“No, Iolarathe. Mother is dead. The entire army was destroyed by these humans. Their tribal lands were raided and their inhabitants butchered like animals. In the last year, millions of our people have died. The air of the North burns brown with the smoke of corpses and cities. Refugees have fled to the West. Your father and the last remaining Elven tribes are desperate. That is why we are here.”
Her words struck me like a slap across the face. My mother was far too clever and bitter for death. She had survived countless assassination attempts and outmaneuvered hundreds of attacks from other tribes and elders seeking to claim her land. How could humans have killed her? How could they have killed millions of my people?
My sister never lied, especially to me. I licked my lips and tasted the sadness in the air. It mixed with the smoke of the cooking fire into a strange, burnt despair. I could not imagine what the stench of the horror she described tasted like.
“The last chieftains have argued about our defense strategy. They finally acknowledge the threat the humans pose. They do not wish to repeat the mistakes of our mother, yet they cannot agree on a general. And each day that passes brings the O’Baarni closer to devouring what remains of our world.”
“They want me to lead the army?”
“Yes. There is no one better suited than you. You are the most powerful of our kind, have studied battle strategies, you know combat, and the chieftains all agree to follow your orders. You are our last hope, Iolarathe.”
I looked into the fire and digested her words. It had been so long since I considered the needs of my people. I had never cared for politics or the traditions of our tribes. Their way was to force me to fuck men I did not love so that I could create children to be sold and traded like animals.
But it was not their choice. My family, my suitors, they were all just part of a system put into place thousands of years before we were born. They were as helpless to change the system as I had been and did not deserve to be left to die at the hands of humans.
I stood up and walked to the rear of the cottage where my garden lay. In the raised beds the first of the season’s bounty was beginning to come in, fresh tender shoots of green fought their way through the rich earth. Soon the trees would bloom with flowers and fruit would come into season. I had raised each tree and carefully maintained and nurtured them. What would happen to this place if I left? The wild would take back the orchard, weeds would fill the garden, vines would rip apart the stone of the cottage, and the thatch on the roof would rot and fall away.
I wandered down to the river and sat on the grassy slope of the shore. I had a well a few dozen feet from my cottage, but felt it was wise to have another source of fresh water and fish nearby. Combined with the other herd animals, chickens, and ducks I maintained, I could support myself or even a small tribe of my own.
“This is the opportunity to do what you always wanted.” I had not heard Nyarathe’s approach. “You can change things for yourself and our people. Your rule will be absolute. You will be an empress with an army to obey your every command and fulfill your every desire.”
“This is what I want. I am the ruler here. This land fulfills all my desires.”
“So you will leave us to die? How long do you think you will be safe here? They won’t rest until every one of our kind is gone.” Her anger returned and filled the air.
“They will not seek me out here. Stay with me. We can start a new tribe. I can provide for you all.”
“Iolarathe, you are wrong. You will never be safe here. They will search for you forever.”
“The humans don’t even know about me.”
“They do know about you. How do you think they came into existence?” She stood angrily and moved to block my view of the river.
“How should I know? I don’t care for the humans or their ways.”
“You lie to your own sister. Relyara and I have spent too many years together. If you really wanted to keep your secret safe, you should not have sent her to me.” Her black eyes burned with malice and the anger of her scent mixed with the bitterness of rotten fear.
“I don’t see what my past has to do with this army.” I wanted to ask her to tell me what she knew but assumed Relyara had told her of Kaiyer.
“Who do you think leads this army? Do you think it is just a coincidence that Laxile has not yet been attacked?”
I stared at her and the world seemed to collapse into my vision. For a second it was if my heartbeat and the air hung still. Scents became tasteless and my head spun and my skull ached.
“No. That isn’t possible.”
“It is. The man that leads these O’Baarni is named Kaiyer. Our spies know little of his past but there are rumors that he used to be a slave to Laxile. Relyara told me of your history with this human, she told me how you killed his family. Millions of our people have died by this man’s army and he won’t stop until he kills every last one of us.” Her voice had been rising in volume and anger until it reached a screech. “You caused this. They are all dead because of you and you just want to hide? No. I won’t let you. There is only one person who can defeat this monster and it has to be the woman who made him. So get the fuck off the ground, get your weapons, and do what the Dead Gods intended for you. Protect your fucking people or die trying.” She seemed to vibrate in place and I didn’t know if it was because of her actual anger or because the news of Kaiyer made my vision spin. I still thought of him every day, but I never expected him to come seeking revenge.
How could I have known that he would become so dangerous?
“I get the feeling you’ll run me through if I say no.” Her hand clenched along the handle of her blade. I had left my own back by the fire. I couldn’t even fathom fighting against her and I briefly wondered if she actually had the resolve to attack me.
“No. I’ll order one of the other warriors to take you by force.”
I sighed and stood up. My legs shook, but I didn’t think my sister noticed. I looked over the valley again and then back to her. Her scent betrayed her fear that I would say no. She did not want to stand against me, but she really believed she needed me. They all needed me.
“I’ll prepare my things. We can leave tomorrow morning.” She smelled surprised, then she cried and threw her arms around my shoulders in an embrace I did not expect.
