"We will help, friend. That is our purpose here. I didn't catch your name."
"Gorbanni. You said your name was Kaiyer, and this lovely lady is Alexia. Correct?" We both nodded. Alexia didn't like to be reminded of her beauty. She did not smile.
"Let's meet your followers." I gestured toward the long houses.
"We are simple folk. Servants, farmers, and some ranchers. We don't know how to . . ." He sighed as we walked toward the dwellings. The other two men looked at Alexia in speechless awe.
"What service do you perform for the Elvens?" I heard the nervous whispers in the long houses. Many of them were fearful that Gorbanni's plan had failed and they would shortly be slaughtered.
"I cook for their soldiers,” he said.
"Do you enjoy it?"
"No. But there are far more difficult jobs and sometimes I can sneak food to my friends." We made it to the door of the long house. I could tell from the sounds inside that most of the men and women hid there.
“I don’t need a cook. I need warriors. More than warriors, I need leaders of men and women. Someone others can look to in times of hardship and desperation. Someone who can inspire. Someone with enough balls and insanity to convince a group of half-starved, weak humans that they could overpower their Elven masters and lead a revolt.” He grinned, still a little stunned. “Are you interested?” The man’s blue eyes lit up as I spoke. This was one with mettle. If he was this brave now, with no reason to be, after he was changed and trained he would be an incredible leader.
"We want freedom. At any cost."
"Your first assignment is to support what I say in here. Do you have any family amongst the slaves?"
"No. My parents were killed many years ago by Elven horsemen who grew bored attacking straw targets. My sister committed suicide after she was violated by guardsmen every night for months." He choked the words out.
"We understand. Our anger and need for revenge fuels us as well. You will have a home with us, and then you will have your freedom. Introduce me to your people. Tell them my name and that I will lead them to safety." I nodded to the door and he quickly opened it.
The scent of unwashed bodies in a tight space slammed into my sensitive nose when I first entered. I could also smell sickness and my eyes darted to the far corner, where someone must have gotten so nervous that they vomited. There were over eighty men, women, and a few children. Gorbanni was the fittest out of all of them and looked like he may have been providing additional food to help keep the rest alive. Disgust filled my stomach. How could the Elvens rely on us for all of their base needs and still treat us this way? Their horses were probably treated better.
“This is Kaiyer.” The humans in the room stared at Gorbanni in confusion. They had expected him to die. They had expected the next person to walk through the door to be an Elven guard who would use force and death to punish and scare them away from ever attempting another revolt. Gorbanni had not only survived, but brought back hope. "He and his companion killed all the guards. He has promised to lead us from this place."
"Your leader Gorbanni speaks the truth.” I paused to watch their expressions. Their faces were full of fear and surprise. "We have killed all the Elvens in this estate." I paused again after I let the words slowly flow out of my mouth. There was disbelief.
“Every Elven you have ever known is dead. Every Elven who has ever harmed you is dead. Every Elven who has raped you is dead. Every Elven who has killed your friend, your brother, your sister, your mother, your father, your child, is dead. But their kind still enslaves ours elsewhere. We will save them, as we have saved you, with your help.”
"How can this be?" One of the older women spoke from the front of the room. I looked to Gorbanni and raised an eyebrow.
"Grety, the two of them easily killed two Elven guards. I have never seen anything like it. They move so fast that I could only see blurs. There are more of Kaiyer's people here as well. I believe what he says," Gorbanni said with absolute confidence, though he had seen no evidence of us killing everyone in the camp.
"You are all free now," I continued, "some of you know who we are. You have dreamed about us all your lives. You have cried at night and asked for a way to fight back. All of you have wished for the power to protect yourself and the ones that you love. Their suffering weighs on your conscience and causes you more agony than our oppressors ever could." They nodded and some of them wept.
