Monday, March 15, 2010

Chapter 9: Espionage

The long, creepy procession of snakes swam out of the swamp and crossed The River. There might have been twenty of them. As they journeyed, The Land became drier and the flora became taller and more alive. The algae and rotten trunks gave way to taller and tougher foliage, rooted in rich soil and bathed in bright, cool sunlight. As they proceeded, the Commanders, Yosef and Vladmir, hissed warnings to their cohorts to remain silent and hidden.

The Woods appeared in front of them, but Yosef and Vladmir halted the column. They might attract unwanted attention if they got any closer. The snakes split into two groups. One went east and one west, with orders to stay a safe distance from The Woods. “And ssstay quiet!” Vladmir had commanded, “The batsss hear everything.” Their objective was simple. Find a weakness.

The spies slowly and purposefully encircled The Woods, stopping every now and then to observe the activity, or lack thereof, at that location. They moved and watched for what seemed like days. The western group had to wait until nightfall to cross north through Dunwoody Grove. They used lookouts to ensure they crossed the main path only when the night was darkest and they were sure no one was looking, and continued on to the north side of The Woods.

The two groups reconvened on the northern side of The Woods, after completely examining the entire boundary. They observed with particular interest the creatures that entered and left. They found that the bats had all the entrances covered with strong patrols. The hawks approached unimpeded from above. And the few gophers that came in from The Plains usually were carrying shipments of grasses inbound, and acorns outbound.

The groups met up, and the two lead snakes thought up a strategy.

“All the entrancesss are guarded, Vladmir.”

“Yesss, but there are many creaturesss about.”

“The gophersss come in from The Plainsss.”

“And the hawksss from The Peaksss.”

“And the batsss…”

“From The Cavernsss.”

“The munksss trade with all of them,”

“And there isss nothing for usss.”

They paused, and gazed towards the sky. Another hawk was overhead, heading inbound. It carried a harness full of bentgrass, with a single passenger, a gopher holding on in the rear. Two bats escorted it into The Woods, to complete its delivery. It would probably leave The Woods later in the day with a load of nuts. The hawk disappeared into the trees, and they saw another approach, with another full harness for delivery. More bats flew by on patrol.

“What if they didn’t come?” Yosef asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Thessse other creaturesss…they help the munksss. They sssupply The Woodsss. They protect them.”

“The munksss pay them well.”

“What if there were no sssupplies? What if there were no transssport? What if there were no…protection?”

“The Woodsss would rot.”

“We need to cut off their sssuppliesss.”

“Yesss.”

“Cut their transssport…Thin out their defenssses.”

“Then we could ssstrike!”

“Yesss!”

The leaders crawled back to the rest of the group, “You!” Yosef shouted at one of them.

“Yesss, Commander!”

“I want you to go to The Cavernsss. Convince the filthy batsss to back off.”

He turned to another snake, “You go The Peaksss. Cut off their transssportation lines.”

“And you!” He addressed a third snake. “Travel to The Plains, find a way to reduccce the grasss shipmentsss to The Woodsss.”

Yosef turned back to Vladmir, and the rest of the snakes. “Come, my fellow snakesss. Let usss return to The Ssswamp, there is much to report to The King.”

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