Lost Riffs - Day Two
Title: Battle Cry!
Author: jenthegypsy
Prompt: #1 - and event on the island as seen by a non-human.
A/N: I'm so very, very sorry!
Dedicated to my very dear friend across the waters, hereswith, who wrote me the most wonderful SKate ficlet to cheer me, even though she is in need of cheering, herself. Here you go, darlin'. I hope this lightens the shades of gray for you.
The meeting was packed; there wasn’t a seat to be had. They sat on every available surface, with the stragglers relegated to the outer fringes of the gathering, barely able to hear what the guy up front was saying. It wasn’t going well for him, that much everyone understood.
“Let’s just stay calm now, ok? We’ll think this thing through, come up with a plan we can all agree on, and then we will take action, I promise.” A few voices were raised in support of their leader, but not as many as it would take to sway the rest.
One of the older ones stepped forward, his serene and silent presence slowly drawing the attention of the crowd. He waited until all was quiet before he began to speak.
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” he said, and there were murmurs of approval to bolster him. “Look around you. Look at what they have done. They have infiltrated our territory, disrupted our food supply, made it unsafe to go about our daily lives. And now one of us … one of our friends is dead, an innocent victim of cold blooded murder!”
The assembly was on its collective feet now, with bobbing heads and voices raised in agreement. The elder remained calm and quiet, waiting once more for the uproar to die down.
“We have to band together against our enemy, or they will destroy us all. We have to stand united on this, or we will all die like our friend did today. What do you say? Are you with me?” He looked around at the sea of faces, all eyes turned to him, before he gestured back to the younger leader. “Are you?”
“I…” he began, looking down. He drew a deep breath and looked back up, into the eyes of the other. “Do you have a plan?” he asked, and just like that the mantle of leadership slipped from his shoulders.
“I do,” the new leader said. “We will start with the one who killed poor Irving this morning. We’ll sneak up on him and smother him while he sleeps, but we’ll need every single one of us to accomplish the task. He is a large and powerful human and killing him won’t be easy.
“Live together. Die alone.”
At that, the jungle was filled with the angry roar of a thousand very tiny, very angry tree frogs, as they gave voice to their battle cry. Further down the beach, a lone man tossed and turned on his bed in the sand and muttered, “Son of a bitch!”
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
Author: jenthegypsy
Prompt: #1 - and event on the island as seen by a non-human.
A/N: I'm so very, very sorry!
Dedicated to my very dear friend across the waters, hereswith, who wrote me the most wonderful SKate ficlet to cheer me, even though she is in need of cheering, herself. Here you go, darlin'. I hope this lightens the shades of gray for you.
The meeting was packed; there wasn’t a seat to be had. They sat on every available surface, with the stragglers relegated to the outer fringes of the gathering, barely able to hear what the guy up front was saying. It wasn’t going well for him, that much everyone understood.
“Let’s just stay calm now, ok? We’ll think this thing through, come up with a plan we can all agree on, and then we will take action, I promise.” A few voices were raised in support of their leader, but not as many as it would take to sway the rest.
One of the older ones stepped forward, his serene and silent presence slowly drawing the attention of the crowd. He waited until all was quiet before he began to speak.
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” he said, and there were murmurs of approval to bolster him. “Look around you. Look at what they have done. They have infiltrated our territory, disrupted our food supply, made it unsafe to go about our daily lives. And now one of us … one of our friends is dead, an innocent victim of cold blooded murder!”
The assembly was on its collective feet now, with bobbing heads and voices raised in agreement. The elder remained calm and quiet, waiting once more for the uproar to die down.
“We have to band together against our enemy, or they will destroy us all. We have to stand united on this, or we will all die like our friend did today. What do you say? Are you with me?” He looked around at the sea of faces, all eyes turned to him, before he gestured back to the younger leader. “Are you?”
“I…” he began, looking down. He drew a deep breath and looked back up, into the eyes of the other. “Do you have a plan?” he asked, and just like that the mantle of leadership slipped from his shoulders.
“I do,” the new leader said. “We will start with the one who killed poor Irving this morning. We’ll sneak up on him and smother him while he sleeps, but we’ll need every single one of us to accomplish the task. He is a large and powerful human and killing him won’t be easy.
“Live together. Die alone.”
At that, the jungle was filled with the angry roar of a thousand very tiny, very angry tree frogs, as they gave voice to their battle cry. Further down the beach, a lone man tossed and turned on his bed in the sand and muttered, “Son of a bitch!”
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~