by Rhys Thomas
“Perfectly acceptable,” I told him and complied, removing my runic claymore and falchion from their harnesses. “I want them back when we leave though,” I said firmly. Hilnow gave an agreeable nod and I handed my weapon’s over.
Funnily enough, they didn’t take Shres staff. I hid the amusement off my face as I saw Shre smirk. Emilia on the over hand simply opened her satchel to an ogre who looked in, nodded, and waved an all clear to Hilnow. The massive ogre nodded back and opened the door, this door I realised as we entered, was my size.
Hilnow moved in first, followed by Luon and then finally the ladies and I entered with me bringing up the rear. Inside sat around a long rectangular table, on which were plates of foods and goblets of wine, I could hear young girls talking and laughing.
I could practically smell the thick berry scent of the wine from here as we stood just within the room. Hilnow approached the chair with the highest back. I scanned about and saw Luon nervously shuffling his feet, he too had left his sword outside as well.
I looked back as Hilnow whispered to the queen—I presumed—and I strained to hear what he said. A part of me wanted to reconnect with my delve, but I worried that they may have some-way of detecting magic. *We’re not too far away now, my love,* Marisa’s mental voice floated through my thoughts.
I blinked, *we’re meeting the Queen right now, see you soon.* I sent her a reply along with the mental image of a kiss being blown to her. There was a sudden shriek and loud grunt from the arena grounds, and I guessed by the pregnant silence that hung in the air that one of the combatants had killed the other.
Then the crowd exploded into triumphant screams, as others booed to the defeated. The high-backed chair slit back a few inches and I saw the crown of silvery grey hair over the top of the chairs decorative back. The hair shone metallically in the pale light filtering in through the thin drapes hanging partially to either side of the viewing box’s window.
I expected the women, the queen to turn around and address us but instead she moved down a set of steps and out onto a balcony.
I got a better look at her, though I noticed Luon lower his big head, but I just stared ahead at the queen’s shapely rump and hourglass figure. She wore a loosely hanging white dress, the fabric so thin it looked more like ribbons flowing off her body. She was maybe a few inches taller than me, her hair wrapped in a series of stylised braids and knots, each were adorned in sparkling gems and golden cuffs.
Her skin was pale cream, and she held herself with a calm grace and stoic strength. I couldn’t see her face as her back was to us, as she addressed the crowd.
“My friends and dear subjects,” her voice rang with authority and the crowd instantly quieted down. She sounded mighty and I wondered if this ogress was just a simple human woman. “My vassals, I am pleased with this first display,” she continued. “An excellent victory by the Champion Gorge, of the Jia clan,” the queen said, expanding her hands out to her sides.
The crowd roared with cheer, as a thunderous stomping echoed throughout the grounds of the arena. The queen raised her hand and the roar dulled to a murmur, “we must also show our condolences to Olpi clan for the loss of their champion, Krull.” Booing assaulted the air as the queen paused and then continued on. “Soon… One of these great champions will be granted the chance to claim the princesses chains. I wish you the best of luck, my people,” Queen said quietly yet her voice carried out.
“May the Ogress rein, long live the Queen,” a voice rang out and then all of a sudden hundred’s possibly thousands returned the calling. She then turned back to the table and I saw her face finally, frame by her silvery grey locks’ the queen looked youthful and yet possessed a baring of a long life. She seemed otherwise human; except she had a pair of horn’s sprouting from either side of her forehead. And they looked more like backward curving stumps than actual horns.
Her eyes—yes two—were both strikingly beautiful and frightening, they were a bloody red pool surrounding the pupil and it was as if they alight with an inner lightning when she looked my way. I saw her nostril flare and imagined she must’ve expected me to be bowing or cowering away from her beauty.
Yes, she was beautiful, but she held a cold and unwelcoming atmosphere about her. “Tell me Hilnow, why are there two humans, a Mælkeri and whatever that tall goblin is,” the queen commanded, gesturing at Shre with a hand.
“She’s a dryad,’ I corrected the queen. She head snapped, “did the human just speak our language?” she asked Hilnow.
