Elephantoasis I

A major colloquy of all the Household Heads was about to get underway, lead by the Emperor of Elephantoasis, Tuskunhaman. This was no mere meeting to discuss small matters of the city, however, for war was upon the Elephantarians, and steps needed to be taken to secure their homeland.

Tuskunhaman was wearing only his finest tunic of green and blue silken samites, the traditional Qashqai of his culture with a rare amethyst set in the middle upon his forehead, and was ornamented with an immense number of resplendent jewels that covered his massive neck, giant ears, and a long trunk. The worth of his outfit was enough for a village of a hundred folks or more to live comfortably for a year or more and the worth of the temple in which he waited was enough to buy half of the Majoran Kingdom.

He was seated in an all-ivory chair, dedicated by the founders of the temple by using their tusks after they had perished from old-age in what was a long and prosperous life. The sixteen chairs where he sat were located at an oval-shaped table made from the rarest of marble that was found in the partially explored Mammoth Mountains four hundred furlongs to the south of their homeland.

All of this beauty and grandeur sat in The Grand Garden Oasis of Temple Ivoriasous, along with a vast amount of acreage of the most beautiful gardens of flowers, trees, streams, and ponds. There was enough fruit, dates, and nuts on hand to feed an army of humans for months, and the scenery was majestic enough to make a commoner feel as if they were walking in the heavens.

The garden was made by Elephantarian maidens decades ago during the Dragonian Wars, as a gift to the emperor and the generals, and supplied with moisture from highly advanced underground conduits coming from the Drake River. This system was devised by the great Trunkahomet, the most dedicated and gifted scientist of all time, who designed the channels and ducts and led the way to build the intricate and advanced system of irrigation.

Later, the same style of irrigation was used to create the Woodland Dome, and beasts had been brought in from all of Zubyan by scouts and hunters since most of the poor creatures were near extinction from the growth of the various sentient populations from around the world.

The fifteen Household Heads came meandering into the garden and slowly took their seats, not saying a word, waiting for the emperor to begin. Despite not being royalty or holding any positions in the government, due to their advanced age, they did not bow or say any words of greeting to Tuskunhaman, a common trait of the elders.

They were each at least one hundred years of age which caused them to move and act with a toper, but their manners were always finely tuned even if they carried themselves with an arrogant approach. Each member was also fantastically dressed in the same manner of jeweled decorations about their necks, faces, and heads. But each of the elders had a different, and the rarest crystal displayed in their Qashqai, which was the precious stones of their family name to be passed down to each elder in succession.

When they all were seated, Tuskunhaman began the council meeting by saying the common greeting to elders,

"My grandest of fathers, good day to you all fine old mammoths! Let us remember our ancestors and praise them to the highest and hope that when our time comes, we may rest in eternal bliss with them in endless plains filled with the grandest grasses in the fields of our Mighty-Creator!"

At that the Household Heads all let out a thunderous trumpeting paeon in honor of their ancestors and of their god, Dumaxiathon, which lasted about two minutes, then they fell silent again and let Tuskenhamen continue.

"We are gathered here today, not on grand terms, but under dire circumstances. For the first time since our great-grandfathers fought for the right to secure our grandiose lands and protect our people from the Dragonites, there has been peace and agreements with their race that have stood as our and their laws for years. We have lived comfortably and with little disturbance since that time.

However, now the evil human-sorceress, Hazjarid, from the western lands has been successful in having her wicked and malicious words reach the ears of the Dragonites which has brought us to where we stand now.

As you know, the Dragonites demanded that we cease all of our use of the Drake River that borders their homelands, and has taken our last Hydration-Troupe into captivity. This is ridiculous and unwarranted!

After hearing our demands to release our good mammoths, they have threatened to attack us, and have built a horde of troops outside of their borders that include a cluster of those vilest creatures, The Ghoells!

This complete disregard for our treaties so painstakingly completed by our finest and most grand emperor, Trumpetinhum, is in violation of our code and cannot be tolerated! I now ask each of you for your support in gathering our warriors to defend our homeland!"

The Household Heads then began to speak to one another in quite incomprehensible mumbles that were apparently coherent to one another – which was a simple form of speaking called Rumblish.

