It all set off her dark chocolate hair and bright emerald green eyes; not to mention her satiny smooth deep bronze skin. Even in a people known for their exotic good looks, Zarra Alkirr was something special. Those lascivious looks packed into her five foot three inch, one hundred fifteen pounds frame, belied the sharp and dangerous mind that was the true gift which really set her apart.
Across her saddle she had strapped her weapon of choice, an Elven pike. While it looked much like another pike, being a five foot hardwood pole affixed to a two foot heavy curved steel blade, this pike had the ability to help channel magic. Zarra, was gifted with the ability to use and shape Air Magic, a surprisingly rare gift among Elves, who all have an innate Earth Magic ability, but who usually did not have the ability to manipulate the magic to their will. Zarra could manipulate, albeit weakly, and control the weave of Air Magic. This gift made her a powerful opponent indeed.
Zarra smiled up at the sun, and enjoyed the feel of its caress on her face and skin. It was a good day she decided, and it may be a very profitable one as well.
Zarra thought to herself, “My fee is certainly appropriate for the best free lance bounty hunter,... or spy,... well perhaps more accurately put, an assassin,..” no she decided that wasn’t it either, perhaps well, “an operative”. “Yes that is what I am, an operative.” She liked the sound of that much better. “My fee is appropriate for the best operative in Kush,” she laughed to herself.
Zarra while being a free lance ... operative, she did not take contracts on just anyone, just those who in her opinion deserved what they got. But since that included much of those who lived within or dealt with the Empire of Kush, she was not lacking for work.
She kicked her horse into a trot, heading for and then down the main road. She enjoyed the wind in her face and the feel of the stallion gripped between her thighs. Urging the horse faster, she flew down the well packed dirt road. She exulted in the wild freedom of the gallop. After a few miles, she slowed him to a walk, enjoying the morning. Zarra knew about where her target was heading, and since this was the only road that went up into the mountains from the capital, she didn’t worry about missing her mark.
By late afternoon the road had slowly begun to climb in elevation; the bush thickened and grew taller. Zarra was still enjoying herself on this quick jaunt that would grow her fortune by some two thousand gold. That in itself was sufficient to put her into a good mood. But then again, Zarra Alkirr was almost always in a good mood, and when she wasn’t, someone paid for it. No, life was really good and Zarra enjoyed wringing it out to the last precious drop of pleasure. But then she was only fifty years old, and what could you expect from someone who had only reached adulthood thirty years ago.
High above her, she noticed a desert eagle soaring the high winds. Closing her eyes, she reached out to the raptor. The small surge of Air Magic trickled upwards and then... Opening her eyes she could see the world in a much different perspective. Down below, the bushvelt stretched for mile after mile. She saw herself sitting on her horse, noticing the individual drops of sweat on the roan’s coat. Looking up the road, she could see the mountains far in the distance. She knew from prior experience of using an eagle’s eye that they could be judged to be about a hundred miles distant. Less than five miles ahead she could see a tavern or inn, and in the stable yard, she easily could see the target.
~
Kayla slept for most of the long day’s trip in the back of the wagon. She had overheard one of the guards saying that it would take three days to reach their destination. She didn’t think she could take three days stuffed in the back of this swaying, bumping, dusty, hell box. The roof was only four feet high, and the sides were about nine by five. The grill up by the driver was large enough to let in a ton of dust, but somehow wasn’t large enough to let in much of a breeze. It was maybe, maybe eighteen by six inches. There was another grill in the back door of the wagon, but the driver had forgotten to open it until the mid day rest stop, during which they had thrown her a water skin and a loaf of bread, but refused to talk to her at all. Nor had they let her out to take care of her toilet. A bucket was tossed into the back of the wagon for her use.
Later in the early evening, just before sunset, they arrived at an inn on a deserted stretch of the road. They brought the wagon into the far end of the stable yard and parked; then posted two of the guards to watch it. The rest of them, she still was not sure how many, went into the inn to eat and spend the night.
