Rojuun (31 page)

Liselle chuckled. “I know we work for Mother
Tree, Cousin. However, we agreed to get information on the Rojuun,
not let them be slaughtered by aberrations.” A sigh escaped her
lips. “Besides, I truly believe that if these creatures were to
destroy the Rojuun, they would then spill out of the caverns to the
lands of humans, becoming a scourge across Ryallon.”

Sir Danth nodded. “Truly spoken, Milady.
Creatures like the sstejj have unnatural hungers that will only die
when they do. Besides, I’m having fun killing them. Everyone agrees
that they’re aberrations that need to die. Bloodshed and mayhem are
always more enjoyable when there is no moral ambiguity
involved.”

Tathan grinned at the knight while Liselle
rolled her eyes. “Alright, so we agree the sstejj need to be
destroyed. At some point, we do need to get information to Mother
Tree,” he pointed out.

“Well then, we will,” Liselle agreed. “But
we’ll do it when we’re able. I don’t think asking to be teleported
to Puujan so that we can give information about them to the Mother
Tree would be all that good of an idea,” she said with a wry
smile.

Tathan chuckled. “I agree. Should we let
Marrraa and the Council of Elders know about the thing that drives
the sstejj?”

“We should probably tell them something
drives the monsters,” Liselle agreed tentatively. “But I don’t know
what
it is.”

“Alright then. I’ll go tell Marrraa and see
what she says,” Tathan said. He left the room.

“It is my understanding that you are to rest
for a week or two, Milady. You intend to do so, yes?” Sir Danth
asked firmly with arms crossed.

She gave him an innocent look. “But of
course, my dark knight. I will rest until I’m better.” Sir Danth
stared at her for a moment before sighing. He would rather face
sstejj than try to convince a woman of being sensible. “Peace, Sir
Danth,” Liselle said with a hand on his crossed arm. “I know what
my body can handle. I promise to take care of it.” To that, Sir
Danth nodded.

The three of them were quiet while Liselle
finished her meal. A short time later, Tathan walked in with
Marrraa close behind. “The Council of Elders wants to see us right
away. They were already in session.”

Marrraa had a look of worry on her face and
she wrung her lower set of hands together. “Yes, this news you
bring is very troublesome. Please come right away if you are able,
Liselle Human.”

Liselle stood gingerly. She was in a robe
made for her by a Rojuun girl who had met Liselle while cleaning
the room. The girl liked the idea of making something for a human
and the robe was at the base of Liselle’s bed the next day. It had
blacks and greys in it and was gilt with silver. Liselle had put it
on right away. The robe had no wrinkles even though she had worn it
in bed.

Marrraa led them to the council chambers
where the eight elders sat at their tables. The rows of seating
were half full.

The companions were given seats while
Marrraa explained the bit that Tathan had told her. Then the
council bade Liselle to stand and speak of what she knew.

“Young Liselle Human, please tell the
council of this thing that drives the sstejj,” said one of the
elders in the middle. He looked to be the oldest with many wrinkles
and a slow, deliberate manner about him. He was dressed in a gown
of deep reds and golds.

“Yes, Elder.” Liselle considered how best to
phrase things. “My magic has an affinity for flowers and plants.
I’m able to gather energy from them.” She tried to keep the details
as simple as possible, but wanted to explain enough so they didn’t
think her merely crazy. “I understand concepts they communicate to
me though they don’t speak in words or images.”

The council members looked at each other
with some whispering behind their hands. One on the end asked, “It
is rumored that the Druids in that horrifying forest outside Puujan
speak to plants. Are you one of them?” The elders all looked at her
with frowns on their faces.

“No, Elder. I know of Druids and my magic is
nothing like theirs. They dance around in the trees and hug them or
something,” she giggled and dismissed Druids as flighty in order to
belay suspicion of her.

The elders visibly relaxed and a few even
chuckled. “Very well, Liselle Human. Continue with your
information,” said the original council member in the middle. He
appeared to be the leader.

“Yes, Elder. When I cast fire upon the
sstejj, the plants helped me with the energy, taking much of it
into their own bodies. That’s how I was able to survive.”

