Bastial Explosion (The Rhythm of Rivalry: Book 3) (37 page)

A light came onto their backs as they ran, but it didn’t last. The Humans knew they’d lost. Hopefully, they didn’t learn anything from their mistake, and the next Krepps would make it out alive as well.

Keenu claimed the only reason they’d been caught the first time was because Vithos was with the Humans. The Elf must’ve used his psyche somehow, for no one had entrapped Keenu before, he claimed.

“He needs to die,” Keenu added. “I wish we would’ve killed him.”

He’s the only reason you’re alive right now,
Zeti couldn’t help but think. Unless it really was true that if Vithos hadn’t been there, they wouldn’t have been caught. But she doubted that was the case.

He smiled when he saw me.
He cares because Zoke cares.
Zeti couldn’t figure out if she owed the Elf anything, nor did she have any idea what she would do if she saw him on the battlefield.

And she wondered about Zoke. She couldn’t imagine anything worse than being forced to kill her own brother, and every day she was thankful he’d escaped the Slugari colony. But what scenario could ever bring them together again? Would she only see him during a battle?

Zeti chose not to think about it, as those thoughts only made her stomach twist.

When they reached the Krepp encampment, Keenu offered his hands as a stepping stool to help Zeti over the wall. But she chose to jump instead.

Once over the wall, she thought for a moment that she’d jumped into the wrong encampment. There were hardly any Krepps in sight.

“Where is everyone?” Zeti asked Keenu when he landed beside her.

He sucked in air through his gaping mouth. “I wonder if Doe and Haemon finally got sick of waiting.” He formed a smile, shaking his fist in delight. “That must be it!”

“Sick of waiting for what?”

“For the Humans in Tenred to be ready. They’ve probably sent an army to Kyrro.” With a growl, his joy turned to frustration. “I wanted to fight with them.”

They asked the first Krepp they saw what was going on. It turned out Keenu was right.

“Half the army marched to Kyrro,” the Krepp answered. “They left a few days ago. Haemon went with them.”

Keenu nodded to show his gratitude, then continued toward Doe’s quarters. Zeti followed, wondering what had changed in the fourteen days since they’d left for Doe and Haemon to decide to attack.

It turned out their reasoning was quite simple.

“Every day we received more complaints from Krepps about their friends and families being killed outside our walls,” Doe said, busying himself with a map. “Many wanted to strike and threatened to leave on their own if I didn’t organize it. Then there was the explosion in Tenred.”

“How did you hear about that already?” Keenu asked, setting the birds on the long table.

“We didn’t need to hear about it.” Doe glanced up, his beady eyes revealing no hint of his emotions. “Our scouts saw it. Fire and rocks burst through the air. We figured Kyrro had to have attacked.”

Panicked, Zeti blurted, “Did you send the army to Tenred?” She stepped back, remembering too late that she shouldn’t speak without permission. Even worse, she’d let her tone imply Doe had done something wrong.

He raised a claw at her. “Careful, little Krepp. I’m trusting you more and more, but your tongue may change that in an instant.”

Doe waited for her to nod before continuing.

“No, I didn’t send an army to Tenred. Twenty thousand were sent to Kyrro. Five thousand of those Krepps will take the Academy, while the other fifteen thousand will take over Kyrro City. Tenred has told us there are only around three thousand defending the Academy. The rest of Kyrro’s army—about twenty-five thousand—is spread across their other cities. The Humans will flee the Academy and Kyrro City. Then our Krepps will hold those two areas and wait for the rest of our army.”

Twenty thousand Krepps?
Zeti always had assumed their total number was closer to fifteen thousand. But with half the capable army at twenty thousand Krepps, there must’ve been at least fifty thousand living in the encampment. It was eerie to think that many Krepps could be commanded, even by Doe and Haemon, as powerful as they were.

“Do I have permission to ask questions?” Keenu asked.

