Disposable Hero Ch. 04 Pt. 01

She handed the gun to Henri in the same manner as he had to her.

She was wondering why he was teaching her and asked, "Now, why are you teaching me to shoot really?"

Henri figured the truth was needed and said, "We are going to the elven village and if things go bad I want to take as many of them with us as we can."

She was shocked as he put on his fatigues, donned the Blackhawk thigh holsters and got ready.

She said coldly, but felt a little excited, "You're expecting trouble aren't you."

He nodded and said, "You always prepare for the worst and hope for the best and that is what I am doing. If we ride in looking for a fight then maybe we won't need to fight."

She saw that he hated this thought, but agreed with his caution knowing that the surface elves would not be happy to see her. That description was a huge understatement. As she mounted the horse it dawned on her that it was her turn to be the teacher as she explained to Henri how to mount a horse and he climbed on the back they rode off following the directions on the map. As they came to a clearing he looked up and noticed it was around lunch time and asked to stop.

Dismounting, he could feel the pain from sitting on the back of the horse and wondered how people got around on them. As Zilvra dismounted she too felt the aches and pains of riding a horse. She knew they were different from a lizard but after about an hour, she felt very confident riding the powerful animal.

After lunch, they looked at the map. She had to trust his reading of it as she wasn't sure of the markings on it. He looked at it and told her that they couldn't be too far from the village and asked her to scout around while he looked for more landmarks. Little did he know that the elves had eyes on them already and had for about an hour or so. The rangers watched from far enough away and used bird calls to communicate with each other. They had been ordered to bring them to the village by the sage herself, even though they didn't like the thought of leading a Drow to their home and wanted nothing more than to send her to the abyss, where her kind belonged. As they fell back leaving a trail to be followed, thought they were impressed they were maybe a kilometer from the village, many a traveler had detailed directions and would still be several kilometers away.

When Zilvra came back she told me that there were tracks and that someone watching Henri and her. He suggested that they continue on foot because it would be easier for them to fight if needed, she nodded in agreement.

Henri leaned closer and whispered, "If it comes to a fight that horse will run. We will use that as our shield and then you will follow the horse into the forest and keep going. I will slow them down."

She knew he wouldn't have much trouble catching her with those damn long legs of his.

He continued, "If the shooting starts shoot till the pistol doesn't, drop it and take out another."

She nodded and would ask why later. After about 15 minutes they came to a clearing with a small trail and saw the village about 500 meters away. He was impressed that a village could be so well hidden; he knew Zilvra could hear a fly having sex at 100 meters and she hadn't heard anything. As they got onto the trail about 20 men came out from the village and took up defensive positions. He drew his weapon as he stopped. He told Zilvra, "Watch my 6." She looked at his ass and was going to say something when she heard a noise to her left and spun to see 4 men with bows trained on her. She drew one of his pistols and pointed it, taking the safety off.

He saw 10 men with bows standing behind the town guard and if these men were as good as Zilvra with a bow Henri knew getting away would be painful, if not deadly. About 5 minutes into the standoff an old woman came out with the most amazing green eyes he had ever seen. Next to her was a small child who looked to be about 7, maybe 8, and stood in front of the soldiers.

The old woman said, "We mean you no harm, I just don't want anything to happen that we would both regret." She hoped he would listen.

Henri said wishing to avoid a fight at all costs, "Call the archers off and it'll go a long way towards me believing you."

She ordered them to leave. When they left he lowered his weapon and told Zilvra she could holster her weapon, too. Henri asked the old woman for her name.

She thought for more than a few seconds then said, "It has been so long that I have almost forgotten. In folklore I am most often called the Witch of the Wilderness. I am Afron, the sage of the high elves."

He said, "Private Henri Bordeaux USMC. Nice to meet you mam and this is my friend Zilvra Hla'ath."

He held out his hand and shook hers gently.

Thinking, 'At this range I could snap her neck in a heartbeat if anything funny happened.'

