The morning arrived in a gentle fashion, slowly coaxing me out of sleep with a gentle nudge. I could feel the slightly rough sheets draped over my body, the soft support of the bed beneath me, and of course, the steady breathing of Kala who was snuggled up against my chest, resting in the position of little spoon. A smile formed on my face as unmitigated love welled up inside me.
She looked beautiful, perfect even, and as strange as our relationship might have seemed, I couldn’t have been happier. I could still feel the warm glow from last night, the memories fresh in my mind. My desire to kiss her, hug her, just show my affection in some physical way was only outweighed by me not wanting to disturb her and ruin this perfect moment. I would have to wait for her to wake naturally, which wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
I just dozed for a little while, enjoying the comfort of this calm morning. After some time had passed, Kala started to shift a little, waking with a few soft groans while refusing to open her eyes. She brought out a feeling of nostalgia in me with this as it had been a long while since I last had to convince her to wake up.
She was certainly conscious now, I could tell, so I leaned over and planted a kiss on the side of her face. “Hey beautiful, wakey wakey.”
“Hnng...” Her caveman grunt made me chuckle as she tried to hide under the covers a little.
“If you keep hiding, I'll have to take drastic action.” Silence, though I could practically feel her coy smile she wore while tucked under the sheets. “Very well.”
The ‘drastic action’ I went with was to reach down and give her a pinch on the butt. She jerked a bit in reaction to the small amount of pain before turning over to face me. She had her ‘really’ face on and I could only smirk at her in response.
Her counterattack was to surge forth and envelope me in her grip like some kind of constrictor. She brought her head up next to mine and I quickly found her tongue slurping at my earlobe. That made me shiver a little, and I chuckled after she finished and went back to cuddling.
“Trying to get a rise out of me again?”
“Hmm, certainly wouldn’t mind it.” Her tail slithered over and wrapped around my calf a little.
“Me too. If the circumstances were different, I probably would take you again right now.” She hummed and got a dreamy look on her face as she was probably imagining that. “As it stands, though, we probably have an audience outside right now that might be able to hear us, and I would prefer to keep our private lives just that, private.”
She closed her eyes, seeming a little disappointed. “You have a point. Fine, but we don’t have to get up yet, right?”
I mocked thinking about it for a second. “Well, I guess I can give you a few more minutes.”
She smiled and nuzzled into my neck a little with a content sigh. True to my word, I let her stay like that for several more minutes as we both enjoyed the closeness with one another. It was with great reluctance that I had to officially wake the both of us up so we could prepare for the day ahead.
Kala was grumbling, like usual, so I was the first one out of bed. She took to ogling me from the bed as I collected my clothing from the floor where they had ended up after last night, and I put on an exaggerated saunter for her which earned me an amused chuckle. When I put on my pants again, she made a disappointed ‘aww’ sound.
“Oh, hush you, I can’t walk around in nude. Besides, I think you got more than enough of me last night.”
“But I'm greeeeedy.” She whined.
I slipped on my shirt next. “Yeah, I know, and if you really want me to, I'll sleep in the nude with you from now on.”
“Yay!” She exaggeratedly threw her arms in the air in mock celebration, and I just rolled my eyes at her. She hopped out of bed after that, and as I got a look at her I had to do a double take.
Squinting, I examined her closely, noticing something slightly off. “Kala, is it just me, or are your belly scales a slightly different color than normal?”
She looked down at herself for a second, before nodding and turning her attention back to me. “Oh, yeah, that’s normal.” She seemed to think that was sufficient an explanation.
“Could you elaborate as to why?”
“Well, when a mommy trelnval and a daddy trelnval love each other very much-” I flicked her on the snout. “Hey!” Her face scrunched up as she wiggled the little sting out of her system.
“Be serious please.”
“Fine, I'll do the boring explanation. It’s a natural after effect of when female Trelnval get... intimate. The scales become lighter because they become softer, just in case a child starts to form, and they need to be more pliant.”
“How long does this last?”
“Should be around two weeks before they go back to normal. My body just needs to figure out that there won't be a child and calm down a little bit. They’ll get even lighter over this time before returning to their natural color.”
“Right...” My mind wandered for a second. “You're sure that there won't be one? I admit I wasn’t exactly thinking about that at the moment.”
“Pretty sure. Interracial couples when they do form can’t have kids as far as I know. So, unless there’s something weird about humans, I think we’re in the clear.”
