SciFi and Fantasy Stories: We gather at the stones

We gather at the stones

He was nearly there! He marched along the earth wall to the opening in the northeast and entered the outer ring. Within it, a circular group of stones were visible, which were built in the shape of ports. Between the ports were shadows, just as he was. Their body had a great diversity of shapes, still it was clear they belonged together and were waiting for something, silently. He took his place between the stones and waited, too.

The sky got brighter and brighter and finally the red sun rose and hit the announcement stone. A creature with two humps and a small long neck looked up and said:
"At this holy time and place, I am proud to open the 16,384th meeting. Once this meeting was a happy event. A time to see old friends, to reunite with family members who lived far away. We were many then, and powerful. Now, we are few and we have to hide. This meeting has become a sad event, with sad news. Prodh, will you please tell us what happened to Blanik?"

Another one bowed her neck.
"Yes, o Nestor, I will. We lived in a system of caves in the hills of the central mainland. We lived there happy and undisturbed for ages. One afternoon, we heard the sound of trumpets, the clanging of steel. A large group of human approached our mountain. They didn't look very good, those humans. They were with many, but they were tired and some of them badly injured. They wanted to seek shelter in our caves! I said to Blanik: 'come, let's go and hide somewhere else. They will be gone soon, and then we can return. I talked and talked, and finally she admitted, but not whole hearted. We went and hid in the land nearby. A few nights later I heard screams and trumpets again from the direction of the mountain. I looked for Blanik, but I couldn't find her, and feared the worst. The screams died and the trumpets sounded triumphant, so I knew it was done. That was about half a year ago, and since then I wander around, sneaking from shadow to shadow. I can't live there anymore."

"Thank you for your report, Prodh. Now, let us remain silently for a minute in memory of our dear friend and family member." At first there was some shuffling of feet, then the place was silent. Silent, as if there weren't a few dozens of large creatures assembled. The stones stood grim in the grey morning light, with the various obscure shapes between them. Even nature itself was silent: the birds were mute, and no insects were humming. The sun rose higher and moved on along its path in the sky. As soon as the beam of the sun hit the next stone, Nestor took the word again. With trembling voice he started:
"Now we have to take some action. For a long time we indulged in our superiority, but the world has changed. We are no longer dealing with only small animals, easy prey that isn't worth bothering about. No, for the first times since our battle of the early days and our unity, we have an enemy. This enemy is smart and sly. It has become numerous and it got a large influence on the world around us. They used to have respect for us, but they haven't anymore. Once they fought us with their greatest warriors, and still tell tales about that ancient murders. Nowadays, however, they just drive us out of our homes and kill us if we are in their way, just out of convenience. These humiliations culminated in the actions of one of their sorcerers called Merlin. As you may remember, he got Pyrrhus and Nixus under his control and made them fight just for a sign for some human king! We are few, and they are many. We should have taken action earlier, but we are not late yet. So, what are we going to do to avert this threat, to keep our species alive?"

Immediately two relative young creatures took the word. Although there was a big physical difference between them, they were alike in thoughts. They had been friends since they had occupied caves on opposite sides of a small sea-lane, and probably before.
"Let us kill...", Scylla started.
"...them all", Charybdys continued.
"We must..."
"...teach them a lesson".

"And how, exactly, are you going to do that?", Storsjöodjuret, one of the older attendants, asked sweetly. "After all, we are with a few tens and they are with millions." Scylla and Charybdys thought about this for a while, before they continued with their odd way of speaking:
"We have to..." "...wipe out land..." "...after land, village..." "...after village." "We smoke them..." "...out..." "...of their pretty..." "...houses. We do it at..." "...night when..." "...they sleep and are..." "...not alert". Now others joined in; Cosanostras said:
"Let's start with their cities first. Those are their centres of power, like we have one of ours here. That's were we should strike! Kill them, I say!" Many cheers and bravos were heard, before Nestor managed to get them silent.

Storsjöodjuret took the word again:
"I'm sure that would make many victims among them, but also among us. And we cannot allow ourselves to get killed."
"Pah, we are su..." "...perior!", the Scylla and Charybdys choir interrupted.
"Order, order", Nestor said, "This is a plan. In my opinion, it isn't a very good plan, but it's a plan at least. Are there any others? Storsjöodjuret?" Storsjöodjuret bowed her head.
"Thank you, chairman. Yes I've another plan", she said, while her eyes sparkled, "Why should we risk our precious lives? Why should we fight them?", she made a short pause for a dramatic effect. She looked around, and noticed that some of the smarter ones already guessed the answer. She continued:
"I say, let them fight each other! Let them fight their precious wars! Let them slaughter, and drench the fields in blood, their blood! It's a pity those Romans aren't alive anymore."
"Yes, they were deli..."
"shhh" Storsjöodjuret looked angrily at the interrupter. She went on:
"because they were good at killing. But there are other powerful nations rising. Let them fight each other, while we sit back in our lakes and caves, relax and have a drink. They will destroy themselves, after which we will rule once more." And everyone will remember the genial idea of Storsjöodjuret, she added for herself.

