Battle for Peruna by Josiah Boss (book club suggestions TXT) 📕

with scraggly teeth. She was dressed in all black with stringy, shoulder-length, black hair. She also had piercing black eyes.
“What is it, you ugly hag?”
“You want power, don't you? And you want to win this battle, but you aren't too sure, right?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“I can read it in your eyes.”
“What!?”
“Yes, and watch this.” She pointed to a bird in the skies and screamed some gibberish. The bird exploded and pieces fell to the ground. “Do you want power like that plus some?”
“Yes, I do.” Mardoc's eyes glowed.
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Felgor and Forester followed Mardoc into his tent. “All right, guys, here's the scoop. Before we head out tonight, let's call on someone to help us.”
“Who is he?” asked Felgor.
“His name is Lucifer, angel of light.”
“Sounds alright,” they both agreed.
“Okay, I'll light these candles. Felgor, shut the door.” After a little bit, the room was pitch black lit only by the light of black candles. “Lucifer, we call you now to help us in our moment of need. We call you to....AAAAAAHHH!!”
There was a loud thump, and Mardoc crashed, writhing, to the ground, his eyes rolled up into his head. Felgor and Forester jumped and back startled, their eyes wide with fear. They were rooted to the spot.
A voice like thunder filled the air and boomed through the camp. “I HAVE COME!!!”
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That night a huge storm blew up. Lightning flashed, thunder boomed and echoed across the sky, the rain came down in sheets—hard and at a slant.
What was that? Glenstorm stared into the inky blackness, the rain blinding him. Another flash of lightning. Yes, just as he had suspected—Mardoc's army. He wheeled and galloped off the the throne room. “Garnock!”
“Is it...?”
“Yes, they have come. We must hurry. They're almost here.”
“Why didn't you come sooner?”
“I didn't see them. In their black armor, it's next to impossible to see them in this darkness.”
“I see. OK. Aubin! Tace! Zeb! Atherton! Come here!”
“What is it, sire?”
“Mardoc's army. Aub, you take the archers up on the wall. You know what to do. Tace, Zeb, Ath—you three also know what to do, right?”
“Yes, sir!” They wheeled and galloped off.
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Garth rolled over, fast asleep. He was dreaming he was taking a shower, but the shower wouldn't turn off. Finally in frustration, he kicked at the shower—or a tree, as it turned out to be. That woke him up. It wasn't just a dream—the “shower” was real.
“Skandar, get up quickly!” he yelled. He didn't have to call twice; Skandar was up in a flash.
“What's wrong, Gar...?” BOOM!--thunder crashed, interrupting Skandar.
“Can't you hear and see what? We got to find a cave and fast! We're sitting ducks out here if we don't!”
They both staggered off up the hillside. They searched for half an hour with no luck. Just as they were about to give up, they spotted a cave higher up on the mountain. In a few minutes, they were warm (with the help of a fire), snug, and safe from the storm outside.
Just as Garth drifted off to sleep, he glanced above him and faintly saw the words “Atherton's Plain”. He'd just as good as found it. He smiled to himself as he drifted off.
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“Well, is that good enough for you, O Mardoc?” asked Forester, panting for breath. “We drove them out.”
“No!” screamed Mardoc. “You cowards didn't do near good enough, not by a long shot! I told you that we wanted to trap them on the plain and kill every last one of them!”
“Yes sir!” They both turned and ran off.
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“Ok, guys, here's the plan. When they come, Zeb and Tace are going to take their troops around the sides—Zeb on the right, Tace on the left—me and Atherton are going to stay in the front with our troops here. Aubin, you take the archers about fifty feet back behind us and set up there. When they get so close that you can't shoot for fear of hitting one of us, draw your swords and come in from behind, that's when Zeb and Tace will come in from the sides. Got it? Ok, let's get moving.” They split up, and all went to their respective positions.
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“See that little group of about fifty horsemen? That's all that's left. Got it? So all we have to do is charge in and finish them off. NOW!” The whole of Mardoc's army surged forward. Garnock and Atherton-their troops behind them-galloped out to meet them. The gap between them closed rapidly.
Then they met with a clash as the sound of steel against steel, metal against metal rose into the air. Garnock and Atherton, double-handed swords flashing, fought like whirlwinds. The others with two swords swinging-one from each hand-fought just as furiously. All of a sudden, Garnock saw Aubin race past him, two swords flashing. At the same time, the sound of battle rose to a higher pitch as Zebulon's and Tace's troops closed in from the sides.
Atherton suddenly noticed that no matter how hard they fought, none of the enemy was getting killed. Here and there he saw one of the enemies actually beating down a centaur. There was one last thing to do... “God, please help us!”
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“Lucifer, strike them down with a lightning bolt!” screamed Mardoc towards the dark sky.
Lightning flashed down like a jagged gash in the sky. It arched down closer and closer...NO!!
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Atherton saw it coming. “God save us!”
The lightning bolt visible switched directions, frying a couple dozen soldiers in their armor.
