A new friend

I met up with Cītlalli and Coyotl at the entrance to the house. Coyotl had wooden planks tied together on his back. It seems it would take a whole army to carry all that. He even had some more being dragged by him on the floor. I told him that there were stashes of materials near the house and in the cave. Both of which by themselves, were more than enough to build a base. And based on my structure. We needed only few of them. But Coyotl laughed and said it was just in case. And the fact that he already bought it. The gates to the house were operated by one man with a series of pulleys and levers. With a light signal, the massive gate opened wide and we were off. Cītlalli led the way after I told her of the specific spot the tlatoani mentioned to meet at. We didn't bring any torches or a candle as to prevent any enemy from spotting us. But thanks to Cītlalli's skill After a few minutes of silence. We finally met with the him. Behind the tlatoani was a wide gap of the reddish brown mud. So wide that it was half as wide as our house. He grabbed tiles attached to one another and carried them across the muddy terrain. It seemed like an hour or two and he was back. He placed it on the other side one tile short. And walked straight back to the house. Ignoring us. Yet another stern lesson from him. We then walked over the laid out path. The mud began to whistle on each of our steps. And on the last one, we jumped. A loud howl came after each of it. Cītlalli stopped. She then looked up and then pointed to the West of North. She said that the house we are to scout is there. She then moved her hand a few degrees to the right. The cave was at that direction. We stayed where we were to ponder if we should go to the base of the enemy first or if we could go ahead with my plan. Cītlalli mentioned that we wouldn't need to get insight on the base if we were to destroy it. Coyotl added that if there were any precautions taken if the river were to ever flood, then that should be taken into priority. I also added that it would take some time for the setup. After some time, we decided we were to scout the base for future reference and see if there were anything that can sabotage the sabotage. Double sabotage. We then ran towards the house with Cītlalli in the front.

The house itself was located near the mountain that held the cave. If we were to divert the river that comes from the mouth of the cave, it would fall directly at them. We remained on the peak of the mountain. Overlooking the house. Such a climb was long and painful. It seemed I was the only one heaving while my friends hid theirs well. Especially Coyotl despite the heavy materials he carried by his own. The house itself had no roof and if there ever was, it was in rubble. The walls have fallen with the glass openings like our house are all shattered with shards sticking out. The enemies base on that house looks like a parasite on its back. All of their structures made entirely of wood. We looked outside and there were in fact precautions if the river flooded. If we were to damage it without anyone noticing, we could achieve what we set out. Me and my friends can finally rest for a week if we're lucky. I could continue work on the house next to my village. So much stuff I began to overwhelm myself with excitement. I look to my friends and they had the same thought though their idea of rest or what they will do may be different. Coyotl maybe eating till the sun falls. Cītlalli could be another scheme for something. And the rest of our fellow villagers can rest easy. Coyotl hid his stuff at the top of the mountain. The we quietly made our way down the mountain. Not again. As I was heaving once again at the foot of the mountain. We noticed how high up the walls were. It seems that the floor we were looking on to was not the ground floor. Cītlalli went behind one of the structures. She then appeared on top of the wall itself. It felt as if seconds has passed when she went behind that wall. She dropped a rope to us. All of the rope began to fall when all of the rope was on the ground. We stared at that rope for way longer than the time it took Cītlalli to climb up. She went down and grabbed an end of the rope. Climbed back up again. And tied it to a post. After we climbed up the rope, we placed it back and walked as quietly as possible. We hid behind boxes, snuff out many torches, and gathered as much Intel as possible. We realized that their barracks was at the other side of camp. Cītlalli went ahead while me and Coyotl looked for the sleeping quarters or if any civilian lived here. After mapping out the whole area. Confirmed there were no civilians. As we rushed to the outside of that house, two guards appeared right in front of us. We had ducked behind another box. We peaked and they were carrying weapons with full armour on. Coyotl nodded at me and sneaked around the box to get behind them. I realized that he did not carry any weapons on him. He didn't even had full armour on but a black leather tunic. Weird. I supposed he wanted me to handle them while I distracted them. I quickly got up to pounce on them like the jaguar on its prey and... Coyotl was carrying both of them by their backs, fully unconscious. I noticed they had a dent on their helmets. Despite them still holding it, I thought that he may have used their own weapons against them. We then continued to the sleeping quarters and finish the mapping. I had travelled to only parts of it so we needed more time to map out the area. We had hoped it to be similar to our own house but it was much larger. It had a circular corners within a square shape. The walls were high, suggesting that there were more floors. An entrance to a structure beneath