Ogres and Ogresses Ch. 26

"Meela! Habu Nadijd nana—"

Meela burst into laughter as Zyra stomped over to River. Glaring, she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him to the log.

"Ow ow ow!"

"Shut up! You're going to tell me what I want to know. I've had enough of your lip."

"Hedeeyas Naverd!"

"...What did you say to me?"

"He called you an ugly non-ogre." The young ogre woman entered into the circle, her eyes sad but full of spite. Medean watched her from a distance.

"I am Mourabet. I am Meela's caretaker,and I was there when Kail was seized by the witches." She took a seat beside Meela on the log, and tossed her hair behind her. "River does not know all the details, but he is too proud to say so. I will tell you why Kail was exiled."

"...Thank you."

Zyra stared at Mourabet's long flowing curls. They cascaded in wild bright bushy waves down her back. She had a pretty heart-shaped face, with eyes that were closer to the brown side of gold. Her upper body was curvy, and she had full round breasts. Her legs were thin and long for her tiny frame. She was shorter than Zyra, and carried delicateness about her despite her sharp thin fangs. She did not have the same look as Meela, nor Kail and River.

"Are you Kail's sister?" Zyra asked.

Mourabet smiled bitterly. "I am Kail's lifemate."

Zyra's jaw dropped.

"Excuse me?"

"I was to be his lifemate previous to his exile. We call it a fiancée."

You flat ass tiny mouth fuzzyheaded dwarf.

"Is that so? How long were you two together?"

Give me a reason to jump from this log. I swear to the Maker.

"Our whole lives."

"Is that so." She kicked a nearby rock.

The little ogress appeared mildly pleased to have shaken her. Zyra smiled.

Wait til I knock you upside the head with this rock.

"It has been arranged since birth," River interjected, rolling his eyes. "The Shashanen have to arrange lifemates it in order to avoid intermarrying within our community. It is not usual. All of us have fiancées, even I."

He looked behind him and snarled.

"Go away Kaela!"

A girl around Nima's age with straight yellow hair giggled and ran off.

He continued to growl low as he reigned in his irritation. "They are nothing but a nuisance, and Kail was lucky that his was unconsummated."

"You hush your tongue River," Mourabet hissed. "These matters are much too serious for a child to understand."

"I am not a child!"

While they argued, Zyra tried to appear unconcerned. Kail had most definitely not been a virgin when she'd met him. So he probably got around in the village. And the nymph valley, and maybe even with those lecherous witches.

She glanced at Medean whose eyes were drilling into her skull. Yes, even Medean had a healthy if concealed sexual appetite. It has to be a witch thing. Or a valley thing, or maybe something in general.

Kail's loyalty to Mourabet was probably out of obligation, much like the Rovian celebration. She was trying to get under her skin. Kail probably didn't love Mourabet. Not that Zyra cared.

"Well please, continue," Zyra said, breaking up their quarreling with a smile.

Mourabet gave her a pointed look.

"The previous keromedio was a young boy. He appeared from nowhere, alone, near our tribelands. He lived in a cave to the east, and ate the plentiful fruit from trees that had sprouted just a year before his arrival. He did not know where he came from, nor how he came to be. So we named the orphan Valor, took him in and raised him."

Mourabet smiled to herself as she lost herself in memories. She looked prettier that way.

Damn her.

"Valor was the best at finding medicinal herbs, and though we welcomed him into our huts, he was a wild thing. He stuck to the forest, to the leaves, and so we renamed him Valor of the Leaves. Valor appeared human to us, possessing no powers or abilities out of the ordinary, but we knew the Rovians were not peaceful towards menfolk."

Zyra shook her head. "We are peaceful! We merely don't live with men."

"Regardless, we knew you would not take the boy in. The witches did not come for him, so we left him be."

"That was very kind."

"No," Mourabet stated. "It would have been kinder to give him to your tribe. It would have been kinder for the boy to die."

Zyra didn't know what to say. Mourabet did not wait for an answer.

"Kail and I raised Valor. He was like Kail's younger brother. River was a baby and so unfit for tutelage. The Shashanen are a blacksmithing race, and so Kail and Valor were apprenticed to Kail's father, Kanusha. Despite our appearance, we are much older than you humans and know more of the world."

"It doesn't help your maturity," Zyra grumbled.

