Ogres and Ogresses Ch. 19

Chapter 19: Deal with the Devil

"I desire her."

Rell's proclamation stunned everyone.

Zyra felt her spine sag from the relief. Looking at Hanto caused the relief to be short lived. Hanto was practically frothing with his anger.

He looked between them, wondering if this was some sort of elaborate ruse.

"You cannot be serious." Hanto growled gravely. "You cannot."

"I am," Rell replied calmly. "And she acknowledges me."

Rell turned to her and Zyra nodded briskly, stepping forward. "I do. I acknowledge Rell." She looked at the Chief, meeting his eyes for only a moment. She was unable to hold both his stare and the lie. "I want Rell."

Surprised, the older man nodded rubbing his chin. "I see." He searched her face inquisitively with his gaze. "So...you will bareRell's child?"

Zyra coughed, hiding her grimace. "I—"

"Lies!" Hanto spat viciously. "All of it, lies! How could she pick him over me?"

"Settle down Hanto," the Chief cooed patiently. He went to touch his son, but Hanto shrugged the hand off. Instead he walked until he was toe to toe with Rell, glaring at him with pure hatred. Rell did not back down.

"You would betray me? Your own brother?" he whispered gruffly, his nose brushing his.

"I will not let you force her into accepting you brother," Rell stated plainly. "You know as well as I that what you feel for her is not love, and it is not requited."

"You have no right."

"I have every right."

Hanto's eyes widened in surprise, and he took a step back. It was impossible. Rell was spineless, he always had been. How had he changed in mere weeks? And what did he truly mean by his right? Surely...

"Do you...challenge me Rell?"

"I am merely stating facts brother," Rell declared evenly, his blue eyes piercing his. "Zyra is not yours."

"Then I challenge your claim, in combat," Hanto growled. "I propose a challenge that will prove that I am stronger and worthier of Zyra than you."

"Come, there can be no challenge if she has accepted him my son," the Chief spoke gently to him. "Strength is not a factor here— "

"I accept."

Every man looked at Rell with shock. The deeply troubled Chieftain's lips thinned and his dark eyes found their way to Zyra. She could see that he believed she was to blame and he was not at all pleased. He tore the accusatory glance away slowly, as though pulling splinters from a wound, and then he looked back at Rell.

"Are you...sure my son?"

"I am sure," Rell stated firmly. "I will do what you ask Hanto. When and where?"

"Here and now."

"Hanto my son..."

"This is not your concern old man! Stay out of this!" Hanto barked.

The village gasped in uproar. Hanto had disrespected his Chief andFather in front of the two villages. Rell's eyes hardened in righteous anger.

"Have you forgotten yourself?" he hissed at Hanto. "How dare you disrespect our Father in such a villainous manner!"

As though waking from a dream, Hanto sobered from his rage. At that moment he realized his mistake, but it was too late. With a look that indicated a great disappointment, the Chief turned from them and began to walk away. Kyzu, ever the faithful hostess, took his shoulder and silently led him to his quarters.

The tribes made room as a distraught Hanto retrieved his knife. Rell kept his obsidian knife sheathed beside him.

Angry, curious, and even lecherous looks were directed towards Zyra without shame or attempt at discretion. She instantly knew the Ursie tribe thought this was her fault as well. It reminded her of how she had treated Kail when things between her and Kyzu escalated. It was easy to be blind, especially when you belonged to a group. This was destined to happen from the beginning, with or without her.

"First blood," Hanto declared, readying his stance.

Zyra watched Rell worriedly. He was no warrior. What stance could he have?

He glanced at her then to her surprise took her fighting stance. She wasn't sure whether to be flattered or worried. Could he really pull it off?

Hanto's eyes narrowed and he flicked his gaze to her. Apparently he recognized the stance. She could hear him mentally accusing her of conspiring against him. Considering his unsavory goal and the measures she had taken to assure he had not achieved it, it that was something she would be unable to deny.

"Zyra. Count to three," Hanto commanded.

He cracked his neck, watching as a man behind him flinched. He was still powerful, still strong. He would revel in Rell's defeat, using Zyra's own voice to deliver his punishment. And once his traitorous brother Rell knew his place, he would take Zyra and make her scream his name throughout the entire camp ground. His mouth watered with violent lust.

