HOME | DD

Description

"Iz safe now, bozz," Vriza announced as she bowed theatrically, ushering her superior into the barn. All around them was a bustle of effort as Vriza's unit of grey orc ozcuras was busy securing the interior of the captured structure, which mostly meant stabbing all the corpses a few times to make sure they were dead and then checking their pockets for valuables. There were rather a lot of corpses, actually. Vriza, who had seen plenty of dead humans before, suspected this had been a last refuge of the humans of this village, but if so, it had been a doomed one. The battle that had been fought here was long over before she'd even got here, though; all the corpses were pretty cold, though a couple still looked edible enough that they might be worth making orc rations out of later.

Vriza's warmage superior stepped carefully onto the straw floor of the interior, easing aside to avoid two grey orcs dragging one of the bodies outside. Vriza rather liked the dark elven woman, really; the warmage, Chasida, was no crazier than any other dark elf, and in particular didn't seem to have any desire to rush into danger. As Vriza had to follow where-ever her superior went, this was exactly the attitude she preferred in a boss. Chasida also turned a blind eye to her grey orcs' looting and general enthusiasm for purloining supplies, and was up for a cuddle when it got really cold out. All those things combined with the fact that Chasida could murder almost any enemy that came near, just by thinking about it really hard for a moment, made her the complete package of awesome as far as Vriza was concerned.

"Iz good for headquarterz, yez?" she offered cheerfully. As soon as Chasida agreed it was secured, they could start treating it as a base, which meant they could all take their masks off. All the soldiers from the dark elven city of Zaghäl wore masks of various kinds, elf and orc alike, and Vriza really needed to take hers off, as her nose was desperately itchy.

Chasida had paused, though, her head cocked to one side. The dark elf's violet eyes looked out through the holes of her metal mask, as if she was seeing something far away.

"Um." Vriza looked around, fingering the long dirk at her belt. But there was nothing to see but loyal ozcuras and dead humans. "...bozz? Wha'zzit?"

Chasida cocked her head the other way, definitely listening now. The dark elf moved slowly, without speaking, finally shoving aside some debris and kicking at seemingly random spots on the floor with her boot. "Here," she said after a moment, without elaborating.

But she hadn't needed to. Vriza had heard the thump of her boss's boot hitting something besides dirt there, under the straw. "Lemme getz it, bozz!" she yelped, hurrying forward and cursing at the other ozcuras for their carelessness. The others cringed back sheepishly, but didn't run away, on the off chance that this new find involved previously undiscovered valuables.

Vriza dug about frantically until she'd exposed the wooden trap door that had been hidden there, lightly covered with dirt and straw and debris. Wrenching it open, she could see a small space beneath, regrettably not filled with treasure, but just with a few jars of preserved food and a wooden box that smelled of human...

"Um," Vriza said again, embarrassed. She pushed the trap door open further, drawing her dirk as she looked at the little box. "We mizzed one. Sorry, bozz."

Chasida pushed the ozcura gently aside, staring down at the box for a long, silent moment before crouching to lift it out, stumbling away a few steps before plunking the box down again so she could get a better look at it. The ozcuras followed at a discreet distance, exchanging awkward looks; the box was filled with tightly wrapped blankets, and was making faint, pathetic noises.

"Um..." Vriza fretted as she tried to work up the nerve to push in close again. The boss was being weird... "...if, if you juzt letz me..." Now Vriza cursed the damned humans who'd hidden one of their stupid little pups in the floor. What had they hoped to accomplish by that, other than ruin someone's day later?! All of them were already dead!

Chasida reached in to loosen the blankets; the human pup whimpered, very weakly, not having the strength left to bawl. It shoved a little hand at the dark elf's gloved fingers, then by some chance gripped one. Chasida froze, before her other hand crept up, loosening the metal mask the dark elf wore over her face.

"...bozz, you don't have to... I can do it, iz eazy for me," Vriza murmured. She couldn't escape the gnawing sensation that something was going horribly wrong. It didn't take this long to kill something helpless!

Chasida had finally gotten her mask off with one hand, and looked down; her violet eyes were a little unfocused, as if she'd forgotten where she was. Vriza cursed silently when she saw the dark elf's expression, and finally grasped the problem.