River shrugged. "Maturity is irrelevant"

Mourabet and Zyra looked at one another.

Mourabet sighed. "It does not help maturity in men."

"Agreed."

"Hey!"

"The boys worked hard, but it was clear to Kanusha that his adopted son was not strong enough to pick up the profession. He was the gentleness to Kail's brash brutality. So Kanusha let the boy work with Meela, and taught him healing medicine, where he thrived. By the time Valor was 18, he had turned into a fine young boy. He even had his eye upon some of the ogresses. Naverds are unattractive to ogres, but Valor was more ogre than human at that point. Kanusha and Meela had two hardworking sons. River was on his way. And Valor he..."

Mourabet paused, emotions welling up inside her. She took a breath, collecting herself. "He would braid flowers into my hair. We were happy."

Despite herself Zyra put Mourabet's hand in her own. "What happened?"

Mourabet sniffed looking at Zyra's hand suspiciously, but she did not pull away.

"The witches came for him. On Valor's twenty first birthday, the Three arrived and asked for the boy. Kanusha lied about his whereabouts, but it was only a matter of time before he was found. As they searched, Meela agreed there would be no good in the witch's designs. They planned to send him away. Kail decided to go with him and it was to be a secret, but some ogres...like humans, cannot be trusted."

"Who are the Three?"

Mourabet gritted her teeth, her hand starting to squeeze Zyra's. It was clear she did not hear what she asked.

"They feared the witch's wrath and cared only for their own green skins. And so, they revealed Valor's hiding place. Kail watched them take Valor, unable to do anything under the witch's magic, nothing but watch. Kanusha and Meela went to the Marble Tree and begged audience with Valor, but they refused. Our household wept, and the tribe has still not forgotten the betrayers. We did not see Valor for seven years. We gave him up for dead."

Zyra could feel herself pulled into Mourabet's story, into her mind, as images flashed before her eyes. A boy a green as a river bed with a tuft of bright red hair on his head, a wild green girl in a slip dress and sandals, a sun-browned boy with corn yellow hair. Their smiles as wide and infinite as the sky.

"A man came from the distance shortly after, a blue hood upon his head, and we feared it was another witch. Kail ran out to face him, a sword he had just made in his hand. We watched in astonishment as the figure spoke to him and Kail dropped the sword and embraced him. Valor returned to us a man. He told us that he had been made the witch's keromedio and told us what it meant. That his true name was Rowrain, though he preferred Valor. He was trained for the seven years he left us to assume this role. It was only after he accepted this role that they allowed him to go home. He said they had told him his body would go through changes, but he knew not what. I imagine underneath his happiness he was scared, but...he never stopped smiling."

Zyra nodded. She didn't like how similar their stories were. "It's what you have to do for those you love."

Mourabet nodded slowly. "I suppose I never saw it that way. He suffered, just as I am sure you suffered, but we cared for him the best we could. But Valor was different. We could feel his difference, taste it, smell it in the air. At that point Kanusha had grown ill, and Kail, his son, was made head blacksmith of our community. It was a lot of stress for one so young. Meela and I could only idly watch, but Valor taught Kail magic to help him. He taught him potions to help him and our community, but the people feared."

"That seems to be a trend," Zyra said bitterly. "But why would ogres fear magic?"

Mourabet pulled her hand from Zyra and fluffed out her skirts. "Ogres have innate magic. It was seen as sacrilege to alter our design. Valor did not want to cause trouble. Despite our best wishes, he returned to his hermitage in the woods. We visited him. He played with baby River, and would on occasion have the company of an ogress, but he never went back into our village."

Zyra felt the weight of the log shift beside her. Medean sat beside her, his eyes trained on Mourabet. The ogress recoiled visibly at the sight of him, her fingers twiddling in her lap.

"Please," Medean said pleasantly. "Continue."

Mourabet thinned her lips, but continued. "You asked me before who the Three were."

"So you did hear me."

And you ignored me. Lovely.

"I am surprised you know so little keromedio," she said. "Have you not been under the tutelage of two of the Three?"

Zyra frowned. "You mean Etaceh and Caligula?"

"Do not say their names so openly," Mourabet hissed. "In some parts of this valley they are considered curse words."

"Now that is something I can get behind."

River chuckled, a sound that was promptly cut off when he looked at Medean.

"Why is he so serious?" River asked, crossing his arms.

