Disposable Hero

The long awaited 3 Chapter is finally here. This chapter focuses on Shynta, Mica and Zilvra more than Henri.

I want to thank everybody for their comments and feedback, you all have been a great help in making this story better.

This tale would not be possible without the incredible team. My rough editor Anubismark who gets to see my awful rough drafts and makes them understandable. My continuity editor Traff who helps me keep to the story. My finishing editor BunLover who helps put the final and often embarrassing finish on my work.

Please Vote and Enjoy this episode of Disposable Hero.

Thank You

Bokhun

*****

The Gathering

Adjusting to the Surface

Even before Shynta's lifeless body hit the floor, she could see her cold eyes and knew at that moment what had happened. She continued to watch the battle as she was pulled away from her body. Turning, she saw a bright light yet this light did not hurt her eyes in fact it felt warm and inviting. The draw was irresistible and called to her like a moth to a flame.

Entering the light, she was blinded for a moment as her eyes recovered she noticed that she was back in her room. Looking around, she noticed that she could not hear the sounds of battle. As she was about to leave her room she saw the door shimmer and a woman walk out of the shimmer. This woman looked human except for the large pair of white wings behind her. She gave off the same warmth as that light she had seen, this warmth unnerved her as it did all Drow, such things were to be feared. Reacting on instinct she took up a fighting stance and readied herself for the torment to come.

The winged woman said, "My name is Michaela and I am your death guide. I am here to advise you on your choices for the afterlife and then take you there. In that role I must tell you that your goddess has claimed your soul and returning to your body is beyond the power of those on that plane. Your choices are to go back as a spirit and become what your kind call a Banshee; if you choose this I must tell you that you would be hunted by those who hunt the undead. Or you may proceed to the Demon Web and your goddess, and reap what you have sown. Make your choice. If you fail to make it I will send you to your goddess and honor her claim."

Shynta wanting to return asked, "There is no way for me to return to Henri?"

Michaela smiled warmly and said, "If you wish to return now then it would be as a Banshee. However, I must inform you that you could not follow the Keeper. He must return to his home, and Banshees are bound to the world they died on. Before you ask, only those who are a threat to their realm are unbound and sent to a realm of their making, only the Keeper can free them. If you go to your goddess you will be able to see him again after the Renewal is over. Time is running out for you to make your choice, so choose soon."

Shynta knew what awaited her in the Demon Web; all Drow did, and asked, "How long will it be till Renewal?"

Michaela put her hand on her shoulder and said, "Your choice is made then. I will tell you and we will leave for the Demon Web. Depending on when, or even if, Henri opens the gates; about one to one and a half years. If he hasn't by a year and a half, they will open of their own accord and you will have no Renewal."

With that they left Shynta's room and as they headed to the Web Michaela said, "Do not worry, The Great Creator and Great Destroyer have given Henri more than enough power to survive, and your sisters are with him so fear not and survive. When Renewal begins run and Henri will hunt you, know that he, and those with him, will give you a trial. Should you be found innocent you will return to the living."

A brief smile crossed Shynta's face when she heard that and she saw the smile on Michaela's face. This moment was cut short as the smell of sulfur and the feeling of dread flowed around them.

Michaela landed and kneeled before Lloth saying, "I bring the soul of Shyntaunlin Hla'ath to you for interment until Renewal."

Lloth smiled at the sight of an angel on her knees before her. She lived for the day that they would do so as her own forces. Lloth knew they would not release any soul unless the contract was fulfilled and lied, saying, "I accept the soul of Shyntaunlin Hla'ath until Renewal may she find forgiveness and grow beyond this plane."

Michaela grimaced knowing Lloth would not keep her word, but she had no power to deny the contract between the Great Gods and the mortals that became Gods. She released Shynta and watched as she reformed into the Drowess she was in life. With her job done Michaela left Shynta to receive her punishment at least that was how Michaela saw it.

