Ogres and Ogresses Ch. 18

"I'm glad," Zyra said holding her. "I am so very glad."

Then together, they all walked back home. __________________________________________________

Caligula looked behind him as Etaceh walked fluidly through the entrance of the Marble Tree.

"Have they gone?" he asked quietly.

She nodded, her normally jovial face turning grave. "Caligula my friend, do you see what I see?"

His purple eyes darkened and he turned to look into the fount. Waving a hand over it an image of Kyzu, the Chieftess of the Rovian's was brought forward.

"What do you make of this Etaceh?"

She frowned as she looked upon the image of the now mute woman.

"I broke the hex upon her, but the rest is up to her. Her jealously was great and the hex wove itself around her tightly. She will only regain her voice when the hatred has left her heart."

"But it should have ended by now."

"I was strengthen by the sickness of the orb."

Caligula nodded gravely. "Why do you suppose the Rovians are the ones being targeted?"

Etaceh's eyes narrowed as she took in Caligula's grim mouth.

"Do you mean the child and mother..." "Yes. These attacks were intentional. They must have something he wants."

"He?"

Etaceh shook her head in disgust, her fists tightening into nervous balls. Despite her age, despite her power she could feel the ebbings of a long lost emotion, fear.

"So it is true then," she said stiffly. "A warrior keromedio, a monokero taking human form...the signs do not lie, and now the message."

"Yes," Caligula said darkly. "It is unmistakable."

They had picked at Zyra's mind but they could only decipher half of the message.

"The time of reckoning approaches, the Third blade cut seeks its reproaches," Etaceh whispered. "After all of this time...the unspeakable. The unspeakable has returned."

They stared into the fount, reaching out into their memories to bring forth an image that caused them great pain. Great pain and fear.

"Yes," Caligula breathed. "Creedon has returned." __________________________________________________

Zyra stood by the stream, nervousness chilling her to the bone. The celebration was almost here. Ginger was recovering the best she could, but she had vocally expressed that this would be the first celebration she skipped. Zyra would tell the men that Ginger was ill. It was no lie to be honest. Ginger was ill with heartsickness. Most of her wanted Ginger to forget her pain. She wondered if such a thing was possible, or even right. If she could erase Ginger's memories, would she be better off?

She heard noise behind her and tensed as Rell walked into the clearing. He looked as apprehensive as she did.

"Rell," she acknowledged.

"Zyra."

They sat down then, in the same spots they had after their first visit to the valley.

"So many things have changed since then," Rell said.

Zyra nodded. "I was just thinking that."

Rell turned to her and she turned as well.

"What is it you wish to ask me Zyra?"

Zyra swallowed. "Rell you are the rightful heir to the Ursie tribe are you not?"

Rell hestitated before nodding.

"Then, the only person who can challenge Hanto is you."

"Challenge him for what?"

Zyra balled up her fists and looked at Rell.

"Rell I need you to challenge your brother for me when celebration comes. If things are as you say your father and tribe will be offended if I refuse him. According to my tribes rules if I do not try to conceive before my next birthday I will be exiled. If things are as you say, no one will challenge him for me and I cannot afford that."

"Challenging Hanto," Rell mumbled sickly as though the idea was radical. For him it probably was.

"You do know what this will mean don't you?" he said. "To him it would be the same as challenging him for the Chiefhood. If I challenge him Zyra, I challenge him in everything."

"I know," Zyra whispered. "But Rell I am desperate. I can't let him have me and I won't allow myself to be run from this place. I'd die Rell. I'd rather die."

"Don't say that," he shouted. "Don't you ever say such things."

"Will you do this Rell? Will you fight for me?"

Rell looked at her with knowing eyes.

"Are you still a virgin?"

She shook her head. "No."

He nodded. "I figured as much. You've been spending your nights with Kail. Can you not conceive by him?"

"No," she said shaking her head. "My maidenhead is already broken though. You would only have to pretend to bed me."

Rell let out a long sigh. "You ask me this two days before the celebration?"

"I didn't want to give you much time to think."

Rell ran a hand through his hair.

"There was no need. There is nothing to think about. Of course I will do this for you Zyra."

Zyra nearly burst into tears from relief. Instead she settled on hugging Rell who held her back tightly.

"I told you. We have a special bond you and I. Nothing will break that."

