Blood Fang: Chapter 3: Tucumcari

It had been months of politics in the lands that were once known as New Mexico.  The cactus election was never ending, with Larry the cactus disputing everything.  The ballots, the writings, the participants, the poll workers, every single possible thing was disputed.  And thus, every other cactus not named Larry faced a dilemma, which needed a solution.  In a land without humans, where animals were now the dominant species, the role of plants were now changed.  Every cactus through the entire state had had it, and wanted the insanity to end.  A grand gathering was called in the desert lands just north east of where the human city of Tucumcari once stood.  The rolling sandy hills soon began to be disturbed, as hundreds of cacti began to emerge from deep within the earth.  Once all had gathered, roll was taken, and the meeting began. 

Larry rose to the center of the gathering, and made a passionate case of why he should be declared the winner.  There were groans, but the gathered plants stayed respectful.  Cactikakos then rose to the center of the gathering beside Larry and began to speak.  “Like all of you, I am tired of this never-ending political nonsense!  I just want this to end, therefore as county commissioner elect …. I….”  The rebutia cactus with pink flower shouted, “you are not the county commissioner elect!  You never won, I won, I won, I won, I won.”  The gathered cacti all began to shout in unison, “SHUT UP LARRY! LET HIM SPEAK!”  The small cactus quieted down, and Cactikakos bowed slightly to the group.  “Thank you, as I was stating before … under New Mexico state law, I am authorized to do the following.  I will vacate my position as County Commissioner, effective once the sun sets on this day.”

The rebutia started to bounce excitedly, he had finally won!  But then his ego was deflated when the next words were spoken by the young saguaro cactus.  “The humans who once filled these lands are gone.  The country of which they served, is gone.  The works of the humans are gone.  The land is once more the dominion of plants, animals, and insects.  What need do we have for a county commissioner?  Citing New Mexico Statue 34.27.56.99 … when a gathering of eligible voters exceeds one hundred, the county laws can be changed by simple majority vote.”  Kekti stood silently listening, and would have grinned if he had been able to.  What was being proposed was the dis-incorporation of government.  No more elections, no more politics, just peace.  “I move to proceed with debate, may I get a second?”  A hundred cacti shouted in unison, “SECONDED!”  Cactikakos asked, “opposed?”  Larry shouted, “opposed!”  The small cactus was the only one who spoke, which the county commissioner elect nodded in agreement, “motion carries.”

The gathering through a series of votes agreed to decree Larry, county commissioner for life effective with the rising of the sun tomorrow.  The rebutia was positively ecstatic.  The next vote then stripped the commissioner of all powers, duties, and responsibilities.  It made the position a title only, responsible for ensuring that the sun rose and set every day.  The county government was then dissolved.  There were no debts to settle, since all the money disappeared along with the humans.  The taxes were set to 0%, since they had no infrastructure to maintain, nor any employees left.  Larry proposed some enhancements to his title and abilities, but they were each voted down by sizable majorities.  And as the sun began to sink towards the western skies, the end of their political problems was finally fixed.  The cacti agreed upon a system of pure democracy, where the majority would rule.  Deadlock situations would be decided accordingly, via a series of majority votes.  There would be no leaders, as each cactus held equal voting power.  Even Larry had voting power, he represented 1/100^th of the cactus voting pool. 

In the days that followed, the cacti returned back to their respective homes throughout the state.  With the election finally over, a sense of relief spread throughout the land.  It was interrupted for a short duration when Larry went on a victory campaign tour.  The rebutia visited the others, and thanking them for making him county commissioner for life.  The cacti humored him, and when he would wander off, they snickered.  Kekti and Cactikakos were still outside of Tucumcari, looking at a series of human buildings that were crumbling into dust.  Kekti sighed in relief, “that election is finally over.  How many recounts did we have?”  Cactikakos laughed, “67 recounts … plus 23 signature audits, 14 forensic audits, 12 door to door canvases, and 2 special blue ribbon fact finding panels … but who’s counting?”  The 2 friends travelled through the sand, leaving a trail behind them, as they surveyed the land.  The desert sands had reclaimed the human lands once more.  With no irrigation, the non-native plants withered and died.  What remained were desert grasses, cacti, and native desert flowers with their pale colors withered by the heat of the sun. 