"We are small now. But we will grow. We will teach you how to fight, how to kill, and how to ease the suffering that you feel. Then we will move across this world and do the same for all of our kind, freeing them and teaching them. During this process, we will extract a terrible revenge on the Elvens, returning every agony we have endured thousands of times. Tonight we began by burning their nursery. Your enslavers watched their children roast before their eyes and then we killed every last pointy eared bastard in this place." There were gasps from the room and the whispers started again. Some believed me, but most didn't. The idea seemed impossible to them. It would have seemed impossible to me had I still been the young stable boy I was.
"Most of you believed that Gorbanni would fail tonight, so you did not prepare to leave. But we are leaving at once, walking through the carnage we brought to this place, and traveling through the wilderness to our home, where you will learn to fight. Where you will find justice and revenge. Where you can serve the loved ones you have lost."
I looked over to Gorbanni. He stood up as straight as an arrow, tears rolling freely down his cheeks.
"Follow me now. We are the O'Baarni and this day will be the start of our salvation and the Elvens’ nightmare." I turned and walked out the door with Alexia behind me. We made it a few dozen yards before the door opened and they followed us out.
"Walk slowly, but don't look back," I instructed Alexia.
Behind us the humans gasped at the sight of the two Elvens Alexia had butchered. Now they started to believe.
"Kaiyer!" Gorbanni caught up to us. I didn't turn around, instead letting him move up next to me. "I think they are all coming."
"We are heading to the main area of the estate. They will see what my warriors have wrought. Then they will commit to following us, at least for a few days. The travel through the wilderness will be hard. You must keep their spirits up and continue to reinforce the vision I gave them. Can you do this?"
"Yes!" He nodded and smiled, suddenly realizing he had tears on his face. His cheeks flushed and he quickly wiped them away with the dirty cuff of his shirt.
"Don't be ashamed of your tears, my friend. I've cried buckets of them." He grunted and looked back at his people.
We took ten minutes to walk into the main area of the estate. Most of the buildings had finished burning and the thick scent of smoke and roasted flesh hung in the air.
Between Thayer's team, Alexia's team, and my small group that had held the perimeter, we had forty O'Baarni in the main square. They were still stacking up Elven bodies and looting supplies.
Our warriors must have seemed quite impressive to the humans. Each man was a walking wall of muscle and sinew. The women were lean but strong and moved like mountain tigers. It was easy to put on brawn when the Earth healed all tears, breaks, and sprains in a matter of hours. The O'Baarni spent most of their days training, exercising, and building our home. Their eyes burned with a zealous purpose and every task was performed with the efficiency of someone who had executed the movement thousands of times.
"Everything is good, Brother." Thayer broke off from his team to give me an update. His smile made his scarred face almost look handsome and beads of sweat rolled down his shaved head. He looked at Gorbanni and nodded.
"Gorbanni, this is one of the leaders of the O'Baarni, Thayer." They shook hands, Thayer's enveloping the smaller man’s like he had crushed a small bug.
"Nice to meet ya." He turned to me. "We'll be ready in three minutes. How many are coming?"
I looked at Gorbanni, who quickly gave the number of
eighty-two. Thayer nodded and walked back to his team to bark out orders.
"I'll take the rear," Alexia said quietly, but she didn't leave.
"Okay." I smiled at her and faced my new friend. "Go back with your people, Gorbanni. Tell them that we are leaving soon. Point out the bodies and the carnage our warriors created. You are all capable of this. We will show you how. Let them know the way through the wilderness will be hard."
The man nodded, turned to walk away, halted, and then spun to face me.
"Thank you for saving us." His eyes teared again. "I thought I would die tonight. I couldn't take it anymore. Everyone I have ever loved was gone. I had no hope. I knew it wouldn't work. I knew the guards would kill me. I didn't care. I was a coward. I'm not fit to lead these people. But you are. I'll follow you until I die Kaiyer. You've given me a purpose." He didn't wait for a reply before he sprinted back to the closely grouped band of his followers.
"Let's hope we can get them all to the campsite. Then the real work will begin."
