War of the Races Ch. 38

The scream that burst from my body was raw and angry, agonized by grief. Coella, Tsukino, and Usagi came running up and I let them take Glenna from my arms. The giant golem Hlina had her hands over her mouth. Huxian, Bastet, and Leandra looked at me in pained empathy as I stood and turned on the remnants of the svartalf army below.

The largest concentration of svartalf warriors was the five hundred or so soldiers that had circled around the Tunglvatn to come up behind us and were pushing their way up the ramp. In the purest rage I've ever known across two lives I called out to Seline for power, and I instantly felt her with me.

Without thought or will I began to transform. My long golden hair changed and became as black as space as it floated up and danced like a flame above my head as the glories of the universe were revealed. My skin changed fading from chestnut brown to a brightly glowing moonlight white. My emerald green eyes filled, whites and all, with a liquid ink overcoating flecked with starlight. Quebracho and Sequoia retreated to the bracer, leaving me naked as my glowing skin became aflame with a white fire that burned everything except the bracer and the Claws of the King.

My feet lifted off the ground as I began to levitate, and then I was raising my hands. Small threads of pure white Moonfire shot from my thumbs and fingers and collected in my palms for a split second before a beam of liquid white fire shot from my hands and struck the soldiers pushing Huxian, Tampa, Shahad, and Orsa up the ramp.

Male.

Female.

It didn't matter anymore.

I don't care anymore.

Whomever those beams hit fell and died cut into two pieces. Whatever the beams of Moonfire hit simply ceased to exist. Burned to nothingness in an infinitesimal fraction of a second. With wide sweeps of my arms, I killed hundreds within seconds. Not one warrior that came up behind us was left alive, not even when they turned and ran.

Turning back to the main army I saw that they were picking themselves up and staring up at the broken wall. They seemed to be deciding whether to retreat. It was too late for them. It was far too late.

Sweeping my hands across the battlefield, I cut thousands of soldiers in half. I screamed as I unleashed my anger and it was glorious! By the time I spent my rage, only a small fraction of the army that had occupied this same ground only minutes, or hours ago, was left to run away.

As I calmed, Seline's Solace slowly withdrew from me leaving me in my original villralfar form. I felt so exhausted suddenly and turned to Hlina. She was back to normal too and holding Glenna. Soon she was joined by Huxian, Usagi, and Tsukino who all hovered around Glenna as if they could do something to bring her back to life.

At Hlina's whispered direction they started removing the weapons impaling Glenna's body. Gathering my wits I transformed into my arboreal-form to heal and rejuvenate everyone within the area of effect of my pollen. Huxian and Orsa looked over at me gratefully. Tampa and Coella looked anxious as they tended to the children.

Once the spears and swords were removed Hlina took special care in healing Glenna's torn body. Then, she called Huxian over and directed her to kneel at Glenna's feet. She called Usagi and Tsukino next and placed them to the right and left of Glenna, then lastly she called Coella over. Orsa and Tampa approached but Hlina told them, in Gaia's voice, to place Huxian's female infants at the remaining eight locations around Glenna to complete the dial of the eight phases of the moon.

Hlina laid Glenna's head down on the ground and stepped away as Rena, the oldest of the infants, was placed just above Glenna's head. Coella was occupying the 1:30 position while Tsukino was occupying the 3 o'clock position. Lisa, Huxian's second daughter, was placed in the 4:30 position while Huxian was in the 6 o'clock position. Sionnach, Huxian's third daughter was placed in the 7:30 position while Usagi occupied the 9 o'clock position, and finally, Azeria, Huxian's final daughter was placed in the 10:30 position.

"I'm not a priestess," Coella objected weakly as her nerves began to make her twitchy.

"I'm not even..." She looked at Tsukino and Usagi asked, "What are you two exactly now?"

"Shrine maidens," Tsukino answered.

"We're still considered priestesses," Usagi added.

"It doesn't matter," Hlina/Gaia answered, "What matters is that you are all aligned with Seline, and blessed by her."

"How will this affect my babes?" Huxian asked in typical motherly concern.

"If this succeeds," Hlina/Gaia answered with absolute sureness, "Then Coella and your daughters will be anointed as Seline's shrine maidens. They will not be harmed."