The two desert plants had stopped outside of what was once a miniature golf course.  The metal loop de loops were still visible, but rusting badly.  Suddenly, the ground shook beneath their roots, as an ancient saguaro cactus shot up from under the ground.  Kekti turned a bit towards the direction that Cactikakos was facing.  Both quickly saw that one of the appendages had been ripped off.  Water and sap were leaking out from the wounds, resulting in the two younger cacti to shout. “Jose!  Are you alright?”  The cactus whimpered, “si amigo Kekti, amigo Cactikakos.  A wolf ripped off one of my arms!  There are hundreds of them heading in this direction, we have to warn the others!”  Kekti wiggled out of concern, “why did they attack you?”  Jose started to wiggle as well, “I don’t have any idea!  I was just standing there, watching silently, when dozens decided to start attacking for no reason.  I was able to escape, but Maria was not able to.”  Cactikakos whimpered, “not Maria …she always was so happy.  The desert hares would come from all around to hear her sing.  Why would there be wolves coming here?” 

Kekti grumbled, “this makes no sense … stay here and rest Jose.  We will warn the others.”  The ancient saguaro nodded, and watched as the two younger ones quickly slipped underneath the sand covered ground.  “I remember when I used to be able to move that fast.”  Jose said while bending a bit to see the extent of his injuries.  The watery sap that was flowing out had started to slow.  The cells within his plant body’s structure had started to heal themselves.  In the distance, faint howls echoed on the winds from the north east.  Jose turned slowly, “oh no …”  The lead edge of the wolves could just be seen crossing the desert.  They were trotting along twenty across, and countless more of the foul animals were following behind.  The injured cactus turned and tried to move forward, but pain began to shoot throughout his entire body.  Jose knew he had to flee, but his body was not responding.  His injuries were too severe, and travel was not possible.  Jose had watched over these lands since he was little, when the Mexican armies patrolled the land, and all feared their military might.  All that could be done was to make a stand, thus he puffed out his needs in all directions.  “¡Venid a mí, criaturas inmundas!” 

The leading edge of the wolves were the gray natural wolves.  These were the original wolves that had heeded the call to fight the bears and their demon mother in the cold lands of the north.  However, along the way wolves that travelled the desert lands had joined up.  They were gray too, though their coats of fur were much less densely packed.  Silver Fang was padding along the flank of his forces, watching as all of their tongues were sticking out as they panted.  Water was of vital importance, as his forces were starting to succumb to the desert conditions.  Blood Fang had informed them that cactus contained water, and when they happened on a strand of cacti, the wolves began to obtain the water held within by biting chunks out of the needle covered trunks.  However, after the first couple had been tapped, the strange plants then suddenly sunk into the ground and disappeared.  There was a soil disturbance where the plant once stood, and a hole that went down a fair distance.  This confused the wolves, as well as their coyote cousins.      

Blaze the coyote barked out, “hey look boys … there’s that one we ripped a branch off earlier!  What’s it doing out here?”  The Alpha wolf nodded, “an excellent question.  EVERYONE, surround that cactus!”  The wolf and coyote forces started to separate, and then began to form a circle around the injured plant.  Silver Fang weaved his way between the wolves, and up to the cactus which stood close to fifteen feet tall.  “Now … how did you manage to get all the way out here?”  The white fur alpha spoke with a curious tone.  To the shock of all, the cactus began to speak, “¡venid a mí, criaturas inmundas!”  The wolves’ mouths dropped open, and stared in disbelief at the talking cactus.  No one understood what the strange plant was saying, and could hear many other words that held no meaning to them.  There was one exception: Blood Fang, who grinned as he strode up to the cactus and laughed evilly. “My Spanish is a bit rusty …. come at me … foul creatures?  Bold words for a dying plant, now tell me … where is the world chain?” 