Rumblish, the original language of the Elephantarians was ancient, but learned well by each of elders in their youth, and now still learned by the tops of the government leaders. After a few minutes, with a couple of trumpets of anger, Ivorionasis stood from his chair and said to Tuskenhamen, using the modern Elephantarian language again,

"We all are in agreement. Please, assemble our fine militia. We ask that we defend our homeland and after repelling the attack, we go on the offensive and wipe out the Dragonites! For only then will we be able to thrive as we were meant to do with no disturbances from those evil devils who wish to stand in our way."

"Of course, your grace", Tuskenhaman said reverently, "That will be done. The treaty made years ago was only completed because we lacked the elephant power to finish the war. However, these days our soldiers are many and superiorly trained in battle.

The Dragonites have had disease and famine break out in their homeland over the past one hundred years, and their numbers have dwindled considerably. This is why Hazjarid has sent Ghoells to aid them in their attack on us. Her mistake is underestimating our strength, courage, and viciousness when it comes to battle…we will crush them!"

At that, the entire council let out loud trumpets of courage!

"Nicely set then! Do your task Tuskenhaman. And may our ancestors guide you to greatness!" Ivorianasis said with extreme confidence.

The elders then stood and left, and Tuskenhamen trumpeted for his war council to appear before him. He knew speaking with the heads would be easy since they despised the Dragonites and would have no problem exterminating them from the lands. However, after the Boarder-Patrol Elephantarians, Mammothtarian and Trumptanthra came and called the surprise meeting with the elders, telling of the dragons, Tuskonhaman had his worries about what the Dragonites could do, and needed to clear things up even if the elders didn't believe such tales and sent the two proud warriors away in shame.

Three huge and muscular Elephantarians strolled out into The Grand Garden Oasis, bowed to Tuskonhaman, and stood ready for the meeting. They all wore the best-made armor from a special iron mixture given to the Elephantarians by the Zubians before the grand war with the Dragonian with their then, multiple dragons of various powers at their disposal. Only the Elephantairan blacksmiths learned the secrete of the construction of such strong shelling and passed the knowledge down to each generation so their warriors would not only have the strength but the grandest of protection as well.

The generals were completely colored in a single shade of auburn, amethyst, or bronze and bore the insignia of their force's specialty upon their breastplates and shields.

The auburn-general, Hoofazion, carried four different styles of the largest bows ever made, with four different quivers of arrows, one giant arrack, and a set of throwing daggers that were the size of human short swords.

The amethyst-general, Tumpetovian, with an eye patch and one tusk that was half cut-off, carried a huge stone club decorated in paints with jagged, sharpened gems, along with two immensely sized maces covered with hefty steel spikes.

And the bronze-general, Stampazian, the largest of the three, carried one giant-sized two-handed broad sword that was four times the size of a common broad sword, and a set of throwing hammers with bigger heads than most humans had on their necks.

"Now that the formalities have been completed, and successfully, what can you tell me of our enemy's army? I need full reports! And only the truth as absolute as you know of it!" Tuskenhamen demanded.

Trumpetovian answered, "The Dragonites have suffered a significant loss of troops after the years of famine they have suffered. However, with the Ghoell Hordes which out-number the Dragonites two to one, their troops are substantial enough to put up a challenging fight."

"Yes" Stampazian continued, "and along with their now numerous ground troops we have had reports, as I believe you and the elders have heard, of two red-dragons! These beasts have had to been reared since infancy in the first wars and now are at full strength. As you know, red dragons are fire dragons, colossal beasts, with quick flying abilities and enough flame to engulf a third of our troops in one blast. We need to be sure our defenses can handle such an attack and be sure our conurbation is secure enough to keep them away from our citizens."

"Your grace" Hoofavion added, "our ground defenses are very strong, but we must find a way to bring those beasts down quickly. I believe the use of the Ghoells is to engage us in ground battle while the dragons spread their fire over both sides, engulfing as many of us as possible, before setting to finish us off with the Dragonite forces."

"Tell me, Hoffavion, have you, Trumpetovian, or Stampazion seen these so-called dragons?