A fire started upon the altar. The high priest and priestess scurried back as the fire grew to a pillar and consumed the altar, slowly spreading.
Aife got up and ran out of the main door.
The fire chased her, consuming the grass along the floor. Once she was outside it stopped and then faded.
Aife stepped back through the threshold and the fire sprung up again, more intense than before. She stepped back through the door and the fire evaporated.
“Leave us, Aife,” called Caitlyn. “It seems that the gods don’t want your service.”
Curse you, Mars… I shall discover what you meant. I will not be a pawn to be pushed around the board at someone else’s desire and fancy. I will be my own person. Aife stalked off, leaving the service of the gods forever, before she had even began.
Chapter 13 The Expedition
15th day of the 10th month 579th year of the 8th era
For a whole day the line of horses marched across the grasslands, Salvadore with Retha in the lead, the twins in the middle, and Akuchi and Mayu taking up the rear with the five supply horses trailing after. As the sun set Salvadore called for a stop to set up camp.
Dismounting, Salvadore started to clear a patch of grass large enough for a small camp. The twins began setting up the tree tents, and Mayu and Akuchi tended to the horses.
“I can’t believe that I am on another scouting party with the twins,” complained Mayu as she rammed a stake into the ground.
“It could be worse,” said Akuchi.
Mayu’s head turned to Akuchi with a fierce look on her face. “How could it worse?”
“You could be doing it without me,” Akuchi answered, flashing Mayu with a large toothy grin.
Mayu’s face softened and she gave back a small smile to Akuchi. Akuchi turned and watched the twins set up the tents.
“They do work well together,” he admired as the twins quickly set up the three tents.
“I taught them that,” remarked Mayu. “Come, we need to secure the horses.”
Akuchi and Mayu affixed the horses to two stakes in the ground and gave them some food. Then, joining the group, Mayu and Akuchi sat next to each other in front one of the tents. Yokoyama and Kono sat in front of another tent, while Retha and Salvadore sat hand in hand in front of the last tent. The six of them arrayed around a small campfire that Salvadore had started.
“We will each take turns to keep watch tonight,” Salvadore ordered. “Retha and myself will take first watch then Akuchi and Mayu, then Yokoyama and Kono.”
All agreed, nodding.
“Ok, anyone know how to cook?” Salvadore asked.
“I do,” Retha, said standing. She wore a simple brown tunic and matching brown trousers. Her long hair tied at the back with a simple band. She had a short sword hanging from her waist. She smiled at Salvadore and blushed as she strode over to the horses.
Salvadore sat in full body leather armour and a leather belt holding his weapon on his side. He returned Retha’s smile with his own. He stretched out to his full length and placed his hands behind his head.
Akuchi sat next to Mayu.
Yokoyama and Kono sat closely and whispered and giggled as they waited for dinner. They were very much a solid combat couple; they spoke in low whispers-about what no one could understand.
Retha returned and started cooking the food, placing a cooking pot over the fire and adding water and vegetables to the pot. The smell of stewing food tantalised everyone’s nose as the fire was banked to provide a strong consistent heat.
Salvador watched Retha with hungry eyes as she prepared the food. She would look up at him and push her hair back over one ear and give him a warm smile, before blushing. Salvador would then blush and look away with an infectious smile on his lips.
Mayu watched then slipped into Akuchi’s arms and snuggled into him, pulling her legs under her chin. Mayu’s scent wafted up and engulfed Akuchi’s senses. The warmth of her body against his chest and the smell worked together to build a warmth in his body that had nothing to do with the fire.
Mayu felt Akuchi’s ardour grow behind her and press into her back and smiled a quite contented smile to herself. Once dinner was served everyone ate in silence, apart from exclamations of how great Retha’s cooking was.
“We should go to sleep,” said Mayu, stretching. She grabbed Akuchi’s hand and stepped into the tent.
Yokoyama and Kono also stepped into their own tent. Akuchi closed the tent flap behind him, and began undressing.
