CARSON

            The air was dry and hot and sticky as the huge caravan of soldiers made their way towards the rising sun. Carson and his Torchic, Pyro, rode on the back of a Numel towards the front, but whenever Carson looked back, an endless line of spears and armored warriors stretched back far back into the horizon. Their destination: war.

            For the last few months, he had been in Starfall’s good graces. Carson was respectful, and he played innocent quite well. Well enough, it seemed, to earn him a place at the traitor King’s court. When present as Miguel Starfall and his Salamence passed judgment, Carson put on his best smile. Yet inside, his hate for the man who betrayed and overthrew his family grew with each passing day.

            It had begun two weeks ago, on a seemingly normal day at court, when a messenger from the Sands of the Mirage Desert arrived in Lavaridge.

            Carson still remembered their exact words. “They’ve come; an invasion from Foretree.”

            He could still see Starfall’s face contort in anger. “So they finally show their true colors,” he had said. “They took in the King of Slateport to sabotage my rule, and now they’re taking my land. The tree-men will not find me as slow-handed as Carlos Brightflame. I will crush them.” Then he turned to his first general, a man named Edgar with an Altaria. “Ready the armies for war.”

            And now they had been a week on the road. Every night, the whole army would make camp, and Carson and Pyro would have a small tent next to Starfall’s. The traitor king seemed to be rewarding Carson for his good behavior, but the young boy saw through the lie. Everywhere he went, guards trailed him, and there was always a watchful eye on him, and every night, he would eat with the Traitor himself.

            Tonight, they settled on the edge of the jagged passes, where the terrain became less rocky and flatter, and the hard dirt gave way to softer sands. Most of the time, Carson ate in silence. This night was different.

            “This is your first taste of battle, boy?” Starfall asked as he wiped the grease from the roast Grumpig off his chin.

            “Yes,” Carson said. He didn’t even look up from the food. Every time he did, he caught Salamence’s eye. The dragon looked ever hungry, and still it made Carson tremble.

            “Yes, your grace,” Starfall corrected him.

            You will never be my King, traitor, Carson said in his head. “Yes, your grace,” was what he said out loud.

            “It’s important that a boy of high birth be blooded early,” Starfall said matter of factly. “I always told your father that your combat training should have begun earlier. He never listened.”

            Carson knew better than to let his anger get the best of him. He had won more liberties by being calm, collected, and respectful. Deep down, the boy knew Starfall was looking for any reason to get rid of him.

            “Brandon liked the combat. I always liked the strategy,” Carson said.

            “A strange thing, for such a young boy,” Starfall had a glimmer in his eye. “Most boys like you have a sense for adventure, for fighting in winning glory and honor in battle.” He sliced into his roast of Grumpig again and fed it to Salamence. “I was a boy like you, Carson. It wasn’t the fighting, or the glory, or the bloody honor that interested me. It was winning. And look where I am now, I’ve won a throne.”

            It took all of Carson’s power to suppress his anger. Pyro must have sensed his rage, as the little Pokemon chirped softly. I’m nothing like you.

            Just then, Starfall’s General, Edgar, entered the tent accompanied by a man in a turban with a curved sword. “My King,” Edgar said with a low respectful bow. “Word from Chief Sand. This is Fabian Sand, Chief Sand’s nephew and one of his most trusted captains.”

            “Speak,” Starfall impatiently told the man in the turban.

            “It pains me to bring you this news, my King,” said the messenger. “The defenses have failed. The tree-boy and his armies took every strategic foothold between the edge of the Foretree Kingdom and the Mirage Tower…” his voice trailed off.

            Even Carson could tell there was more to this message.

            “And?” Carson heard Starfall ask, softly. He could feel Salamence rumble a low growl in his bones. Carson knew when Starfall spoke softly was the time to be the most cautious. He put his hand on his Spirit Pokémon’s head, and Pyro stopped shaking.

            “…then they took Mirage Tower as well. Chief Sand is being held hostage. It’s only a matter of time before Solomon Forrest controls the entire Mirage Desert.”

            Starfall stared in silence for a moment. Carson could tell there was anger behind is calm eyes, however. Just last week, Starfall had dispatched three hundred men to assist Chief Sand’s forces hold off the Forrests until the whole army could get there.

            “You are Chief Sand’s nephew?” he asked finally.

            “Yes, your grace.” The man in the turban seemed confused.

            “How many men do you command?”

            “Three thousand, your grace.”

            “I could have lived with the tree-boy taking a few outposts in your family’s god-forsaken desert, but the Mirage Tower is the gateway to the rest of the Mt. Chimney Kingdom. Its central location in the desert allows for supply and support to travel freely in the territory. This is major blow to our effort to rid ourselves of Solomon Forrest and his scum. How many men did you lose before your retreat?”

            “S-Seventy, your grace.”

            “Seventy,” Starfall looked at Salamence calmly and stroked the blue dragon’s long neck. “How many tree-men did you defeat before you abandoned your post?”

