Homecoming

An Athena Colony Story

By: Stephanie Lafond

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The guardian southern troupe of the eastern road responded to the frontier on the 5th day of ninth month in a forty-kilometer forced march to interdict an incursion by multiple triads of great dragons, huge herbivores that can graze crops and orchards to stubble while trampling everything in their path. They were successful in their interdiction efforts but suffered heavy casualties from theropods, fearsome predators that follow the great dragons to prey on smaller dragons. They might have been wiped out completely, except for the timely arrival of the guardian northern troupe of the eastern road and the guardian southern troupe of the river.
The southern troupe of the eastern road was relieved from duty on the 6th day of 9th month to transport their casualties back to First Landing, while other the troupes held the line of the frontier. They ran the gauntlet of predators that leaked past the defensive line at the frontier to arrive where they had begun the previous day. They still have one more day’s travel to reach the capital.