Ronin stared in open mouthed shock at the bright red arm on the table in front of him. It looked just like one of the locust manipulator arms, apart from the color. Guts had pulled out a small rotary tool and was busy scoring a line down the length of the arm.
“What are you doing?” he asked in bewilderment.
“Just watch, boss. You’re gunna love it.” Guts said having traced a line from shoulder to elbow, then elbow to wrist, he picked up a small hammer. “You see, I’ve been talking to some of the locals. Trying to come up with new recipes.” He paused to bring the hammer down on the cut he’d made in the exoskeleton. It cracked apart, exposing white meat with a pink tinge that was billowing steam.
“One of the villagers said he’d visited that seaside city. He called it Andy’s Reef, anyway he told me about this dish he had there called crab legs. Well boss,” as he spoke, he was scooping out the steaming meat and placing it onto the four seated people’s plates. “We didn’t have any of these crabs, but from the description… I thought, why not? I’ve named them ‘locust limbs.’ Don’t worry, I’ve already tasted everything, its safe.”
“You condone the eating of your enemies?” Unyielding oak asked, her face a mask of disgust. Her hair wasn’t pulled back today, so the multitude of tiny braids was framing her angry face.
“Yes, I too have issue with this, Patriarch. If this is the way you handle your affairs…” Harken said, eyeing the plate with distaste.
Ronin looked at the pair. Then to Elyria, whom he expected to raise an issue, but hadn’t. she was still sitting with her face turned away from him, the red tinge still on her cheeks. Ronin was worried about that, hoping he hadn’t screwed up his potential alliance with the moon elves with a simple bath. The reaction of the other two, however, was somewhat annoying.
“Really now?” he asked, picking up his fork and breaking a piece of the meat free. “For a city who’d lost so many people to starvation, I’d think you wouldn’t object to the mindless food delivering itself to your door.” Honestly, he didn’t want to eat it either, and in private would have scolded Guts for this food choice. He couldn’t do that now though, not in front of these people. So, he instead popped the meat into his mouth, after blowing on it a few times.
“What do you think sir?” Guts asked, having pulled out another arm. This time he retrieved it from the caldron that was filled with herbs and spices and was busy opening it up with his tools.
“Hhmm,” Ronin made a thoughtful noise as he chewed. It was surprisingly good. the texture was soft yet somehow the meat stayed together. While the flavors seemed to explode out from the meat with each chew.
“Right?” Guts said, putting some of the seasoned meat on his plate. “Try this one. that same guy told me I could change the flavor depending on how it was boiled. So, I had to try it.” Reaching out with his fork again, Ronin sampled the new piece of meat. It had all the same flavors as the first, but with added spice. His eyes watered a little at the strength of the herbs, but it was quite good.
Looking over at his dinner guests, Ronin was pleased to see that Elyria had sampled the meat and Harken was eyeing it thoughtfully. Unyielding oak, however, was looking increasingly irate.
“Lord White flame” She said, her voice quavering with rage. “My people have been fighting for our lives for months. Our forests are gone, completely eaten away by those monsters. our elders are gone, our children nearly so. The tribe that once contained tens of thousands has been reduced to less than one. my people are scared and tired. they need assurances… yet the man who ‘saved them’ spends his days sleeping and slaughtering. When he finally bothers to speak with me, he feeds me the flesh of those who caused so much suffering?” she’d risen to her feet during her tirade, backhanding the plate across the room. she stood there, chest heaving with exertion as she glared murder at Ronin.
Ronin sat where he had been, staring at her. He’d motioned K3 away when she’d risen, not wanting the situation to escalate, but he was now reconsidering. What was it about him that made so many people treat him this way? Alexander had bullied him, when all he’d ever wanted was to read his books. The towns people… his mind was quickly traveling down the old roads of self-pity that he was coming to be all too familiar with. Like before, he was turning that self-pity to anger. His fingers twitched in the direction of his mace, when a new voice spoke out.
