Rune and Ruin

26 - Placating

391 B.C.E. - The Acerian Village of Intritus, Southern Valley of Acera, Base of the Shaper Mountains, Spring, Month of Lunius

Falx

My demon holds his breath in anticipation, but I fear he will soon be sorely disappointed. I feel -we feel- all of her. My gaze slides to my female, a habit I don't feel any urge to break, and I slowly exhale. Two days ago, I told Thania that she holds my heart in her hands, but it's more than words can truly express. Deeper. Profound.

She is my peace. The quiet part of my soul. The only loving piece of me.

Thania doesn't want war. She doesn't want to rule. Her feelings are completely at odds with my demon. He wants blood and gore, followed by food and fucking. He is a simple, violent creature, and she is pure and good.

Yet, rule she will, so Thania will win this silent argument. She already has and didn't have to say a word to me.

Tems walks over and slaps me on the back. "What's the strategy, Falx?" He's grinning. He knows how I feel. His demon is just as bloodthirsty, for all he isn't a warrior.

"She wants peace," Quintus grunts out behind us. His eyes track our female as she flits from priestess to priestess, checking over her friends. We nearly lost two priestesses. Both females tried to run as soon as their lungs recovered in the flames. They didn't get more than a few steps before their bonded males caught them. It was amusing.

My love hears my thoughts and turns to frown my way. I wink at her. She should be happy I can find the humor in a runaway bride.

Thania's pert little nose tilts up just a smidge higher as she turns back to the little female she is speaking with. I hear her ask, "Are you feeling better, Litia?"

I glance at the sky. Dusk is falling, and for the first time in over a week, the moon can be seen, a bare, silver orb faintly outlined against the ink-black dark. "You'll take two legions east," I tell Quintus. "Take them around Veii. We'll come at the Shapers from both directions, neither that they expect." Quintus nods. The shapers will expect us from Caere and Rune. I think of the families tucked safely away at the rear of the shaper army. Unbeknownst to the shapers, the threat is now looming behind them. Still... "it's best to take them from both directions."

"And we ask to parlay first?" Quintus asks quietly.

"If they pause long enough to listen. Otherwise, standard approach."

Thania shoots me another glare. I smile. The standard approach is to decimate the warriors and leave only those who would make good slaves alive. The prejudice Tasuri have against shapers means that few, if any, will survive the battle and its aftermath.

"We must do our best to form a truce," Quintus remarks. His eyes haven't left our female, and he's rewarded for his asinine comment with a brilliant smile.

I punch through his scales with my claws but miss his kidney.

Quintus smirks at me and saunters off to grab our female. Ever since we bonded Thania in the fire and she was miraculously healed, we've been touching her as often as possible. It was close, too close. We need the reassurance.

My brother nuzzles Thania, whispering his avowal of love in her ear as she fusses over his minor injury. She leans up and presses a kiss on his lips.

"Bedtime," Quintus husks out, pulling Thania away from the small crowd just as the other belators bank the cooking fires, hiding the flames from any shaper eyes.

Tems and I follow them into our hastily erected tent. It's barely wide enough to fit the family if we lay side-by-side, but we sleep in shifts during wartime, anyway.