Mayu smiled and removed her small amount of clothing, setting aside her weapon on top of the small pile. In the complete darkness, she ran her hands over his muscled body, eliciting shivers of pleasure from him. When she got to the small of his back. He turned abruptly. He grabbed her hand in his and pulled her into his strong embrace. She folded him into his strong arms and surrendered herself to him.
Akuchi ran strong deft fingers over her back-tracing lines of muscle in her back. She shivered with pleasure as warmth grew in her nether region.
Mayu turned up her head to him and unfurled one arm towards him and roughly grabbed Akuchi’s head and pulled him into a rough kiss. A deep abiding hunger grew in her body as she pushed him to the ground.
***
Panting, they separated. Akuchi lay on his back and Mayu lay on the simple blanket they shared. Mayu, exhausted from the long ride and from the orgasm, was soon asleep curled into a ball beside Akuchi.
Akuchi lay outstretched, hands behind his head and looked up at the darkness around him. It had been one amazing journey; he had been run off his feet since leaving Crece after training. Tareem, the god of farming and nature, had really blessed him since he had struck out on his own. Should he now worship the god of war? Plith or Mars. Would Tareem consider it an abandonment and prevent him from growing good crops? Would not worshiping Mars or Plith get him killed while he was here? Could he maintain worship of both gods? He was now a soldier, but he had only become a soldier to gather money to start his own farm. Since leaving Crece, he had been training, sleeping or romping. Romping was the domain of life and hence the domain of Krite. Should he offer piety to all of them?
Then there was the Mayu, what to do about her? She was from the people of Ishtaree and they followed the gods of love: Pierre and Aphrodite. Would Mayu want to settle down and become the woman of a farmer? With her father dead, she had only her wits to depend on. These thoughts bounced around his head like a herd of angry bees, though his body had tired, his mind needed to find a solution to these problems. He couldn’t find a way out of them by ignoring them. Tiredness crept to his eyes and soon the exhaustion of the day took over him. Maybe sleep would find him an answer; maybe an unknown god would help him out.
***
A gentle cough at the tent opening roused Akuchi to wakefulness. Retha’s head stuck inside the tent. A faint glow from the fire outside lit the tent. Akuchi sat up and rubbed his eyes.
“Your sentry duty.” Retha smiled.
“Ok,” murmured Akuchi, grasping for his sword. He nudged Mayu who awoke with a glorious stretch.
“Our sentry duty?” Mayu asked, sitting up and placing her head on Akuchi’s shoulder.
“Yeah,” he replied. She felt great leaning on his arm, her body was soft in all the right places and firm in all the right places. He stepped out of the tent without his trousers. The warm air was still as Retha sat at the fire-place waiting for him outside her tent. Mayu climbed out after him.
“You two make a cute couple.” Retha smiled and slipped into the tent she was sharing with Salvadore.
Mayu sat in front of the tent flap and placed another log onto the fire. Akuchi strapped his falchion onto his back and walked over to check on the horses and their cargo. Turning back to camp, he settled down next to Mayu.
“Why are the horses carrying feed with all this grass out here?” Akuchi asked.
“I think it has something to do with the performance of the horses,” Mayu replied, laying h
er head into Akuchi’s lap.
They sat and watched the darkness outside of the campfire.
A gentle rustle of the grass caused Mayu to bolt upright and look around. Akuchi, seeing her tense, also looked around. Mayu rose and picked up her swords from the ground and began to move around the camp, trying to peer into the darkness.
Akuchi grabbed his falchion and walked around the tent opposite looking out, straining his ears and eyes hoping to catch a sense of what Mayu had heard. A troll, two meters tall with dark black fur and two huge tusks coming out of its mouth, rushed at Akuchi.
“Alarm!” Akuchi yelled as he blocked the first swipe from the troll with a loud clash. Retha, Yokoyama, Kono, and Salvadore emerged from their tents naked, weapons at the ready as trolls poured into their makeshift campsite. Steel clashed with steel as the trolls engaged with the soldiers.
