Travel to Sockland

Chapter 27

There was a clamour of voices from the crowd. Arnie couldn't really make out what any of them said through the cacophony that suddenly sprung up, but he could tell that there were heated and passionate opinions. The pen leader raised his hands and the gong sounded again. Almost instantly, as though someone had unplugged a speaker, silence fell in the room.

"This is why we have gathered. We know that tensions are running high, we know that there are many different views on what should happen. For our part, the pencil leader and I have discussed it and we think that perhaps less will be more effective in this case." he clapped his hands and two pens rolled forward a sort of flipchart. Silence continued in the room aside from the squeaking noise the board made. The pen leader flipped a page to reveal a map. "As you will see, the paintbrushes live here" he pointed to a point on a hill, off the what looked like the west of where they sat. The paintbrushes appeared to live pretty much in the middle between the pens and pencils.

The pen leader continued, "Per the information and intelligence we have they have only three villages, all on the same hill. As our intelligence is fairly old we do not know how many of them there are or what fortifications they may have made."

"However, with that said, we do not believe they will have grown beyond control. They were never warlike creatures and we have no reason to suspect they are now. So, we propose to take five squadrons of pens and 5 squadrons of pencils. Myself and the pencil leader will come too and Arnold and Isabelle if they will agree to it." He paused and looked around the room. There seemed to be a sort of ripple through the crowd but no one spoke. Arnie could feel that some people weren't pleased with the idea.

"We want to avoid violence and bloodshed if we can, there has been enough of that. We want to find the leader of the paintbrushes and then we will figure out what to do. It will be down to a vote. But for now hear what the pencil leader has to say."

The pencil leader stood up to address the room. "I don't have much to add, but I will tell you this. We have been fooled. We have been fooled for years. In all those years of war, violence achieved nothing. Each side lost, no side gained. Momentary advantage was all that was ever achieved and that was always plucked away once more. War does not solve problems, and so a mass scale attack would not be appropriate. We must talk, we must find out what motives drove these creatures. Then by knowing what it is that we face, we can tackle and deal with the root cause of the problem. This is what we are putting to you to vote on. For now, discuss it, raise questions, hash it out. Then we will vote." He sat down on his chair and leaned in to mutter something to the pen leader.

The room broke into immediate talking. Some heated, high pitched voices were raised, others spoke quietly. Arnie couldn't make out what any of them were saying so he turned to Isabelle. "What do you think will happen?" he asked.

"I think they will vote in the direction that the leaders want it to go in. Despite their anger and passion, they trust the judgement of those who rule them. And let's face it, it is the most sensible course. Violence and fighting is likely to breed violence and fighting."

Arnie nodded, thoughtful. The pencil squadron leader they had come in with was sitting in front of him not engaged in any conversations on the subject. Arnie spoke to him. "What's your name? I realise I never asked."

"Sofos" he said it simply, but his voice was warm.

"And what do you think should happen Sofos?" Arnie asked him.

"I think the leaders are right. We need to take a small group up there It should be a group prepared for fighting if it is unavoidable, we have been training for battle afterall. But we should go in the hope of getting the bottom of and dealing with the underlying problems. I am prepared for my vote to be used to support this course of action."

Arnie was glad of what he said.

The talking and arguing continued for hours. The pen and pencil leader sat at the front, silent and watchfull without a single hint of impatience. Arnie and Isabelle sat where they were with Arnie looking around and catching little patches of the conversations that were occuring.

The end of the discussions came very suddenly. It didn't seem to gradually dimish, but the talking simply stopped. All eyes turned to the front where the leaders sat and the air became thick with expectation and anticipation. Had you been in the room you would have felt, from the atmosphere, that this was a historical moment in the making.

The pencil leader rose from his chair again. "The alternatives being put forward to vote on are 1. Five pen squadrons and 5 pencil squadrons will be sent forth to the land of the paintbrushes. They will endeavour to discover what the situation is, what causes there were for this war and put together a solution. The five groups of each will be selected from those recently trained in combat, so they will be able to use it should it prove necessary. Myself and the pen leader here will be among those groups. Two deputy leaders will be appointed for the period of our absence and the village and campsite will run from here for both races while this occurs." He stopped and looked around the room before carrying on. "Option 2, we take our full complement of soldiers and invade and attack the stronghold of the paintbrushes, thus removing them as a threat and returning peace to Writingshire."

"Customs dictate that we now ask if someone has an alternative proposal they speak now so it may be added to the vote." Silence greeted this. He stood still, listening and looking for any sign, but there was none.

"Very well. And so we vote. Counters at the ready?" he asked it like a question. A pen and pencil at each side of the room raised there hand to acknowledge readiness. These must be the counters.

"Those in favour of option one, please cast your vote." Hands shot into the air. Arnie looked around the air was thick with hands as though as one they were all trying to reach the ceiling overhead. The counters moved fast, weaving among the crowd, counting hands and taking notes. It didn't take long before each counter nodded his head to acknowledge they were done.

"All those in favour of option two, vote now." Only a very few hands were raised. Nonetheless and despite the obvious victory, the vote counters made a show of adding them up in exactly the same way they just had for the previous option. They filed up to the leaders and presented the results.

"And so it is. Option one takes full effect." he reached for the flipchart that was still standing where it had been left near his throne like chair and flipped to another page. They had been prepared for a vote in favour of their plan. Arnie wondered whether there was a page prepared for the second alternative. "These are the squadrons that will be taking us to the paintbrushes." Arnie looked over from where he sat and saw that Sofos was on the list. He saw his and Isabelle's name also.

The bustling noise that had risen when the squadrons were revealed had died down. Arnie was daydreaming of what it would be like in the paintbrush areas. He snapped out of it when he noticed people getting up and starting to leave the room. It seemed he had missed the end of the meeting. He thought he had only drifted for a moment. Isabelle looked at him. "Were you day dreaming?" she asked, sounding amused.

"Yes, sorry, don't know what happened there..." he muttered.

"Well anyway, you missed that the deputies to cover for the leaders have been selected, the squadrons are selected, their leaders are informing their soldiers now. The rest of the soldiers will be looking after the village and campsite and getting everyone here busy with jobs. We leave tomorrow."

"Should be quite adventurous I expect." Arnie said. He noticed he sounded a bit pompous. His interest had picked up again however and he was fully alert as they got up and left the room.

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