by Simon Archer
And then it hit me, a backwash of emotion and feeling slammed right into my chest. It was like someone had shoved a firehose full of feels right through my breastbone and into my heart, then turned the thing on full blast. I think I would have probably had a heart attack from shock if not for Libritas stepping in, her sultry, soothing voice humming in the back of my brain to provide an anchor to myself… because these weren’t my emotions, my feelings.
No, I knew instinctively that these were a direct line to Petra. I felt her pain, the deep heartache of being lashed mind and soul to this pig man bastard, the shame at having tried to hurt us, but more, I felt the sheer joy that filled her know, the elation of being free, of the chains falling away around her heart and soul. It was glorious, it was awe-inspiring, and that ecstasy was shared by me.
And then it passed. The light faded away as Petra and I fell to our knees. Exhaustion made my limbs feel like lead and gnawed at my soul, but it wasn’t physical exhaustion, even though we had been fighting hard. No, it was as if something spiritual inside me had been expended in the process, but despite that, I smiled as I kept my grip tight around Libritas’ polished handle.
“You did it, William, as I knew you would,” Libritas cooed in my ear, though I could tell she was as tired as I was. “My power may not be what it was, but together, we can restore it to its full glory.”
From behind me, I heard the orc slaver start to babble in an almost-childlike panic as he scrambled to his feet. “Nononono. I didn’t think it was possible, but it’s true. The Black Rune… it can be broken.”
I didn’t really give two shits about his babbling, I wanted more to take a nap, but I still filed away his words and kept a grip on consciousness. “Stuff your Black Rune up your ass,” I managed to get out as Sir Thorpe rushed to my side.
“Easy there, my boy,” Reggie whispered to me. “I don’t know what you did, but good show.” He got a grip around my armpit and helped me up to my feet, but my eyes were locked on Petra.
She too was ignoring her former master. Instead, her tearful eyes looked down at her chest, where Libritas had touched her. The terrible brand had melted away, and her flesh was whole and smooth… but she was not unmarked by the brand’s power. The twisted rune was replaced instead by a perfectly symmetrical rune, a swirling spiral of silver lines. The gaps of the spiral were filled with tiny golden circles, and the whole design glowed as if it were made of molten metal inlaid in the dryad’s chestnut skin. After a long moment, Petra looked up from the glowing sign and into my eyes.
There was no fear or judgment or panic at this new mark on her flesh. Instead, the beautiful dryad’s lips formed a soft smile as tears of joy streaked her plump cheeks.
“You saved me,” she whispered softly. “You freed me.”
I matched that smile and held my hand down to her as my strength began to return. “Just doing what anyone would have,” I said humbly. “I mean, if they had Libritas’ help, anyway.”
Reggie scoffed at that. “I think you’re underselling yourself too much, lad.”
“You do, good sir,” the dryad agreed as she took my hand and squeezed it warmly.
Hell, they were probably right. Still, I let it slide as I pulled the petite woman to her feet. “Well, you can repay us by helping us get our bearings. We’re obviously not from around--”
The robed orc’s fanatical scream, a desperate, pitiful thing, exploded across the clearing as his heavy footsteps shook the ground behind me. I didn’t hesitate to push Petra away from me to safety and shrug off Reggie as I turned. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw what I expected: the slave master with his burning brand reared back as he ran, a murderous red light in his eyes. All that hate was focused on me, but I wouldn’t let him act on it as I brought Libritas up to defend myself.
I didn’t have to. Petra’s cry of rage, a shrill and frightening thing, beat out her former master’s battle cry, and the orc didn’t manage another step before the grass shot up and wrapped around his ankles to trip him. Before he even hit the ground, vines burst forth to catch the bastard. They wound around his arms and legs, pulling him upward before finally hoisting him aloft and spread-eagle a good two feet off the ground. Thorns sprouted from the bindings around his weapon hand, and with a squeal of pain and a gush of blood, the orc’s iron fell from his grip, the red light sputtering out as it hit the grass below.