The two left to guard her played Stones in the dirt away from the wagon itself. Soon, a female Dwarf slave brought out dinner for her guard and her; the guards kept her from seeing what was in the wagon. Kayla did not call out to the slave, knowing that if she did the slave would die, and she would spend the rest of the trip, two more days, gagged.
Kayla huddled into a corner of the wagon’s hard wooden floor. She thought that she would not be able to sleep, as uncomfortable and miserable as she was, but she was wrong.
~
Zarra worked her way around the stable to the back. There were two guards by the wagon she could see, but where were the others? Under a Palo Verde tree, she crept closer to the fence. She had removed her traveling robe, and left it back with her horse. Now, clad only in the bright pink short loin cloth and mini halter, and purple sandals, she looked as non threatening as was evenly possible. That was why she had left her pike with the horse as well, but she took her light compound crossbow. She could hide that if she had to.
She reached out with the Air Magic, searching for others hiding by the wagon. There were too many animals in the stable area for her to get a accurate reading. Looking around the roof of the stable, she found the perfect tool. Slowly a small Grey Owl leapt from its perch, spread it’s silent wings, and circled the area. Zarra saw with the weird vision of a night bird; it was overwhelming sensory overload to the ability of an Elf’s non adapted mind to process the alien information. She broke contact with the owl. It screeched in annoyance to her forced intrusion into it’s mind. No, there were no one else in the area of the stable; that much she was able to ascertain from the brief experience with the owl.
She assumed that the target was in the wagon, good bet on that. Why guard it if it was empty? But how to quietly get pass the two guards without alerting the rest of them in the inn? If there had been only one guard she would have seduced him, and then killed him when he was at his weakest, but that would not work on two. She was good, just not that good!
She had an idea, but she would have to wait for the guards to act. Settling down by the fence, she pulled the crossbow around from her shoulder, and set a bolt to the string.
Finally, two hours later, one of the guards got up to relieve himself. He walked from the wagon to the near fence to take care of the urgent need.
Zarra had been waiting patiently. He had left his sword by the wagon. “Too easy”, she thought.
She timed it so he had just started to urinate, and so was completely helpless. Up from the dark she lunged over the fence, dagger thrusting at the throat of the surprised and stunned guard. In slipped the dagger and the guard reeled back, dying, drowning in his own blood, unable to cry out. The other guard hearing something, started and turned toward the sound. Zarra was over the fence less than twenty yards away from the surprised guard. She pulled the crossbow around on it’s strap, dropping to one knee and firing.
The bolt punched threw his solar plexus and clean out his back. Zarra hurried over to the wagon. There had been almost no sound with her devastating assault; no one else had heard or was aware of her attack, she was certain.
She dropped at the wagon’s door, slowing her breathing and regaining calm. Examining the padlock, she didn’t see a physical trap; gathering her magic she probed it, nothing as well. From her mini halter top she drew out a slender lock pick. “Snap, click.” The lock opened; she pulled it out of the door handle without making a sound.
Quickly, almost done, she grabbed the door handle and turned it.
/>
“FUUUZZZZAAAPP!” Magic lit up the stable in a flash of sparks.
Tossed to the ground, she lay there twitching uncontrollably. “Should have checked the handle. Damn! Damn!...”
Above her a group of Star Elves had gathered.
“Shall I finish her off, Captain?” asked a slightly drunk guard.
“No,” answered Captain Dagra, of House Haddar. “Throw her in the back with the other one. Our master likes his playthings.” They all roared with laughter at the thought.
~
Day light was shining on her face; slowly she cracked open an eye, then the other one. “Oh damn,” she thought. She had been stripped and thrown into the wagon, that was now obvious. With a groan she pulled herself to a sitting position, everything hurt! Her head pounded as if a troll was inside her scull banging on a drum.
Sitting across from her was a beautiful Elf lass with golden hair, equally naked and disheveled as she was.
