Episode Forty-Nine An Offer of Help and the Truth

H azlan

Pleasantries have already been exchanged. The male left for a moment and returned carrying a fallen tree trunk. It's not a fallen log. No, this is almost an entire tree he carried, as though it weighed no more than a stick I might use to fiddle with the fire.

We all moved back to let him join our now-expanded circle. One of the orcs offered the big male a pair of leather britches and we've shared stew and the flat bread the wolven are known for. It's black on one side—must have been burned when we were all distracted.

The mated pack Azael had told us was on their way has arrived. Introductions have been made with Alliana and her minotaur, wolven, and feline mates. She and Nadira knew each other Up Above and have met several times Down Below. Though they're friends, I'm heartened when they greet Lylah as if she were a long-lost relative.

It was tense during introductions and as we ate. I don't know how to shoot a bow, but on a trip to gather water I managed to borrow a dagger. I hadn't wanted to sit so close to the stranger without a weapon in my grip.

Finally, Azael asks, "Tell me, Drixxa, you said you've come to offer your services. What might that mean?"

"I live alone, high in the mountains of what used to be Colorado. Although I get few visitors, I hear things from time to time. A fellow avian told me an army was amassing near Tower One. I've waited a long time for this. I came to see for myself."

He nods approvingly, his glossy black hair catching the light as it moves. "There's over a thousand of you. That's a good start."

He seems to be waiting for us to disclose information. None of us say a word, so he continues. "My battle form has certain abilities that could be advantageous to the coming war. I've imagined attacking one of the Towers for a long time, but never thought I could accomplish it alone. With a thousand warriors? We can decimate them."

"We have no desire to decimate them all," Nadira says, spearing him with her gaze. "We have demands. Only if they aren't met, will any decimating happen. Those who agree to our terms must be allowed to live. And the women, unless actively fighting us, must remain unharmed."

Drixxa freezes, deep in thought, then says, "That's not how I imagined it the ten thousand times I've played it out in my mind, but I agree with you, Nadira. That's how it should be."

Although we've been talking for an hour, it's only now that I allow myself to see what this big male, this dragon shifter, can bring to the fight. I imagine him at the front of a force of avians. Instead of having to climb the Tower, he and his ilk can attack from the top.

"Before we discuss logistics," he says as he shifts on his log, "perhaps you'd like to hear what I know about how all of this came to be."

I've often wondered how there came to be an Up Above and a Down Below. It's not like there aren't a thousand different stories about it. In the Works barracks, when the guards locked us in and went to bed, people used to tell stories.

Some were more believable than others, but since there were so many different ideas, none of them rang true.

"I've heard tales," I tell him. "Many, actually. I guess you could tell us another one. I've heard it all. From magic, to aliens coming down from another planet, to the idea we all used to be human once." I scoff at this last story. "How do we know that what you tell us carries any more truth than the dozens of other fantasies people have made up?"

"Because I was there."