“God,” Sir Thorpe gasped. “Truly amazing.” His awe at Petra’s power only lasted a moment before he leveled the Webley at the slaver’s skull. “If you keep him steady, good lady, I will put him out of his misery.”
If we had still been back on Earth, I might have made some principled argument about law and order, but I didn’t have one, not here… and not for what this asshole had done. Still, I considered the fact that maybe we could question him, but Libritas spoke up in my mind.
“I may have been imprisoned for some time,” she began, “but some things have not changed here in Etria. The followers of the Black Rune are fanatics, William, and they will not talk, even on threat of torture.”
I nodded at that and glanced over at Reggie, even as vines wrapped around the orc’s screaming snout to slam it shut. “I agree that this asshole needs to be put down, Reg, but I don’t think we have dibs on that.” He blinked at me at that, but he seemed to catch on when I turned to look at Petra.
The righteous anger in her emerald eyes mingled with painful tears as she held her hands up at the slave master, her fingers clenched like claws. The plants around her wrists and ankles danced like snakes ready to strike, and I knew exactly the right thing to do.
“Petra?” I said to catch her attention, and the dryad’s eyes flicked over to me.
“Yes, my savior?” Her words were tinged with rage and anguish, but most of all, there was a strange undercurrent of expectant hope.
“This asshole hurt you, hurt you badly,” I said softly. “I know. I felt your pain when I freed you.”
She nodded silently, her lips pulling back into a fierce grimace.
“So, I think it is only fair and just that you do with him what you want.” I smiled a bit fiercely. “He’s all yours.”
With that, I turned away from the bloody mess I was certain was about to happen, and Reggie joined me as realization must have sunk into the orc’s brain. He tried to scream, tried to beg, but the vines tightened around his snout. All we heard was his muffled squeals as Petra took her revenge on the bastard that had enslaved her.
“The first blow for liberty is struck for our world, William Tyler,” Libertas whispered in my ear. “In time, we will all sing your praises for what you have started this day.”
5
Petra
As Uruk, my former master and tormentor, struggled weakly in my plants, I considered the many ways I wished to repay him for every insult, every suffering, every time he kept me from fulfilling the purpose of my clan. There were many of these wrongs to be repaid, a revenge that would take many hours to finish, but my savior and his elder did not rush me. With the small comfort that I would have time to do this properly, I whispered to my vines, and they pulled Uruk into the woods around the clearing so that I could begin my work.
For that and so much more, I was grateful as I paid back some of my debt to the forest over those hours, feeding the soil with Uruk’s flayed corpse and slaking the plants’ thirst with spilled blood before I buried his false brand deep in the earth. Once I and the land were both satisfied, I gathered up the forest’s bounty, the first thing I could do to repay the Uplanders’ kindness and returned to them.
As the trees parted to let me pass, I could see that I wasn’t the only one who had been hard at work. The corpses of the rest of Uruk’s minions were now stripped and piled in the far corner of the clearing, while their possessions had been sorted into neat piles. Armor, weapons, supplies were all organized with careful consideration. My eyes drifted past that to where my savior was sitting on the charred tree stump that had imprisoned the Brand of Freedom.
His older companion, a man with a noble bearing, was inspecting my hero’s injuries, and that’s when I realized that his broad chest was bare, his shirt gone.
I almost dropped what I carried in my arms as my breath hitched and my cheeks flushed. Not that I was embarrassed by seeing a man’s bare flesh, no matter the race. We dryads were attuned to the natural cycle of birth and death, after all, and sex was the source of that cycle. No, I was simply struck by how magnificent of a specimen my hero was.
The Brand of Freedom leaned against the stump, her golden glow only seeming to highlight all of my savior’s best features. His dark blond hair was shot against his scalp, his head lowered as he leaned forward to give the older human a better view. The way his elbows were planted on his knees made his biceps bulge perfectly, while a sheen of sweat clung to every inch of the hard muscles of his torso, highlighting the swell of his pectorals and the ridged lines of his stomach. My gaze was drawn down lower by the v of those muscles, to the waistband of his pants, and a pang of hunger grew inside me.