“Yes, I did,” I told her, and I smirked at the reaction I was getting. I understood how quickly I could throw people off balance and I wondered if I should’ve stayed quiet and just listened to what she might’ve otherwise said.
“Was is your name?” the queen asked me. But I decided to ignore her, I got the feeling that she was much stronger than the average ogre. If I fought her one of us would win, but the winner wouldn’t exactly walk away unscathed. The queen took a step back as if sensing I was sizing her up. “You’re not human, are you?” She asked me curiously and I could smell the hints of fear permeating off her body, it smelled oddly like a fresh cold bottle of Coke Cola.
I smiled and decided to reply to her first question. “My name Alaric Rosen, I’ve been sent by Penelope of the Glen’dal as a favour I owe her,” I said waving a hand.
The queen nodded, her eyes going absence for a few seconds. “Hilnow said you’ve news of the Shi’en forces approaching from the south,” she told me.
I blinked, trying to remember if I had mentioned such to the ogre, “a force passed through the Dale passage a few days ago. They destroyed the path behind them and are either attacking Ny’thier as we speak or will so soon.” I told her. But frowned when I saw her expression cloud up. “You’re thinking of a different force though, aren’t you?” I asked and she nodded.
“Yes, they been hitting us all along our eastern edges and now they march in number from the southwest.”
“Shit,” I hissed quietly and tried to keep the growing unease off my face. Southwest was the direction of Wheldrake and Melancholy. I wondered if the inn owner Catherine was okay, but I suspected otherwise.
“Do you know the origin of their force?” I asked, the queen glanced to Hilnow and gave a curt nod. The massive ogre lifted his head slightly and strode out of the booth.
“We sent a scout a week ago, they returned two night’s prior and reported that the Shi’en were staging their force from a human settlement by the dark sea.” I noticed how the Queens eyes followed Hilnow till he left the room, then she seemed to relax slightly. Her shoulders dropping marginally.
“Bastion,” I said nodding, I was sure of it. The Queen nodded and then several small heads of silvery grey hair poke out atop the chairs around the table. They hid away quickly giggling when I saw them. “They’ve either fallen and the Shi’en have taken over or the people in charge there are working with them.”
“Why would they do such a thing?” Asked the queen in disbelief, and I still didn’t know her name.
I shrugged, “greed and a spoonful of lies. It’s usually something as simple as that,” I told her.
“They must know the history of the Shi’en, only a fool would bargain or deal with those looking for the destruction of our world,” she said with a sigh. “So, why has Penelope sent you then?” the queen asked with a frown.
“She wishes for aid against the Shi’en,” I told her.
The queen snorted at my words, “we’re already fighting those abominations. I already lost 4 of my 13 sisters clan’s, I cannot spare anyone.”
I frowned trying to think of a solution, “then why you’re holding arena fights?” I asked her confused. Luon growled at my words where he knelt, “hush,” the queen told him and he immediately quieted.
“He may speak our language, but he does not know our ways,” the queen told Luon. Then she focused back on me, “my daughter is in chains’ and cannot be freed till she is claimed and broken free. The champio
n will free her, bed her, then he rule at her side when she is queen. My other daughters are too young,” she told me and gestured at the other chairs. I blinked when I saw four girl’s peak their head over the top of the chairs again, they all resembled their mother, except that their eyes were a bright vibrant blue and they had no horns.
“Well, this was a fucking waste of time.” I said with a sigh, I understood the Ogre’s had no intention of leaving their fortress to aid outsiders. “Well, thanks for seeing me Queenie,” I told the queen cheekily and turned about to make my way out of there.
“Wait!” The queen’s voice stopped me and there was a hint of nervous energy to her tone. “I can’t sent aid to the Glen, even if I did, they wouldn’t arrive on time.”
I thought her words over and glanced at Emilia as realisation struck me, Penelope must’ve known of this. So why sent us here, by the time a force could be assembled and dispatched to Ny’thier the underground city could’ve already fallen. I saw the same dawning thought hit Emilia and she flinch as she had been physically struck.
