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The burned carcasses of what must have once been impressive buildings were all around us. Thankfully there were no bodies, Vandalls or otherwise. Somebody must have come in here and cleaned all evidence of the slaughter later.
My foot hit a flat, half-burned ball and it tumbled through a burned-out entryway into a burned-out house. My eyes followed it, and I pushed down the images of the youngling who must have owned it.
Now more carefully, I set one foot in front of the other so I didn't make any more noise. It was so deathly quiet here that I was sure the sound of the ball hitting the ruins must have carried for miles on end.
We turned a corner, and I stared at the remnants of the mayor's longhouse. Its center was completely gone. Decimated as if a giant fist had slammed into it, setting everything around it on fire.
Uthar told us about the humans' superior firepower, Chrissy had explained about bombs, and even Alahna had confided what she knew about what the humans called bombs and missiles, but in my wildest dreams I could not have imagined the kind of destruction they had tried to describe.
What and who can do such a thing?I wondered.
I was a battle-hardened warlord; I witnessed cruelty and the damage the slice of a sword or battle axe wrought, to flesh but this? Nothing in my life had prepared me for this. This level of brutality? Nyck, not in my wildest dreams had I been able to picture this.
We didn't even slaughter the hated Udruns this way.
On the other hand, I had seen what the Vandalls did to towns they conquered, and one could say that some kind of divine justice had been meted out here.
It was only a small consolation though, and I heartily doubted that the Vandalls would see it that way.
"Is this how you entered the village?" I asked Chrissy once we left the last house behind.
She nodded, looking miserable, and I didn't have the heart to ask her if it was because of the destruction her people had wrought here or because of what had happened to her and her squad. I imagined the reality lay somewhere in between. I liked to think that I had gotten to know her well enough to say she wouldn't condone the kind of brutal violence that took place here before she and her squad had been surprised.
She stopped and pointed to the left. "Over there is our FOB, about five miles from here."
"Good, we'll need to be more vi—"
"Halt!" a voice demanded.
Startled, I looked up and faced five Vandalls with strung arrows in their bows pointed at us.
I pulled Chrissy behind me. "We come in peace. King Uthar sent us."
"He told us to expect reinforcements. Where are your warriors, Warlord?" a tall male, who I assumed to be the leader of the group, asked, lowering his bow, but the others kept theirs trained on us. "And why do you have one ofthemwith you?"
Too late, I realized Chrissy's white uniform, visible even underneath all the layers of fur, called her out to be one of the humans who had invaded the Vandall territory.
"She is our ally," I said, stepping forward and holding my arm out even though the thought of touching the Vandall sent shivers of revulsion down my back when all I wanted was to run him through with my sword.
The male also stepped forward, and we laid our hands on the other's shoulder in a signal of peace that went against my core. Though I was disciplined enough to not show my revulsion.
"I am Kendryx, Warlord of Dokkymburg," I introduced myself. "And this is Colonel Christina McGuire of the Terran Confederation."
The male spat to the side, making his dislike of Chrissy known. "I am Lord Thorodoth," he introduced himself. "King Uthar bid me to stay behind with warriors to keep an eye on things and share our intel with you." He turned his head as if looking around again, even though I was sure he already knew it was only Chrissy and me. He and his group had most likely been keeping track of our progress for longer than I was comfortable with.
"For now, it is just the colonel and me," I explained.
"I came to speak to the Terran Confederation to demand they stop the senseless attacks and make peace," Chrissy said, emerging from behind me, and I suppressed the urge to push her back.
"I'm afraid we are past speaking to one another," Thorodoth replied, taking me off guard with his almost courteous voice and demeanor toward Chrissy, raising other emotions in me, emotions I didn't like.
"If that doesn't work, the colonel has promised to be of assistance to us in fighting them," I said before Chrissy had a chance to reply.
"What about the other warlords?" Thorodoth turned his attention back to me, but I noticed his lingering looks on Chrissy, which threw me off even further, because the Vandalls weren't known todilutetheir bloodline. If any of their rapes resulted in the kallini becoming pregnant, she and the baby were killed, if she hadn't been already dead after the act. Just one of the many things that made me hate the Vandalls.
I scrutinized the Vandall from head to toe once more. He was young, younger than a male in his position should be, and he uncannily resembled King Uthar.
"You are King Uthar's son," I concluded.
