[Anaconda]

The prophet had refused all pain aid before he could reunite again with the lesser priests. He only accepted fresh water from Forbidden Forest saying he would need his full mental potential until the gathering was over. Catamites cleaned his face and body with soaked rags to aid the body cool down. It was little help, but they didnt know what else they could try. Johannes was persistent with his decision.

When the priests started to gather, they made a circle around Johannes outside the temple. The sun was high, and air was hot. No peculiar smells remained. Johannes heard that people we getting their strenght back already. Those who were not dead. The losses were terrible, of course, but even worse was the growing suspicion and anger; how did He, whos name should not be mentioned, accept this to happen? People might be turning from the fait, was the mutual concer of the priests.

After hearing their worries, the prophet gently lifted his left arm - all the talk ceased. After a short silence Johannes spoke: "I did not summon you to worry me self with your trivial troubles. What they believe or do not believe concerns me little, and even less Him whos name shouldn not be spoken. The truth will reveal it self in time, and before that its your duty to make their faith grow stronger. But now you are hear to listen, not to talk."

And after making sure all voices of the lord were listening carefully, and catamites ready with their blank parchments, he began:

"There is a time of great peril ahead of us" he thundered!

"This peril is unlike anything we the chosen people have ever faced before. For reasons unknown to mortal soul, such as mine, we are now facing a trial. Powers as strong as His whos name should not be spoken have been rising, and I saw last night, true to my word, that they are at work here and now! But we will accept this trial, for we have no other choise. Listen carefully! There aint only one power challenging Him whos name should not be said, but SIX powers, and all these powers we need to face in order to pass the trial! I assure you, we will finish these challenges and pass!"

"What powers are these...." tried some young fool interrupt, but Johannes' gaze silenced him as quickly as he started is abrupt interrupt. "I am coming there" Johannes said.

"Know this; rich kings and mystics from a far away land in the East have arrived. I have seen they are the most rich of all people under the sun and they have cunning masters of wicked knowledge. The leader of the tribe is called with a fould name. He is 'Du Qiuniang' and he is the false prophet of a false god from the far East. While they are full of false, their gold is true and it buys true steel. And they have abominations with them; flying men!

Loud astonishement shook the circle of the priests. No mortal men could fly! Was the prophet of one and true god so sick with fever he was hallucinating? Johannes silenced them once more by lifting his skinny arm. "Their army aint that big yet, but the gold... its the gold that troubles me..." his voice fainted away, but as fast as the sound died he spoke up again:

"There are others, too, like I said. Two of these are gloomy men dressing only in black steel and carrying insignias of moon crescent with them, and pale one-eyed giants from the deepest gaves of the earth."

This made the priests laugh. Who would wear only steel? In the deep forests of Machaka they would die of exhaustion. That didnt make them afraid, and Johannes saw it. He spat: "You will laugh less when you see the strenght of their tower shields and feel the bite of their heavy hammers!"

"But surely no 1-eyed creatures can offer our archers a challenge" reasoned one of the youngest of the high ranking priests, the same one who had spoken before. That made even the oldest agree. The Machaka people had thousands of eyes in every forest, even in caves. No 1-eyed things no matter the size could beat that! "We will see" was all Johannes said. "But hold your tongues now, or my bane spiders make sure you will leave without them. There are still three powers I have not covered yet."

All eyes were on Johannes, when he told of the ape-folk. All Machaka knew the tales of the ape-folk were scary tales meant to make young ones eat their worm meals and drink soiled goat milk mixed with blood. "They do have some treacherous knowledge on astral matters I would worry a little" Johannes concluded, and continued that they were not that big of a trouble yet.

"They do, however, have some fearsome heroes. Rolf Magnus (which is a quite untypical name for an ape, he muttered for him self) and Dictatoress of Fashion (which aint that typical either, he kept muttering) are powerfull warriors for their false god. I have seen them faces in my slumber and they were horrible to behold. And especially because their names are so strange, I would be carefull with them, they might not be ordinary, stupid apes. However, I would worry more of the walking dead" he said, and let his gaze wonder on the faces of the audience.

No one spoke a word, they only stared back with disbelief in their eyes.

All of them were shocked, for dead made to live again was the unholiest of all unholy things under and above the sun. Then the young priest spoke again:

"Was this plague their doing? Surele it was, it had to!"

"No, there were no smell of rotting human flesh in that wind. It was a smell of dead fish that made our people sick and die" Johannes buried his face to his hands crying, as the bane spiders moved in to cut off the young priest's tongue.