I looked to Ilya and the dark elf wrapped up the witch in a fierce hug as she began to tremble. Turning back to the queen I swallowed the guilt down, I felt as if hadn’t even tried and I had already failed. “So, what’s you point?” I growled at her, my voice sounding rough in my throat.
"Right now, we’re standing on borrowed time. All of my remaining clans have fled their eastern land’s to here,” she explained tapping her slender finger against the table. “We are a proud and sometimes savage people, most of those able to fight fought and died. Now all that’s left are my own forces and a thousand of non-combatants. We need a refuge,” the queen said. Her blood-red eyes misted, and she clutch the table in a firm grip. She was upset, it was understandable but what the hell could I do?
“Hmmm,” I hummed as a thought thumped against my skull or was that my brain. “Do your people have ships?” I asked and she nodded hesitantly. “You need ships’ and soon. At least enough to ferry all of your people.”
“Y-yes we do,” the queen started sounding unsure. Why was she unsure, I racked my brain, then remembered something Marisa had said about ogres being weak to water. How it slowed them down or something.
“Good, where are they?” she winced.
“At a docking port, east of here.” I nodded seeing why she reacted so. Her people had been hit first to the east, the Shi’en were probably swarming all over that territory.
“Send a skeleton crew, enough ogres to man each ship you have,” I told her.
“Why? It’s not like we can go to Zwericania and find safety there,” she replied with a grimace.
“You won’t,” I agreed. “Which is why you’ll be going west. To Pyhronia.”
“That’s hundreds of miles of ocean,” She exclaimed. “We could never make it,” the queen informed me. “We’ve no navigator and the amber deposit’s shift constantly from week to week. Then there are the roaming bands of slavers that far out west.”
I nodded my agreement, “you don’t have a navigator,” I said and could hear Shre chuckle softly at the exchange. “But I do,” I hooked a thumb at my own chest. “We assemble all of your people, march them aboard the ships you can gather. Then we swing west and pick up any stranglers that survive Ny’thier’s siege if the there are any left. From there we sail west to Pyhronia. As far away from this continent and the Shi’en as we can go, then we plan for how to take back your homes and this land,” I said and my voice felt like liquid steel, it filled the air like an ethereal wave and slammed into the occupants of the viewing box.
“That may actually work,” Hilnow said quietly as he entered, and I watched as the Queen wince at seeing the massive ogre and she reluctantly nodded her agreement.
She took a deep breath, “will you stay for a few days?” She asked me.
I looked to Emilia still enveloped in Ilya’s embrace, “yes, we will. I’ve a few companions on their way here as well, not sure how they’ll get here though.”
“I will tell the men to be watchful,” Hilnow nodded from where he stood beside the door.
“There is another matter I wish to speak to you about, but it’ll have to wait till later,” the queen said, straightening her shoulders. I could hear excited chatter from the young girls at the table as they poked their heads out, Shre would make a funny face and they giggle. The queen turned back to us from smiling fondly at her girls antics. “For now, I’ll have someone send you and your mates to a room to rest. We’ll have something to eat later on together and I’ll speak with you then.”
I nodded gratefully to her, “oh, could you possibly send someone to a little dock north of here.” The queen tilted her head curiously and I explained. “There’s a vessel there called the Naiad, someone might need to explain to the captain that we’ll be here for a few days,” I finished.
“Of course, we’ll even invite them to stay with us. Though not many of us speak the common tongue,” she told me. I blinked and then concentrated on my words. Yes, we had been speaking both Ogre-nese? and Haroxian.
“I’ll do it,” Ilya offered quietly.
“Thank you,” I smiled at the dark elf. She still held Emilia to her chest as the young witch wept softly.
“Go, rest and freshen up. I must speak to the clan heads about this plan you came up with.”
I smiled at her and relaxed a little, “honestly, I didn’t expect to speak with you at all. So, thank you for your time.”
“It’s Loryn Dovari,” she told me, and I grinned as Luon and Hilnow flinched. They were startled that their queen had just gifted her name to a stranger.