Chapter 25-The O’Baarni
“They made a mistake. This punishment does not fit the crime.” Gorbanni crossed his arms and glared at me. I knew him well enough to understand the posture.
“I cannot fucking believe you!” I growled through clenched teeth at the blond man.
“Why? They are my top lieutenants and we don’t have a rule against—”
“Stop. Fucking stop talking right now.” I put my face in my hands and rubbed my temples. Then I rubbed my eyes. I didn’t want to be dealing with bullshit like this now. There were a million and a half tasks I needed to perform before the sun set and I guessed there was only an hour left of its precious light.
“Kaiyer, I’ll suspend them, I’ll demote them, whatever you want to do besides that. It isn’t going to help anyone and it will destroy the morale of my unit.”
“The morale is already destroyed because you let this shit go on.” I didn’t look up from my hands.
“I didn’t know it was happening. I swear on the lives of all of my warriors.”
“Then you haven’t been paying attention and I am even angrier with you, Gorbanni. You are supposed to know what kind of activities your team is engaged in while in combat. Either you aren’t spending enough time with your warriors, or you are incompetent.” I looked up from my hands and our eyes met. I could see the anger and hurt in his, but I didn’t fucking care.
“You are taking this too seriously.” The blond man turned to Thayer. “This isn’t a big deal.”
“It is, Brother. We don’t do these things.” Thayer shook his head and ran a big hand over his bare scalp and scarred face.
“Fine. I’ll tell them
that it was wrong and then suspend them from their duties.”
“No. The point is that they should have known not to do it in the first place.”
“How would they know? We kill them. All of them, without mercy. We kill their children, we kill their elders. We kill prisoners, the wounded; we accept no surrender. How is what they did any worse than killing them all?”
I heard footsteps approach my tent and knew it was Malek before he opened the flap.
“What did they do?” the handsome man said when he stepped into my tent. The chest plate of his pieced-together armor had a giant puncture in the shoulder that ripped down to the center like a cat’s scratch. The day’s battle had been fierce and Malek’s forces had been forced to enter the main fray to support Alexia’s team.
Thayer and I turned to Gorbanni and the blond man shook his head with a clenched jaw. The four of us stood in silence for almost a minute until he finally looked at his feet and sighed in defeat.
“Six of my men were raping Elven women.”
“Ah. I see.” Malek exhaled and looked around my tent. “Fuck, I could really sit down now. Why don’t you have chairs in your tent? And I could drink a flagon of wine. Or three.” He grunted and lowered himself down to the wooden planks of my floor. The movement sounded creaks and groans from his armor and I tasted the scent of blood from injuries that had already healed.
“Kaiyer wants them executed,” Gorbanni said with obvious disgust. ”My men do not deserve this punishment. They didn’t know we had rules against rape.”
“Why would you think we did not have rules against rape?” I asked. My heart beat in my ears and I did my best to fight against my anger and disappointment. Gorbanni was a talented commander, steadfast, loyal, disciplined, and I trusted him to run a chunk of our small army alongside Thayer and Alexia. He had done a wonderful job and even helped Malek get accustomed to his new role at our planning table.
It had been four or five years since Alexia and I saved him from slavery and I felt as if he was my brother. I was starting to question my assessment of him.
“Go get Alexia and return.” I realized what the man was missing.
“Very well.” He seemed pleased with my suggestion. “She will agree with me.” Thayer snorted and Gorbanni’s sudden strike of confidence faded from his face just as quickly as it came.
“What? She is merciless with them. She enjoys their suffering more than the four of us put together.”
“Just get her. And bring wine for Malek.” I sighed and felt my anger fade.
“Wait, not just for me. We will all need some wine for this.”
“Fine. Should I get Entas?” the horseman asked.
“No. I was just at his tent and he said he was busy.” Malek bent his neck sideways to glance at me. “He said he wants to see you after supper though.” I nodded and then watched Gorbanni leave the tent.
Malek waited a few minutes to ensure he was out of earshot before speaking.
“You really want to execute them?”
“Yes.”
“I’m surprised this has not happened yet.” Malek leaned back with a creak of leather until he was flat on the wood flooring of my tent.
“Why are you surprised?” Thayer walked over to the other side of the tent and lay down next to Malek on the floor with an exhausted sigh. All of us were covered with dried mud and Elven blood.
“It happens in war. Our men want to do to the Elven women what has been done to countless human women. We have watched our mothers, sisters, daughters, and lovers raped by Elven men. As Gorbanni said, we want to spread fear through their population. We only take a few prisoners and exterminate the rest, including their pregnant women, their children, and even their babies. Isn’t that more horrible than rape?”
“It is wrong.”
“I hate them and want our freedom at any cost, but I can understand Gorbanni’s argument.” Malek sighed and turned his head to look at me. “I don’t envy your role in this.” Thayer snorted a laugh and stretched on the ground. They both lay silent until Gorbanni’s footsteps approached.