Akuchi focused on the troll in front of him. The troll stepped back and then leapt at him, slashing, then stepped back. Akuchi recognised the pattern and stepped forward with a deadly thrust to the stomach, impaling the troll. The troll fell backwards off the Akuchi’s blade. He turned and saw the others were engaged in similar fights.
Retha, darted dodging and slashing at the blue-furred troll that fought with her.
Yokoyama’s nubile body moved with the grace of water stance, severing a green furred troll’s arm, blue blood spurting. Yokoyama dodged to the side, avoiding the blood spray.
Kono moved with more rigidity in a classic stone stance; it seemed the twins had different fighting styles despite how much alike they looked. Kono blocked another swipe from a red-furred troll and stepped forward, causing that troll to stumble backwards. She skewered the troll in its heart.
Mayu, more accustomed to fighting naked, held two trolls at bay with her dodge and slash-swirl attack, a classic water and air stance combination, stepping between a pair of grey trolls.
Salvadore tried to take on two trolls but was getting sliced up. He was used to fighting in armour and that disadvantaged him in this fight. He stepped forward with a classic rock stance attack and was sliced by the other troll. He stepped back into a water stance, stepping out of lethal range and blocked the other troll’s attack. The trolls both split up and tried to encircle him. His body was covered with many gashes and was bleeding.
Akuchi rushed across the encampment and slashed a troll in the back with his long falchion just as it slashed Salvadore across the back, crippling him.
The other troll seized the opportunity afforded from the distraction and grabbed
Salvadore by the head and bit hard, crushing his skull. Salvadore’s eyes popped out and brain and blood spurted over the troll’s fur. The blood-splattered troll fell forward on top of Salvadore’s body. Kono had run her sword through from behind. A piteous wail echoed through the night as Retha mourned her new paramour. She gathered Salvadore’s body tears flowed down her cheeks. She rocked with his body in her arms and sobbed. Everyone else stood silently and let her grieve.
***
Morning found the party heading back. Mayu in front leading the return to camp, Retha held her head low as she led Salvadore’s horse with his body wrapped in cloth strapped on its back.
Yokoyama and Kono ran the rear guard, while Akuchi led the baggage train.
They had packed the camp up, working silently without talking fearful of bringing another attack upon them.
When the parapets of the fort came into view, they picked up speed. The gates opened without a challenge and the small group was led into the mustering yard. Oghenekaro met them as they dismounted,
“Retha,” Oghenekaro called. “What happened?”
Retha sat on her horse, her hands tied. She looked into the distance, her eyes and nose red.
“We were attacked in the middle of the night by trolls” filled in Mayu.
“We killed them all but Salvadore tried to fight two of them at once and was killed,” Akuchi completed.
***
At sunset, the fort turned out in full, except for a few sentries. Out the south gate Salvadore had been set in the pyre and a frame of wooden logs had been constructed around him. The frame reached up above the height of a man and was filled in with wooden logs in a crisscross pattern.
Retha stood at the front with a blazing torch in her hand. She was donned in a pure white shapeless gown that ran from her neck to her feet. Akuchi, Mayu, Yokoyama, and Kono all stood dressed in similar black gowns, hands held in front of them, heads down-cast. Arrayed behind them stood the rest of the fort all sombre and quiet. The wind rustled through the Bloodwood Forest that was thick up two hundred meters back from the fort walls.
“We come tonight to honour a fallen hero,” Retha intoned. “He died in battle defending the holy cause.”
“This man we commit,” she intoned in reply.
“We commit him to the flame,” echoed the crowd.
“I,” Retha continued, “come to burn away his body and commit his soul to the holy fire.”
“The Holy Fire,” intoned the assembled soldiers.
Retha stretched, out her hand and threw the blazing torch into the pyre. The flames leapt up onto the pyre, burning quickly.
“The Holy Flame accepts his soul,” everyone intoned, the customary words for the followers of the flame. Then without a word, the crowd began to steam back into the fort.
