Chapter 4: Chapter 4 – A blood Horde and the Horde Queen

Drums woke him. The monotonous, heathen sound of Barbarian drums made from flayed human skin. Opening his eyes, Lendicinae wasn’t sure at first of what to make of his surroundings. Trying to raise his head, he smacked against a wooden bar. Trying to stretch his curled legs, he was again stopped by more crude bars of wood.

 

Opening his eyes fully, he released where he was. A wooden cage, just big enough to be inside, but too small to stand, sit or lie down, causing him to be in this wired condition of leaning and lying. Jumping, he again hit his head as one leg slipped with the cracks of the bars. Looking down, he was greeted by a bed of spikes. Looking up again, he saw a thin vine holding him over the spikes.

 

The vine was connected to a long piece of wood, which in turn connected to a large wooden wheel. This seems to be a way to turn and lowered him on and off the bed of spikes. Shouts and screams filled his ears. Looking up, he saw a large crowd standing about twenty or thirty meters from him. They stood in a clearing amongst wooden and clay thatch houses. Houses that were designed to be easily moved from area to area. This was a raiding camp.

 

The warriors spilt into two groups, forming a path that lead to a tall, wooden throne made of flayed flesh and bones. A woman in a tall feather headdress, alongside a headdress made of fur and bone, with a large wooden mask covering her face, sat upon this gruesome throne. From the looks of her, she seemed to be the horde leader.

 

Two women stripped nude and washed of their war paint, were dragged through the crowd by their hair by two warrior women. This sight alone was shocking, but the fact they looked to be barbarians as well only added to the confusion of this scene. Dragged across the floor by the two women, the two were forced onto their knees in front of the Queen. Staring down at the two women, she lifted her arms and screamed in her native tongue.

 

The crowd cheered as the two women begged and pleaded. Putting a handout, a woman carrying a large, crude-looking black knife walked forward. Bowing her head, she offered the knife to the queen. Taking the knife the horde leader raised it into the air, presenting it to the tribe. All returned with cheers and hoots. With her tribe’s backing, she approached the women. Moving to the first woman, she grabbed her hair and moved to her hack, holding the woman by her hair, she placed the knife to the woman’s scalp.

 

Fear took him as he looked away from the warriors. The tearing of flesh and the screaming of the women competed for dominance over the crowd. Silence. The scalping had ended. Looking up, he looked to see the woman holding the bloody scalp high into the air. Kicking the woman’s body to the floor, the horde leader put a handout to some warriors. Two came forward and bound the remaining woman in some rope.

 

Using the blood of the scalloped woman, she painted symbols onto the second. Using a piece of vine, she strapped the scalp to the top of the woman’s head. Lifting her mask, the horde leader threw it into the hands of one of her women. Lifting a bloody hand, she held it over her mouth. The warm blood of the woman dropped onto her face.

 

After licking up the blood, she stepped back and allowed the crowd to ravage the body. Meanwhile, the bound woman was taken to the edge of the camp. Letting her go, the woman sprinted off into the forest. As the two warrior escorts watched her leave, one looked up to Lendicinae. A feeling of dread overcame him as he stared at the woman, her finger pointed at him. The other noticed and together the two walked off towards the horde leader.

 

Now, he could see the body of the woman had been ripped apart and warriors were taking different parts as trophies. Monsters in human form…

 

Looking back to the horde leader, he saw her eyes fixed on him. With a few warriors in tow, she began to walk towards him. Heart racing, he watched with every step she took as she got to the side of the spike pit. Staring up at him, he now recognised her, it was the woman he had helped. A mixture of fear and confusion filled him as he locked eyes with her again. Lifting a hand, she gestured for two women to go the wheel that was attached to the system that held his cage.

 

Quickly, the two warriors lowered the cage and manoeuvred it towards the horde leader. Stopping the cage low enough that he was only just above the spikes, he was about eye level with the horde leader. Walking towards him, she kept her eyes locked with his. Muttering something to the warriors, one of them turned and sped off into the camp.

 

Soon she returned, a bowl of a thin, grey licked in her hands. Passing the bowl to the Horde leader, she lowered her head and moved away. Armed with the bowl and knife, she moved towards him.

 

“Hand,” she said. For a moment he hesitated and stared at her.

 

“HAND!” She snapped at him. Jumping, he offered his hand out to her. Placing the bowl under his hand, she used the knife to cut his palm. A few trickles of bold feel into the small bowl. Dumbfounded, he watched as the grey liquid turned a deep crimson before becoming red, as red as his blood.

 

“You lost a lot of blood, this will help your body regain that blood,” the woman explained placing the bowl by her side as she pulled him closer. His face pressed against the cage bars. Twitching, his eyes widened as she saw the woman raise her knife to his arm.

 

“WAIT! Please!” He begged as she began to cut into his arm.

