The Smokeless Flame

by BIGBLACKINTOSH

What is a chapter title?

“So, a rebellion?” Tosh asked curiously, sipping on Addar’s homemade tea. The smell of ginseng and something akin to gasoline somehow rose from my cup, making my nose scrunch in disgust.

I gulp and chug down my cup, shaking my head to fight back the urge to spit it out. The “tea” burned like straight whiskey. “The fuckin hell is in this stuff,” Nathan choked between coughs.

Addar bursted into laughter and clapped his clawed hand on BB’s back. “Your feathered friend can’t even handle a drink lad. Priceless!” He chortled for a good minute while everyone else gulped down the drink making awkward glances at the guards around us.

“Oh man. But yes! A rebellion! Saddle Arabia is in the middle of a civil war. Well, they call it a civil war, I call it aggressive whining.The Sons of Sand are a band of miscreants aim to rid the country of the royalty and nobility,” the dragon chuckled and poured another cup of his brew. “But really, they’re a large group of upstarts. Blowing up transports, causing hell for the people of the land. A right band of bastards they are,” he huffed, gulping down another cup.

“But Master, how’d you end up fighting for royalty of all things. You told me yourself that you hated conflict,” Black said with a tinge of aggression in his voice.

Addar shrugged. “It wasn’t my fight lad. The dogs kept their distance and didn’t bother me. These fuckos on the other hand bombed my bloody den!” The ornery dragon settled back down and took another swig of tea. “So I decided to make a house somewhere else. Should see it, its a masterpiece of scrap-iron lad, with some rebel bodies hanging on the porch to boot. Anyway, apparently I was on Saddle Arabian military property and one of the generals noticed that; A. I was talented and B. I hated the rebels. So, in exchange of a harem and even more land, I’m working on more inventions and warmachines for the army.”

“Warmachines?” I blurted.

“Those fire spitting canons on the ships you saw. Pegisian fire! A mix of the native oils and peppers in the area. Burns through almost anything and keeps it burning,” Addar chuckled, getting out of his seat and walking over to a workbench with a unassembled fire-spitter. There was something about his chortling that just felt...Sinister.

Nathan nodded. “So what's with the changelings? They all missing their wings.” Glad someone picked up on that.

Adar took another swig and refilled his cup. “Birth defects. See, in this land of sand, there lives a queen of changelings. As the lads tell me and the Saddle Arabian government, their queen is very picky with her children. Every batch of kids, she has them inspected. Any birth defects and they’re casted out, forced to wander from the day they’re born. Eventually all the adult outcasts got together and made a small town underground, a colony of misfits. The queen regularly sends squads in attempts to wipe out her mistakes. Eventually some, and by some I mean a bunch, got the idea to approach the saddle arabian government for citizenship. A much safer place than the underground where they can be found. All the changelings you see are fighting for their right to gain entry in the gated country,” Adar explained solemny. “Anyway,” the dragon perked up. “Didn’t see you as an adventure type Tosh-boy. From your tales it sounds its been quite the ride. What kind of lot have you fallen into lad?”

Black chuckled leaned forward in his smiled. “A band of incredibly insane and dangerous individuals. Not much unlike yourself Master,” the wooly pony chuckled. “Thought it was time to leave. Was get’n lonely in your old cave, and me pa was still blaming me for White, even after all these years. I had to leave. So when my cutiemark starting humming around this demon right here,” he laughed, pointing to me. I shrugged, reclining and propping my boots on the table. “I had to leave. Time for an adventure ya know?”

“Heh, and this adventure includes asking me to help arm your buddies,” Addar chuckled. “Well, I’m due to make a new armor design for the army. Materials should be here within a day or two. Tell you what old boy, I’ll give you lot a new design. A brand new one design thats easy to make and strong as a soul. Ya just gotta help us a bit,” he said as he twirled a bolt in his fingers.

“Help how exactly?” Nathan asked, choking down another gulp of drink.

“Lots of ways. Theres to be a raid on a nearby rebel occupied village soon. Lots of things go wrong on these runs, I need some of you experienced lads to go with the raiding squad,” he said, never taking his eyes off the bolt. “Going to send some scouts to get a feel for their numbers. You would be perfect for that bird boy,” he chuckled nodding his head to Nathan. “Meet with my scout on the east side of camp, his name is Pell, he’s to be leading the scouting party. Tell your friends it's alright to wander the camp until our business is finished too. Now get! My mares and I have some unfinished business,” he chuckled, returning to his waiting girls.

We left his tent with more or less an idea on what to do next. From what BB had told us and from what we’d seen, Addar was a talented smith and even better inventor. A schematic from him could set us up could set us up for the rest of this adventure and for the future. “You cool with this?” I asked Nathan, he himself looking uncertain.

