recalled the painful memory.

“I mean…I refused then she possessed me and I did,”

The sight of the King’s quivering shoulders and the sound of his trembling voice, contributed to the incongruous and uncomfortable atmosphere.

“I have slain countless mortals in my mother’s name, but this...this was different. I felt like a part of me died with that old mortal. I cut all ties with my …family and fled. I intended to leave these lands but on my journey, I met the king of this region. If valuing the lives of your people, over riches is foolish, then he was the most foolish leader I have ever met. He offered diamonds as a substitute for blood, but my mother was insulted by this gesture. To appease her, Wazenio wanted hundreds of lives. The King refused and my mother sent some of my brothers. After I slayed them, the King wanted me to stay. I took a mortal name, Osteth,”

“King Osteth, the story of your reform is beautiful. But we came here to slay Wazenio, not to be regaled by your tales” Lee said brusquely.

“Can you slay a thousand iron soldiers and a goddess?” Osteth asked with a gruff tone.

Lee was about to retort, but Osy interrupted.

“Forgive Lee. He speaks absent thought… sometimes,” Osy said through gritted teeth.

“He may be more than mortal but he is no demi-god, why would I need his forgiveness,” Lee said disparagingly.

Osteth smiled at Lee’s snide comment.

“All the regions raised armies and fought for her. They would have destroyed us but our region is the last before the great deserts. From one side our lands are protected by mountains that touch the clouds, and at the other is the main body of the river. The current of the river around us is too violent and too wide for any boat to cross before we sink it. A narrow point in the river is the only passage. My mother cursed the mortals but none of them dared face us. It is only in our region where there are diamonds; our spears can cut through anything. But where they failed as soldiers, the other regions, served well as a workforce manufacturing men of iron…in my image,” Osteth said.

“Of course, I knew you looked familiar,” George said with marginal excitement.

“What?” Osy asked.

“He looks like the iron soldiers. Only now he has a headful of hair and a beard,”

“And thirty years,” Lee said brusquely.

Osteth smiled at Lee’s impudence once more, as George and Osy reciprocated with nervous apologetic grins.

“My mother’s feat allows her to spits fractions of her soul into these monstrosities. With our soldiers spread thin in the outposts along the river, this narrow stream, this trade route is now a perennial battleground. A hundred soldiers have fought every day for nearly three decades. For every iron soldier slain, one is manufactured…. For every fallen Amoro soldier another from the outposts replaces him. We have all made sacrifices in this ill-fated stalemate, I have lost two sons in this twenty-four year war. A thousand foes today, a thousand more tomorrow, and so it goes on,”

Everyone was silent as their heads hung low under rays of the setting sun.

“That is no life. Tomorrow your woes end, tomorrow I shall defeat Wazenio,” Lee declared loudly.

George and Osy sighed simultaneously.

“How is this possible, do you plan to fight an iron army then journey for miles to Wazenio’s temple and face her? Can you be that capable?” Osteth asked dismissively.

“There is a path in the mountain, the waterfall pours through a cave,” Lee said.

All the soldiers began muttering loudly in disbelief, this time the General did not silence them for even he was shocked.

“It is how we came to your lands. We shall take this route to avoid the iron army,”

“And how do you propose we manoeuvre through miles of jungles and hostile regions to find Wazenio’s temple all in one day?” Osy asked.

He took a few steps forward, making sure he was in front of the other demi-gods.

“Lee speaks out of turn. We will face Wazenio, but not tomorrow,”

“If not tomorrow, when?” Osteth demanded in a worried tone.

“Please Osy; be reasonable, all this time wasted. Every day we waste is another day that these mortals suffer and die,” Lee implored.

“Silence Lee, you do not speak for us,” George interjected loudly.

“We have to learn what it is we are facing and where her temple is,” Osy stated astutely.

“I know where her temple is, I can be your guide. Besides I should be there to face her,” Osteth said.

“Sorry, this is not your fight. We must wait,” Osy said apologetically.

King Osteth suddenly stood up; at full height he was seven feet tall. He was built like an oak tree, thick at the bottom and at the top. With his high dense shoulders, Osteth towered over all with an enraged look on his face.

“Not my fight….my f- I have spent years fighting the iron constructs of my own mother. I have buried two sons in this war. She made me kill my own fath- No it is not my fight, it is our fight,”

As the King’s words rang through the air, Lasters’ words of ‘uniting against the same enemy,’ resonated in Osy’s memory.

“I did not understand half of that, this language is so hard,” Lee groaned.

“Well maybe you should have spent more time reading and less time setting anthills on fire,” George droned in ridicule.

“Oh George, you are bleeding. Did you cut yourself on some jewellery?” Lee snorted abhorrently.

George looked at his wounded shoulder. He growled and stepped towards Lee. Osy turned round to find the two demi-gods locked in a grapple and once again had to step between them, before the situation escalated.

