The Scavenger nodded. “You must have travelled a long way. Get a room, have food and rest. And yes, feed these Amozaks well.”
The warrior bowed and moved to the designated resting areas.
As the days passed, various warrior groups kept arriving from all over. Along with different creatures, warriors from villages also arrived. The Scavenger was pleased to see Huro and Crimson along with the huge army.
A week later, the Scavenger addressed the leaders of every group at the Castle Dome.
“First of all, I would like to make something very clear.” The Scavenger looked around and paused. “Let me tell you clearly that we won’t all survive this.”
There was murmuring in the Dome before the Scavenger held up a hand to silence everyone. “The effort has to be voluntary. We don’t want to force anyone to join us. If anyone wants to leave, please do so now.”
There was pin-drop silence. No one stood up to leave.
“Thank you. I am highly honoured.” The Scavenger broke the silence. “The enemy’s army will reach here in exactly a month and twenty-three days from now. The Tyhorox, as you may have realized. The days of magic. Keep that in mind. The sorcerers, especially.” The Scavenger’s gaze went to the far left side of the Dome, where the sorcerers, wearing coats and hats, were sitting. “We will depend heavily on sorcerers on the final day.” The Scavenger looked around. “We have a lot of time to plan things.”
He took a long breath. “We will need heavy machinery.” He looked at Lynx. “The Man of the Rock, along with the sorcerers, is tasked to create Oculuses. We would also need tanks.”
“We will need blueprints for tanks,” Lynx said.
“That’s no problem,” the Scavenger said, pulling out a wad of blueprints. “I got this from the Brentinute.” He tossed them into Lynx’s hands. “Make good use of it.”
The Scavenger faced the audience and carried on, “I would also like the Mountain Trolls, along with the Dwarves, to make the advanced traps. The Ogres should…”
The Scavenger spent the next hour assigning tasks to the people assembled there. Matt tuned out after some time, and looking at the bored faces of his friends, it appeared that they had too.
“I feel very demotivated,” James said abruptly.
“You’re right,” Matt said. “Aronicle used to cheer us up so well.”
James said, “Previously, when we were fighting the Death Lord, we never worried about any of us dying. What Aronicle said changed a lot of things. Death used to scare me a lot. I mean, when I was seven years old, reading and watching things about terrorist attacks, car accidents, plane crashes, and I used to think, I am so lucky I wasn’t that guy.” James paused. “Now any of us can be that guy.”
“If I die,” Daniel said, “please tell my -”
“Daniel, don’t say that,” Matt interrupted. “We can’t go on like that. It’s best not to think about the future.”
“All right, but if I die, please tell my brother not to take my room,” Daniel said.
Maybe it was his serious expression, or they were all very nervous, but they all suddenly burst out laughing. Daniel looked around, bewildered. “Hey, I wasn’t joking.”
Matt wiped a lone tear from his eyes. “You sure know how to diffuse a situation.” He chuckled again.
Daniel shrugged. “Well, okay, but I wasn’t joking.”
“Wait,” Matt said. “Let’s make a pact.”
“What pact?” Archer asked.
“If one of us... separates from each other in any manner whatsoever, the others won’t return to Earth till they get him back,” Matt said.
“You mean...” James said. “That if we return to Earth, we return as all four of us. Not just three.”
“Yes,” Matt said. “Because if we go home without one friend, what would we say to his parents?”
“You are right,” James said. “Let’s make a promise.”
“But what if one of us dies?” Archer said.
“Then the rest have to return,” Matt said. “But we should not get emotional and always remain happy and strong. We should promise that we will support the dead child’s parents forever so that they don’t miss him.”
“All right,” James said, extending his palm forward. “I promise.”
“I promise too.” Daniel put his hand on James’s hand. Matt and Archer followed.
“That’s done, then,” Matt said. “Now remember, this pact is not casual. We will honour our promise. Repeat after me.”
“We’ll honour our promise,” they repeated.
Amidst their discussions, the children didn’t realize that the Scavenger was about to conclude his speech. The Scavenger said, “Exactly after six weeks from today, I will test all the things – traps, etc. Please get on with your respective tasks. We can’t miss the deadline.”
The meeting ended and everyone started leaving the Castle Dome. As the children and the Scavenger started walking from the Dome, a group of intelligent-looking persons approached them.
“My Lord, we have something which can be instrumental for us to win the war,” one of them said, but he appeared unsure.
The Scavenger frowned at them. “Who are you?”
“We are the herbologists,” the same person said. Seeing the blank expression on the Scavenger’s face, he elaborated further, “Not many people know about our clan. For many years, we have been experimenting secretly, living in secluded caves and forests. But now, for this war, we have decided to come out and help.”
The Scavenger nodded. “Please go on.”
The man continued, “We are very few herbologists alive and none of us knows how to fight with weapons. But we have something else in our arsenal. You see, through the decades of experimenting, we have discovered a liquid, formed by a mixture of specific herbs and some magic, which we call energy serum.”
The man pulled out a small tube filled with a red liquid. “Here it is.”
“What does it do?” the Scavenger asked.
“This replenishes the energy in no time,” the man explained. “That’s really it, but you can realize its importance in the war. Exhaustion takes a heavy toll on the warriors. The exhausted warrior gets a flood of energy almost
