The Deeds Of Archibald bringer of War

Archibald's First Dark Deed

Archibald the slug, nee Archibald the snail, had dragged its tired body miserably to the edge of the lake. Archibald had recently been in a long disagreement with a crow about why it should not be the crow’s dinner. When young and with shell, Archibald had been a brave snail outspoken and full of energy. Yet it had always been searching for something better. Though it had been one of the first to toss aside his shell, never quite satisfied with the life being led, Archibald had been among the few who had tried to return and had found that way barred. Now he was among the growing number of bitter slugs, finding themselves chained to this shelless existence. The greediness of those who wanted the best of both worlds did not factor as an issue in this slugs brain. They knew who was to blame and it was the snails. They believed that they had tricked by the slugs in some way at the meeting when the moon was opal and the sun was pink and both were visible in the sky. The slugs had thought they were clever but it seems that the snails had been cleverer. They must have known the predicament that the slugs were in before the slugs had realized themselves.

Archibald could hear the sounds of a snail orgy moving closer and sure enough into the clearing came a tumbling mass of slimy bodies and hard shells. Rolling down the embankment in a pure heaving joyous ball. Twisting bodies reaching to achieve maximum pleasure. It watched them for a while, seeing how they paid no heed to the poor slug nearby. He pondered the plight of the slugs.

Something needed to be done.

A whisper from a dark place breezed by his mind taking with it everything resting there bar one wicked seed.

Archibald knew what needed to be done.

He saw it clearly now.

It was all he could see.

Maybe things would have been different if the snails had sensed the impending doom flying their way but the undulating throng did not notice the change in the air, the shifting of the day’s mood. It was far too late when they finally heeded the atmosphere’s warnings. Archibald was already charging towards them, picking up momentum. Archibald’s body flung into the air at a perfect acute angle and made a perfectly arched path that catapulted itself into the middle of the surging mass.

Blood and terror followed and the grass soon stained with the life force of the previously copulating snails.

After the ordeal he moved betwixt the mutilated bodies removed from their shells and made his way to the popular meeting place for slugs to deliver a speech that would change the course of history for both snails and slugs.