“Hi, I’m Zarra Alkirr, and I’m here to rescue you. Aren’t you lucky.”
“Gee thanks,” Kayla smiled back at her. “Can’t tell you how very grateful I am,… really.”
The swaying of the cart was not helping Zarra’s head, she leaned back against the hot metal wall trying force her world to stop hurting so much or at least have her vision focus properly, that would help.
“Who are you working for Zarra, Kushian Intelligence?”
“Would you believe that I work, sometimes that is, for the Emperor of Kush. He hired me to,... rescue you, and end this mess before things get out of hand. He did not trust that his own spies were not on House Haddar’s payroll, and it is of course impossible for him to openly act against the second most powerful House in the Empire without more,… evidence.”
“And why, might I ask, would Emperor Fazu Albarra trust that you were not on Haddar’s pay as well?”
“His great and most Serene Imperial Majesty, knows that I will never work for scum like Haddar, oh and that I have a boundless hatred for Shadow Elves and those that consort with them of course.”
Zarra shifted around in the wagon; her butt had gone to sleep on her. She tried standing, well hunching that is, but it didn’t help. The swaying and bumping of the wagon kept any position from being comfortable. She rubbed the tingling away, and tried squatting on her heels, but that was no better than hunching over.
“Try laying on your side against the wall. It seems to be the best position,” offered Kayla helpfully. “Just don’t fall asleep on your stomach, not unless you want to wake up with bruised nipples; found that out the hard way.” She rubbed hers; thankfully the bruise was starting to go away.
“Good advice. I’ll keep that in mind, but were going to be covered with bruises at this rate. Are they aiming for every bump and pothole?”
“How did you guess? But you get used to it after a while. You go numb.”
They spent the rest of the long day cooped up in the uncomfortable wagon. They talked, trying to keep themselves entertained as much as was possible under the circumstances. The sun baked down on the roof and the temperature inside became stifling. By afternoon, the heat had risen high enough to overcome their Elven Earth Magic temperature resistance. They started to sweat and it got worse.
“By the Consort, this is hot!” exclaimed a dripping Kayla.
“This is only the third time in my life I’ve sweated I think, and both of the other times were in the middle of the Waste, at high summer,” responded Zarra.
“This trip is a first for me. Yippy!”
“Have you ever been really cold, Kayla?”
“A few times. The temperature needs to be near freezing for that to happen, and thankfully, even on the North Continent that only happens in the mountains, or during the two months of winter. Unfortunately I seem to get cold faster then most do, forty degrees and I want to put on clothes...
“I had heard that we get cold at just above freezing, but you’re telling me Earth Magic protection is more effective than that?”
“Well, if you were completely exposed to freezing temperatures, the Earth Magic would start to fail, and you would start to get cold, even die eventually. But who would stand around in the freezing cold for hours to let that happen?”
“Who would sit in a boiling wood box in the middle of the desert for hours?”
“Point taken. How hot is it? You’re from here, Zarra, you should have a good idea?”
“I find that I get hot at in the desert most afternoons in the summer; that’s when the magic starts to fail. Until that point I really like the way I feel, your skin feels lovely and warm then, but we’re way past anything I have felt. So I would guess that its about one hundred thirty or so back here.”
“Yikes! That is just way too hot. Have you ever heard of an Elf getting heat stroke?”
Zarra laughed, “Never. That only happens to Gnomes and Dwarves.”
“What about Elves in hot boxes? You got to figure that when the magic fails, we’re just as susceptible as the others.”
That stopped Zarra’s laughter. “My aren’t you full of happy thoughts.”
They settled back on the floor, too hot and tired to talk after a while.
The wagon rocked and bumped down the road, slowly gaining in elevation. At sunset they stopped; dinner was tossed into them, a loaf of bread and a bag of dried meat. It tasted wonderful to the worn out pair. At this elevation the night brought cold, and by early morning the girls were huddled up sharing body heat.