 

Despite her feminine look, she was far stronger than him. Screaming, he tried to fight as she cut a scar into his arm. Muttering something, she placed the bowl down and lifted the bowl to above the wound. Pouring the liquid carefully, it trickled into the cut on his arm. Relaxing, he watched as the blood that trickled down his arm began to flood back into the wound alongside this ‘new blood’.

 

Once the liquid had all seeped into his arm and the blood had disappeared, the woman placed the bowl onto the ground. A woman stepped to her side; her hair adorned with a red feather headdress. Like the horde leader, her dark skin was adorned with paint, and she wore her long, hip-long black hair proudly.

 

The woman sat by her side and quickly began to apply the weak healing magic to his arm. A minute or two later, the wound was healed. Letting go of his arm, the woman allowed him to fall back into the cage, rocking it slightly.

 

“It stings, but it will help you. You lost a lot of blood when I found you with my warriors. We will need to do this once every week for four weeks. So, stop crying and get used to it,” the horde leader said, unsympathetic to his pain.

 

“Take some rest, I will return when you calm yourself,” the horde leader said, turning to leave. Dazed and still confused about how he had arrived here, Lendicinae spoke.

 

“Why am I here? Why help me?” He questioned quietly. Turning, the horde leader narrowed her eyes down at him. Fear shook him as he lowered his head.

 

“I didn’t help you, I just healed you and brought you here because you saved me. The only reason I am making the healthier is that I can’t get anything of value out of a dishevelled corps,” she said, turning and walking away. Quietly he sat, pondering what she had just said.

 

Looking up, he saw the guards leave with her. Each gave him a blank, emotionless looks. Their eyes though still gave him a sense of dread. These people were monsters. Examining his cage, he looked at the cradle-crafted bars. The easy-to-cut rope kept the cage shut, but even if he was to escape, he doubted he had the leg room or energy to leap across onto the safety of the ground. Below him, the spikes stared upwards at him.

 

On the spikes, there were the faintest traces of long-dried blood. If he was to fall, he wouldn’t have been the first to be impaled onto the spikes. Awkwardly, he tried to position himself into a better position as the back of the cage dug into his spine. This was all on purpose. The cage was just another form of torture to break him down. Most likely, they could slowly break him into telling them military or Church secrets. 

 

An idea flooded his mind. How angry were they going to be when they found out he held no such secrets or hidden knowledge? To them, he was practically useless. Staring out at the camp, he watched as the well-built barbarians went around their daily business. Drinking, eating, flirting, sharpening weapons, cleaning their leather armour, or dancing in savage rhythms around fires, praising their savage gods for a successful battle and most likely asking for guidance in battles to come.

 

Around the fires, the positioned human skulls were painted in reds and purples. These mixtures of colours were kind to the eyes. But again, this was probably on purpose to distract the enemies in combat. That though wasn’t going to be what distracted the enemies. The more he stared at the women, the more beautiful he realised them to be. Each had a perfect figure that balanced musical and feminine qualities. Their rounds and breasts were far more likely to distract their enemies over their paint.

 

Staring at the horde, he couldn’t help but wonder if his fate was to be the same as that woman earlier. Dread seared his mind as he lowered his head as if waiting for execution. From a distance, several groups of women stared at him. Each muttered or bricked in their thick accents. He didn’t know what they were thinking, but he had some ideas.

 

Were they cooking up ideas on how to roast him? Or were they ideas on how best to flay and display his skin? Maybe some even thought of how their horde leader planned to butcher him or scalp him and allow them to take trinkets and trophies from his body. Looking up again, he stared ahead, towards a hut.

                                                                                                                            

As he stared, he just managed to see past the opening of the hut door. Sick swelled in his throat as he saw the severed arms and heads of enemy warriors dangling from the feeling via rope crafted from vines.  In a morbid realism, he knew that was most likely his fate. Snapping out of his deepening depression, he sighted the horde leader returning over to him. In her hands she held nothing.

 

Instead allowing three women behind her to carry wooden bowls of unknown substances. As they approached, the horde leader crouched down in front of him. Locking eyes with him, he knew now this was probably her way of keeping him focused on her. Her Deep, dark purple eyes were hypnotising in how they seemed to stare through his physical form, and into his soul.

 

“Calm now? Or do I need to leave you for a while longer?” She asked, her stern voice being shaken by her accent.

 

For a moment he was quiet as he examined her. Around her neck, she wore the skeleton fingers of humans. Over her breasts were the severed skeleton hands of a victim. Her hair was decorated with green, purple and red feathers. Red and purple stripes covered her skin in patterns. Her face had a tattoo on her chin. Around her waist, her leather and fur skirt proudly displayed the pattern of a spear with large wooden stripes coming from the spearhead.

