Chapter 1
“Silence! Silence!” His voice was lost in the babble of sound raging around his head.
“S I L E N C E !”
All argument stopped suddenly, and heads swung round in shock.
He nodded his thanks and spoke into the sudden silence. “I have called you together because you elected me as your leader. We must decide just what we are going to do.” He looked around sadly. “As I see it, we no longer have any choice, and we must decide now.”
Voices were raised in disagreement, and he raised his hands, waiting for silence again. “I repeat, we have no choice. Change is upon us, and we must face it. We cannot continue to ignore it, to dance around this, this, awful situation.” He smiled wryly and shook his head.
“The music has stopped. So too must our dancing. Yes, I know how you feel, but I tell you again, we have no choice. So, the leader of the Grey force is here to speak to us. Listen to him.”
He looked at the angry faces in front of him and stepped back in sorrowful resignation. Another figure took his place, a figure of far superior height who looked disdainfully down at the smaller folk before him. He spoke in a sneeringly insulting voice.
“You miserable little folk are all sound and no fury. I have no interest in your pitiful complaints and only one thing to say to you. Leave this place at first light tomorrow, or die.”
He looked around at stunned faces and swept out, as arguments raged once again. The meeting went on and on for hour after hour, yet no other choice was found. The Greys were all bigger, stronger, faster, better organised in every way. And they outnumbered them, ten to one.
There truly was no choice.