Huxian nodded hesitantly and Hlina motioned for Orsa to take a position behind Huxian while she stood over Rena. The words that proceeded to come out of Hlina's mouth in Gaia's voice were of no language I ever heard. It seemed musical in nature and I found my mind drifting, unable to concentrate on her voice. Then, suddenly a beam of white light connected the earth and sky, and high above the moon. The light encompassed Glenna, Huxian, Coella, Tsukino, Usagi, and the babes but did not touch Hlina or Orsa.

Burza landed nearby and Tampa came to stand beside me. My other avian wives encircled the white beam before we all witnessed a transfigured winged minotauress with four arms, four massive breasts, a shapely waist, broad hips, and shapely well-rounded buttocks and thighs descending from the moon. Slowly, Glenna's body began to levitate up and turn upright so that Seline was able to enfold her in a hug. Seline's voice then joined Gaia's in chanting a celestial song no one could understand.

My first clue that Glenna was better was when her skin began to glow moonlight white before changing to a supernatural shade of pitch black with changing scenes of the cosmos. Her long hair began to move to and fro as if it had a mind of its own and it was intent on trying to cover Glenna's nudity, but it didn't float as it had before. It did however fade to a glowing moonlight white. Lastly, her eyes changed from a dead, filmy, glacial blue to first alive and alert and searching for me before slowly filling with a liquid black speckled with glowing white stars.

Glenna coughed then moaned but Seline was not finished. As we watched, Glenna's body transformed until her hips and behind were as wide and thick as before. Her breasts grew even larger and were even more supernaturally perfect. Seline gave Glenna four arms, hooves for feet, a tail, and this time, large angelic wings and horns that sprouted from the sides of her head above and behind her long pointed ears before curling up and around the small moon replica hovering above her head. Once the tips of her horns were at the 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock position around the moon they curved out at those angles like clock hands before ending in points.

As the final part of the ritual, Seline pulled Glenna up with her own four massive hands and arms and kissed Glenna fully and sensually on the mouth. Their kissing lasted minutes as Seline and Glenna's tongues explored each other. Then, Seline withdrew and said something in a musical voice no one but Glenna and Gaia understood and began to ascend, returning to her abode on the moon as Glenna slowly sank until her hooves touched the top of what remained of the wall. The moonbeam winked out and a darkly celestial Glenna was left standing where its center had been.

As soon as the ritual was over Huxian moved to check on her babies while Coella, Tsukino, and Usagi stared at each other. They had been changed as well. Their skin color was now moonlight white as well as their fur and hair. Their eyes remained unaffected, but all of them were several times more voluptuous than they had been originally. Usagi, as the only rabbit of the three, rivaled Huxian in voluptuousness of bosom and roundness of hip, who was now fully healed and healthy from her post-pregnant state. Coella and Tsukino, both hares, had originally been long and lithe with small breasts and slim hips only when compared to the rabbit's broad hips and well-rounded bottom, and curvaceously sensual form. However, though still tall and lithe, Coella and Tsukino's hips and thighs were thickly curvesome and their breasts were very very large, if not quite as large as Huxian and Usagi's who were only a little smaller than Glenna's.

When Huxian turned back the blankets covering her children she found that like herself, Coella, Tsukino, and Usagi, each of her daughters had moonlight white skin and hair. And, they all had a mark on their foreheads for one of the eight phases of the moon.

"Are the children well?" I asked Huxian, but it was Glenna who answered, "They are fine. Better than fine! They are anointed as Seline's shrine maidens!"

Huxian nodded as she began wrapping the babes and hanging the slings over her shoulders.

"Let me take a couple," Orsa offered just as Tampa stepped up to help as well.

As they sorted themselves out I approached Glenna. Her clothing. The underbust corset and chainmail skirt were gone. One had been torn off her in battle while the other was removed by Seline. Glenna was completely naked now. The only thing offering her any covering at all was her glowing white hair which had miraculously grown out until it was able to drag on the ground. Not that it ever touched the ground. It moved about Glenna constantly as if it had a will of its own. It teased and hinted, exposing most of Glenna's nudity while sensualizing her body. Sometimes it hid her sex and the nipples of her breasts. At other times Glenna's hair didn't seem to care one whit how exposed she was. The only possessions left to Glenna to wear were her bracers, bracelets, bicep bands, rings, toe rings, anklets, and other more intimate jewelry such as nipple rings and such.