With a voice filled with innuendo, the old woman smiled and said,, "Is that all she is?"

Zilvra shot Afron a very nasty look, while Henri just laughed it off nervously.

She continued, "You can take off that ring, I have been waiting for you to come and have prepared accordingly. Isn't that right young one?"

She looked straight at Zilvra. Henri looked at Zilvra, she confirmed that she can understand Afron.

Henri took the ring off and asked Afron, "You said you were waiting for me, what you did you mean by that?"

He knew in the past a sage had foretold of such things, but not in his time.

Zilvra couldn't understand anything they are saying now the ring was off Henri's finger. She fought the urge to draw his pistol and get some answers. After all she could understand the Elf's native tongue but not him.

Afron smiled politely and said, "Not just you but the young one as well, but I don't see the other one or the priestess. The Great Creator speaks to me regularly and told me of your coming. Wouldn't you like to know why you are here? And I don't mean for the horses."

She could barely contain her laughter as he got excited about finally learning what had happened to him. He thought that the Great Creator might be the same as the Great Spirit that Native Americans had. Elves seemed to live something like the American Indians off the land, so he guessed they could have other similarities as well.

He was trying hard to remain composed and asked, "Can you really tell me why I am here, why we are here? What priestess? Belar isn't a priestess..."

His words fell off as he realized that she was talking about Dirzune. He tried to hold his excitement back at the thought of finally getting some answers. Afron just nodded and told them to follow her and the future sage. She indicated the little girl next to her.. Her home located on the outskirts of the village on the opposite side from where they entered. Going through the doorway, it appeared simple in layout. There were two rooms, the bedroom and living room. Zilvra could feel the magic in this room, it felt like a ward but not for protection. She thought, 'maybe a rune of use like a glow ward or a shower rune,'

As they all sat in a circle on the floor as Afron said, "Shall we get down to business? The Great Creator has chosen you to be her guardian Henri."

Zilvra's eyes went wide as she understood everything that she said and noticed Henri still didn't have the ring on.

She spoke plainly as if this happened every day, well maybe it did happen to her, every day.

Henri asked thoroughly confused, "Why me? I am sure there had to be somebody better for the job."

Like a mother explaining to her child, she replied, "For 10 years the test for the guardian has been made all over your world and you were the first to resist the temptation."

He said questioningly, "Are you telling me that because I wanted to give the things I found in the temple to the right people that made me the right person to be the guardian, I had no use for those things and I didn't want to see them destroyed is all."

She explained still sounding motherly, "Your men would have kept everything, perhaps sold them or they would have been souvenirs for them. You on the other hand thought of others in a time when nobody would have known any different. This is who you are and why the Creator chose you, when you took the sword, the Creator took you from your home because she knew you needed help to do what needs doing."

He asked completely lost, "Just what am I supposed to do, exactly?"

Afron looked at him and then to Zilvra, "You must open the gates and they must protect you here and help you gather the lost afterwards, the time of renewal is upon us. You do know what that means young one."

Zilvra looked on stunned, as a child she had heard tales of the renewal and now she was going to be a part of it, this changed everything for her. It did answer some questions she had, but left others hanging.

Henri asked with concern in his voice, "What gates must I, I mean, we open?"

Being a catholic the only gates he knew of were the ones to heaven and hell, so this must be something like Armageddon.

Afron replied, now sounding more like a teacher than a mother, "Your planet is at the center of the planes and realms and the Great Creator and her husband have set a time when those who have been punished will return to this plane and be judged. This trial is why you are chosen, you see some souls when they are released don't want to return and run from judgment and you and your chosen will judge and send them to the correct plane. Some have served their time and paid for their sins and others of course have not."

She spoke she drew a picture of several circles and showed all of these lines crossing into one point.

