by T J Trapp
Focus! Focus! Alec grimaced as his staff linked to the dark energy source. He reached out to the source of pulsing energy through his staff and pulled on it as hard as he could. Erin felt the extra dark energy flow into her. The elf Mothers were coordinating and twisting the lines at full strength and Erin could feel the sweat dripping down her forehead from her exertion. Her mind was starting to get fuzzy when the additional dark energy came from Alec; then with a new sense of clarity she directed all the dark energy that Alec was sending her towards the twisting lines. Slowly the lines started to untwist. The outcome hung in the balance for a long moment. Then Erin gained the upper hand and the lines began to untwist rapidly. The collected elf Mothers resisted her untwisting but couldn’t stop her. Erin twisted the lines around the Mothers. Alec saw one Mother drop to her knees, her head in her hands, sapped by her mental efforts, and then collapse to the floor. Then another dropped out, and within a few moments there was no resistance. The room became eerily quiet.
Erin staggered back a few steps as she quit twisting, and released the dark energy back to Alec. Alec released the background energy and then released the concentrator. He felt a snap in the concentrator and then a ragged pulsing flow in the dark energy from the concentrator.
“That was quite an arm-wrestling match,” Alec said, looking around.
Erin had no idea what he was talking about.
They looked around the auditorium. The Audience Hall was strewn with elves, tumbled in every direction. Alec’s wind-burst, and Erin’s slumber efforts, had knocked down the entire assembly.
Erin turned to her two riders, lying face-down on the floor. She felt Thom’s wrist and then Bon’s. No pulse.
“They are both dead,” she said with a sigh. “They killed them.” She shook her head sadly. It was hard to lose any rider, but it was especially hard to lose Thom, her personal assistant.
“Maybe it isn’t too late,” said Alec. “Let’s try a dark energy version of artificial resuscitation.”
Erin had no idea what he was talking about but knew to trust her Great Wizard’s wild ideas.
Alec grabbed both riders’ hands and started feeding dark energy into them. He motioned Erin to help and she put her hands on his shoulders. After a moment Thom’s chest began to move as he started to breathe again; coughing and sputtering, he sat up. Bon opened her eyes soon after and Thom helped her up. The two looked at the jumble of bodies in the room in surprise.
✽✽✽
Alec walked over to where Varra lay.
“Let’s recruit some help to finish what we came to do, and then get out of here. We haven’t much time.”
Erin looked at him questioningly.
“I am afraid the concentrator may be about to fail,” Alec explained. “I had to use a lot of dark energy from it and I think that drove it further out of balance. It doesn’t have long before it goes unstable.”
He picked up one of the bands and snapped it around Varra’s neck and removed Varra’s ring. On an impulse, he removed the rings from the other downed Mothers as well – fourteen rings. As he did, he recognized one Mother as Henra, whom they had healed only a few hours ago. So much for eternal gratitude, he thought.
Alec tossed a ring to each of the riders. “Wear those rings. They will protect you from some of the elf magic.”
“Wake up,” Erin commanded, poking Verra with her toe, and the Clutch Mother woke up.
Verra looked around at the fallen elves, then looked at Erin and realized she was banded. She put her hands to her neck and felt the weight of the neckband.
“You will help us willingly, or we will force you,” said Erin ominously.
“Yes! I will help you.” Varra said.
“Were you trying to trick us?” Erin asked. “We came here on a peaceful mission.”
“Yes, of course!” Varra said. “We used Zera to distract you while we prepared to capture you. Zera is an empath, not a coercer. She believed we would treat you fairly when you met with us this afternoon, so you detected no deception.” Varra flung her head back and flared her nostrils. “We never had any intention of treating you arrogant, sub-elf animals as equals!”
“Bite your lip,” said Alec, annoyed at being called an animal. Verra bit her lip until it bled.
“Continue your account,” commanded Erin, giving Alec a stern look.