The madness in Hanto's eyes made Zyra swallow heavily. He radiated violence, flashes of her in his mind made her want to run from the perversity inside of him. Rell could get hurt from a man as damaged as him. It wasn't too late to end it. She looked at Rell to see how he was reacting. His face was determined, his countenance calm. He was ready. Looking at him now, a frail bud grown into a healthy boisterous flower, she felt motherly pride. And she knew she couldn't stop this. It would do nothing but bring shame to him if she defended him against Hanto. Rell had to defend her, to be honest none of this was even about her. It was about a brotherly power struggle that had raged inwardly for years. She had merely provided the spark for the room filled with kindling. Licking her lips she opened her mouth.

"One..."

Hanto rocked back and forth on his heels in a tactic of intimidation. Rell's cool eyes trained on his face. He stood completely still.

"Two..."

A lump caught in Zyra's throat. Her hands began to tremble. She swallowed, forcing her fear down. May the Maker protect him, she thought. Rell you've come so far, and now Rell...

"Three!"

...it begins.

Hanto let out a loud war cry and charged towards Rell savagely. Rell didn't move as Hanto came speedily toward him. When Hanto lifted his knife overhead, Zyra saw that Hanto intended to slash Rell's face. He would draw first blood in a way that everyone who saw Rell would remember what had happened here. Hanto was truly an animal.

"Rell!" she cried.

Hanto was an arm's length away when Rell moved forward like a serpent.

Then there was only silence. Rell had moved fast, fast like Zyra, inhumanly fast. She herself had seen what had happened clearly, but she could see the others were confused. In a fluid move Rell had side stepped Hanto's blow and countered with a blow of his own. Blood dripped onto the dusty camp ground. That blood was Hanto's.

Rell's obsidian blade had cut a thin line on Hanto's shoulder. It was cut so precisely, it barely bled. Hanto pressed the wound in disbelief, staring at the dewy red moisture on his fingertips. No one made a sound, unable to believe that Rell had actually beat Hanto.

Zyra swallowed and watched as his metallic tattoo glowed a ghostly silver, and then flashed red. Apparently Hanto had something to offer, and now Rell had the dormant ability to use it. So this is what the villagers saw. For a moment Zyra could understand their wariness towards her, it looked terrifying. Everyone regarded Rell with awe but inside it, at its core, there was a measure of fear.

"I have won brother," Rell said softly.

He sliced the air. The blade was so sharp that with the flick of his wrist the blade was pristinely clean. Rell could have chopped his arm off. He gazed at Hanto with cold eyes. He knew what Hanto had tried to do to him.

Hanto said nothing, struck mute by the impossible feat. There was nothing to be said.

Sheathing his blade Rell walked up to Zyra. She yelped when he put an arm behind her back and lifted her up. Sighing, he carried her away, taking her to where her tent was. Since the celebration had officially started she was unsurprised when she heard several of the men cheer bawdily.

She frowned at a couple shouts that suggested he "give it to her" and tried her best to keep a straight face. Hanto's silence continued to follow them like a plague and their march felt more like a funeral then a romp. They could hear the women resuming their jovial mood behind them and they passed the Chief who lifted his head.

Zyra missed his reaction because of the speed at which Rell walked. Even so she could imagine it, and imagine how the look of utter disbelief in the Chief's eyes probably hurt Rell. When they were at the tent he carried her all the way in before placing her down on the furs. When he closed the tent Zyra felt more awkward than ever.

"Rell..." she said her voice sounding apologetic, but he cut her off by shaking his head.

"What's done is done," he said gravely.

He reached behind her and opened the tent flap to spy outside. There was a couple whispering loudly as they settled into the tent across from them.

Based on the pitch of the girl's voice Zyra assumed it was Lala. Sealing it once more she watched as he collapsed heavily onto her furs. He covered his face with his hands and let out a sorrowful sigh.

"He will never live that down," Rell groaned. "He will never forgive me."

Zyra shifted nervously, unsure of what to say. "He...he might one day."

Rell chuckled bitterly. "Bless your naïve spirit Zyra."

They sat in silence for a while and slowly but surely they heard the bustle of the village spread out to where they were. It was a while before they heard singing and laughter, but when they did it lightened their hearts.

"You were right Zyra."

She looked at him, one blue eye regarding her while the other stayed masked by his palm.

"About what?"

