Chp.34: Sarpa the king

As darkness fell over the Karbraland Great Forest, the ogres were in full swing. Never in all their stay in that forest had they won such a victory: the only vaguely similar events were the legendary tales of their ancestors, when they hadn't yet settled there. But this wasn't a mythic tale: it was something real, and they could all see it. A true miracle had occurred: the ogre army completely defeated their biggest opponent with minimal casualties!

Now, the fairies could do nothing but hole up in their capital. Most of their army was destroyed, but the ogres were still very strong. Just considering these factors alone, the war was basically won. And to top it all off, they were led by one of the most amazing commanders they had ever heard of.

After that crushing victory, Sarpa's name had become legendary. There was no longer anyone in the whole army who didn't pronounce it with deep admiration and respect. The hearts of all ogres now belonged to Sarpa... just as Haku wanted.

After the victory, Sarpa had given the order to build a new camp there, right where they had just destroyed the fairy one. It almost seemed like a sort of mockery of their enemies, but in reality he had only done it because there was no time to turn back and the soldiers deserved to rest. Following Sarpa's orders, the bodies of all the fairies had been taken and thrown into the nearest river, so that the current would have carried them away and they could never have been buried. The ogres had done the job willingly, happy to be able to insult their notorious adversaries even in death. It had taken a while, but eventually all the fairies had been thrown into the river. What the ogres didn't know, however, was that Sarpa hadn't ordered him to taunt the fairies, but because Haku had told him to do so.

Even with the invisibility rune, in fact, it would have been difficult for the dragons to infiltrate the camp and steal the bodies, and even if they had succeeded, their disappearance would have generated dismay and suspicion. In this way, instead, Haku and his siblings would simply have had to go a little further along the river, waiting for the current to bring them the corpses. The fairies were rather thin creatures, but there were so many that they would have been enough to fill the 330 tons still missing. And so finally Haku and his siblings would have had all the supplies they needed.

The ogre bodies had a different fate: Sarpa ordered to identify them and then sent them to their tribes to be buried with all the honors. Unfortunately, many of the dead ogres were great warriors: the few faeries capable of fighting had in fact aimed at them in their last and desperate attack. Among them were all the chieftains.

In reality, the chieftains hadn't all been killed by the fairies: many of them had been eliminated by Haku and his siblings during the battle, using the rune of invisibility and the confusion of the battle as cover. The reason was simple to understand: the chieftains were the last obstacle to Sarpa's rise. Even if they were basically under his command, they would have opposed him if he decided to impose his dominion over them by proclaiming himself king in all respects. Now that they were dead, the only ones who could decide whether to accept Sarpa as their king or not were the soldiers, who admired and respected him as they never had with any other chieftain.

Technically, it was all the tribes as a whole that would have had to decide. But since the ogres were a class society, everyone with the power to take decisions in their tribe was gathered there, so it didn't change anything in the end.

Before the chieftains' bodies were sent back to their tribes, Sarpa stepped forward and said a few words: "It is with deep sorrow that I bid you farewell today, my brothers. I am sure you will be welcomed into the otherworldly realm of Baat, where you'll be able to feast eternally with our ancestors. There are no words to express my gratitude for your sacrifice. Know that your names will never be forgotten: when this war is over, I will personally commit to have songs and stories written about you, so that future generations remember how much you contributed to this victory, because if it hadn't been for you, who agreed to follow me and march with me, and who believed that our united people could do what everyone thought was impossible, we would not have had this today successful, but otherwise we would still be stuck in an exhausting war and many more would have died. So thank you for fighting side by side with us! Go bravely to the afterlife, and lift up your weapons proudly when Baat welcomes you to his table!"

The other soldiers around him were moved by those words, and they bowed solemnly in front of the corpses of their old chieftains. The bodies were then loaded onto carts and sent to their tribes, so that they could be buried together with their predecessors.

It was only at that point that someone asked the fateful question: "So, what do we do now? Elect new chieftains?"

The soldiers grunted in displeasure at those words. The position of chieftain was conquered only by force: electing a new one meant that the soldiers would have had to start fighting each other. Everyone was tired and above all they knew how inopportune an internal struggle was at the moment. "We should wait" one of them said. "Let's wait until this war is over. We will take over the capital in a few days at the latest. After we will have finally defeated the fairies, we will can discuss about this"

This proposal was more reasonable, and many soldiers agreed. There was no point in creating strife within the army now, so why do it? The war was coming to an end, and they could wait a few more days to fight for the position of chieftain. Some like the Bolvek tribe had already waited a week, so why not wait a little longer?

But suddenly someone exclaimed: "We don't need wait for anything at all! Baat has already told us who to elect!"

Everyone turned to the ogre who had spoken. He was a rather tall ogre whose name no one could remember. In fact, no one remembered ever having seen him. "What are you saying?"

"Isn't it obvious? The answer is Sarpa!" the ogre yelled.