Vriza never thought all that much about her own offspring; they were fun to make, and nice in a way she couldn't explain when they were just very small, but she was always glad to get back out on campaign and leave caring for the screaming, hungry things to other grey orcs. Little grey orc ozcurillas quickly got tiring, even in the few months leave after spawning them. Best to leave them to someone else, in her opinion, anyway. Looking at Chasida's pained expression, Vriza could tell the dark elf did not entirely share that opinion. Vriza had known her boss had left a little one back home when they'd sent her back out to the War, but hadn't thought anything of it. And that had been a mistake; elves did everything so much more slowly, and Chasida had clearly not been ready to go.

"...bozz..." Vriza tried not to sound annoyed. She took off her own mask, deliberately breaking social protocol, so she could look her superior in the face. "...it'z a li'l hoo-man," she explained, struggling to stay patient. She pointed at the weakly squirming human pup. "Problem with li'l hoo-manz iz, they growz up to be big hoo-manz, if you letz them!"

Chasida swallowed hard. "I... know," the dark elf admitted in a soft voice.

"Besidez, iz probably almost deadz already. If... if you juzt letz me stabz it..."

Chasida's expression hardened, at last she'd come to a resolution. "No. We're taking it with us."

"...but, but... ......yez, bozz," Vriza groaned. Pushing was one thing, disobeying a direct order was quite another thing entirely.

Chasida loosened the blankets a little further, then paused and withdrew her hands. The dark elf's nose wrinkled. "...clean it off first, though."

"...what?!"

Vriza was suddenly aware that all the other grey orcs were quickly vacating the area in favor of other tasks; any other tasks would do. She stared at Chasida's back as the dark elf turned away, then looked back down at the human pup. It whimpered again, staring back at her with unfocused blue eyes, and smelled like the exact sort of problem Vriza had hoped to leave at home.

"...oh COME ON...!"

[===]

Referenced information:

* The City of the Wicked of Zaghal

* Elf War Witch

* Ozcura Infantry of Zaghal

The World of Aiers and its creatures are the creation of , named characters are the creation of the author.

Description

"Iz safe now, bozz," Vriza announced as she bowed theatrically, ushering her superior into the barn. All around them was a bustle of effort as Vriza's unit of grey orc ozcuras was busy securing the interior of the captured structure, which mostly meant stabbing all the corpses a few times to make sure they were dead and then checking their pockets for valuables. There were rather a lot of corpses, actually. Vriza, who had seen plenty of dead humans before, suspected this had been a last refuge of the humans of this village, but if so, it had been a doomed one. The battle that had been fought here was long over before she'd even got here, though; all the corpses were pretty cold, though a couple still looked edible enough that they might be worth making orc rations out of later.

Vriza's warmage superior stepped carefully onto the straw floor of the interior, easing aside to avoid two grey orcs dragging one of the bodies outside. Vriza rather liked the dark elven woman, really; the warmage, Chasida, was no crazier than any other dark elf, and in particular didn't seem to have any desire to rush into danger. As Vriza had to follow where-ever her superior went, this was exactly the attitude she preferred in a boss. Chasida also turned a blind eye to her grey orcs' looting and general enthusiasm for purloining supplies, and was up for a cuddle when it got really cold out. All those things combined with the fact that Chasida could murder almost any enemy that came near, just by thinking about it really hard for a moment, made her the complete package of awesome as far as Vriza was concerned.

"Iz good for headquarterz, yez?" she offered cheerfully. As soon as Chasida agreed it was secured, they could start treating it as a base, which meant they could all take their masks off. All the soldiers from the dark elven city of Zaghäl wore masks of various kinds, elf and orc alike, and Vriza really needed to take hers off, as her nose was desperately itchy.

Chasida had paused, though, her head cocked to one side. The dark elf's violet eyes looked out through the holes of her metal mask, as if she was seeing something far away.

"Um." Vriza looked around, fingering the long dirk at her belt. But there was nothing to see but loyal ozcuras and dead humans. "...bozz? Wha'zzit?"

Chasida cocked her head the other way, definitely listening now. The dark elf moved slowly, without speaking, finally shoving aside some debris and kicking at seemingly random spots on the floor with her boot. "Here," she said after a moment, without elaborating.

