Love as a Form of Binding Ch. 18

Lewis Crowe was happy. It had taken a few days, but he'd finally gotten Grrta to the point where he could take his lovely girl out into the town and walk with her, showing her the most mundane things and loving the way that everything was a source of amazement to her. They'd gone to a little eatery that he knew, and though she'd been very nervous about doing something wrong to embarrass him, Lewis didn't care and there were no mishaps anyway.

Grrta was pleased and happy, and that was all that he cared about, as he parked his little car under the trees. They carried the bags of their purchases to the door of his little cottage – just like any couple would, and he fished his keys out of his pockets.

After they'd struggled a little to get everything inside and into the kitchen, he turned back to go and shut the door.

But it was already closed, and he stared at the individuals who now stood in his little foyer. Grrta noticed the silence and she looked around the corner before she gasped.

"Hullo, Mr. Lewis, sir," Thiery said, with a bit of a bow, "There's some things needin' Grrta's help. This is Illa. She's my – "

"I'm Thiery's girl," the imp grinned proudly. She looked to the doorway and waved a little, "And you must be Grrta?"

Grrta bounded out of the kitchen to fly into her brother's arms. That lasted for a few seconds before she repeated the deed with Illa, the two hugging each other tightly for a moment before they drew apart to look. "I'm so happy te meet ye," Grrta said, before turning to Lewis, "What is the right thing te do here, Lewis? Should I make tea or something?"

Before Lewis could get over his shock and form his answer, Thiery cleared his throat. "We havna time fer that, just now, though we'd love that. There's a problem at the castle, down below, Mr. Lewis. It's been decided that we're te take ye both there. Mother's needin' Grrta te speak te some goblins that was found far down. "I don't know much about why, I'm afraid. I'm fer just killin' 'em and bein' done."

"Well that's just your delicate way te handle things, isn't it?" Illa smirked, "Ye do know, my love, that there's other ways te deal with wee problems, yeah?"

She looked at the two others, "And there's about a hundred and fifty of the wee problems at the moment, so we was sent te fetch ye both."

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It was early evening and if one was perhaps foolhardy enough to be close enough, one might have seen two large slayer demons standing in the December breeze.

Brinack stood with Gortruk in the late twilight just outside the entrance to the Goblin Ha doors. Tereth had been taken away to be seen to by Mother. Gortruk was still wearing a lot of Tereth's blood and looked about ready to kill something, anything.

"No one finds fault with you, Gortruk," the general said, "You did what was asked. So little in the way of arms, no armor, and faced with ten ogres, it is a wonder that you pulled him out at all. You could have dealt their deaths to them easily all alone, but it is another thing entirely to have to defend someone in the open and all alone."

She sighed in complete understanding, "It changes one's options."

"I could have done better," the slayer replied in a quiet personal growl, "I should have done more to protect Tereth. I know why you pulled me out of the line. You thought that I would take my feelings out on the goblins, but you should know me better than this."

"I do know you better," Brinack replied, "but why take the risk? Besides, the way that you look wearing that blood and with your face so grim, it cannot help anything down there. Your scouts can handle a few like that easily enough. What I want to know is, why are you so upset, old friend? It is not like you."

The response was an exasperated snort.

"No harm was to come to Tereth - and it did. Tereth is hated here, I have heard," Gortruk said, "I know nothing of the reason for it. But I do know that Tereth is a good hunter who is hard for a scout like me to follow or track. That hunter knew nothing of me following, and yet I had trouble. It was as though I was following a ghost, Brinack, Tereth is that hard to keep in one's view. Hard enough to track, but to keep in sight, one needs to be close, and to be that close, is to lose the stealth of it. I wish to learn this ability. Also, I, ... "

"You have sudden feelings for Tereth?" Brinack asked, "Gortruk, I can see this plainly. There is no mystery to the way that you look to me."

The slayer looked off into the distance, but Brinack saw the nod. "Yes. I do not know why and I cannot help the way that I feel. We knew each other for what? Not even an hour?

I do not know the way of the speech that they use here. I felt like a fool as we talked. I felt like a child who could not speak well when Tereth explained to me what was wanted. Yet we understood each other well enough I thought, so Tereth went out and was almost killed."