The ancient saguaro turned slightly to address the smoke-filled beast, “I will never tell you.  Go back to wherever you came from.  These lands belong to our kind once more, now that the humans have disappeared.”  Silver Fang pawed at the trunk of the cactus, in a spot where there were not too many needles.  “Hmm … you seem to be losing needles my prickly friend.  How about you tell us what we need to know, and we leave you alone?”   The alpha noticed the water was pouting out of the cactus once more, and one of his arm-like appendages was shrinking.  The loss of fluid was resulting in the plant withering and losing mass.  Jose knew he had nothing to lose, and decided to make the first strike.  The cactus moved in a way that the wolves did not expect, and quickly was able to bend at the trunk.  Like a huge fly swatter, he landed hard on several wolves and stuck his needles deep into their flesh.  The wolves howled in pain, and watched as the cactus started to move just as quick in the opposite direction.  Soon he was whacking any wolf that was within range, and their blood dripped from his needles. 

The angry plant was screaming in whatever language the cactus spoke originally.  The wolves all leapt back, save for the unfortunate ones that were within range of the initial strike.  They laid on the hot desert sand whimpering, as the needles had been embedded into their flesh.  But the injured noticed that with each attack, it was losing needles, and soon the large appendages no longer caused bleed damage only blunt.  The opportunistic wolves noticing this, rushed in from all sides and began to bite chunks out of his sides and arms.  Once the watery interior of the plant was revealed, they sucked hard to draw out the water stored deep within.  The cactus could feel his life slipping away, and within minutes, he collapsed onto the ground.  Blood Fang watched as each wolf took turns drinking the scant water that remained within the plant.  Howling a warning note, “we must be careful with these cacti.  They possess abilities I was not aware of.  I suspect that they must have absorbed energy from the world chain.”  

The alpha wolf nodded, “I concur Blood Fang.”  The white fur wolf strode up, and pawed at the injured.  “Get up, the needles will fall out eventually.”  The wolves once again began to move, as the hot sand burned their paws.  Slightly refreshed from the infusion of water, the group continued to head towards the south west.  The injured wolves limped along, eventually falling to the rear of the pack.  After an hour or so, Silver Fang eventually located what was an oddly shaped trench.  “This is strange, looks like a human made thing … it seems to stretch on a fair distance.”  The words spoken by the alpha resulted in one black wolf to shoot off ahead of the pack.  “HEY! YOU GET BACK HERE NOW!”  The excited former human realized what it was: an irrigation ditch.  The white fur leader howled, and signaled to increase the place, and pack began to pick up the pace.  Soon the air became less arid, with a touch of moisture.  The irrigation ditch which was dry, soon turned wet, and a trickle turned into flowing water.  Once water began to appear, many wolves rushed to begin to drink, until a warning howl by the alpha to fall back in line.    

The pack began to see why their former human counterpart was so excited.  The ditch was connected to a fairly sizable lake, which once served as the source of water for the human city.   Silver Fang caught up to the excited black wolf, and started to scold him for running ahead.  The lake was enormous, full of water, and even birds were flying around overhead.  The thirsty wolves let their instinct take over, and fanned out along the shoreline.  Soon the wolves were lined up shoulder to shoulder, and had begun to drink deeply.  The water tasted so good, and their dry mouths started to feel normal once more.  Blood Fang slowly strode up, “ahh, this lake will do nicely.  We can make this our base of operations, while searching for the world chain.  In the desert, water is life, food is secondary.”  The creature grinned as he saw that the need for water had resulted in Silver Fang succumbing to its effects as well.  The alpha had his snout deep under water, drinking as much water as his belly would hold. 

