by B N Miles
He looked at her and was tempted to reach out and touch her lower back, pull her against him, and taste her lips again. But he could guess that wouldn’t go over well, not with her father nearby, villagers watching their every move, and Key standing right next to him.
She straightened and smiled at the pair of them before inclining her head and walking off. She slipped back through the villagers and rejoined her father in the front.
Key walked beside Cam for a long moment without speaking. He leaned against her, touching his shoulders against her own, and she looked up at him. “Key,” he said. “What are you thinking?”
“That was… interesting.”
“I know. She thinks you’re beautiful.”
“And apparently she doesn’t mind sharing.”
Cam laughed. “You heard that?”
“I think I was meant to.”
He groaned and shook his head. “You don’t have to worry, Key. I don’t really understand the whole pledge thing. I honestly thought it was just… words, you know? Just a way to thank me.”
“We don’t know much about the Elves,” she conceded. “But I would like to train with her. I mean, if she’s really willing.”
“You should,” Cam said. “I doubt she’d offer if she didn’t mean it.”
She was silent as she looked at the grass and kicked at a rock. It tumbled along the path in front of them before disappearing into the underbrush. “We should talk about your little… maybe.” She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling for a moment. Cam looked away and ran a hand through his shaggy hair.
“It’s how I feel,” he said.
“I keep saying that you don’t owe me anything.” Her voice was low, but she was walking closer to him, their shoulders touching.
“And I keep telling you that I want you.”
She bit her lip and her cheeks reddened. “Well, at least we know Miuri wouldn’t mind.”
He laughed. He couldn’t help himself. The whole situation was absurd. This Elven Princess apparently thought she belonged to him now, or at least that she was pledged to him, blade and body, whatever that entailed. And all he wanted was to finally be with the girl he’d loved since he was a young man.
But his world was expanding. He looked up and let his eyes move over Miuri’s body as she walked up at the front of the column, lingering on her long, lean legs, on her graceful movements. He remembered the feeling of her soaked pussy wrapped around his thick, hard cock as he fucked her out in the woods, and he knew he wanted to feel that again.
Key nudged him and slipped her hand through his arm. “She really is beautiful,” she whispered.
“I know,” he said then looked down at her. “You’re just as beautiful, you know that?”
“I doubt it. If she’s a sunset, I’m just a candle flame.”
“Not to me,” he said.
She looked up at him for a long moment then smiled and shook her head. “This is a weird situation.”
“We’ll figure it out.” He took her hand from his arm and held it for a moment.
“Okay then.” She squeezed his hand then slipped it away. “Tell your Elven Princess I want to exchange braids and fighting styles. And… tell her that I have an open mind.” She turned and stalked off without another word.
Cam watched her go at a total loss for words. He shook his head and looked up at the sky one more time.
Urspirit guide him. Three days ago, his biggest worry was whether or not he could tell Key about how he felt.
Now an Elven Princess apparently wanted to give him her body, and Key seemed open to the idea of a relationship that involved another woman.
He wasn’t sure if he was incredibly lucky or if things were going to get very complicated very fast.
But like Key, he was open to the idea, and things could turn out as they saw fit.
30
Cam walked with Theus for most of that afternoon. The two of them spoke little, and Cam got the sense that Theus mostly just wanted his company. The battle and the aftermath still hung heavy among what was left of the village.
That was fine with Cam. He had a lot to process, from his own budding powers to the strange relationship that was beginning to form around him. He watched as the Elves moved up and down the column, their warriors sweeping along like they were carried on clouds. They kept their hair long; some pulled into tight braids, some swept back and held by a leather tie. Their armor was similar to the set Miuri wore, leather chest plate, shin guards, shoulder pieces, and vambraces. But what really drew Cam’s eye were their swords.
