Getting tired of the banter, Ronin got up and walked into the cockpit where Samantha was operating the ship. setting himself down in the copilot’s seat, Ronin strapped himself in and looked out the window. There wasn’t much to see. From this altitude, he couldn’t see much besides a heavy fog of clouds. They would break every now and again, exposing the ground far below. Thankfully, the relatively steady flight didn’t mess with his inner ear like during the drop. The height didn’t bother him either, he’d spent most of his time outside climbing up and down the obscenely huge crystal trees. Where a single flower was larger than one of the dino hide houses.

“How goes the flight, Samantha?” he asked after a while.

“Sam, is fine sir.” She said, giving him a small smile. “And its smooth sailing so far… a lot less stressful than working with those kids ha-ha.” She added with a shake of her head.

“How is that coming along?” he asked curiously, still looking out the window.

“Great, actually.” She said, “they’re just kids at the end of the day. I’m used to working with Kaldarr children, but I wasn’t in charge back then. Being a slave who can be given pain by a four-year-old throwing a tantrum wasn’t the most pleasant experience.”

“Ah… sorry about that, Sam” Ronin said. the pair went quiet after that, Sam flying the ship and Ronin looking out the window. A long time passed in silence before Samantha spoke again.

“I wanted to thank you,” she said hesitantly. “We, Eric and I, grew up being slaves… when you captured us… you could have easily kept the collars on. Had us do everything we are doing now, only with enforced loyalty. The fact that you didn’t… well you’ve earned our real loyalty.” Ronin listened quietly while she stuttered through her thanks. Looking out the window while she got that off her chest.

When she was finished, he turned and took her in for the first time in a while. She was wearing the metal plate covered leather, in black with gray flames that had somehow become his colors. Her brown hair had been cropped shorter than finger length when she’d first arrived. Now it had grown out to a few inches and was developing a curl. She’d been thin as well. he hadn’t realized it then but it must have been from malnourishment, because her frame had filled out and thickened. She’d been doing exercises along with everyone else in the valley, so her muscles had developed a lean, toned look. he remembered she was of a height with Guts, four inches over five feet or so. He figured that put her at around 110 lbs.

Ronin sat back in his seat again, lost in thought. He’d been in this world for a handful of weeks at this point. Yet, he still hadn’t paid much attention to those outside his inner circle. He’d honestly been taking Samantha and the rest of his people for granted. That might have had something to do with Owl two handling the day to day, but that wasn’t all of it. he’d been treating this place as if it wasn’t real. It was just an escape for him, from how hard his life had become. Then, when he realized how close to death Markus was, it became a means to make money. He sighed internally, vowing to pay more attention to those around him.

“No,” he said at last, “Thank you Sam. I don’t have any skills, outside of scavenging and reading. Everything that we’ve accomplished, has been done by people more qualified than I am. People like you and Eric, Guts, Hunter, Benjamin and Owl two. All I’ve been doing is training and running off to bring back more problems on everyone, while you’ve gotten on with the business of running the valley. I’d be a fool to keep someone as valuable as you as a slave.”

“Thank you, sir.” She actually teared up at those words, wiping her green eyes with the back of her gloved hand. He looked out the window while she got a hold of herself, giving her some privacy. “We are still a few hours out, if you wanted to get some rest.” Understanding she wanted to be left alone for a while, Ronin got up. patting her reassuringly on the shoulder, he moved back through the cargo area into the troop compartment.

Nodding at his team, he moved past them and over to Karr’s people. He was feeling guilty at how much he’d been ignoring his people, so he settled down to join the card game the men were playing. It was a complicated game that he’d brought with him from earth called ‘Monsters’. he’d had Owl two print up several sets and handed them out to everyone. The main goal was to draw monster cards and empower them using the other cards in your hand to attack your opponents.

“Mind if I join?” He asked, waiting for the nods of approval before he settled down and pulled out his own deck. He’d been surprised to find out Owl two knew all the rules to the game. Even more surprised when he volunteered to make new cards for the game based around the inhabitance of the valley. The game wasn’t exactly the same ‘Monsters’ that Ronin remembered, but it was even more interesting than before. Since they were playing with cards made based on their companions. They’d renamed the game ‘People of the Valley’. Still, Ronin had no idea when Owl two managed to find the time to essentially create a recreational game and then print the cards.

“Lieutenant Benjamin,” Karr said with a smile. Setting down a card with the likeness of his military leader on it. “Empowered by lord Ronin’s enameled armor.” he continued, laying down a card with a picture of the heavy plate armor. The men groaned when he laid the cards down. Benjamin was a powerful card, and the protection Ronin’s armor supplied was second to none.

