Ogres and Ogresses Ch. 14

"Ginger?"

"Yes Zyra?"

Zyra turned on her side to look at Ginger whom was sewing something or another as usual.

"May I ask you a question?"

Ginger chuckled and made a wide stitch.

"You already have."

"An additional question."

"Very well."

Zyra scratched at the bandage that covered her tattoo. Perhaps the bindings were too tight. It had started to irritate her. Sighing she undid the knot that held it tight and began to unravel it. Ginger's hand froze in the middle of an upright motion to watch her. When she was finished they stared at her arm, the unfamiliar markings shiny with their silvery supernatural hue.

"Why is it that you do not fear my marking as do the others?"

Ginger looked at her and shrugged.

"Well it is not that you alone carry tattoos. It is uncommon in our village, but women who were from other villages might have marking."

It was true. Rair in fact was originally from another tribe. Her tribe had fallen into a land war with a neighboring tribe and had been wiped out. It was said that Rair wandered for countless days until one of their number had found her and brought her back. She had been a small child then. The sun tattoo on her back shoulder was the only indication that she was not born among them. It was hidden by her shirt.

"Yes but, you do not fear it?" Zyra asked.

"You would never hurt us Zyra," Ginger said firmly. "I know this is my heart."

Ginger resumed her needlepoint while Zyra stewed over what she had said.

"But..."

"Goodness Zyra."

"What if it was not me? What if it was a stranger with this marking? Would you be wary?"

"Perhaps."

Zyra sucked her teeth.

"Well, could you tell me why?"

Ginger placed down her sewing and sighed.

"Well Zyra, it is strange to look at because it moves with your skin, and is the color of moonlight. It's not black or red like all other tattoos."

"And?"

"And...there are also the rumors."

Zyra frowned.

"What rumors?"

Ginger looked around the tent and bit her thumb nervously.

"Well Zyra, they are probably untrue if you have noticed nothing strange about you..."

"Tell me Ginger. Please."

She sighed heavily, shoving her brown hair back.

"Well my dear answer this. On the night you saved Henna. The night you killed the Nemlock..."

"So nothing is secret huh?"

"...did your tattoo turn the color of Nemlock's blood?"

She tried to think. Zyra didn't really pay much attention to her arm that night, yet she couldn't help but remember the carnage the next day. When they stood amongst the broken bodies of the Nemlock, the trees were splattered with their purple blood. Her tattoo had turned purple.

"I'm not sure," Zyra said queasily. "It turned purple the day after, but I'm not sure if it was during because it was night."

"Well, the rumor is that it changes colors when it steals the soul of what you kill."

Zyra's sense of peace began to dissipate.

She gulped.

"What an enchanting notion."

"Do you think...you might try it?" Ginger asked in a soft whispery voice.

"Ginger I am not going to kill something just to see what happens!" Zyra snapped.

"Well," Ginger said shuffling to the entrance of her tent.

"Here, try this."

Ginger undid the flap and pulled it slightly open. At the mouth of her cave a few stray dandelions grew in a twisted ball.

"Pick one," she said briskly. "See what happens."

Zyra gazed at her in disbelief.

"...are you serious?"

"Zyra! Just try it."

"Fine! But this is a foolish idea. Plants don't even bleed."

She fingered the gnarled weeds until she found the root. With a quick jerk she has the plant uprooted and clumps of dirt raining to the ground.

They stared at her arm expectantly.

"Nothing," Zyra said smugly. "Shall I try the grass next?"

"It's not dead yet," Ginger exclaimed. "Take off the head of one."

"Ginger..."

"Let us see Zyra."

Huffing she did as Ginger has instructed. She held the yellow flower head in her hand, staring at the ancient plant with disdain.

"See Ginger? Nothing..." her voice was cut short when her arm began to tingle. She watched, mortified as her tattoo began to bleed from top to bottom the color green. The color bled away as quickly as it came and they were silent when the silver returned.

Zyra dropped the head of the flower like it had burned her.

"How could I not notice?" she said breathlessly. "My own arm...how could I not notice?"

"You were too busy taking care of us," Ginger said firmly. "Besides it's still a rumor. Flowers don't have souls. So this proves them to be wrong."

"But what if they do?

"They don't."

"But what if they do?"

"Zyra..."

"It just turned green Ginger! I took the life of a flower!"