"And nothing will break the bond between brothers and sisters," she said fervently. "Kyzu and I went through very awful times, but I tell you this is true. Even if he rebukes you, if he truly has love for you it cannot be broken."

Rell said nothing to that, only patted her. Zyra did not know Hanto who was only half his brother. The other half of Hanto was his enemy. To have Hanto as his entire enemy would change the dynamic of their once harmonious tribe. That was why he had never challenged him, but Rell had never had a reason to challenge him until now. He just hoped he could bear the repercussions, and Zyra could bear the blame. __________________________________________________

"And Rell will do this for you?"

"Yes, is he not wonderful?"

"I suppose."

"Oh don't be jealous."

"I'm not."

"Alright."

"...I'm not very jealous."

Zyra laughed, lying against Kail's warmth. The last few weeks had been spectacular. She had never felt so close to someone in her life. It was so odd, so refreshing, terrifying, and beautiful.

"Tell me Kail," Zyra said smirking. "If you had to sleep with any other woman, whom would you sleep with?"

"In your village?"

"No in yours."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"Very."

He pinched her butt in response and she squealed. "Answer me!"

Kail mused for a moment then said, "I still like Ginger, though I'm sure she'd much rather prefer a unicorn's cock."

Zyra sighed. "Oh don't mention that. The topic is still so very raw."

"Ginger or the departure of the unicorn?"

"A bit of both I suppose. But I am no longer angry at you for seeking her out."

Kail rolled his eyes and stroked her back. "Why do you ask me this? Is there someone you wish to sleep with?"

Zyra shook her head. "No, but I fear that tomorrow things might go wrong."

Kail frowned. "You believe he will back out on his word?"

"Never. I fear...Rell and I might have to...I don't know. It fills me with worry."

"I have told you in the past that ogres often share themselves with others," Kail said dismissively. "I would not begrudge you, though I will fuck you rather mercilessly should it occur."

"It shouldn't," Zyra snapped. "I won't begrudge you either than. I promise."

Kail raised an eyebrow. "You would allow me to bed Ginger?"

"If that's what you want."

"Then bring her here. Let us cheer her up."

Zyra nodded stiffly but dutifully when Kail burst into laughing.

"What?" she asked angrily. "What is it?"

"I can see you're trying so hard," he snickered. "You really are such a jealous thing."

"Oh please," Zyra scoffed. "You should be glad I lo..."

The word froze inside of her.

He didn't react to it at all, simply turning over to lie down. She was going to say that she loved him. The realization struck her dumb. It was like getting splashed with a bucket of cold water.

"Kail?"

He moaned and rolled over to grab her and rub his face into her hair. Her eyelashes fluttered as she basked in the firmness of his touch.

"Do you have anything to say?" he rasped. "Or do you simply enjoy saying my name?"

Her heart pounded viciously in her chest as she thought about the words that wanted to escape her. She didn't want to fight anymore, fight this or him. So she was fighting herself. Zyra placed a hand on his chest and closed her eyes.

"Please...don't mock me Kail."

"I didn't mean to," he said quickly, pulling back, but she buried her face in his chest. She took a deep breath and he held her back, feeling the strain of her lungs through her skin.

"Kail do you love me?"

He froze, and swallowed. His mouth suddenly felt dry. He looked down at her and pulled her away from him despite how hard she tried to stay against him. He waited for her to open her eyes. The emotion in them nearly knocked him over. He felt scared to be honest, but also strangely excited.

Kail brushed a hand on her cheek and nearly growled when she arched her naked body into his touch. It was a dream. He was worried at any moment he would away and they would be just as they always were.

"Why don't you answer me?'

The quiet pain in her whisper shocked him back into reality.

"Why do you ask?"

"Why don't you answer?"

"I want to know."

"I want you know more!"

Kail's lips drew into a grin. "I am yours Zyra. You have no need to worry."

"It's not about that. Just...just tell me."

"I'm too much of a coward to answer you Zyra."

Her reaction was instantaneous. She tossed the furs off of her and pulled away from him like he had burned her.

"Zyra..."

She was silent as she hunted for her clothing.

"Zyra you can't ask me this."

"Why?"

"You mustn't."

"WHY?"

Her shout hurt his ears but the hurt in her voice pierced him more than her chord. Her face was in conflict with sadness and anger and he reacted irrationally.

