Moves-Swiftly rushed through the jungle foliage, nary a twig disturbed at his passing.  Chirps and clicks sounded through the trees as unseen sentries announced the lizardman’s approach.  Moves-Swiftly barked back, and he passed through unmolested.


    Bursting from the undergrowth, Moves-Swiftly rushed into the village, a gathering of huts made of stone, mud, and thatch.  Young, fringeless Unnamed scattered in the scout’s wake as he made for the center of the settlement, joining the gathering crowd that followed the scout.  Approaching the largest hut of stone and straw, Moves-Swiftly slowed, coming to a stop exactly six paces from the entrance.  Removing his rosewood flatbow and his quiver of arrows, the lizardman dropped to his knees and prostrated himself, bow and quiver held before him.


    The village fell silent, and Larger-Than-Most, chieftain of the Unfelled Spirit-Tree Tribe, stepped forth from his hut.  He certainly lived up to his name, standing a good two heads taller and massing thrice-more than any other lizardman in the tribe.  Intricate patterns were painted on upper arms and bare chest, and a crest of multi-colored feathers spilled down the back of his long neck.  <Speak,> the chieftain hissed, his voice shaking the frame of his hut with its timber.


    Moves-Swiftly looked up, though otherwise remained prostrated.  <My Chieftain.  An Abomination has entrenched itself into the Sands of Stone Teeth.>


    The chieftain moved, his body a blur as his arm shot out, his claw wrapping around Moves-Swiftly’s neck.  Hoisting the scout bodily into the air by the neck, Larger-Than-Most pulled the lesser lizardman close, hot breath washing over Moves-Swiftly’s face.  <Explain.>


    <My creche and I were scouting the southern shores when we encountered a Walking-Bones,> Moves-Swiftly reported, hanging limp in his chieftain’s one-handed grip.  <We set upon it in ambush and destroyed it utterly.  It vanished in smoke, but we tracked its origin to the broken forest-canoe.>  The lizardman scout swallowed, taking a breath.  <Eyes-Of-An-Eagle bade me observe from the cliffs above, while he, Dull-As-Stone, and Wishes-To-Fly climbed up the fallen cloth tree onto the forest-canoe.>


    Larger-Than-Most drew Moves-Swiftly even closer, their muzzles almost touching.  <And where are your creche-brothers?>


    <Dead,> Moves-Swiftly said, voice shaking.  <Dull-As-Stone fell down a hole and did not emerge, and Eyes-Of-An-Eagle and Wishes-To-Fly were reduced to a mist of life’s-water by a trap of thunder magic.  I returned post-haste.>A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Grunting dismissively, Larger-Than-Most dropped Moves-Swiftly.  Turning away from the supine scout, the lizardman chieftain addressed the gathered crowd.


    <Sound the drums.  We go to war.>


    <hr>


    Lowering the conch shell horn from his lips, Larger-Than-Most watched with dissatisfaction as the warriors of his tribe poured out from the stone walls surrounding the broken forest-canoe claimed by the Abomination.


    <We failed.>


    Larger-Than-Most glanced to the side, taking in the form of the tribe’s shamaness, Plays-With-Fire.  The smaller female looked up at the chieftain, her dull scales and short fringe looking pale in the harsh sunlight.


    <The Abomination grew faster than I anticipated,> Larger-Than-Most grumbled, turning his head to track the first of his surviving warriors as he crested the top of the cliff and ran by, vanishing into the underbrush of the jungle.  <The warning-tales told by my grandsire were not exaggerated in the slightest.>


    <What do we do now,> Plays-With-Fire inquired, stepping aside to let a warrior missing his hand stumble by, both assisting and assisted by another warrior who was bleeding from a hole in his knee.  <We do not have the numbers to stop the Abomination as it is, and it is sure to grow ever stronger.>


    <No, we don’t, and it will grow stronger,> Larger-Than-Most agreed as Darker-Than-Night stalked past, his obsidian hide bleeding freely from several ragged bites, a stubby, sharp-toothed fish still clinging gamely to the tip of the lizardman’s tail.  <That is why we shall be sending runners to the Falling Rocks and Coursing River tribes.  Loathe though I am to admit it, this is a problem too big for any one tribe.>


    Turning around and walking into the brush, Larger-Than-Most addressed the gigantic lizardman picking up a felled coconut log.  <Walking-Mountain.  Last one.>


    Grunting, Walking-Mountain took one end of the log in hand and flung it out over the beach as easily as another might throw a stick.  Smirking at the results of his handiwork, and the shriek of anger echoing up from below, Walking-Mountain turned and lumbered after Larger-Than-Most, giving Plays-With-Fire a passing leer.


    Shrinking away from the monstrous lizardman’s bulk, Plays-With-Fire scurried after the chieftain, the harsh sun soon giving way to the soft shadows of the trees.  <What of the Burning Skies?>


    Larger-Than-Most stopped in his tracks.  <No.  The moment those…maniacs are roused from their lair…we’ve already lost.>


    Plays-With-Fire was taken aback by the vehemence in her chieftain’s tone, and even Walking-Mountain found himself shirking back from the intensity of his leader’s voice.


    <No.  We leave those warped-eggs be,> Larger-Than-Most declared, taking up his pace anew.  <Do not speak of them again.  For now, we rest, lick our wounds, and wait.>