It was his deep, strong voice that broke me from my lustful thoughts. “Are you okay, Petra?”
“Yes, yes,” I said quickly as I snapped my eyes up to meet his caring hazel gaze. “Or… I will be. Uruk may be gone now, but--”
He raised a hand to cut me off. “I can only imagine what he must have done to you, and you don’t need to talk about it right now.” He quirked a smile, and I noticed a slight dimple in his stubbled cheek. “How about we start at the top? Like proper introductions. I’m…” His voice trailed off as he finally noticed what I had gathered in my arms, and what the vines under my command carried as well.
“Is that fruit?”
That got the old noble’s attention, and he looked up over my hero’s shoulder. “Bloody good show, my dear! Saving damsels does work up a fierce appetite, and what those savages had for rations… Appalling!” He shook his head, and his grey beard shuddered like a lion’s whiskers.
“Indeed, my friends.” I held up the forest’s bounty, apples, sorrels, arrowfruit, and earthfruit, with a broad smile. “You have done me such a great service… This is the very least I can do for you.” As I took a step towards them, I couldn’t help but let some of my desire come into my voice. “In time, I only wish I can do even more to repay you.” With a thought, the vines under my command swayed forward to deposit the food before them.
My savior arched an eyebrow faintly at my tone, my heart thudded, and I swore I saw heat in those hazel eyes. “You’re free now. You only have to do what you want to do, but before we get into all of that, introductions.”
“While we eat, of course,” the elder added as he took a seat in the grass next to my hero. “We must keep up our strength, dear boy!”
I inclined my head thankfully to them both as I too settled down in the grass, their blades softly caressing me to show their joy at my freedom. “You already know my name, brave heroes.” As I folded my hands over my chest, my palms caressed the soothing silver-and-gold rune that now adorned me. Through it, I could almost feel the power of Freedom’s Brand flow through me, warming me. “I am Petra, keeper of Treison Woods.” I sighed, trying not to sound too distressed so as not to upset my heroes. “At least, I was before Uruk came.”
“I’m William Tyler,” my savior replied, his eyes never breaking away from me even as he picked up an apple. “Obviously, we’re not from this world, well, not exactly.” A thoughtful cast came over his face, but he seemed to brush it aside after a moment. I told myself I would ask more later. “And I guess I’m now the keeper of Libritas here.”
The Brand pulsed briefly, and William added with a faint grin, “Sorry. We’re partners.”
“As for myself, Ms. Petra, I am Sir Reginald Thorpe, explorer, adventurer, and gentleman,” the elder announced with a tip of an imaginary hat. “Young William here is an old friend, and so when he undertook this great adventure, I could do no less but to aid his quest here to the Land Below.”
“The Land Below?” My leafy eyebrows quirked at the strange turn of phrase. “Ah, like we call those who come from the world above Uplanders! Our name for our world is Etria.” As I picked up a piece of earthfruit, I gestured around the clearing. “I would bid you welcome, for this was part of my duties here in the Treison, but that time has long since past.”
As much as I tried to keep my voice even, I couldn’t help but let the grief in my heart at the state of the land creep in. Though the forest was healthy, its purpose was long since twisted from what was intended.
“My father called this place the Forest of Welcome,” William mused between hungry bites of apple. “I’m guessing that’s why, and why there’s a broken portal arch where we landed.”
“Fine observation, William,” Sir Thorpe added as he examined one of the oblong arrowfruits. They were the golden-skinned bounty of the bronzewood tree, and I could understand his difficulty in approaching it.
“Crack the metal shell along the seam, good sir knight,” I said helpfully before looking back to my William. “You are, indeed, correct. In times long past, travelers came from the Upland quite often, and we Etrians did likewise. The Treison Forest was one of the conduits for those travelers to come to and fro, and my family served to guide them on their way… and to stop those that would do ill will to either world.”