Glenna still held Moonfire in her left hands and Seline's Justice in her right. She didn't seem to realize until she looked down at them. She looked like a goddess, or maybe an angel with those black wings spread out behind her back. Like her body, they too were portals portraying an ever-changing universe across their feathers.

Glenna took a hesitant step toward me and dropped Moonfire and Selines's Justice. They didn't clang to the ground though. Instead, they hovered hammerhead and blade down an inch above the ground. The haft and hilt were up as if they were ready to be grasped by their mistress once more. Then, Glenna was pulling me into her four-armed embrace. We kissed and hugged and all the while her hair and tail wrapped around me like living things unwilling to let go of me!

We kissed for what felt like a long long time. We continued until Hlina, who was grinning broadly, cleared her throat and announced, "You two may want to wait until tonight for that. It seems that Aalyn is ready to surrender."

Our kissing stopped.

Pulling away I was just able to see that Aalyn, escorted by Forelain, was indeed approaching. Glenna, however, would not let go. Keeping one primary arm draped over my shoulder she wrapped the lower arm around my waist. For my part, I wrapped my arm around her waist just below her wings and settled my hand on her opposite sumptuously curvesome hip and buttock.

When Forelain and Aalyn finally got within yelling distance of the wall Aalyn yelled, "I, General Aalyn Abendroth, surrender to you, Lord Viridian Vale!"

She knelt then on the ground in obeisance, abasing herself while still holding her sheathed sword in both hands in an offering of surrender. Glenna along with Burza, her daughters, and Shahad took flight while I transformed into a hybrid-eagle harpy and followed. They all landed before I did. Hlina along with Bastet, Huxian, Leandra, Orsa, Tampa, Usagi, and Tsukino marched down the ramp opposite the wall from us. Then, Hlina sank the wall into the earth along with all the loose rubble strewn across the battlefield leaving only the bodies of thousands of svartalf. Some were not dead. At least, not yet. Only severely injured, but no one would come and help them until permission was granted for them to do so.

Landing a few feet behind, I approached Glenna who was standing in front of Aalyn and Forelain. Aalyn's expression was unreadable since she was nearly kissing the ground. Forelain, however, had a fearful, awe-inspired expression and her eyes never wavered from Glenna. Transforming back into my alfari-form Sequoia and Quebracho clothed me. Burza moved to let me in beside Glenna.

I glared at Aalyn but didn't speak. There was so much I wanted to say, but I feared that I would kill her if I opened my mouth. After a few minutes of silence and staring at our feet, she finally said, "I offer my sword and my General's knots in surrender."

For one very long vengeful moment, I considered taking her sword and cutting off her head. After all, she had done this. Started this war. Killed my mother. Endangered my wives and children. Threatened my home and people. Glenna must have been reading my mind though I knew that was not one of her abilities. Maybe it was a skill of mothers or wives, being both she must have a double dose. Either way, she took my hand in one of hers and whispered, "I am alive dear heart, and our lands and peoples are safe."

I didn't even have to turn my head to know she was shaking hers.

"Stand up!" I growled more roughly than I intended but my emotions were all over the place.

Aalyn hesitated for only a second before standing without using her hands. Carefully she held them out and continued to offer her sword in surrender. Lifting her head, her eye flashed hotly as she said in what I imagine she thought was a meek tone but failed miserably at, "I am beaten. You have beaten me. Now, please, accept my unconditional surrender."

Walking up behind Aalyn and Forelain came Sinaan, Fjallindae, and Ra'Shaal, each escorting Aalyn's Lieutenant Colonels, who had somehow, for the most part, all survived, and what remained of the priestesses. Once they were some fifty feet away, Fjallindae gave the command for the captives to do obeisance. The Lieutenant Colonels unclipped their sheathed swords and offered them as well.

I glared at all of them for a long time, but mostly, I glared at Aalyn before finally saying, "I did not come here seeking war, nor property, nor another wife! I came here hoping to make peace!"

When I finished and realized I was yelling.

Moderating my volume, I continued, "Look around you. Look at all of this needless death! I did not want this. You did."

"I had my orders," Aalyn began, "If I had refused--"

"Fuck orders!" I screamed as spittle flew from my mouth as I cursed.

I was shaking with rage until both Glenna and Hlina moved to comfort me.

Aalyn knelt again, but this time her eye was fixed on the ground in front of her. She was too strong a female to be cowed, but she was smart enough to know I held her life in my hands. Her arms shook from still holding her sword out in an offering of surrender.

