Disposable Hero Ch. 04 Pt. 01

Chapter 4.2 is with the editors now and I hope to have it up in a few weeks.

I want to thank everybody for their comments and feedback, you all have been a great help in making this story better.

This tale would not be possible without the incredible team. My rough editor Anubismark who gets to see my awful rough drafts and makes them understandable. My continuity editor Traff who helps me keep to the story. My finishing editor BunLover who helps put the final and often embarrassing finish on my work.

Please Vote and Enjoy this episode of Disposable Hero.

Thank You

Bokhun

*****

The Truth Comes Out

The Gathering

Gabriella studied Belarbreena and her attempt to get closer to Henri and wondered to herself how that would affect his relationship with Zilvra. Were the Drow capable of love? From what she knew they weren't, but she couldn't call herself an expert.

Questions swirled through her mind such as; "Was this why Drow from the Foreverdark were chosen, so that they would learn of love? Or to trust? Why not use those Drow already on the surface? They seemed kinder and they already served the goddess Eilistraee. What about his other champions, the ones that would bear his mark and be guided back to Earth by her? How would they react to dealing with these Drow? Most of who served Lloth. Why hadn't her father told her about the dragon soul being merged into Henri so slowly? Had she done the right thing giving Henri and Zilvra chaos magic? The codex gave him rune magic as a defensive measure but it was part of the weave and would be useless against the magic eater, she had no choice right? He could conjure but that was from the dragon and the codex. If he knew dragon speak he could have killed them. Did she unknowingly make him a chaos mage?"

She looked at Zilvra and her aura and had even more questions; "What would chaos magic do to her latent psionic abilities? Judging by her aura her abilities were now much stronger. She understood why Zilvra hid them down below but on the surface they could prove very useful. So why didn't she use them? With the elfin rangers in the very woods they were sleeping in she should, right? Would she develop magic like Henri was developing and become another chaos mage? She doubted it; with the amount of chaos in Zilvra's psionic abilities she thought Zilvra might be a "channel psion", able to channel and amplify the magic around her regardless of the situation. She worried that her desire to protect them may have opened a door that can never be closed.

Gabriella was watching over Henri as he slept, while keeping an eye on the young Drowess who she knew was going to do something to him. If she did try it while he was sleeping Gabriella would have to intervene and that would mean taking the life of the Drowess. Although death was something Gabriella dealt with all the time, taking a life was something she really didn't want to do. She moved closer, standing next to both of them ready to help the keeper if needed and hoping that she wouldn't.

Just before dawn Henri awoke and saw Ethevrar'yl leering over him with a look of utter disgust, she had had all night to plan this and now was the time to strike.

She said with complete venom and conviction, "I should have killed you in your sleep and we could return to the Foreverdark, who knows maybe I will tonight."

He looked at her and shook his head tired of how pig headed all of them could be and saying, "For Dirzune's kid you are really slow! How long do think you would live with assassins hunting you there? For the love of whomever you pray to, try using that thing on your shoulders once and a while, you'll live longer."

Gabriella was not pleased at this. She knew he could be combative as she had seen yesterday, but at this rate she would have no choice but to take the Drowess's life.

'This one clearly isn't a forward thinker' Henri thought. If Henri was being honest, most of them weren't, they had trouble dealing with the forest because of all the trees. He liked it better when you just cut the trees down and don't have a forest to deal with.

Ethev flew into a rage, struck him and said, "I am the eldest of my house and I don't need the advice of a weak male and weaker human. I would drag them back in chains!. They are the ones that Intra wants, not us, or at least not me. I would rid this world of you and whatever vile magic you are using on them."

He saw the dagger in her hand. Gabriella was ready to strike to protect who she had sworn to help, wishing it wouldn't come to that. She hated visiting Lloth, and this one was her priestess and would be brought automatically.

He just smiled and retorted, "If it wasn't for me you would be dead now. Do you think Zilvra and Belar would have trusted you to get this close? They would have killed you when you tried to get the wagon to stop! So get your fucking head out of your ass and learn a little gratitude. You thought your home was tough? Well guess what, I have news for you. There is always somebody bigger, and badder, in this world. And up here we don't care how bad you are because you will be alone."