“We assembled as many strong coercers as were in the city today – including me, there are fourteen of us here. We spent all morning practicing to conduct a coordinated attack. We don’t do this very often; we never need to make a coordinated mind onslaught against the locals. If I had imagined you were stronger than fourteen of us, I would have postponed the meeting for a couple of days so that I could have three times as many coercers.”
“Why did you want to kill us?” Erin asked.
“Because you are a cross-breed!” Verra exclaimed, as if she were lecturing a not-too-bright child. “You are both cross-breeds! That is why we had Zera test you, to make absolutely sure.”
“What is the problem with cross-breeds?” Erin asked.
“You saw! What you did! The two of you together! If you can beat our coordinated attack, there is not much any one of us can personally do to control you. That is why we do not let cross-breeds live. Some like you, can draw both energies and wreak havoc on our way of life.”
“If Marta had done her job and killed all the females when she encountered you trespassing on our land, we would not be in this situation. Marta will be severely reprimanded for her violation of traditions.”
“So little Zera set us up, did she,” Alec said, annoyed at this whole turn of events.
“She followed the direction of the Disca. As I said, she is an empath.” Verra continued, “Empaths are not as strong as coercers. We use empaths as herders; you might call them ‘spies.’ Working with you will help her improve her skills when she is herding.”
“Spies? You have spies?” Alec exclaimed.
“Of course! This is our world – and we use herders to watch our herds of wild orbs in many lands. Like your land – Theland. One day we may have enough elves to manage all our herds and direct them, but right now we just watch and discretely influence.”
“What … what do you know about the situation in Theland?” Erin asked.
“Your internal squabbles are so boring that we only pay attention when we want to cull our herd. We know of the Gott War and the strange intruders from the Grasslands. We know of your Queen Amelia and her irrational behavior, including her many beheadings. We will continue to encourage her until your people tire of her and start a rebellion against her insane rule. Then the Disca will use the rebellion as an opportunity to clean out you cross-breeds.”
“And just how would you do that?” asked Erin, with interest.
Verra obviously did not want to divulge the elves’ strategy, but the neckband forced her to answer.
“The rebellion will be bloody and will weaken Theland. Once your riders have killed each other, we will encourage, coerce if we must, Gott to invade. We can control the Gott fairly easily. They have few cross-breeds; they are mostly pure orb. After Gott takes over the Theland, it will be simple to convince them to eliminate the trouble-making cross-breeds in Theland, like you, and resettle it with their excess population from the Gott uplands. Those orbs are useful to us as drones.”
“How do you know there will be a rebellion and that it will be bloody?”
Verra’s looked at her as if she had asked another stupid question, “Because our empaths will steer the outcome to ensure that it is evenly matched, rebellious, and bloody.”
“And what was going to happen when Erin returned?” asked Alec.
“Erin wasn’t going to return. Amelia’s father was supposed to not allow that to happen.”
Alec was growing impatient. “This is all very important stuff,” he said to Erin, “but we need to quit dilly-dallying here and find the concentrator and see if we can stabilize it.”
“The
concentrator! Bah!” said Varra in disgust.
“Why don’t you care about fixing it?” asked Alec. “You elves here and your residences depend on it working. Without it you can’t survive!”
“That is a drone problem. You are trying to bring a drone issue to a member of the Disca! We are above that! Even if you weren’t going to die because you are cross-breeds, insulting the Disca by asking us to address a drone issue should result in your death.”
“But it’s your power supply!” Alec exclaimed.
“The drones are here to fix problems like that and not bother us about them,” Varra said. “So what if they die? Sometimes the drones die trying to repair things. If one dies another will take its place until the problem is fixed. We leave drone problems to the drones.”
Alec shook his head at the elf’s logic. “Let’s hope we’re not too late.”
“We need to get our riders first,” said Erin. “Take us to where we left our riders.”
There was no pain in Varra’s eyes as she willingly led them from the Audience Hall towards the residence where they had spent the night.
