“Slavery leaves a terrible taste in my mouth.” Isadora stretched her shoulders and rubbed at her neck. “Besides, that’s not entirely accurate. Right now you call yourselves an empire, but you hardly meet the definition. You are merely a nation at war with the largest, most sophisticated kingdom in the known world. But, there are other nations you’re ignoring to your disadvantage. Once these nations realize your current state, you will be at war with them, as well. Bring them under your banner instead.”
“Who and where are these other nations?” Raegith asked. “I’ve read nothing of them.”
“Because you read from books by Kingdom authors and to the Kingdom, everything is Rellizbix. Surely, though, you have heard of the Twileen tribes who refuse to recognize the King. Or the organized groups of marauders scattered about the Wilderness.” Isadora motioned to the forest around them. “Groups which, by the way, have grown in size and resources since your arrival drove out the military presence and left so many towns abandoned.”
“So we search these nations out, conquer them, and add their power to ours.” Izanami looked at Raegith. “This could work. The invasion is still postponed, but if this works it would still be possible.”
“Seeking out these little groups with your stretched-thin army would be an exercise in futility and wind up getting more of your people killed.” Isadora leaned back and laced her fingers together before her face. “The nature of my position has landed me with numerous valuable connections in these lands, however. Allow me to bring the nations to you.”
Chapter 30
Isadora came through just as she claimed and before the start of winter. Raegith and his Helcats gathered in a clearing with dozens of Denizens from the Wilderness, all under a white flag.
Twileen Chieftains from the tribes of Fallen Oak, Blood Oak, and Oak Shadow in the West had made the trip, as well as Chieftains from Cedar Flag and Blazing Fir in the East. A militia made up of rogue former soldiers calling themselves the Crimson Banner sent a representative. Sitting far from the Chieftains and the Crimson Banner were the bandits. Several organized criminal bands sent delegates, but only one leader showed.
Cressius the Nail lead the Coffinmakers. Isadora explained to Raegith that the Coffinmakers would create elaborate, highly detailed coffins and deliver them to anyone who disrespected them, either by not paying protection money or through some direct means. At some point in the next month, they would then raid that person’s home, abduct them and then bury them alive inside the coffin. A marker would be left after a few days for their loved ones to find and dig the victim up.
“Why not just kill the person?” Raegith asked. “I don’t understand putting in all that work.”
“It sends a statement, Raegith,” Isadora replied, as they sat on one end of the fire and watched the others. “When that coffin shows up, everyone in town, every family member, anyone who has any attachment to the victim… they’re all just waiting for the day they disappear. Can you imagine trying to talk to a neighbor, your wife or anyone else when you and everyone else knows you’re a dead man. By the time they come, it’s almost a relief from the constant anxiety.”
Isadora leaned forward, putting her face in front of Raegith’s to get his full attention. “The bandits are tough and awful men who recognize only violence as power. Show weakness in front of them and this is all fucked.”
“I’ve known harder women in prison.” Raegith stood and stepped forward, causing the others to quiet down and listen.
“I am Grass-Hair, Warlord of the Greimere and owner of these lands.”
“You’re claiming the Middle?” one of the Bandits asked. “By what right, you little Skag?”
“I claim all of it,” Raegith growled, staring at the man who spoke up. “This is not a peace treaty. This is an offer to keep what you currently have if you fight for me. You fly the Greimere colors in your land and you supply warriors to serve under my generals. Do this and my victories will be your victories. Some of you may even find a place among the Greimere; but that is a hard-earned honor.”
“What tah fuck is this, Sea Bitch?” Cressius asked. “Ya said tah bands were all unitin’ against Helfrick. Ya said tah Greimere chumps were gonna be here. Ya dinnit say shit ‘bout some little twerp with a dumb name try’na take us over.”
“This twerp annihilated the 9th Regiment and reduced the 1st Regiment to a handful of house servants,” Isadora replied. “The 7th… the 8th… the 4th… Grass-Hair is dismantling Rellizbix one Regiment at a time, Cressius. The army won’t even set foot across the Pisces. Haven’t you noticed how easy things were for us these past two years?”
