Book 10: Chapter 29
After a sequence of gunshot sounds, a row of men dropped to the ground.
I stood up. I looked at the soldiers around in silence for a moment before speaking, “Officers who didn’t instantly make a stand and maintain the ranks have no right to live. If you’re an officer, you must fulfil the duty of an officer. You’re the brains of your platoon, yet you ran faster than your men when a problem arose. I killed the first group today. If more of you act this way, I’ll kill a second group, and then a third group. I won’t pardon those who leave their posts without permission!”
The officers below stayed silent, not daring to say a word. I waved my hands for the guards to come forth and drag the corpses away. The corpses were very soon hung up on the pillar in the camp as a warning.
Smoke came from our camp. Nobody got to rest after last night’s attack. We put out fires, rebuilt and everybody became tense, fearing another imminent attack. We only let out sighs of relief, after the sun came up.
I rushed back to the camp immediately after the attack last night. I smelt the familiar stench of blood and smoke again like that of which I once brought to others. I never thought the stench would appear in my territory.
I didn’t think highly of those anthropoids, but their attack came way out of left field for me, making me feel humiliated and frustrated as if a trash can gave me a thrashing. I really wanted to lead my men into the mountains to slaughter them. The group of anthropoids were indeed formidable. They attacked and retreated orderly. They left decisively once the situation wasn’t in their favour. They were clearly elites among elites. I’d say that only my Guard Unit was their match now.
They didn’t intend to drive us back, because they lacked what it took to. Though their attack last night could be considered a success, I managed to see what they had. They were just a small group. Therefore, there was no way they could drive us back. They wanted to throw us into disarray, not strike fear into us. Consequently, I won’t give them the chance.
The corpses of this group weren’t alike the corpses of the low anthropoids. They had very strong and graceful bodies. They had fur on their head. One glance and you could see that they were panthers.
‘Are they the panthermen race? I never thought that there’d be such a smart race among the anthropoids. If I look at them that way, the High Anthropoids are an intelligent race that could even give me a run for my money. However, it doesn’t look as though all four tribes came. If it’s just one tribe, I need to keep pressure on them.’