“Okay.” Despite the assurances, I was still a little nervous. Even if it was an astronomical chance of happening, I didn’t think that having a potential kid in the mix would be good for anything right now. Whatever, what’s done is done. Dwelling on things that probably won’t happen is a good way to go crazy.
We went downstairs to get something to eat for breakfast. Our meal was light, a little fruit for me, some dried meat for Kala, and some bread for the both of us to help it all stick in the gut for a time. I started to wonder if the army brought Chef along with them, wouldn’t mind having some food made by him.
Once the meal was done, we were ready to head out again and I prepared myself to face the mob that would undoubtedly be there. Yep, easy bet. The sea of faces outside quickly lowered themselves and raised their hands at me. I feared the day that this would become a normal occurrence for me.
While the sight of the people themselves was to be expected, what I didn’t expect was a pile of stuff right outside the door. Oh fuck. We had entered the donations/gifts phase of religious power, and I was sweating bullets. I didn’t even know what to do with most of this. There were paintings, actual silverware, beautiful boxes or furniture, and just straight up money laying out everywhere. It was kind of obvious that a lot of this was just things that were looted from the town in the process of the siege.
I have to nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand. However, that meant I had to address the crowd as a whole, and I had to choose my words carefully lest they be misinterpreted or taken poorly. Just straight up telling them to stop giving me gifts probably wouldn’t go over well. So, after I thought it over for a moment, I stepped forward and cleared my throat in preparation.
“Well, uhm, I would like to say thank you for the gifts, they are lovely. However, I can’t accept them because I do not need these things, nor do I have any want for them. Please, just take care of yourselves and don’t worry about me.” Instead of any verbal response, the crowd simply drew prayer circles in the air with a few of them murmuring some words that I couldn’t hear.
I just let out a sigh as that was all I could do about this situation. Just as I was about to clear a path out of here, some movement caught my eye. A pair of soldiers were pushing their way through the crowd, clearly heading in my direction. Curious, I waited for them to make their way through the area until they were standing before me.
Both of them stopped, backs straight and gave me a slight bow in greeting. “Sir James.”
“Just James. I take it you need something?”
“Yes, your presence is requested at the east gate.”
“East gate? Why?”
“A Thrainian showed up, surrendered himself, and asked for you by name.”
It didn’t take long for me to realize who this person was. I found a small grin on my face. “Yeah, I think I know who you’re talking about. Hope you didn’t rough him up.”
“He has been cooperative thus far, so there was no need. General Durdan was made aware of this man first and asked that you present yourself to verify his claims.”
“Right, I guess I'm following you then.” Before we set off, I turned to Kala. “You coming with? Probably going to be boring past the catching up.”
She thought it over for a moment before shaking her head. “I think I'll go see how my mom and the others are getting along. Try not to take too long over there.”
“Will do my best. Say hi to everyone for me.” Kala gave me a quick hug before heading off towards the hospital. The believers moved out of her way as she went, treating her similarly to how they did me. I worried a little that her connection with me might cause problems for her as well. I’ll have to deal with any of those problems as they arise.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Already feeling exhausted by the prospect, I decided to focus on the task at hand and gestured for the pair of soldiers to get on with the escort. They marched off, finding it much easier to move this time around as the crowd made way for me. I really wished that they would all find something better to do with their time than sit here and praise me for shit I probably couldn’t do.
I was glad the soldiers were moving so quickly because it gave me an excuse to almost jog out of the area. They were apparently told to hurry me back because their pace didn’t slow in the slightest. We made a straight shot towards the east gate, and along the way I started to see sign of my previous visit here.
Poking up above the tops of the adjacent buildings were the out of place greens of tree leaves. The fact that you could see them without being on the street that they existed spoke to their size. Rounding the corner to get a direct look at what I had brought into existence was surreal. The buildings along this street looked like those that you would see in a zombie apocalypse movie. If someone had dropped right into this spot without any further context of the world around them, they probably would have thought civilization had been dead for a century at the least. Nature had almost completely taken over this spot and made it strangely tranquil all things considered.
However, that tranquility was interrupted when I noticed that there were more people here, kneeling amongst the calf high grass and flowers. This place had apparently become a holy site, which was just fan-fucking-tastic. At the very least it may have distracted them from me, preventing them from swarming like the rest. As it was, I tried to keep my head down, keeping myself hidden as much as possible behind my escorts. Luckily the pair of soldiers seemed to recognize that having the fanatics come after me would slow them down, so they took a wide berth around any groups that were present.
