NBA Dramatique, Prelude 14

“In the name of the Great Reptile, I call you to order! The Council of Totemic Tribes is now convened! Let us bring our people together in peace for one night, for the outbreak of war looms, and it will likely be many months before we can unite as brothers and sisters of nature again.” Bosh stood on the dais made of freshly cut logs, his skin illuminated by the firelight of torches. All of the people of the four Totemic Tribes had come together in the great forest for this summit, and they were intermingled in a large mass before the dais. “The Reptile has blessed my people. He has granted his ferocious attack to our tribesmen, and we now instill fear in our enemies. With his speed, we attack! With his claws, we attack! With his teeth, we attack! In the last great war, our tribe was in battle for many days after the rest of you had accepted defeat. I stand before you now, brothers and sisters, to remind you of what we all face. Our people adhere to the ways of the Earth, and we use what the Earth and the Great Beasts provide us to fight our wars. But the armies of the lands around us do not maintain their link to nature, and have created unnatural things with which to do war. On the field of battle, we face weapons of all variety. We’ll see swords of steel; projectiles of lead, fire, wood; sorcery of great power; all manners of technology. May the Spirits protect us and help us overtake them!”

From the crowd a voice shouted out. “Bosh speaks true!” The crowd shuffled as the man with the voice made his way to the front and climbed the dais to stand beside Bosh. “I am Redd, and Bosh is a wise and true friend, though we are of different tribes. The Great Stag has blessed my people. Our enemies will be pierced by his crown of antlers and trampled beneath his hooves! Though the enemies will come at us from the sky and the sea, and from all directions on land, we have the will of the Great Spirits on our side. We must not lose faith in them, nor be swayed by the lure of technological armies. There are many among us today who have been within their ranks, and found the true way of the Great Spirits.”

In the crowd, ‘Cisco turned to French Marc. “He’s right. I was assimilated by the Machine. They purged me, and I found the way.” French Marc nodded in understanding.

A young man named Foye had made his way to the dais. He was not familiar to Redd and Bosh, but they greeted him with honor and friendship on this night. “People of the Great Spirits. People of the Tribes. I am Foye, from the tribe of the Great Wolf. We are a long-suffering people. But I call upon the Wolf to bless us and rend the flesh of our enemies with his teeth. Our winter of loss has been long, but I believe that the rays of the sun will begin to warm us. Most of us have seen enough war now to know what to expect. We also have new men among us that are ready to be strong and determined fighters. In this coming war, we will stalk our enemies quietly, and when they are calm and unprepared, we’ll strike. The People of the Wolf will no longer be content to sulk in the snow.” The followers of the Wolf among the crowd proudly cheered their fellow tribesman.

Foye stepped away from the front of the dais to stand near Bosh and Redd. A young man wearing a fur skin walked slowly to the dais and the crowd grew increasingly silent with anticipation. He took his place at the dais and waited a moment to command even more silence. “People of the Bear!” he shouted. The Bear clan shouted back loudly in greeting. “I am Rudy and I am here by the grace of the Great Bear! The Great Bear will tear our enemies to shreds with his claws! He will crush their bones in his powerful jaws and his sharp teeth will be red with their blood!” The tribesmen of the Bear clan were yelling excited cheers back at the stage in response to every sentence. “We are a young tribe, and we are hungry! We don’t care about the weapons that our enemies bring against us! We are strong! The Bear lives within us, and we’ll roar from his heart!” The Bear’s followers were frenzied, and even a few of the younger warriors of other tribes were getting swept up in it. “Our strength comes from the new blood joining our tribe.” O.J., French Marc, and the Iranian, stood together in the crowd. Their bearskin cloaks were the product of fresh sacrifices. Rudy continued. “Let us go forth and reclaim the land for the Great Bear! Let our enemies tremble before us, despite their unnatural weapons!” The Bear clan was excited above all others. The tribes of the Stag, the Lizard, and the Wolf began to grow annoyed at the excitement of their brothers of nature.

From the stage, Redd kept his thoughts to himself. He scanned the crowd, and exchanged knowing glances with Bogut, with Lue, with Bell and Charlie. They were his brothers in the tribe of the Stag. They kept their cool. They were calm. They were old enough or wise enough to keep to themselves their secret. It had been foretold that the Bear would bleed by the antlers of the Stag.