Quick FYI: Codes are roughly for the entire book not just this chapter

Three Knights of the Order of the Lion’s Shield stood in the clearing surrounding the cave. It was quiet save for the soft munching of horses nibbling grass near the wood line far off to one side. The squires tended to the steeds and made sure their leads were secured to nearby trees, it was better to be safe than spend hours chasing one down that decided to bolt for whatever reason, despite being trained as warhorses to be calm even in the heat of battle. Nearby sat a young teenage girl looking sad and dejected as she hugged her knees to her chest, gently rocking to calm her nerves.

The two knights in full armor stood directly before the cave entrance while the last observed from a short distance off and had settled on wearing only a chainmail hauberk. His position clearly separating himself from the other two but still close enough to come to their aid if needed.

The lead knight from before stepped forward, “OGRE! WE HAVE BROUGHT THE GIRL! SHOW YOURSELF!” The other two knights took notice as the young girl’s head came off her knees and she began paying attention.

“Oi, oi, oi, again with the screaming and yelling,” the blue ogre grumbled as her and the farmer boy from earlier stepped into the light at the mouth of the cave. “Couldn’t you just tap your sword against your shield a few times and give a nice friendly ‘Helloo!’?”

The young girl stared intently at the large blue woman, she seemed so familiar, but….

The blue ogre scanned the clearing, taking in each of the knights and the horses off to the side before her eyes came to rest on the girl, giving her a gentle, if toothy, smile. The girl’s face lit up with recognition and she jumped to her feet with a squeak, running across the clearing toward the ogre.

“Stop her!” screamed the lead knight at the squires, both of them dropping the gear they had been gathering for the upcoming battle and running after the fleeing girl.

The knight in chainmail raised his hand, “Hold!” he yelled to the squires as the girl ran a few steps in front of him and into the arms of the now kneeling blue ogre. The squires stopped in their tracks and the knight waved them back to continue their preparations.

“What is the meaning of the Sir Balthus!” the lead knight’s face was almost purple with rage. “Now she can use the girl as a hostage!”

“Calm yourself, Sir Galen. That is not the scene of a villain who has just had a convenient hostage delivered to them,” said Balthus.

Galen turned and looked. The ogre was on one knee gently embracing the girl as she sobbed into the larger woman’s shoulder babbling on about her brother and knights and many other things Sir Galen couldn’t make out. The ogre petted the sobbing girl, whispering soothing words as she stroked the girl’s head and back. It seemed almost motherly.

This only infuriated Galen more. Ogres weren’t motherly! They were vile beasts who captured and enslaved human males then fucked them almost to death, and when a man couldn’t get it up any longer from her constant abuse she ate him! Usually without the decency of killing him first! This was a ruse! It had to be! Ogres don’t act like this, blue skin or not!

Balthus watched as a wide array of emotions played across the young knight’s face, finally settling on white, incandescent rage directed at the blue ogre. He sighed inwardly then caught the attention of the other knight, “Will this do as an alternative, Sir Corrin?”

Corrin glanced at the girl and ogre then back at Balthus, “As long as she understands the rules and assuming you are correct about the blue one’s abilities. Yes, I would accept this.”

Balthus nodded and turned back to the scene at the cave entrance.

As the girl settled down the ogre gently pulled her away, “Young one, I’m going to tell these men about what happened to you and Sir Michael, is that okay?”

The girl winced at the memory then blushed heavily in embarrassment. Noticing movement to one side she looked at Sir Balthus and saw understanding in his eyes. Checking the other two she realized that Sir Corrin also knew. The ogre turned back to the girl, “It looks as though two of them already know, I will just be filling in details. Can I tell them?” The girl looked at the two knights she had spoken with then back to the ogre and nodded slowly.

“Very good,” said the ogre then turned to the young man beside her, “Kal?”

“Yes Ikuno?” said the boy.

“Take her inside and lay her down on my bed, the poor girl is exhausted. Hurry back but don’t come too close in case things go bad.”

“Yes ma’am,” Kal extended his hand to the girl, “Would you be so kind as to come with me? Ikuno has a place where you can rest.”