"What do you expect?" he growled, his yellow eyes flashing. "Have you forgotten what I am? I can offer you no children, no comforts in your old age. I can't even escort you to the Marble Tree. Even a measly human male could do that much. What do you expect from me?"

"You told me you were a man!"she shouted, her eyes welling up with tears. "You made me a woman! Don't you even care?"

"Of course I care!"

"But not enough to tell me the truth."

Kail didn't answer her. So Zyra sniffed up her tears and put her clothing back on. She was on her way out the door when Kail stopped her.

"Wait...please."

She didn't turn, but she did stop by the door.

"Zyra I cannot leave here. No matter how I feel, no matter what I want I am trapped here. I have no family, no friends, only you. And if you decide at any time to leave me I can do nothing to stop you. You owe me nothing and that is what frightens me, to be truly alone."

She turned then and looked at him, the tears had made their way past her eye lids to the bottom of her chin. He had hoped he would never be the cause of her tears again.

"You think I am any less trapped than you are?"

Kail shook his head and smiled at her. "I'm sorry Zyra. I lied to you."

Zyra sucked in her breath as though readying herself for a blow.

"About what?"

Kail ran his hands through his hair and let out a long weary sigh. "I lied...that night when you asked me if I loved you and I...said no."

Zyra remembered that night, it was the night that he and Ginger had fooled around. She shook her head.

"How could you love me...and go do that?"

"Do you know when I realized I loved you?"

He chuckled as though the memory was a fond one.

"That night, where you plucked me out of the rain. I was alone, miserable to be honest and then I saw you Zyra."

He said her name like a reverent prayer and she felt her heart catch on his words.

"It was then when you took me to your tent, and you dried me that I...I didn't feel so alone. After my exile, after what I had done I was sure I would never feel a kind touch again. I wanted to repay you and you refused me. But you were cold and you let me hold you. I'll never know why, being as guarded as you are, but you did. For that one night, you were mine."

Kail shook his head as the smile melted off his face as his memory turned dark.

"But you sent me away. You pushed me back and you called me a monster. I understood what was most important to you and I knew it wasn't me so I told myself what I felt for you wasn't love. What I needed was a nice innocent emotionless fuck."

"And that's why you went to Ginger?"

"It's no excuse, but you pushed me away and when you kept pushing me..." his eyes took on an insidious look and he glared at her. "I had to push you back."

He sat up against a bench and gestured that she sit in the bench farthest away from him. She obeyed, curious to see where this was going.

"But when I pushed you Zyra you were on the verge of breaking. I thought what controlled me was lust, all this time I thought it was lust. If I could break you, if I could have your body then I wouldn't feel this way."

He shook his head as though the idea was ridiculous. "When you started crying, when you looked at me the way you did, I felt like you were right. If I wasn't a monster I was becoming a monster. I realized I didn't have it in me to break you. I tried to be patient and listen to you. I aimed to be supportive of you and only you, and suddenly you gave yourself to me."

Kail's face was solemn and though he spoke to her she wondered if he was actually having an inner dialogue.

"I can assure you there are few things in my life that will ever measure up to the feelings I had that night. I had thought, incorrectly of course, that if I slated my lust my desire for you would lessen. But it hasn't, it's only gotten stronger and more potent with time. You're like a drug Zyra. I can't get enough of you and I fear I never will."

"How long have you known?" Zyra asked, holding a hand to herself.

Could this be true?

"How long have you fully known that you loved me?"

"I can't say," he said lying back on his furs. "Maybe I've always known. Maybe I realized it the first time we made love. Maybe it was when I first met you and helped you masturbate in the forest."

Zyra stood up. The ogre had closed his eyes, unable to stand the sight of her. Even now, even with her eyes red and swollen from tears he wanted her.

"So now what? What do you want?"

He put his hands behind his head. "Well nothing I suppose. You're not exactly an Ogress Zyra, and I am not a human male. Ogres and Ogresses belong together. Man and woman do as well. I want nothing from you Zyra. I expect I may never see you again either."

"Why?"

"Your kindness will not allow you to be with me knowing our parting will destroy me. I can handle it now. I won't be able to later."