the building was also spotted. It seemed my plan was too good to be true. But I noticed the openings I mentioned to my tlatoani. It seems my plan would work if I wanted to give them a decorative piece. We made it to where we came up the wall. Attached the rope. And climbed down. It seems the first time I climbed up the wall, I did not noticed how high up it was. I think to myself I was too distracted. I wanted it to be a quick problem. Have it be done before sunrise. But I hoped too much. As I climbed off the rope, I noticed that Cītlalli was damaging the structures for floods. She was cutting parts of it on the bottom so no one on top of the walls would notice. She broke wood by wood and lazily placed it on top of each other. It then seemed it was never broken. She looked at me and smiled. We might need to add a ramp to your plan. If we can divert the river into the opening from the mountain. We can flood the whole thing in one go. I looked at her with astonishment. She joked that I may not be so good in this and laughed. Me and Coyotl then joined in on the laughter and joined her in breaking the sabotage to the sabotage. After a while, a group of men ran into the house. A few moments go by. And a whole army ran out. We watched in horror that while we planned to scout at the dead of night. They planned to attack. It was not in our rules to attack before the day of war. But as I am a living example of ignoring those rules. Our village maybe in trouble. We rushed up the mountain. Tailing that army. I didn't catched my breath. Felt tired. Or even blinked. I focused all of my strength at that army. When we reached the top of the mountain. The whole army began to turn right for us. We all stood still. Did they spot us? We were distances away. Did one of the guards caught sight of us? Was it the items left by Coyotl that gave us away? We did not know. Before I knew it Coyotl and I flew right to the bush. Carried by Cītlalli. As we hid in that strangely large bush. The whole army passed right by us. Large sounds of marching came right by us. Deafening us. Choking us from the dirt they scattered with their footsteps. We held our breaths. Silently, we peaked out of that large bush. And realized the cave entrance was right behind us. We were on the river itself. Soaking wet. But there was a bush floating on it? Standing completely still? We payed no mind and walked back to camp. It would take them a while to noticed the damage we've done. With enough information, we can formulate a plan with the others back home. Even though my original plan would have to wait. Me and my friends were just glad to be alive. But then we heard a loud scream echoing from the cave. It sounded deep and in pain. I stared in that cave, hoping I misheard it but there it was again. Louder. It sounded like it was speaking something. I couldn't understand it, it could be because of the echoing. I wasn't the only one staring as Cītlalli and Coyotl looked on to that cave as well. We looked at each other. For a brief moment, they looked at me with fear. Not because of the sound, not because of the army in there. But because they knew I was about to say something. Before I could speak, Coyotl said "Quetzal, we didn't want you to come with us because you didn't have to prove to us anything. We have to go back." I looked at him with sincerity. I was about to say yes. Nod. Run away as fast as we could. Back to base. Back to home and regroup with our friends. But before anyone knew it. I ran to that cave. I heard a loud groan. It could've been Cītlalli or Coyotl. But both of them were hard on my tail. We were all soaking wet, cold, scared out of our minds. And we were rushing to inside that large open cave. A village could have made that sound. They could be in trouble. Inside that cave could have been a weapon of some sort that can attack our village. It could've been anything. What we only knew, is if we can put a stop to this.

We sneaked behind stalagmites, rocks, and even small holes. Despite that, we were in a hurry. We had to rush and help them. As we headed deeper and deeper. The scream was getting louder. We were close to becoming deaf. We closed our ears and continued. We noticed not one army was held back to guard the opening. It seems it was all hands on deck. As we finally reached that army. We were once again over the enemy. We looked down to that hole of the cave. It was well lit. There were houses in that hole. Farmlands, livestock, beds, homes. It seemed that this was their village. But not one civilian was there. Nor where there any rushing out. It seemed they were expanding their village. And this was a new part of it. I continued to look around. Marvelling the structures and how they mingled with the cave. I could live here. Heck, I want to live in a place like this. The setting and buildings complemented each other. Not one thing was out of place. I realized they placed more effort to this place than their own defenses. It felt homey. It felt warm despite of how wet and cold I was. Cītlalli on the other hand, seemed drier than all of us though. Then I noticed, Coyotl and her were staring. They had this horrified look to them. Much more than when we were outside. I looked where they were staring. Beyond the houses, beyond the whole village. Deeper on the cave was a hole, not quite as large as the opening on the entrance. But it seemed way larger when I noticed what was in there. I saw the whole army as tiny little specs. Rumbling around like ants. They were circling around this thing. I couldn't make out a shape as I wondered what that structure was. It was strangely humanoid. It was strangely... It was a GIANT. It was a GIANT HUMAN. It looked like it can grab a full grown man