“Perhaps you don’t recognize me, Petal dancer.” Elyria said, placing another bite into her mouth. She seemed calm and clear headed for the first time since Ronin had met her. “I am, or was, Elyriaaril. Wife of Allanaril, leader of the moon elves.” Her face flushed, and for a moment he thought she might cry. Then Ronin noticed she was reaching for a glass of water and that she had sampled the spicy meat. Clearing her throat, she continued.
“We came to you months ago, when the first of these locusts appeared. We told you an invader had landed in your forest, and that they would devour you all if you didn’t let us eradicate them… do you remember me now, Petal dancer?” She asked, raising to her feet. “I dislike the White flame as much as you do, but to blame him in this situation is purely unjust. He is doing everything in his power to save people he doesn’t know and has no kinship with. While you, you knew the whole time what was coming yet refused to let us into your lands to help you.”
Ronin was floored. He looked at Elyria wide eyed. It was the most he’d ever heard her say since he’d met her. At least the most he’d ever heard without a long line of invectives added in and aimed at him. she stood there, poised and confident, and he wondered if this was who she had been before she’d lost her husband. At least that was what Ronin assumed had happened anyway. she still hadn’t told anyone her story.
“You knew, Petal dancer. You knew… you knew as well, Harken.” Elyria said, rounding on the old bugbear. “We came to the clans after we left the forest, and Andy’s reef. We told you what was coming. Not one of you believed… I asked the White flame to meet with you, because I thought that you had learned from your mistakes, and wished to work with him to save your peoples... I guess I was wrong.” She turned her attention on Ronin then, and her eyes narrowed while her cheeks turned pink.
“My apologies to you, White flame.” She said, doing her best not to choke on the words, or at least that’s how it looked to him. “For wasting your time. Save these people if you will, but know that if you chose not to, it will have been justified.” Having spoken her peace, she turned towards the door. only having taken one step however, she turned and scooped up her plate before leaving the house.
Everyone stood or sat in silence for a long moment. Looking at each other after the moon elf’s outburst. When the silence was finally broken, Ronin wished it would have remained.
“What’d you do to her boss?” Guts asked, with a snicker. “She’s starting to act like Sam and Brie.” He finished, popping a chunk of meat into his own mouth. “Man, this is so good.” his words seemed to have at least broken the ice, because Harken let out a deep breath and Unyielding oak sat back down. She still looked angry, but the rage that had been burning in her eyes had dimmed some.
Ronin looked at the pair with new eyes. “So, that’s what she meant when she said her people had tried to save her woodland kin.” Ronin mused silently as he recalculated the situation. He didn’t know why she’d done it, but Elyria had strengthened his position with the elven and bugbear leaders with her story.
“As I was saying,” he said picking up his fork and resuming where he’d left off, before Guts brought out the locust limbs. “I will be moving you to my home valley. There, you will become my citizens. You may keep much of your autonomy, but you will be MY citizens.” He was tired of playing nice with everyone around him all the time. “Or… I can leave you here. Contrary to what you seem to believe, I don’t actually have to save you. I’m here to help you, but I won’t be dictated too by you elf, or anyone else.” He finished, taking another bite. “This really is good, Guts.” he said with a nod towards his personal cook.
* * *
“Was that a good idea, sir?” K3 asked after the meeting. Ronin had spent close to an hour with the pair, answering their questions and settling their minds about the move. “You started out so strong, then ended up placating them anyway… they might not take you seriously.” It was a concern to Ronin as well, so he didn’t hold back in his answer.
“Honestly, K3.” He said with a shrug, ascending the stairs up the wall. “I have no idea what I’m doing. We just need to get them back willingly, and Owl two will take it from there. I’m sure he already has an integration plan set up and ready to go.” the Kaldarr nodded at those words, but didn’t pursue the conversation, since they had reached the top of the wall.
Owl five was up here, laying prone and firing down on the swarm below. All the scouts were here, along with several of the city’s refugees. It was just like he’d been told; they were set up with reloaders so they could continuously fire their weapons. The scouts all looked tired, but since Owl five hadn’t stopped, they wouldn’t either. Still, Ronin could see the fatigue building up in his goblins.