He heard a shuffling and let out a grunt when a weight settled on him. His eyes opened in shock as Zyra sat straddled over him. Her face was scrunched up in fury and her fingers wrapped around his neck. Even attempting to end him she looked fantastic.

"Did you even question why I would be asking you if you loved me?"

Kail frowned. "It's nothing you haven't asked before."

"Shut up! You're an idiot!" she shouted squeezing his throat.

He gurgled and clutched at her wrists but with her powers and her anger fueling them she was too strong.

"If...you're going to kill me...use your spear," he choked out.

"I hate you!" Zyra snapped, releasing him. "I hate you so much right now!"

"Then why are you on top of me?"

Zyra bit her lip and sucked in a deep breath again.

"I..." Her eyes threatened to wander and she forced them back to his golden gaze.

"I can't get enough either."

Kail felt his heart stop and he let out a low growl.

"You were a virgin it'll fade with time."

"I don't just want your body," Zyra said shaking her head in protest.

"I want you. I lo—"

"Don't," Kail growled viciously. He sat up, his fangs bared as though he was planning on ripping her throat out.

"You can have me until my cock shrivels us, but you cannot say that. There is no going back. I will never let you go back."

"I don't want to go back," Zyra whispered. She leaned to kiss him fangs and all and he growled again and held her at a distance.

"You're feelings aren't real..."

"Who are you to say that?" Zyra snapped. "You can't say that for me. No one can."

"I don't want to hope Zyra," Kail said stoically. He couldn't. It would kill him. Most exiles died within the first year either from nature's doing or their own doing. He wouldn't give Caligula the satisfaction.

"Fuckta, you think I want to? Knowing who I am and what I'm becoming? How less and less of myself I recognize?" she snarled. "The sun is setting Kail."

He looked at the slats in his hut and saw she was right. He went to stand up and leave her but she forced him down. Kail struggled against her but she held him with sheer will.

Her arms shook as the full brunt of Kail's overwhelming strength went against what was only enhanced months ago. He let out a horrible growl that made her shaking worse but she refused to let him go. Not when she was so close, not when they had found each other. After everything it had took for them to get there she wouldn't let him destroy it.

"That night...when you took me...you said that I was a slightly pink. You said...that I was beginning to love you."

"No!"

Sweat poured down her brow and she let out a growl of her own.

"Agh! What color am I now Kail? What color am I now?"

The sun was officially gone but Kail had closed his eyes. She held him and pleaded with him over and over to open his eyes. Her strength was waning and she knew he could feel it. It lessened and lessened until she knew he was letting her hold him.

Kail's eyes were screwed shut. He listened to her pleading but it fell on deaf ears. She had no idea what her love would mean to him, what his love could do to her. He knew he risked ever being with her again but he could live with that. If she didn't love him he could worship her just like all of her villagers. He could watch her from afar until he was forgotten or the witches had mercy on him.

"Can you die without knowing?"

He gritted his teeth.

"If I leave here I will never come back to again. I promise, but you will never know if I loved you. You will grow old and alone here and never know. Can you live without knowing? Kail, what kind of life is that? And you called me sick."

Like a child startled from sleep Kail snapped his eyes open. His chest compressed as he stared at her.

She didn't need to say I love you. The entire room was swirling with a pure light fluttering pink that floated up and down like leaves on the breeze.

She loved him. She really genuinely loved him.

Zyra found herself slammed on her back and Kail towering over her. That had hurt. She looked at him with offended eyes but he said nothing simply gripped her shirt with his claws.

"Don't look at me that way," he said, a fluid growl in the undercurrent of every word. "You did this to yourself."

Zyra gasped when he ripped the shirt off of her and threw the tatters to the side.

"Kail!"

He didn't answer and instead ripped her leg pants in two and threw her and her boots against the back wall. She heard something glass break but he didn't bother looking at it.

"That's my only..."

He pressed a scalding kiss against her lips and she decided the issue wasn't that important. When he pulled away if felt too soon, but she noticed that with each touch he seemed to become less and less human.

"Let me tell you the basics to ogre mating," he growled, tracing a nipple with the tip of his claw. She shivered both aroused and worried about the knife sharp digit circling such a sensitive area.

"It is rough and it hurts as much as it feels good. It is permanent, and it begins with courting. Courting ends when I catch you. And if I tilt your head to the side, don't tense your shoulders."