Picking his head up, the white fur wolf’s ears perked up as he watched for strange moving cacti.  Turning to face the smoke-filled creature, “yes … these watery shores will serve our purposes nicely.  Sadly though, these waters seemed to be much higher long ago.”  A former human wolf looked up from drinking, “back in my human days, I used to run weapons in this area.  Bad droughts, lasted for years, made most of the lakes dry up.  The city fixed it by drilling a well.”  Silver Fang turned to look at the wolf, “oh?  And how did that work out?”  The human laughed, “well…then the city started to sink, since the water was holding up the ground.  They fixed that by injecting concrete.  I also tossed in a few bodies as well, when they weren’t looking.  Good times … too bad Larinda is not in town anymore … stupid witch could cook tamales better than anyone else.”

The former human looked confused, “what the fruit?  Why can’t I swear?”  The wolfpack members started to laugh amongst themselves, because every time they tried to swear, a different word came out.  Blood Fang laughed, “I see the so-called Great Spirit, in his infinite wisdom, has deemed certain words not allowed.  Yet another reason why his tyranny must be stopped!”  The alpha looked up, “I never understood the use of those words.”  The smoke-filled creature nodded, “humans would use them to express strong feelings.  Some humans tended to overuse them, and made up nonsensical new words of curse as well, when the original ones lost their effect.  Well … let us see if the distinguished gentleman of suboptimal intelligence whose mate drives a box on wheels, and calls himself the so-called Great Spirit, can figure out this slight?”  The wolves looked confused, well except Tyler, who started laughing hysterically.  The former human padded aro8und and explained what the wolf creature meant.  Once all had realized the wolf had called the so-called Great Spirit a dumb mother trucker, all began to howl in laughter. 

Day faded into night, and as the wolves rested along the shores of the quiet lake, the skies were full of nocturnal life.  A dozen owls were flying overhead, making passes over the vast army of predators camped around the lake.  Silently they flew, making several passes, before flying off in many directions.  Blood Fang watched it all, with unblinking blood red eyes.  The creature knew what was going on, and the owls were tracking their progress.  What the creature did not know was: why they were doing this?  Owls were children of Luna as well, bless with the ability to see at night.  Yet they held reference for the Great Spirit, despite the would-be god’s many failures regarding this world.  The wolf like creature watched as the skyborne watchers departed, and nodded to himself.  Muttering under his breath, “this will prove troublesome.”

A safe distance away, a gathering of twenty cacti were wiggling in a highly agitated state.  Kekti had rounded up the group in the area, and explained what happened to Jose and Maria.  There was a full reverberation deep within each plant’s trunk at the same time, which meant Jose had fallen.  The cacti could feel when one of their own would pass on.  No one knew exactly how, or why for that matter, they were able to do so.  Only that the cacti would feel a tremendous need to gather around a large rock boulder every thirteen full moons.  The young saguaro made a passionate case to the others, saying they needed to flee the area.  The group listened, and other ideas were presented.  Perhaps if they just spoke to the wolf leaders, they would agree to leave them alone?  As the ideas flowed, and a never-ending debate ensued, one cactus slipped beneath the desert sands un-noticed. 

Larry the rebutia had figured out what Cactikakos had done, and was not pleased at all.  The liar, cheater, and thief, figured out a way to win.  Larry was a winner, not a loser, and would show everyone that he indeed was the winner.  He would go to the wolves, and negotiate directly.  The cactus blowhard was so sure of himself, that he fantasized about the cheers and adoration on his fellow cacti.  The rebutia cactus, due to his size and shape, could move even quicker through the earth than his larger saguaro cousins.  In minutes, the ground soon was disturbed in front of the smoke like creature, and he appeared.  Fluffing out his pink flowers, and speaking with a voice quaking with excitement, he addressed the wolves.  “Hello every wolf, I am Larry.  I am the county commissioner for the glorious state of New Mexico.  I bid you welcome to our desert lands.”