            The Sand captain swallowed nervously.

            Edgar put a firm hand on the messenger’s shoulder. “The King asked you a question. How many men did you kill before you abandoned your post?”

            “None.”

            Starfall slapped Salamence on the back of the neck and a river of blue flame engulfed the messenger. Carson sat terrified and speechless. Pyro began to tremble under his hand and leapt into the boy’s lap.

            The charred remains of Fabian Sand, a captain of the Mirage Desert, slumped to the ground. A terrible smell filled the stuffy air and Carson closed his eyes as he heard the sickening crunch as Salamence claimed its meal.

            “Edgar, you will take command of his six hundred men. We cannot have cowards who concede strategically unacceptable outcomes to our foes. You are dismissed.”

            “As you command, my King.”

            There was a moment of silence after Edgar left the tent. “Open your eyes, boy,” Starfall said to Carson. “Look at me.”

            He could no longer hide the tears in his eyes. “In three days, the entire might of the Mt. Chimney Kingdom will fall upon the Mirage Tower. Without their trees and shadows to protect them, the boy Solomon Forrest will be smashed. How many men do you think we have?”

            Carson thought back to the long trail of soldiers who followed behind every day. “Thirty-five thousand.”

            “Thirty-seven,” Starfall smiled. “Twenty of my own men from Meteor falls, two thousand from Lavaridge, five thousand from Fallarbor, and ten from the Mirage Desert. If what Edgar says is true, Solomon Forrest only brought twenty thousand men into the Desert. We expect a little more than half of his men to be holding the Mirage Desert as we speak. We outnumber them.”

            Carson flinched as he heard another crunch of bone. “Don’t be afraid, boy, we will win this victory, and send the tree-men back into their gods-forsaken woods.” He chuckled. “And then we will burn their entire Kingdom to the ground.”

            The boy hugged Torchic even tighter to his body. He didn’t know what possessed him to say the next words, but he did anyway. “And what if we lose.”

            Carson expected to be hit, but Starfall’s grin was even wider. “I’m a strategist, remember? Like you, boy.” He patted Carson’s head. “Sometimes the best way to defeat your enemy, is to know what he wants. It just so happens that I believe that I have what Solomon Forrest wants.”

            The next few days, were hot and bright as the desert sun. Finally, the day of battle arrived as the Mirage Tower itself began to loom upon the horizon, there were bloody bodies lying in the sand. Whatever happened here was a slaughter. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of  dead men dressed in turbans and armor bearing the Claydol of House Sand were strewn everywhere, most still with spears and swords and bows in hand.

            Carson had no choice, he was to stay close to Starfall as he commanded his forces from afar. “Forrest thinks he can scare me by placing the dead in our path,” he spat in the sand from Salamence’s back. “In a few minutes, you will have your first taste of battle.”

            The last of the dead bodies were behind them and the only object in Starfall’s path was the Mirage Tower itself. Eventually, all thirty seven thousand men under Starfall’s command spread out in a perimeter around the tall sandstone tower, ready to suffocate the Forrests forces who waited within.

            Edgar flew in on his Altaria. “My King, we wait for your command.”

            “Wait no longer,” Starfall said as he slapped Salamence’s body and the stream of blue flame gave the signal for the armies of the Mt. Chimney kingdom to enclose. Starfall took to the skies as Salamence flapped its mighty red wings. Cries and shouts of men ready for battle erupted all around them.

            Yet then, something curious happened. There were cries coming from behind, as well. When Carson looked, he screamed.

            The dead men in the sand had risen and were rushing Starfall’s men from behind. Carson didn’t understand what was happening. He turned back to look at the tower, Tropius and Flygon emerged from the windows and began attacking the Mt. Chimney men under Starfall’s command.

            Pyro leapt in front of Carson, ready to defend his Spirit Human, when the men who minutes ago were dead passed him by, and others formed a protective circle around him. Carson looked up into the sky. Tropius and Flygon were attacking Edgar’s brigade of Altaria.

            And then, Carson heard the roar of Salamence. He turned in the direction and saw Starfall diving towards his commanders. “It’s a trap! It’s a bloody trap!” he was yelling maniacally.” When he spied Carson, he veered Salamence back around towards him. “The boy! They must not have the boy! KILL HIM!”

            Salamence flew close to the ground, then, breathing blue fire that sent the formerly-dead men around Carson running or dying, and sometimes both at the same time.

            Pyro let out his own small bursts of flame, but it wasn’t enough.  Salamence powered right through them.

            This was the end, Carson knew. Starfall would be defeated by some strange trick, but he would die.  Father, I’m coming to see you, he thought as tears entered his eye. I saved Brandon, though. Brandon is still alive… somewhere.

            Carson could see the whites of Starfall’s eye, and Salamence opened its bloody jaws lined with razor sharp teeth as they zoomed closer and closer to him.

            There was a burst of sand, a green blur, and Salamence’s roar before Carson shut his eyes and braced to hear the sickening crunch of the dragon feasting on his flesh and bone.