Shynta saw with her own eyes the twisted form of her goddess who was surrounded by very large driders. Shynta mouthed the most feared words any Drow knew, Handmaidens. This is what became of the leaders and high priestesses, they were turned into mirror images of Lloth.

Lloth grabbed Shynta by the hair and lifted her to her feet saying, "If it isn't failure number one. Normally I wouldn't waste my time with someone as lowly as you. However, your actions with Henri have drawn my attention and you are aware what happens to those who draw my attention, aren't you?"

Shynta knew her torment would be even worse because she had submitted to a male and to make it worse a non-Drow. If Lloth knew how she cared for Henri then who knew what Lloth would do.

Lloth watched her and relished the fear but she had other plans for Shynta and said, "Oh don't worry, I know you think you love the human so I have prepared something special for you and your failure of a sister."

Almost on cue she saw Michaela again, and watched as she presented another soul to Lloth. Shynta wondered who it was, and smiled as she saw Mica, her killer, kneeling before Lloth and telling her how she had been a loyal servant.

Lloth backhanded Mica across the room maybe 200 feet, her eyes glowed red and fire came from them as she said, "Loyal? You were my priestess, and as such you had three duties. Did you do those three?"

Mica knew she had and said, "Mistress I have done as you commanded of all your priestesses."

Lloth, still not satisfied, ran a clawed finger along her left ear, down the chin, and up the right ear. She smiled as she pulled the face off of Mica, who howled in pain. As her face regrew she heard Lloth say, "I ask three simple things and you failed me. Removing your face was nothing, next I will remove your womanhood and watch as it grows back and enjoy your screams as it does. Did you serve me with all your black heart? No, your mother and sister were still above you. Did you spread my message to those on the surface? No, you never once brought those who your own house kept to me. Were you fruitful and multiply? No, instead you spent your time in the beds of your fellow priestesses, your kin and other women. What is the punishment for not having children, let alone for preferring women?"

Mica's eyes went wide in horror. Her own goddess knew she was a lesbian and the punishment was the destruction of her very soul. Not having children went against everything Lloth had taught. The only time a Drowess was safe from harm was when she was with child, or the child was too small to defend her or his self.

Mica pleaded knowing that Renewal was real, "I swear I found no male that caught my fancy, had I, then I would have given you many future priestesses."

She knew for a fact that many of her fellow priestesses used potions to become even more fecund. She justified her actions in her mind thinking, 'Is it my fault that males are so disgusting, so pathetic? No, of course it isn't.' She continued along this line thinking, 'Is it my fault that Drowesses have such full kissable lips, soft skin, even give off such wonderful sounds when we are together? No, of course not, they liked it just as much as I did maybe more.' 'If they didn't want that then they wouldn't have slept with me, so what have I done to deserve this treatment? Nothing, I have been a loyal follower.'

Mica was snapped out of her justification when she heard Lloth say to her sister, "You keep that smug look. I will enjoy watching it fade away when you realize that Henri didn't care for you. He shed no tears for you; he does not mourn you because he never cared. Well look upon your beloved Henri now."

Shynta looked and saw Dirzune beseeching Lloth for healing to save Henri; she turned and saw the look of pure joy on her goddesses face as she ignored the request. Her eyes flashed red as she watched Dirzune give up on saving Henri. She knew from experience that a heal potion would only stop the bleeding on those several occasions she had whipped him, potions on such a wound would not stop the bleeding, or remove the poison, that required magical healing. She watched Belar and Zilvra try and heal Henri, her smile returned as she watched his wounds close.

She turned to Lloth her smile still on her face as she said, "My sisters and his protectors have saved him, this is all the proof I need that I might be here now but I will not stop fighting you. I deny you now as I should have done before I died. If Henri doesn't mourn me, then that means he will come for me and since you wanted him protected that means he is more important than you are. You are nothing, and I laugh at your home, what are you going to do torment me? What can you do that we do not do to ourselves? I know you will truly torture me by being kind and nice." She laughed in Lloth's face, her bluff was a good one but she was certain Lloth was going to do something, and Lloth had never been kind, so why not make her angry.