Blood Fang looked down as the cactus emerged from the ground, and the small cactus began to speak.  He did not respond at first, because he just wanted to laugh.  Once the creature had composed himself, his blood red eyes locked onto the round actus.  “Thank you for the warm welcome Larry, my name is Blood Fang.  I am second in command of the combined wolf pack.  Silver Fang, our leader is surveying our forces.”  The cactus nodded somehow and waved his flowers at the large smoke-filled wolf.  “I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Blood Fang.  My fellow cacti have been wondering, why are your forces here in our lands?”  The creature nodded, “an excellent question.  We are searching for a large rock, of which magic seems to flow from.  We believe this rock to be the source of a great evil, that must be defeated.”

The rebutia wiggled, “hmm, I see.  Well, there are several rocks like that within our lands.  I have seen the owls flying into them, but they do not come back out for a long time.  A long time ago there was even an owl carrying a hedgehog that came out.  They were on a grand adventure, and left with the desert hares on a flying vessel of some sort.”  Blood Fang nodded, “I see.  These magic rocks are ways for the owls to travel I assume?  They are connected to the great evil that is within the land.  If you were to show us the location of these rocks, our wolf forces can exorcise it from within the land.”  The creature was lying, but using words sweet with honey, to confuse the overly confident plant.  Larry looked up at the wolf creature, “I have heard that two of my fellow cacti were attacked by your forces.  Can you please explain why?”  The creature grinned, “they had become enslaved to the great evil within the land.  The evil calls out, and corrupts all that comes close to it.  Friends become enemies, and the land withers until it eventually dies.  The two saguaros had lived the longest, and their corruption was near total.”

Larry started to excitedly talk about the election, about he was the true and rightful winner.  The cactus was so loud and angry, that it woke up many wolves who all stared with confused looks.  Blood Fang listened to it all, and learned many very useful things, and nodded.  After the cactus quieted down, the creature spoke once more.  “I see, so if I understand correctly, Cactikakos and Kekti stole the election from you.  They turned the other cacti against you, and disbanded the government?  That is terrible!  You are the rightful ruler of this land, and we can assist you with reclaiming your throne.  Why should you settle for a human created county commissioner position, when you can be king.  Your rule can be absolute, and unquestioning!”  The rebutia wiggled excitedly, “you’re right!  I deserve to be king!  It is my birthright!  I will show you to the stones, and with your help, I will cleanse the evil from within the land!  The other cacti will see that the words and actions of Kekti and Cactikakos are false, and we will execute them!”  Blood Fang grinned, “we look forward to a fruitful partnership … King Larry.” 

A white fur wolf approached, and looked down at the pink flowered cactus, and then up at the wolf like creature.  “Blood Fang, what is this?”  The smoke-filled creature nodded, “may I present to you, King Larry … ruler of all cacti in the desert lands.  He has informed me, there are several locations of which we need to investigate.  King Larry, may I present to you Silver Fang, alpha wolf, and leader of the combined wolfpacks.”  The rebutia cactus waved his pink flowers at the alpha wolf, “a pleasure.  I look forward to our partnership to exorcise the evil that plagues my kingdom.  The first stone is not too far from here actually, just on the setting sun’s direction of this lake.”  Blood Fang nodded, “may we please go there at once, Silver Fang?”  The alpha nodded, “take twenty of the former humans with you, just in case.”  The wolf creature howled, “I need twenty black wolves to come with me, we are heading to the opposite side of the lake.”  As requested, the black wolves started to stand, and pad through the crowd of resting brethren, to reach the wolf like creature.