 

“I…. I think I can talk now,” he said quietly, not sure if he was ready for whatever this barbarian had planned.                                                                                        

 

 

A sour expression sat on his face as he stared at the bowl of meat.

 

“What is it?” Lendicinae asked, looking up at the horde leader who had just handed him the meat.

 

“Have you never seen meat before,” she said, staring at him as if he was somehow an imbecile.

 

“I have… but I mean, what kind of meat,” he answered back, too terrified at the idea this was human meat to be angry at her comment.

 

“It’s from a bird we caught, not a person if that is your concern Reka,” she answered, laughing a little with her warriors.

 

“Are you sure,” he said, still too scared to touch the meat. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed a piece of meat from the bowl.

 

“Human meat isn’t as dry as this. Human meat has more juice, especially from how we cook it,” she said, shoving the meat into his face. His mind battled against reason as his stomach growled. He wasn’t sure what scared him more, the fact she knew how to cook a person or the fact that she had eaten a person before.

 

“Okay,” he was cut off as the second he opened his mouth, she shoved the meat between his lips.

 

“Human meat tastes like pork, this doesn’t, right?” She was correct, the meat was defiantly that of a bird.  

 

“Anyway, we Narliki never eat people really, only the strong one’s ever get eaten so that we can absorb their power. You are neither strong nor worth giving such valuable meat to, so don’t worry about being eaten or having to eat someone,” she reassured. Quickly, he ate the meat, not wanting to go hungry for even more than a second longer. Grinning, she snatched the bowl from him. Annoyed, he looked up at the grinning woman.

 

“I’ll give you more, but only if you talk to me,” she explained.

 

“One more piece for e wet question answered,” she said, hovering the bowl just out of his reach. Compliment, he sat up as much as the tight cage would allow him.

 

“Where are you from Reka?” The woman asked.

 

“The holy city of Sigrid,” he answered. Seeing that he was now begging open up, she offered a piece of meat to him. She gave him a moment to wolf down the meat before she asked her next question.

 

“Now, your name is Lendicinae, correct? Tell me your age,”

 

“Yes, that’s my name, as for age, I’m currently 19,” he said, hungrily awaiting another piece of the bird meat.

 

This was the first time in almost a year he had something decent to eat, so giving away basic information was something he didn’t mind. As promised, she handed two pieces of meat to him. Smiling, he accepted the meat. The horde leader smiled. She had gotten his information off a card she had found him, but she just wanted to ask the question to see how honest he was willing to be with her. So far, he hadn’t lied.

 

“Thank you,” he said, getting a confused glare from the woman.

 

“Why? Why do you thank me? I have simply fed you in exchange for information?”  She justified.

 

“Yes, but you could have asked the questions first and then not fed me, or just given me a smaller amount of meat,” he said, finishing his snack and looking up at her. The woman stared at him, confused about what he was saying.

 

“Why did you save me?” She asked the question that had been bogging her mind for a while.

 

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“I’m a priest miss, specifically a HH or holy healer. I help people, that’s my job,” he said, his voice slightly patched. Staring, she only nodded.

 

“I am your enemy, why help me?” She said.

 

“In all honesty, I thought, and still think, I’m going to die. I like to think though that I could help one person before I went,” he looked down, his eyes heavy with sorrow. Narrowing her eyes, she placed a hand on his head.

 

“If I had seen you, I would have killed you. Thank you, Reka,” she said, grinning as she took her hand from his head.

 

“Reka?” He asked, not understanding the word she had called him many times now.

 

“It means weak city dweller. That’s what you are, right? Your skin is too pale, forbid from being the scorch of the sun and hard work,” she said, smiling as she stared at him. Her smile wasn’t a nice one, it had a hint of sadism towards him. 

 

“I see…” he tucked his legs against his chest. She was going to kill him, he knew that, but he also knew she probably planned to mock him before he went. Seeing his morbid eyes, she grabbed his hair. Yanking it, she made him look up at her.

 

“Do you wish to know your fate?” She asked, locking eyes with him.

 

“Is it a quick death?” He asked, not daring to pull away from the fierce woman. Smirking, she stared at him.

 

“Your funny, I think I’ll get a nice collar for you and make you into a dog,” she said, pulling him closer. Seeing his brave, resilient eyes, she smiled and let go of his hair.

 

“As thanks for saving me, I give you three options. Number 1, I kill you here and now. Quickly and painlessly. Number two, I sacrifice you and make your body parts into trophies. Or three, I tame you, and I make you into a loyal little slave who obeys my every command. You will be fed, cleaned, and given a soft bed. Your life won’t be good, but at least it won’t be dead,”

 

“If I chose the last, it sounds as if I would be as good as dead,” he said, his eyes closing as he buried his face against his legs.