The slayer turned to look at the general. They were alike in many of their dimensions, though Gortruk had a longer mane which now blew past that face and the slightly tormented eyes. "The hunter fought well, as I said. I just was not able to get there soon enough. I had my own troubles. But when I did, I saw only blood everywhere. You saw only a little, Brinack. There was far more left on the ground behind us and his blood ran over us both as I flew.

Tereth looked up at me and said the strangest thing - that I was a beautiful friend – that I am the most lovely one of all."

"Well, that only means that Tereth's sight had not failed yet," the general smiled, "You have always been famous for your beauty among us."

The slayer's head shook, as though brushing off the compliment. "Tereth asked me for a kiss. In the middle of all of that, his blood leaving him, and with the goblins coming, waving their shovels, Tereth asked me for a kiss!"

Brinack smiled, "And?"

The slayer shrugged, "I gave it. And then my troubles really began." Gortruk looked over, "I have never been kissed like that, Brinack. Never in my life, and it was only for an instant, and only one kiss."

The general grinned, "We have known each other from our nights in the pits, standing back to back and killing whatever came to us in double matches. You were the only one that I could trust then, and you trusted me just as much. In all of that time, from then until now, I have never seen you like this."

She laughed a little, "I have watched perhaps thousands of demons throw themselves at Gortruk the beautiful slayer, and you remained unmoved, no matter what was done. Yes, you took what was offered often, but it was never anything to you, was it? And now? A single hunter brings Gortruk down, likely without meaning to at all, likely only as smitten with you as the rest, but perhaps that was one arrow that Gortruk was a little slow in dodging."

She slapped her hand on Gortruk's shoulder affectionately, "Come, old friend. Leave the ones down below to their fate, since it will involve me while I see what they want. I see the ones approaching who are to speak with them and I am needed down there too. Go and see how Mother fared bringing your hunter back, but wash this blood off you first."

They parted company there before they were seen by Lewis and Grrta, who now approached wondering what was to be asked of them.

That was the start of a very extraordinary trip for Lewis. He and Grrta were led inside the castle, into the lower levels, and he tried very hard not to stare at the thousands of demons who stared back. "These are the legions of another demonlord, Lewis," Lily said as she guided them, "They have no interest in humans, though they will be staying here now. It is what lies below this hall which interests them very much. Come with me."

On the way down, the pair stared at hundreds of large demons in armor as they formed up and the sections placed for what looked like some sort of battle not yet begun.

"This is merely preparation for the worst case," Mother said, "I doubt that these will be needed, but they are also here for a bit of a show to intimidate the ones who were found here."

As they walked nearer to the crop growing areas, they saw the goblins being hemmed in and rooted out of corners by one section of fighters. There was no force used other than growled orders, though the fighters were armed and had their blades in their hands.

"What are these?" Lewis asked, "Since I was perhaps fifteen or sixteen, I've sought information on any sort of demon that I could find out about. As you might imagine, the majority of what I could find turned out to be a mile and a half off," he smirked a little, "but I've still been able to learn quite a bit. These here, I've never heard of or uncovered a single scrap of knowledge about."

"These are slayers," Lily said, "They do not come to this plane very often, if at all, which is likely a good thing in general. They began as pit warriors – something like your Roman gladiators. These particular ones were selected for the legions of the one demonlord that I mentioned who you'll likely meet in a moment."

She continued as they stepped through the stream, "What has happened today, is that a hunting demon came here, wanting to explore this area. I had a notion that he might do this, so I asked the leader of all of these slayers to provide one slayer to protect him in case he got into trouble. What they found together is a source of food for the legions, but the workers here seem to want to put up a little resistance. They can be herded, but as soon as they can, they move back to block us. I think that they are protecting the food supply here.

I could likely translate for both sides, but I want Grrta to do this, so that the goblins might feel a little less threatened."

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Grrta stared, looking at the group of goblins who now stared back at her with just about as much wonder in their eyes. There were many others standing behind them, all of them armed with rudimentary weapons, shovels, rakes and hoes, mostly.