Ginger snorted loudly. "Is that such a crime Zyra? To be honest, do you hear yourself?"

Zyra paused her tirade long enough to start rewrapping her arm.

"I never thought about it before," Zyra said sighing. "I never thought that flowers could have souls."

"Well then..." Ginger said walking to where she had left her work.

"Your niece Nima is a positive death dealer! She should be ashamed! Why with all those flower chains she makes! Unholy carnage!"

Zyra couldn't help but laugh. "Okay fine, I see your point. Still, this warrants looking into."

"Or you could ignore it," Ginger quipped.

"Sometimes things are best left unanswered."

Zyra agreed, but the itching of her arm put her on edge. And she had been happy for almost an hour.

Fuckta.

"Well you never know," Zyra said sighing. "The answer might find me." __________________________________________________

Enui sighed as she nibbled noncommittally on the meat of a Perkadu. She half listened to her sister's idle chatter. Her childish face masked in an attempt to appear anything other than bored. She missed her nymphs already. She had long forgotten what it was like to pretend that you cared what everyone said about you.

Enui knew the traits of this village. This praise would last for two weeks at most, and then it would be as though nothing happened. The village would be back to demanding things of her. It was not that the village was bad, simply that the majority could be very selfish. Thanks to Zyra they had never had to go without. She had spoiled them and so they acted accordingly. Yet, the thought of depriving them of anything had come across to Zyra as nothing short of murderer. Their vast land was well groomed and Zyra remembered the old ways. They had been taught by their ancestors how to avoid overworking the land by rotating what they hunted or when they planted. Each food had a season that would not damage its collection.

The Rovians lived on a vast block of land with the closest tribe to the west, the Ursies, 5 days away and the closest to the east, the Cavikaa 6 days away. They were lucky, too lucky perhaps. There was something odd about this land.

Enui focused on the chatter of a village woman and hastily withdrew her attention. Yet she was not lucky enough. She realized what leaving the valley meant. Part of her felt guilty for prolonging their journey home. Zyra had genuinely been worried for them. Even so, she knew that she would never be allowed to be as free with the nymphs as she was with her sisters. The nymphs knew no judgment, no shame. They did not doubt themselves so they had little need to doubt others. Their love was unconditional, and could not be earned. It simply existed because she was attractive to them, and she did not resist. Well she did at first, but as she lost her shame and insecurities she learned that she had wanted them to free her. For the first time in years, she had felt free.

"...Zyra's dueling rite..."

Enui gasped.

"Zyra had to do a duel rite?"

Gharla stopped mid bite.

"What did you say Enui?"

They looked at their sisters who went silent around them.

Gharla stood.

"Did Zyra have to fight for her right to lead us?"

Enui could see the rage bubbling up from deep inside her. Zyra has saved Gharla's life, that was something she would never forget. Yet here, she and Enui sat, in the prepared place for their honor while others tried to sully her name. In fact, Enui had just realized something. Zyra was no among them.

They were having evening meal, yet Zyra was nowhere to be found.

"Things have changed since you have been here sister," Henna whispered quietly. Enui looked at her innocent face. Much like herself it was two sided. Unlike her, the other side was unpleasant to look at.

"Zyra is not the sister you knew," Henna continued. "The valley changed her."

There were mumurs of agreement that set Enui's teeth on edge. She kept a face of calm, while she could see Gharla balling up her fists.

"And how could you possibly know the horrors that she endured?" Gharla spat bitterly. "How could you know the evil that tortured us whilst in our dreams?"

"She told us the story," Imjah interrupted. "She told us that you crossed the border and managed to make a deal with the witches to..."

"Did she tell you how we passed the border?" Gharla seethed. "Did she tell you how we were greeted by a giant monster? Or how we starved ourselves in the burning waste?"

Looking at their faces Enui could see that Zyra hadn't. Ever the fretting young mother, Zyra has spared her ungrateful chicks of the details. In time she and Gharla would rectify that, but for now Enui was dead tired.

"I believe we need to retire," Enui said gracefully stepping to her feet.

"We thank you for your kind welcome but we are weary and light headed from travel."

She took a stiff Gharla by the arm and they threaded out of the circle. She could feel their eyes on her back as their whispers began to congeal like fog. Perhaps Zyra was not the only one changed by the valley.

