Mercenary Little Death Bringer

by Banks, Catherine

  My cell door opened and a torch was placed in the holder near me. “Refusing to eat?” Favian asked. It pained me that he was here and not unchaining me even more than Mother’s visit had pained me.

  “I refuse to live as a lady. I will only live if I’m allowed to be what I am, not something she wants me to be.”

  He sat down cross-legged in front of me and said, “That’s not the true reason why you’re down here, you know. That’s just her side agenda. The real reason you’re down here is to protect you from the people trying to kidnap you. We are using all of our resources to locate the ring leader while you are safe in Elven territory.”

  “Then why am I chained?” I asked bitterly as I showed him my wrists.

  “Because we know you’ll just run back to the Academy to complete the training if we don’t keep you chained up.”

  “You’re going to go back, aren’t you?” He didn’t respond, which was answer enough. “So you’re going to go back, complete the program and become a mercenary while I’m held prisoner. Then when I am finally let out I’ll not be able to complete the program and have no job and no partner.”

  “We’re still partners, Marin,” he said seriously.

  I looked up and met his eyes. “If we were still partners you would help me out of my captivity.”

  “You haven’t been kidnapped. You’ve been grounded,” he said, “And it is well within a parent’s right to ground their child.”

  “You wouldn’t allow this for yourself!” I yelled at him. “You would demand that I let you free and be furious with me if I didn’t.”

  “I know,” he said with a sigh, “But I cannot free you. I have to ensure that you’re safe and protected and this is the best way.”

  He stood up and I whispered, “Don’t do this, Favian.”

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered and grabbed the torch from the wall.

  “Favian! Don’t do this to me! Don’t abandon me!” I cried.

  He set the torch back and squatted down in front of me, holding my face between his hands. “I am not abandoning you. I am protecting you! You’ll understand sooner or later. I must protect you.” He put something bitter inside my mouth and held my face with his hands, forcing me to swallow. “If you won’t eat, I’ll force nourishment down your throat. Sleep, Marin and be safe. All I ask is that you’re safe.” He kissed my forehead, grabbed the torch and left, closing the cell door behind him.

  I tried to gag up what he had given me, but it was futile. “Favian!” I yelled. “Favian don’t leave me!”

  No matter how much I cried, he did not respond. He had left me alone. My partner had abandoned me. I cried until the medicine he had given me took effect and then fell into a drugged sleep, dreaming of those that had betrayed me.

  * * *

  “Rise and shine,” Kato said as he set a new tray of food on the ground in front of me. “Time to eat.”

  “I’m not eating,” I mumbled as I sat up groggily. I looked up at the window and stared at the darkness outside. “Is it the same night or the second?”

  “The third actually,” Kato said, “Favian wanted to ensure you got plenty of rest. Now, eat up.” He pushed the tray of food towards me and I flung it to the side with my hand, sending it end over end and spreading the food throughout the cell.

  “I’m not eating. And you tell Favian to stay away from me or he won’t like our next encounter,” I said cruelly.

  “Do not be so hard on your friend. He only cares for your safety as do the rest of us.”

  “None of you care for me. If you cared you would let me out of these chains and free me.”

  “What if it was Favian in your place? What if someone was trying to kill him and he wanted to go confront them? What would you do?”

  “I would go with him and watch his back,” I said immediately without any thought, “I would not put him in a dark, dungeon cell.”

  Kato shook his head sadly. “You better eat what food you can salvage or you and Favian will have that confrontation. And I know you don’t really want to fight him.”

  I watched him leave and then listened for the door at the end to close. I had to get out. I had to get out now before Favian drugged me again.

  I crawled back down the wall and found the stone again, this time quicker since I remembered approximately how far down I had gone. It would have been much easier if I could have woken up during the day and had sunlight, but life was rarely easy. I tugged on the stone, back and forth, back and forth until it finally came completely out of the wall. I reached inside slowly, running my fingertips along the floor until they hit a small piece of cold metal. I pulled it out and quickly unlocked my chains with the key. I stood up and stretched, letting my small freedom relax me.

  Now came the difficult part. There was a small window fourteen feet above the ground, but it was nearly impossible to reach unless you had someone else’s shoulders to stand on and even then you had to jump up from their shoulders to the ledge of the window and pull yourself up. Then you had to break the window and pull yourself out without getting cut on the glass. Fortunately I had broken the glass on accident when I was a toddler when I had thrown a ball this direction while Favian and I were playing outside. Later I had come down here and cleared out all of the glass and had used this as a quick escape when Favian and I were playing tag. I searched along the wall for the rope I’d tied to the outside to crawl out, but of course they had removed it before putting me inside.

  I cursed angrily and searched around for something useful within the cell. I came up with nothing as I had expected. Favian had probably come down here himself and searched everything and taken out the rope to ensure that I couldn’t escape. I was very glad I had hidden the key without him knowing and very glad I had never told him about it. I grabbed a rock and threw it across the cell as hard as I could, hitting the cell door in my anger. I heard yelling outside and stopped moving, afraid someone had heard me throw the rock.