Her reply was to strike him repeatedly thinking she was teaching him a lesson, not only in respect but in the power she thought she had. His eyes went cold as he reached up and grabbed her by the Adams apple sinking his fingers into it, she had seen him fight in the pit but had no idea he was that fast. The look in his had her on edge she had seen many a priestess with the same look before a sacrifice was made.

Henri whispered in her ear his voice full of promise, "It takes 15 pounds of pressure to crush your Adams apple and my fingers generate about 25 pounds of force, so right now all I need to do is squeeze and watch you die."

He watched her start to move her dagger closer.

He told her, his tone never changing, "You will be dead before you can strike me with that."

She felt his iron grip start to crush her throat and understood the truth, she had underestimated him. She put the dagger back in its sheath and let go of it.

Henri stood and looked down at the much shorter Drowess saying in a voice loud enough for her to hear, "If you EVER try anything like that again I will kill you. I am not your slave, or anything else for that matter. And I haven't forgotten what your people did to me, nor have I forgotten what Belar and her sisters did. I don't like you. In fact I hope you fuck with me again. So take these words to heart, cross me again and I will kill you! Fuck it! Look at me wrong and I will gouge your eyes out with a fucking spoon, make soup from them, then skull fuck you. Do you understand or should I just remove those eyes now?"

She nodded, but he could see the venom in her eyes and knew this wasn't over by a long shot. Henri let go of her, walked over to the wagon where equipment was sitting and grabbed his fatigues and weapons. He looked over at Ethevrar'yl with loathing. He wanted nothing to do with her and wished from the depths of his soul that she would try something. Walking over to Zilvra, in a clearly pissed off mood, Henri kicked her to get her up.

She looked up at him, annoyed, and asked, "What was that for?"

He ignored her question. Instead Henri said in a cold unforgiving tone, "Get up! We got to be at the farm just after dawn."

"Are we going to practice before going?" She asked, wishing for a few more minutes of rest under her warm blanket.

She hoped they would, she found this way of fighting interesting. You didn't need strength but speed. The idea of your whole body being a weapon made her feel giddy at the thought of mastering this "martial art" as he called it.

Henri shrugged not really caring, and said, "We don't have time, the sun will be up shortly. If things go good today, we will at sundown."

She got dressed and wondered if human males had their lunar time, she smiled at the thought. She turned and ran to catch up to him as he was walking towards the farm.

As she caught him, she asked, "Can I have the goggles?"

He shook his head denying the request and said, still sounding distant, "Let's see how long you can go without them on."

After about 30 minutes the light was still not a problem. be she saw the clearing and knew she would need them soon, the shadows cast by the trees minimized the pain she felt from the sun. He stopped, and turned, to hand her the goggles. With them on she saw clearly for the first time the swelling on the right side of Henri's face.

, "Henri, what happened?" she asked. Zilvra was not really concerned for his health, she just worried he would leave them because of it.

She pointed to his face as she took the goggles, her eyes never left him because she had seen him like this and he had hurt people when like that. He looked at her and for the first time in a long time she saw anger in his eyes.

His sarcasm was apparent, as he shrugged, and said very coldly, "Nothing at all. Just you everyday Drow love".

She wanted answers and asked again in a more demanding tone. Henri was clearly annoyed, took off the ring he was given by her mother that allowed him to see in the dark and understand all languages. Then Henri told her what happened in French. Zilvra looked at him not understanding a word he said.

She was livid at the thought of him in this mood. Would he leave because of that? Why was he angry with her? She hadn't hit him

'How could he?' she thought. Deep inside she felt fear. For the first time she was truly afraid, but of what? Losing a much needed ally? A mentor? A friend?

She wondered what had happened that had him this angry. He had been beaten before so he should be used to it.

