When she returned, she dumped the two forked sticks and a small branch on the ground next to the fire. She looked at Thork, who was poking Jennaca with his stubby finger and earning deep belly laughs from the baby. Jethallin clamped her mouth shut and walked over to pick her daughter up. Jennaca saw her and grinned and then threw her arms around her as best she could.
Jethallin closed her eyes and felt the heat in her chest from the show of affection. She wiped the smile from her face and looked at the troll while holding her daughter close. "Snake-Killer called me a beastmistress. I thought he was making fun of me, but now I wonder?"
"Who dat?" Thork asked.
"He's a hunter. From a tribe that was wiped out by the splisskin a long time ago."
Thork's green brow furrowed. "What?"
She shook her head. "His soul was trapped in a ring I found. He was the one who made Alto's sister do what she did. He taught me how to fight and then tried to trick me into helping to bring him back."
The shaman's eyes widened. "Well dat makes sense."
"It does?"
"Sure!"
"Um, okay," Jethallin said. "So what he called me, does that mean something?"
Thork nodded. "Beastmistress. Thork never heard dat before, but Thork's heard of beastmasters."
"What are they?"
"What yous fink dem is?"
"If I knew, would I ask?"
Thork nodded. "Yep, yous stupids is stupid like dat."
Jethallin clenched her fist that wasn't wrapped around Jennaca. She let out a frustrated squeal before stomping a foot. "Damn it, Thork, tell me! I'm just a thief and a whore who made mistakes and now I'm trying to make up for them. I have to give Jennaca a different life. A better life!"
The troll leaned back a little and glanced at Bonky. The goblin was snickering. "Get dem sticks set up," Thork barked at the zebra-striped goblin. Bonky scowled and moved towards the sticks.
Thork looked at Jethallin again. "Yous's making friends wif da critters, right?"
"Yes, but why?"
He shrugged. "Does it matter? Yous is, so yous does. Yous show dem yous's nice and dem is nice to yous."
"Why?"
"Stupids," Thork muttered to the air. "Why is da trees green and da sky blue?"
Jethallin opened and then shut her mouth. She considered his question and nodded. "Because they are. And if I can make friends with animals, it's because I can. That's what you're saying?"
The troll jerked his hands up as if she'd just offered him a revelation. The dead pig flopped in his hand as though it weighed no more than a feather. He looked at it and tossed it to the ground next to the goblin. "Oops. Here, stick dis piggy."
Bonky jumped and then made a rude gesture at the troll before he turned his attention to the long branch Jethallin had stripped and brought back. He drew out a curved sword and started sharpening one end of the branch.
"Okay, I'll stop asking why," Jethallin said. "Even though I really want to know. What do I do now, though? I came north to find Alto, but I don't know where he is. I don't even know where I am!"
Thork grinned. "Dats why Thork is here," he said. "Dere's some stupids to do norf and da east dat is needing yous's help."
Jethallin stiffened. "What? Why are we here? I mean, I can't do much, but I'll help if I can. I mean, is it Alto or his friends?"
"Somefing like dat," Thork said. "Dem's not in trouble yet. In a couple of days."
Jethallin blinked the confusion out of her eyes and chose to keep her mouth shut in hopes the troll would explain. When he didn't offer any more, she sighed and asked, "All right, what am I supposed to do? And how do you know they'll be in trouble?"
"Dat's just da way fings is happening," Thork said. "Use da critters. Talk to dem and get dem to help. Dere's a lot of big ugly stupids dat need bashin and da good stupids won't have enough bashers to do da bashin."
Jethallin's head swam as she tried to make sense of the troll's speech. When she finally felt she had a handle on it, she repeated it to make sure. "Alto or his friends are going to be attacked by a large group? They'll need help?"
Thork grinned. "Yous isn't dat stupid after all!"
"I don't think that word means all the things you think it means."
Thork snorted. "Dat's stupid."