Perhaps indeed. __________________________________________________ Morning had come and Kail felt irritable.

It had been six days since he and Zyra had bathed together. He yearned to visit her at the village but that would defeat the purpose of their agreement. He was aware that she was testing his patience. A virtue he lacked large quantities of.

Regardless of his shortcomings, he was at least comforted by the fact that she too would be suffering. A smirk rose to his lips as he threw branches into his fire pit. The feel of her under his skin was almost too painful to recall. The slippery wetness that had clung to her made her silk, and he yearned to wrap her around him. To feel her soft supple curves, the light weight of her delicate...

"Eh hem!"

He blinked in surprise.

Looking up he saw a nameless huntress standing before him. He vaguely remembered her as one of the woman that had attempted to flirt with him. Now, she appeared steely and cold, even uncomfortable.

"Yes?"

Part of him wanted to build a fence around his camp.

"You have been summoned by the Chieftess," she said briskly. "I am to escort you to her tent."

Kail eyed her, a homely stocky woman with large breasts. A few inches shorter and she could have passed for a dwarf. She would have been quite popular as well.

"Unfortunately I cannot comply with your request," Kail said kindly, bending to find his flint stone.

The woman clearly has not been expecting refusal. She sputtered nervously.

"B-But the Chieftess has fallen ill!"

"Has she now?"

"Yes. She cannot speak. She seeks an elixir that may cure her."

Kail's smirk evened itself an turned into a gleeful grin.

"Poetic justice."

"What?"

"Nothing," Kail said dismissively. "Tell me, who is it that summoned me."

The woman stepped forward, squaring her shoulder.

"I said, it was the Chieftess herself."

"And what of Zyra?" Kail asked glancing back at her.

The woman froze like a startled deer before she frowned heavily.

"Zyra is of no..."

"Did she summon me?"

"No, but..."

"Then I have no reason to journey to your village."

Kail struck off a spark that finally took flame and he smiled at his handy work. There, he could get his smith running again in no time. He needed to keep himself distracted, especially if clumsy human women were sneaking up on him.

He looked up and saw the woman staring at him, shifting in confusion.

"Are you still here?"

"I insist that you accompany me back," she demanded, her voice stronger than her stance.

Kail dropped his stones and walked over to her. Their height difference seemed so much vaster now that he towered over her.

"Or what?"

She looked at him, overcome by everything but an answer.

"I don't understand why you resist us," she said finally.

He patted her head and with a twist turned her around and away from the direction of his camp.

"Then do get someone to explain it to you. Farewell huntress."

She was frozen, stunned at his gall until she stomped off angrily. He could only chuckle.

Zyra had her work cut out for her. __________________________________________________

Kyzu bit the inside of her cheeks until she tasted blood.

So the ogre was in league with Zyra too?

Of course, what a wonderful ploy. Silence her so that they could freely run amok. It only worsened the blow knowing it had possible come from her own hand. Her head felt lighter as she sorted through her theories. She had ordered Zyra to not help her. Now Zyra was taking her quite seriously. She desperately wanted to get out of her own head. It was torture to hear some of her venomous thoughts. It made her wonder what kind of person she was becoming. Why did she think these things?

Kyzu was not yet ready to face her demons. She lay in her tent, angry and bitter when her daughter's tearing face popped in her mind.

"Mommy did I do something bad?"

"You can have my voice. I don't need it."

Her daughter's broken voice echoed in her mind. She was still confused as to what had happened. The village women were with her, but in an instant they had turned on Nima like a pack of wolves.

Yet were they dim witted enough not to see that Nima was an extension of her?

That treating Nima ill was the same as treating her ill.

And if so, was her sister not an extension of herself?

They were true blood sisters, a rarity in tribes. Their blood mother put the Rovian blood in their veins. She became worried the longer she sat in the silence. Her villagers had no loyalty to anything or anyone except her. That was how she had made it unconsciously. Now she was paying the price. A dark place inside her was okay with Zyra receiving backlash, but she would never be okay with Nima being hurt. She held her head in pain. The silence gave no escape from her thoughts. For that reason alone, it was torture.

Kail kept himself busy with working on Zyra's sword. By the time he had finished tempering the metal just right the sun had begun to set. Sighing he put the blade where it could cool and be safe before ridding himself of ash and soot by the stream. When he returned he noticed the lamp of his hut lit. Surely they had not invaded his hut. He pushed the door open ready for confrontation when he saw Zyra sitting on a fur and toying with a metal trinket of his.