Sir Thorpe frowned at my words as he did as I bid. He managed to crack open the arrowfruit to get at its delightfully sweet flesh before nodding to the bloody corpses behind him. “I take it that these pig men were among those who wish ill will?”
“I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” William said with a faint frown as he picked up Libritas and laid her across his lap. “Lib is telling me something about the Black Runes, and not just the thing that was burned in your chest, Petra. Have you heard of this?” He shrugged apologetically. “I wouldn’t ask, not after all this, but Libritas has been out of action for a while, best as she can tell.”
I could no longer hide my shame. The earthfruit in my hands slipped from my fingers as I bent forward into the lowest bow I could, scraping my forehead against the dirt.
“Yes, she was, all because of me and my clan. We not only failed in our sacred duty to watch the ways but the Black Runes…” I choked back a sob as I shook my head against the grass. “We couldn’t resist them.”
I expected to be berated then, to be scolded for the failure of the dryads. It is what I deserved, what my people deserved for being unable to resist the rise of the Brands, but that isn’t what happened. After only a moment of my groveling, I felt warm, calloused hands on my shoulders, a soothing presence, before one of those hands moved along my neck, ruffling through my foliage before cradling my chin. I followed its gentle tug and sat up, my eyes trailing up to see William looking down on me with a gentle smile. His thumb wiped away one of my tears as he began to speak.
“Come on now, stop that.” His tone was comforting, understanding, even though there was no way he could truly know the depths of this pain. “Reggie and I both saw first-hand what that bastard Uruk could do to you, ordering you around like a puppet, and Lib’s telling me that without her power, there’s no way to fight against another Brand’s mark.”
It was the utter truth of his statement that calmed my sobs, but his warm smile certainly helped. Sir Thorpe came around my side as William squeezed my shoulder to pat gently at my back. It reminded me of my grandfather’s comforting touch from when I was a child, and I sucked in one last deep breath to quell my tears.
“Be that as it may, my hero,” I said as I wrangled my emotions under control, “my debt is large, not only to you but to our world and to Libritas.” I closed my eyes and shook my head. “To answer your question, ‘Black Runes’ is a term that means several things.”
“Dear lady, you don’t need to go into this if you don’t wish,” Sir Thorpe added, but he was wrong. I had to speak now, tell William what I could, because his rescue of Libritas and me had started events into motion. Time was
not something I could afford to waste more of.
“No, Sir Thorpe, I must.” I focused on William and was surprised to see that he held up the rough, brown piece of earthfruit I had dropped. With a soft smile, I took it from him. “The horrid burn in my chest, that was a Black Rune, but the Black Runes are a cabal of dark wizards and twisted monsters. They first appeared in the days of my grandmother’s youth, and over the turnings since, the Black Runes have subjugated almost all of Etria.”
“Because they can brand people with Black Runes?” William asked as I took a delicate bite out of the starchy sweet earthfruit. “I imagine it’d be pretty easy to take over the world when you can burn mind control into them.”
“Indeed, William.” I let out a low sigh. “The free lands shrunk every year of my life, and by the time I was of age, an army under the Runes conquered Solanna, the barony that protected the Treison and…” I gestured helplessly at where I had been branded. As if to remind me to find my faith again, my new, perfect rune flashed with light.
“Devilish!” was Reginald’s reply before he went back to his arrowfruit. “Simply devilish,” he repeated as he savored the sweet pale flesh.
William nodded grimly, his hand clenching around Libritas’ grip. “We need more information and a stable source of supplies,” he nodded to me, “something I think you’ll make a lot easier. Then we can figure out a real plan of attack. This feels like the tip of the iceberg.”
“You do not know how right you are,” I said desperately. “The Runes thought their victory over Libritas absolute and contented themselves with putting its care in charge of Uruk, the least of their agents, but the breaking of my chains will alert his masters. They cannot risk Libritas being free, and they will come. Now, though… we have hope.” My eyes drifted to first to the Brand of Freedom in William’s lap, then up to look him in the eyes. “With your coming, heroes, and with Libritas… you can free us all… and I will help you. This, I swear on the seed of my clan.”