in it's hand. It made all of the armies around it like dolls. It was wearing strange clothing. A long sleeved shirt with plumes on its collars. The color of those feathers resembled our sacred bird. It was brown and leathery. But how many animal hides would it have taken to make that. It had an opening, revealing another shirt. It wore a cloth shirt, much like the material from my own ichcahuipilli though it didn't have the same crotched patterns. It was also color white. It wore short pants. Same material as what I'm wearing now, they were maong pants. But a darker brown as well. It's hair was long and much like my own cut. It was a mohawk. But it was colored. Colored like the plumes on her long sleeved shirt. They had it tied down. There I noticed that the large army was down to just a few men. They were frantically keeping the beast in check. With each struggle from the beast, the ropes that tied it down were ripped. But with each rope broken, the few who survived replaced them with ten more. Again and again. The structures they had lying around were broken down for parts. It seemed they were planning to encase the beast in a tomb. Strong enough to encase it. But that plan was only met halfway. They were so busy with that giant that the few there focused all their strength on it. And the giant started to slow down. By the looks of it, it too was getting tired. It seemed that the tomb would not be needed. Entranced by what I saw, I never noticed that it was speaking. From all of the loud shouts, the reverberations from the walls. I hadn't noticed until we were close enough. But it was saying something. It was speaking the same language from the house of wooden mountains!! From all of what I read in that place. All of the words, came from that same language. It was terrifying. Horrific. What if this beast was thousands of years old. What if it were a god of some sort? I focused all I could in translating what it was saying. There I realized it was asking for help. It was asking why they were doing this? It only came to check on something. Why did they attack them? It came in peace? It mentioned its own name. Huitzipulli. It seemed it didn't want to fight. But in the state it was in, it was no wonder its frantic. He must have been surprised when they got the drop on him. That such tiny people could put maneuver and capture him. I do not know who this beast is or if he wants peace. All I could think of at the moment was... People. There were people behind us.

It seemed that a small part of the army left to try and seal the cave itself. Despite the many strengths me and my friends have. That amount of people was more than enough to handle us. I took a quick peak at my friends. It seemed they were planning a way out. How many they could take out. One final show or worse. A plan to get me out. I took a deep breath and analyzed what I could do. Yet I couldn't think straight from the shouting. It kept hurting my ears. I tried my best to think. Until "We can imprison that giant for you" Quetzal said. His friends looked at him with worry. He added, "We could build a structure that would secure that beast as quick as throwing ropes over it". They looked at each other with a puzzled look. But Quetzal kept on talking and said "If we were to die to it, there would be lesser casualties on your side and for us? A better ending than dying to you". The enemy looked worried and looked to each other. It seemed the best option. They wouldn't have to seal the cave and block out the river. They wouldn't have to kill them. They wouldn't even have to abandon the homes they built. It seemed too good to be true. So they pushed Quetzal and the others towards the beast. They used a hidden staircase. It seemed that if this place was ever attacked, the army could only hurl arrows or objects down there. But because of the terrain, they couldn't roll any boulders into that village nor could they carry any objects heavier than arrows. It seemed ingenious. As we walked past the houses and farmlands in the cave. We reached the giant man. He's screams were loud and deep. It seemed like we were facing a demon! With all my courage, I walked closer to the giant. I looked back at my friends and the enemy and said with a straight face. "I have magic, I can cast this giant to sleep. Yet if the slightest mistake was made, it would awoken once more and reek havoc much more ferociously. So, only me and my friends can work on this. You may stay back as we go to work". The enemies happily obliged. They knew that we would not run deeper into the cave system as we may get lost in it and die of starvation. They knew that if they themselves were to fail. Their other comrades would have been given enough time to seal off the cave. So Quetzal and his friends went to work. He told his friends to look busy and build random things, hammer stuff, anything. All to just distract the enemy. While Quetzal would walk into the giant's ear and "chant the magic". As Quetzal reached the giant it looked right at him. His eyes was staring right at the giant. Even from earlier, Quetzal had this weird feeling. A feeling that he knew felt off given the situation. And for the oddest reason the giant showed that it too had that same feeling. Despite it's situation, it seemed to calm down a little. Quetzal walked right to the ear of the giant and whispered. He told it his plan. He told him that he knows the situation it's in. "I'm here to help, I'm a friend" said Quetzal. He tells that there is a whole army at the entrance of the cave. Despite Quetzal not knowing this fact as there are more outside. In the situation he's in, what choice did he have but to lie. He said that they are building a seal on this cave and that the