She continued, "Your planet is the only one that all of these lay lines meet in, and it is at various points on your planet that they meet. Every 5,000 years on your planet there is a grand conjunction where all the realms and planes open onto it. If there is no guardian to send those back to where they came from and protect those who will stay then your planet will be a lifeless world only suitable for war every 5,000 years."

Henri tried to comprehend and said, "Ok, let me see if I understand. The four of us have to go back to my world and open a gate for some great war. We are talking about Armageddon aren't we? How are the four of us going to be able to get all these things back to where they belong?"

Afron asked, "Why do you think that you four are the only ones going?"

Now he was lost and looked a Zilvra for help she was just as lost as he was and shrugged her shoulders at him.

Afron continued, "You will meet five more who will help you with this quest, one of them is outside and I will bring her in now if you like. Henri you are not a normal human any more. The Creator has given you great magic to help you protect your party and to open the gate on Earth. The one outside will teach you how to use spells. Another will teach you about the types of magic, for you have both types. Your magic is what we call wild. It is formed from the forces of this planet itself and you shape it to your need. Shall I send her in?"

Henri looked exasperated, not looking forward to the answer; he asked anyway, "You mean I have to protect another woman?"

The sage looked at him and gave him a very motherly smile saying, "Henri, I know you're uncomfortable around women and after what you have been through I don't blame you. I have good and bad news. The bad news is that all of your companions are women. The good is that they were chosen for their skill and to help you overcome your, for lack of a better word, 'fear' of women."

Zilvra remembered how nasty her sisters had been to Henri, how they had beaten and raped him. She knew this had left scars on his soul, but even she doubted what Afron was saying.

Thoroughly embarrassed Henri said, "When you are always the freak, you don't really like being around anybody. Growing up in Japan I was always looked down upon, because of what I was. I didn't choose to be this tall, or have eyes like this, not to mention this hair. I just wanted to be just like everybody else. So I wouldn't call it 'fear', more like why bother? Girls didn't really pay me much mind because of how different I was."

His voice was not much more than a whisper. Again Zilvra was shocked, true he was dangerous in more ways than one. Yet even after he nearly destroyed Shynta's knee when he tried to escape, did she ever feel that he was afraid of her, or afraid of hurting her. Yet here he was shrinking in front of an old woman.

Afron tried to cheer him up, despite how shaken he was, by saying, "The dark maiden is the one who came up with this plan. She has watched you for a long time and I think she sees this as a chance for you to be around women. Finally you will have a chance to find that which you want most, a family of your own. Now before you tell me you have that, you want a family like your parents had so tell me do those two give you that feeling? I think not."

Henri couldn't stand it anymore, he was angry and embarrassed. Rising to his feet, he said, "I have a family and I only want to know how to get back to them. Frankly if that means laying waste to this entire planet then I will, but it doesn't mean I have to sit here and listen to some old bat tell me about my destiny, or my short comings. As for the gods, and whoever else wants a piece of me, I got a slug with their name on it. You can take this sword and shove it so far up their collective asses that they can hang their hats from it"

With that he shoved it into the ground and walked out.

***********

After her night with Henri and her daughter Lumiere, Belar was in no mood to deal with anybody let alone Henri. Belar was almost joyous to see him nearly kill Ethevrar'yl when she tried to exact a little revenge for him embarrassing her.

Belar was distracted by feeling that she had no business carrying a child right now. This coupled with the fact that her child was speaking to her in her dreams, which from everything she knew was impossible, made the distraction doubly so.

She wanted to ask her mother, but didn't want the attention, so she decided to ask Dirzune if she had dreams when she was carrying her children.

With her mind made up she walked over to Dirzune and Rikton. They were inside the cave to escape the bright, and painful, sunshine. Dirzune had been watching Belar for a while and wondered when she would seek her counsel.

Dirzune asked, "What can I do for you, Belarbreena?"

Belar was at a loss on how to phrase her questions. She knew that giving too much information could be dangerous, trying to sound curious and feeling this was the best way to get her answers. So she asked, "When you were carrying your children did you have dreams of them?"