The girl looked hesitantly at the ogre.

Ikuno smiled at her, “Kal is a fine young man and my servant for today. I trust him, and you can too.”

The girl nodded then turned to Kal, taking his offered hand and allowing herself to be led away.

“Alright ogre! Enough of your games!” growled Galen, “What happened to Sir Michael!”

“Oni,” said Ikuno.

“What?” asked Galen, taken aback by the odd answer. Balthus and Corrin, however, were now listening intently.

“I’m an oni, not an ogre,” she explained, “While distantly related I don’t much appreciate being mistaken for one of my stupid and violent cousins.”

Galen scowled, “Ogre or oni it makes no difference, get on with your tale!”

Ikuno sighed, “As you wish,” She noticed, however, that Balthus seemed to be very annoyed with Galen judging by the look on his face “The day that I saw Sir Michael…

——

Hunting had gotten slim in the vicinity of her cave and today she was on the very edge of her hunting grounds not far from a human village. She tended to avoid humans, more so now as a string of thieves attracted to her cave by promises of riches, combined with the poor hunting, had made her irritable enough to turn her skin green. The thought of being mistaken for one of those moronic ogres did not lighten her mood. Another issue making her unusually ill- tempered was that it had been far too long since she had a man.

The caravan she traded with was a half day’s journey north and only came by every few years, occasionally she could buy herself a night with an adventurous merchant or passenger. Sadly, her skin had turned mostly green the last time they were in the area and she had barely been able to buy their small supply of saké. Luckily one of the older merchants remembered her and had saved some of his stock just for the strange blue ogre. Too old to take care of her needs himself, he had offered up one of his servant boys. Unfortunately, the poor thing was so scared of her that she left without getting any relief, insisting the merchant keep the payment as an apology for terrifying the boy.

She hated to admit it but somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she was hunting so close to a village in hopes of running across a male who might be interested in a quick tumble.

To make matters worse she had begun to hear rhythmic cries out here in the woods of a couple who had the same thing on their mind. She quietly followed the noises and came up behind the couple, she couldn’t see the girl from this angle, but the man seemed to be somewhat handsome. Strangely he was wearing a full suit of armor which seemed like it would get in the way and was making quite a racket. She began to wonder if he might be up for a go with her once he was done with the maiden, a hand started making its way down towards her…

The wind shifted.

Air currents coming from the direction of the couple brought a new scent to her nose, blood.

Her mind snapped out of its lust-filled haze as if struck by a lightning bolt. They weren’t cries of pleasure but shrieks and sobs of pain and fear. A few quiet strides and her hand closed on the armor’s backplate behind the man’s neck. He shrieked as he suddenly found himself flying backwards. She looked down at the girl who had collapsed when the man went airborne. The young woman was trying desperately to scoot away, staring back in fear at what she thought to be a human eating ogre.

The oni fished a small blue vial out of a pouch and held it for a moment while it started to glow then tossed it towards the girl, landing in the leaf litter beside her. “Drink that, I’ll take the pain away,” she said then turned on her heel and strode in the direction of the armored man. The girl behind her was babbling something about a brother and squires but the oni was no longer listening.

The man had gotten up and ran over to his horse pulling a sword from a scabbard tied to the saddle. She mentally kicked herself for having been too distracted to even notice the horse.

“You’ll pay for that you bitch!” he said charging her and bringing his sword across in a long arc to disembowel her. A magic circle formed above her arm and she batted the sword away knocking it from his grasp. Her foot came up and caught him square in the chest, sending him sprawling. She calmly picked up the sword and sliced through the horse’s lead rope, freeing it. With a swat on the rump she sent the steed running off into the woods. Glancing back, she saw that the girl had also ran off, hopefully back to her village.

“That girl was mine!” yelled the man as he picked himself up off the ground. “She was given to me so I would take her brother as a squire! You have no right!”

