Chapter 8 #2
As such, I never sent Hakri or his father away from Thornward at the same time. One of them always needed to be present to save Nokitali from the constant harassment.
Smoke rose from Jivorn’s tail. He clenched his fists, but whatever retort he planned to spit out was interrupted when Kuzuu ran over to the younger hunter, grabbed his face, and touched his forehead to his. “You brilliant lad, where would we be without you?”
Biesabu’s chair screeched away from the table. “Wait, should we test the gifts on Blair first? They may not like the same things.”
“No one is testing anything on her,” I roared.
Finally, the room fell silent enough to listen.
“We’ll send a team to scout the area before we try to make full contact.
Fujilly Rock is the border of our territory, and any party larger than four would be seen as an act of aggression against the Night Ridge clan. ”
“Bah! Let those petrified mountain fuckers see it however they want. We can take them,” Kuzuu said.
“Oh really? Tell me then, do you plan on bringing any females you find back to the pile of rubble that was once our home? I imagine flowers would be a better gift than a pile of rocks.”
“My king, you must be joking. You can’t actually think the Night Ridge, of all things, could best us?”
“Them, no. I imagine it will be a toss-up between the oncoming Rumbling or the countless invaders that have been running us ragged.” I looked around the room. “Or have you been hiding another unit of soldiers at our disposal?”
“Well, no—”
“No.” I interrupted. “We can’t afford to stretch ourselves thinner than we already are. Hakri, Yengro, and Biesabu will ride out and see what they find. Hakri, go to the clinic and tell Magni he’s going with you.”
His posture slumped as if I’d just told him to muck out the stables with his bare hands. “Not that old grouch, he’ll only slow us down.”
“You’ll need a druid on hand in case any of the females are injured. There has to be some kind of reason Blair was in that fire. If her people have been attacked, they’ll need help.”
“What about Onchu?” Yengro asked.
Of course the bastard would try to bring another Singing Arrow along.
The people of Stormforge had the decency to yield after I’d killed their king and united our nations.
The Singing Arrows were a proud bunch, forever loyal to their leader, General Lok.
He disappeared shortly after the Biwban dropped us here and had kept himself hidden.
Occasionally our scouts would report sightings of him, and every idiot with a tattoo on their neck would make a mess of things trying to get their king back.
Onchu was a capable druid, but he was still one of them.
I didn’t want to send any Arrows on this mission, but if word got out that I snubbed their clan for a mission involving the first females anyone had seen in years, a riot would be unavoidable.
Biesabu was a former wanderer from one of the northern ships.
Jivorn had taken the boy under his command and had trained him into one of our most promising trackers.
Hakri was a Dulba through and through and had proven his loyalty plenty of times over.
Yengro might be the more experienced warrior, but he was no match for both of them at once.
If Onchu went along, that advantage was thrown out.
“Magni has more experience, and I’ll need Onchu to see about Blair’s wounds.”
“She’s injured? Where? Let me see!” Kuzuu lunged toward her.
Blair gasped and clung to my arm where it rested on the table. Satisfaction that she sought out my protection filled me. “Don’t lunge at her, she’s still new to us.”
Some of the excitement bled from Kuzuu when he noticed Blair’s retreat, and he backed away. “Apologies, Blair. I only wanted to make sure you were safe.”
His actions mollified her enough to release her grip on my arm, and I fought down the urge to snarl at the loss. “The matter is settled then. Hakri, Yengro, Magni, and Biesabu will set out as soon as they are able. In the meantime, the rest of us will resume normal duties. Dismissed.”
Everyone remained seated, their expressions a mix of hesitation and longing. They exchanged furtive glances at Blair, not even bothering to hide their desire to stay in her presence. “Did you not hear me?” I asked. “You’re dismissed.”
The tension in the room thickened, an unvoiced battle between duty and desire.
It was unusual for Kuzuu to keep his trap shut for more than a moment, but to my shock, Biesabu broke first. “Maybe we should get to know Blair more first. We don’t even know what her species is yet. ” The others murmured in agreement.
I cocked my head at him. “And do you expect her to learn our language and tell you in the next hour?”
He slumped a little and drummed his fingers against the table before responding. “Well, no…but maybe we could see what types of food she responds to; it could give us a better idea of where she’s from, in case we don’t find her people right away.”
“She’s not going anywhere,” I responded dryly. “There’s no need to overwhelm her with demands after the trials of today. Onchu will make a tonic for her injuries, then she’ll take her dinner in my chambers.”
“Your chambers?” Yengro roared. “You can’t just hoard her away for yourself just because you found her first.”
Hakri shot to his hooves; smoke billowed from the end of his tail like an enraged trel ready to strike. “Yengro, how dare you speak to King Osid like that!”
The warrior whirled on him. “You mean how dare I call him out on his obvious bullshit? He just wants to keep her to himself. If you lot are too cowardly, then I’ll—”
A fireball hit him square in the chest, sending him flying into the wall with a hard smack. He landed in a crumpled heap. I waved the smoke from my hand and moved to stand in front of him. “You’ll what?” I asked.
Yengro looked up at me with obvious hatred, but when he tried to speak, his voice broke off in a wheezing cough.
I rammed my hoof into his neck, pinning him against the wall.
He grabbed onto my ankle with both hands, trying to dislodge me, but when I dug my hoof farther into his throat, he stilled, and slowly lowered his hands.
“Let’s make something clear. I don’t know how the Singing Arrows conducted themselves under King Lokbaatar, and I don’t fucking care.
” I pushed deeper into the soft flesh of his neck.
Yengro wheezed, tears welled in the corners of his eyes as he struggled to breathe.
“You and the rest of your clan were abandoned by him as soon as we were dropped here, and it’s time you all accepted that.
I have been gracious enough to accept you into my empire under my protection.
Of course, that means you and the rest of your abandoned clan are under my command.
Meaning when I give you an order, you follow it, and when I say the female is staying with me, it means she’s staying with me. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” he croaked.
I removed my hoof from his throat and turned to face the rest of the room. “Dismissed.”