The Battle of SchwarzBurg

As you know, everything belongs to Karbo! I am not intelligent!


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"Ma'am, Ma'am! To our West, we have detected recent clearing of the forest growth." A young female Neko said, bowing before a Estuarine Mermaid who lounged in the deep pool the room sheltered.

The Mermaid blinked, putting her hand into her chin. "Clearings? That's funny, not too many people come by this way, and usually not in a large enough number to start cutting down the forest. How much is gone?"

"Shrubbery and ferns, leaving the ground and trees bare enough for fourty Nekos to walk through at an arm's distance."

Nodding, the mermaid folded her arms. "I will speak to the others about this, you can stay off today and spend time with that cute new boy I heard you're dating."

The Neko blushed a vivid crimson, her ears flattening in embarrasment. "Lady Mamira! That's unfair! By the Nobles! Do you feed on all the gossip the Cheche sisters tell you?"

Mamira grinned. "Yup." She then laughed at the Neko and patted her head. "Go on, dummy! It's a cute boy! From all I hear, he's got a very good... well... you know!"

"Uwaaaah!" The Neko shrieked, shaking her head and running out of the building with her tail up in an indignant position. The moment she left the building, Mamira sunk into the water. There were large pipes and holes connecting various ponds, pools, rivers, and the occasional artificial lakes within SchwarzBurg, and Mamira knew them all like her own fins. Swimming into one of the holes in the bottom of her pond, Mamira moved easily through the thirty by twenty pipe, despite needing to pull herself through. Mamira couldn't exactly tell how many twists and turns there were in the darkened space, but thanks to her mother, Mamira knew just when to make a left, duck down, or go up one and turn right. She saw a light stretched out over the water, and blinked her eyes to readjust.

Breaking the surface, Mamira swam to the edge of the crescent pool that was inside the domed building called the Convene. Already, other leaders, representatives, beaurocrates, commanders, and presidents stood beside the pool in an arc, making a full circle with various people sitting inside of it. Other mermaids, much larger the Mamira, crowded the edge of the pool, making it difficult for her to find a space to float at. "Excuse me!" She said over the heads of the mermaids as she swam back and forth.

"And in other news, what about these accusations of Mulle overcharging in her linen buisness?" Someone said from across the room, to which others said 'hear hear!'.

"Excuse me!" Mamira said, just a little bit louder.

"I personally think it's an affront to us in the Weaver's College to have to deal with such nonsense! Rosae charges barely of a third for her own silk, and it's all hand made!" Someone else agreed.

Mamira shook her head, rather shocked such a trivial matter was more important that what she had to say. Then again, nobody even knew she was there! "EXCUSE ME!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs, jarring one of the larger mermaids into plunging into the water before coming back up to see what made the noise. "Uhm, High Councilman?" Mamira said in a soft tone, nervous now that all eyes were on her (atleast the ones who had eyes).

Slowly, the grizzled looking human turned to look at her with his eyes narrowed. "Mamira, you should know that we have no time for trivial subjects."

"But it's not trivial, something is-"

"That is enough Mamira." The High Councilman said, his voice booming with authority.

Mamira bit her lip, looking down and feeling her face turn red. What if it all was a silly thing? Maybe a random Naga disliked having roots and scraping ferns along their path. She wouldn't know, she lived in water, although occasionally her friends would take her around SchwarzBurg in a tub with wheels (which was quite fun). Then, Mamira felt herself perk up. Someone was putting words into her mind, which normally scared her, but made her feel hopeful in this case. MAMIRA. LET ME SPEAK. I BELIEVE YOU AND I ARE HERE ON SIMILIAR SUBJECT, MY FRIEND.

The entire Council became silent as young Dala made his way to the center. The Dala were a powerful clan that held strong telepathy skills, and were even more frightening with their telekinses. At one point, there was a schism in the three hundred strong family, and the Artistry Dala were exiled from the Warrior Dala, and came to live as refugees in SchwarzBurg very shortly after it's founding. The Warrior Dala soon after destroyed themselves. There were numerous telepaths within SchwarzBurg, it was true, but the Dala were different. They never spoke, and instead inserted words into people's minds instead of normal telepathic talking. It was also chilling to see them, black hair and pure white skin thanks to selective breeding. Mamira always held a little fear of them, seeing their movements as too well planned and coordinated to be mortal.

"Alasu Dala?" The High Councilman stared at the youth for a moment. "You represent the Erina District to the South, correct?"

Alasu Dala brought one pale hand out from underneath his robes and folded it beneath his chest as he bowed. I AM BUT A JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE, LORD QUAT IS INDISIPOSED AT THE MOMENT. SLIPPED ON A BANANA PEEL, I BELIEVE. HOWEVER, I BELIEVE WE SHOULD LISTEN TO MAMIRA. HER WORDS ARE INDEED IMPORTANT.

Mamira thought that, as Alasu stood back up, he shot her a wink. Realizing the floor was hers, she heaved herself out from the water and sat on the slippery marble floor. "Er, yes. One of the scouts reported to me that someone has cleared out ferns and shrubbery nearby to a point where it is mostly bare."

