Still Tessanna cried.
Thulos’s plan had been simple. They’d scattered out along the forest’s edge for several miles, then sent a thousand undead carrying torches in a single wave. The elves stopped many, but not all, and throughout the day war demons had flung pitch and torches from above. They’d started early in the morning, and after a day they’d burned hundreds of miles. As night approached, the fire only grew, devouring more and more of the forest. The elves couldn’t fire their arrows due to the inferno between them and their enemy, and their swords meant nothing to the flying war demons and the patrolling archers on horseback.
“Look,” Velixar said, pointing to the south-west. “Do you see the clouds? What spellcasters the elves have must be creating rainfall to protect Nellassar. The distance is too great, though, and they have too few. The fire will curl about them and destroy their great city. So beautiful. Tell me, Tessanna, does the goddess weep for the death of her children?”
“Mother doesn’t speak to me anymore,” Tessanna replied.
“A shame.” Velixar smiled in the abyssal light and enjoyed the burning. “Perhaps your goddess is dead, and this night, we strangle the last remnants of her life.”
Tessanna didn’t answer. She only watched as yet another part of the world died.
T hulos’s forces followed the forest to the south, rekindling fires where they dwindled and setting flames anew when they curled around the lower segments that had been beyond their original formation. They kept the task of burning to the undead, unwilling to sacrifice any fighting soldiers or demons to the suicidal task. After that first day, no elves dared attack. Velixar was certain they’d retreated back to their capital, and told Tessanna so. She said not a word back.
“I believe Jerico tried this trick on you,” Karak’s prophet said when he realized she was staying silent. “I don’t remember it working too well for him.”
Tessanna smiled bitterly.
They marched amid the thousands of troops taken from Felwood. Thulos had given Velixar command of them all, which he took to with eager joy. Before any drills or sparring, he enforced ritual prayers to Karak. The vast bulk said them without truthfulness or feeling, but he knew the frailty of men. Given time, they’d believe what they thought were lies. Given time, their souls would belong to Karak.
The collective army of Thulos halted for two days when it reached an ancient wall of rocks barely knee high, which marked the entrance into the Ramere. Tessanna was kept away from the proceedings, but Velixar always told her what transpired afterward. She couldn’t decide if he was hoping to win her over with honesty and conversation, or if he were simply so confident of their success he wanted to gloat before it even transpired.
“The lords of Angelport have prepared for our arrival,” Velixar told her the second night. “Thulos isn’t happy that Ulamn left them alone the first time we travelled west, but never mind that. They cannot defend their lands against us. Have you ever been to Angelport, Tess?”
They sat beside a fire that seemed to offer her no warmth. She shook her head and scooted so close her toes were nearly in the flame.
“I have, back when their majestic ships were nothing but tiny little toys rowed by children. A great city, with many walls that stretch even into the water. There is but a single gate, not that it will slow us any. Wings and magic so ruin a lengthy siege…”
He stopped and stood.
“You still won’t talk?” he asked. She kept her eyes down, her arms wrapped about her knees. “I thought so. You need a lesson, Tessanna. I am not surprised at your strength, but I thought in time you would have seen the truth in this life, the honor in our conquest. But it appears I must break you like I would break a mule.”
Velixar walked to the nearest fire, one chosen at random from the hundreds that dotted the hillside. He came back with a rough looking man, his hair unevenly cut and half his teeth were missing when he smiled nervously at the two of them.
“Are you sure?” the man asked Velixar, who nodded. The soldier loosened his belt and took a step closer. “I’m a lucky man.”
“That you are,” said Velixar.
He knelt down beside Tessanna and moved to kiss her. When she pushed back, he laughed and grabbed her wrists. He was a big man, much bigger than her. She shrieked and clawed, but he held firm, and then his weight was atop her. When he let go of one hand to pull down his pants she slashed his face. In return, he struck her again and again, beating her chest and bloodying her nose. His forearm crushed her larynx, and she gasped for air as he pushed himself inside. He started out slow, then sped up, laughing and cussing as he held her down. At last he slowed, and he climbed off while trying to reattach his buckle.
“A pretty lass, but a bit loose,” he said.
“Return to your tent,” Velixar said. Tessanna lay on her back, her clothes in disarray. She kept her knees pressed tightly together, and they rocked left to right as if she were trying to force out the vile seed spent within her.
Karak’s prophet knelt beside her and whispered into her ear.
“Every night I will find another. You know the diseases of men. Soon you will ache and blister and rot from within. No more silence. No more withering at my touch. My bride, or the army’s whore. Choose.”
She looked up at him, her face wet with tears.
“I’d rather be a whore.”
Velixar stepped back and frowned.
“I make no idle threats,” he said. “This is no lie. Every night, another man.”
“And every night I’ll thank Celestia that man is not you.”
He kicked the fire, scattering it dead.
“Sleep well,” he told her, seeking solitude for his prayers. She watched him go, and she did pray to Celestia, the first time since her childhood. Anything, she prayed, she’d do anything to have her power to crush Velixar and scatter his ashes to the far corners of the world.
Instead she fell asleep a cold, scared, powerless woman.
T he next night, and every night after on the march to Angelport, Velixar kept his word.
T he army pillaged as they traveled south-east to the coast, following the trade routes beaten into the hills from hundreds of years of wagons and merchants. Sometimes they’d send out squads to search further off the trail for more food. The delays and distractions made Velixar wish for the days when his army had been purely of the dead. Perhaps they lacked skill in fighting, but at least they didn’t have to eat, or sleep, or waste precious energy fooling around with the steadily growing trail of camp followers. He’d nearly killed all the women, but Thulos ordered him to let them live. He seemed confident the constant rutting like animals would keep their nerves cooled and his men’s tempers down.
They encountered the first few scouts as they neared Angelport, but before any could flee for safety, Thulos’s advance patrols swooped down behind and took their lives. Unencumbered and with clear weather, they camped a mere day away to plan their attack.
“Thulos has kept his plan to himself,” Velixar said as he started a fire and tossed Tessanna a scrap of bread. A red-bearded soldier was with him, and he leered at her hungrily. “Keep her company while I am away.”
“Will do,” said the soldier.
“What’s your name?” Tessanna asked, nibbling on the food as if not the least bit worried or upset.
“Robbie.” He crossed his arms and admired her form. From his vantage point she knew he could see straight down her shirt, and his pants bulged in appreciation. “Robbie the horse.”
“They say that because you’re smart?” she asked.
“You wish. You’ll find out, girlie. That creepy man said I have all night, and I plan to use it.”
Tessanna smiled at him.
“Touch me and I’ll cut your manhood off.”
“That so?” Robbie laughed. “How about you watch your mouth unless you want some black eyes and bruises to pretty up that face of yours? He didn’t say nothing about being nice to you or leaving no marks.”
“Beat me all you want,” she said. “But rape me and I’ll cut it off. Horsie.”
“That’s enough!”
He backhanded her. His knuckles bled from her teeth. Her smile seemed to grow at his anger.
“I’ve had worse than you,” she said. “I’ve been fucked by six men at once, all while they beat me to make me