She blinked and looked away from the baffling troll to see Bonky mounting the pig on the spit and moving to begin rotating him over the campfire. She looked down at Jennaca and then up at Thork. "I can't," she said. "I won't take Jennaca into a battle."
Thork grinned. "Thork take da baby."
Jethallin stared at him for a long minute. "What?"
He grinned and made a cooing noise. Jennaca turned to him and reached for him. "Uncle Thork," he said.
"By the saints," Jethallin moaned.
Chapter 24
Aleena led the Knights of Leander through the soggy ruins of the elven city. The leftover water that fell from the trees kicked up the soot, stinging her eyes and bringing tears to them. The bodies of the elves were scattered across the landscape and showing signs of decay and abuse by scavengers. Aleena saw a young boy who was wedged in the crook of a tree, his dangling legs ending in shredded ribbons of torn flesh where the wolves could reach him.
"This is unpardonable," she whispered.
"War is never gentle," Celos offered from his mount beside her.
Moonshine snorted, summarizing Aleena's feelings perfectly. She looked ahead to what had once been a beautiful combination of stone and woodwork. The palace of the elven king was now a gutted ruin with toppled stone and broken and burned walls. Some of the wood that served as walls and beams for the building had been still living trees, a testimony to how in tune with nature the elves had been.
Now nothing was alive.
"I will kill him," Aleena vowed.
Celos glanced at her and then twisted to look behind them at the column of knights who rode through the ruined city behind them. He turned back to her and said, "His crimes seem to justify such a thing."
"Seem to—" Aleena blurted out. "What are you saying?"
"I'm not saying he hasn't done things we find unacceptable," Celos said. "I'm saying that in times of war, normal doctrines are suspended. I neither approve, nor would I condone or participate in any such behavior. However, Queen Rosalyn's reaction is not surprising. History is written by the victors."
"You mean to say Graak's genocidal destruction of these people would be written off as a necessary thing?"
He shrugged. "Perhaps. I am no historian."
Aleena turned to survey the destruction around her and then shook her head. "I will see him pay for his crimes."
"This is not the time for it, but I will say it anyhow," Celos said to her in a soft voice that would not carry. "We serve Leander and all that he stands for, but we must also serve man."
She stiffened and was quick to reply, "By serving Leander, we do serve man."
"Whether man wants us to or not?" Celos asked with a hint of a smile. "I mean the laws of men. As members of the church, we must uphold the laws of the rulers. We must serve as examples not only of piety, but also of the institution for which we represent. So long as the church is in agreement with a nation, its laws are ours to uphold as well."
Aleena was silent for a long moment. Her eyes traveled across the destroyed shops, homes, and lives of the reclusive wood elves. "I disagree," she said at last. "We are paladins, not just knights. It falls to us to inspire and to live in the holiest of ways at all times. Our laws are those set down by Leander and the church, and they supersede man's laws."
Celos opened his mouth but a shout from behind them and to their right kept him silent. They turned as one and saw the knights behind them turning to look as well. They stopped and waited as another cry rang out and then word traveled through the knights until they could hear the reason for the distress.
"Survivors, or ogres?" Aleena asked as she guided Moonshine back through the town.
"I'm not sure.
Both?" Celos said from behind her.
The knights parted to let them through after they rode down a hill to a lower section of the elven town. A store had several gaping holes in the rear wall torn out of it to reveal a gutted shell with half a dozen elves still inside. They were laid out on the floor of the building with wooden stakes driven through their hands and feet.
Aleena rode up and leapt from Moonshine's back to rush in. One of the knights held his hand out to stop her but she ignored him. All she could hear was the soft cries of the elves as they spoke words she couldn't understand.
The sound of wood splintering broke through her focus. She heard her men shouting behind and around her and the sound of battle. Horses cried out and something grabbed her and yanked her back. Aleena stumbled out of the building, falling down the short staircase even as the store shifted and tilted before her eyes.