There was silence again, and they were astonished. Slowly the feet started shuffling, the first voices began to whisper. This whispering evolved into a dimmed but chaotic conversation, now and then interrupt by a "Kill the..." "...humans". Finally Nestor took the word again.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the idea of the just heard proposal is new to us, but quite appealing, to sit back in my lake and wait until humanity has exterminated itself, and no one calls me 'Nessie' again". He shivered at the word, the rest of the assembly grinned.
"However, there are several parts of the plan which have to be discussed. The most important is: how do we let the humans kill each other on a sufficiently large scale?"
"I have thought about that", Storsjöodjuret replied, "we must somehow influence their major organizations."
"Does someone know such an organization?", Nestor asked the group. A neck rose hesitantly. "Yes, Ardax?" A shy voice answered: "I, eh, have heard about something called, eh, religion. I noticed that if humans are summoned to do things in name of the religion, they'll do it, no matter if it's burning, destroying or killing."
"Thank you, Ardax, for your worthwhile comments. That will be one group, but we still need a second one. Any ideas?"
"Not all hu..." "mans taste a..." "...like or look alike." "Therefore we..." "...think that..." "...they have..." "...also diffe..." "...rent reli..." "...gions.", Scylla and Charybdys said.
"But how can we reach them?", someone shouted. "We must influence the leader of these groups. We can whisper something to them when they sleep. We can act and make it look like a sign for them. Without getting killed, of course." "We only have to influence one group. Once they attack, the rest will be solved automatically.", Storsjöodjuret added.

"Ok, we will make an action plan. Prodh and Svalbar, I want you to prepare a nice religious sign. It must become an extraordinary piece of theatre. Andrehzes, you have a very pertinent voice, a voice they will listen to in their sleep. To you the honour to do the influencing thing."
"We will be..." "...outposts and..." "...report when it..." "...starts.", Scylla and Charybdys said. Nestor continued:
"And you, Ardax will stay here as our religious advisor. All others, keep contact! Now I will close the meeting."

The sun was already high in the sky, and nearly touched the first signal stone. The shadows became shorter, and it got warm. It was time for them to hide once more, but now it was different. They would strike back, and how! They would teach them a lesson. Full with hope and excitement, most of them went back to their homes: caves, lakes, dense forests and other out-lying places that can't be easily investigated by humans.

The king woke up, confused, because he had dreamt. It was not a normal dream, he was sure about that. He thought it was a sign from god, since he was a pious man. He was eager to finish his breakfast and other morning rituals, to talk with his advisors.
"Gentlemen", he said, "This night we dreamt, and it was so realm, so convincing, We believe it was a sign from the Almighty."
"Tell us about thy dream, sire, and let me try to explain it." The king was pleased he could finally tell his dream, and he was also pleased that he didn't have to force his advisors to listen.
"We dreamt that ugly creatures, lead by the ugliest of all, came out of the earth and went out over the lands. They were real monsters, dragons, evil and horrible. Finally they reached the holy land, and started to deceive the hearts of its inhabitants. Then they began to destroy it."

The religious advisor bowed deep.
"Ah, sire, this is truly a sign from God." He touched his crucifix. "I have heard about evil men with daggers and turbans who have conquered the holy land and are desecrating it. Thou must do thy holy duty and kick them out of the holy land, to regain it for God and Christianity."
"Yes, sire, that would be an excellent idea.", the military advisor added. "Our soldiers trained hard for combat, and are eager to fight. It is the most noble goal for us to fight for our king and our God!"

That afternoon, when the royal hunt was over, they went past a deserted castle. Suddenly, a large green dragon appeared on top of the castle walls shouting once, challenging. This was the sign for a second dragon, which emerged from the shadows nearby and started to attack the castle. This one was beautiful silvery and white. It hammered with its tail on the walls, and tried to rip stones out of the walls with its claws. And although the dragon on the castle wall tried to defend it by throwing rocks down and crying evilly, the walls slowly crumbled down. Finally the walls were no more than a pile of rock, and the white dragon climbed on it. The green one screamed more violent than ever, but was pushed off the castle by the white one. For a moment, the white dragon stood triumphant on the top of the castle, while the sun reflected on its silver-white scales. Then, one moment later, both had disappeared, and all that remained from the action was a big pile of rumble.