TALLFIN:

PART 1

In the Dark of night Blue Lobster Commando Tallfin slipped through the shadows of the Dimly lit medieval town. Three other shadowy young figures moved behind him, and one in front. The figure in front of him was easily identified as Blue Lobster Commando second in command Trichier Arne. With bits of his blue armor beginning to show spots of red, it seemed his career in the elite unit was almost over, as no Lobster was allowed to serve after his armor "reddened." The Lobster was highly respected, and had had quite a career, however he did not hide his disappointment with never getting to lead the elite unit. That position, which he had thought his, had gone to a younger Lobster, who Arne clearly thought inexperienced.

For a moment Tallfin wondered weather he would ever reach such a rank. But then, a clap of distant thunder reminded him of their "mission." Even the youngest commandos thought it a ridiculous mission, much better suited to a lower unit. A sentry lobster had disappeared, and apparently was "spotted" being taken off by a pair of armed humans. Such occurrences were not much concern to the safety of the entire Lobster Kingdom, and most likely the sentry was simply rejecting his duty and off partying with some humans. In any case, the five Lobsters had been called to the mission by Arne himself, odd considering he usually considered all but the most important missions an insult to his rank, with a strange speed, hours actually, and had already in only several days had caught up with what they thought were the human culprits. They silently moved along behind the suspect criminals, along through some muddy roads, and finally to a small wooden house in the more rundown part of town.

As the suspect criminals opened the door light for the first time poured into his eyes, and Tallfin after his eyes quickly adjusted noticed, that although not exactly out in the open, they were not nearly as hidden as they should have been, and would be surely noticed by anyone that looked around with anything more than a glance. Some of the light from the door had reached them, and their shiny blue armor reflected the light, almost to a glare. However, Arne didn’t seem to have any desire to take better cover, and Tallfin guessed that if their leader was not worried, they were surly hidden well enough. The light also for the first time, allowed him his first clear view of the humans. Both were in the mainland human coat of arms, although the men themselves seemed rather scraggly in comparison to their highly prestigious suits. The one in front was rather tall, and had a brown frizzy beard, and his orange eyes were gleaming under eyebrows stuck in a bit of a sarcastic expression. He wore a sword, held in place by several short chains, a rather odd design, even for the humans. Next to it in a more convenient leather sheath, was a large dagger. His right arm, though not limp, seemed stuck in a permanent position, and was for the most part hidden by his brown cloak. His companion, was notably shorter, and stooped over, his eyes merely a dark shadow under his large erratic brows. He carried on his back, as Tallfin had previously noted, a bag, but now he noticed a slight twitching in the bag, at first which he thought due to wind, or some other natural occurrence, but soon he noticed it was moving, from the inside.

The scraggly figures quickly stepped inside building, the door shut, and once again darkness covered the five small blue forms. Realizing that even if this was too small a job for them, a Lobster was almost definitely in mortal danger, Tallfin moved up to his respected commander. "For salt’s sake we ought to do something".sir!" Arne looked back thoughtfully for a moment, then replied in a calm tone, "Relax solider, and don’t forget your place in this unit. I don’t think there’s anything about this whole deal. Most likely they have a chicken or something, and I’m sure it’d be good eats." He apparently found this a bit funny, as he chuckled a bit at it. However he was suddenly overtaken in his humor by quite notable deep laughing from inside the house. It grew until Arne could apparently take no more, and declared "I’m going in...alone! Hold here, till I settle this deal!" Before his order could be acknowledged or protested he quite noisily charged up to the house, took out his spear, and with surprising strength, even for a Lobster Commando, tore open the door with one strike. With a battle cry he entered, only seconds later to be followed with a shriek. Except it was his shriek, not the humans. The door slammed and immediately, and without talk, the four remaining lobsters rushed toward the house, only to find that already the door had been reinforced and permanently closed as far as they were concerned.