“So, you’re a knight,” she picked up his sword and stabbed a nearby tree, burying it halfway to the hilt. With an almost lazy twist of her wrist the blade snapped in a shower of sparks, she then casually tossed the remainder of the sword off into the woods. “You had your pick of hundreds of monster girls and no small number of human women you could have chosen to get your dick wet.” She said stalking toward the knight. “Damn it! I would have let you fuck ME! Instead, you go and ravish some poor, unwilling peasant girl!” Her voice lowered to a dangerous growl, “You are a special kind of sickness that needs to be scrubbed from this world.”

The man wore a mask of confusion, he had dispatched many ogres in his time as a knight and had never heard one speak so plainly and clearly. An ogre using magic like when she batted his sword away was unheard of. Then there was the sword itself. Though frowned upon by the order, he had a strength enchantment put on the blade to prevent it from breaking. Despite that she had snapped it with one hand, something no regular ogre should be able to do. Fear built inside him as he backpedaled, keeping her at a distance. Regardless she kept closing on him with steady measured strides, her face a mask of barely restrained fury.

Suddenly the knight snapped, “I am a Knight of the Lion’s Shield! How dare you judge me!” he screamed rushing her and swinging a gauntleted fist with all his might. Her hand closed on his vambrace, stopping his swing, then squeezed down, deforming the metal and crushing his arm. The knight howled in pain, pounding on her fingers in a futile attempt to make her let go until she backhanded him across the face, knocking him out.

She picked him up by the backplate and dragged him through the woods, “I have a friend who is going to enjoy you,” she said to the unconscious knight. “Too bad for you, she likes her meat tenderized first.”

——

The clearing was quiet as Ikuno tale came to an end. Kal sat stared wide-eyed at the blue oni, barely believing that the woman he had spent the day with was the same as the one depicted in her story. Thinking back to when he arrived that morning and the imposing, scowling figure with the red glowing eyes that met him, maybe it wasn’t so hard to believe.

Galen chuckled for a moment then burst out into laughter, “An ogre that can use magic? Laughable! Is this your paltry attempt to scare us away? I doubt you even saw Sir Michael much less killed him. Snapping his blade one-handed. What nonsense!”

Ikuno sighed, “To be honest I was not the last one to see him alive,” she said walking back into a part of the cave still shrouded in darkness, she picked up a bag that made a metallic clinking noise as it moved. “That honor went to a nearby pitcher plant girl I fed him to after throwing him down the side of my little mountain a few times to soften him up. She sent word a few days later that these were making her sick.” She tossed the bag into the clearing so it landed right in front of Galen. The satchel burst on impact and plates of severely dented armor that had been pitted and pocked by digestive juices sprayed out around Galen’s feet. Even at a distance, Kal could see the roaring lion embossed on some of the pieces.

Shouting with rage Galen fitted his shield on his arm and drew his sword “Heathen bitch! I’ll have your head for this!” The knight rushed forward with his sword raised, not bothering to wait for Sir Corrin to ready up so they could attack together. As he swung down a magic circle of blue light formed above Ikuno’s forearm and intercepted the blade. His moment of surprise was costly as Ikuno reached around and sunk her claws into his shield, ripping it out of his grasp and tossing it away. By luck, one of her claws had severed the leather strap cinched around the young knight’s forearm, preventing the limb from flying across the clearing along with the shield.

However, Galen had come by his title of knight honestly and his sword dipped and dove trying to find a weak point in her defense but no matter which angle he attacked from the blasted magic shield was always there. Soon, his movements became sloppy with frustration. In his time as a knight, no enemy he had yet faced was still breathing after this long. To make things worse he was starting to tire, and she didn’t appear to be putting any effort into the fight at all. As his rage faded, it gave way to cold, gut-wrenching fear. Looking at the creature’s calm visage he realized that this was not an enemy that he could best, that today might be the day he died. Crying out, he took his sword in both hands and began chopping down on the oni’s shield like you would an axe to a fallen log.

“Enough,” said Ikuno and swung up with her shield up as the knight swung down with his sword. When they met there was a bright flash and Galen’s sword went spinning off behind him. Defenseless the man stepped back, fear etched on his features. Another magic circle formed above the palm her other hand, Ikuno held it out so it pointed at Galen.