The Elves didn’t draw them, but he’d seen the long, flowing blades out on the field. They were very different from his own weapon, made of a different metal he didn’t recognize, one that seemed just as sharp as his own bronze but perhaps stronger and lighter. Swords as thin, long, and tapered like those should’ve snapped under the weight of heavy use, but the Elves had sliced through the wolves without issue.
His own sword felt heavy on his back. He hadn’t been tempted to use the weapon, not even in his most desperate moments. Although the spear wasn’t ideal for close quarter fighting, it was still the weapon he grew up using, the weapon that felt like an extension of his arm. But having seen the Elves fight, Cam wondered if maybe he shouldn’t take some training from Miuri along with Key and get a better sense of how to use his father’s sword after all.
The column stopped once to take a short meal and to rest the wounded. Theus and Cam sat just off the path on a shaded bed of soft pine needles at the base of a tall pine tree. Cam smelled the sap and felt it stick against his fingers when he touched its smooth bark. He ate his ration of porridge, dried and salted elk strips, and small bits of cooked vegetables in a rich brown gravy. They were road rations, but the meal was still warm and filling, and Cam felt his spirits lighten somewhat as his stomach filled.
“Look at that,” Theus said, nodding toward the stopped carts. Cam took a bite then followed his friend’s gaze. There was a group of Human warriors with their spears and shields leaning against the nearest cart eating from small bowls with their fingers. Sitting among them were three Elven warriors, holding the same bowls and eating the same food.
“Huh,” Cam said, a little surprised.
He had expected the Elves to keep to themselves, or at least to eat different rations. He imagined smooth, intricately carved stoneware with long, tapered handles. Cam watched as the men ate and spoke to each other, though Cam couldn’t hear what was said from his distance. When one of the Elves spoke up, all the men broke out in laughter, and Cam exchanged a look with Theus.
The idea of an Elf saying something funny seemed about as possible as a talking badger.
“It’s good to see them getting along, at least,” Theus said. “I have to admit, I heard some of the other men talking. And they didn’t sound happy.”
“What was said?”
Theus shrugged and dipped his fingers into his bowl. He took a bite and spoke with his mouth half full. “Nothing surprising. Just, you know, stupid Elves, not even Human, can’t trust a Godling, all that stuff.”
“Who was saying it?”
He hesitated and frowned down at the pine needles. “I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble, Cam.”
“And I can’t punish anyone. But I need to know if there’s going to be a problem.”
Theus sighed and rested his bowl on his knee. “A few of Arter’s old boys,” he said. “Rador, Merid, Luccus. Maybe others, I didn’t stick around to listen.”
Cam’s face tightened. The group of men and Elves laughed again, and Cam watched as the Elves said something else, miming with their hands, and more laughter rang out. He got the sense that the Elves were telling a funny story, and it was going over well.
He had to admit that he didn’t know a thing about the Elves. He assumed they were all very quiet and reserved, but just watching those Elves interact with a few Humans, he got the sense that they were all different, and that one particular Elf was pret
ty funny. The Elves always seemed to be looking down on everyone. They acted like they owned the land they walked on. But Cam couldn’t say if that was because they truly thought they were better than Humans, or if that was simply how Elves appeared.
It was always a fine line between outward appearance and inward truth. Cam knew people thought they could read the intentions and beliefs of a man based on the look on his face, but that was rarely true, and became even less true with certain Godling races. Some of the Godlings were very similar to Humans, acted like Humans, thought like Humans, but some of them were wildly different.
The wolves were a good example. Outwardly, in their Human form, they looked like any other man or woman. But Cam had heard his father talk about the Weres over and over again, how they thought different from normal folks, how they worked in packs and put the pack above all individual needs. They were part wolf, part Human, and that animal part came with them into their Human form.
No matter how Human they looked, the wolf was always there, just beneath the surface.
Elves were even more different. At least Weres had some touch of Humanity in them, whereas Elves descended from something else entirely. Cam couldn’t say what they thought, what they believed, and he knew that was going to be a problem. The men of the village were going to put their own thoughts and beliefs on the Elves without truly understanding anything about them.