  “Get your swords and shields!” Kato yelled, “The boundary is being attacked.”

  Attacked? Who would attack the elves?

  “Squad one to the eastern section. Squad two to the western. Squad three with me.”

  “Who’s attacking us?” I heard Favian ask.

  “Ogres. Hundreds of them,” Kato answered.

  My blood boiled and I almost yelled to Favian to get me out, but I bit my tongue. I hated ogres more than anything else in the world. It was my goal in life to kill them all. I didn’t care that they were technically a species like humans and elves. They may have started off good, but over the past fifty years they had turned evil and needed to die. I waited until I heard them all move away from the window and then backed up ten paces, which put my back against the cell door. I didn’t think I could make it, but I had to. I had to get out. I had to fight. I took a deep breath to calm myself and then ran forward as fast as I could. I waited until the last second and then jumped up as high as I could jump, higher than ever before. I reached with my fingers and somehow managed to grab the window ledge.

  I’d made it! I held in my scream of victory, so that I wouldn’t alert them to my presence, pulled myself up slowly and then peered out into the night. The window was at ground level so I couldn’t see very much except grass and bushes, but it seemed clear and I couldn’t hear anyone nearby. I reached forward and pulled myself up and into the window and then out of the hole. Thank goodness I was still thin or I would have never been able to fit through the window. I stayed lying down as I looked around, waiting for any change. Nothing. I jumped up and ran to the right, hugging the wall of the castle as I neared the armory. There were a couple of voices, but it sounded like it was only the blacksmith’s assistants. They were big boys, but they were slow and I could grab swords and run back out before they could catch me. Of course they would immediately alert everyone to my escape, but I had to hope that I could make it out of the main gate to fight the ogres before they found me.

  Fire burned within me, urgi
ng me on to complete this mission. Where had this come from? Why did I feel so energized? I waited until the blacksmith’s assistants’ backs were turned and then ran into the armory, grabbed two swords and ran out. “Wait!” They called. “Stop! You’re not supposed to fight!” I ignored them and made a mad dash for the front gate. I ran passed Kato just as the blacksmith’s assistants yelled, “Marin’s escaped!”

  I continued out of the gates, ignoring the shocked shouts of the guards and then ran into the barrier. The barrier pressed against me, trying to hold me inside its boundaries. I growled in frustration and pushed against it as I heard Kato and the guards closing in on me. I couldn’t let them catch me. I had to kill the ogres! I screamed in anger and tore through the barrier, running out onto the open road and stopped as I came within sight of the ogres.

  They were grotesque, fat, sloppy looking beasts with mildew green skin, dirt brown eyes and stood over fifteen feet tall. They were completely hairless and wore loincloths to cover their genitals. They bared their teeth at me, showing the few that remained and I could smell their foul stench from one hundred yards away.

  “Leave this place or die!” I yelled as my fury ignited and a fire I hadn’t known lived within me spread throughout my body.

  “We’ve come to take you,” one of the ogres said. “Come peacefully and we will not slaughter the elves.”

  “The only ones about to be slaughtered are you!” I screamed as I charged forward. The ogres screamed back at me and the stench of their breath stole my breath away for a moment before I plowed on and started hacking at them. Ogres were the only beasts that made me lose control. They had killed my family when I was a toddler. They killed innocent people and ate their bones. They were murderous beasts and I had taken it upon myself to make it my job to kill them. As I hacked off arms and heads my blood boiled and a smile split my face. This was when I was truly happy. This was the time I relished.

  The ogres swarmed around me, but the only thing they gained by their closeness to me was their death. Ogre bodies piled up around me and their blood coated my swords and splashed along my arms, chest and face. I finished off the twenty that had been in front of the main gate and ran to the right, towards the battle raging on the eastern side.

  “Marin!” Cesar yelled at me, “Return to the castle at once.”

  I ignored his call. I only had one thing to do. Kill the ogres. A group of elf soldiers stood between me and the ogres. They didn’t see me because they were preparing to confront the ogres in the other direction so I jumped up and did a front flip over the top of the soldiers, landing on my feet in front of them. Some of the soldiers gasped in shock while others backed away. I sprinted forward and attacked the ogres before me, ignoring the elves.

  The sight of them falling before my blade was intoxicating and I wanted more. I needed more ogres’ deaths! With a swiftness I had not known I possessed until then, I slew the fifty ogres on the eastern side in only a couple of minutes and then ran on to reach the southern side. I rounded the corner and saw Favian standing amongst the ogres, killing again and again, but there were at least one hundred and fifty ogres and he was greatly outnumbered. I smiled wide and ran into the swarm of beasts, slicing and hacking and killing.

  I heard Favian talking to me, but I ignored him. I would not be denied this chance. I would not be denied this opportunity to rid the world of so many ogres at once. I slew the last ogre and dashed away before Favian could grab me from behind. I could hear the elves behind me, following me, but they didn’t matter. I reached the western side and was saddened to see only ten ogres left alive, Kato’s blade having finished off the rest.

  I ran forward and pushed Kato aside so that I could finish the last of them. I killed nine of them quickly and then faced off with the last one. He met my eyes and growled. “You were supposed to come alive. You have killed too many of mine to be allowed to live now though,” he said angrily.

