Song of Echoes by R.E. Palmer

Author:R.E. Palmer [Palmer, R.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FrontRunner Publications
Published: 2021-07-11T22:00:00+00:00

24. to Plow The Plains

‘Leave some for her. She won’t be happy if you butcher the lot of ‘em for fun.’

‘Hang on, Grebb. Uldrak promised them a long, painful death. I’m only carrying out his order and I have a few tricks I want to try on these scum.’

Grebb scoffed. ‘Nah, he’s out cold after using that stone, he won’t stir for a day or two. But some of these fellows look useful. She’ll thank us for bringing ‘em in. I don’t mind angering him, but not her, no, not the lady. Even Uldrak is wary of her.’

The harsh tongue butchered the language, but Toryn recognized enough to stoke the dread in his gut. From the echo of the voices, he guessed the Ruuk had brought him to the main hall. And judging by his bruised face and the cuts to his knees and elbows, they had dragged him by his ankles down the stone steps from the parapet. Toryn risked opening a swollen eye. In the torchlight he saw the table where Captain Porek had delivered his speech to raise their spirits, but how hollow those words now seemed.

Toryn lay among forty or so men, all in a similar state; but he could not see Hamar. The two raiders stood close by. To his relief, they did not resemble the Norgog clans Hamar had feared. These must have been Ruuk from close to the Draegalen Trench as only their flat, wide faces and shorter stature set them apart from men of the Five Realms.

Toryn shut his eyes as Grebb called out. ‘You take this one’s legs. We’ll chain ‘em and load ‘em on the carts before they wake.’

The other cackled. ‘They won’t know what hit ‘em, eh, or where they are when they wake. Here, grab this one.’ The body next to Toryn slid back, leaving a streak of dark blood across the floor.

‘We’ll take as much as the carts will carry. That should be enough to please her. These brutes make good fighters, but you should see what they can do once she’s got inside their heads.’ He laughed. ‘We had a dozen of these boys at the border. Been with the lady for only a short while. We sent them in first and let them go wild.’ He spat. ‘Shame though, nothing left for us to do once they’d finished.’ He called over to the entrance. ‘Here, lads, give us a hand.’

More trampled into the hall. The body next to Toryn moved. Grebb yelled. ‘Not him, far too fat. He’ll take up room for two and I don’t reckon he’ll ever fight again. We can send him to work down the mine, or to the mountain.’ He cackled. ‘They can wedge him into the cracks to keep out the draft.’

Toryn squinted and saw a raider release Elwold’s leg. He groaned inside as another bent over the large man. ‘No, he’s mine.’ Toryn heard a chink of metal. ‘See. He wears the medal.’ He called out. ‘Hey, lads. This one will be good sport.

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