“You are truthfully doing what I asked,” said Erin to Varra, “but I detect some deception. What is it?”
“I am taking you to the residence where you left your drones,” Varra said, “but I doubt your drones are there – alive, anyway. Our plan was to kill them after you entered the Audience Hall. We let them live until then in case you returned to the residence for some reason. We held council long into the night deciding what to do. You were easy,” she pointed at Erin. “We all agreed to kill you immediately. Your other two females we have no use for, and plan to eliminate.” Looking at Alec, she said, “Some of the Disca like your looks. We decided we will band you and domesticate you. If you are good, we will keep you and if you are not good we will terminate you. I am looking forward to seeing if you give me pleasure.”
“Your other male drones we argued back and forth about. Some wanted to band them and turn them into useful drones. Finally, we decided it was not worth the trouble to keep them alive. They should all be dead by now.”
They ran the rest of the way to the residence, dragging Varra along by her arm. When they reached the building, no one appeared to be around.
“You go that way,” Erin said to Thom and Bon, pointing to the stairs to the upper chamber where they had been quartered, and we will go around to the back.” The two raiders ran towards the stairs. “Bring weapons,” Erin shouted after them.
Erin and Alec, still holding onto Varra, ran through the front courtyard and the central rooms on the first floor. “Hear that?” Alec said, motioning towards the garden courtyard in the back. Erin reached the courtyard first, and screamed at the sight.
Cryl and Rhor were sprawled on the pavement of the courtyard. Both riders were lying face up. Were they dead? or asleep? Alec wondered – but a slight movement of Rhor’s chest answered the question. The third rider, Nikka, was kneeling on the ground behind them, howling in pain, her legs covered in blood and a band around her neck. She held a blood-coated knife up above her head with both hands, blade pointed down towards her chest.
A Mother elf, with the three males of her clutch, sat on one of the garden benches under a pergola beside the courtyard, laughing and pointing as they watched the howling rider, obviously gaining great pleasure from the scene. Then the Mother turned, saw Erin, and began twisting field lines around her. Erin and the Mother froze in intense concentration as they twisted the fields around each other. The three clutchmen drew their weapons and started towards the immobile Erin.
Alec, still dragging Varra, saw that Erin was frozen in place. Focus. Alec pulled in dark energy to raise the blood temperature of the clutchman, expecting them to fall with popping eyes and bleeding ears. To his amazement, the dark energy swirled around and erupted in a flame in front of the three clutchmen, stunning but not disabling them. The rebound of the energy wave slapped Alec’s body, giving him a severe headache. He took a breath. Focus. He picked up a decorative statuette and sent it towards one clutchman, his aim bolstered with dark energy. The figurine slowed as it approached and hit the man with just enough force to bruise but not impair.
They are negating dark energy, Alec thought. I may just have to protect Erin the old-fashioned way.
He shook Verra’s arm.
“Get out of the way, do not try to escape, and do not try to participate in this fight,” he said to Varra. Alec turned towards the three clutchmen and swung his staff. The three had only short swords as weapons, since their role today was to escort the Mother, not engage in a fight. Alec’s staff was long enough to allow him to hit the first elf and knock him to the ground. Alec tried to hit the second one, but the clutchman backed out of the way. It was a game of cat-and-mouse, with the two remaining clutchmen trying to get on different sides of Alec while staying out of his staff’s reach. Alec hoped that Erin was getting the upper hand in her battle; he needed to keep the clutchmen occupied until she won.
✽✽✽
Verra followed Alec’s instructions precisely. She walked over to the opposite side of the courtyard, out of the way, and sat down by Rhor’s sprawled-out form. She grabbed his arm.
“Wake up,” she said to him softly. He woke up. Then she said, “You want to please me. You want me. I am ready for you.” She looked at him alluringly. Rhor started breathing heavily and his hands started feeling Varra’s body. “Not here! it will be so much better over there. Carry me over there.” The rider picked her up and walked across the courtyard into the anteroom, oblivious to the ongoing fight. Verra said, “It will be so much better if I don’t have to wear this neckband. Take the key from my pocket and remove the neckband.” Rhor eagerly removed Verra’s band.