Zyra turned to him, and saw his pleasant mask in place. "Medean, are you alright?"

"Fine, mistress," he said unconvincingly.

"Are you?"

"We can discuss your concerns later. Miss Mourabet has yet to complete her thoughts."

"Right. Continue Mourabet."

Mourabet pursed her lips. "As I was saying, the Three are considered the most powerful witches in this region of the world. We call it the North Realm. They each have a realm I n which they rule. Etaceh is the protectorate of this valley, Caligula is actually the protectorate of the Dark lands, the purple and gray space that lies beyond the valley. They are powerful in their own right, but the last of the Three was more powerful than both combined. He was said to look after the realm of the monokeros itself. His name was Creedon. And Valor, was Creedon's son."

-

There was something fun about taking a walk through this forest. It reminded him of so many things, of so many memories. A Perkadu waddled precariously on a branch and he chuckled.

"Stupid creatures."

Striding in the light had been hard on his eyes at first, but soon he pushed past it, allowed his vision to settle, and he could see everything. A movement in a small outcropping caught his eyes. Two voices, one young and one old, spoke in breathless tones.

"Higher higher!"

Smirking he inched closer.

Nima giggled, her stomach rising and falling as Paj threw her up and caught her.

"Higher, higher!" she demanded.

Paj's arms quivered with each catch she made, until finally she placed Nima on the ground.

"I can lift you no more my liege," she huffed.

Nima wanted to protest, but she tried to be reasonable. Yes, that was what Auntie had told her. Reasonable was being kind to people who said can't.

"That's okay," Nima said with a smile. "Let's play tag!"

Paj sat on a log, her face full of irritation. "I urge you to make flower chains my liege."

"But I already made some!"

"This is a field of flowers. You can make more."

Nima she stomped over to the field and plopped down. "Auntie Zyra would never be too tired to play with me," she grumbled.

"I am not Zyra," Paj snapped. Rolling her eyes, she laid on the log. "My liege, you must adapt. If you are unmoving, you will not be able to face the challenges that come."

Nima didn't answer her, knowing somehow that the huntress resented her for pulling her from the hunt. She was eager in the beginning, Gharla had explained to her that Paj thought she had proved herself worthy to care for the Rovian's precious heir. Now, Paj felt that the huntresses were leaving her, and she tired of childcare.

"You know Paj, you could take me on the hunt. I could keep quiet and hide," Nima said softly.

"Out of the question," Paj sighed. "You are a babe. You have to earn your right to go on a hunt, and you have not the training nor the stature. I bet you don't even know the woods."

"I know the woods! Auntie Zyra—"

"Zyra is not here Nima! And Zyra isn't coming back!"

Nima dropped her flowers, her hands shaking. That fear, the one fear that none of the huntresses had dared speak to her. She stood, her eyes wild.

"You're lying!" she screamed.

Paj, realizing what she said stood to try to calm her, but it was already too late.

"My liege, I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"

"Shut up! You've never liked Auntie Zyra! You've always been jealous! And you're wrong! She will come back for me! You're wrong!"

Nima turned and ran into the forest, Paj shouting after her. Nima closed her ears to her, and ran farther and farther. She'd show her. She heard Paj's footsteps, but as she ran faster they faded. She had gotten away. Her heart racing, she headed towards the last place she had seen her Auntie. If her mom and Sisters weren't going to do anything, she would. She would bring Zyra home. All she had to do was go straight, then she could go to the place her Aunt was, and then she could bring her back. She'd show them. Paj and...

"UOof!"

She hit something hard and began to fall back, when an arm caught her and pulled her back to her feet. Looking up she thought she saw Rell, but it wasn't him. This man had green eyes. What were the men doing back here?

"Who are you?"

The man looked down at her, and smiled.

**********

*NOTES*

I am officially back from hiatus. I had plans to release two chapters in one shot, but I was having problems with the second chapter so I decided to just give it up. There is some good news however, by the time you lovelies read this, I should be done with my other chapter so wait three days and read "Ch. 27: Trust Me"

When Ch 27 drops I will reveal a surprise I've been working on. Comments as usual. You can thank your fellow fans for motivating me, and one fan who saw that I said I'd release on the 25th, called me out, but was understanding and forgiving.

*sniff* Sniff* I promised not to cry >.<

Love,

Forever Yours

-Stubborn Dreamer