“Yes. I know you must have many. First, tell me what happened in Tenred and if Humans from Kyrro are on their way to attack. Our scouts have seen no movement yet. But after the explosion, I can only assume a siege will follow.”

“Nothing was mentioned to me about Kyrro attacking. I don’t know if they’re marching yet or even if they plan to. Tenred had tried to send you messages, but the birds wouldn’t fly back here because they weren’t trained properly before being sent to Tenred. I did deliver your message to Tegry Hiller, though. He gave me this.” Keenu handed Doe a scroll. “Nebre translated it into Kreppen at the bottom.”

Doe’s fat face jiggled as his mouth murmured the words. “This says Tegry wants thirty more days to prepare for the assault. They had siege weapons nearly ready, but many were damaged by a sneak attack. They want more time to repair them as well as the damage to their territory.”

There was a flicker of light. Doe let the scroll drop to the dirt as fire washed over it. “Don’t they know how strong we are?” he asked rhetorically. “We don’t need their siege weapons. We have our own.”

“All Humans are cowards,” Keenu said. “I could feel their fear after their territory was struck. I’ve begun to worry they wish to give up.”

Doe yelled something in Slugaren, adding after, “It’s a good thing we don’t need them.”

“May I ask another question?” Keenu asked.

“Ask at will.”

“Why only send half of the army? Do Krepps refuse to fight?”

“No. Many more wanted to go than Haemon allowed. We didn’t want to leave our encampment defenseless. We know there are many Humans out there monitoring our movement. And after the incident in Tenred, if Kyrro swept through and killed the Humans there, they could come here from the west while we march south. But don’t fret, Keenu. The rest of us will be attacking soon. There are just a few things that need to be done first.”

Doe pointed at the birds. “Get three smart Krepps to train these birds. Tell them what the Humans taught you. We’ll have Tenred join our second attack so that fewer Krepps are killed during the fall of Kyrro.” Doe tapped the cage hard, startling the birds. “Make sure two of the three Krepps training these birds are female. I find it easier to trust them.”

Keenu grumbled, then said he would.

“Zeti, you’ll be leaving with me shortly. We’re going northeast. I need you to help me carry our food and supplies.”

Northeast?
What’s there besides the mountains?

“By the time we return, the Krepps should’ve reached Kyrro,” Doe continued, now smiling. “Soon the Slugari will have no one left protecting them because the Humans will be too busy protecting themselves.”

Zeti felt drool slip from her mouth. She noticed Keenu wiping his chin.

Chapter 31:

CLEVE

They’d been sailing for four days, which in Cleve’s mind meant they should arrive at Gendock in just one more day. But Captain Mmzaza said it would be closer to three, perhaps even four more.

“We need wind, boy,” the gnarled captain told him. “Don’t you know how a ship works? Not that this qualifies as a ship.”

Every time Cleve spoke with Captain Mmzaza, he had to endure complaints about the size of their vessel. Eager to get back to Kyrro, Cleve put up with it as long as he had the sense the captain was doing everything he could.

But there was something else that had been bothering Cleve recently. “Why do you keep calling me ‘boy’?”

Cleve was seventeen. He’d been a man for three years, and he was larger than most others. Even when he was a boy, no one addressed him as one. It was unsettling to hear it over and over.

With a quick flick of his wrist, Captain Mmzaza undid the three top buttons on Cleve’s shirt, exposing his naked chest.

“That’s why, ya hairless bastard, always questioning Captain Mmzaza. A real man has hair on his chest.” He yanked open his shirt to expose a mound of gray hair that was so extensive Cleve first assumed it to be fake. But Cleve realized his mistake when the captain reached in and pulled out a clump of lint that had gotten stuck, his sea of hair stretching outward with the tug of his hand.

“Bastial hell,” Cleve muttered and turned, deciding he felt more at ease looking from the sides of his eyes instead of right at it. “I’m not sure if I’ve ever been this disgusted and amazed at the same time.”

