Crossing the Pond

Tilpoca clacked some beads across on his abacus as he worked out the calculation. He was squatting down by one of the pools in the city. His calculations were to work out how much longer it would take to construct the new building. In front of him the work teams were working tirelessly. Stegadons were hauling massive carts filled with great slabs of stone. They were met by groups of Kroxigors, who would lift the stone from the cart and move it into place. Darting among them were scores of skinks, overseeing all and directing the larger reptiles.
Tilpoca’s calculations were interrupted when a shadow fell over his tablet. Looking up to see who was blocking his light he was most surprised to see Izquitzin, one of the highest ranking Skink Priests in the city.
“Tilpoca,” the old skink said in a raspy voice, “walk with me.” Tilpoca set down his abacus and stood up. Falling into step beside the priest the two walked away from the construction site. “It has been known a long time that you were destined for greatness, you have been marked by the Old Ones.”
Izquitzin was referring to his albino skink, a sure sign of great destiny among the Lizardmen. “Has that time come?” Tilpoca asked eagerly.
“Yes,” rasped the priest, “Our great lord has spoken of an important event happening across the great pond. We cannot send forth an army to deal with this, instead a subtler method will be used. You will lead a small group of handpicked Skinks deep into the heart of the pale skins. This tablet will lead you to the place where the event will happen. You should stay back until the sign reveals itself. Once it has, move in and investigate.”
Tilpoca took the gold tablet and studied it. He’d seen maps of the land across the great pond before, taken from the interlopers. This was in the region known as the Empire. Tilpoca couldn’t speak the language of the Empire, but he could speak some other languages of the surrounding land. He should be able to communicate with at least some of the locals should the need arise.
“I will do so.” Tilpoca assured Izquitzin.
“Good. Now come and meet the warriors under your command.”

There were a dozen skinks all told, including Tilpoca. Two were the Great Crested Skinks, famed for their great skill as Hunter. The remaining were split into three groups, two groups of archers and a group with javelins and shields. It was a solid exploratory group, one which would be more than sufficient for their task.
A brief discussion with the two great crests, Tililxocatl and Quanquitoc, and they had the journey planned. They would cross the great pond on teradons. The winged lizards would be the easiest way to cross such a vast expanse of water. Food could be an issue, as the teradons could only carry so much weight, but they would swoop down to fish as they flew, so the skinks should be able to use javelins and arrows with vines tied to them to gather some fish of their own.
With that settled half a dozen teradons were brought forth, the expedition checked their gear one last time, the teradons were loaded up and with a flap of wings Tilpoca and his people were airborne and heading out to cross the great pond.

Tilpoca’s terradon practically crashed into the beach. Half asleep at the time the albino was thrown violently off and rolled across the sand. Hauling himself to his feet he saw that the others were faring little better. The journey had been the most difficult one any of them had ever made. They had eaten little, as fishing from the back of a terradon was extremely hard work. Also they were all sleep deprived as you couldn’t sleep too comfortably on a terrodon either. But, they had all made it. They’d crossed the great pond.
Slowly the rest of the skinks made their way over to him, signs of fatigue and malnutrition were clearly present. Looking over at the terradons they were all at least half dead after the ordeal. It would be a miracle if all would survive to carry them home when this was over. It made the decision a lot easier.
“Quanquitoc, take the Striking Jaguars and kill the terradons,” Tilpoca ordered, “We’ll feast on them tonight and regain our strength. Tilixocatl, Take the Hidden Snake and scout out for a suitable place to spend the night. Keep a watch for pale skins, we don’t want our presence revealed.”
The two great creasts nodded, gathered their groups and set about their tasks. TIlpoca pulled out the gold tablets and began studying the various maps to try and work out where they had landed. The first part of their ordeal was over, they’d crossed the great pond. They still had to navigate through the land of the pale skins to one of their cities, wait for whatever was going to happen to happen and then deal with the consequences.