“You two stop it…Damn!” Osy muttered through gritted teeth, whilst smiling apologetically at King Osteth.

Finally, George and Lee stopped baying at each other.

“Fine we are going to need all the help we can get,” Osy said.

King Osteth picked the diamond spearhead on the tree stomp and clenched a fist.

“Now we end this war. Send word to the villages and outposts for more troops to join us at the frontline. I will journey with these demi-gods and strike against Wazenio herself, whilst a hundred of my best men joined by another hundred auxiliary forces defend the riverside one last time. Eat; rest, for we rise at first light,” Osteth proclaimed.

All the soldiers and miners began to disperse into the camp.

“To me my sons,” Osteth called out.

The General and the twins, who Avida recognised as the two soldiers that had apprehended her, walked towards the King. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a miner change his direction and also head towards the King. He was young and had long curly hair that enveloped his head like a sheath of black wool. Avida found herself gaping at his body, his muscles engorged from working in the mines. Although the brothers all looked very similar, the miner was profusely different from the others. They all looked like their father, except the miner whose eyes were distinctively narrower and his cheekbones were higher.

“Huru, you have made me proud all these years. Do so one more time, lead the army tomorrow. But be careful, Wazenio knows of the demi-gods’ presence, she will send all of her sons.”

“Yes Father,” the General said as he nodded.

“Obbo, Naka,” Osteth said.

He walked towards the twins and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

“Whilst all the soldiers in the army have fallen and been replaced, you have both stayed alive for the past decade. Do me one last honour and watch your older brother’s flank one last time,”

“We will die for our general,” the twins barked in unison.

Osteth was about to retort, when the miner exclaimed.

“I will die for my people too sire…let me fight in this last battle.”

King Osteth brows rose with concern as he turned his attention to his youngest son.

“I have told you before Ugo; it is not your place!” Osteth scolded.

“You are being unfair. All my brothers joined the army at fifteen, I am seventeen and all I do is mine diamonds and relay messages back to the villages,” Ugo said as he wiped some sweat of his brow.

“Do not be so unforgiving on father, he is only trying to keep you from the harsh realities of war,” Huru said.

“It is only natural for him to shield the innocence of his youngest child,” Obbo said teasingly as he scratched his beard.

“It is not pretty out there Ugo,” Naka said with a smirk.

“Let me at least accompany you on your quest father,” Ugo begged.

“No!” Osteth scolded.

King Osteth sighed as he put a hand on his son’s shoulder.

“You have to remain here…If I do not survive the encounter, you, my son will be King,”

“What!” Obbo and Naka exclaimed in unison.

Even some dispersing soldiers, and miners who were in earshot stopped in their tracks and gasped loudly.

“There is no need for such extreme solutions father. If you fall tomorrow, I will survive the battle as I always have. I promise to go back in the region and start a family, so that if I die our line shall live on,” General Huru said with a confused smile.

The soldiers all listened as their General turned to address them.

“I see. The King is worried that if he dies and we all fall in battle, Ugo may become King without his blessing,” Huru exclaimed with an overly wide smile on his face.

He turned back to his father.

“Oh, there is no need to fret father we will not fall,” Huru said knowingly.

“Whether or not you do, I have made my choice. Ugo will be king,” Osteth said monotonously.

“Yes father,” Ugo said as he fell to one knee.

“Get up right now,” Obbo yelled.

Naka pulled Ugo roughly back on to his feet.

“This is wrong,” Naka said with his hand still on Ugo’s neck.

“This is not our culture,” Obbo snapped.

“Culture? We are fighting for our survival every day and you worry about culture haha young fool. I want to ensure there are people left alive to observe culture,” Osteth laughed.

“It is you who is being foolish, Huru is your oldest surviving son, and it is he who should be King of Amoro,”

“I have spoken! ...I have spoken!” Osteth roared as he raised a clenched fist.

The gruff exclamation caused everyone to flinch. All the soldiers around stopped muttering and began to disperse hurriedly as though fleeing for their lives.

“Well this will not end well. We should protect the youngest son,” Avida muttered.

“We do not meddle with mortal affairs,” Osy said through gritted teeth.

“Oh so it is we now?” George chimed in as he smirked at Avida.

“Since you like him so much, you protect him,” Lee hissed.

“What?” Avida asked hoarsely.

“What? You have been unable to take your eyes off him,” Lee jeered after imitating Avida’s wheezing tone.

Avida sighed haughtily as she turned back to the King. His four sons had each bent a knee in front of him.

“The King’s will is law,” the princes said in unison.

Osteth nodded and began to step back.

“I know it is not fair, but we live in war torn times. We are not moral men; our hearts have been hardened by war. Amongst my sons I have a great general, two great soldiers… but only one great King,” Osteth said as he waved a hand dismissively.

He turned and walked away. Despite the fact that he had not protested or much less said a word, Huru looked at his father, with the coldest scowl that one could fathom.