“Goodbye, Knight,” she said. Spheres of energy streaked out from the sigil in the middle of the circle and impacted Galen in the chest knocking him off balance and making him stumble backwards. He tried to turn to the side to spread out the impact but as though controlled by some spirit they would veer to the side only to streak in and hit his chest plate in the same place time after time. A break in attacks made Galen think that she was done but he looked up in time to see a much larger glowing orb hurtling towards him.

Galen flew into the air when the sphere hit, flipping him over before he landed on his back knocking the air out of him. Immediately the rain of smaller projectiles began again, arcing up over Balthus and Corrin before slamming down onto the prone knight who grunted with each impact. As his chest plate caved in from the constant beating and he could no longer draw breath, the realization that he was about to die began to sink into the young knight. Suddenly, the pounding was gone and Balthus was above him holding up his accursed arm. Runes glowed bright blue as the knight’s magic shield stopped the oni’s onslaught. Still starved of air, the young man passed out.

“Yield! We yield! Cease your attack!” Balthus yelled over the din of energy impacting his shield.

Ikuno stopped attacking but pointed the magic circle towards Sir Corrin. The knight had only just drawn his sword and taken a few steps forward to aid Galen before realizing how one-sided this battle was. The knight raised his hands in acknowledgment before sheathing his sword and walking over to check on Galen. The shield Balthus had made guttered and died like a flame out of fuel, the runes on his arm fading along with the light from a small crystal he had hanging from a necklace.

Noticing Galen wasn’t breathing Balthus immediately started undoing the buckles on the young knight’s armor, the chest plate literally popped off as the man’s ribs sprung back into place and the knight took a couple of deep gasping breaths before falling into a normal sleeping rhythm.

Balthus looked up at Corrin, “He’ll live, he may be so sore tomorrow he’ll wish he hadn’t, but for now, he’ll live.” He looked over at the two boys standing nearby with various alternate weapons for the knights in their hands. “Squires! Bring Galen’s horse over here!” he yelled to them, “Strip his armor off and put him on it, you’ll have to tie him in place so he doesn’t fall off before he wakes.”

“Bring mine as well,” said Corrin, “No need to be wearing all of this armor with no purpose.”

Shedding his armor, Corrin joined Balthus as he went to speak to the oni, who was joined again by the farmer boy who had watched from just inside the cave.

“My thanks for sparing my brother’s life…“ Balthus looked at the boy then back at the oni, “Ikuno, was it?”

Ikuno nodded but Kal spoke up, “He’s your brother?!”

Balthus chuckled, “Not by blood, we refer to our fellow knights of the Order as our brothers.”

“It seemed to me that you were the one to save Galen, Brother Balthus, why do you say that she spared him?” asked Corrin.

“I believe that if she had wanted Galen dead he would not have even taken a step towards her. Is this not correct?” he said turning back to Ikuno.

Ikuno shrugged, summoning another circle over her palm she pointed it at one of the trees off to the side of the clearing. Energy fired out, instead of a orb, this time it was thin and shaped like a crescent moon. At first, it looked as though the blade passed through without effect. A moment later the tree slid apart along where it had been cut and toppled over.

“It’s a gruesome thing to do to a living being,” she said with a far-off look, then shook her head as if clearing away memories before turning back to the knights. “Sometimes a good pummeling can make the densest human see reason. I’d rather do that than off-handedly killing them, makes for bad relations with the neighbors.”

Balthus sighed, “Speaking of relations with the neighbors I wish to talk with you about the girl.”

“What of her?” asked the oni.

“We of the Order cannot have a young girl running around telling people she was taken forcefully by one of ours.” Balthus saw Ikuno’s face darken and held up a hand. “it’s not something I agree with but some of the Order,” Balthus’s eyes flicked to Sir Corrin, “see it as a necessary evil to maintain our image. That said, she needs to understand that she can never speak of what happened with Sir Michael.”

“Understandable, but why are you telling me this?” asked Ikuno, her voice thick with suspicion.

“That brings me to the second issue. She cannot return home.”

“Why not?” asked Kal.

