Story Narration
Click to play audio narration
Kram the Mighty stood from the campfire near the center of what had been the grovetenders’ Reciprocity base and faced his premier. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sturm and Drang scrambling to their feet as well. Awsh nodded politely at the twins before clasping Kram the Mighty’s shoulders.
“Excellent work today, Kram the Mighty. Excellent!” Awsh exclaimed. “You’re probably surprised to see me at the front, but I wanted to deliver word of the next phase of this operation personally. Tomorrow, I want you to push in another couple of miles and set up a spire line at the edge of The Great Wood. We have the tenders on their heels, so there’s no better time than the present. Once you’ve set everything up, I also want the spires to fire a few warning bombardment shots, just so they know that this is our territory now.”
Kram the Mighty felt dizzy. “Sir,” he said in a hushed tone, “I thought the reason we struck out against the grovetenders here is because we have a claim to Reciprocity. And now we’ve taken it. What you’re talking about now is striking into Rapport itself.”
Kram thought he detected a hint of annoyance in Awsh’s eyes. “Kram, it’s not as if we’re storming the gates of Yrtel. Brawnen are survivors. Times have changed. There’s no ‘their island’ or ‘our island’ now. We’re all on one big island, and we must secure our borders. We need to be protected.”
