Taurus Rises

by YoungQuillMaster

Prolouge

“Humans have already taken some of the dragon’s territory, they are quickly proven themselves to be deserving of their title of ‘Warlords’. We have reports of three minor skirmishes and even a rather major battle inside Equestrian lands. In accordance to their treaty, the zebras have attacked the humans, but have lost more ground then they have gained.” The minotaur finished as he closed the scroll before him.

“It seems we are already falling behind in entering the war. I’ve heard whispers of war in the Griffin Council. I never thought I see the day when our proud race would be the late comers to a war.” A larger, more scarred, minotaur said as he eyed the others around the table.

“We are not late comers to this war, it has barely even begun to unfold. Sides have yet to be drawn and victors aren’t yet apparent. We may still enter and have a chance at getting the spoils of war.” The crowd around them murmured in hushed tones.

“The real question we must ask is if our armies came take up this new war? Did we not have great loses against our republic neighbors during the last battle?” An older minotaur asked, trading glances with his comrades.

“Indeed, Jarl Obsidian, Bull Creek was not a kind battle, over ten thousand soldier’s lost their lives to republic blades, but I believe that our armies can handle a war against the nations if we use surprise to our advantage and take a weapons cache before the enemy is aware we have joined.” The scarred minotaur replied.

“Jarl Steel Rage has a point. We need surprise to stand a chance. This war is our chance for recognition for the other nations, and a chance to show them all that the Kingdom of Taurus, not the New Minotaurian Republic, is the true minotaur power of the world.” The hall suddenly was deafened by shouts and cheers of the now standing crowd.

“SILENCE, LET THE COUNCIL SPEAK!” A large minotaur bellowed, bringing the cheers to an abrupt halt. Steel Rage cleared his throat and stood.

“I believe we can all agree that if we join the war now we have a chance at not only riches, but also true recognition by all other nations.” Steel Rage drew his sword and pointed the blade up. “Who agrees that we should join this war, and bring the world back from its sleep, and to see us as the true Warlord of this realm?” At this three of the four Jarls stood and drew their blades in the same fashion as Steel Rage, even Obsidian, who had remained seated at first, joined in. But one minotaur remained seated with his head lowered.

“King Iron Fist, shall we go to war?” At this the elderly king rose his head and looked at the standing Jarls around him. He slowly stood up and unlatched his blade’s sheath from his belt. He swung his great sword to the side, causing the sheath to fly off. Iron Fist then raised his blade in agreement. All at once the blades where slammed into the earth before each of the minotaur, followed by an uninterrupted chorus of cheers from the crowd.

Two days later, King Iron Fist walked the walls of his great city, accompanied by his most trusted counselor who was spewing his incessant stream of advice and cautions that the king had heard when he had declared war against the Republic. Back then he had only two or three years as king to his name, but now he had over four decades to his title. His long life span had been the constant chagrin of his son, Prince Lapis Lazuli.

“Humans have a highly organized and advanced army that the ponies have begun to imitate with some success, while as griffins…” Suddenly a hand was grasping the advisers mouth shut.

“I thank you for all your advice, but try to remember, I’m the king who made the nation want war with the republic. I know the ins and outs of war, I am a king born of war.” The counselor nodded and the king let go of the smaller minotaur’s snout. “Have they gathered their troops yet?” The king asked finally.

“Y-yes sir, all four provinces have arrived and are ready to pledge their soldiers to the war.” The counselor said as he jogged back up to the king’s side. The two guards beside the doors pushed them open, causing a groaning to echo throughout the castle grounds.

“Hale, King of the minotaurs! Long live King Iron Fist!” Steel Rage shouted as the king made his entrance, the other Jarls soon joined in the chant. The King bowed his head and lifted his hand for silence, which quickly came.

“When the Jarls are ready, begin the listing of souls that shall fight.” The counselor said, preparing his quill to write down the numbers. “Jarl Obsidian, please step forward.” Obsidian quickly walked up to the king.

“The Southern Province pledges twenty thousand well trained soldiers and two hundred thousand new recruits to the war.” The Jarl then stepped back among his comrades.

“Jarl Iron Heart, please step forward.” The King smiled as his brother stepped up to him. His most loyal supporter, who in reality was part of the reason he was now king; surely he would deliver the largest number.