The next morning, the wagon started down the road again. By now they were just over a half a day’s journey to Tazco. They were in the high foothills, over five thousand feet above Zengara back down at sea level. They still had just about a thousand feet to gain in altitude, for Tazco was at over six thousand feet. Kayla hoped that today would be nice and cool at the higher elevation. She had been told by someone that in Tazco it was always Spring, cool and around seventy five degrees. That really would be a blessing after yesterday.
The vegetation changed the first couple hours of the trip. Behind was the tan bushvelt; up a head the dry subtropical highland forests. Green took over from brown as the dominant color of the hills that they slowly road through. But the sky was unchanging; bright blue, with a brilliant sun beating down on the wagon. Soon, they were again sweating in the boiling hot wagon.
Just then the wagon lurched to the right, throwing the girls in a heap of tangled limbs, a came to a dead stop. Zarra and Kayla quickly climbed up to the grill to look out. The right wheel had dropped into a hole and broke. They could see off the road was a beautiful blue river. Giant cottonwood trees shaded the banks, and the sounds of cool running water bubbling and splashing, filled the quite late morning air.
The back door was unlocked; the handle turned, and sudden cool air filled the inside of the wagon with wonderful relief. The drop of temperature from one hundred thirty down to about eighty was a shock to the sweating Elf girls.
“Get out,” Captain Dagra called to them. “If you try to run you will die, understand that. Now get out.”
Zarra and Kayla stumbled out of their hot cramped prison on wheels. They help each other climb out and stand. Around them were a half dozen of House Haddar’s guardsmen, all armed with crossbows, and Captain Dagra his tulwar drawn, just waiting to cut them to pieces.
“While we fix the wagon, you have ten minutes to fill your water skins, empty the waste bucket, and wash off in the river. If you even look like you’re going to attempt to run, my men will shoot you down. If you survive that, I will then give you to them to play with as they see fit. Now get to it!” Dagra roared.
They hurried to do the chores; the cool water was tempting them with its cool bubbling laugh.
Suddenly, the sound of crossbows firing behind them caused both girls to break into a run down the bank. The air seem to hum with the sound of bolts firing,-- but not at them they realized.
Behind a large tree they stopped and hid. They could see the bodies of the six guards lying
on the ground, dead and broken. Hope quickly turned to dread at the sight of the killers.
At least a half dozen large hulking creatures, each a minimum seven feet tall and four hundred pounds of savagery. The creatures had thick rust brown skin, large pale yellow eyes, and three inch protruding lower canine teeth. They were dressed in crude studded leather armor and ragged hides, and on their heads were heavy iron helms that covered much of their ugly faces.
“Ogres,” whispered Kayla. “What are they doing here, this is the middle of Kush, not the edge of the Waste.”
“Looking for you I would guess. But if House Haddar is working for the Shadow Elves, as we know they are, why are they deliberately attacked by Ogres? Unless it’s a double cross of some kind.”
The sound of a horse galloping away brought them around to see the road. Captain Darga was hunched over the saddle of his horse, riding as if his life depended on it, as it most surely did.
“Let’s get out of here,” urged Zarra, “before the Ogres start looking for you.”
“Which way?”
“They will expect us to head back to Zengara, so let’s go the other way. Once we get to Tazco we can get help.”
“If we cut across these hills we can cut out a large bend in the river.”
Zarra used a small burst of Air Magic to erase their tracks, and then another spell that would hide their sent, “No reason to make it easy on the Ogres.”
They hiked up the hill; the vegetation all around them seem to be alive with small animals. They passed through a large grassland between the trees, and marveled as a small herd of Blue Antelope leaped into the air before them. Their beautiful bluish gray coats and long slender horns flashed in the noon sunshine. They reminded Zarra, that while the Bush Lions were not found up this high, the Jaguar was. She decided that if one of those spotted two hundred pound cats suddenly showed up, there was nothing they could do about it. It was probably best if she did not mention her concern to Kayla; it would just make her more worried.
Elf World Shadows Rising Page 9