Chapter 144: Fruits and fishes

Neytiri hadn't been away from the Neanderthal city for more than half an hour. However, as might be expected, that short period of time had been enough for the population to formulate the most disparate and imaginative hypotheses. If there was one thing every human species possessed it was imagination, and Neanderthals were no exception. Obviously, as soon as a new event arose, the gossip flourished at a speed that made the sound pale. There were those who thought that Neytiri was some sort of chosen one, and that the Great King of the Forest had summoned her to give her a mission. Others thought that Neytiri would be blessed by the Great King of the Forest and bring a new era to the Neanderthal people. The most mentally ill, finally, even thought that Neytiri would even have been taken in marriage by the Great King of the Forest and that she would have soon generated her offspring (biology was basically unknown in those cases). The Manas and the soldiers stationed in the palace, however, weren't that fancy. They remembered the hatzegopteryx's words about the approaching of a great conflict. Unlike most Neanderthals they were more frightened than excited, so they just waited and said nothing so as not to panic prematurely. Finally after a short wait Cobra reappeared in the sky carrying Neytiri on his shoulders. The girl had gotten a little used to the height, but that didn't stop her from squeezing the hatzegopteryx's neck so hard that she almost strangled him. No wonder that once he put her back on the ground, the pterosaur immediately took off and went away without even saying goodbye. Neytiri didn't even have time to breathe a sigh of relief before the Neanderthal population bombarded her with questions. The poor girl didn't even know which one to answer first. Fortunately the Manas came to her aid. "Enough!" shouted the Mo'at, who of all had the loudest and most authoritative voice. "Report the order, immediately! Let her breathe!" The Neanderthals obeyed, although their eyes continued to burn with curiosity. Neytiri mentally thanked the woman, who in response gave her a sympathetic smile. Mo'at stepped forward and grabbed her hand: "Neytiri, my child, what happened? Why did the Great King of the Forest request your presence?" Neytiri swallowed. She didn't know exactly how to explain it to the Manas. However, she couldn't just remain silent, so she tried to find the right words: "The Great King of the Forest is going to war, and for this he is gathering all the creatures of the earth. Those of heaven and waters will also soon join him. He spoke of a terrible conflict that will take place in the west, and he said that the sky will become flames, it will keep it shaking and the rock will turn to steam" A low murmur spread among the Neanderthals. For such a primitive people, the scene described by Neytiri was equivalent to a real apocalypse. "Keep calm! It will not happen here" the girl hastened to explain, realizing that she had created panic. "It's all going to happen in the west. This will be the punishment that will fall on blasphemous mortals. We will not get involved" The Neanderthals looked a little relieved. "But what mortals are you talking about? And what have they done to generate the wrath of the Lords of the World?" Mo'at asked again. So Neytiri told them everything. He explained who the khel'valart really were and what danger they represented, as well as the ungodly deeds they had committed. She was certainly not as good a speaker as Sobek, but she tried to make clear the environmental disaster that the people of the west had unleashed. The Neanderthals were appalled at those revelations. Many had wondered how the people who came in the iron boats lived, but none of them could imagine that they were so arrogant. Poisoning the air, the water, the soil... what people could be so crazy? "The Great King of the Forest said they will come here too and destroy everything. Therefore he intends to stop them and unleash his anger on them, for this he is gathering all his servants" Neytiri concluded, hoping to have been clear enough. When he finished, there was a great hype again: of course, the Neanderthals wanted to know more. The Manas, however, quickly restored calm. "If the khel'valart have committed such actions, then they deserved the wrath of the Lords of the World" Mo'at simply said. "But tell us, what does the Great King of the Forest want from us? Does he want us to fight alongside him?" While no Neanderthal would have disobeyed Sobek if he asked them to take up arms, none of them really wanted to leave: after all, in their eyes, what was about to take place was a battle between gods. Getting involved meant facing unimaginable catastrophes. So everyone silently heaved a sigh of relief when Neytiri shook her head. "No, not at all. The Great King of the Forest doesn't want