"That time you told me I could become stronger. That I could become Chief. You were right."

Zyra wasn't sure what to say. She understood now that birthright did not always mean ascension, but she still could not wrap her mind around the doubt of a worthiness that was clearly yours. Instead she had another concern.

"Will you be safe traveling back with them?"

He shifted, leaning on an arm to face her. "What do you mean?"

"With Hanto. Will you be safe?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you offering that I

might stay permanently?"

"No no!" Zyra said quickly. "It's just..."

"I know. I was teasing you. Not a good time?"

Zyra wrinkled her nose. There had to be something she could do. Just to appease her guilt and Rell's misery.

"Rell," she said firmly. "I want to help you become Chief."

He sat up and looked at her curiously.

"Really? How? By bearing my child? Oh what a glorious honor! Shall we raise him in the village sweetie or the valley? "

She shoved him with a scoff and he chuckled.

"Now that was better timing yes?"

Zyra chuckled, then took his hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "I will help you by teaching you how to fight."

Rell looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "You honestly think that with my oafish balance I could fight as gracefully as a huntress?"

"I think you can do anything you believe you can do," she said warmly.

He nodded and shrugged, a small smile already tugging at his lips. "Then I will try to believe in myself."

Nodding she ruffled his hair. "Much better my brother."

When night fell, Zyra and Rell reluctantly joined the others. Their arrival to the campfire had been greeted with a visible divide. Half with joy and enthusiasm, half as though death itself had come to sit among them. Gharla ushered them over as she made space by her and the others. They sat there quietly and Rair passed them the roasted Perkadu.

Rell thanked her with a longing look in his eyes and they began to eat. Slowly but surely they pressed themselves into a corner, hoping that their presence would be forgotten. It was, by all but one. When the happy joyous chatter and sexual tension resumed Rell was left to eat in peace, but Zyra was plagued by the thoughts of two tribes.

"How dare she simply sit there..."

"What a prize..."

"Two brothers..."

"Never knew he had it in him."

"...sickening how greedy..."

"Was to be mine."

She paused and focused into the last strain of thoughts. It was clearly Hanto's thoughts. Looking over at him she saw he was carving a piece of wood with careful precision. His face was angry but his thoughts were saddened.

Biting at her lip she decided to use Kail's power. She took a deep breath and stared at him. The air around him began to waver and flicker. Slowly colors began to bleed around him. Yellowy greens, purples, blacks, a few other colors she had no hope of identifying. What she did notice was that among all that emotion, there was no pink. Instead there was a thick layer of gold wrapped into a dark flowery maroon. It troubled her.

What if his feelings were indeed love? Was maroon not a darker form of pink? But if this was his love it was ill, sickened by his covetous heart. She needed to ask Kail very soon.

Sensing her eyes on him, Hanto looked up and caught her. For a moment he thought her eyes looked gold but when she blinked they were green again. With his gaze he pleaded with her so that he could understand, but she broke it. That deliberate refusal was too much for him to bear.

He stood up, unable to take it anymore.

"Zyra..."

She swallowed, looking down at her uneaten Perkadu. She had lost her appetite.

"Zyra."

"What do you want brother?" Rell interjected firmly.

Hanto was silent as he regarded them both. The fireside became quiet again as their entertainment for the night changed.

"I want nothing from you Rell," Hanto said dejectedly. "But Zyra, I would like to speak with you."

She frowned, forcing herself to look at him.

"You are free to speak."

"Zyra please."

Rell's eyes widened. He had never heard his brother beg. Not for anyone, and most certainly not for a woman.

Rolls of grief tumbled over his face and Zyra felt pity on him. Sighing heavily she stood. Rell paused her with a tap on her shoulder but she nodded at him comfortingly.

"It's fine."

With that they walked off to the edge of the village, and she tried to keep their thoughts from weighing her down.

"...so sad that—"

"Wouldn't know what to..."

"...full breasts. Bet she—"

"...freakish monst—"

When they were secluded, Zyra turned to him. Once upon a time she might have worried that he might make a move on her, but she was so much stronger now that the thought was comical. He couldn't hurt her, their relationship had changed. Now, he was the victim. She had him against a tree. She was hurting him in the most innocent and painful of ways.

He was stolid as he regarded her face in the moonlight. It made him ache.

"You've slept with Rell before."