“Extraordinary,” said one of the elders
appreciatively.

“The plants don’t like sstejj either. They
sense within the creatures a hunger to destroy Rojuun,” Liselle
said in serious tones. “They also sense a darker force driving the
sstejj with an unnatural hatred for your race.”

“What is this darker force and where does it
come from?” one of the other elders asked.

Liselle shook her head helplessly. “The
plants don’t communicate beyond concepts I’m afraid. They can only
tell me that it is a dark, living force coming from lower caverns.”
She held her arms out. “I’m very sorry I can’t tell you more than
that. I felt it important to tell you what little I do know so that
you may better understand the sstejj’s lustful hatred for the
Rojuun,” she finished.

“Thank you, Liselle Human. Please have a
seat,” the middle elder said. The council members discussed the
matter amongst themselves in low tones for a few moments. They
didn’t make the companions leave.

After a short while, the council turned
their attention back to the humans. “There is very little detail in
your warning; however, we take it seriously,” the council leader
said. “We will be sending word to the Ultimate Council of Elders.”
A few of the members nodded in agreement. “This will no longer be
your concern unless you should discover more information. You
humans will continue guarding the workers as before. That will be
all.” With a wave of his hand, the elder dismissed them.

They went back to their suite with Marrraa
tagging along. Once there, she closed the door. Liselle got back in
bed and Vevin tucked her in. Tathan looked at him with lidded eyes,
not sure how to react. Sir Danth went to the window and looked
outside.

Marrraa spoke first, “Thank you for all that
you are doing, humans. Many servants are lazy, doing as little as
possible. However, you go far above and beyond anything that has
been asked of you.” She studied them when they didn’t respond. “I
have spent enough time with you to learn your facial expressions
and body language. You don’t like being called servants.”

Tathan sighed and admitted, “No, but we
won’t cause problems about it. Human history has nothing in it that
calls for us to be your servants though and we don’t take well to
it.”

“You do not behave as servants,” Marrraa
admitted slowly. “In many ways, you are equals, though I won’t
admit that publicly,” she said in all seriousness. “I pity you for
having only one voice and one set of arms though. You do not seem
to see the beauty in life nor do you have ways to express it.” She
shook her head sadly. “Even with that, you are strong and capable.
You also speak earnestly, with honor and passion, qualities of a
noble race.” Marrraa clapped her hands together in a decision. “I
will consider you servants no longer. Instead, you will be my
friends, yes?”

Liselle smiled at her and said, “Yes,
Marrraa. That would be wonderful. We already consider you a
friend.”

“Oh yes! You are wonderful and I like you a
great deal,” Vevin said, doing a ‘You are wonderful and I like you
a great deal’ dance.

“You would make an excellent knight. I would
recommend you if my order still existed,” said Sir Danth, turning
from the window.

“We’re glad to call you friend, Marrraa,”
agreed Tathan with a smile. “And we’re happy that you call us
friend in return. Sometimes a person needs all the friends they can
get to make it through life.”

“That is very true, Tathan Human,” Marrraa
said with a smile of her own. “Life is easier with friends.” She
smiled at them all then turned to leave. “I will see you tomorrow
when we return to the cavern. The workers hope to build gates in
the next two tunnels as they are very near to each other.” She
walked out the door, leaving them to their rest.

Chapter
29

“I want to stay with Liselle and make sure
she’s comfortable.” Vevin stubbornly stood next to the bed with his
arms crossed. He didn’t want to leave Liselle’s side to fight the
sstejj. Tathan was staring at him with lowered eyebrows and Sir
Danth was chuckling at the two of them. Marrraa had come to get
them and listened to the disagreement with wide eyes. She
remembered that both of these men considered Vevin to be the
superior warrior.

“Vevin,” Liselle spoke from the bed with a
stern voice. “I’ll be just fine. It’s bad enough that I have to
stay in bed while everyone else does the work, but it’s not fair
that your efforts should be taken away from them as well.” She
reached out and touched his arm. “I know you care for me, but I’ll
be displeased if you treat me like a figurine to always stand guard
over.”