Henri walked up to the farm house stopped and remembered that he would need to bring her to the house to get the horse. Walking back he grabbed her unceremoniously and went into his pack which he had left next to her. He took out something that must have looked like make up to her, it was camo paint. He took her face and mixed in other colors to make her look less like a Drow as he made her face look dirty hopping they would think she was a surface elf. Using his left hand he grasped her chin and held her so she couldn't move her head. With his right hand he began to apply the various colors, trying to make Zilvra less like a Drow. His hope was that if her dirtied face would give her the appearance of a surface elf.

She wondered what she looked like as he said "done."

He took out a mirror and showed her, she could see that her Drow skin now looked dirty and wondered why? Henri bent over and pulled some small thin branches from the bushes and some from the tree. With the materials he needed, he began putting them in her hair, and then he wove her hair around the branches. Henri handed Zilvra the Wakazashi and the Long Bow and pulled her out and onto the road with him.

Putting the ring back on Henri said in a demanding tone, "Take the goggles off when they come, I know it will hurt but which would you rather they think you are, a Sunkissed or a Drow?"

She asked understanding the make up but not the branches, "Why did you put make up on me and the branches in my hair?"

Henri turned her around and pointed to the tree with lines like she had on her face and on the branches had something that looked like snow.

He explained, "Human eyes aren't very strong and if you were to stand next to that tree in the shade most humans wouldn't be able to see you unless you moved."

He started walking up the road and said, "You are my dumb Sunkissed scout who uses hand signals to communicate and you are wearing camouflage to hide yourself better, you magically changed your hair to match the trees, got it?"

She just nodded and followed along, getting into character thinking this wasn't going to work and they would have to kill the family. Walking up the road leading to the farmhouse he saw the youngest child sitting on the porch playing with a doll. As he got closer, Henri called out for Mikhail and his daughter turned, saw him, and ran inside to get her father. When Mikhail came out, she followed him peeking out from behind her father. Henri knew he had an admirer and put on his most charming smile and she became very shy and hid again behind her father. Henri knelt down and asked her name. She didn't answer at first, but after a little prodding from her father she said "Valkirya" He thought for a minute and thought it might be Valkyrie and asked her father for confirmation.

Mikhail nodded and said that it was from the Eastern part of the Cataracts where they had come from. Henri smiled and asked her where her sword was. She smiled turning red, looked at the ground and shrugged that she didn't know. He thought for a moment and told her that a Valkyrie needs a sword and he would make her one but she had to practice so bad people couldn't hurt her. She smiled at the thought of a gift from the tall stranger.

One of Mikhail's sons brought the already saddled, huge horse around for them.

Mikhail looked behind Henri and asked, "Who is your friend?" pointing to Zilvra.

Henri said, "She is Zil, our scout. She doesn't say much but can you argue with a Sunkissed in the woods?"

He saw Mikhail smile, miraculously his plan had worked.

He laughed said, "No, I guess you can't. Sunkissed? That's a new one, I've never heard of them called that. But I swear they must be made from the forest itself, the way they can just disappear in it. So, where are you going, so I can direct you?"

Henri told him, "The elven village. I don't like the thought of leaving the camp unprotected for too long and taking a scout away from patrolling wouldn't be smart."

Mikhail shook his head and said, "Henri it looks like you have seen your share of combat, to think of being attacked all the time, nothing ever happens out here. I mean maybe an ankheg at this time of year, or wolves from time to time depending on how bad winter is, otherwise even bandits tend to stay away from here. If you wish, you may camp here we have a bunk room in the back for harvest time."

Henri sighed and said, "It must be nice to live in peace, ever since my 18^th birthday I have been fighting and it gets old after a while. Well we have to get going if we are going to make it back here by night fall. Thank you for the offer I will bring it to the caravan leader."

With that he took the map and handed the horse's reins to Zilvra and watched her mount the horse, Henri chuckled a little as he saw how little she looked on the huge horse.

Henri lead the horse towards his pack and heard, "Henri don't you know how to ride?"

Henri shook his head no, "Never learned, she seems to be doing a good job so I get to enjoy the bitch seat" he shouted back.

That drew loud laughter from Mikhail and his son.

When they got back to the woods Zilvra said, "Zil? You couldn't think of anything better? Why don't you mount up?"

Henri pondering the map and what he knew about the relationship between Drow and their surface cousins said, "We need some things in my pack and you are going to learn how to fire a pistol now."