"Aye. This was a successful mission. Entas will be happy with us. It couldn't have been executed any better." Alexia walked away as I grunted in agreement.
"Kaiyer," she said over her shoulder. "Gorbanni isn't the only one who would follow you until death. I was reborn the day you and Thayer saved me. I have a purpose that fills me more than I ever dreamed. Thank you." I hadn't expected this from her and I didn't know how to respond.
"You're welcome, Alexia," I whispered, but the words were wrong. They were not enough. How could words express the hope and the feeling of comradeship I had with her? It would take years to properly express how I felt. I knew that she heard my words, though she had joined her team across the smoking estate by the time I had said them.
This was the beginning of our army, and we would not fail in our quest to save humanity.
Chapter 20-Kaiyer
"Do you miss your friends, O'Baarni?" The voice was laced with mockery and lifted me back to the present in a disorienting spin.
"Will you miss your life when I rip it from you, bitch?" I spat at the golden-haired Elven who had been tasked with escorting Greykin, Duke Beltor, the queen, and I out of Castle Nia.
The woman's eyes were a vibrant green, like oxidized copper, and were flecked with small pieces of gold. They narrowed slightly and her long fingers paused in their task of pulling her thick hair into a loose side braid. I expected her to spit back something in anger, but she seemed to have her emotions under control as much as her leader did.
"That would mean an unfortunate ending for your pet human. What is her name again? Nadea? I'm sure her life is worth more than mine to you." Her pink lips spread into a malicious smile. The other Elven woman chuckled from across the small fire pit where the three of us sat.
I did not reply, instead focusing on the piece of venison the other Elven spun over the flames. This woman had pewter hair with streaks of rust color running through it. The silver-haired leader of the Elvens in Nia told me that my escorts were his best soldiers. I did not want to risk Nadea’s life by killing them. The golden-haired Elven was the same warrior who killed Nanos’s guard the night we gave him the duke’s letter. She had also been rather eager to put an arrow in me when our plan failed in the dungeons under Nia.
"He's still quite feisty," the woman cooking said to the other in the old tongue. I tried to forget her name, but I had always been good with names. She was Vernine. "He seems capable with the horses." She looked past me to the three beasts we had ridden from Nia.
"I like him," the golden-haired one said back in the same language. Her name was Isslata.
There were rumors that I spoke the ancient tongue, but since they believed most of the O’Baarni did not, Isslata and Vernine had tested me for the first few days of our journey together. I did my best to pretend I could not understand them, but I had almost lost my composure last night after Isslata spoke in detail of Nadea being raped by a dozen Losher soldiers. I drew on the skills I had honed while hiding from Elvens, maintaining my breathing and heart rate to appear calm and indifferent. When they did not get a reaction from me, they began to converse freely in their tongue. For the most part it had been plans for ensuring I did not escape, and their theories on where Greykin, the queen and the duke would travel after we parted.
"You like the O'Baarni? I should be surprised but I've known you long enough not to be," Vernine said as she threw her pewter mane back over her shoulder and tied it with a thin strip of leather. I sometimes struggled to understand them. The language had changed a bit from what I knew and some words were accented differently.
"Yes. I really want to fuck him," Isslata said. Luckily, Vernine's gasp of shock covered the sound of my stomach tightening.
"Are you speaking truthfully?" Vernine's mouth opened in amazement.
"Oh yes. You weren't there in the dungeon. The O'Baarni completely disrespected Alatorict. I've never seen him so mad. I want him to say those things to me while he takes me from behind. It will be delicious." Isslata stared at me out of the corner of her eyes and shivered. I focused on the roasting piece of venison and tried not to feel sick to my stomach.
"If you're too dumb to spin the meat, I'll do it instead," I seethed at Vernine, interrupting what she had been about to reply to Isslata. She glanced down at the food in surprise and reached out to turn it absentmindedly. The fire was tall and was keeping the darkness at bay. We only had another night before we needed to return to Nia, but it would not be a problem if we maintained our current rate of travel.