“Ay, he’s cleared out tah soldiers, but most of our prey’s fuckin’ bailed on us, too.” Cressius motioned at Raegith with his knife and Helkree fingered the hilt of her tomahawk. “Tah towns ‘re empty. Tah gold is plenty, but tehr innit nobody left to fuckin’ take it.”
Cressius gave Raegith a grin. “Besides, ah heard tah Greimere innit doin’ so good right now. Word is, Grass-head, taht while ya were fightin’ on a bridge, Rellizbix snuck in’ta yer fort and killed all your li’l babies and shit in yer wheat. Last ah heard, tah mighty Greimere’s starvin’ tah deatt out’na middle of tah woods, with no castle and no fight in’em.”
“That’s right, I nearly forgot.” Raegith ignored Cressius, looking around at the men near the fire. “I’m also going to need you to supply me with labor; anyone with building experience.”
“If what Cressius says is right, why would we side with you?” The Chieftain of the Oak Shadow tribe spoke up. “Rellizbix is the mightiest army this world has ever seen and we have refused the Caelums for a thousand years. Atop my corpse is the only way the Oak Shadow falls under a warlord, especially a Rung’un.”
Raegith stood silent as the others joined in and within minutes the entire meeting had devolved into leaders and chieftains belittling and laughing at him. Isadora clenched her jaw. The Helcats readied themselves to tear into the lot of them.
“Now hear tihs! The Coffinmakers have a new order tah fill!” Cressius pointed his knife at Raegith. “For clearin’ out tah soldiers and allowin’ us ta expand our borders, ya have my thanks, Grassy-do. But taht shit’s over now. The Coffinmakers are puttin’ an end to ya. I’m puttin’ ya in a grass-green coffin, twerp.”
Cressius pointed his knife at Helkree. “Then I’m puttin’ that one’s tits in an iron vice and fuckin’ her on top of ya.”
Raegith said nothing. He tilted his head slightly and stared at Cressius, but even as the others joined in with threats of their own and began to leave, Raegith said nothing.
“Say something,” Isadora hissed. “Do you have any idea how much damage my reputation is taking because of you? Burning Elements, I should have fucking coached you on this.”
“Grass-Hair, I am Kor’Rin, Chieftain of the Fallen Oak. I am aware that you have a member of my tribe among you.”
Raegith looked over to see an elder Twileen with long, brown and gray hair. “You mean Chev’El?”
Kor’Rin smiled faintly. “So the girl is alive? I have a difficult time believing that one existing as a prisoner. Her spirit burns too fiercely for that.”
“She was for a time,” Raegith replied. “She has since found a place at my side. Fierce spirit is valued in my army, Chieftain. As tribute to the finest archer I’ve met, I will grant you, her tribesman, a final offer. After this, Chieftan, my generosity will have been expended. Wrath comes next.”
“My people to not respond well to threats, Warlord.” Kor’Rin rubbed his hands together and watched as the other tribes eyed him beside Raegith. “But I will stay and listen and carry your words back to my people.”
“One possible tribe among all the groups I pulled together for you.” Isadora waited until the others had all left before raging at Raegith. “I’m out. I tried, but now all my energy must be spent on controlling the damage from this fiasco. I’ve got none left for your bullshit. You couldn’t even kill one of them as an ex
ample to get the rest in line?”
“My scouts are following them all home, just as you asked, Grass-Hair.” Fenra came up beside Raegith along with Helkree and Indie. “They will hang far back and track with their noses; never getting within sight.”
“What the fuck did that pink-flesh with the knife say to me?” Helkree asked.
Raegith looked at her with concern. “He said he’s going to lock me in a coffin, then put your tits in a vice and rape you on top of it. We’re in serious shit, Hel.”
Helkree gave Raegith and the others a terrified look and crossed her arms over her breasts. They all burst into laughter. Helkree twisted her face in mockery of Cressius. “Put my tits in a vice? Is that supposed to be a threat in these lands?”
“I’m going to sit on that silly man’s head and crush his skull with my ass cheeks,” Indie bellowed.