“The Central Province pledges one hundred thousand well trained soldiers and four hundred fifty thousand new recruits to the war.” Truly he did not disappoint, causing the king’s smile to grow as he stepped back.

“Jarl Steel Rage, please step forward.” The bulky warrior strode up to the king with a serious expression.

“The Western Province pledges seventy thousand well train soldiers and a hundred and fifty thousand new recruits.” The King nodded as the former general stepped back.

“Jarl Topaz, come forward.” The king’s smile slowly died as his second son stepped up to face him.

“The Northern Province pledges fifty thousand well trained soldier and three hundred thousand new fighters to the cause.” Topaz turned and walked away.

“Jarl Titanium, please come forward.” The king looked at his uncle as he slowly approached. The king knew that he was no longer with the republic, but a feeling of unease always crept up on him when this gigantic, yet cautious, minotaur was around. Only Obsidian was more apprehensive about this then he.

“The Eastern Province pledges sixty thousand well trained soldiers and three hundred thousand new warriors to the war.” The king nodded and looked expectantly at the minotaur who whirled his quill on the paper, drawing up calculations as fast as possible.

“The Kingdom of Taurus as a whole pledges… one million six hundred and eighty thousand troops to the war.” The advisor said with a final stroke of his pen. The King’s smile grew ever larger as he looked on his Jarls.

“Today we set sail for Equestria, and tomorrow we show the world that Taurus is as strong as Tartarus’ gates!” With that all of the minotaurs shouted in unison. “Tell the foreign minister of the Griffins he has full permission to use up to one hundred thousand gold coins to acquire a company of griffin mercenaries.” Iron Fist looked at his Jarls with an ever growing smile. “The world will soon know our might once again. Taurus rises!”

“Taurus rises!” All the assembled minotaurs roared in a terrifying choir of voices.

A minotaur placed his thing beside his bunk. He touched the picture of a small minotaur hugging his leg. He stood up and gently pushed it under completely.

“We set sail in three hours!” A roar echoed through the belly of the ship, causing him to look over at the stairwell at his company’s commander, who was already climbing back up to the top deck.

“Hey you, what’s your name?” A voice said behind him, causing him to turn and look. A large minotaur with an equally large bag on his shoulder stood looking down at him. The smaller minotaur put a hand on his chest while raising an eyebrow. “Yes you.” To large hulk of a beast said.

“Hammer, Corporal War Hammer.” The smaller minotaur said. “What’s your name?” The larger minotaur sighed at Hammer.

“I’m Private Wrought Iron, and you are standing in front of where I need to go, Hammer.” Hammer quickly backpedaled, allowing Wrought Iron to place his things in the compartment above the top bunk. “Say, Hammer, weren’t you at Bull Creek?” Hammer nodded slowly.

“Yes, I became a corporal because of it.” Wrought Iron chuckled lightly as he shoved his pack deeper into the hole.

“Thought so, you’ve got the look.” When he saw that Hammer was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, he sighed and explained, “I know quite a lot of good warriors who were there, and they all have this… aura emanating from them. Sort of like… a piece of the battle is still happening inside of them… bah, I’m horrible at explaining these types of things.” Hammer didn’t say anything. He was too consumed in though as he sat down on his bunk. Wrought Iron might not have realized it, but he had actually struck home on that description; Hammer really did feel as if the battle never truly had ended inside of him.

The fleet of Taurus ship coursed through the water at a breakneck speed, Wrought Iron and Hammer rowed for all their worth as the minotaur who pounded a drum set a tempo for the whole crew.

“Imagine,” Wrought Iron began, “When we start taking prisoners, they’ll be down here rowing away for us.” wishful grunt and sighs echoed throughout the rowing section. “Hey, Hammer, how do you think we got until next shift?”

“They said they’d switch shifts every half hour, we’ve been at it for around… twenty or so minutes, so about ten or so minutes.” Hammer said, pouring every ounces of strength into rowing.

“And lunch is next on the schedule right?” Wrought Iron said hopefully. Hammer looked over at his comrade.

“No, first we go on watch, after that we go to the ship’s cargo hull and do maintenance on our gear, and then its lunchtime.” Wrought Iron was visibly disappointed at this. “Besides if we did go to the chow deck there would only be some cold stew. It takes the time we are on watch and doing maintenance to warm it back up.” Wrought Iron huffed as they continued to row in rhythm.

