Song of the Night (Marak)

The moonless night covers the land in its dark love. Crickets and creatures of darkness sing and dance around us, concealing the sounds of our footsteps.
In front of me is a small house and hundreds of Cinari tents scattered across the open land. The Cinari sing and dance, playing music with pipes and wooden planks with strings attached to them. They laugh and cheer like children, unaware of their surroundings.
In the darkness, we encircle them, hiding behind the forest trees to avoid their oblivious gaze. They have no guards, no patrols. Perhaps they differ from the guards we fought at the fort.
Awoooooo!
A Cinari playfully imitates the sound of our howl, unaware of what it means. The encirclement is complete. My archers are at their positions.
I draw my sword, freshly made a week ago and thirsty for Cinaris blood. I don my black helmet, shaped to look like a Dog’s skull. Dust says it is the only design that could offer us any meaningful protection, but I believe he made it so the Cinari will be terrified of us.
I howl for the attack to begin. Soon, a flock of arrows with black iron tips rain down upon the camp. Cinari soldiers scatter and panic as they reach for their weapons and equipment while their comrades falls and dies near them.
I charge into battle with my people with a wrathful grin.
The clanks of heavy armour, the rumbling of a thousand Dogs, as Cinari screaming in terror as we butcher them throughout the night. All of it is music to my ears.
The Cinari rout as they flee from their tents, ignorantly running towards us. We cut them down mercilessly, their bodies splitting open with every swing, their gore and blood fertilising the soil and our wrath for their kind.
A young boy charges towards me with a spear lunges it at my torso. Upon impact the spear snaps as it only scratching my armour.
The cowardly boy begs for forgiveness, but I burst his head open with my shield.
The screams and cries mix with the songs of the creatures of the night. A beautiful mix of suffering for their kind and the music of our anger. It is a shame that it was over as soon as it started. They barely even put up a fight.
We surround the house, some eager to burst in to slaughter its inhabitants.
A woman with no armour hides a smaller Cinari behind her. She looks out the window from the second floor of the building.
‘Don’t enter the house!’ I shout for the Dogs to back away.
‘Please, just leave us alone!’ The woman screams, with terror in her voice.
I grin in excitement. Her fear, her despair, shines from her monstrous face.
‘Burn it down.’ I order and the Dogs eagerly oblige.
They grab torches from the camp and hurl them through the windows. The monsters from in the building scream as the fire consumes their home and their flesh.
I take a deep breath, enjoying the smell of their demise, the scent of crackling meat and smoking wood is delightful. I bet she and that little beast would make for a great meal.
I turn around to see Alex holding onto his bow. His arms shake as he stares at the fire with his eyes wide open.
‘Alex, I want you to go back to camp and bring everyone here. We will rest and celebrate our victory here.’
Alex nods while he looks back at the fire, not speaking a word, before heading off.
If they are all like this, my people will be free in no time. The Cinari make easy prey, and we are their predators.
Tomorrow, we head north. A mine full of Dogs are waiting for me. And I will need their services to win this war.