She shifted her speech to the form that was spoken by these goblins. "What is it that you want?"

"Wait," the one who appeared to be the spokesperson said, "where are you from?"

"Up there," Grrta pointed, "I'm part goblin. I was held in a cage to be food for the king."

Several of the ones who had been close enough to hear made expressions to show their distaste.

"You are not alone;" the leader said grimly, "some of us were taken too."

"Why?" Grrta asked, "You are goblin."

"Different kind," the one in front of her said, "This was our cage.

We have food," she said, squaring her shoulders, "Enough to feed all. We grow it here, though we were forced by the ogres after the fall of the king. We see that things are different now. We want change for us. We want things to be better."

The eyes of the speaker drifted around the group which stood before her, taking in the hundreds of slayers who stood ready to kill them all, waiting only for the command to begin. She knew that they were on rather shaky ground here, but she thought that they had at least something to bargain with.

"We wish to make an offer."

After translating, Brinack smiled coldly, "Does she know how little time it would take to clear them all out? Tell her that we are prepared to hear what they offer."

When she'd heard what was said, the leader nodded. "You can kill us all easily. We know this, but it would buy you only enough food for a time. We know how to make it grow and we can do this for you, feeding your many forever, but we have conditions. We hope that they are not too much to ask of these ones here.

The work is hard for us, and these ones are strong. We would like some help, and with that, we can feed all easily. We have no males for us here anymore, "she said. "It is not such a large loss to us, but we see the ones here and we wonder if we can make a bargain. Do these ones look like the leader there?" She related the rest of their offer.

The general was intrigued when she heard it. She turned to one section, and their leader barked out a command. The goblins gasped when they saw the front rank of the section remove their helmets. The females began to chatter quietly among themselves.

Brin turned to Grrta again."What do they wish for? Say this to me again, Grrta. I do not wish to misunderstand. Say this plainly to me."

Grrta grinned a little. She understood what they wanted perfectly.

"What they're wantin' is a good fuck and often," she said, "They're prepared te offer food and teachin' on how it's grown if they get help with the work, and they get te have a lot of fun afterward. They like the look of the ones that ye command. They hope that they're not too ugly fer the demons that ye lead, and they'd really like it if they could find one at least fer each of them te fuck with on a regular sort of basis, if ye ken what I'm sayin' here.

They'd be over the moon if they could each find one in yer bunch here that might love them, but they're not all that hopeful for much beyond a hard fuck fairly often. There's also, " she paused, "well there's also a few of them what likes a girl more than a boy, d'ya ken? She said that those ones would take what they can get , but they'd like it if they could find one here for them among the girls as well."

Brin turned to Kerry, who only grinned and nodded.

"Tell them that the details can be sorted out later," she said, "Tell them that we are interested, but that they are mistaken. These are only a little of what I command. I command over ninety thousand slayers. I'm sure that we can come to some sort of satisfactory arrangement to the benefit of everyone on both sides of this."

The leader stared for a moment and then she smiled, "I'm sure that I did not understand the number rightly," she chuckled, "I thought that I heard –"

"Ninety thousand and more," Grrta smiled, "and about a little less than half are female, from what I have been told. Believe me, there are many, many more up there. They all look the way that these ones do. Is there enough food for that number? Can it be grown?"

The leader nodded emphatically, grinning now, "Oh yes, it can be done. We only wish for the chance to choose. We have never had this before."

She turned to the others and spoke a few words to them. The response at first was the sort of open-mouthed delighted smiles that one might see on a child's face when presented with a birthday present at a fairly early age.

They looked at each other and then they began to laugh and cheer.

"I think that we have an agreement," the leader nodded with a smile.

Kerry smirked, "From their sounds, one would think that a drought has ended."

Grrta laughed quietly, "Well I know how a lot of goblin girls are treated, and these ones are a different sort, so they'd only come in for worse treatment. It's lookin' te me like their menfolk didna do much te protect 'em, and there are no girls here big enough te give the ones that were killed upstairs or the ogres much more than a minute's worth of trouble. I know what they're not sayin'.