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“About face and run for your lives!” screamed Felgor in sheer terror when he saw the lightning strike. All the soldiers turned at once and fled out of sheer panic.
The tired and battle weary centaurs cheered and made camp.
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The next morning, Garnock called his troops together. “I have a proposal to make. It is this-that we name this plain 'Atherton's Plain' or the 'Plain of Atherton'.”
“But why?” asked Atherton.
“Because you were the only one of us who had enough sense to remember to call on God in our time of distress.” Then to the others, “What say you?”
“Yeah!!” cheered the centaurs.
“Okay then, so it shall be from this day forth. It shall now be known as 'Atherton's Plain'!” The centaurs cheered long and loud.
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Garth woke to the smell of a breakfast of bacon and eggs coming through the cave. Where did Skandar get it? He wondered. He sat up and saw that Skandar was still sound asleep. He looked towards the back of the cave, where he saw an old man with a flowing white beard and mustache squatting beside a fire holding a frying pan with food in it.
“Breakfast's almost ready,” he said without turning around.
Garth jumped. “How did you know I was here? Uh...awake I mean.”
“I heard you get up, Garth,” the old man replied, still not turning around.
“How did you know my name?”
“Oh, I've just always known it. I knew it before you were born. I know everything about you and Skandar. I know that you'll eventually find Atherton's Plain and that everything will turn out alright in the end. Breakfast's ready, and I must be going now. See you later.”
“But wait!” Garth cried, but the old man was already gone—vanished--disappeared into thin air, like he'd never been there. The bacon and eggs were there, as well as a smoldering fire. “Skandar, wake up. Let's eat.”
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Mardoc stormed back and forth across the throne room in Garnock's castle. “That low-down, snaggle-tooth, ugly, old hag of a witch is nothing but a liar.” He fumed to Felgor and Forester.
“Why, if I may ask, O king?” asked Forester.
“No, you may not ask, but I'll tell you anyway. Because she said that nothing could stop this all-powerful, mighty Lucifer,” he said, sneering sarcastically. “That's why, you oaf. And now we're stuck in this hole that's a sorry excuse for a castle with nothing good to eat.”
“That ain't so bad. What's bad is they don't even have a chess set to play a good game of chess with,” Felgor complained.
“Oh shut up about your chess,” Mardoc said disgustedly, slapping the table with his hand. “Let's get to business. Since the old hag can't help us, we'll have to do it ourselves. Come on.” The three bent over the table scheming.
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“Where'd you get this food?” asked Skandar, his mouth full of bacon and eggs.
“I didn't get it. I woke up, and there was this old man sitting at the fire here cooking breakfast that he said was for us. He said that he knew who we were and that we'd find Atherton's plain eventually,” said Garth.
“Well, I've had my fill. As soon as you're done, we can go on again,” said Skandar, standing up and stretching.
They both walked over to the wall where Garth had seen the words “Atherton's Plain”. Here it was, a piece of paper tacked to the wall with “Step # 1” written on it. Underneath that it said “Head west to find supply tower”. Then it had a picture of a stone tower like Garth's father built as emergency shelters with supplies in it. It looked like a castle tower all by itself.
They both raised an eyebrow and looked at each other.
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The old man stood at the top of a mountain, gazing over the evergreen forest. Down below him, he could just make out Garth with Skandar on his back, winding their way west, through trees, over rocks, and downhill—for now.
In an instant, the man's vision and place changed. This time he was on a cliff overlooking a rocky gorge/valley. It was too narrow to call a valley, but too wide to call a gorge. In this place spread out below him were various pairs of centaurs strolling about. The old man knew that if you looked down the gentle slope on the other side of the gorge, you'd see a hundred tents spread out, covering the slope—the centaurs' camp for now.
He looked up the valley to see Garnock with Zebulon on his right and Tace on his left and Atherton, Aubin, and Skylar behind him. Even though he was a little over a mile away from them, he could hear what they were saying as well as he could hear the two centaurs that were passing by him whispering.
“Now see, when we draw them out of the castle, you, Aubin, with the archers, are going to be set up about midway through this valley. See where they're building that rock wall? That's where you're going to be. You're going to be behind that wall. When we draw Mardoc out of the castle, we are gonna come sweeping down the valley from the front there.” He pointed behind them. “We then are going to do an about face to draw them into the valley. When they come down, Aubin and the archers are gonna start shooting as fast and as hard as they can. Then we will charge back up to meet them, and the archers will keep on shooting 'til they can't for fear of hitting one of us. Hopefully that will beat them soundly enough that they'll go back to their country and leave us alone. Everyone get the drift, or is someone left behind? All clear? Good, now, let's go help.”
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The bushes moved on the hilltop as two hunched over figures appeared peering through the brush down into the valley where the centaurs were. Garnock's voice rolled up the valley towards them, “Alright now, let's practice.” The two watched with interest as the scene unfolded.
When the centaurs came down to the rock wall, they were supposed