He handed his bloody dagger to Skahn knowing the lieutenant
would have someone else clean and sharpen the blade. With the screams of the
boy he just skinned ringing in his head the general sat down in his chair. He
drank deeply from the mug of dark, bitter ale. The taste of the ale matched the
general’s mood. Boys! The only opponent with the courage to face him are young,
stupid boys.
He wiped the blood off his hands and took another drink. He
wondered how his grandchildren were doing. The boy tonight was younger than his
namesake grandson, Luriumer, IX, the ninth in a long line of soldiers of the
Khan. He longed to be back lying in the sun on the shores of Lake Suppopri with
his long-suffering wife, Maeve. He missed the comfort of her body next to his.
The Plains of Lethe were the crowning achievement of his
career. The forces of Greth were men, at least. He was proud to dance the dance
of death with Inanna that day on the Plains of Lethe. The army of Greth
deserved to die. The soldiers of the Khan were soldiers for life. The forces of
Greth were only men in armor holding weapons, not soldiers. But at least they
were not boys!
The tanner would soon add another skin to his collection. He
remembered the first man to feel his blade. They caught that bastard in the act
of raping a young girl who could not have been more than five years old. He was
proud when the lieutenant gave him the honor of skinning the rapist. He wanted
that sick bastard to suffer. He managed to get most of the skin off before the
rapist died. It was hard to remember, but it was not until his fourth or fifth
time before he could remove all the skin and keep them alive, at least for a
while. He remembered his pride of skinning the rapist lasted only a few short
minutes. Then the lieutenant told him what he had to do next. They had no
healers or healing potions. The poor girl was in agony from the abuse from the
rapist. She would live her last few hours in terrible pain. His efforts to
comfort the poor young girl increased her terror. The touch of a man terrified
the girl. He managed to calm her. He remembered her sobs as he held her. He was
quick. The blade slipped between her ribs and up through her heart in one quick
motion. His action was merciful. The accusing look from the girl’s eyes as she
died in his arms haunted him for days. Killing the boys was another act of
mercy that would haunt him. He wanted to kill the parents of the boys. The boys
should have been home in bed not out trying to assassinate someone. He hated
the cloak-and-dagger attacks. He was a soldier, not a baby sitter. He longed for
a good sword fight. Now he needed to look under every rock for an assassin.
Boys! What next? Does he need someone to search the bottom of the latrine
before he can take a shit?
He took another drink of ale. The death of a few boys was
better than slaughtering another small town full of cowardly civilians.
He hoped the rumors were false and there was nothing here. The
commanders of the Greth army were not just incompetent, they were amazingly
stupid and naive. Broficult held the proof the commanders of the Greth army
tried to use the Gimp’s staff during the battle on the Plains of Lethe. He knew
they were desperate. But using an artifact from one of the Assimilated Ones was
insane. The signs were there for everyone to see. It was obvious Bryce the Wizard
lost his mind because of the staff. Only an artifact from one of the
Assimilated causes that type of madness. Someone took all of Bryce’s notes and
library. That was another thing to worry about. Bryce mumbled something about using
the power of the Blind Seer to make an Eye to find the staff.
He took another deep drink of the bitter ale. Greth used
powers from two of the Assimilated Ones: the Blind Seer and the Gimp. What
next? Where they stupid enough to try and raise and free the Assimilator
himself? Every child in the Khanate learn the story of the Assimilator. The
Assimilator viewed the Khanate as beasts, so he created beasts to destroy the
Khanate. The Assimilator created and unleased the Tronlth to destroy the tribes
of the Khanate. The Tronlth nearly succeeded. The binding of the Assimilator
and the Assimilated Ones allowed the Khanate to domesticate the Tronlth. Tronlth
now provide milk, cheese, meat, and leather. The Assimilator made the Tronlth
almost immune to magic. Few spells affect a Tronlth. Now the Tronlth are the
symbol of the power of the Khanate.
Luriumer emptied the mug. It was going to be a long day. Getting
rid of Thapent can wait. He needed to warn the Rabshaka (Commander of the
Marazzar army) that Greth dug up the Gimps staff. Retrieving the staff had to
weaken the spells binding the Assimilated Ones. He shuddered at the thought of
the Gimp getting free.
