KING OF BEASTS (Hiatus)

Rori had tried to calm Ares down, trying to get him to remain in the capital, but Ares refused indignantly.

“Orndu and Orazuta dropped down and risked their lives for me, and you’re telling me I shouldn’t even go and see them?” Ares was hot in the face, red with anger. It was perhaps the only time he had ever been so angry at Rori, though this was also the first time Rori had ever insulted his pride as a man.

“You are still injured, it would do no good for you to aggravate your wounds and put their sacrifice in vain.” Rori was the eye of the hurricane, calm and collected around the storm that was Ares.

“No. I will go and see them, this is not something you can convince me away from.” Ares turned and then pointed to a guard, who stiffened up. “Bring me an ox!” The guard saluted and then dashed away.

“Bring the King an ox, and bring the guards some oxen as well,” Rori said. “The King will take his guard with him.” His eyes fell to the White Cloaks nearby, some of whom had left to find the others.

Ares did not protest as oxen were brought over and he hopped onto the oxen, grunting in a bit of pain as it shot through his body. Yet he did not allow it to halt him as he began to ride out of the city, heading to the tower road that led to the fort. He was joined by a pair of his White Cloaks, until eventually he was surrounded by the complete ten. With him were also a group of wolffolk riders who were quick to answer the call as well, ten of them joining his guard.

It wasn’t long until he had finally arrived at the fort, seeing the hundreds of refugees nearby, and yet that was not what he was here for. The drums echoed as the soldiers nearby saluted him, yet he rode on by, following the road as people jumped away from the road, not wishing to be taken out by the oxen.

He rode straight and true, until finally he was stopped by a group of wolffolk riders. They had forced him to stop, but only caused him greater frustration.

“Where is he?” Ares spat out, his brow painted with the sweat of worry and effort. “Where?”

“He is here, Ares-kin,” a familiar voice called. “You are too loud! Lower your voice!” Orazuta laughed.

Ares’ head snapped to where the voice was coming from, and there he saw Orazuta, bandaged up, as well as Orndu, in an equal state of disarrayed bandages. With a little effort Ares leapt off his oxen, regretting the move right away, before he lumbered over to the pair.

Orndu had some fresh scars against his face, as well as a burn mark across his neck. The rest of his body was bandaged up, up down to his knees. He was near naked save for the bandages and some freshly cut shorts. Orazuta was similar, with bandages all across his bare chest and neck. They were near an open aired tent, with several soldiers nearby as well as a shaman tending to them. They were eating, some soup and bread, for they looked much more haggard than he remembered.

“The pair of you look awful,” Ares said as he fell down before them, laying down slightly across his side to let his stomach stop cramping up so harshly. He would need to remember that riding hard did not help Emerli’s oils.

"Is that our fault? We had spent some some with the enemy. We finally managed to escape them the day after, only to find ourselves with a lack of food, water, shelter, and a good fight.”

"It is a good thing that Rivea provides such things, then," Ares said as he reached up to rub his forehead. “Good fights too.” He sighed. "I'm glad to see you're both doing alright." Ares eyed them up. "Well, that you're still alive."

"This Orndu is quite the fighter."

"I know," Ares said with a smile. "He is the Captain of my… well, there's some news I need to give to him."

Orndu remained silent, watching his King keenly. It seemed he had aged a little from whatever happened to him, which Ares was hoping to learn.

"We have redone the elite soldiers, again." Ares chuckled. "So everyone is a White Cloak now. However, I hope that you will remain my close ally and elite, and so I will offer to you the same rank you once possessed, my most trusted elite." Ares had done so, partly because of the guilt, both for getting his father killed, and that Orndu remained behind to allow him to flee, as well as the fact that Orndu was extremely strong and hard working.

"I have no thoughts of abandoning your side," Orndu said, "especially after almost allowing you to die."

"I wasn't even close to death." Ares smirked, a sort of smirk that told the pair everything. "Rest up for now. You have a few weeks off until I will be heading southward to deal with the rhinofolk."

"Are you still injured?" Orazuta asked.

"I am, but I can handle some rhinofolk with the army,” Ares said, before looking to Orndu, “and my trusted warriors."