"Hey! That's why I'm here too!" A small voice piped up, belonging to a fairy sitting somewhere on the left.

I TOO, AM HERE BECAUSE OF THIS.

"Ugly old geezer, I have been waiting for too long! I had to drag myself over here as well to talk about it!" A harpy shouted bitterly from above, and Mamira looked up to see a few Harpies and other flyers sitting upon ledges and looking down.

The High Councilman scratched his chin, looking down from his podium. "Are all sides cleared?"

"For eight miles." Another Councilmember, a small (7' head to ground)Naga named Vilisha, responded. "It appears to have been gradual, which may be why it has escaped our notice for so long."

"Eight miles?!"

"Impossible!"

"No normal predator would do such a thing!"

"An idiot must be behind this stupid intrusion onto our space! How dare that bumbling fool do such a thing!"

Murmurs and mutterings echoed amongest the Council, all wondering why such a thing would be done. Mamira looked back at Alasu, who was staring intently up at the Harpy who spoke and was most likely having a private conversation of some kind. The High Councilman then banged his gavel several times, restoring order. "Such an event could only mean one thing." He explained, folding his hands and putting his chin upon them, furrowing his eyebrows. "Invasion."

Everything was silent.

"In the name of SchwarzBurg! Invasion!? This place is impossible to attack! We have scouts, enchantments, and barriers!" A dridder who was close to the water shouted, but even she could not deny the possibility.

"But our barriers have grown weak, our enchantments unaided." The High Councilman sighed. "When was the last time we strengthened them? Nine hundred years ago, correct? None of us were even born at the time."

"Our ancestors came here to be safe, but even now we are hunted!" An Elf cried.

"Maybe we're assuming a little too much?" A half-Neko said from her seat. "It's just a little clearance, nothing that won't disappear in another ten years or so."

A mermaid shook her head, little glitters of jewels following the lovely locks. "No, this is not right. Eight Men miles is rather unreasonable. You have your yearly clippings, as we in the rivers have our occasion rock moving." She said in her soft and yet wise voice, Mamira realized it was Quistalia, a Crystal Mermaid who was well respected for her wisdom and kindness. She attended to the catacombs below SchwarzBurg, although Mamira had no idea what was inside the catacombs. "But," she pointed out. "We do not remove all of the rocks within the river, and you do not remove all of the foliage."

Mamira watched a odd trio of a cat, a dog, and a bird of some sort suddenly trot into the room and straight towards the High Councilman. The animals did an awkward form of bowing, before the cat spoke up. "Mi'lord. My kittens and my lieutent's bring me word that there is a plan to attack SchwarzBurg." The cat said in a surprisingly loud voice.

"See?" Quistalia sighed.

The High Councilman looked at the cat, then at the dog and bird. "Is this true?" He asked.

"Yes. We have seen the armies preparing themselves. Men, Elves, and Neko are banning together to destroy SchwarzBurg... or as they call it; 'The Horde of Abominations'." The bird chirped.

"We're dooooooommmmeeeed!" A cycloptic human shouted, holding onto her head. "Doomed! We have no organized army and no way to defend everyone!" A fairy beside her slapped the cyclopess in the back of the head, effectively shutting her up.

"When do they come?" Another dridder, Felia, asked in a hushed voice.

"In a fortnight." The dog answered gravely. "They number in the tens of thousands, and from the most recent report, they are gaining many to their cause and so are multiplying. They outnumber our fifty thousand already."

"DOOOOOOOOMMMM!"

PLEASE BE QUIET. WHILE WE DO NOT HAVE AN ARMY... WE MOST CERTAINLY ARE NOT INCAPABLE OF DEFENDING OURSELVES.

Alasu looked at Quistalia, then at Vilishia. The Naga spoke first. "My brood is here, in SchwarzBurg, if I must I will move all of them and flee to the South."

"I cannot leave the catacombs alone for long." Quistalia sighed.

Suddenly, there was a great noise of scuttling, wings flapping, and chairs being moved. People were getting up and leaving, some mumbling to themselves about stupid conspiracies while others talked about how to move quickly and without attracting attention. The High Councilman sighed, shaking his head and departing the building himself. The other mermaids quickly departed, leaving behind Alasu and Mamira.

"Uh, hello." She said, realizing he was staring at her. He nodded and took two steps closer to her. "May I help you?"

AM I ALONE? THE OTHERS WISH TO ESCAPE. He shook his head in a disgusted fashion. WHAT ABOUT YOU, MAMIRA? WILL YOU TOO RUN FROM SCHWARZBURG?

Mamira blinked. "Well, what can we do?" She asked the Dala. "We aren't made for fighting. My mother came here because that was exactly killed my father." Slipping her body back into the water, she looked at Alasu's face and then bit her lip. "I think you should run too, we all should. The Nobles... well, if they haven't awakened yet, then obiviously we aren't important to them." And with that, she dived into the water herself.




Once more in her pond, Mamira yawned and felt her eyelids grow heavy. She placed her hands over her stomach and shut her eyes, drifting into a beautiful dream.

Lol, such enthusiasm to defend their home XD