“That’s enough for today.” He said, walking over to the group. “Guts has come up with a new dish, go get some then get some sleep. There will be plenty of locusts here in the morning.” He continued to talk to his people as they rose and stretched. Nodding to him gratefully as they filed down the stairs from the wall.
“Owl five,” Ronin called out as she made to follow her people down. “A word, please.” Annoyance stabbed at him when she tried to slip passed him, but he squashed it. she stopped where she was, and as the last person left the wall, K3 moved to block the steps. Giving the pair some privacy.
“What can I do for you sir?” she asked, face covered by her helmet. Ronin sighed, looking at her in exasperation.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“You can start by removing your helmet,” he said. “Then, you can tell me what’s been going on with you lately.” He watched her as she unbuckled her helmet, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes as she spoke.
“I don’t know what you mean, sir.” She said her pink eyes on the floor.
“Don’t give me that,” Ronin said angrily. “You’ve been avoiding me for days. I want to know why?”
“Really sir?” she asked, anger appearing in her eyes now too. “Why do you care? The ships are back. Why don’t you go talk to that pilot of yours? You’ve been spending an awful lot of time in there lately. Or, why not go talk to that elf? You were quick enough to strip for her this morning…” she all but screamed the last words at him.
Ronin sighed, looking at his angry team mate. Was this jealousy? Why though, he hadn’t done anything wrong, or at least he didn’t think he had. Ok, the situation with Elyria might have looked bad, or so he was told. Samantha, however? He’d only been spending time with her because she was his pilot and he wanted to see where they were going. What was wrong with that?
“Brie,” he said slowly, not sure exactly what he wanted to say. “I’ve been trying to figure out the locust problem. I needed to be in there to view the swarm and the landscape… as far as Elyria, well that was an accident. And…”
“An accident sir?” Brie said, disbelief dripping from her words. “Who ‘accidentally’ strips in front of a woman who hates them? I ask again, why are you bothering me? You have those other two women to talk to.” She turned away from him, her green cheeks darkening in a blush. Ronin frowned, why was this happening. He just wanted to talk to her, why was she acting this way.
“I don’t understand.” He said at last, “I’ve been trying to talk to you Brie. I enjoy talking to you, I also respect your opinion. But for the last few days, you haven’t been around. Even when I look for you. What do you want me to do?” this whole conversation was stupid. Ronin had no idea what was wrong with her, or why his chest felt so tight at her attitude. All he knew was that he didn’t like how he was feeling right now, and he wanted her to stop being so cold towards him.
“Was there anything else, sir?” she asked, back still to him. Her shoulders had hunched when he’d told her he’d been trying to talk to her, but she hadn’t caved. Ronin ran his fingers through his hair, in frustration, before answering.
“No, Owl five.” He said, becoming lord White flame once again. “That will be all…” before he’d even finished talking, she’d slipped passed K3 and was sprinting away down the stairs.
“What’s wrong with her?” Ronin asked K3 as he watched her go. Unsure of what was going on.
“Women sir,” K3 said with a shrug. “Our Owl five is more delicate than she likes to let on. Give her a little time and show her you care more for her then the women around her… show her, mind, don’t just say it… and she’ll come around.” Ronin looked at his guard once Owl five had disappeared. Not understanding what he was talking about but deciding to at least try it.
“Alright, K3.” He said, heading towards the stairs himself. “Now isn’t the time for this anyway… we have a few more days of this to go, and I’m exhausted. Let’s go get some sleep.” Nodding his approval for that idea, K3 fell in behind Ronin and they headed back toward the house they’d been sleeping in.
As they descended the stairs, they watched as the ships lifted off the ground. They were loaded down with people, all the remaining refugees along with some of those who’d been fighting. Ronin hoped they’d hurry back. They would be able to leave this place after one more trip. He watched as the ships cleared the wall above. Then turned his gaze back towards the stairs leading down. Before he could take another step, however, he felt the entire wall shudder.
