Rampage, page 36
part #1 of Land of the Elementals Series
She would kill this monster for what she’d done to her, and she’d even enjoy it!
She stomped down on the leg again, and blood began pumping from the open wound even faster.
“How’s it feel, bitch, being on the receiving end, for once?” Karria yelled.
She bent down and grabbed the elf by her hair, pulling her head back to expose her throat.
“Fitting that you should die in this way! This was how you planned to kill Kya, wasn’t it?”
Eletha just whimpered as the sharp blade pressed against her throat.
The empty feeling was back again. She couldn’t feel her magic!
Karria felt a hand on her shoulder then. She turned to see Sylvester standing there, a look of concern on his face.
“Don’t do this. I know what she’s done to you, but she’s already dying! There’s no need to be so cruel.”
Karria just shoved him away and turned back to the downed elf. She took the dagger and raised to her throat again, but felt Sylvester pull her back. He grabbed the sides of her face, and she winced as he aggravated her broken jaw.
“Look at me! You are a kind and gentle person. I know you’ve been forced to kill before, but if you go through with this, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life!”
Karria looked from Sylvester’s pleading face to Eletha, sobbing pitifully on the ground beneath her, and recoiled in horror as it finally sank in. What had she been doing? Was she really the type of person who could torture someone and enjoy it?
She stumbled back from Eletha and dropped the dagger with a sound of disgust. She looked at her hands. They were shaking and covered in Eletha’s blood. She quickly put them to her sides, clenching them into fists to stop the tremors now wracking her body.
She turned away from the sobbing girl and looked to her friends instead. Kya was still lying on the ground, unconscious, but Sylvester looked relieved and even gave her a small smile. She was better than Eletha. She would not stoop to her level.
“You are a cruel and hateful person,” Karria said in a low voice, so only Eletha could hear. “You will die soon, and when you do, you will die alone. Hated by everyone and remembered by no one.”
She began walking away from the girl who had nearly killed her twice, feeling oddly at peace. She had fought hard and persevered. Most importantly, she’d saved her friend.
She smiled at Sylvester, who was still watching her as she walked towards him. He started to smile back, but then a look of horror crossed his face, and he opened his mouth to try and shout a warning. Karria began to turn around, a sinking feeling already in her stomach, but then felt a blinding pain overtake her. Looking down, she saw the handle of her dagger protruding from her side, the roaring tiger’s head staring back at her. She turned, trying to figure out what had just happened.
Eletha stood behind her, a grin of triumph on her bloody face.
“Looks like you’re the one who will die here, Sow,” she whispered in glee.
Then she twisted the dagger, just as Karria had done only moments before, then ripped it free.
Karria felt herself falling then, her vision fading as she did so. She hit the ground with a thud and lay there, unmoving.
49
Arbor was really starting to worry. It was nearly midday, and Grak still hadn’t shown up yet.
He’d begun looking out for her once the sun rose as she’d instructed, but she was still nowhere to be seen. He got up and began to pace, all kinds of worrying thoughts flashing through his mind.
What if she’d been found out? If they caught a spy, they would likely torture her.
He quailed at the thought of Grak being strung up and beaten for information. Arbor stopped his pacing and looked up at the sky again.
If she wasn’t back by midday, he would go get her himself, even if he had to fight off an entire army of gremlins.
Luckily for him, he spotted Grak’s familiar form approaching from the direction of the camp only a half hour later. Quickly enhancing his vision, he could see that she looked tired and drawn. It must be bad if she looked so grim.
He looked around to see if there were any other gremlins in sight. It wouldn’t do to give their position away if they were being watched. Not spotting anything, he reached for his first Origin and quickly pumped magic into his legs. Breaking out into a run, he was soon covering the distance between them with shocking speed. He saw Grak’s eyes widen a bit as she saw him approaching, but she calmed down once she could make out who it was.
It took him another few minutes of hard running before he finally reached her. The distance on the open Flatlands was quite deceiving. He stopped in front of her, a cloud of dust swirling around him and making her cough.
“What did you find out?” he asked, not wasting any time on pleasantries.
“There are way more of them than we first thought,” she said as she slumped to the ground. “We need to get back and report right away. They know where the base is, and they’re planning an attack as we speak.”
Arbor felt his blood run cold at that statement.
“How many are there?” he asked in a quiet voice.
They had originally estimated somewhere around six thousand.
“Over ten thousand,” Grak answered, in a grim tone. “But that’s not even the worst part.” She looked up at him now, a look of fear flashing in her eyes. “One of the four gremlin generals is leading the army.”
“Who are the gremlin generals?” Arbor asked.
He knew Grak wasn’t easily frightened, so they must be truly dangerous for her to look so scared now.
Grak just shook her head, instead of answering.
“Not now. It will take too long to explain, and I only want to have to do it once.”
Arbor nodded and bent down to scoop her up. She yelped as he did so, wrapping her arms around his neck. She gave him a slightly indignant look and swatted his breastplate.
“Warn me the next time you’re going to do that!”