She fell back and landed hard enough to drive the air from her lungs. Overhead, she saw the cloudy skies with patches of blue beginning to break through. They were obscured a second later by a cloud of darkness with sharp objects tumbling through it. A noise of a thousand hammers striking stone and a thousand axes chopping wood washed over her and left her stunned. She felt her body jerk as she was struck over a dozen times in the span of a forgotten breath.
When the dust cleared, she realized she was underneath something. She gasped and coughed, and then tried to move. Something had her pinned down, but her arms were free enough she used them to clear away the rubble of stone and wood and see the sky above her again through the fog of dust raised by the collapse of the building.
She began to hear more than just the ringing in her ears and it spurred her to action. Her men were being attacked again. The ogres had laid another ambush. Their best yet, considering the bait used to draw her and the other faithful of Leander in.
Aleena pushed at the timbers and stones and shifted them so she could try to pull herself free. Her armor was dented and damaged. She couldn't bend her right knee and only when someone rushed over and jammed a spear into the rubble to use as a lever could she pull herself out. It took her a moment to recognize the knight helping her. Blood ran down the side of his face.
She heard Moonshine's cry a moment later and then felt her breath as the unicorn was beside her. Aleena reached up for the unicorn and felt her teeth clamp down on her gauntlet. Moonshine backed away, tugging on her arm and making Aleena hiss in pain at how her arm was being stretched. In seconds, she was pulled free of the rubble and the unicorn let loose her grip.
Aleena rolled but couldn't get to her feet with the damage done to her greave. She studied it and saw blood dripping from the crushed armor. Her leg didn't feel hurt, but her entire body had a loose feeling to it. She tugged at the clasps and tore them free, and then grabbed the dented armor and pulled at it until she was able to rip it off her leg.
Aleena gasped in pain. Bent and torn metal had been driven into her leg without her realizing it. When she tore the greave away, she felt the metal tearing flesh on its way out. She stared through the torn fabric of her pants as fresh blood ran down her leg. She tested her leg and felt it respond with no more than a little soreness from being nearly squashed.
Aleena rose to her feet and staggered a little until Moonshine was beside her to give her something to lean against. She looked around and saw Celos organizing the knights as ogres pressed them through the streets and houses. Aleena reached for her sword and pulled it free. She looked at it and felt relief to see it hadn't been bent or broken by the building collapsing.
Thinking of the building, Aleena turned back and saw nothing but rubble. The massive leg of an ogre lay sticking out of one side of it, telling her how the trap had been sprung on them. She frowned and remembered the three knights inside the store and the six elves. They were buried beneath the rubble, more victims to the rapacious nature of the ogres.
Aleena turned away and, clenching her sword tightly in her fist, she stormed towards the nearest group of defenders and paused only to pull a shield off one of the knight's horses that was wandering through the city, looking for its rider.
"Aleena!"
Aleena turned and saw Celos waving for her. She glanced back at the knights she'd been heading towards and saw them being driven back step by step by the group of ogres. One knight was staggered by the strike of an ogre's mace and separated from the other two knights. He was surrounded and Aleena lost sight of him. The other two were forced to give ground to avoid being overwhelmed by the ogres.
When Celos spoke again, he was right behind her. "Aleena!"
She spun, surprised that he'd crossed the distance so quickly, and saw that the knights were being hammered and driven back everywhere. She shook her head and blinked.
"Are you well?" Celos asked.
"Well enough," she said. "Let's put these ogres to rest!"
"You're hurt," he pointed out.
Aleena glanced down and shrugged. "I'll lead with my left leg; it's just cuts from my armor."
"The blood in your hair?"
Aleena's eyes widened. She started to reach up when she realized her hands were full. "I didn't know," she said.
Celos nodded. "In the back—you must have hit your head on the ground when the building collapsed."
Aleena nodded. That made sense. It explained why she felt so distant. She'd suffered head wounds before; they made her dizzy and distant. She clenched her teeth and vowed to stay with the battle. "I'll be fine," she said.
"None of us will be," Celos said.