But she hadn't needed to. Vriza had heard the thump of her boss's boot hitting something besides dirt there, under the straw. "Lemme getz it, bozz!" she yelped, hurrying forward and cursing at the other ozcuras for their carelessness. The others cringed back sheepishly, but didn't run away, on the off chance that this new find involved previously undiscovered valuables.

Vriza dug about frantically until she'd exposed the wooden trap door that had been hidden there, lightly covered with dirt and straw and debris. Wrenching it open, she could see a small space beneath, regrettably not filled with treasure, but just with a few jars of preserved food and a wooden box that smelled of human...

"Um," Vriza said again, embarrassed. She pushed the trap door open further, drawing her dirk as she looked at the little box. "We mizzed one. Sorry, bozz."

Chasida pushed the ozcura gently aside, staring down at the box for a long, silent moment before crouching to lift it out, stumbling away a few steps before plunking the box down again so she could get a better look at it. The ozcuras followed at a discreet distance, exchanging awkward looks; the box was filled with tightly wrapped blankets, and was making faint, pathetic noises.

"Um..." Vriza fretted as she tried to work up the nerve to push in close again. The boss was being weird... "...if, if you juzt letz me..." Now Vriza cursed the damned humans who'd hidden one of their stupid little pups in the floor. What had they hoped to accomplish by that, other than ruin someone's day later?! All of them were already dead!

Chasida reached in to loosen the blankets; the human pup whimpered, very weakly, not having the strength left to bawl. It shoved a little hand at the dark elf's gloved fingers, then by some chance gripped one. Chasida froze, before her other hand crept up, loosening the metal mask the dark elf wore over her face.

"...bozz, you don't have to... I can do it, iz eazy for me," Vriza murmured. She couldn't escape the gnawing sensation that something was going horribly wrong. It didn't take this long to kill something helpless!

Chasida had finally gotten her mask off with one hand, and looked down; her violet eyes were a little unfocused, as if she'd forgotten where she was. Vriza cursed silently when she saw the dark elf's expression, and finally grasped the problem.

Vriza never thought all that much about her own offspring; they were fun to make, and nice in a way she couldn't explain when they were just very small, but she was always glad to get back out on campaign and leave caring for the screaming, hungry things to other grey orcs. Little grey orc ozcurillas quickly got tiring, even in the few months leave after spawning them. Best to leave them to someone else, in her opinion, anyway. Looking at Chasida's pained expression, Vriza could tell the dark elf did not entirely share that opinion. Vriza had known her boss had left a little one back home when they'd sent her back out to the War, but hadn't thought anything of it. And that had been a mistake; elves did everything so much more slowly, and Chasida had clearly not been ready to go.

"...bozz..." Vriza tried not to sound annoyed. She took off her own mask, deliberately breaking social protocol, so she could look her superior in the face. "...it'z a li'l hoo-man," she explained, struggling to stay patient. She pointed at the weakly squirming human pup. "Problem with li'l hoo-manz iz, they growz up to be big hoo-manz, if you letz them!"

Chasida swallowed hard. "I... know," the dark elf admitted in a soft voice.

"Besidez, iz probably almost deadz already. If... if you juzt letz me stabz it..."

Chasida's expression hardened, at last she'd come to a resolution. "No. We're taking it with us."

"...but, but... ......yez, bozz," Vriza groaned. Pushing was one thing, disobeying a direct order was quite another thing entirely.

Chasida loosened the blankets a little further, then paused and withdrew her hands. The dark elf's nose wrinkled. "...clean it off first, though."

"...what?!"

Vriza was suddenly aware that all the other grey orcs were quickly vacating the area in favor of other tasks; any other tasks would do. She stared at Chasida's back as the dark elf turned away, then looked back down at the human pup. It whimpered again, staring back at her with unfocused blue eyes, and smelled like the exact sort of problem Vriza had hoped to leave at home.

"...oh COME ON...!"

[===]

Referenced information:

* The City of the Wicked of Zaghal

* Elf War Witch

* Ozcura Infantry of Zaghal

The World of Aiers and its creatures are the creation of , named characters are the creation of the author.