Arbor smiled cheekily at her.
“Don’t worry yourself, princess, I don’t plan on doing this again. I just figured I owed you for sneaking into that enemy camp all on your own. You could probably use a rest, as you won’t be able to when we reach the horses.”
Grak opened her mouth to reply but quickly shut it as Arbor began to run. Despite her exhaustion, she enjoyed the rush of wind on her face, as well as the feeling of being cradled in Arbor’s strong arms. If she wasn’t so tired, she might have attempted to use the situation to her advantage, but as it was, she could already feel her eyes closing. She hadn’t gotten any sleep the previous evening, so being able to rest now was nice.
It took just under an hour for Arbor to reach their horses, and he was becoming quite sore by the time he did. He had to rouse Grak, as she’d fallen asleep on their way back. He hated to do so, as she’d looked so peaceful slumbering away in his arms, but he had no choice. They had an important mission to complete.
She was a little groggy at first but soon became more alert as they packed up their campsite and saddled their mounts. Soon they were riding as hard as they could back to the Defiants’ base. They rode through the afternoon and well into the night, only taking short breaks to feed and water the horses. By the time they spotted the familiar outcropping of rock, Arbor was completely exhausted and having a very hard time keeping his eyes open.
He dismounted clumsily, his legs wobbly from being in the saddle so long, and stumbled tiredly over to the outcropping. His hands scrabbled over the surface of the rock until he found the hidden lever. He pulled down until he heard a distinct click, then he shuffled back to his horse and mounted up once more.
The two of them watched as one of the large boulders slowly moved to the side, revealing a long sloping ramp heading into the ground. They rode forward, the sound of their horse’s hooves soon echoing off the walls of the underground chamber.
There were two guards waiting at the bottom of the ramp, and when they could make out who the riders were, one of them nodded to the other, then quickly ran across the open hall and into one of the side corridors. The other guard pulled a lever set into the wall, and the winch began turning in the opposite direction, closing the entrance once again.
The two of them dismounted tiredly and the guard took the reins. He could see that they’d been riding hard and looked worried.
The second guard came running out of the side passage and stopped in front of them, breathless.
“Co-founder Ramona is waiting for you in the war chamber,” he panted.
Arbor thanked the man and was about to walk off when a thought occurred to him.
“Would you do me a favor and fetch my friend Hord? He’s a dwarf with a short red beard and a splinted leg. You should find him in one of the rooms down that corridor,” he said, motioning toward the opposite direction the guard had just come from.
The man didn’t look too happy at being ordered around, but nodded all the same, and took off in the indicated direction.
He peered down at Grak through bleary eyes. She looked to be asleep on her feet and Arbor had to call her name a few times before she answered.
“What?!” she yelled, giving him a sour look.
He understood the feeling, but this was no time to be falling asleep. Grak needed to be awake for this meeting. She had all the important information. He reached out a hand and grabbed hers.
It would only be temporary, but it would serve its purpose all the same.
“What are you…?” Grak began to ask, just before a flood of energy entered her body.
She’d been on the verge of falling asleep, but now she felt as though she could run ten miles with ease.
“What did you do?” she asked, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “If you can erase tiredness, why didn’t you do so earlier?”
“I didn’t erase your tiredness,” Arbor said, covering a yawn. “I only revitalized you for a short while.”
He concentrated for a moment, then pumped his magic up to his brain and felt his fatigue melt away as well.
“It’ll wear off in about an hour, and then you’ll feel all the fatigue come back in a rush, only about twice as bad as before. Now come on, we don’t have a lot of time.”
Grak looked like she wanted to ask more questions but nodded in agreement. The information they had was more important than satisfying her curiosity, but she would find out more once there was time to talk.
They walked quickly down the corridor and were soon standing outside the room in which they’d previously met Ramona. Arbor only had to knock once before the door was thrown open. Ramona stood there, dressed in a tunic and trousers. She looked as though she’d just been roused from sleep but ushered them quickly inside.
Arbor and Grak entered the room, and Ramona closed the door behind them. Looking around the room, Arbor could see that there were now half a dozen chairs by the large table, as well as a pitcher of water and some fruit.
The two of them walked over and sank down into the chairs. Arbor had to admit to himself that it felt nice to sit on something that wasn’t constantly moving under him. He also silently thanked Ramona as he and Grak quickly devoured the fruit and drained the entire pitcher of water.
Ramona gave them a few minutes to eat, then approached the table and sat down across the two of them.
Grak couldn’t help but notice that despite only just having woken up, the Co-founder still looked as perfect as ever. She scowled as the woman took a seat near Arbor, then quickly composed herself.
It wouldn’t do to show the woman how much she disliked her. Besides, Arbor hadn’t shown any clear interest in her, so maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about competing with her.
Arbor opened his mouth to begin their report, but Ramona spoke before he could.
“I’m glad to see that the two of you made it back alive.”
She spoke in a soft voice and Grak couldn’t help noticing that she only looked at Arbor when she spoke. She gritted her teeth and had to make a concerted effort to stop a barbed comment from leaving her lips.