The small cactus would sink under the ground, and pop back out of the ground repeatedly.  The wolves followed the trail being left by their royal guide, and they circled the lake in a short period of time.  As the sun was just starting to rise in the eastern skies, the cactus appeared beside a large granite boulder and waved his flowers at the approaching wolves.  Blood Fang strode up, and placed his paw on the surface of the rock.  “Yes, there is evil within this rock.  I can use it though, to trace the source of the malevolence.”  The red eyes disappeared, as the creature began to concentrate.  He could see the swirling energies.  The rock connected to another rock, that was surrounded by a huge lake.  From the angle of the sun, which was already in the sky, this was far to the east of here.  The creature opened his eyes, “the rocks are connected to one another.  This leads to the rising of the sun, in the center of a huge body of water…” 

The creature trailed off, as he began to see images of various animals using the magical tunnel.  Owls, eagles, a raven, and a small brown quill covered creature.  Focusing in on that, the critter was wearing a mining helmet, and a backpack full of tools.  Echoey words floated around, “Alabaster … will this take us to your home?  No, Pudgy this will take us to the human lands to the setting sun.”   Blood Fang narrowed his eyes, “Alabaster …. Pudgy … hmm …”  The vision disappeared, replaced by a new white owl calling out to an eagle in front of her.  “Are you sure you have the dragon’s soul?”  The eagle replied, “yes, we will take the former human Cobalt to our leader Silver Claw.”  The words and visions were soon gone, which resulted in the wolf creature howling louder than anything the others had ever heard.  The smoke-filled creature raised his paw high in the air, and then slammed it down on the boulder.  The boulder shattered, and a dull thump could be felt surrounding them. 

What had been done, was the ley line connection had been severed from the surface world.  As the creature turned, he looked down at Larry.  “This source of evil has been cleansed, where is the next?”  The rebutia nodded, and started to explain where the other stones were located.  One by one, the ever-growing cadre of wolves started to fan out and destroy the connection points in the desert lands.  Blood Fang had stopped speaking, and would get a strange look each time he would cleanse the rocks.  As the days passed, the force had covered the eastern half of the state.  Most of the various ley line connections were severed, cutting the desert lands off from the rest of the world.  Silver Fang was losing patience, and was miserable in the hot desert sun.  He became increasingly angry, as his combined wolf pack was being pulled in a myriad of directions.  Blood Fang was able to calm his nerves, with a honey tongue, and words of praise filled adoration.  The rebutia had one more location for them to investigate, a central rock that all cacti were called to every thirteen full moons.  The King of all cacti explained that he did not know why, but all would attend and stand silently until the morning. 

The tiny cactus disappeared, then reappeared, as he led the wolves.  Silver Fang looked at the wolf like creature, “I grow tired of these hot and terrible lands.  This is the last stone, and then I am leading our forces eastwards.”  The smoke-filled creature nodded, “it is the last stone.  This is the world chain location.  It is strange, that instead of animals utilizing its power, the plants seemed to have absorbed the magic held within these desert lands.”  The white fur alpha grumbled, “and what will happen to our arrogant friend here, when you destroy the chain?”  Blood Fang grinned, and made a quieting noise, as the rebutia stopped and wiggled his flowers.  The wolves slowed down, and could see that rocks had covered the ground.  Larry turned to face the wolves, “I do not have the ability to cross rock.  I regret, I must stay here.  I wish I could have helped you further to vanquish the evil.”  Blood Fang nodded, “I understand.  Thank you, King Larry, for all of your assistance.  We shall endeavor to vanquish the evil without you.  All wolves, raise your heads and proclaim Larry …King of the Cacti!”  The wolves howled in unison, and called out, “HAIL LARRY!  KING OF THE CACTI!” 