He finished his meal then stood and offered Theus his hand. He helped his friend up and together they walked to clean their bowls and return them to the main meal cart. They made it halfway there when Cam saw a couple warriors jogging away toward the back of the column. He frowned as they passed and spotted Yarin nearby, who was hefting his spear onto his shoulder.
“What’s going on?” Cam demanded.
Yarin glanced up then grunted. “Shaman,” he said.
“Yarin. What’s happening?”
“Someone’s been killed.” He frowned and shook his head. “All I know.”
“Where?”
“Back of the column. One of the posted sentries back there.”
Cam nodded and turned. He tossed his bowl onto a nearby cart and Theus did the same. They exchanged a look before jogging to the back, spears on their shoulders. He saw other warriors coming along with them, and as he slipped through the gathering crowd of villagers, he found more warriors standing in a loose circle around something thirty yards away from the last cart, lying right in the center of the cart path.
Cam slowed to a walk and approached. He saw Dagan in the group, kneeling down next to a body. Cam’s heart sank as he realized it was a Human on the ground, and there was blood seeping into the dirt around him. “Dagan,” Cam called out, approaching.
Dagan turned and gestured for him to join them. Some of the warriors parted, but Cam noticed more than a few were shooting him odd, angry looks.
The man on the ground was named Tatur. He had a wife and a young child, no older than two at most. His light brown tunic was stained with blood, and his spear and shield were missing. Cam stared down at the man’s long black hair, his cold blue eyes closed tight. “What happened?”
“I found him,” Rador grunted. Cam turned to look at the tall man. He wore his black tunic tucked into his dark breeches, his shaggy brown hair hanging in thick curls around his neck. His eyes were a dark brown and his hooked nose hung slanted from a brawl a few years ago. There were blood splatters on his clothes, and his hands were red with more drying blood. “Out in the woods. He was on sentry duty, went scouting a bit. I stayed behind. He didn’t come back, so I went looking. When I found him… I dragged him here.”
Dagan gave Cam a cold, serious look. “No claw marks,” he said. “No bite wounds. Rador said there was no sign of a fight at all.”
“But the spear was gone,” Rador added. “And his shield. Don’t know where… I looked. Couldn’t find them.” His voice was shaking a touch, and Cam thought it was from nerves at first. But as Cam looked at Rador for a long moment, he realized that it was anger.
Cam looked away from Rador and knelt down next to the body. He pressed his fingers against Tatur’s chest and felt it was still warm. He let out a breath and moved his hands down toward a wound in his side, deep and clean. He sucked in a breath as he traced a line up along his side and found another wound deep into his neck, similar in size and shape.
Two wounds, both clean and smooth. They had to have been made by some kind of blade. There was no doubt in Cam’s mind.
But that didn’t make any sense. Cam looked up at Dagan, confusion in his eyes. “This can’t be right.”
He stood as Rador shook his head. “It’s right,” he growled. “You both know what happened here.”
Cam frowned at the man and was about to speak when Dagan interrupted him. “We don’t know anything for sure, Rador, and you should watch your tongue.”
“Watch my tongue?” Rador spat on the ground. “You watch yours, Elder. You think those Elves are going to stop at just one man?”
Cam stared at Rador, and while he knew he shouldn’t have felt surprised, he was still shocked by the man’s words. “You think the Elves did this?”
“Of course they did,” he said and spat again. “Been looking for a chance and as soon as Tatur was alone they took him out. The rest of us are next, mark my words, sure as the Ur.”
Cam stared around at the other men and realized more than a few were nodding. Not all of them, but some. He felt a strange mixture of shock and revulsion. “That makes no sense,” he said. “Why would the Elves risk their lives to save us from the wolves, only to then turn and start killing us one by one? If they wanted us dead, they could simply kill us all and be done with it.”
