Mfecane: The chronicles of the lioness and the ten orbs-Book1: First Encounters

Chapter 2 : War Drums

As Tladi approached the river, he could see that the rest of the warriors from the barracks that were not far from the grazing grounds had gathered on Mt Mpatshetlha's side of the river.
Arrayed in a manner that told their foes that this was the end of the road, his pride salubriously stroked by his comrades' defiant
faces, Tladi crossed the river on horseback.

Tladi stopped, as it was necessary to discover his commander's whereabouts and find a horse. Without asking again, Tladi was already galloping straight for the palace.

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The young Uluz warrior silently thanked and cursed the wretched scientists that had developed the Mach4 battle gear. He was thankful that it was strong enough to withstand the blow from the tree trunk that the
ehsolokot threw at them. Otherwise his legs would have been broken.

He could not understand why they had not yet developed a system that could completely cloak one. Even though stealth mode made one appear invisible to an inexperienced scout, the armour shimmered with the likeness of hot air during an extremely hot day.

In addition, there was the issue of scent; the armour is incapable of mimicking smell. To make matters even worse, the crash made the
armour malfunction. With stealth mode deactivated, his helmet went off. The ehsolokot was now bearing down on him.

It tried to crush him with one of its clawlike
fists, but he quickly rolled to the side and went
head first into a hole created by some denizen of this cursed primeval world. The beast caught him by his leg and yanked him out of his hideout. It swung him like a straw doll and was about to grab his head with its right claw when a deadly bluish ray caught the beast on its back.

The abomination seemed annoyed by the attack and let out a slight growl then threw him against a tree with such force that a few hatchlings fell out of their nests. Again, from Biniam, the wretched scientists got thanks and praises for the development of the Mach4 battle gear.

Mekonnen jumped from behind a thorny shrub with his MK74 battle staff in the light spear configuration. Mekonnen's helmet went off revealing a serpentine crowned head. Within a blink of an eye, a torso clad in a magnificent high-tech armour capable of offering an almost indestructible degree of protection, attached itself to Mekonnen's serpentine capped head.

The armour's stealth mode acutely expressed Uluzian technological finesse. Mekonnen only appeared as he landed in front of the thorny shrub. His stance and shoulder length tapered
cranial protrusions swaying from side to side betrayed his jump from behind the shrub. Even with an injured back Mekonnen knew that the
abomination was no easy foe.

The ehsolokot turned around to face Mekonnen. As it did, Biniam slithered behind the tree with the intention to steal a moment to assess the damage to his armour. As he did, he could see Ezera peering from behind some rocks with his R58 Buccaneer rifle aimed straight at the ehsolokot.

For a brief moment, the ehsolokot looked at Mekonnen as though it just found its prey. The Uluz and beast sized each other up. With a blood-curdling shriek and an Uluz battle cry, the beast and the warrior charged at each other. Mekonnen activated stealth mode as he lunged forward to meet his adversary. In a flash, he disappeared only to reappear behind the monster hindered by a ghastly laceration on its thigh.

Ezera eased his finger off the trigger as he cursed Mekonnen for placing himself right in his line of fire. A quick twist, Mekonnen's battle staff changed from light spear to battle-axe. At the very same moment, Ezera changed the mode of his rifle to vaporize. By now, Biniam had recovered his R58 Buccaneer rifle and had set its mode to vaporize.

As the ehsolokot spun around to face Mekonnen again, it hesitated to attack as it became aware of the other two warriors with rifles aimed at it. Nonetheless, the beast jumped forward with limbs stretched out, Mekonnen swiftly moved out of its path.