"You're here," he said in surprise.

"Should I have waited outside?" she asked cautiously.

"No, no. This is fine."

He glanced down at the small triangles of skin that lay exposed by her thigh. He watched as she pulled a fur over her lap.

"Do you have no mercy?"

"Kyzu summoned you today," she interjected. "Why didn't you go?"

He frowned. Was she genuinely angry or was this a trick question? Her tone was rather flat, uninterested even.

"I did not go because she was not you. Did you summon me?"

"No," Zyra said shaking her head. "And I would not summon you with an unknown huntress. I would use Ginger, or my newly returned sister."

"I see," he said giving her a small smile. "Are you happy then?"

"I am," she said nodding. He noticed her scratch her arm. "I was worried about them."

"I see. Well that leaves one question unanswered."

Kail closed the door behind him and sat on a stool in the corner.

"Why are you here?"

She blinked owlishly. "...do you want me to leave?"

"No. But you rarely do things without reason."

She lowered her eyes, her lashes making lines of shadow on her face.

"Well..."

She bit her lip.

Gosh he wished she would stop doing that.

"Well what?" he snapped.

He saw her questioning anger and uttered a quick "sorry."

"I...thought I should..." Zyra sighed.

She didn't think it would be that hard to come out and say it. Where was her courage? She was behaving like a child.

"I thought I should reward you for your good behavior Kail Shashanen," she finally said succinctly. "So here I am."

Kail's face was emotionless as he stared at her and tried to bat away the deprived carnal desires he wanted as a reward.

"Well then, how good is good behavior?" he asked passively.

"Oh. I-I didn't mean for it to sound like that." Her voice was panicky and abrupt as she rambled. "I never meant to demean you or make it seem as though you were less of a person. I simply wanted to express my gratitude that you..."

Seeing no end to her tirade Kail closed the distance between then and sat beside her.

"Its fine," he said, pressing a finger to her lips. "I know what you meant. So tell me. How good is good behavior?"

She unconsciously pouted, her brow furrowing.

"Good? Kail, what are you asking me?"

"How big of a reward am I entitled?"

"How much do you want?"

She watched as he narrowed his eyes to reptilian slits and she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Right. Poorly phrased. Well...what do you have in mind?"

Kail's eyes shone with excitement as took her hand in his, rubbing the back of her palm with a warm coarse thumb.

"Have I been good enough to touch you?"

"Where?"

Her voice lost its timbre and became wispy as he wrapped an arm around her waist. Gently he drew her into his lap.

"Right here?" he said, touching her lips with a finger.

Zyra could feel herself blushing but she nodded. His lips replaced his finger and the soft steamy touch of his lips sent tingles through her. He pressed harder, firmly covering her lips with his own, before he tilted her head back.

"Push back," he mumbled, the bass in his voice echoing against her like a touch.

Tentatively she followed his instruction. The hand on her waist travelled up and stroked her neck, loosening the tension that built from her strenuous day. His hand felt like heaven and she pushed against it. She moaned in his mouth causing him to freeze. His heavenly hand froze with him.

"Don't stop," Zyra whispered impatiently.

Her neck shoulders hadn't felt that good in weeks. She could feel his chest rise and fall against her as he took long forced breaths. His heart beat at his chest.

"Stop what?" he asked throatily. "The kissing or the massaging?"

"The massaging."

He let out a laugh and resumed, pulling another moan from her.

"You're supposed to say the kissing," he said smirking. "Or both. You can afford to be greedy."

She let out a grunt that said she couldn't care less.

He ducked his head underneath her chin and kissed her neck.

"What about right here?"

He kissed again, letting a fang trail along the curve of her neck. With a shudder she nodded. Her eyes glazed over as he placed warm kisses along her neck, down to the curves of her collarbone and back to her ear. Zyra held onto his shoulders as arousal and apprehension began to curl inside of her. What had once been relaxing was now beginning to rile her up.

He placed a hand on her stomach and trailed it down to lay upon her thigh.

"And here?" he whispered in her ear.

Zyra closed her eyes as the sensation of his hard warm body underneath her weakened her will. Wasn't that too close? Wasn't it obvious where he was going with this?