“Move over,” Hunter said pushing a few of Karr’s men aside and moving into the circle. “Owl five, empowered by Gut’s soup spoon.” She continued, slapping down a pair of cards once she’d joined the group and played a few food cards. As funny as it sounded to be armed with a spoon, no one laughed. Owl five was widely respected in camp for her abilities. “What do you have that can beat that sir?” she asked Ronin with a sly grin.

“ha-ha, I don’t know if I can beat that…” he said, with a sidelong glance at Owl five. “But I’ve got Owl Four, empowered with his own Warhammer.” Ronin smiled a little sadly at the face of his dead friend. Everyone in the valley had a card made of them, that could be updated with new stats if they advanced themselves. It was one of the reasons Owl two had agreed to make the cards. He said that being constantly compared to one’s peers like that would be an excellent motivation tool, because who wanted to be considered weaker than their peers?

No one present had ever met Owl four. Yet that very fact was another reason they loved the game. If they were to fall in battle, they would be immortalized in the decks of their friends and family. in a kingdom where paintings were the only means of recording one’s image, paintings that were restricted to the very wealthy, the cards were a marvel to Karr’s men and downright magical to the goblins.

One by one, the rest of those in the troop compartment came over to join the game. Each card had a points value and each deck a max point allotment, so one had to choose who and what gear to include in their decks. During one round, Ronin watched as Guts played a Ronin card armed with his mace. His opponent played three Kaldarr warriors in scout armor. it was a little embarrassing to watch himself distilled down to strength and dexterity stats, and put up against his fellows. Even more so when Guts won the round and no one seemed surprised about it. He hadn’t even known there were so many cards out there now. His deck was built around his original team and the gear they’d dropped with. His base cards had great stats, but the gear wasn’t suited to all situations. So, his win record wasn’t that good. he resolved to get a few updated cards when he returned… assuming Owl two wasn’t monitoring this game that was. If so, he would probably have a new deck waiting for him upon his return without his having to ask.

The rest of the flight passed like that, everyone getting to know each other better by playing ‘People of the Valley.’ He’d actually lost a game against one of the scouts who’d played a standard worker goblin named Big toe, who’d been armed with Flight one. everyone had gotten a laugh over that one. Song also won a round, and treated everyone to a victory tune. Her voice was as good as her name implied.

“We are approaching the wall,” Sam’s voice said over flight one’s ship coms. “I will be dropping the crate before bringing us around for the landing. Get ready for action people.” With her warning, everyone collected their cards into leather card pouches and resumed their seats. Ronin himself moved back to the copilot’s seat, so he could see what was going on outside.

Buckling in, Ronin looked out the front window. At first, he didn’t see anything. Until he zoomed in using his artificial eyes. then he saw a massive wall made of stone, connecting between two large valley walls. He grinned, thinking how similar the entire kingdom was to his own valley. It was, itself, a huge valley. Hundreds of miles of flat lands, lakes and forests surrounded on all sides by giant sheer cliff walls. Completely surrounded, except by this mile wide section. The Name Mountain’s Embrace was a little on the nose, but it was true enough.

The inside wall was surrounded by a massive city. It looked mostly abandoned upon closer inspection. Ronin wasn’t surprised, Benjamin had told them as much. The war had been fierce, and everyone who couldn’t fight had been evacuated long ago to make room for more military personnel. As the ship drew nearer, the wall came into better focus. it was a hundred feet tall, made of stones cut from outside the kingdom and hauled back over decades, and put into place. Thirty feet across at the top, it looked more like a road than a wall.

As they descended, he could see there were figures on the wall, shooting bows and throwing spears over the edge into an enormous swarm of locusts. Ronin blinked in shock at the actual numbers he was looking at. They carpeted the ground, leaping towards the wall and using their wings to get a little more height. They couldn’t fly thankfully or they would have overrun the valley kingdom already. They could, however, leap on their powerful rear legs and use their wings to stay airborne a little longer.

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Ronin shuddered at the insectoids. They really looked like locusts, or grasshoppers, from the books he’d read on earth. their thick carapaces were even the same shade of green. Only they were the size of a man, and stood up on their powerful hind legs. They also had two sets of arms; the larger, upper set were ended with huge slightly curved talons. They looked like swords mounted on the end of their wrists. The second smaller and lower set of arms had a set of claws much closer to human hands. They used the talons to carve up the food and their manipulator arms to carry it back to the hive.

“Can we drop the crate off without risking bringing them back over with us?” he asked as he watched how high they could jump.

“I can lower the crate up to two hundred feet.” she replied, shock written all over her own face. “Might want to get a few guns on the line though, just in case.” She added with hesitation.

“Got ya,” he said before pulling up his mental connection to the K’s. “K1, K2 and K3 this is Owl one. we are about to lower the package, please go to the firing doors and ensure that no hostiles manage to cling to the ship during the drop.”