The sound filled the air, and floated on the winds.  But what the wolves and their traitorous plant did not know, was that saguaro cacti were watching from afar.  They quickly sunk beneath the sands, and travelled as quickly as they could manage.  Upon reaching their destination, the desert plants moved into position.  A circle had formed of 97 cacti of all shapes and sizes.  The two young cacti panted as they moved to their spots in the sand.  “Larry …is leading the wolves.  They are proclaiming him King of the Cacti and the desert lands.”  The others in attendance all started to wiggle in a highly agitated state.  Words were spoken in anger, too terrible to be written.  Not even the Great Spirit’s cosmic censoring would suffice to shield one’s sensibilities.  When the anger had calmed, Kekti slid out into the middle of the circle and began to speak. 

“I am Kekti, and I move to proceed to a vote.  Larry has been a pain, but we did not think he would betray us like this.  I do not propose judgement on him at this time.  We must know his side of the story, before a decision can be made regarding his status.  But if the wolves are successful in destroying that stone, our connection to this world will be severed.  All cacti will cease to exist.  I propose a declaration of war, and we will defend the stone from the wolves.”  The cacti were silent, until Cactikakos spoke clearly from his position on the circle.  “A declaration of war requires a simple majority vote.  I second the war authorization vote.  Please state your name, and if you vote yes or no.  I will tally the votes.”  One by one, the ninety-seven cacti voted.  The tally was 91 yes, and 6 no.  The no votes were those that could not fight, due to their age.  The risks were high, that many would not return after this fight, and they did not want to see any get hurt.  If the connection was severed, they would return to Gaia to be reborn elsewhere.  Kekti wiggled, “the vote having been passed by super majority, war is now declared upon the wolves.  Now, what should we do about Larry …. capture or destroy?”   A second vote was taken, with ninety-seven votes to capture, everyone wanted to really know why the rebutia had decided to do what he did?  With the votes taken, and plans laid, ninety-one cacti all sunk into the ground at once.  The vibration within the earth was tremendous, and if the seismometers were still working, would have registered a 3.0 on the Richter scale. 

The cacti were moving at a speed that seldom was used.  Their travel was single file, underneath the sands, made it look like a great worm was burrowing beneath the land.  When travelling in this formation, it greatly cut down on the friction resistance from the sand.  Unbeknownst to them, they passed under a flank of wolves, who all started to howl as the ground shook beneath their paws.  The vibrations were so strong, that some predators even fill onto their sides.  Far to the north of Tucumcari was a vast stretch of desert, that was flanked on the western skies by a mountain ridge.  The desert plants did not know about the world chain, only that this place was precious to them, and it must be defended.  In time, they reached their destination, and began to explode out of the ground.  They formed a circle around the base of the rock, and puffed out their needles in all directions.  Cactikakos called out, “stand strong everyone!  We must defend this point no matter the cost!”

In the distance, the wolves were approaching.  Their numbers too numerous to count, looked as if a great darkness was spreading across the southern horizon.   The cacti called out positions, with Kekti facing towards the rising sun direction.  The Gray wolves were approaching from that direction.   A young cactus called out from the north, watching as hundreds of barking coyotes were coming rom that direction.  There was only one side their enemies were approaching from: the west.  The mountains formed a natural defense against the predators.   The howls filled the air, and as the sun rose to its highest point in the skies, the cacti readied themselves for battle.  Cactikakos called out, “I see something massive.  It’s a wolf made of smoke, with red eyes!  What in Gaia’s name is that?”  The other cacti looked on, and watched as the creature was walking in front of a legion of black fur wolves.  Their eyes were wild, and teeth bared as they snarled towards the plants. 

Blood Fang called out, “I see our cacti friends have joined us.  You king commands you to let us pass, we must cleanse this land of the evil within.”  Cactikakos called out in a defiant tone, “Larry does not speak for us.  We have voted, and war has been declared.  We will not move, and will defend this place with our lives!  Go back to whence you came!”  The wolf like creature grinned, “my former human friends …can you please inform our plant friends of our intentions?”  The wolves howled and lunged forward, teeth bared and claws extended.  The cactus stood their ground, and when a wolf was in range, would be immediately clobbered by needle covered arms.  The battle for Tucumcari had begun.