Lloth roared with laughter, clearly not a good sign, and looked the much shorter Shynta square in the eye as she spoke slowly making certain Shynta understood every word.

"I have something special for both you and your sister, so please keep that fight up. I will enjoy your fall all the more. I don't want to keep you any longer from what you are expecting, I hope I meet your standards. I know you have already exceeded mine, don't let me down Shyntaunlin I have high hopes for a glorious fight and an even more glorious downfall. I wonder which of my minions both of you will turn into."

Lloth spun towards the demonic Driders and told them to get both of them out of her sight as they were dragged off to whatever Lloth had planned for them.

***********

On the largest of Alitora's moons Gabriella watched over Henri as he slept and wondered when she should make herself known to him. She was also deciding if he stayed with these Drow because of who he was, or because they were the only ones he knew.

She studied him and saw that sure enough the codex was now part of Henri. What she found more interesting was that a small part of the codex was inside of the Drowess lying next to him, she wondered if that meant she had to present herself to Zilvra as well.

With dawn breaking, Gabriella watched as Zilvra was awoken by the sun's rays hitting her skin. The warmth felt good on Zilvra's skin, as she opened her eyes the light hurt her immensely. She got up and stumbled into the cave. As she entered the cave Zilvra's eyes still hurt but not as bad, though the splitting headache wasn't going away at all. Inside the cave were all the others except for Henri of course

Alak would walk out for a few minutes and then head back to the cave. Henri was dying of curiosity and asked, "What exactly are you doing?"

Alak having done this several times said, "Our eyes are very sensitive to light and when we first come to the surface they can only stand a little bit of time. I can stand more because I have come to the surface before, you do realize that it will take a month, or more, before we can see with a little pain but always in some pain."

Henri offering, "I have a device that can keep track the next time you come out, I can time you and them so you can know exactly how long it will take."

Alak smiled and agreed. Henri surmised that Rikton was clearly older than Alak, assuming that blond hair meant they were old. Henri thought it might be like gray hair to humans. He walked in the cave with Alak.

Alak looked astonished and asked, "Your people have that deafening stick and can keep track of time without a candle or glass? Next you will tell me that you people fly without wings or magic." He started to laugh, but stopped when he saw Henri smirking and trying to tell him that they had.

Henri replied, "It is called a gun and some of them are so quiet you wouldn't know they had fired. I have tools that can count very accurately, and yes Alak we can fly without wings like a bird or spells."

Alak never had a need to track time and asked, "Why would you need to keep track of time?"

Henri said, "When you are fighting several miles away from each other and want to attack at once how do you do such a thing?"

Rikton who had been listening from the cave thought for a second, stepped out into the morning sun, winced in pain and said, "We use a message spell, but we would never attack over several miles our armies are too small for that."

Henri nodded, from what he had seen their city was very small, more like a town in population and said, "We set the attack for a certain time, and at that time we attack across many miles to confuse the enemy, how far does your message spell travel?"

Rikton couldn't take the pain and walked back into the cave thinking as he did and said, "About two miles or so, why?"

Henri shook his head and said, "That wouldn't work very well for us in our last world war the Germans one of the nations on my planet invaded another nation and that attack covered thousands of miles and it started at the same time. Remember that you are looking at a lot more land on the surface and much bigger armies."

Zilvra heard that and wondered how much bigger they could be. "How big are armies on your planet?"

Henri remembered how big the American military was and replied, "Before the war, the nation I represent had about one and half million soldiers, and it wasn't the biggest."

The Drow all looked at him dumbfounded as Dirzune asked, "So your people are a warrior people, if everybody fights in your army? Are you raised to be warriors?"

Henri looked at her strangely and said, "No, the American military which I am part of was voluntary at that time but now we take able bodied men and women when they turn eighteen years of age unless they are an only child, or medically unable."

Rikton got lost at the thought of volunteering to die. "How many people are in this America place?"