It was fortunate that prayers seemed to be largely conducted in a prostrated pose or with one's eyes closed, and we were able to make it out of the area without incident. The gate was the next stop, or rather, the gatehouse attached to it as they stepped up to the reinforced door and banged on it. A moment later the door opened, revealing a Satyr who gave us all a once over before nodding.
“Come in, quickly, the General is waiting for you.”
We stepped into the room with its muted light seeping in through some small slit like window. The room itself was fairly empty, containing a desk, a cot, and a few chairs. Three soldiers and Durdan stood around the center of the room where a familiar face was currently strapped to a chair with some rope.
I gave a small smile and called out to the tied individual. “Hey Norwik, how have you been?”
Norwik also gave a playful smile, taking my casual approach to the conversation by starting with a shrug. “Not too bad all things considered, though I do have an itch on my left shoulder that’s been driving me crazy.”
Durdan looked between us for a second before speaking to me. “So, you do know him then?”
I nodded. “Aye, that I do. He’s the one who helped me acquire a crate of crystals by raiding a military supply convoy.”
“I see. In that case, untie him. I’m willing to hear him out.”
One soldier came over and undid the bindings that held him to the chair. Norwik stretched as he was released and scratched his shoulder for a moment, apparently not entirely joking about that itch. Once he was comfortable again, he turned to Durdan and shot off a quick salute.
“Thank you General Durdan for this opportunity to speak with you.”
Durdan shook his head a little. “You are not a soldier in my army, so there is no need to salute.”
“That may be true, but your position still warrants respect, from one leader to another.”
“Leader? So, there are more of you out there?”
“Indeed, my little band is currently close by, though I told them to wait while I tried to make contact.”
“If you are their leader, it was reckless of you to come here yourself. You may have been shot on sight, and then your men would have been left without their commander.”
“Benefits of operating with a small group is that almost every one of them could be capable of replacing me should the need arise. I decided to come as it showed how serious I am about this discussion.”
“And what discussion would that be?”
Norwik stood up straight and confidently while looking Durdan in the eyes. “General Durdan, I would like to officially ask that you accept myself and my men into your services.”
Durdan actually looked a little surprised by the proposition. “You want me to enlist you? I take it your men are also Thrainian?”
“Yes sir, though we do have an Ulgor amongst our numbers as well. Good man him, been a boon since the day he decided to stick around.”
Durdan folded his arms in front of him. “You do know what you’re asking right? It will be difficult to transition you into the main force, even more so for everyone there to accept you. There will be tension, perhaps even violence on occasion despite any of my efforts. It will be the definition of hostile environment.”
I decided to add in my own take on the experience of joining the coalition. “Believe me man, it’s rough.”
“I am aware, and so are the rest of my men. We have been fighting against Alathos by ourselves, hiding in the woods and being no more than an inconvenience at best. You managed to take Yol’vastume which, by the way, I was not expecting.” He said that last bit to me. “The winds are starting to change with this, and we want to be a part of that change. Besides, I think it would do your soldiers some good to have a few Thrainians around that they can interact with, if only gradually at first.”
Durdan thought about it for a moment, pacing back and forth. “You may have a point. There are still problems occurring with the soldiers treating the civilians here poorly that I must address. If you were here, it could help, or it could create a schism and morale issues.”
There seemed to be some conflict of minds going on with him. I decided to throw in my thoughts on the matter. “Durdan, if in the end we win this war and Alathos is kicked off his throne, what do we do then? If the ideology that your soldiers have right now holds and festers until then, it will only create more problems in the future. Hate only breeds more hate, and you have to do something before it gets out of hand.”
Durdan let out a sigh through his nose. “You’re right, doing nothing will only guarantee a poor outcome. An attempt must be made.” He became serious again, exuding command as he turned back towards Norwik. “Very well. To make it official, I hereby recognize your application to the armies of the coalition. I’ll get all the necessary documents in order to have you placed in a position of lower officer so you may maintain command of your group and even a few additions. I believe it is best if some soldiers learn how to operate as a team with Thrainians.”
Norwik smiled and shot up another salute. “Thank you, sir, I promise to live up to your expectations.”
“See to it that you do.”
“If you would allow me, I will go out and bring the rest of my company back to report for duty.”
“Very well, I'll have these three here accompany you out to make sure everything goes to plan.” The three soldiers acknowledged the command with a salute of their own. “Step to people, there’s work to be done.”
The room went into motion after that with everyone getting back to their assignments. Norwik stopped before exiting to give me a smile and offer his hand. I returned the friendly gesture and grasped the offered appendage with a firm shake.
“Look forward to working with you, James.”