“I brought her,” he said when he opened the flap. Both Gorbanni and Alexia were blond with blue eyes, but that was the end of their similarities. Alexia’s eyes were a cold snowy ice while Gorbanni’s were a warmer ocean water. Her hair was a light shade of sun-bleached platinum and his was darker, with shades of red and brown at the roots. Gorbanni was my tallest general and had a massive reach with his muscular arms, while Alexia was small and lithe. Her features were delicate, sharp, and beautiful, like a bird of prey.
“Heh. Couldn’t hear ya walking, Sister.” Thayer cracked open his eyes and then both he and Malek inched up from the floor and sat up with jerky movements that reflected their exhaustion.
“What do you need?” She looked at me without a smile. Her armor was unmarked from the battle but that was usually the case. She was fastidious with organization and cleanliness and often didn’t rest for many days after a battle.
“Gorbanni and I have a disagreement,” I began. The pretty woman raised an eyebrow at the horseman and he lifted a hand politely to interrupt me.
“Kaiyer wishes to execute six of my men.”
“For?” Her mouth hardened and silence hung uncomfortably in the air. She already knew what had transpired and was making her friend voice the crime.
“They raped Elven women. We had no rules against the—” She raised her hand suddenly and Gorbanni’s words cut off like he had been choked.
“Are you asking my opinion because I am a woman, a victim, or a human?” She looked at him with a hard stare that could have crumbled rock.
“You forgot commander.” I smiled at her and her shoulders relaxed slightly. “You have a unique perspective. Please tell us your thoughts. I am prepared to be persuaded from my opinion.”
“I am a human first and a woman second.” She took a deep breath and ran her left hand through her short hair. “But I would be lying if I didn’t think about the Elvens that raped me every time I kill one of them. Each battle we win I think of as one step closer to freedom and one step closer to my sisters being safe from their vile assaults. I care not what happens to the Elvens, and I have killed too many to count.” Gorbanni nodded and opened his mouth to speak but she continued, “With that said, we should aim to deal them their fate as quickly as possible. I do not condone rape of their women. I doubt they have the same emotions that we possess, but we are better than that. Are we not fighting for a world where the strong do not prey upon the weak?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call their women weak, Sister,” Thayer grunted.
“No. But Gorbanni’s men were stronger. They overpowered a woman and forced themselves upon her. I shudder to think of how similar the situation was to my own rape.”
Alexia never spoke in detail of her assault. Thayer and I stumbled upon the attack while we were scouting the tribe’s trade route and farming lands. The Elvens that were in the process of raping the beautiful woman were dealt with quickly and without mercy.
“We will make it part of our laws. I will tell all of my warriors and it will never happen again. We do not need to execute them.” Gorbanni attempted to speak the words with conviction, but the last sentence sounded like a question. He was leaving this decision up to Alexia.
We all were.
“The offending men need to seek forgiveness from the women in your unit. Our army has valued equality between our sexes and I have never felt unsafe around any of the human men in our ranks. But allowing them to rape women, even Elven women, sets a dangerous precedent and destroys the trust and equality we have built here. If we allow them to view Elven women as things they can use for their own pleasure, it will not be long before they begin to view their fellow female soldiers in the same way.”
“They will apologize. It will not happen again.” Gorbanni rose to his feet easily and dashed from the pavilion without another word. Alexia waited until our sensitive ears heard his steps blend into the crow
d of the camp before speaking.
“May I speak alone with Kaiyer?” she asked Malek and Thayer. They nodded quickly and followed Gorbanni’s path out of the tent and down into the camp.
“I wish you had not gotten me involved,” she said the words with no anger.
“I was not able to convince him,” I said.
“I understand your reasoning, but it doesn’t change my wishes.”
“How could I have done it better?”
“I don’t know. But that is what you do; you figure shit out that we can’t.” She crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly. It made her short hair bob to one side of her slender neck.
“Fair enough. I’ll get better.” I smiled at her and she mirrored the expression.
“I’ve got more work to do. We all having dinner tonight?”
“Yes. Today was a good day. You figure out the losses?” I asked.
“Fifteen for me. Gorbanni lost two dozen, Thayer twenty-eight, and Malek lost twelve. The Elvens were wiped out. Six hundred or so. A few dozen escaped into the forest, but my warriors are tracking them. They should be exterminated by the end of the night.”
“Thank you for the update.” She nodded and silently slid out of my tent. Later tonight she would have an exact list of names for me to review. I hated losing soldiers, but it was unavoidable. We could not rid this world of the Elvens without bloodshed on both sides. We were close to a thousand strong, but only one third of that number was trained thoroughly enough for combat. The rest would not be ready for many more months.
“Didn’t Malek ask you to come see me?” I spun around and stopped myself from sending a dagger flying out of my hand at the last second.
“You scared the shit out of me.” I let out a breath and glared at Entas. The old man was sprawled out on my cot like a snake. “How did you get in here?”
“You were lost in thought and I walked right past you.”
“I doubt that happened.”
“There are infinite possibilities in the universe. One day you might even take a ride on a dragon and change the world forever.” He bobbed his balding head and made a cooing sound like a dove.
The Destroyer Book 4 Page 29