Verra now was free.
Verra thought about joining the battle but without a ring she couldn’t match Erin. She could see that Erin was about to get the upper hand over the elf Mother, so Verra made a quick decision, slipped through the door, and hurried away, leaving Rhor sitting on the ground, stunned and dismayed at his own behavior.
✽✽✽
After several minutes Erin got the upper hand in her mental battle with the Mother. The Mother slumped down. At almost the same time, Alec’s staff caught the second clutchman. Erin saw Verra leaving the courtyard, but her first concern was Alec. She twisted the lines, and the last clutchman collapsed.
“Thanks,” Alec said to Erin. “They have something that I don’t understand, that negates dark energy.” He pulled open the shirt of the slumbering clutchman and found a strange amulet around his neck. “This seems to defuse the dark energy around it,” Alec muttered. He pulled similar amulets off the other two clutchmen. “Does she have one?” He felt around the Mother’s neck, then pulled an amulet from beneath her tunic. He removed her ring and put a neckband on her.
Erin went to Nikka, who was still holding the knife, stopped her pain, and removed the neckband. Nikka collapsed at Erin’s feet, now sobbing, tears welling from her clenched eyes.
“My Queen! I am so sorry!” She said. “Forgive me. They came, and we thought they were escorting us to join you. They walked us into this courtyard and put the other two to sleep. Then they banded me,” she sobbed. “They handed me a knife and told me to cut my toes off. To resist was to endure unimaginable pain. I resisted and was in pain for what seemed like forever. Finally, I could not stand it anymore and I started cutting my toes off.” She buried her face in her bloody hands. “I could tell the elf woman was experiencing intense pleasure from my despicable act. Finally, they tired of playing with me. The elf laughed at me and told me to plunge the knife in my heart. I resisted but the pain was terrible. I was about to end the pain and plunge the knife in when you came!”
“You are saved,” said Erin gently. “None can resist these elf devils.”
“Let’s see what we have,” Alec said, and Erin roused the elf Mother from her sleep. The Mother quickly understood she wore a neckband and didn’t try to resist.
“Stand up,” Erin said, and the woman stood up. Then Nikka rose up on her mutilated and bloody feet and, looking at the Mother with hatred, took two wobbling steps forward and silently thrust her bloody knife into the elf woman’s heart.
With her last breath, the Mother grabbed Nikka and hissed, “Stop breathing.” With a heart-wrenching cry, Nikka drew her last breath and slumped to the pavement, dead. The Mother had a pleased expression as she fell dead across Nikka’s body. Just as she fell, Thom and Bon entered the courtyard. Even the battle-hardened Thom blanched at the sight of Nikka’s maimed body and severed toes.
“Another rider lost,” he said softly. “She died nobly, in service to her land.”
32 – Concentrator
Erin snapped a neckband on the surviving clutchman and woke him up with a sharp kick. “What were you trying to do?” she screamed.
“We were told to come and kill the three drones,” the clutchman said, shrugging his shoulders. “No one gave us any instructions concerning how we did it or how long it took, so our Mother thought she would at least have some pleasure from the death of the animals. Mother had your female drone cut off her toes. Your drone did resist for a long time before she complied.” Then the elf looked at Nikka’s body with obvious glee. “But, the longer she resisted, the more exhilarating it was for the Mother when she finally complied!” He giggled. “Mother was getting bored, so she told your drone to put the knife into her heart. She was still resisting but she wasn’t going to hold out much longer! Next, she was probably going to have your other drones butcher themselves before they were allowed to put themselves to death. It gave my Mother much pleasure to watch drones do those acts. You animals will do almost anything to avoid a little pain!”
Should we kill him for his cruelty? Alec thought.