“I’ll see you around, Norwik.” The meeting was basically adjourned at this point, and I was free to return to the rest of my day until something else caught my attention.
I figured heading over to meet back up with Kala would be the move to make right now. In an effort to avoid harassment, I took all the back alleys and side paths that I could find while still making progress towards the hospital. It worked for the most part, and the only time I had to interact with people was when I had to emerge to cross the boundaries of one of the gates.
With minimal interactions, I made it all the way to the hospital to find that most of my group was already outside. With a smile I approached them, and Otar was the first to notice me, giving me a wave as he called out. “Hey, James, good morning.”
“Good morning to you as well. So, you guys finally got healed up?”
“Yep, they managed to clear all the gravely injured so we were first on the list for healing after that.”
“Nice to hear that you’re all doing better.”
Jorn came up to me next, hand still wrapped up probably to prevent the raw sight of the severed limb from disturbing anyone, particularly him. He didn’t seem concerned about that, and in fact, wore a playful grin. “We’re doing alright, and we saw that you haven’t been too shabby yourself. Finally got around to it did ya? Thought it might never happen.”
It didn’t take long for me to figure out that he was talking about me and Kala last night. I scratched at the back of my head, feeling a little bashful. “Is it already that noticeable?”
He scoffed. “Yeah, I mean with her doing the opposite of blushing on her belly, it was rather obvious. So, how was it? Never had a Trelnval before but I heard they get kind of feral during.”
“It’s rude to kiss and tell. All I'll say is that yes, we did have fun.” A round of shoulder claps and light bumps with their fists went around. I shooed them all off before getting back on track. “Anyway, now that you’re all better, how bout that drink? I just need to grab some money really quick, and we can get to it.”
Otar smirked and at the same time looked at me with... pity? “That sounds great, buuuuut, I think you might want to run first.”
I gave him a queer look as this seemed to come out of nowhere, but then I started to hear something, or more accurately, someone speaking rather loudly inside and getting closer. After a moment the words became understandable, and I recognized Kala’s voice.
“Mom... Mom can you stop for one second, I'm trying to talk with you! You can’t just kill him.”
“I don’t care if he’s immortal, he’s dead!” That was Silia, and she didn’t sound happy. Suddenly the door to the hospital burst open, and a very agitated Silia stepped out into the light only to immediately snap her slit eyes in my direction. “YOU!” The force of her voice made my spine immediately straighten. She started stalking in my direction.
Kala was hot on her heels, and her eyes went wide when she saw me there. “James?! Mom, stop!”
Silia did not stop and proceeded to start yelling at me. “I’m going to rip off your fucking testicles and shove them up your ass! I don’t care how many times it takes; you’re fucking dead!”
Oh shit. It was easy to see she did not take the discovery of our relationship well, though this was probably not the gentlest way of her finding out. Suddenly Silia was seized from behind in a full nelson hold by Kala.
Silia squirmed and thrashed in her daughter's grip. “Unhand me! I am your mother; you will listen to me!”
Kala made eye contact with me over her mother’s shoulder. “James, run!”
My brain was still trying to process everything, and her response only served to stupefy me further. “What? But shouldn’t I...”
“Run!” She yelled at me again.
Okay, I guess I'm running. I gave a little half wave to the guys. “See you later, I guess?”
Silia, seeing me making a break for it, started screaming again. “You’re not going anywhere! I’ll hunt you down if I have to! You hear me! I’ll kill you!”
Her continued yelling got quieter the further away I got until it eventually faded to nothing. I didn’t stop my half run half jog there though, I continued onwards, passing by several people who looked confused and conflicted about whether they should pray to me or ask what was wrong. When I eventually did stop running, it was when I had exited the district and found myself near the outer wall.
Stopping to catch my breath, I felt a wave of emotions come over me with the most prominent of them being amusement. As I sat there taking deep breaths I burst into laughter. My mirth continued for a minute before I eventually got things under control again. With a satisfied sigh I decided to hide atop the wall for now, so I could at least have a view while laying low.
I took a stairwell up and leaned against the crenelations of the wall, staring out over the landscape. The farmland that stretched on for miles was lovely, if only it hadn’t been maintained through slave labor. I wondered what would become of it after this. Seemed a waste to just let it all rot.
Regardless of what was decided, this was a major turning point in the history of this world. Soon the quiet would be replaced with more fire and death as the fighting would drag on until its bitter conclusion. Alathos had to pay, and we were one step closer to making it so. The future may have been uncertain, but I thought our odds were improving, and was looking forward to seeing the end of this wretched nightmare once and for all.