us to fight, because we have no enmity with the khel'valart and it would therefore be unfair of him to ask us to arm ourselves against a people with whom we have always been at peace" she explained. "He wants us to help him arm his soldiers. He said he wants us to build armor for each type of animal. After that he will multiply it and infuse it with divine powers, and thus armor his soldiers" This was more acceptable. Neanderthals were used to doing works for the gods, even though they were mostly statues and altars. Armor was a more difficult task, but not impossible. It was certainly better than going to a battlefield where the sky turned to flames and the rock to steam. The Manas had no doubts. "If so we will put the best craftsmen to work! We will use every material and every man at our disposal to fulfill your request. To create armor for the army of the Great King of the Forest, this is a great honor!" The Neanderthals agreed. Many were excited by the news. The craftsmen present were already thinking about how to create armor worthy to be shown off in a battle of the gods. It was at that point that Neytiri showed the little tree and the pitcher of water. "The Great King of the Forest gave us these as a reward for our work. He said we would never go hungry again" A stifled 'oooh' spread through the population. Obviously no one thought it could be a false promise: since it came from a deity it had to be true, even if they didn't understand how a seed and a little water could eliminate famine. Neytiri left the palace and looked for a piece of land. As soon as he found a soil that he thought was suitable, he inserted the little tree into the earth and covered it. For a brief moment nothing happened; then, a little tree began to grow and became taller and taller. Very quickly a trunk, roots and branches formed. Under the astonished gaze of the Neanderthals a huge tree grew in seconds and became covered with juicy fruit. Neytiri walked over and plucked a fruit. The instant it was separated from the tree, a second fruit appeared in its place. Neytiri's eyes widened in amazement and continued to reap the rewards. After a few minutes she had her hands full, but the number of fruits on the tree had not diminished even a bit! "This tree bears infinite fruits!" she exclaimed aloud. For modern peoples, food wasn't a problem thanks to greenhouses and globalization, so no one would need a tree with infinite fruit. But for the ancient peoples, who only needed a storm to lose an entire year's crop, it was literally a godsend. That tree was the assurance of always having a full belly! The Neanderthals began to sing praises to the Great King of the Forest to thank him for the prodigy, but Sisna was not done yet. Mindful of Sobek's words, he dug a small hole in the ground and poured the water from the pitcher into it. Although the pit was much larger, the water in the pitcher did not run out until the pit was filled to the brim; strange brown roots starts to grow on the border of the pit and unknown flowers blooms on that. When Neytiri ended to poured the water, the pit was turned into a strange sang plant with a little pool in the center. At that point it was enough to wait a few moments, and immediately a fish materialized in that pool! Neytiri grabbed it and pulled it out of the water. The fish was dead but it was fresh, like it was just caught; it weighed at least ten kilos, the equivalent of a trout. Another fish appeared in the pool soon after! Like the tree, even the water gave infinite fishes! In a flash the Neanderthals had gotten plenty of vitamins, proteins and phosphorus, which was far more than any diet an ancient people could hope to have. The Manas approached and took the fish and fruits from Sisna's hands. "The Great King of the Forest has benefited us with unparalleled gifts" they said raising them to the sky. "We will pay it back right! Every craftsman and gunsmith will work on the construction of the armor! We will create a paraphernalia worthy of the Lords of the World!" The Neanderthals welcomed the announcement very warmly and cheered en masse. No doubt they would work hard to succeed in the task assigned to them, just as Sobek wanted. Unbeknownst to them, a small dimorphodon was watching everything as it perched atop a house. Sobek had in fact sent some pterosaurs to observe the developments. That way he would always be informed about Neanderthal work. Dimorphodons were small and adept at hiding, so they could observe everything without being seen. Over the next few days they checked the Neanderthals and made sure they got to work. As Sobek had predicted, Neanderthals were the best source of craftsmanship that could be found in the forest: within a short time the first armor began to take shape. Soon Sobek could begin to fortify his army. And so, another piece of his chessboard fell into its rightful place.