“ALL OARS FULL STOP!” The drummer minotaur shouted as he placed the rod on the drum canvas. Immediately the oars were raised. “Stow oars!” Iron and Hammer quickly began pulling in their oar as the sound of wood against wood filled the deck. “Battle positions everyone!” With that the soldier began filling out of the deck and to the cargo bay, the next deck down.

“Is this a drill or is this it?” Wrought Iron asked as he put his chest plate on. Hammer shook his head as he fitted the last strap in his armor.

“I don’t know, but we need to be ready for anything.” Hammer grabbed his rank insignia and slipped it on.

“I kind of hope it is the real deal. Rowing all day isn’t my type of work when there’s a war on.” Wrought Iron said as he latched on his rank insignia to his arm. “Personally I can’t wait to bash some skulls in.” Hammer just shook his head as he grabbed his battle axe and handed Wrought Iron his.

“We better get up there quickly if we want to hear what’s going on.” Hammer said as he started for the stairs with Wrought Iron behind him.

On the top deck they both could see why they had been ordered to stow oar and prepare for battle. In front of them was a fleet almost as large as their own. Hammer looked closer and saw some flags he knew were human. A long boat was approaching their ships quickly, laden with human guards and officials, all dressed in their fancy armor.

Hammer still had a hard time imagining why their ‘knights’ wore both chain mail and a full suite of plate mail. He had always found with chest plate and shoulder coverings to be sufficient in battle.

The boat drew up alongside his ship and a ladder was quickly lowered. The humans quickly scaled up and soon stood on the deck.

“I am Rear Admiral Ritter of the U.H.R.S. Dragoon. And as representative of the third human naval division, I request you state your business in these waters in such great numbers.” The military officer stated to the ship’s commander.

“We are here to continue the honorable tradition of our people. We are here for war.” The commander stated flatly, which caused cheers to break out around Hammer. “And I’m certain that King Iron Fist wouldn’t mind making war against humans as well as ponies.”

“King Iron Fist, huh? So you are from the ‘mighty’ Taurus Kingdom? Go back home bull; don’t you have a war against that republic or something?” The minotaur only smiled at the smaller human.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, human?” The officer merely looked at the gigantic minotaur. “You’re on my ship.” Hammer’s commander leaned in closer to the human. “So get off of it and back on yours if you want to back demands.” With that several minotaurs guards swarmed the humans and threw them unceremoniously back onto their small boat.

“You realize you have made a declaration of war against all humans?” The human officer as the soldier took their places at the oars.

“I’d do it again, and then declare the same to the rest of the world if I could have my way, now get back to your fleet before we flip your boat.” The men began to slowly move back towards their fleet as the commander of the minotaur fleet walked over to the minotaur operating the ship’s ballista. “Aim at their boat, when they get about a hundred yards, sink them in one shot, no misses.” The ballista operator swung the machine into place and took aim and kept it as best as he could. “Tell the rest of the fleet to prepare for battle.” The messenger nodded and immediately began to relay the signal via flags.

“So this is it.” Wrought Iron said calmly. “Funny, it’s a bit less tense then I imagined.” Hammer snorted at his comrade. “What?”

“This is nothing but the calm before the storm. Tell me have you ever been in battle?” Wrought Iron shook his head. “Well this is just the calm before the storm, we aren’t in battle yet.” Suddenly the twang of the ballista letting its bolt loose pierced the air, followed promptly by the splintering of wood as the long boat began to sink under the waves with its armor clad occupants. Suddenly the human ship turned to a broadside position and the sky became a few shade darker as arrows were let loose.

“Set a course to ram the lead ship.” the commander back as the arrows began to fall, but fortunately they were a few feet short. “Pass out shields, ballista, I need you attacking any and every ship. Come on warriors, let’s move.” Hammer took his shield, which could only provide decent cover if he were crouched. The sails came unfurled, and soon the Taurus fleet was moving towards the humans. “Begin rowing now, we need all the speed we can get.”

“Are we actually going to run straight into those ships?” Wrought Iron asked cautiously. Hammer nodded as the ship suddenly jolted as the oar pitched in. With a crash, a ballista’s shot made its mark, and punched a hole through the side of the enemy ship. Hammer raised his shield as another volley struck at the ships, but this time actually landed. A few arrow heads punched through the wooden shield, some even jabbed at his forearm, but fortunately most of the impact had been absorbed by the shield.