Dirzune knew Belar was pregnant and knew something must be off for her to take such a direct route, so she decided to answer back just as directly saying, "It is about time you asked somebody about what it is like being with child."

Belar was taken aback by this and knew any hope of being on even footing was now gone, but what would be the price of this exchange? She replied, "How long have you known?"

Dirzune knew that things needed to change if the prophesy was going to come true. But until she saw signs to the opposite she would tread this new path extremely cautiously and said, "For some time now. Rikton was the first to notice, he saw the new aura in you and I have noticed you getting feelings from your child. Are you having dreams of your child?"

Belar just nodded as Dirzune continued, "I didn't have any and I have never heard of such a thing. Normally we get a general well-being of our child and increased magical potency while we carry if we are magically inclined. What type of dreams are you having? And who is the sire of your child?"

Belar explained in a hushed tone not wanting others to hear her, "The sire is Henri, but I don't see how that matters. I had a dream yesterday of meeting her in a place that she made. She told me it was just like Henri's home. She even showed me two people and said they were his brother and sister."

Dirzune was at a loss as to what to say about the dream but she knew that children got their magic from both parents and turned to ask Rikton, "What do you think Rikton? Would a half breed be able to do those things? I have never heard of any Drowess having dreams with their child let alone the child creating a dream world for them. Do you have any ideas?"

Rikton, always the teacher, pondered for a great deal of time before saying, "From the information I have only we elves can commune with our unborn.

"But to say it isn't possible for an elven mother to dream with her half elven child would be presumptuous at best, just because it doesn't happen with a pure blood doesn't mean it can't happen.

However, from what I know about the half-demons such a thing has never happened.

So we are left with questions like, are you dreaming because your child is a half-elf and half-human mix? Is this a result of the fact that Henri is the guardian?

Those are just two of the questions we need to find answers to. It is worth noting this down if we are going to a planet that is full of humans then that might make race mixing an eventuality if we are going to continue as a race."

Belar liked how rational Dirzune was being and found that Rikton had a lot of wise things to say. She just found it odd and kept wondering when the other shoe would drop. Her people weren't nice without a reason and sharing information freely was even rarer.

She was still lost as to whether should she keep her child. If she got rid of her child she wouldn't have to worry about it, on the other hand she could keep her child and protect it with her still growing magic.

It did bother her that her own daughter was able to speak with her and more so what she had to say to her. She wanted answers before she got rid of her child. She wondered if she would be able to commune with her child like her child had with her last night.

She asked, "Do either of you think I would be able to commune with me child like she did with me yesterday?"

Both Rikton and Dirzune looked at each other and pondered for a moment, Rikton broke the silence saying, "I don't see why not. In all my studies of communing a mother can usually induce and even control what is going on, I'll admit this is something new.

However, I don't see how you cannot. Who knows,your child may be waiting for you.

It is very interesting and I really want to record everything that happens. Who knows, you may be the mother of the next guardian or guardians."

Belar tried to recreate exactly what had happened last night. She felt herself being pulled into a huge room with a 4 post bed with a canopy above and curtains on the side that were a thick purple with tassels at the end. The wood was a rich mahogany with intricate carvings of vine and grapes with rolling hills and a river on each post of the head and foot board.

Belar rose and headed to the window that had a view of the yard behind a small fence. Unlike last night though,everything outside was dead. She saw there were two skeletons on the road, just the other side of the fence, before the wilted vineyards. The clouds were a dark gray almost black they were so dark.

Belar heard a sound behind her and turned to see her daughter dressed all in black with a veil over her face.

Belar asked, "What is going on? Where are those people I saw yesterday?"

Lumiere did not respond but walked up to the window and pointed to the skeletons on the road. The hand she used was bony and the skin seemed to be draped over the bones in her hand.

Belar continued hoping this would go better than it did last night saying, "I came here to talk with you and get answers."