Zyra grit her teeth. He wasn't asking, but he expected an answer from her.

She sighed, "Yes."

He swallowed and looked at her. "So when we were in the valley, and the nymph showed me that scene, and you told me it was an illusion..."

"I lied to you."

Hanto couldn't seem to understand her betrayal and she watched him flounder for words.

"But...why?"

"You wouldn't have come with me," she said simply. "You were too controlled by your avarice and pride to see reason. I had to get you away from there before you lost your mind."

Hanto had never regarded their meeting in the valley as a rescue. Instead he had imagined Zyra helplessly begging him to fight off the demons. He would have to have the strength to save her. He had saved himself so that he might save her. Yet now he saw the truth. 'Imagined' was an ideal word. Zyra had never really needed him; she had never really needed anyone.

She was the only one who had actually bested the valley, and despite her friend's attempts to help her they had done nothing but get in her way. Zyra had indeed saved them all.

"I understand now why I am not seen as worthy in your eyes," he said nodding. "I can see the reason, but what I do not understand is why Rell is worthy."

He turned to her, raging on the inside. "He has done nothing that I cannot do to get into your grace. If lovemaking is the only criteria, then allow me to show you my worth."

"I have given myself to Rell, Hanto," Zyra said firmly. Her lips were creased into a frown.

"I know, I know," he agreed raising his hands up. "But...if I must...share you with Rell, I will—"

"That's what sets you apart," Zyra snarled, furiously pointing a finger in his face. "You think of me as a thing Hanto. Something to be won, something to be shared. Something to be passed around! Rell has no more say in my life than you or any other man does. I am not a pet!"

Hanto's eyes widened. He had not been expecting such a reaction when he had made such a sacrificial offer. The idea of sharing her was repulsive, but the idea of not having her...

"I did not mean..."

"What?" she snapped angrily. "You did not mean to continually embarrass me? To try to trap and force me to acknowledge you?"

"I thought you already had," he said testily.

She would not turn this on him. She was the liar. She had betrayed his trust, not the other way around.

Zyra put her hands on her hips and smirked at him disdainfully. "Oh? You truly believed that?"

"Yes," he declared. "If you had not lied to me I would have never misunderstood."

"Then why pray tell, why you made it so that I could choose no one but you?" she shot back.

If Hanto believed his own lies, he was truly far gone. She stepped forward as his face hardened and to her surprise he took a step back. Feeling sadistic, she advanced.

"If you truly believed that I had accepted you, then there was no reason to make sure you were uncontested," she declared. "The only reason for such cowardly actions, would be if you had some doubts."

"But I—"

"Doubt does not belong in faith Hanto. You are as much a liar as me." With that she turned on her heel and left the flabbergasted Hanto to his thoughts.

She was almost out of earshot when she heard him plead, "Wait."

She gritted her teeth. The grief in his voice was pitiful, pathetic really, and she had caused it. It made her hair stand on end to feel anything towards Hanto other than disgust.

"Wait," he said stronger.

With a sigh she turned and looked into his tortured black eyes.

"Please," he pleaded. "I love you Zyra. I have never felt this way before. Believe me when I swear...it threatens to tear me apart."

He dragged his fingernails along his chest as though the pain of her was breaking him at that moment.

"When I think of you...when I imagine you with anyone else I grow mad! I feel insane...desperate."

He walked towards her, standing in front of her with a measure of fear, contempt, and awe.

"Will you not know me Zyra?" he begged her. He took her hand as emotion clogged his throat. "Will you not try to know me?"

Zyra let out a heavy sigh, Hanto's noxious maroon vapors almost making her choke. He was going to cry if she refused him.

She was going to make a grown man cry. For once, Hanto's thoughts and words were aligned, he was telling the truth.

"I'm sorry Hanto," she whispered, unable to look him in the eyes. "But I was never yours to begin with." She pulled her hands away and forced herself to look into his crushed gaze.

"I don't love you," she breathed. "I...love someone else."

She turned, and knew that Hanto would not try to follow her. With that remark Zyra left him, his thoughts screaming at her in agony. Whatever it was that Hanto felt it was strong. Even though she had spoken her words with hopes to put an end to their games, she knew that Hanto's fury was far from over.

When she returned to the campfire Rell did his duty and put an arm around her. It reestablished the fact that she was still loyal to him. Hanto did not return.