 

“Just drop the cage, kill me on the spikes, I would rather die before I become a slave,” he said, readying himself mentally for death. For a moment she only stared at him. He saved her life, yet he wished for his own to be taken.

 

“Five weeks. Once a week we shall give you more of the potion to regain your blood. Once you are at full strength, then you can decide your fate,” with these few words, she reached back and was handed a bowl of berries by one of her servants. Offering the bowl to him, she kept her emotionless stare.

 

“Why five weeks? Why not just let me decide now? What is the point in getting me back to a strong state?” He questioned.

 

“I you chose death; I would eat your body to take in your obvious knowledge of healing magic. That spell you did isn’t one known to us, and by eating you I would be able to take that power. Right now, you are just a bag of bone, there is particle no flesh on you to eat. As for the second option, he takes the body parts of people that we admire. If they are good fighters, we take their hands. If they are good runners, we take their legs, if they are good at sex…”

 

“I get the point”

 

“Well anyway, you are weak at the moment. Making you into trophies would be too difficult and your bones would probably be weak and crack. The third option, well if my slave is weak, what use are they to me?”

 

“Monster,” he muttered as he didn’t raise his head.

 

“Reka!” She said happily as she placed the bowl on the side, just out of reach of his grasp. Looking up, he saw the fruit.

 

“I will give you these, and something to drink, but only if you answer me something,” she said, again locking eyes with him.

 

“What?” He asked, his hunger now tamed by the meat, making his senses return.

 

“If you knew that I have killed thousands of people, innocent people, would you still save me?” She asked, standing and staring down at him, his knives in hand. For a moment he pondered.

 

“I help people, sometimes people I hate, sometimes even monsters. All life has value, no one has to die,” he said, staring at her.

 

“But don’t you think if you killed me more people, in the long run, would survive?” She asked.

 

“Maybe, or maybe you would help people. The reason I am alive is that I helped you. But how does that help me? You haven’t repaid your debt to me,” the woman scowled as he said this.

 

“Then what do you want, ungrateful mutt?” She barked back.

 

“Help someone else in need. Someone who is of value, not someone like me,” he said, lowering his head as his neck began to ache from being so cramped against cage bars. Help people? That was stupid, humans were excited for her to slaughter, why would she help one? Not knowing how to respond to his (to her) stupid question, she turned and walked away. Her guards and severest followed after, one servant quickly placed a bowl of some wine for him next to the bowl of berries.

 

Silently, he watched as the barbarians walked away. Alone, he knew what he needed to do. He would until nightfall, then make his escape. But before that, he needed more strength. Slowly and carefully, he moved towards the bars. Reaching through, he tried to grab the bowl of berries. Still, though, they were out to reach. Pushing himself against the bars a little more, he tried to grab the bowl.

 

Still, out of reach. Again, he tried, then again. It wasn’t far away from him, maybe just another inch or so out of his grasp.

 

“What is it doing?” The horde leader asked her guard as she stared from her hut window. Her hut was on a small hill, overlooking the camp but also giving a good view of Lendicinae and his cage.

 

“I don’t know my Queen,” a guard next to her responded. Something wasn’t right. Staring at her queen, she saw a look she hadn’t seen before, a look of interest. For a while longer they watched in silence.

 

“He is trying hard to get the fruit, he is rocking the cage! He might fall!” The queen said with a laugh as she watched the flailing boy.

 

“Should we give him the food?” The warrior questioned. The queen snapped her head around to look at the guard.

 

“Are you insane? This is hilarious! Look at him, he is like an angry bird!” The queen cheered before going back to watching her captive.

 

The guard watched on as well. His hair was a. Dirty white with mixtures of deeper grey. His hair was odd to her, its style and neat form drenched by sweat confused her. Why was such a weak creature working in an army? He would make a far better slave or considering his healing magic, he would make a great healer. It wasn’t an honourable job, but it was one their horde and most likely his horde greatly needed.

 

Looking at her queen, she smiled. Maybe that was her plan, break him and use him. She couldn’t blame her, he was somewhat mature looking and handsome and could probably make a good bed warmer, alongside the healing magic, he could be useful to have around.

 

“May I suggest something about your greatness?” The guard asked.

 

“Depends, will it stop me from being entertained by the dog?” The horde leader said, keeping her eyes locked on Lendicinae.

 

“Well, I was thinking you can watch him for a while longer, then tonight starve him, and tomorrow only feed him if he begs,” the guard suggested, thinking of ways to slowly break him into becoming a worthy dog of her queen. For a moment the horde leader pondered.

 

“Sounds fun, do that, starve him, and don’t pay attention to him. If he is cold, don’t give him a blanket, if he is hot, light a fire under him. I want him to grovel and beg. How dare he make demands for me to help someone? I helped him! That should be good enough. We are even, and how I have captured him!  Bastard Reka!” The horde leader said, a sadistic grin spreading across her lips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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