  “I will kill you all before I cease to exist on this planet,” I told him, “I will rid the world of your putrid existence.”

  “If you think you are so tough then come at me, little girl. Let me see what you can do with those blades.”

  “Marin, stop,” Favian said from behind me. “You need to calm down.”

  “Please, Marin, listen to him,” Father said.

  “I do not listen to those who stand in the way of my path, even if I love any of them. I do not listen to those who would hold me back from my destiny,” I growled as I spun around to face them. I felt abnormal. I felt taller and faster and better than ever before. I felt amazing and yet the words that came out of my mouth were foreign and yet seemed right. Where was all of this coming from?

  “What is your destiny?” Father asked.

  I smiled. “You already know, don’t you King of the Elves?” Father looked at me in bewilderment and then I heard the ogre move behind me. I spun around in a perfect three hundred and sixty degree turn, my arms out and my swords raised, slicing his head off and sending it flying through the air. The ogre’s body fell and I smiled. I felt a slight disappointment and said, “I have killed them all. I only wish there had been more.” I turned around and confirmed that there were no ogres left alive and then my body’s energy disappeared and I fainted.

  ~~~~

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I woke up in the healer’s quarters, strapped to the bed. I sighed loudly. “Must we continue to tie me to things?” I asked as I looked around for anyone.

  Father and Favian walked inside the room and stood facing me with matching worried looks on their faces. “How do you feel?” Favian asked.

  “I feel irritated. How come the barrier kept me from leaving the Elven Kingdom?” I asked. “Why did I pass out when I hit it?”

  “That’s the last thing you remember?” Father asked. “You remember running into the barrier and then nothing else?”

  I nodded my head. “Yes. Why? Did I do something embarrassing?” I looked at Favian who looked paler than usual.

  The healer, a kind old female elf named Lila with white hair which was always in a single long braid that hung down her back walked inside the room. “How are you feeling?” she asked me with a smile.

  “Hungry and frustrated,” I replied.

  Father whispered something into the Lila’s ear and her eyes widened in shock. “She remembers nothing after that?”

  Father and Favian shook their heads. “What’s going on?” I asked. “Why are you all acting like I did something crazy?”

  Favian sat down on the edge of my bed and said, “You didn’t pass out from the barrier Marin. You broke through it and fought the ogres.”

  “I did?” I asked in shock. “Well, did I win? I don’t feel any cuts of bruises.”

  “Yes, you won,” he said with a smirk. “Actually you defeated them all by yourself. You defeated over two hundred ogres by yourself.”

  I stared at him in disbelief and shock. “Why don’t I remember it?” This was frightening to me. What if I had gone crazy and attacked the elves? What if I had hurt Favian in my trance?

  Father shook his head. “I’m not sure. You talked to us as well, but you were not yourself.”

  “What did I say?” I asked.

  “That’s enough. She must have suffered some type of memory loss and we don’t want to push her too far,” Lila said sternly.

  “Why don’t I remember?” I asked myself. “Why can’t I remember what happened?”

  “Lila, undo her bonds,” Father said.

  “Father!” Favian said in shock, “You can’t let her go. She’ll return to the Academy.”

  Father nodded his head. “Yes, she will and that is exactly what she needs to do. It is clear that no matter what we try she will escape. Besides, it is clear that she has a destiny to complete.”

  Favian’s jaw tightened. “She could be kidnapped or killed.”

  Father put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Then you had better return with her to protect her.” He stared deep into Fav
ian’s eyes and said, “We must not keep her from her destiny.”

  Favian glanced at me and then sighed. “I understand.”

  “I don’t!” I yelled. “Why are you acting like you know of some destiny I have when I do not!”

  “We don’t know your destiny, but we know you have one,” Favian said, “He’s right that we can’t keep someone from completing it. If we did you would end up resenting us.” He gripped my arm, “And I could not live with myself if you hated me.”

  “Stay here for the night so that we can be sure you’re alright and then tomorrow morning you can both head back to the Academy. Deal?” Father asked.

  My head was swirling with all of this craziness. First the elves kidnap me and lock me in a dungeon and then I kill over two hundred ogres by myself and cannot remember a single event. I nodded my head to Father and stood up as soon as Lila unstrapped me. I hugged Favian and then Father. “I know you were trying to protect me, but you cannot keep me locked in a dungeon. Thank you for understanding.”

  “You’re welcome. And go easy on your Mother. She only wants what is best for you.”

  I smiled. “I know.”

  I followed behind Favian and Father out of the healer’s room and down the hall. I was about to follow Father to the dining hall, but Favian pulled me to the side and stared at me. “Are we okay?” he asked.

  “Are you going to lock me up in the dungeon again?” I asked.

  He sighed. “No, but you must understand why I did it?”

  I nodded my head and hugged him. “Thank you for caring so much about me. I was very mad when I was down there, but whatever happened during that battle has really calmed me and allowed me to see things more clearly.” Though I wished desperately to remember that battle. How had I killed two hundred ogres by myself? How was that possible?