He stumbled, catching himself on K3’s outstretched arm, and the side of the wall. They’d only made it half way down the one-hundred-foot-tall wall. So, they had a perfect vantage as the queen landed on it. She swiped her huge talons at the ships, who had to dodge wildly to avoid the blades. Ronin winced as one or two of the refugees fell off the ships and plummeted into the waiting swarm below.
Having missed her target, the locust queen looked down into the city. The remaining soldiers were screaming at the sight of her and had already begun to scatter wildly. Ronin cursed as she spread her wings and leapt down from the wall, smashing buildings as she landed. With a sweep of her giant talons, she dropped another stone building. Reaching out with a manipulator arm, she snatched up one of the fleeing bugbears. His bulky body looking miniscule in her giant hand. Lifting him to her mouth, Ronin felt the crunch more than he heard it, thanks to the distance.
“Oh no,” he said looking down on her. He’d seen the queens in the distance, but they’d been busy fighting one another so he hadn’t paid them much mind. It looked like that fight was over now, if the scars on this queen’s body were anything to go by. She must have won the confrontation, and thus the right to enter the feast first.
“Sir, we need to get you out of here.” K3 bellowed, pulling Ronin up the stairs again. “If we get up the wall, we can get you onto the ship and…”
“No,” Ronin shouted pulling his arm free. “Our whole team is down there. Besides, we have a duty to these people now.” Truthfully, he only had Owl five on his mind as he spoke. Somehow, however, he didn’t think that was a good enough reason for K3 to let Ronin risk his life for. “We have to take her out. She’s injured, so we have a chance.”
Looking down he could tell the queen was in rough shape. One of her manipulator arms was missing, and gore dripped from several rents in her armored exoskeleton. A shadow from above blocked out the sun, as flight one flew back over the wall. Ronin watched the queen’s head snap up as the ship appeared, jumping to the side as a rocket flew from the dropship.
The valuable projectile smashed into the ground where the queen had been standing just moments before. Demolishing the rest of the building and causing the fleeing soldiers to scream and duck down, to avoid the stone fragments that were now flying everywhere. Undaunted, he watched as Sam opened fire with her machine guns. The occasional tracer round showing the bullets path as they ripped a pattern across the queen’s body. Pushing her back, but not damaging her further.
With a powerful leap, the queen rocketed towards the ship. Sam was forced to dodge the incoming swing again. More passengers falling to their deaths at the wild maneuvering.
“Sam,” Ronin screamed into his coms. “Sam, stop. You’re killing your passengers and you already know the ships guns aren’t strong enough. Get going, Take those people back to the valley. We’ll handle the queen. Just hurry back.”
“But sir…” she said, anguish in her voice.
“Just go,” Ronin interrupted her plea with a shout. “We’ll handle this.” He heard her frustrated shout over the still open coms, before she shut them off. The ship turned around in midair and rocketed away over the wall and out of sight.
“You might have saved the people on the ships, boss.” K3 said from beside him, “but how exactly do you plan on saving the rest of us?” Ronin couldn’t blame him for being upset. They’d had a chance to get him to safety, but he’d just thrown it away.
“Who knows,” Ronin said with a shrug. Shouldering his mark V railgun for the first time in what felt like weeks. “But I’ll think of something.” “I hope,” he added silently in his head as he opened fire on the queen.
The railgun rounds penetrated the queen’s armor. Causing her to let out a scream of pain and rage. She whipped her head around, looking for the source of the pain. Spotting Ronin on the wall, she rocketed towards him. With another curse, Ronin let the Rifle drop as he quickly scrambled out of the way. The queen impacted the wall with a boom. Causing Ronin to stumble and sending rock dust billowing up around them.
Cursing himself for a fool as he watched his rifle tumbling down the stairs, Ronin readied his shield and drew his mace. He activated the taser setting, though he doubted the weak current would even hurt her through that thick armor. Before he could advance on her, K3 raised his own rifle from beside him and let off a half dozen quick shots into the queen’s side.