"Will you take me with you?" Orazuta asked.

"Once you're healed," Ares said, a soft smile on his face. It was the smile of a King who had failed, hiding the sadness beneath the curled lips. "Ah." Ares reached out his hand. "Welcome to Rivea, Uta."

Orazuta smiled. "It seems to be a decent place."

"You should see the city, it's far better than the fort."

"I will once I am able, though it seems there are some issues with my being here." Orazuta threw a look towards the nearby soldiers.

"Leave him," Ares said. "He is Rivean, he just needs to drink from the fountain and remember the basic rules."

“I can only guess those basic rules,” Uta said with a sigh. “I bet they are boring.”

“Slightly boring, but I assure you, now that you’ve joined Rivea the fun has only begun.”

Orazuta grinned wide, no longer looking like a buffalofolk, but rather a gorillafolk. Ares took a moment to think if there were gorillafolk, and assumed there would be after a moment.

“I am truly glad to see you both again,” Ares said as he rubbed his forehead. The guilt had only just begun to eat away into his core, though they had already returned, to see how they were right now, no longer as healthy as could be all because of him. He wondered what travesty had befallen them.

“Tell me,” Ares said. “Tell me what happened.”

Orazuta was about to say something when Orndu slurped the rest of his bowl and wiped his mouth with the back of his mouth.

“Nothing,” he said. “Nothing at all.”

Ares sat up straighter, feeling a different sort of pain, now flooding through his chest like a wildfire. Yet when he saw the resolute look in Orndu’s eyes, and he dropped the issue.

“Fine,” Ares growled out, “be like that then.” Ares then looked to Orazuta, who sat straight and then crossed his arms, done with his fourth bowl of soup. The man could eat.

Are sighed and then rubbed his face once more. “Very well, if it’s like that.” Orazuta wasn’t going to tell him either.

With that he remained with them, speaking of what has happened to Rivea since. He spoke of them of his awakening, the next few days, then the restructuring of the elite guards, and finally the influx of migrants. He assumed that Rori was dealing with such issues, or had put to task various peoples to deal with it, because he hadn’t heard of any issues between the migrants and the people of Rivea.

“Much has changed,” Orndu said. “Though it is still Rivea.”

Ares grinned wide. “As it should be.”

“What’s this?” Lana asked, appearing from nowhere. “Weren’t you meant to be resting?”

Ares jolted, having not expected his wife to appear from nowhere. “What are you doing here?”

“I had heard that my foolish husband had rode quickly away to the fort, and so I followed him.” She sat down beside them, looking over to Orazuta with a look that made Ares sit up straighter, to carry himself slightly more dignified.

“Lana, this is Orazuta, the man that had saved me from near death. Orazuta, this is my wife, Queen of Rivea, Lana. She was a Horn, just like Torak.”

“So you’re strong as well?” Orazuta said, his grin wide once more as they shook arms. “Stronger than Torak?”

“In some ways,” Lana said with a smirk, throwing a look to Ares. “Isn’t that right.”

“I suppose it is.”

Lana returned her gaze to the pair once more. “Thank you for saving my husband’s life, even if you probably shouldn’t have. He’s too stupid to live, but he’s too stupid to die.”

Ares winced a little. “Well, it’s in the past now. I have amends to make, and I intend to make them soon.” Ares already knew how he would do so. First, of course, would be to give Orndu the same rights as any Rivean, and for Orndu, well he would have perhaps one of the greatest rights of all, like his father before him.

“I will leave you in peace tonight,” Ares said. “If you are feeling well, please return to Rivea proper. You may use the tower path.”

With that, Ares left them be. They weren’t going to tell him what happened, and there was no need to delay their healing. They were probably hiding their exhaustion from him due to the fact the pair were prideful warriors.

Lana and Ares sat in the cart beside one another, plush blankets and cushions keeping them comfortable.

“Do not forget,” Lana said, “the sacrifice they had made for you. This was a mistake of yours, and you shouldn’t forget such things.”

“I won’t.”

Lana placed her head on his shoulder. “I am glad that they did.”