Hammer in the Sand

BR23
January 684

John The Hammer Smith woke up to turmoil in the camp
around him. He had been dreaming about the meeting he had
had with the nomad leader UliqabeMTaal, who had kindly
welcomed John into his tent. John had shown interest in the
desert ruins that the nomads protected, but the nomad leader
had refused entrance, and had promised he would scalp John
and add it to his rug after bathing in the blood of the women
and children of The Dispossessed if he did not leave. John had
left seething at this declaration, but had chosen to stay camped
nearby as the nomads were small in number and surely would
not carry this madness out.
But UliqabeMTaal had finally launched his attack on The
Dispossessed, and had done so on a pitch black night that cut
visibility down to a just a few feet. The previous day had been
unsettled by a sandstorm that had filled much of the ditch dug
around the camp, and his men had spent the rest of the day
trying to quickly empty them out again. They had all been
exhausted by the end of the day, and John had worried that
those on watch would struggle to get through the night without
sleep overtaking them.
John donned his armour quickly with the help of one of his
officers and hurried out of his tent. The nomad attackers were
leaping in and out of the darkness and throwing sand over the
fires, making it even harder for his men to react to the assault.
It was impossible to judge how many attackers there were. He
knew that there were about three hundred or so males in the
nomad camp, but they were not attacking in groups but as
skirmishers in the dark so where should he focus his forces?
He noticed that not all order was lost however. Many of
the warriors were grouping together, even if not with others
from their units. Some were moving to protect the women and
children and others were attempting to fight off the attacking
nomads. He realised that soon he would be in control of an
organised force once more.
UliqabeMTaal was surrounded by a group of a dozen or
more heavily armed nomads, and had used the distractions
around the camp to enable his small force to infiltrate right to
Johns tent. Now he had reached it it was finally time to fulfil his
promise and scalp the ignorant outsider. The ruins were his by
right of conquest and many had died trying to take them from
him. His enemy was stood alone facing away from his force.
His scalp would soon be stitched to the others that covered the
floor of his tent.
John turned to the screaming group of men that emerged
from the darkness and saw at the front of the charge was the
nomad chief. Lifting his hammer above his head he stepped
forward and struck down onto the head of UliqabeMTaal,
which burst under the force of the mighty blow. He stepped
back and prepared to fight his final battle. The remaining
nomads charged in over the body of their dead leader, and
Johns hammer swung over and over, its head causing more
death to the desert men.