Retha, Akuchi, Mayu, Yokoyama, and Kono remained in place. With the public ritual completed, the private ritual would begin. Once the gates closed with a thud, Retha stripped off her robe, scrunched it into a ball, and lobbed it into the pyre with a howl of grief that brought her to her knees. She knelt on the grass, bowed her head, and cried. Her tears streamed down her face. Her sobbing drowned out but the crackling of flame and wood.
“This war with the trolls has cost much blood,” Kono intoned. “Defence of the flame costs blood.”
Mayu stripped her robe and hurled it into the pyre and knelt beside Retha, silent.
“The call of righteousness is a lonely path,” Kono continued. “Life and worldly possessions set aside for the pursuit of the holy life.”
Akuchi shed his robe and threw it into the pyre and knelt beside Retha.
“Another soul is taken to the holy flame and his soul is refined through the holy flame,” Kono continued.
Yokoyama peeled off her robe and chucked it into the pyre and knelt beside Akuchi.
“We send up our prayers, to speed his purification.” With these last words, Kono shucked her robe and tossed it into the pyre and knelt beside Mayu.
Silence rose amongst them as they watched the pyre burn. The pyre burned low as the night came to midnight. All the mourners rose and turned back to the gate. It was closed for the night. Kono walked up to it and thumped the gate with her fist. A small door in the gate opened with a creak and a soldier dressed in a chain mail tunic stuck his head out, a blazing torch in his hands. His eyes widened as he saw that the pyre was out and people standing at the door. He beckoned them in with a gentle gesture of his hand.
They all moved silently through the door and returned to their barracks without making a sound.
Chapter 14 The Dwarf and the Elf
20th day of the 11th month 579th year of the 8th era
The next month went by in a blur after the funeral. Mayu declared Akuchi’s training completed and had promptly finished training with him. Akuchi was too torn by shock over the loss of Salvadore to make much protest. Salvadore’s death had placed his own mortality into a deep question, and he spent his time trying to work out if he was really any good. He had fought the trolls and had successfully killed them, but would he have fared any better against two trolls? All his experience had been against trolls when they were fighting one on one. He had never fought two opponents at the same time. He couldn’t ask Mayu since she had been promoted to sergeant and was very busy. Akuchi kept himself busy by practicing with Kono and Yokoyama. Their duel-timed attacks were brutal enough to be a challenge, though his unconv
entional weapon and fighting style gave him an edge against even them. He always wondered if practicing with these two truly prepared him for staying alive against a real fight with the trolls. He went to bed every night exhausted from the duelling, crashing into his bed and falling asleep in seconds.
A ship sailing into the harbour broke the routine of the days. The news was met with joy from the soldiers of the many distractions from the routine of training was welcomed. Akuchi looked at the ship sailing into the harbour. His bare torso coated was in sweat, soaking into his trousers. The crowd at the dock swelled with anticipation. Mayu appeared beside him.
“Great a troop transport,” she said, startling him.
“Mayu,” he exclaimed. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“I have been preparing,” she commented, folding her arms.
“For these raw recruits?” Akuchi indicated with his head at the approaching troop ship.
“Yeah for them, Oggy doesn’t know how many to expect.”
“How many does he usually get?”
“That’s the thing,” informed Mayu. “Sometimes he gets one, other times he gets one hundred. The countries that participate don’t send a message ahead of time, they just send them.”
“Does the size of the boat help determine how many he gets?”
“Not really.” Mayu walked to the front of the crowd. She turned to have them and raised her arms to the crowd, “Okay, folks you have seen the ship come in. Time to get back to training.”
A gentle murmur of displeasure went through the assembled crowd and they dispersed. Mayu locked eyes with Akuchi and watched him as he turned and walked back into the fort with the other soldiers.
Akuchi saw Mayu being so official and turned with the room. She obviously has moved on from us. I wonder what I did to drive her away. He turned, and a tear slipped out of his eye and ran down his cheek. He would throw himself into work so hard that he would drown out his sorrow. An ache in his heart grew as he walked away from Mayu.
The Bloodwood Curse: An Epic Fantasy Adventure of Swords, Magic and Romance. (The Rosethorn Chronicles Book 1) Page 10