Suddenly the ship shook violently as the Taurus ship’s front slammed into the side of the human ship. With a yell, the warriors charged toward the front and crossed to the other ship. Hammer jumped across the gap, serendipitously tackling a human. He quickly slammed his fist into the man’s face, knocking him out cold.

Hammer stood up and entered the fray with a mighty roar. He swung his war axe, which caught a human knight in the side, and opposed to the armor, it sunk deep into the knight’s side, letting a stream of blood to trickle down the steel suite. Hammer took the man’s knife and looped the sheath around his belt as he looked for his next target. Suddenly Hammer felt a bit heavier. Reaching to his back he felt the smooth skin of a human. Hammer smiled and jumped up and landed on his back, ending his enemy’s battle for the rest of the day.

Hammer swung his axe and set a human’ head free from its placement on the man’s shoulders. Hammer wiped the blood from his axes blade onto the man’s shirt before standing up again. He soon realized that all the other minotaurs had already moved on to another ship. Not wanting to have no part in this day’s inevitable victory, Hammer charged to the side of the ship. Cutting a rope with his axe, he swung across to a neighboring ship. Hammer slammed into the deck, causing the ship to groan a tad under his sudden addition to the weight on it.

Hammer looked around and found only a few minotaurs fighting on this ship against a horde of humans. Hammer charged with a bellowing cry. He slammed his axe into a man’s shoulder, causing the man to cry out in excruciating pain. Suddenly a man in lightly armor ran up to Hammer, and while in mid-jump, sliced his blade across the minotaur’s snout, earning a yell of both surprise and pain.

Hammer removed his axe and took the fallen man’s sword in his left hand. He charged the human, who jump to his right. Hammer slammed both legs into the deck and twirled in mid air, slamming the sword into the man’s foot. Hammer came to a halt and swung his axe at the man, who quickly ducked out of the way. Hammer then delivered a punch to the stomach then an axe to the back, which hit with such force that it went clear through and into the deck bellow, sending blood splattering all across the deck.

Hammer pulled his axe from the wooden deck and faced the other humans, some of which had stopped fighting to stare at their fallen comrade. Hammer let out a roar, which sealed the deal, and made the men who had looked to charge at him in mass. No exactly what he had been aiming for, but it worked for something.

Hammer removed the sword from the foot of the half-man, and charged the human fighters that were quickly coming closer. Hammer lowered his head as he charged, and when he met the first human, there was a meaty squish and a loud shout of pain and horror. Hammer raised his head and confirmed the location of the next fighter before he swung his axe to devastating effect. He then swung his sword at the other human, who blocked it expertly, but was for a loss when an axe came screaming down at him.

Hammer quickly shoved the limp corpse from his horns and tried to wipe of the blood hat had fallen across his head. Suddenly heard a familiar cry, the cry of victory, and after looking around quickly, Hammer realized he couldn’t see a human that was moving on his own. Hammer roared as he raised his axe high and proud.

“Clear the ships of anything valuable and get back to your ships. If there is any oil spill it over anything that isn’t worth keeping. We’ll give then a pyre worth remembering tonight.” The commander’s voice rung out above the cheers, bringing the soldier’s back to reality. Hammer smiled as he bend down and searched the bodies of the men he had killed moments before.

Patting the man’s shirt, he felt the distinct feeling of chain. Hammer quickly grabbed the part of the small chain he could see poking out of the soldier’s collar, and pulled it out. He soon was looking at a locket made of a white metal, most likely polished iron. He pressed the small button on the end opposite of where the chain connected to the pendant, and the small circle of metal popped open. Inside it was a picture of this soldier and his family smiling merrily.

Hammer removed the small black and white image and slipped it inside the soldier’s hand before clasping it shut. Hammer wrapped it around his neck, his fur concealing it perfectly. Hammer silently promised the fallen man that when he got back to his bunk he found put his picture in the place where the man had put what was most precious to him.

Comments

[NiXioX]

A few hiccups here and there but overall, a very intriguing read. This seems to be a very good addition to The Vault. It's gives the reader a look through the eyes of a normally ignored species. I will be keeping an eye on this story's progress.