The door however was the least of their problems. From the house behind them seven completely clad human knights suddenly emerged, and the houses being conveniently being at a dead end, the Lobsters were undoubtedly trapped. Quite startled at the sudden change in situation, and lightly armored due to the low profile of the mission, the four commandos panicked. One tried to flee around the corner through which they had came, and when another cry came from that direction, it was known that wasn’t the way to escape. The three remaining had no choice but to fight it out. The seven humans closed in on their position, and as Tallfin glanced at his for-now surviving comrades, he knew he wasn’t going to see Lobsto’ ever again.

Sir Rouge of the Human Air-Knights Division flew through the misty dawn heading back to the Dragon base near the city of Aquath. His dragon glided with surprising grace for a creature of its size, currently over the mouth of the River Beber. Rouge was returning from a long and rather uneventful patrol for the evil raiding Snoopergoops, along the borders of the Large Lands. He would be glad when he got home, but it looked like that would have to wait for just a bit longer. His dragon was tiring, and with the river being the beast’s first fresh water source for days, Rouge felt rather obliged to land for a break at the next practicable spot, which happened to be a small island in the middle of the River.

Slowly the dragon lowered, flapping it’s wings and causing the some of the dirt of the island to kick up into the air. Once the beast had thumped down Rouge dismounted, and unpacking his canteen from the supplies hooked to the Dragons side, went and sat down at the river himself. He was glad the storm had stopped; it had been rather unpleasant, not to mention dangerous the night before. As Rouge looked about and drank from the fresh water, he heard a ruffling from the foliage behind him. Looking back over his shoulder he thought it might be a boar or other wild creature which somehow existed on these small islands. However, as he peered back he noticed the point of a spear poking out from the bushes. Spears were not in human style at the time, and had not been ever, as far a any human could remember. There were tales of great spear-using human Empires which had existed on the large lands long ago, but what had become of them nobody knew; if they had ever existed at all. The only race in the Known World which used spears by default was the Lobster. Getting up, and taking his sword which was also latched onto his dragon, he called out "I see ye! Get out from your cover!"

After a considerable pause, a blue Lobster slowly emerged, dragging carefully, another blue Lobster behind him, which seemed unconscious, or nearly so. Sir Rouge looked at the Lobsters, surprised. "Hello there. Have you been in a water monster accident? Or did a Dragon find you? The conscious blue Lobster merely stared back. "Your friend there, he looks rather hurt, as I far as I can see. Would you like some help? Still no response by the rather dirty, but still impressive lobster. Rouge continued "I can fly you back to one of the outer Lobster outposts if you’d like. There’s no need to hide back there. Your safe, your in Human Lands! Only the Large Lands and beyond are to be feared. Come, Let Sir Rouge take you back to your homeland." The Lobster’s eyes suddenly showed a expression of great surprise, realizing for the first time, that this Air- Knight was the famed Sir Rouge, defender of both the Human and Lobster Kingdoms. Still silent, the lobster nodded, and plopped him and his friend up onto the back of the great dragon.

In one of the great marble rooms of the main Lobster Castle, situated on Lobsto’ Island, Smael Waterleed, the young commander of all the Lobster Blue Commandos paced nervously. The deadline of when the Commandos were supposed to return had passed by a full 24, hours, and no scouts reported any sightings of them. He was terrified. The first assignment of the Commandos under his command looked to be possibly the first commando failure in many years. The king would not respond happily to this. The commandos, Smael feared, like himself, were too young and too inexperienced. Only Arne had had mission experience out of the entire squad. The peace had lasted a long time, major invasions from the large lands were rare, and it seemed the Blue Lobster Commandos were no longer the elite unit of the past. Smael himself wondered if he was of the quality required of such a position in the lobster kingdom. Turning to one of the large circular windows that occupied all the great rooms, he sighed, and watched the fish swim by. (Most of the great rooms were underground) Suddenly a messenger rushed into the room. "Commander Waterleed, two of them have arrived back at a border outpost!"