“See you later, Loryn,” I said with a small smile as she moved to the door. Hilnow flanked her side and glared at me till they left, her daughters running along after their mother.
When they exited with Luon joining them, a hustle of people swept into the room. An older female ogre that bore a resemblance to Queen Loryn, I now realised that only those that shared the royal bloodline had the appearance of a human female. As several massive female ogres with giant tits and stacks of muscle pushed into the room and started clearing the table and rearranging everything for the queen’s return.
“My name is Dovari,” the older royal ogre said politely.
“Nice to meet you Dovari,” I said, bowing my head fractionally. She smirked seeing that I had cotton on. This old ogress before me, had most likely been the queen prior to Loryn. I could see it in the way she held herself. Her eyes though were blue like Loryns daughter’s.
And I wondered at who fathered Loryns children but dismissed it as an unnecessary thought. Dovari showed us out of the viewing box and down through the Arena to the outside.
Then I saw that like what the Glen’dal had done with Ny’thier, the ogre’s had done the same with Banes Horren. It was an underground city of stone and in the distance as we exited the arena; I saw the Queen residence.
A massive grey blocky fortress lay at the far end of the sprawling city. Unlike Ny’thier where humans and other hidden races were in abundance and living alongside one another. Banes Horren was built by ogres, for ogres.
Dovari waved us to follow her and moved down a pair of steps, “This place is huge," I said in awe. I ignored the indignant babble of nearby ogres at why a nasty pink skin like me and the others were in their city.
“Banes Horren was built during my younger years,” Dovari commented.
“You must’ve been helluva a queen then,” I noted, but the royal ogress shook her head.
“I was a terrible ruler to them.” And I decided to leave the subject alone at that, as I looked about and scanned the faces of all those nearby as we passed. I saw only regular ogre’s now, confirming my theory partially that only those of the royal bloodline carried the human-like traits. I was fascinated, that instead of killing or casting out the human like ogres of the royal line. The regular one’s instead bowed to them, yet they also held a clear dislike for regular humans. I wonder… Would the human
-ish ogres be considered Oni? They did share similarities after-all.
Dovari stepped out into a busy street, the grounds were paved here, and some were even cobbled. We moved over to an ogre standing before a carriage clearly built for royal ogres. It was pulled by four massive horse sized elk. They each had thick jagged horns adorning their heads at the centre of which was a bright blue gem. Spikes and quill covered their bodies instead of fur. The quills unfortunately reminding me of a fodraca, and I decided to name the elk beasts Quilhorns.
Dovari and ogre exchanged words as we waited. “It’s amazing what they’ve built,” Ilya breathed.
“No,” Shre said sorrowfully. “It’s amazing that they’ve hid it for so long.” I nodded in agreement with both women. Emilia sniffled, and I moved over to her but stepped away from me.
“Please, just leave me alone,” she told me, and I swallowed my words and guiltily backed away. I caught a glimpse of Ilya scowling at the witch and moving over to hiss at her. Dovari came back a second later and we all hustled inside the carriage and shot off into the streets just as hundreds of ogre’s were starting to gather around and crowd the outside of the arena. The driver cracked the reins and the carriage jolted as the Quilhorns picked up their pace.
We soon arrived at the queens castle the carriage had raced through the city like we were being chased. Luckily the city’s streets were broad and wide enough to fit three of the carriages we rode in abreast. The city must’ve been emptied due to the arena fight as there was barely any traffic or ogre’s walking about the further; we rode.
Getting out of the carriage and quickly following behind Dovari, we headed towards the grey castle, ogres manned the parapet at the top of the high curtain walls. A thick lumber draw bridge was already lowered, and we crossed it to an iron studded portcullis, wedge between two flanking towers.
I could see more ogre guards manning the crenels of the battlements’ as we approached. Dovari shouted at a squadron of guard ogre’s, that seemed no different looking than Luon. They wore loincloth’s to cover their genitals, and the women ogre’s wore wraps around their heavy breast’s.