The other soldiers were surprised. They didn't mind being guided by Sarpa, in fact they were happy that he was in charge, but that proposal was still unheard of. "Sarpa cannot be chieftain of all tribes"

"And indeed he mustn't to be! He mustn't be, because there is no longer any reason for divided tribes to exist!" the ogre answered in a solemn voice. "Try to remember: who was favored by the great Baat? The one who believed the ogres should be a united people! And who is the only chieftain still alive after this battle? Him! Baat showed us who should lead us by claiming our chieftain in his kingdom, not because they were unworthy or guilty, but because they were part of a world that is no longer ours. We are no longer divided as we were before, we are a united people! Together, we have achieved extraordinary things! Think what we could do continuing to stick together in the future!"

The other soldiers started looking at each other and instinctively nodded. The mysterious ogre's words were extraordinarily convincing. Realizing he was convincing them, the ogre pointed at Sarpa: "We don't need any chieftain... because what we need is a king! King Sarpa!"

Sarpa's eyes widened at the ogre's declaration. Haku had told him to do nothing and let the soldiers do it themselves, but he didn't expect that someone would have actually proposed to make him king! And besides, almost all the soldiers immediately agreed with him! "It's right!" they screamed. "Baat told us very clearly! We need a king! King Sarpa!"

The mysterious ogre looked at Sarpa: "Do you wish it, commander? Would you be willing to lead us in the future too, as one people?"

Sarpa felt the eyes of every single soldier in the army upon him. He understood that now he could no longer hold back. He didn't regret it: after all, that was exactly what he wanted. "I am ready to accept such role. I never imagined that this would have been my destiny, but if you all wish it, I won't refuse. Unifyng the ogre people is what I have always wanted, and I am ready to become your king if it means granting that wish"

The soldiers yelled enthusiastically at that answer. The mysterious ogre smiled and addressed the army again: "Did you hear it? He accepted the role! Is there anyone who doesn't agree? If so, come forward and challenge him!"

That was ogre law: if someone didn't approve of someone else's behavior, they had to challenge them. No one stepped forward: besides the fact that no one minded Sarpa becoming king, the fact remained that he was currently the strongest of them all, and no one wanted to fight a futile battle and be killed for no reason.

Seeing that there were no objections, the mysterious ogre bowed: "In this case, long live king Sarpa!"

"Long live king Sarpa!" the ogres shouted, and they all bowed together.

Sarpa was the only one standing, and he smiled: once again, the dragons had kept their promise. He really had become the king of the ogres! "This is an even more glorious day!" he exclaimed. "Let's not waste time: let's celebrate!"

The ogres cheered their approval and ran to light fires and sing songs. In the heat of the festivities, no one noticed that the mysterious ogre had vanished into thin air. Meanwhile, hidden among the trees quite far away, Haku was observing everything with a big smile. "Very useful indeed, this rune of invisibility" he said as he looked at the rune etched into his palm. "Or maybe now I should call it rune of illusions?"

The mysterious ogre, in fact, was nothing more than an illusion created by Haku using the rune of invisibility. As the ninjas had explained to him, it could be used not only to become invisible, but also to create illusions. For the newcomers, or at least for the fairies, this required a great deal of mental effort; but for a dragon, that was simple. Dragons had much greater mental strength and focus than newcomers. All it took was a little training for Haku and his siblings, and now creating illusions was simple. Not only that, but they had discovered that the illusions weren't just visual: the rune could also alter other factors, such as sounds. Ninjas normally didn't do this, or at least not at extreme levels, as that required even more concentration, but that wasn't a problem for Haku. And so, he had been able to create the illusion of an ogre and make it speak to encourage others to elect him king. It hadn't been difficult: as he had expected, by now the whole army was admiring him and he had just had to bring up the idea.

Now he had completed his part of the deal and he had enough supplies. He and his siblings were finally able to leave that forest. There was only one last thing to do...

The festivities lasted all night and ended only the following morning. While the embers of the last fires still emitted a reddish glow, Sarpa gathered the army and announced: "It's time to end this damned war! We will march against the capital and end it! The fairies are weak, few and scared, while we are many, strong and with hearts filled with the sweet taste of victory! Let us go, and finally we will eradicate this plague from our forest!"

"YES!" the soldiers shouted. All of them were elated: finally, the enemy that had been their thorn in their sides for centuries would be eliminated, and the Karbraland Great Forest would have belonged to them alone!

But while they were still cheering, a strong wind shook the tops of the trees, so hard that some of them even bent over. The ogres on the ground were less affected, but they felt the blast clearly. Soon after that, a deep darkness fell upon them: something passed in the sky and blocked the sun for an instant, then it disappeared an instant later.

Sarpa's eyes widened and he gasped. A huge creature had just flown over them. A creature at least a hundred meters long, with a long snake-like body, thick legs and immense wings... a creature like... "A dragon!?"

It was just like that. A huge dragon had just flown over the Karbraland Great Forest… in the direction of the fairy capital.