Sir Corrin answered, “She spoke to myself and Brother Balthus on the way here, both times she was terrified of what her brother might do to her. From what the townsfolk told me while I was searching for her earlier, both parents are dead and while the brother is taking care of her he also takes out his frustrations on her with frequent beatings. The village apothecary said that after Sir Michael… went missing… she stumbled in beaten to the point that he didn’t think she would live. Luckily he found a small vial of blue healing potion in her clothes as he was treating her.” Sir Corrin gave Ikuno a knowing look before continuing, “With him losing yet another chance to become a squire as well as being publicly humiliated from my throwing him in the stocks for a few days. He may succeed in what he almost accomplished last time.”

“Why did you put him in the stocks?” asked Ikuno.

Sir Corrin frowned, “Knights don’t appreciate being lied to”

“Fair enough,” said the oni, “but again why are you telling me this?”

Balthus smiled wickedly, “Because by our reckoning you saved her once from Sir Michael and once from her brother; by rights, her life belongs to you twice over”

Ikuno’s eyes narrowed as she glared at him, “You bastard… you’re dumping her on me!”

Balthus’s face went solemn, “If it saves the girl’s life as well as saving one of the Order from the nasty business of having to tie up loose ends, then yes, she’s your problem now.”

Glaring at him for a moment longer Ikuno sighed, “So be it, Kal you are taking her home with you tonight.”

“What?” squeaked the farmer in surprise.

“Well she can’t stay here with me, you live hours away in the opposite direction of her village and I’m sure you and your mother could use the help on the farm.”

Kal thought about what she said for a second before grumbling, “Damn logic.”

Ikuno smiled at the knights, “Now that that ugly business is out of the way may I see your crystal, Sir Balthus?”

“I suppose so,” he said taking the necklace off and handing it to the oni, “its drained and I doubt one with your power could use it.”

Ikuno inspected the crystal, “I have no intention of using it, but I heard something when you had your shield up earlier,” turning to the farmer she said, “Kal, on one of the shelves with the books is a small leather bag would you bring it here?”

“Yes ma’am,” he said and disappeared into the darkness of the cave.

Turning back to Balthus she said, “I have some far superior crystals and I was curious if you might be interested in a trade?”

“I’m no merchant, what might I have that would interest you?”

“No, certainly no merchant but you do look the type to possibly have a few books lying around?”

Balthus tilted his head to one side, smiling, “Lady Ikuno you drive a hard bargain.”

——

Minutes later Kal was walking the remaining crystals and three newly obtained books back to Ikuno’s library as Balthus inspected his new crystal.

As Kal came jogging back Corrin said, “I don’t understand what was wrong with the other one?”

Ikuno popped the crystal out of the setting and handed the necklace back to Balthus, “This crystal is flawed, some have flaws so small it doesn’t affect them much but this one….” she touched the crystal to her horn and they watched as it slowly began to glow brighter and brighter when it stopped she took it in one hand and pointed it at the other, lightning shot out of the crystal onto her palm accompanied by a high pitched whine that seemed to come from the crystal itself. She did the same thing a second time and the noise got louder, the third time the lightning was less a bolt and more a fan of tiny arcs. A large ball of energy jumped from the crystal to her hand just as the crystal shattered. She looked at Balthus, “You don’t want that to happen in the middle of a fight. Now for the new crystal.”

Balthus handed it over. When she touched it to her horn it went from dark to full brightness in only a couple seconds. The test on her palm showed a thick solid beam that barely wavered. She touched it to her horn once more and handed it back to him.

“May I,” he asked. Getting nods from everyone he stepped back and activated the runes on his arm. The runes flared, and the shield snapped into place almost instantly.

“That is certainly interesting,” said Corrin. Ikuno and Kal both looked at him. “This is only the fourth time or so that I’ve seen his arm put to use so I’m no expert. However, when he went to save our young friend his arm lit up about halfway there, but the shield didn’t materialize until just before he got to Galen.” Corrin noted the farmer’s expression then smiled up at Ikuno, “You may have a bit of a problem there,” he said nodding at the boy.

Ikuno looked down at the enraptured look on Kal’s face as he watched Balthus test his shield with the new crystal. She couldn’t disagree with the knight.

——

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Edited by: Old Fart

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