23. Amarhuk （Rook）
AMARHUK (ROOK)
One on one, or in a small group, I could be very persuasive, especially when it came to sex.
I was an incubus after all. But trying to convince the hundreds of men and women, concubi and salmaeri, arrayed before me to go against the dwarves and fight with Izzy…
I’d never admit it, but I was scared shitless.
It was also strange being back in Urval after being away for so long. I’d gotten used to the blue skies and warm-temperate climate of Seial. Here, in Urval, it was ragingly hot all the time, the skies a twisting maelstrom of fiery reds and twisting ashen clouds.
I’d been transported to the main military camp outside the city of Baelzerus. I’d be able to reach the greatest number of salmaeri and concubi here. At least those of fighting age. The hope was, they’d spread the word to those in the nearby city and all over Urval.
“My fellow warriors!” I began, a magical microphone amplifying my voice. “I have stood where you stand now, listening to our leaders tell us victory was near, that we can end this ages-long war with one last push, one last battle.”
There were grumbles through the crowd. They’d heard similar things and knew them to be lies. The pyrkai giants were strong and solidly entrenched in their strongholds. We might take down a few, but there were hundreds and their dark rituals of fire, brought forth more every year.
“We all know it’s a lie. This war will not end, not any time soon, not without a massive force from another realm helping us. We all know it.”
More grumbles and a few shouts and cheers.
I had to speak fast; I could already see people running to tell their leaders. I was undoing generations of programming and hindering their fighting force.
“I am not here to offer you false promises, only a choice.” I paused after that word, looking out over the group below. “How often have we been able to choose our own fate? So very rarely, perhaps, in the heat of battle, but even then, it is often a choice of life or death.”
I had them on the line now, listening intently.
“My choice, I’m afraid, is not much better. I wish I could offer you life, a way out, a way to live free, with no more fighting. I cannot.”
There were some grumblings at that, probably wondering what I was offering.
“Instead, I offer you this…” Okay here goes.
I drew in a deep breath and continued. “I offer you a chance to throw off the shackles of our masters. I offer you a chance to fight for your freedom instead of fighting some interminable war. I offer one last fight, but unlike any fight you’ve been in before.
Not against the pyrkai, but against the elves in Seial! ”
That got some gasps and a whole lot of wide eyes staring back at me.
“Stop him!” someone shouted, still far away.
No one nearby moved, I had a few more minutes.
“Come with me, leave this desolate place. I know it is your home, all you’ve ever known, but we all know that staying here is a death sentence.
Come to Seial and fight in the rebellion against the elves.
A new queen has emerged, an elf, who is not an elf, a queen who truly cares for her people, who wants equality and freedom for all races.
If you don’t believe me, then come and listen to her, hear her words. Then you’ll believe.”
People were moving at the fringes of the crowd. My time drew short.
“This queen will fight her own kind to free not only the races of Seial from oppression, but all races, you included. Her fight is just, and she needs your help. And if she wins, if we all win, then there will be a place for you in the lush lands of Seial, where you can live in peace and never have to worry about war again!”
I got a few cheers at that… but not as many as I’d hoped. When I looked into the crowd, what I saw instead was the exhaustion of having fought their whole lives and me only offering them yet another fight.
People were closing in, nearing the stage. I had one last chance to sway these folks.
“The dwarves, our liberators and masters are on side with Izzy, this new queen.” That was mostly a lie.
A few dwarves were, but most didn’t seem interested in fighting.
Still, many here respected the dwarves, saw them as liberators of our kind, helping us in our ages-old fight against the fire giants.
“Fight with them, but more importantly… fight beside them as equals. For if we win this fight, we will have no more masters. We will be truly free! Fight with me. Fight with this new queen who seeks equality for all. Fight with all the races striving for freedom, and we’ll have a chance to claim that freedom once and for all! ”
Yup, time to go, several generals and their toadies were about to take me into custody.
I nodded to the dragon who’d escorted me here and he grabbed me and shifted back to Seial.
My job was done. I’d sown the seeds of dissent, of freedom. By this time tomorrow one of two things would happen. Enough of the army would mutiny and overthrow the current generals… or all thoughts of freedom would be quashed.
Honestly, I wasn’t hopeful. I figured we had a fifty-fifty chance.
“Go back?” the dragon asked, not one for many words.
I nodded and gave different coordinates for my return. I’d stay the night in Urval and sneak into the military camp tomorrow to see which way things had swayed. Until then… I was overdue to visit my mother.
A trip I was both looking forward to… and dreading.
The dragon returned me to Urval in a dark alley, deep in the warrens of Baelzerus. They left once again, agreeing to meet me back here tomorrow, and I slipped away through the shadows to the small house I’d grown up in.
As soon as I entered, I was assaulted with sights, sounds, and smells from my childhood.