It was infuriating, the way she always looked at Arbor and completely ignored her presence. Truth be told, the way she constantly looked at Arbor annoyed her far more than her being ignored. Maybe she did have something to worry about, after all.
“What do you mean by that?” Arbor asked, anger clouding his features. “Were you expecting us to die out there?”
“No, not at all!” Ramona was quick to reassure him. “None of the other scouting parties reported back when they were supposed to. We began to worry, so we sent men out after them.”
She stopped here, her expression growing grim.
“All the search party found of the scouts were their heads. They were neatly piled up just a mile from our base.”
Arbor recoiled in horror and opened his mouth to ask a question, but Grak cut him off this time. She wasn’t about to be ignored by this self-important princess.
“We know who did it.”
Ramona turned to look at her for the first time, an eyebrow quirking upward in an unasked question.
“There’s an army of over ten thousand gremlins less than a day’s march from here,” Grak said, having to suppress a smile at the look of shock that spread across Ramona’s face.
Let Little Miss Perfect chew on that!
50
Arbor rubbed his temples in an attempt to alleviate a slowly worsening headache. As soon as Grak had mentioned a force of over ten thousand gremlins, Ramona had immediately stopped her from speaking any further. She’d stood and rushed out to one of the guards in the main hall and asked him to gather her captains for a council of war.
It was now an hour later, and the magic keeping him awake had worn off. He dared not do it again, as it could be quite damaging to his brain if he overused it. Strangely enough, Grak was still doing fine, if not a little annoyed at being forced to wait. The last captain had just walked in, a male dwarf by the name of Liron, flanked by three of his lieutenants.
Ramona stood by the table, now dressed in armor, with a sword belted at her waist. Arbor had to admit that she looked every bit the commander of a force of over five thousand warriors. The captains all took their seats, with the exception of Tenor who went to stand beside the co-founder.
“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here in the dead of night,” Ramona began. “We have just received a report that over ten thousand gremlins are marching on us as we speak.”
She was forced to stop as everyone started talking all at once, with every captain and lieutenant trying to voice their opinions. Ramona just stayed silent and waited for everyone to calm down before continuing to speak.
“All our other scouts were killed, as you well know. But these two,” she waved back at Arbor and Grak. “Managed to infiltrate the gremlin camp and receive vital information about their forces.”
There was a hushed silence as all eyes in the room settled on them.
Arbor sat up a little straighter under all those scrutinizing gazes and stared back in turn, a calm expression painted on his face.
“How do we know we can trust them?”
This came from Durlan.
Arbor found that he didn’t like the elf very much. He looked at the both of them as though they were worse than dirt.
Some of the captains started nodding their agreement.
“After all, should we put all our trust in a gremlin and some farm boy we’ve never met?”
“I saw them!” Grak said, shooting indignantly to her feet. “I went into their camp! They will be here in less than a day’s time.”
“I’m sure they will be,” Durlan waved his hand dismissively before turning to Ramona.
“Please tell me that you didn’t wake us all in middle of the night on the word of this gremlin simpleton,” he drawled.
“Now listen here you, pompous piece of crap!” Grak said, her face darkening as she became angrier. “General Sor’shin is at the head of that army and they outnumber you more than two to one. If you want to wait until they kick down your doors and butcher you while you sleep, then by all means. Go ahead!”
The entire room had gone silent at her outburst, and Grak huffed in annoyance before sitting back down. The room promptly erupted into chaos and everyone started talking once again, each trying to voice their opinions. This time, Ramona was not content to let them quiet down on their own. She pulled a small mallet and sheet of metal from under the table, then began banging the two together, creating a horrible racket. It served its purpose, and everybody soon quieted down.
“If what Grak says is true, and I don’t doubt that it is,” Ramona said, shooting Durlan a glare, as he opened his mouth to object. “Then we are in serious trouble. Not only are we outnumbered two to one, but the Bloodbather himself is leading the charge.”
“Bloodbather?” Arbor asked Grak quietly.
“General Sor’shin is also known as the Bloodbather. He got that name after donning rocky plate armor and killing so many men that he’d appeared to have bathed in blood.”
“He has magic?”
“He’s one of the most powerful Mages in Laedrin. He wouldn’t be one of the generals if he wasn’t. From reports, he’s assumed to be a Wrecker class Mage and at the 14th Tier, no less!”
“If we are boring you with our war council, you are more than welcome to leave.”
Arbor looked up to see Durlan once again sneering at them. He turned to Ramona and could see that she was clearly becoming annoyed with the elf as well.
“If you interrupt me one more time, Advisor Durlan, I will have you escorted from this room,” Ramona said, in as calm a voice as she could muster.
Durlan blanched at this but shut his mouth, glaring daggers at the two of them.
Arbor had to wonder why the elf seemed to hate them so much. After all, there were three other elves in the room, and none of them seemed to mind them.
“As I was saying,” Ramona continued. “We will have to shore up our defenses and try to slow them down on their approach.”