She nearly fell off the horse when he said that. Wondering why he would trust her? Was this a set-up?

She asked, "Why are you going to teach me? I could use them on you."

Henri just sighed not wanting to admit that even he thought this was a bad idea and said, "So far the only person I can trust is that goddess from my dream and she called you one of her children. So let's just say that I am putting my faith in her, not you. You can't tell any of your family about this. Trusting you is a huge risk, trusting them is foolhardy."

She was surprised at his candor and knew he was right, she was shocked that she would be learning such magic and all she said was ok. She knew he had had some sort of run in with her family and knew that was why he was in a bad mood. When they got to his pack, he told her to dismount the horse.

Henri took out his pistols which are holstered and said, "These are BlackhawkBlackhawk thigh holsters, notice the grip is in the back. This is a DeSantis horizontal dual holster notice the grip is in the front. These are BlackhawkBlackhawk Check Six holsters they are behind you or at your six. From now on when I mention things I'll include a direction. I will say 12 o'clock this means straight ahead. To your right just a little is 1, keep going right 2, 3 o'clock is on your right, 4 back right, 5 almost behind you, 6 behind you, 7 behind and to the left, 8 behind to the left closer to your left side, 9 left side, 10 left front closer to side, 11 left front and back to 12. From now if I tell you to move to my 6, where do I want you?"

He asked hoping he wouldn't have to repeat himself.

Zilvra answered questioningly, "Behind you?"

Henri smiled and continued, sounding like his drill instructor, "This is a 9mm Beretta. Effective range is 30 meters."

He walked away from her and turned and said, "Anything inside this point is a good chance for a hit, even for you."

He walked back and held the pistol up saying, "Which hand are you?"

She stops and thinks and says, "Right"

He explains all the parts of the pistol.

Henri explained, "Put the grip of the pistol in your right hand with your first finger on the trigger guard away from the trigger. Now put your left hand below the trigger guard here and use it to steady your trigger finger."

She did as instructed and he continued, "You see those marks on the top? Look through the first mark at the back of the pistol and line it up with the second mark at the front. Keep it centered so you see the same thing on the left of the second mark as on the right of it. Make sure it is level. If the first mark is higher than the one in front, then the bullet will go downwards and if the second is higher the bullet will go up. Aim for the middle of that tree so that the top of those marks are in the middle of the tree"

He looked to see whether she was holding the pistol too tightly.

Henri said, "Just hold it tight enough to keep it steady. Too tight and you will hurt yourself when the pistol recoils. Remember, the bullet is going to go faster than sound can so holding it tightly will hurt you."

Zilvra was surprised when she heard that this little thing could make a small piece of metal go so fast that you couldn't hear it. Not that she understood but she knew she heard his guns fire and they were anything but quiet.

After checking her new grip and seeing it was correct Henri continued, "Place your feet a shoulder width's apart, lean forward a little. When you pull the trigger the gun will jump. You need to hold on tight enough that you don't drop it but not too tight that you fight that jump, or make it hard to aim. When you pull the trigger the gun will push you back, let it, don't fight it. But don't let it throw you to the ground either. The gun will want to go up, let it as it goes up push it back down gently, you don't want it to hit you in the face. When you're ready to fire hold your breath and squeeze then you begin breathing normally. Now we don't have time for me to teach you, so after each shot I will correct you, if you miss you miss no big deal. On the first shot I want to see you hold on to the gun and not get hit by it, this is learning the hard way so when you're ready, shoot."

Zilvra tried to remember everything he said, as she leaned forward and fired the loud bang caused her to drop the pistol. Henri asked her what was wrong she said what she thought was wrong. He told her what to fix and she fired again this time she held onto the gun but she got hit by it due to the recall. Henri again corrected what Zilvra did wrong and she fired her third shot. This shot hit the tree low and to the right. He made more corrections and could see that she was starting to understand. She lined up her shot and fired. With this shot she hit the tree closer to the center and fired again, hitting the tree. Zilvra couldn't hear very well from the shots and the fact that she wasn't used to the loud reports.