Tuesday, September 12, 2017

the 28th possibility, red version


for previous story, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here





ka and bo had been watching the humans for months.

seasons had come and gone.

the human tribes had not fought or raided each other.

and roamed freely over each other’s territories.

and hardly seemed to have separate territories any more.

although the total area they inhabited seemed to have shrunk.

at first ka and bo thought they were retrenching in order to consolidate and attack the fans and the bans.

but, no.

there was no sign of training the young humans for war.

there was no sign of any preparation for war.

the young males, and the young females, in fact the humans of all ages spent their hours, when not gathering food, eating, singing, and dancing. and all they gathered for food were fruit and nuts, without disturbing bugs, birds or other small creatures.

the hardest part of their long surveillance, ka and bo agreed, was listening to the ceaseless insipid music of the humans.

when ka returned to the council of the fans, and bo to the council of the nans, they were both greeted with skepticism, if not outright scorn, and told to return to their posts.

but months had gone by, and nothing had changed.

ka and bo were now sure of their information, and confident of bringing their elders around to a total concerted attack on the humans.

each had selected some human acres for their prizes, and picked out a few human females for their personal use.

and this time, the elders agreed, though with dire warnings of savage punishment against both ka and bo if the humans proved, after all, to be engaged in an elaborate ruse.

the simultaneous attacks were planned for the waning of the next moon.

the success of the attacks was so total as hardly to furnish tales for song or story.

the humans were obliterated as a tribe and empire, though a few were allowed to survive as slaves.

in time, ka became emperor of the fans, and bo the emperor of the nans.

the story of their final confrontation has been told a thousand times, with many variations and embellishments.

for what good is a story, without variations or embellishments?

no more than a song without words, or a book without pictures.

next


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