They do hope for what they're askin' for, yeah? But they're also hopin' that they might make a few friends and that with the food and teachin' that they're offerin', maybe they'd be safe with these ones here.

So lookin' at it that way, I'd have te say that te them, perhaps a drought has ended."

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Gortruk looked at Tereth lying in the bed for a long moment. The hunter's hair had been cleaned and the flow from the wound stopped. Given the little that the slayer knew of the storm demon, it didn't look as though there would be lasting physical effects. It was the possibility of everything else that was the worry – brain damage, the certain concussion, and somewhere in that list, the way that Gortruk felt as well. Well, there was hope, anyway. The slayer turned and walked softly to the balcony, looking out and down to the great hall in thought.

After a minute, there were quiet sounds from near the bed, and Gortruk turned back to see a pair of smaller individuals looking at the hunter. When they saw Gortruk, they almost jumped out of their skins.

"Pardon us, if we're disturbin' ye," the kobold said quietly, "We heard that Tereth's been hurt."

Gortruk nodded, "Yes."

"We're feelin' a bit guilty fer some words that was said," the imp whispered.

"By us," the kobold added.

"Aye," Illa said, "by us. There was quite a bit of hard feelin's behind what was said, and we know that ye don't know about it all, and that's fine. But we've heard that ye both found food fer everyone, and, ... well, we're not fer lookin' too harshly at Tereth because of it. By the look of ye, I'd guess that ye're no a healer of any sort, so it's likely no good askin' ye about if –"

"I know almost nothing," Gortruk replied quietly, "but I was there and I can say that Tereth found the food and fought well. I saw three ogres killed and one wounded before I could lend aid. I did not see it, but somehow a piece of what they grow there was brought as well.

I fear that I made a friend today and am near to losing that friend now."

The two conferred for a moment before turning back to the slayer.

"Please, if ye find the chance and the time fer it," Thiery said a little humbly, "would ye tell Tereth that we came te say that our score is settled? I've had some thoughts about things, and I'd hate it if, ... well if Tereth passed, thinkin' that what was between us couldna be changed. That was how we felt about it before, but, ..."

Gortruk smiled, "I have been what I am for a long time, friend. I can understand how you might feel. It will be said, if I am given the chance for it."

They bowed to Gortruk and walked out. In the hallway, Thiery said, "Didja see them muscles, Illa?"

"Aye," she grinned, "I couldna help it. But didja see that hair, Thiery? I'd give a lot te have hair like that, I tell ye."

"What's wrong wi the lovely hair that ye have?" the imp asked, "I love yer hair, Illa. Besides, if ye had that hair, I'd never be able te find ye in it. Ye'd crash inte things when ye was flying from not bein' able te see."

"Oh, ye know what I'm sayin', " Illa said a little impatiently, "I'd just like te have hair that thick and long on me – not as long as it is, ye fuckwit. I'd be a mop wi' wings like that."

"Although," the kobold said as they began down the stairs, "It might come in handy. I could just wade inte it and we'd have privacy fer our fun wherever we were, yeah?"

The stairwell echoed with her gasp and then she hit him playfully. "Yer an ass, Thiery, but I love ye anyway."

The conversation had been overheard by Gortruk, who under other circumstances would have laughed and been charmed, but as it was, ...

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"You need to know how the speech is changed," Brinack said as Gortruk listened, "I was told that Tereth should get better soon. We have lived to ourselves all of this time and the way of the speech has left us behind a little."

Tereth's eyes opened slowly. Across the room, he could see two of them speaking, two of the most lovely and powerful creatures that he could have imagined, and one of them was Gortruk, who stood listening intently with those massive arms folded across her chest.

Gortruk nodded, and then the slayer began to repeat the sounds of the verbs and participles, the pronouns and the adverbs in current common use. It wasn't difficult. It was only different, Gortruk thought.

Besides, if Tereth was going to recover, Gortruk had a lot that had to be said.

Tereth found that he still had trouble maintaining his focus and he closed his eyes with a soft sigh. The others in the room snapped their heads around toward the sound, but Mother smiled a little, "Our casualty woke for a few seconds, but is gone again now."