“It’s done,” he said to Sam when he finished relaying his instructions. “Let’s get this done.” Ronin looked on in fascination as they lowered the crate towards the ground. he swiftly put aside the dreams he’d had of dropping down outside the walls himself to fight with his team against the horde. There were just too many of them. they’d be overrun before they could accomplish anything worthwhile.

The heavy shots of Kaldarrian rifles rang out as the three K’s fired into the locusts as they tried to reach the ship. the locust had thick natural armor, but the heavy rifle rounds were more than sufficient to penetrate them. they fell from the sky in twos and threes. Only to be devoured by their own kind, broken down into chunks and hauled away to feed the hive.

“Light em up Sam.” He said when the crate had been placed on the ground at last, the cables unhooked. “Half a drum, then land us on the other side.”

“With pleasure sir,” she said thumbing over a protective cap on her controls and pressing down on the red button there. With a whirr, the hull mounted machine guns lit up, sending hundreds of rounds into the tide below. The locusts fell like rain, but it didn’t seem to matter. Their fellows were only slowed as they tore into their own kind. She fired until the drums ran dry, but Ronin couldn’t find the words to reprimand her. They’d brought more ammunition anyway; he just hadn’t wanted to meet the moon elves without rounds in the chambers.

“Empty sir,” Sam said with chagrin before angling the craft over the wall and settling it towards the ground. they scanned the city as they dropped, looking for a good place to land the craft. “There?” Sam asked, pointing towards an area that looked to have caught fire at some point. The wooden houses had been burned to the ground and the area abandoned. As the ship settled down, Ronin saw dozens of men running towards them, weapons drawn. In their midst were several slender figures with elaborate armor in blue and silver.

“Everyone ready?” he asked, reentering the troop compartment. Samantha stayed where she was, closing herself inside the cockpit. She wasn’t a combatant, and she was also the only one who could fly the ship with such ease. It was best to keep her safe as possible.

“Yes, sir.” Came the loud reply accompanied by the fist to chest salute.

“Good.” he said looking them over proudly. “Karr, your team goes first. Hunter, follow them out and find cover. Guts, you and the Food corps stay here for now. Everyone else will exit with me, understood?” he got another round of ‘yes, sir.’ Before nodding towards one of the soldiers to open the landing doors. They didn’t know what kind of reception to expect, but hopefully killing so many locusts would at least buy them a conversation.

Ronin watched as the doors opened and his soldiers and scouts rushed out. he gave them a five count before following them out himself. K1 and K2 moved ahead of him to exit on either side, huge tower shields held up to cover him in case of attack. K3 stood at his side, his own melee weapons in hand. It was a gesture mostly for the benefit of the locals, who likely didn’t know what a fire arm was. If it came down to a fight, he trusted Owl five who was bringing up the rear with her rifle to end things quickly.

“Hold,” a voice shouted as Ronin stepped out into the sunlight. “Who are you people? this is a Kaldarrian ship… those are Kaldarr, damn it let me go.” Ronin looked at the speaker, an elven female. Her face was a twisted mask of rage at the sight of the ship. her long silver hair was a tangled mess and her armor was only partially on. It looked like she had jumped out of bed and rushed straight over. she was being restrained by two of her elven companions. It seemed like she was willing to talk until she saw K1, and K2 move into view, after that all bets were off.

“Elyria, you need to calm down.” shouted one of her companions, Ronin noted that one was male and the other was female. “They’re not all Kaldarr. Besides, look at the ship, look at their armor. that guy, White flame there is clearly in charge and he’s far too small to be Kaldarrian.” Surprisingly, Owl two had been right when he said repainting the ship in the white flame scheme would pay off. Ronin sighed, knowing the android was likely listening right now.

He took in their appearance quickly. Human sized with pointed ears, pale skin and silver hair. They were dressed in what looked like blue silk covered with silver armor at the chest, shoulders, forearms, thighs, and shins. Each piece was delicately engraved with wood grain patterns. Ronin thought they looked ready for a ball, not a battle.

“Greetings,” he called out hoping to interrupt a fight before it started. “We aren’t here to fight you, but with you. Yes, this is a Kaldarrian ship, but I took it from them and captured a few of their warriors. They work for me now; we don’t want any trouble with you. we came to help defend the wall for a while.” The human soldiers that surrounded them said nothing. It was clear to Ronin they’d deferred command to the moon elves entirely.

“No.” screamed the elven woman Elyria. “Kaldarr are a plague, as bad as the locusts. They all must be destroyed.” She shoved the other elves off her and had made it two steps forward before another voice cut through the air.

