Re: Monkies got elephants!?!
Administration was something new for Babadar but he thought he was getting the hang of it. After the otherworldly display with the Council elders, things began falling into place quickly. The humans in the surrounding provinces did resist, as Jasmine had first told Babadar that they would. But they also seemed to accept the Bandar rule rather quickly. Babadar attributed this to the vigilant guidance of the Yavana. Unlike the other fey races of Evershy - your Vanir, Tuatha and what have you - the Yavanas showed actual concern for the younger, mortal races of men. While Babadar thanked Jasmine things were going so smoothly, there was one close scare.
A stubborn province of humans held out valiantly against Bandar early on, thanks in large part to the elephant corps the humans deployed. Grafe-Ro, newly appointed Grand Commander of the Bandar Army, ordered his archers to train all arrows on the menacing behemoths whose very footsteps made the earth tremble. Unfortunately, the missiles only seemed to further enrage the beasts, and the Atavi and Bandar forces would have been wiped out to a (ape?)man had the Yavanas not proven their worth once again. Grafe could only gape in awe as the Yavanas warriors halted the elephant's charge by simply staring them down. The pachyderm riders whipped and yelled for the creatures to move forward but all they would do was lay down under the gentle touch of the Yavanas. The remaining Atavi and Bandar took decisive action, with Grafe leading the counter-charge, chopping down the bewildered humans before they had a chance to fully comprehend what had just happened. Afterward, Babadar had all the elephants he could find rounded up and sent to Kailasa. He hoped these larger, more aggressive pachyderms would mate with the smaller, and less numerous elephants that lived within the surrounding forests.
Yes, things could not be going more smoothly, Babadar thought. That was before an out of breath Markata scout scampered in through Babadar's study window. He listened patiently as the diminutive chimp gave it's report in it's high pitched tongue of Bagesh'ii, the 'common' tongue of Bandar. Two, possibly even a third, race of creatures far different from the other surrounding independent humans had been spotted. Babadar sat in deep thought. What he had thought was a smooth running transition of empire building for his Mistress was not going to be so easy after all. These past few months were mere prep work he saw now.
The hard work was just beginning.
|