The scent hit me first, even before I’d opened the door, eleg stew with my mother’s signature mix of herbs wafted out to greet me.
Nothing said home like eleg stew. Elegs were a small deer-like beast here in Urval.
Their meat was tough and stringy, but when boiled with the right herbs it became as tender as a lover’s kiss.
And even as I took in the familiar front room of the house, the sound of my mother humming also took me back to my early years.
She always hummed, well, she had before my father had passed.
It had taken many years for the pain of that loss to dissipate enough for her to hum again.
The sound drew my gaze to the left, the kitchen, where my mother swayed gently to the tune she hummed, stirring the pot on the stove. When she saw me, she smiled wide.
“Amar!” She was the only one who called me that. Another callback to my childhood. “You’re home. It’s so good to see you!”
As she bustled out to greet me, I took in the view.
Nothing had changed. The front room remained a picture from days past. The kitchen to the left, then a small dining area, then a small sitting area to the right.
Three doors in the far wall led to a bathroom and two small bedrooms. It wasn’t much, but it was home.
Then she wrapped me in a warm hug and my tensions eased. Only a mother’s embrace could release so much stress from me. I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed her right back.
“Hello, Mother.”
“You’re just in time for lunch! Come, sit, tell me everything, where you’ve been, what you’ve been… doing…” Her words trailed off as she stood back to look at me. She saw something in my eyes that stilled her tongue.
“Oh… my,” she whispered.
Might as well get this over with. “I… I’m in love,” I breathed.
My mother’s lips went tight, tears coming to her eyes. “Oh, Amar, no… I’m so sorry! This is terrible.”
There it was. For many races, finding one’s true love was a reason to celebrate, but among concubi… not so much.
“Come sit,” she said, ushering me to the table and helping me sit as if I were an invalid. “Tell me everything. Perhaps it’s not too late to break it off.”
I sighed as I sat, and she took a chair next to me, facing me, my hands in hers, her dark eyes filled with compassion and regret.
“I do not think it can be undone,” I said. “I… don’t know if I could. She’s…” There were too many words, none of them doing Izzy justice.
My mother’s lips compressed even more, the pain of her own loss radiating off her. She nodded. “Yes, I know.” Then another, “I’m so sorry. I never wanted this for you.”
Because the loss of my father had devastated her. I’d been a child, but I’d had enough awareness to notice the change, the light going out of her eyes, the heaviness to her step, the tears.
“It feels great,” I said, voice soft.
“I know, I know it does, so wonderful… until…” A faint hope glimmered in her eyes. “But perhaps… your life is safe? You can live in peace now?”
Yeah… that wasn’t going to happen.
“I’m about to go to war against all the elven armies… and the one I love is leading the charge.”
Tears welled in my mother’s eyes, and she shook her head, overcome.
Here in Urval, war was a way of life, a permanent thing. We’d always been at war with the pyrkai, and most thought… we always would be.
My mother blinked her tears away and hardened. “Then you have to end it, now.” Her tone brokered no argument. “Walk away before fate takes her, or you. The loss is too great. End it now, Amar, you must!”
Yeah… that’s what I’d expected from her, and it dragged up all my fears around myself and Izzy.
I knew how likely it was that one of us would die in the coming war.
When I’d served in the forces here, I’d seen so many of my friends and comrades fall.
And being such empathetic creatures, I’d felt my mother’s pain after my father’s passing, the drowning depths of her loss.
I feared the same would happen to me… or Izzy, but what could I do?
“I can’t leave her,” I said. “I’ve sworn to help her, to… stay with her.”
My mother squeezed my hands hard, her head falling in regret and loss all over again. She shook her head and couldn’t seem to stop.
“I’m sorry.” My turn to say it. “I… I tried to stay away from her, but… I couldn’t. I tried pushing her away and we were still drawn back together. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost her. I know it’s going to hurt like hell, but… what can I do?”
“Nothing,” my mother said, voice faint. “If you’re that far gone… you’re lost.” There was a note of disappointment in her voice, which tore at my heart.
And that was that.
I’d failed my mother, done the one thing she’d warned me against, the one thing she feared for me more than anything else.
Needless to say, it was a subdued visit after that. We ate dinner in sullen silence, then I returned to my old room and had a fitful sleep, my dreams plagued with images of Izzy in pain or dying.
I left early the next morning, having slept little, out the door before my mother woke. I sneaked across the city, then met with a few old friends outside the military compound, who let me in.
The generals had met, swayed by my words and those of their own men…
and had agreed to lend us as much of a fighting force as they could.
They’d withdraw all of their forces from the front and keep only what was needed to defend our settlements.
The rest would come with me to Seial. Twelve thousand Salmaeri and three thousand concubi.
I’d done it. I’d brought the forces of Urval into the fight.
So why did I feel like I failed?