The dragon blushed, his cheeks becoming a
dark purple. “I’m sorry, Lady Liselle. I just don’t want to leave
you,” he said shyly, moving his toe back and forth on the
floor.

“I know, Vevin. Sometimes a girl needs a day
alone to rest quietly though. Go beat up some sstejj and have fun
with it,” Liselle encouraged him with a smile.

His face brightened at that. “That will be
fun. I should catch up on gill shots. I bet I can pass Sir Danth
and Tathan combined.” He began doing what the rest of them assumed
was a gill shot dance. His smile was sharp and he did a spin.

“Go, boys. Go with Marrraa and keep the
workers safe,” Liselle said, shooing them away.

They each gave her a hug before going. She
settled back down under the covers, falling asleep as they closed
the door.

***

The companions walked to the gate bragging
about gill shots. Marrraa had four trainees with her and they
listened to the humans in awe, knowing the deeds to be true now
that many Rojuun had witnessed it. The workers who followed
listened just as intently to the stories.

When they reached the end of the tunnel,
Marrraa cast her ice/mist spell on the ones trying to get through
the gates. Once the sstejj were cleared, the workers went toward
two tunnels a distance to the right of the main tunnel.

Each of the fighters was assigned one
trainee. Vevin and his trainee, who looked scared out of his wits,
took the first group of four sstejj. Vevin ran up to the first
sstejj. When it tried to bite him, he grabbed it by the jaws and
threw it against another one to slow it down. The workers and other
trainees watched with open mouths. Tathan, Sir Danth and Marrraa
had seen it before, but still looked on in amazement. Vevin quickly
went back to his trainee and told him how to use his knives to
attack it.

The trainee tried to move to the sstejj’s
side to get a gill shot. He misjudged, tripping over his own feet.
The sstejj sensed easy food until Vevin touched it with his hand.
Purple lightning coursed over the sstejj’s body, killing it
instantly. The trainee shuffled away on his butt as the creature’s
snout landed between his legs.

“Get up!” yelled Vevin at the trainee.
Another sstejj attacked. Suddenly a great magical whip was in
Vevin’s hand. It was dark purple with his trademark lightning
coursing down its length. The whip flew back over Vevin’s shoulder
then came forward in an arc. It hit the gills on the right side of
the monster’s head, exploding through the gills on the left. A loud
snap echoed throughout the cavern on impact. The force of it caused
the creature’s head to crack as it crashed to the ground. Vevin
pulled the whip back, entwining it around his body.

The trainee was beside Vevin now. The look
on his face crossed between awe at Vevin and determination not to
make a fool of himself. He sprang forward as another sstejj
charged. The Rojuun trainee tumbled to the left and attacked the
gills when he came to his feet. The knife was pulled out of his
hand without any damage to the sstejj, but the trainee recovered in
time to jump up and land on the back of the creature. He thrust two
of his knives into the body for his first kill.

The last sstejj was the one Vevin had
thrown. It was back on its feet, starting for the main group of
builders. Vevin’s whip flashed through the air and rammed into the
gills, killing it instantly. When he pulled the whip back, the
sstejj’s twitching body was carried into the air a few feet before
falling to the ground.

No one saw where Vevin’s whip disappeared
to, though Tathan thought it looked a lot like a dragon’s tail
might. Vevin was the first to congratulate the trainee on his first
kill. They joined the rest of the group. Marrraa took the trainee
by the ear as they walked and explained exactly how
unimpressed
she was with his work.

A group of eight attacked next. Sir Danth
led his trainee ahead into the fray. The trainee managed to get a
gill shot on the first sstejj right away. He pumped his fists into
the air in excitement. That gave the next sstejj plenty of time to
knock him down. Sir Danth’s sword through the gills was the only
thing that prevented the creature’s teeth from plunging into the
prone Rojuun. Sir Danth showed his own extraordinary strength by
leveraging the sstejj into the air and throwing it to the side with
a great heave.

The trainee managed to get on his feet and
actually succeeded at taking two more kills from Sir Danth, though
neither was a gill shot.