entrance would be blocked out. He then mentions that he can help the giant and together they can both escape. He figured that it would recede into the cave as that was where it was spotted. But if it chose to stay then he knew that if the army were to focus on that giant then he and his friends could escape. Either way, both were good distractions. So he finally asked the giant to be calm and pretend to sleep. He and his friends will release the giant without the army noticing a thing. So the giant listened and did not move. It seemed as if it were dead. Quetzal looked back at the army and they stayed at their place. Though some began circling around them just in case. As Quetzal went to his friends, he saw that Coyotl was bashing a wooden plank with no nails. And Cītlalli whacking a wooden plank to a hammer. He then called his friends and told them a bunch of random stuff on the supposed plan. As he said this, he glanced at the giant and back at his friends quickly. Despite the use of his glance alone would not be enough for anyone else even his fellow villagers. It was more than enough for his friends even with the tense situation. They knew his plan. Cītlalli nodded in disagreement while Coyotl seemed all for it. If it were to fail he believed he could take it on. They then said that the plan coming out of his mouth was a great plan. Cītlalli then gave the most sarcastic tone that the enemies even started to laugh. Coyotl gave in and laughed. And the giant even gave a smile which no one noticed, thankfully. Quetzal on the other hand gave a painful smile and a whimper. They then got to work. They placed the planks and stone attached to one another in a way that it would fall on the giant and trap it quickly. The enemies were impressed and even complemented them which confused Quetzal and Coyotl. While Quetzal and Coyotl worked on this, Cītlalli used her sneaking skills to cut each of the rope without the guards noticing. Each a quick slash from the nail she carried. Not a single one of them were the wiser as me and Coyotl distracted them. We dropped rocks accidentally, bashed objects loudly and randomly. The enemies started to believe we weren't skilled builders. Rude but fair. We had to do this so much as there were millions of ropes on the giant. Enough to cover a whole building. Thankfully, Cītlalli was able to make quick work of a lot of it by sneaking her knife out from time to time. She slashed ropes as quick as a flash of lightning. And when she reached for the other side. Some of the guards began to take notice and charged at her. She disappeared into thin air and went right behind them. She took out two guards at their backs but the others started to pile at her. Coyotl ran right for the army with a rope and threw a rope at her. She then circled the guards once more. Coyotl then grabbed both ends of the rope and pulled as tightly as he could. Incapacitating those guards but more started to swarm at them. I turned our structure at those guards and released the mechanism. It fell right between them and the army. A full fortress was formed. A wall high enough that scaling cannot be done. I then went around and through the door which I broke behind me with a simple kick to the stopper. However, due to the flimsy material, a dedicated warrior can bust through the walls. Such a plan was supposed to buy us enough time as the giant could've handled them while we hid. But there were still so much ropes on that giant. Plenty enough to hold two armies in place. The giant himself was tired from struggling for so long. I looked towards my friends, Cītlalli and Coyotl. They had this biggest frown on them. Before I can speak and apologize, they grabbed me. Hugged me tight. They said that even if I weren't here, they would've done the same thing. Such a wail was worrying, it sounded as if a whole village was being attacked in the cave. Coyotl then said "Thank you for trusting us" in the most sincere way. We hugged each other as tight as we could. Then we heard a loud rumble. A loud snap. Then we heard screaming. A deep grumble. Objects were flying everywhere. Houses, bricks, men. Slashes were heard by it's sheer speed alone. Then total silence. Me and my friends stood silent for so long. It became deafening. Then darkness started to envelop the whole structure. Covering us whole. And what we saw when we looked up. We expected nothing but a large smiling face with teeth as sharp as its own stare. Smiling down at us. We stood there in silence at it. Unsure of what is to happen.

It grabbed the walled mechanism with it's one hand and places it gently at it's side. Freeing me and my friends. The giant then thanked us for freeing it in it's language and left. Retreating deeper into the cave. Each of it's steps were enough to Jake the ground itself. We were simply dumbfounded by all of this. That giant could've eaten them or worse. But it chose to save us. Even so, it struggled for so long it must've been wormed out. Despite the many ropes, it broke through all of it as if it was nothing. We looked at each other. Unsure of what to make of this. I tried to brake the silence and think of a plan. A plan to escape. We stayed there for hours, preparing if there is an army outside. If there is a seal on the cave entrance. We chatted on and on. Until we heard a rumble. The ground was shaking once more. And when we looked where the hint retreated too, we saw it there. It was looming over us. Smiling. It had a weapon much like Cītlalli's main. A staff but instead of a tiny blade at the end, it was a long thick blade. Shining right at us. It had a curved triangle shape. It seemed that it can be used for harvesting. It then speaks "I forgot my weapon. Let's get out of here".