Fenra lifted a clawed hand and shook it with a grin. “I’m going to see if he’s ticklish on the inside.”
“What the hell is going on here?” Isadora asked. “Why is this funny to all of you? Every leader here but one just laughed at your proposal and left, confident they can come back here in force and wipe you out. And you know what? That’s a strong possibility.”
“Let them laugh,” Raegith said. “Let them go home and drink and plot and make fucking coffins. Soon the leaders of every group that declined me will stand before me in a much more intimate setting and tremble.”
…
The eyes of the one Grass-Hair called Cressius opened slowly as Fenra caressed his balls. He jolted awake when he noticed her face over his. Before he could act, she dug her claws into the flesh between his legs enough to get his attention. He snarled something at her, but unlike Hitomi, Fenra had never bothered to learn the Rellizbix tongue.
Fenra gave him a low, bestial growl, baring her fangs inches from his face. The people of Rellizbix she encountered these past few years appeared more fearful of Urufen than any of the other Greimere races. When she asked Ariadne, the Mage admitted that the Urufen seemed more like beasts than people, especially the ones who could Turn. The Mage supposed that those from Rellizbix possibly believed the Urufen to be monsters.
Fenra’s growl silenced Cressius, but he continued to stare at her with hate. After a nod, two of Hitomi’s Blade Dancers tore the clothes from him and stood him up. They walked him through his house out the door to where Helkree and the others held the entire group hostage in the light of a bright pyre. Helkree gave Cressius a wide grin and jostled her breasts at him with a laugh.
Suddenly Cressius cried out to his men and elbowed one of the Blade Dancers in the face, turning to fight off the other one. Either he had forgotten about Fenra behind him or he didn’t see her as a threat.
With a kick to the back of his knee, she dropped the large Saban and made him flail at his back by digging her claws into the soft flesh above his hip. Years of sparring with Indie had forced her to use quick, overly-violent techniques to take the fight out of her. Fenra dropped on top of him, pinning him. He retaliated by spitting in her eye as the Blade Dancers moved to hold him still. He cursed at her and yelled at his men who seemed anxious to follow his lead.
“Dammit, he’s trying to rally the others.” Helkree howled and turned toward the Sabans with her tomahawks ready. “Fenra, do something crazy.”
Fenra wiped the spit from her face and flashed a smile at him, her eyes wide with anticipation. Gripping his head firmly in her claws, she bent down and clamped her teeth over the Saban’s lips. Her incisors easily broke through the skin and with a wild thrash of her head she tore the lips away from his face, giving him a crimson, skeletal grimace.
Cressius screamed and convulsed against those holding him. Fenra spit the pieces of flesh out and cackled as she bounced on his chest.
Fenra noticed a younger Saban staring at her in horror and she stared back at him. Lowering into her haunches, she gave a low growl and narrowed her eyes at him. The boy shrunk away from her along with those on either side of him.
Fenra laughed. The Treaty that Grass-Hair spoke of had taken the Urufen out of battle with Rellizbix long ago, and in doing so deprived her people of the moon. Fenra remembered the first time she ever saw the silver disc high in the sky; a vibrant goddess casting Fenra in her cool light. Seeing the moon peek through the clouds felt like the return of her long-dead parents. She ached the same ache as the night she looked up from the bottom floor of the Pit and saw Grass-Hair looking down on her; laying eyes directly on her. She had dropped to her knees in that clearing, in front of her sisters, and struggled to find breath. When she finally drew air into her lungs, the howl came naturally and indomitable.
All around her, the other Urufen offered their howls to the monarch of the night sky. They had all felt the same pull. Fenra’s heart raged and bled for those ancient Urufen who learned that never again would they ever see such majesty all thanks to the fair-skinned devils living above the Hell Cliffs. Stealing away such a majestic thing as the moon and keeping it to themselves was the cruelest act Rellizbix could have perpetrated against the Urufen. And yet they had the audacity to look upon her kind and say the word “monster.”
“Well, I think that did the trick.” Helkree whistled and motioned for the others to get ready to leave. “Load this asshole onto the cart so we can get the hell out of here. Ariadne is going to have to look at his face if she doesn’t puke from seeing it.”