"I thought Alatorict and you were . . ." She looked to Isslata.
"For a few months. He started to bore me. I believe he is still infatuated with Fehalda." The woman stretched her arms and sighed. "He was fun for a while. The O'Baarni will be more entertaining."
"A human though? The idea disgusts me." Vernine glanced at me and then back to the piece of meat on the fire. Her eyes were the color of rubies and reflected and magnified the gleam of the flame.
"Not just a human. The O'Baarni are different. They have been chosen by their clan to take the gift of power."
"He doesn't look like much. He is starving and half-dead." They both turned to study me. I glared back. Isslata had mentioned a clan again. I wanted to find out more, but I forced my breathing to stay normal.
"This one killed Greretal and his team when they were here six months ago. He also killed seven of Fehalda's best warriors," the golden-haired Elven said with a hint of smugness. She broke her eye contact with me and turned back to her friend.
"I heard that, but didn't believe. Greretal had a reputation, but I never saw him fight, so perchance he was not as good as they say. Seven of Fehalda's warriors should have done the job, though."
"Perhaps it isn't true. Of course, this one spoke to Alatorict like he was used to killing our kind easily."
"Aren't they all arrogant?" Vernine unsheathed a long knife and cut into the large piece of venison.
"Yes. But they have amazing strength and endurance." Isslata looked down from the night sky and at the food. "How's it look?"
"Almost done. You speak about O'Baarni from experience?" Vernine's mouth formed a coy smile. Isslata giggled softly.
"Twenty years ago I was traveling through Asek. I had a few days to relax between assignments and I was staying at this horrible human establishment, bored to tears and contemplating killing everyone in the whole town just to generate some excitement."
"That wouldn't have gone over well." Vernine laughed understandingly.
"This O'Baarni comes into the inn. His name was Testar. He was from Malek's clan and seemed just as disinterested with the current situation as I was."
My breath caught in my throat at the mention of Malek. Luckily, they were engrossed in Isslata's story and they didn't seem to realize I was listening.
"We spent a few days in bed. I was so sore, I thought I'd never be able to use my pussy again. We must have fucked over twenty times. It was unbelievable." Isslata sighed a
gain and looked back at me. I kept my eyes locked on the fire and the piece of meat there.
"You are incorrigible.” Vernine laughed and leaned away from the flames. She glanced at me and fluttered her eyelids slightly. Her skin was the color of white cream and a slight blush crept to her cheeks.
"You're as wet as I am now. Don't deny it." Isslata giggled and twisted her finished braid around her fingertips.
"Maybe," the pewter-haired woman said finally. "This is done." She cut off a hunk of the venison and put it on a thin tin plate. She looked over to my direction and passed it up over the fire.
I never would have imagined that I would share a campfire and dinner with two Elven women who were talking about their sexual exploits. It was absurd. I believed I had eradicated their kind. I suddenly missed the company of Greykin and Nadea's father. We hadn't spoken at all during our sojourn since we didn't want to risk any hint that Jessmei was alive and in a small village to the north. The big man had given me a bone-crushing hug when they separated from us a few hours ago. Beltor also embraced me, whispering in my ear to find Nadea. The queen ignored me when we parted, like she had most of the brief ride. The woman complained almost every minute of our travel. I couldn't help but think that the king had been cursed by a horrible wife and son, but blessed by a beautiful and loving daughter.
Thoughts of Jessmei filled my head again, taking me peacefully away from the disgusting conversation the Elvens were sharing. I remembered Jessmei's soft touch, her dimpled smile, even her concerned frown had imprinted in my memory. She seemed to be the exact opposite of her mother; Jessmei never complained and found happiness in every occasion. I recalled our long talks while we lay together after our lovemaking. She had shared and educated me about my new world, the different kingdoms, and the way her culture evolved throughout history. During the weeks in the cave, it seemed that we had done nothing else but relax on the sleeping mats and talk in between intense bouts of sex.
The Destroyer Book 2 Page 29