“Hmm? Oh yeah I’m fine with it. Just a bit worried. I mean, we’re technically getting involved with a war guys. We still have some money left, we could just head into the city and find someone to do a big order,’ he suggested.

Night laughed. “Seriously? Come on man, we handle some jackasses and we get-” Nightheart stopped the moment he heard the explosion. We looked at each other and ran toward the smoke, brushing past panicked changelings to find a firefight raging at the edge of the camp. The perimeter had been broken and people I assumed were the Sons of Sand were attacking. There were at least eight of them, dressed in dirty white garb similar to sand people from star wars. Even the long barreled rifles they shot at defenders was similar. All that was missing was the freaking masks, but their chitinus faces were already enough.

The sand people shot at the few defenders from sand dunes that they seemed to make themselves. An attacker took two rounds and dropped to his knees, throwing up his arm in a raising gestsure and a chest high wall of hard sand rose with it, giving him some strong temporary cover. Two shots from a proper weapon should have killed him outright. These so called soldiers here either have bad aim or shitty equipment.

These guys were going to lose more people before the battle started if we didn’t act. I called up my will, my anger, and my long barreled revolver slipped out of my palm and into my hand, giving it a cowboy’s spin on my finger before taking aim, not even bothering with taking cover. I took aim and started firing at the invaders, the magically charged rounds sailed through the dusty air flew through a Son’s chest, making big holes where meat used to be. He fell to the sandy floor and his brother in arms next to him screamed as he focused all his fire on me. Suddenly I felt three thumps against my heart and looked down just in time to see the faulty handmade lead balls fall, along with the volcanic rock-like armor that blocked the shot. Calling up pieces of my armor was a piece of cake now and much more convenient than walking around covered in the stuff.

That Son’s error was made evident when Nathan swooped from the sky and scooped him up, quickly taking him up into the clouds kicking and screaming. Next I saw the poor sod, he was unconscious falling from the sky and into the hard packed sand below. Night decided to join the fight too, what little magic he was learning on his own was showing as he brought up his fists in a fighting stance and ice formed on his knuckles. With a powerful swing, his frozen fist flew through the air, smacking into a attacker in the jaw, sending him to the ground. One of the five attackers left threw what looked like a grenade at my feet and grabbed his comrade, throwing up a sand shield, shouting, “Dirty bomb!” Before the sand double closed shut. Oh crud.

“Shit!” I managed to say before it exploded, my armor immediately shielding me from the blast. A powerful explosion of glass, fire and sand engulfed me, the mix of power and shrapnel nearly punching through my armor. The sheer force of the explosion sent me several feet and knocked me on my ass. I sat up and shook off what little of my armor that survived. “Well that was close,” I grunted and jumped to my feet. My friends were okay, well, they’re badasses, but the troops around us? The ones that stayed to fight were attending to the injured and gathering the injured and fragging the few that didn't survive the fight.

The black changeling that had led us into camp was on the ground, clutching down on his side, most likely compressing a bullet wound. “God damn, Queen! I didn't get hatched for this shit!” He shouted, catching himself mid grunt. The hell? I didn’t have time to question it before Addar stomped out of his tent to investigate the commotion. The dragon man looked at the chaos and stomped over to the injured back changeling. “I thought the perimeter was secure?! Now you’ve embarrassed me in front of my guests! Get your ass up, get these layabouts on their feet and secure this fucking place!” Adar shouted in one breath, stomping down next to the injured lieutenant's head.

Adar swiveled his head back to us, a truly furious expression and violent glint in his reptilian eyes. “Help my men get ready for the raid. As you can see they’re a fucking mess. Dumb bugs can barely operate a fire spitter. Surprised they didn’t light up your ship,” he grunted, taking a deep breath. “Just help get them ready. Tosh my boy! We have to discuss the schematics, I want your opinion,” he shouted to our armourer. BB went along with his old friend and we were left with a mess of army.

“You thinking what I’m thinking guys?” I asked with wiggle of my eyebrow.

“Training montage?” Nathan said.

“Training montage,” Night echoed, producing a boombox seemingly out of thin air and pushing a button, blasting “I’ll make a man out of you.”

Author's Note:

After a 8 month hiatus I have come up with....Whatever this is. I sincerely apologize for taking 8 months to update this mess. Oh yeah, Bigblackintosh shall now be called Tosh or BB. Why? I dunno. Feel free to comment, ask questions and other things. This is unchecked, so please feel free to point out any really bad mistakes.

Comments

[Mercy]

5957815 So soon means 8 months?
Take your time, quality over quantity.

[Inferno demon Dash]

Great to see you again my friend. Great chapter. You done well.