Henri wasn't sure and said, "About one hundred and fifty million, or so, I guess. I couldn't really tell you for certain because we are at war and the losses have been high over the last ten years."

Again a look of shock came over them as Belar asked, "This America must be a huge empire to have so many people. Does it control your planet?"

Henri smiled and said, "America tries to control it, but with war all over the world it is hardly able to control its own people, let alone the other billion plus people on Earth."

Rikton remembering what he had seen in Alak's collection said, "You should see their cities here they are truly amazing from the drawings that Alak brought back. How many people live in the capital Alak?"

Alak was trying to remember which drawings Rikton was talking about and said, "I don't know Rikton they said the largest city was Deep Water in what they call the Star Isles, wherever that is and I was told that had one million people and growing."

Zilvra said in disbelief and even a hint of fear, "I knew humans bred quickly, but that fast they could defeat us easily by throwing soldiers at us till we tired. Why haven't the other races done something about them?"

Henri just listened and learned as Alak said, "From what I understand the humans like huge tracts of open land, so our cousins stay in the forests and away from them. Besides, they love to war with each other and when they fight the Orcs I have been told it is a sight to see."

Dirzune said showing she was used to such talks, "If they ever pulled together they could be a threat. We should try and stay allies to those Orcs if they can keep them at bay we could stand a chance."

Alak said, "It isn't that simple, you see when the Orcs invade the humans call a crusade and unite. Plus I have seen them use magic, and while they don't live as long as we do they are very versatile. A human fighter with some training would be able to hold his own against any of our own."

Zilvra said her voice thick with disbelief, "Alak you are saying these humans would be able to best me or Belar, is that right?"

Henri interjected, "I think he was saying that underestimating anybody is dangerous and twice so here, none of you are used to the sun. How well will you fight when they have numbers and half the skill of you two?"

Zilvra sounding agitated at the back handed insult said, "You don't think we can fight without being able to see?"

Henri remembered Alak talking about his deafening stick and knew this would end the conversation.

He asked Alak, "You said you saw humans using guns? What did they look like, the men fighting were they in formations, or not? Did they have big guns that made a lot of noise?"

Alak always loved telling tales and was glad to spin a yarn, "The one group had those big guns that fire very far and are really loud with a lot of smoke. The other had big guns and one that was pointing upwards. Thesoldiers walked towards each other with guns longer than yours and a knife on the end. They had horses with them as well, but they kept them in the rear of the fight, or sent them into the woods. The first army had a few horses too, but fought mostly on foot. When they all fired it was hard to see through the smoke."

Henri thoughts raced trying to figure out the thick smoke and after a few seconds and asked, "Did they walk in lines like this?"

Henri drew ranks on the ground, and when Alak saw this he nodded. Henri continued, "Ok so they are using black powder muskets and have basic cannons. If you see anybody with those muskets don't worry, they are highly inaccurate, so one on one charge them. If you see many, stay away. Muskets are only accurate in a volley, which means it would take thirty shots to hit you and even then you might not get seriously hurt.

Only an army would have cannons, so we don't have to worry about that. If we see anything over six hundred men we will know well in advance and can get out of their way."

Rikton wondering if Henri had better weapons asked, "Do your people use the same weapons?"

Henri said, "No, we use rifles and have contained shot.

"Remember when I showed you my round, well armies here have to load the charge and a ball before firing. Here look..." he took out a clip and showed all of them and asked Alak, "They would shoot, and then set the gun down to reload it, right?"

Alak nodded and said, "Yes, but they also threw things at each other that exploded. When they got close enough they started to stab each other."

Belar could tell Henri knew what they were doing and felt certain of the answer asking, "Are your weapons more advanced?"

Henri said emphatically, "Yes, from the sound of it they have grenades, so that would put their weapons about four hundred years behind mine."

They all looked shocked again, as Henri looked out of the cave and into the spring sun he remembered that Zilvra wanted to learn martial arts and he did want to practice the sword with her. He could feel the warmth in the air and it would be a beautiful day to practice.