To give credence to his words, the cry of ogres went up from their right. The knights had been killed and a group of ogres poured through the breach between ruined buildings. Aleena turned without a word and rushed towards them. Moonshine joined her and, half a step behind her, Celos raised his great sword to lend support.
Moonshine reared up and lashed out with her hooves, striking a surprised ogre in the shoulder and chest. He grunted and stumbled back, and then snarled and swung his sword at the unicorn. Moonshine ducked under the swing and brought her head up to bury her glowing horn in his belly.
Aleena used the unicorn's distraction to good benefit and hacked into an ogre's side. Celos waded into the battle beside her and hewed through the exposed thigh of another of the brutal warriors and stepped out of the way as he fell to the ground. More ogres filled the gaps, giving them no respite.
"They are too many," Celos shouted to Aleena.
Aleena slipped under a strike and sliced across the back of the ogre's arm, severing skin and muscle and dropping his weapon. She stepped back and glanced at the battle around her. She counted a few dozen knights still fighting and saw their perimeter was shrinking. Of the ogres there were scores. Far more than the earlier ambushes had been. She bit down and nodded, and then dropped to bury her unarmored knee in the mud at her feet.
"Aleena!" Celos hissed as he saw her go down.
"My Lord Leander," Aleena said as loud as she could. "We will fight in your name until the last of us can fight no more. I ask for your strength that I might bring justice to the leader of these warriors. If we are doomed to fall, then I ask only that you give us the strength to fight with the strength that will show others they can stand up to such villainy."
Celos grunted from the impact of an ogre's knee against his belly. His breastplate spread the strike across his chest but it drove him back a step and left Aleena exposed. Another ogre stepped up with a spear nearly large enough to be the mast of a ship and drove it towards the kneeling paladin.
Aleena lifted her head and sword at the same time. Her eyes gleamed with a golden light and her sword seemed to glow in the overcast day. She rose up and twisted, her sword slicing the spear in half and leaving no force behind it as it deflected off her cuirass. She continued to spin and buried her blade in the ogre's hip, and then yanked it free and plunged it into his chest when he stumbled forward.
She took a blow on her shield that earned a grunt from her but she shrugged it off and cut
the offending arm that had dared to launch the attack off at the elbow. Aleena threw down her sundered shield and dipped low to grab up the severed tip of the spear in her left hand.
Celos pushed himself back into the battle and drove his sword into the back of an ogre that flanked Aleena. The ogre collapsed as his spine was severed in his lower back, tripping up one of its fellows and giving Aleena a chance to slay another one. Moonshine worked herself into a lather on the other side of the paladin, lashing out with hooves and horn to keep the ogres at bay.
A primal roar from the forest washed over the ogres and knights and caused a brief stay in the action. A streak of silver crossed from the trees through the town and struck an ogre before lifting off with a flap for the sky. The ogre stumbled and fell back on its bottom, clutching the torn flesh on one cheek and ruined eye on the other side of his face.
The roar was answered by other roars and howls from the surrounding woods. The ogres fought on, oblivious at first, but the knights fell back in confusion. Hawks, eagles, and falcons swept down from the skies and harassed the ogres, distracting and clawing at them. Wolves leapt on the backs of ogres and bit at their hamstrings. Brown and black bears lumbered out of the woods and matched the strength and, in many cases the size, of the ogres.
"Leander's heard our prayers!" Aleena shouted as she saw the forest fighting back. "To arms, brothers! To arms!"
Aleena leapt into the ogres that had grown thickest facing them. Faced with a two-pronged attack, the ogres were distracted and confused. She gutted one ogre and speared the ogre that had turned to flee beside him through the kidney.
Celos felled an ogre that was distracted by a group of sparrows flittering about his head. He drew his sword back and made ready to advance or defend himself when he saw through the press of bodies a figure standing behind the ogres. He squinted but lost sight as the press of ogres shifted. It looked to be a human wearing multi-hued rags and holding a sword in one hand and a knife in the other. On each side of the person stood an animal he couldn't see clearly enough to make out.
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