“Don’t be so foolish,” Rador snapped. “They like the sport of it. They’re a bunch of demon—”
“Enough,” Dagan barked, stepping up in Rador’s face. “Enough, you stupid flea ridden donkey’s cock.”
“Back off, Elder,” Rador grunted, standing up straight and pressing his chest out against Dagan. His nostrils flared as his head tilted and his eyes widened, like a spooked animal. “Back the fuck off before things go bad.”
Cam saw men grip their spears and a few of them exchanged looks. Theus pressed closer to Cam and he knew his friend was holding tight to his own weapon. Cam felt the moment slipping from him as the anger and the desperation all around seeped out from the men in waves. He felt powerless and lost, spiraling away from the moment, when he needed to step forward and do something.
“What’s going on here?” The voice, lilting and girlish, cut through the tension like a scythe. Dagan stared Rador down for another moment before turning as a few of the men made room for Miuri in the circle.
Cam’s heart began hammering as he saw the look on Rador’s face. The man stared at Miuri with pure hate, the rage of it pulling his lips up into a snarl. Cam stepped next to the Princess and stared hard at Rador for a long moment, making sure the man caught his eye. “One of our sentries,” Cam said to Miuri, still staring down Rador. Cam wanted the man to know that Miuri was under his protection. “He was killed.”
Miuri let out a soft breath. “How?”
“By blade,” Rador grunted. “Not by wolf claw or bite.”
Miuri glanced at him, frowned, then knelt down by the body. She touched him just as Cam had. He wanted to watch her movements, but he couldn’t take his eyes from Rador. He could feel the violence wafting off the man in waves, rolling from his skin and threatening to spill out any second.
“He’s right,” she said, standing and shaking her head. “This makes no sense.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying,” Rador said. “I’m sure you fucking Elves know a thing or two about—”
Cam stepped forward without warning, moving fast, and shoved one palm hard against Rador’s chest. Cam put the weight of his shoulder into it, turning his hip with the strike. He knocked Rador just beneath the breastbone, forcing the air from the man’s lungs. Rador stumbled back, taking a gasp
ing breath to compensate, and looked shocked that Cam had just truck him.
“Enough from you,” Cam snapped, gripping his spear. He saw the men around him stumble back in surprise as he rounded on Rador, his voice a rough growl. “You want to spew hate, go spew hate somewhere else. You can follow Arter for all I care.”
Rador sneered. “Of course the little baby shaman speaks up for the Elves,” he said. “Fucking Godling lover.” He spat on the ground and turned away, walking off without another word. Only two others followed him, and Cam recognized the men Theus had named, all former allies of Arter. The others stayed where they were, some of them looking unhappy, but none of them seemed prone to violence anymore.
Cam shook his head and turned back to Miuri. His hands shook and he wanted to chase down Rador and beat him senseless. But he held himself in check and tried to take deep, calming breaths. “I’m sorry about him,” he said. “Some of our number doesn’t trust your people yet.”
She stared at Cam with pure, unabashed delight. He actually felt a little color come up to his cheeks as she stepped up to him and touched his chest, similar to the way Cam had just hit Rador, but gentle. “Thank you, shaman,” she said. She let her hand linger for a moment then dropped it. “I can assure you all, on my honor and my family’s honor, none of my people had anything to do with this man’s death. I know it seems strange that he was killed with a blade, but these wounds don’t make sense if they came from an Elf.”
“How?” Dagan asked.
“Our swords are much too long to make cuts like those,” she said. “And our knives are…” She hesitated then halfway slid one from its sheath. It had a graceful curve to its edge. “This wouldn’t have made such a straight wound.”
Dagan grunted and nodded. Cam watched the other men frown, looking from her blade to the body’s wounds, and a few of them seemed to accept her explanation. Though not all of them looked happy about it.
“We need to speak with your father,” Cam said.
“Yes, we do,” Dagan agreed. “I’ll find Kraed and peel him off whatever cart he passed out on.”