“Elyria, that’s enough.” looking up, Ronin saw another elf swooping down on the back of a giant sparrow. The bird wore a leather saddle that had several large quivers filled with long arrows strapped to either side of the rider. “We don’t have time for this. One of the big ones is coming… White flame,” he said looking over to Ronin. “Does your ship still have ammunition? If so, I beg you, help us deal with this threat.” Groaning internally at the name ‘White flame’ Ronin nodded to the sparrow mounted elf.

“K1, K2 get the drums changed out please. Karr, would your men help reload the first set?” his words were posed as a question and spoken politely, nevertheless, his men slapped their chests in salute and shouted ‘yes, sir.’ Before jumping to do as he asked.

The discipline in front of the elves and human soldiers went a long way to calm the situation. Everyone settled back a little, relaxing their grip on their weapons… everyone except Elyria that is. She had stopped at the sparrow mounted elves command, but it was clear she wanted to attack regardless of his words.

“Lord Ellanaril,” she all but screamed. “They’re Kaldarr. You know what they…” her words were cut off when the mounted elf vaulted off his mount and got right into her face.

“I know all too well what they did, Elyria. He was my brother damn it.” He screamed, “but the locusts are the priority right now. If we don’t take that big one down before it reaches the wall… how many will die pushing it back?” his words seemed to get through to her, at least a little. She stepped back and bowed her head ever so slightly.

“Fine.” She spat out through clenched teeth. “But I will follow this, White flame, from this day until my last day. I swear that when he proves himself to be just another Kaldarr scum… I’ll kill him.” The elf lord, along with the other elves within ear shot took in a sharp breath. They looked stunned, and Ronin could only assume she’d said something drastic.

“Elyria, please, think about this…” Lord Ellanaril said in a pleading tone. “Once you swear that oath… it can’t be taken back.”

“I’ve already said it, Brother.” Elyria said solemnly. “This will be my final task in life. From this day until my last day.” Up until this point, she’d looked crazy. Franticly trying to attack Ronin’s men bare handed and with only half her armor on. She still looked like a mess, but the madness had left her eyes.

“Very well, sister.” Lord Ellanaril said, staring into her eyes, as blue and hard as chipped sapphires, for a long moment before he turned to Ronin. “Lord white flame, I entrust my sister-in-law to your care. If your character is true, she will be a staunch pillar of support… if you prove to be as evil as the Kaldarrian slavers, then she will kill you before taking her own life.” When he finished speaking, he dropped into a bow.

Ronin just stood there blinking his eyes in shock. “What the hell just happened?” he shouted inside his head. “Entrust her to my care? Kill me? Support me? What the hell man, what is going on?” he didn’t know what to do, but the elf lord was still bowing to him. he had to do something so…

“Although I do not understand exactly what is going on,” he started at last. “I intend to help fight at the wall until my people are ready for my team to return. Then l will return here with a much larger force to hopefully end this locust threat for good.” he shrugged, “I’m just me, lord Ellanaril, that’s all.” he didn’t know what part of his words did the trick, but the elf rose from his bow and nodded.

“Thank you, lord White flame. Now, is your ship ready? We need to hurry.” Ronin turned around to his people who nodded.

“We’re ready, you want to ride along or lead the way on your sparrow?” He motioned his people back on board as he spoke and was shocked when Elyria calmly walked on board with them. she was busy braiding her long silver hair behind her head and straightening her armor.

“I will lead the way on… wait, you recognize the sparrow? So, you aren’t of this world… never mind.” He said with a shake of his head. “I will lead the way, fire at what I fire at. There are a few, so try to conserve your ammunition.” With that, he leapt onto the sparrow again and took to the air. The other two elves exchanged a glance and ran up the ramp onto flight one following Elyria. Ronin, confused but interested, followed them in motioning for K3 to shut the door behind them.

“Follow the sparrow,” he said once he was strapped into the copilot’s seat. “He will be pointing out our targets… but go easy on the trigger this time, ok?” he added with a slight grin.

“Yes sir,” Samantha said looking self-conscious as she lifted the craft from the ground. swinging it around to follow the sparrow. four more giant sparrows swooped in to join the first, flying in an inverted ‘V’ formation. “So, what’s going on boss?” she asked once they were underway.

“I honestly have no idea.” He said with a shake of his head. “But after we shoot some bugs, I plan to find out.”

Another two sparrows joined the ‘V’ as they flew over the wall. there were seven truck sized birds flying in front of them now. Surprisingly, to Ronin, they were easily doing eighty miles an hour. Barely a crawl for the drop ship but faster than he expected a bird to be able to fly. The elves shot down into the swarm as they flew. Expertly piercing the enemy’s carapace, despite the speed. Five minutes passed like that, until an exclamation from Sam pulled Ronin’s attention up from the horde.

“Holy jeez, look at that,” she said pointing. Ronin followed her finger out into the mass of bugs. Where his eyes landed on a locust that looked just like the rest… except it was the size of a school bus.