The Bound Folio by Rob J. Hayes

Author:Rob J. Hayes [Hayes, Rob J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ragnarok Publications
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

By My Life and My Bloodline

“Hurry up,” Irris said as she threw the gambeson over her head and wriggled until it fell comfortably. It pulled on her long tail of hair, but it was better the gambeson pull on her hair than the plate that would go over the top. In the chaos of battle, her enemies might take any advantage, including tugging on a loose tail.

Someone banged on the door, and Irris glanced at the heavy wooden portal. The Drurr did not like axes and it would take a small age for them to break through with nothing but swords, but that didn't make the time they had left any less precious.

“Stop fidgeting,” the human slave, Benr, hissed as he fitted one of the metal greaves around Irris' left calf and tightened the straps.

“I will hold them back as long as I can,” Matriarch Ohlenas said, her eyes wet with un-shed tears. “You must get them as far away as possible.”

Irris nodded and looked to her charges. Little Ehln and Lorri, so much alike Irris could barely tell them apart until Lorri spoke. Ehln never spoke, not even a single word. They looked so scared and innocent, and they were. They were guilty of no crime other than existing. Their mother, the Matriarch, was the guilty one.

“I will speed you along as far as I can,” Matriarch Ohlenas said. “But they will come for the children. You must hide them where they cannot be found.”

Irris lifted her arms as Benr and his mother fitted the rounded, metal breastplate onto her chest. It was snug and heavy, but Irris was used to it. She had fought in more battles than she cared to count, and she had seen the face of death many times. Her armor had the scars to prove it.

“Hide them well.” Benr wheezed as he put all his strength into tightening the straps on her breastplate.

The Matriarch would be punished for her crime, and the punishment would be severe, but she would live. Benr would not be so lucky. The poor human would likely be skinned alive and fed piece-by-piece to the creatures that lived in the deep caverns. His end would be torment and would last for as long as the Senptals, masters at torturing the human slaves, could draw it out

Weaving her hands through the air, the Matriarch channelled her magic into a portal. A shimmering oval of light formed.

Benr fixed the right pauldron onto Irris and tightened the straps.

Lorri ran crying to her mother, but Matriarch Ohlenas could spare her child no attention, the concentration of bringing a portal into existence was far too demanding.

“Child,” Irris snapped. “Come away.”

Lorri ignored her.

“Ehln,” Irris said, “draw your sister away from your mother.”

With her usual silence, Ehln obeyed, pulling her twin away from their mother. Lorri’s weeping became louder, sending shivers through Irris.

The pounding on the door turned into a hacking; the Drurr had found themselves an axe or two after all. “We're out of time.” Irris pushed Benr away as he came at her with the left shoulder plate.

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