Fenra got off Cressius and let the Blade Dancers load him onto a Binoc cart, along with one other member of the bandit group. She watched as Helkree tossed a piece of paper at the others and then turned to join the caravan out of the little town. “What was that?”
“Since none of us can be bothered to learn their dumbass language, Grass-Hair wrote a note for them.” Helkree pulled herself up into the cart and Fenra followed. “He said its instructions for them not to follow us or we’ll kill their leader.”
Fenra screwed her face up trying to figure out the logic. “But aren’t we going to kill him anyway?”
“Yeah, but they don’t know that.” Helkree nudged Cressius, eliciting a stream of garbled curses from him as he squirmed in the bottom of the cart and clutched his mangled face. “You know, I really hope some of those fuckers ignore the note and come after us. Seeing you rip half this guy’s face off really got me in the mood.”
“The mood for ripping a man’s face off?” Fenra laughed.
“Or riding a man’s face off,” Helkree replied. “They’re both such similar moods, I can’t really tell them apart.”
Fenra shook her head. “I can definitely tell those two moods apart. I did not get excited touching that guys balls and his lips tasted like charred asshole. What are these people eating?”
“Why were you touching his balls?” Helkree asked, scowling at her. “That was not part of the mission.”
“You’re the one who taught me men are weak when they’re scared or confused,” Fenra replied. She flexed her fingers in the air between them. “I wanted him to be scared and confused, so I gave his happy sack a little claw-claw.”
Helkree stared at Fenra and sighed. “You know, all the Helcats have their main things: Hitomi is really smart, Indie is strong and I’m skilled. What you lack in those areas, though, you make up for in sheer chaos. Fondling a man to take him hostage and then biting his face off to shut down a riot? I wouldn’t have considered either of those solutions; I don’t think anyone would.”
Fenra grinned. “They just kind of came naturally to me.”
“I don’t doubt that at all,” Helkree said, leaning back against the side of the cart as it wobbled down the trail. “I hope this guy doesn’t bleed out before we get there. Of all the assholes we rounded up this time, he’s the one I want to watch squirm more than any of the others.”
Chapter 31
Raegith sat near the fire with Qufeng meditating on what he needed to do as he heard the cart approaching. When he opened his eyes, Qufeng stared at him.
“You hea
rd it, too?” he asked.
“A few minutes ago,” she replied.
Raegith soured. “You don’t have to rub it in, Qufeng. Your ears are bigger than mine.”
“You’re not concentrating on the present; that’s why I heard it before you.” Qufeng glanced to the side and Raegith followed it to the cramped cages holding his hostages. “You’re distracted by the future.”
“Fates… you sound just like Noriko.” Raegith got to his feet and she followed him.
“Is that good?”
“It’s creepy,” he replied. He stopped and turned around, facing Qufeng. “Sometimes, Qufeng, I feel bad that you’re here. You’re dedicated to the Path. You’re also very determined. If you could make it to them, you would fit in among the Junrei’sha.”
“I wouldn’t.” Qufeng straightened and lifted her chin a hair higher. “As you said, the Junrei’sha ignore the strife of those below them and look after only those fit for their mountain. Grass-Hair seeks to create a place for those who do not fit anywhere. Your goal coincides with my understanding of the Path.”
“Of course it does. I’m the one who taught you the Path.” Raegith smiled at her, but she simply looked to the side. Raegith sighed and turned toward her. “And now you’ve got that look where you disagree with me, but you don’t want to say so.”
“You may have taught me how to seek the Path, but now that I have sought it, the Path speaks to me.” Qufeng shifted her weight and leaned her head to the other side. “But I have felt the Path barely a year and it has been with you for much longer. Besides, the Path chose you. You carry its flames in your fists.”
“If only it were that simple.” Raegith turned away from her as Helkree and Fenra jumped off the approaching cart and strolled forward. “Has our final guest arrived intact?”
“Mostly intact,” Helkree replied, veering toward Indie and taking the mug of grog from beside her. “Ariadne will need to take a look at him.”
Wrath of the Greimere (Hell Cliffs Book 2) Page 23