“If a lady is scared of this, then I know to turn her away. For the beast that dwells in my britches…”

“That’s enough,” Cleve interrupted. “Just get us to Ovira as soon as you can.”

The captain let out his usual shaky laugh. “Ho ho ho, the boy thinks he controls this vessel simply because he’s the biggest man aboard.”

“I don’t.”

“But he’s wrong,” Captain Mmzaza continued, cupping his hand around his genitals from outside his pants and shaking. “I’m bigger where it counts.”

That was all Cleve could stand for the time being. He left without another word, deciding to visit his horse, Nulya.

At least the small ship King Danvell Takary had given them had a stable for their horses. Nulya seemed frustrated when Cleve entered, sputtering loudly and shifting her weight between her two front hooves.

“I know," Cleve said. “But I can’t have you running around the deck.”

He gave a quick check to his Bastial steel sword sheathed on his belt, making sure it was still there. It always was, making him wonder how many more times he would need to brush his hand against it before his worries would cease. Some part of him still didn’t believe it was his.

My Bastial steel sword,
he liked to repeat in his head.
A
gift from the King of Goldram.
He felt as if he should be excited to use it on his enemies, but it seemed too unreal to acknowledge. Then there was Nulya. What would people think when they saw him on his horse while wielding his sword.

Never in his life had he felt so determined to fight.

“And how’s my horse doing?” Rek asked, surprising him.

“Ugly as usual,” Cleve replied, accidentally glancing at the long scar down Rek’s cheek.

The Elf folded his arms. “You’d better be careful what you say while staring at my scar.”

“Sorry,” Cleve quickly said.

“And you should be kinder to my horse,” Rek added. “He doesn’t like it when you call him ugly.”

“Really?” Cleve was incredulous.

“I’m joking,” the psychic said with a grin. “He doesn’t know the word, and it’s a good thing. He’s absolutely hideous, so he’ll probably hear it a lot.”

Cleve let out a chuckle as Rek petted his horse.

“Why haven’t you named him yet?” Cleve asked.

“Still haven’t decided on the right one.”

Unsure why it came to him, Cleve shrugged and spoke the suggestion. “How about Beauty?”

“No, that just feels too cruel, even if he doesn’t understand the irony.”

“Ugly, then?”

Rek laughed. “That would only cause confusion. Who would know whether I was using the noun or the adjective?”

“I see your point.”

Cleve thought as he stared at Rek’s horse, his eyes trailing the gray wrinkles all along the animal’s white body. Everywhere Cleve looked, there were imperfections. The horse’s chest seemed to bulge out farther than normal, as if something foreign was living inside of him. His protruding eyes looked at nothing, giving him the appearance of idiocy. His legs were covered in spots, and they were completely black around his hooves to make him look as if he’d recently galloped through mud.

There was no charm to Rek’s horse. His tail had gone gray, or maybe it was always that way. Cleve didn’t know enough about horses to tell. Even his back looked more arched than it should, dipping low as if he’d borne too many riders over the years.

“You should name him Hope,” Cleve said.

“Hope.” Rek let the word drift out slowly, tilting his head subtly as if listening to how it sounded from his own mouth.

“Because while hope may come with a beautiful sunrise, other times it arrives on a small boat filled with stinky men,” Cleve said, finishing his thought.

“Hope it is.”

Chapter 32:

STEFFEN

Steffen had little idea how long he’d slept. It was light out when he arrived home from his trip to the Slugari colony, and it was still light out as he parted the curtains in his room.

Although he felt refreshed, the bitterness in his stomach remained. Javy had decided to explode the Bastial Energy, and this was just after the night Steffen had heard the startling truth about the late King, Westin Kimard. On top of that, the guilt of knowing that Cleve’s father was the one who assassinated him made Steffen feel sick.

Or perhaps his nausea was from thinking about all the dead people in Tenred who he assumed had suffered gruesome ends, many of whom he figured were innocent. He thought of his mother and Reela’s, of Gabby, and of her parents and Effie’s. What if any of them had been killed through an incident like that?