In a much softer, more docile tone Aalyn explained, "If I had refused to obey my orders, and returned to Idavollr with you and your mother/wife/goddess, I would have been stripped of my rank and executed. My lieutenant colonels would have been prosecuted and executed for not stopping me. The priestesses with me would have been shunned if not sold as slaves. You and yours would have been arrested and sold into slavery. My mother and my entire House might even have been destroyed as a result of the shame against the city. So, as you can see I did what I must."

The explanation did cool my anger. I could indeed see her predicament. However, it did very little to soothe the ache in my heart for all of the soldiers that lay around us dead or dying.

Shrugging out of Hlina and Glenna's arms, I approached Aalyn and took her sword out of her hands. I unsheathed it and placed the tip of the blade to her throat. Tilting her head back, she looked up at me. She never flinched. She didn't even bat her one good eye.

"We have destroyed your army," I whispered.

"Yes," She replied simply.

"How can I come to your people in peace now?" I asked, "This is an act of war..."

"Yes," Aalyn agreed again.

Withdrawing her sword from her neck, I returned it to its sheath. Aalyn watched me as I looked around at what was left of her army. There were maybe twenty left not counting the Lieutenant Colonels of roughly four thousand. I could hear moaning across the battlefield.

Turning to Forelain I said, "Strip her," then added, "Strip them all. I leave it to you to confiscate all of their possessions. Matron Forelain, I put all of the captives under your authority. They may have a blanket and a flask of water, that is it. Priestesses too, then send them out to heal and revive as many as they can."

"Yes, Lord Viridian," Forelain replied formally, to which Fjallindae voiced in her honeyed voice.

"Take it," I said as I handed Aalyn's sword over to Sinaan. He accepted it graciously but not feeling so gracious I added, "I kept my promise."

"Yes, you did," He replied with a bow, "And I thank you most adamantly for sparing my sisters' lives."

I gave him a respectful nod then said, "I remand your sisters into your care."

"Thank you, Viridian," Sinaan replied.

Epilogue-

Our camp was moved from where the wall had been, the center of what some were beginning to refer to as the Battle of Black Sky while others named it the Moonfire War. Whatever people decided to call it, at the moment it was the center of four thousand dead bodies. So, we joined Forelain and her retinue of maids where they had watched and awaited the result of the Battle of Black Sky.

Not much was seen of Forelain, Ra'Shaal, or Fjallindae for the rest of the day. As a matter of fact, not much was seen of Glenna, Hlina, Orsa, Coella, Tsukino, or Usagi either. When I asked Huxian she explained that every priestess or shaman capable of healing was out looking for those still alive or injured out among the dead.

Kissing Huxian, I left her in Shahad and Leandra's care. Bastet smiled as she closed in and matched my pace.

"Where are we going my love?" She asked as she entwined her arm with mine.

"Off to lend a hand with the healing," I said as I transformed into an arboreal.

My healing was limited and very intimate. Glenna wasn't the jealous, or possessive sort, but Hlina was, and so was Bastet. Coella was more jealous of my time spent with Huxian, mostly because she disliked the voluptuous vixen. However, anytime Huxian required protection Coella was somehow always the one there. The others, Leandra included, saw my mating with more females as natural. For Shahad, I was the King and the king must have a very large harem and even greater numbers of offspring to ensure the continuation of my lineage. So, after listening to Hlina and Bastet, who were the most sensitive about the subject, I elected to offer rest and restoration to priestesses who were doing the healing and resurrections by allowing them to rest within my pollen's area of effect.

Before she left, it was Glenna who took me aside with Hlina and Bastet in tow.

"My love," She said in her motherly voice, and I knew I was about to be corrected, "I do understand that you are trying to be faithful to the vows and institution of your marriage to me and all of your other wives. However..." and now she looked directly at Hlina and Bastet as she continued, "If you are going to refresh and restore all of us who are healing and reviving the injured and possibly the dead, then you absolutely will have to be willing to offer the 'Contribution for Power'. When it comes to priestesses you must look at intercourse as a transaction, not intimacy. We need life force to power our spells, and you are the most abundant source of procreative power here. Hlina, I know your feelings for Viridian. Bastet, I know yours as well. Over the next couple of days, you are just going to have to get used to the idea that Viridian is obligated to provide the 'Contribution' so that we may have the 'Power' we need to heal as many as we can."