She screamed again and aimed a swipe at the pair with her taloned arm closest to them. The Kaldarr retreated up the wall, dragging Ronin along by his equipment harness. The steps that had been cut into the stone of the wall had broken away at the queen’s impact, leaving the pair stranded on the wall. The queen, however, didn’t even seem to notice. She clung to the wall with her giant limbs, beginning to crawl upwards towards the tiny prey who dared harm her.
“Here sir,” K3 said passing his rifle over to a confused Ronin.
“What about you?” Ronin asked as he accepted the weapon. Watching as K3 pulled his hammer and shield off his back. “No, oh no. That’s a bad idea.” He tried to stop his guard, but it was too late. With a cry, the Kaldarr warrior launched himself down the stairs. Directly into the waiting arms of the queen.
Ronin watched in horror, expecting his friend to be sliced in two before he could even reach his target. Just as the queen was rearing back for her swing however, she let out another scream of pain. Forgetting about the charging K3, she turned her head in the opposite direction. Ronin followed her gaze to see Owl five, who was rushing back up the stairs. She had her own rifle in hand and was firing the weapon as quickly as she could pull the trigger. Round after round impacted the queen, the small wounds beginning to add up as gore seeped from her body to slick the stairs below.
Her attention fully focused on Owl five, the queen failed to notice as K3 leapt the final stretch down the stairs. He held his hammer above his head in a two-handed grip, and his body bowed backward as he built up all the momentum he could. With a sickening crunch, the hammer imbedded itself into the queen’s head.
She shrieked in pain, the deafening noise drowning out all other sounds. She batted her taloned arm backwards, trying to dislodge her unwanted passenger. K3 hung on, swinging around seventy feet above the ground, holding onto the handle of his hammer to keep him from falling.
“Ronin.” The scream from Owl five brought Ronin back to himself. He’d zoned out as the fight had begun in earnest. Grinding his teeth together at another failure on his part, he lifted the rifle to his shoulder. It took him a few seconds to connect K3’s rifle to his own targeting reticle. Still, he took the time to make the change. He didn’t want to be firing blind so close to his people.
Once the cross appeared in his vision, ronin aimed in at the place where K3’s hammer had broken the armored plates of the queen’s head. Squeezing the trigger repeatedly, he watched the round counter tick down in the corner of his eye. He was trying to shoot her directly in the brain, but she wasn’t making it easy. Jerking around in pain and rage, the queen wouldn’t stay still. New wounds popped into existence on her head and face as he fired at her, but they lost much of their power having to punch through her exoskeleton. Cursing, Ronin started walking closer. If he couldn’t hit her from here, then he would get right up close and personal before he blasted her brains apart.
“Stay back.”
“No, don’t.”
The simultaneous shouts from K3 and Owl five didn’t even slow him. Ronin couldn’t stand back while his people risked themselves. Not when the heat was on. It was like he became someone else in the fires of battle. Someone who had to be right in the thick of the action.
With a shout of his own, Ronin launched himself through the air. Landing on the queen’s back, he steadied himself by driving his hand into the wound the hammer had created. The new intrusion caused her to throw her head back in rage and pain. Ronin rode the motion, being flung out over the city below, holding on with only one arm. Until she stopped leaning backwards and tilted forwards again, trying to regain her own hold on the wall.
Again, riding the motion, Ronin leaned towards her, slamming the rifle directly at the hole in her head. With a scream of rage, he pulled the trigger as fast as he could. Sending the rounds directly into her skull. The queen shuddered at the first shot, wildly bucking her body, but by the fourth she’d quieted down. By the time he reached the tenth round, her grip on the wall had slackened.
He was still squeezing the trigger on the empty rifle as the queen slid away from the wall. As he dropped with her and K3, Ronin’s eyes met those of Owl five, who was still on the stairs. They both had their helmets on, so they couldn’t actually see each other. Still, Ronin felt like he could see into her at that moment. Before she disappeared from view, and they crashed into the city below.