In this installment of Foundations of Creation, Vel is getting along with the gnolls rather well, but it would be wise to keep in mind that he is dealing with titanic carnivores that don't share his morality.

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Chapter 6

When Vel woke up the following morning, he had to suppress a yelp. He had nearly forgotten the situation he was in. There were three gigantic sets of black eyes staring at him. As it turned out, the gnolls were communal sleepers. Hestrihz slept snuggled up to Iah while Ryrrg rested his head on Iah’s belly, not far away from where her hand held him in place. They were all patiently waiting for him to finish waking up before parting for the day. Waking up and immediately being the center of attention of such massive predatory beings was nearly enough to make Vel embarrass himself.

The gnolls seemed to notice his reaction, and they seemed amused by it, with Iah saying, “Still not used to us yet, Vel, even after we all shared a delightful meal?”

“Sorry.”

“No worries, Vel,” Hestrihz spoke this time, “We are still your captors and not your clan, even if we are your protectors.”

“But we still hope to make you feel safe around us,” Ryrrg said with a smile.

Vel could only nod at that. There was minimal chatter after that. It was time to break camp. The gnolls gathered all their things, armored up, and Hestrihz pulled out one of those magic hourglasses and cast a preservation spell on the remaining meat from yesterday before they all gathered it up. When Iah came to pick him up and put him in his pocket, before she could do so, he asked, “Do you all have those magic hourglass pendants?”

It was a question asked out of idle curiosity, but the suspicious glance Iah gave him made him flinch. Immediately, he meekly responded, “Sorry for asking.”

Iah shook her head and chuckled almost to herself, “No, no, I’m sorry, Vel. You don’t know anything about all this, and I bet you’re curious as a child right now. I should not have been so skeptical of you. My clan currently possesses three of them, which is a lot, by the way. We used to only have one, and it was nearly empty, but it was refilled, and we were granted two more as part of this job. You may not realize this, but that means you are precious. It might have taken five years’ worth of the clan’s resources to pay to fill one of these pendants. And that’s just a fraction of our payment for acquiring you. I hope that helps you understand just how valuable you are.”

That was something for Vel to consider as he was placed in his pocket inside Iah’s shirt. It was hard to tell just how long he remained there. It was dark warm, and impossible to tell just how much time was passing, especially since he tended to drift off to sleep every so often. Sometimes, he would be woken up when Iah made some motion that caused him to jostle awake. Vel never could tell what that was from his safe confinement. Fortunately, nothing as bad as that fight from the previous day had occurred. Since Iah never bothered to take him out of the pocket, he assumed it was nothing serious, or at least nothing serious by her standards. Besides that, it was almost easy to believe he had been forgotten until Iah occasionally checked on him to see if he had to relieve himself.

Eventually, Iah’s fingers did come questing for him. When he was pulled out of the pocket, he had to squint his eyes while they adjusted to the light of day once more. He assumed it was well into the afternoon by the sun's position. All three of the gnolls were gathered around and looking at Vel. It was not as bad as when he had woken up that morning to find them staring at him, but it was still disquieting to have the attention of all these titans. He wondered what they wanted until Iah said, “Good news, Vel. Ryrrg, tell him what you found while you were scouting ahead.”

“I spotted one of your settlements, which appears to be inhabited. Looks like we might be able to do some trading.”

“Do you have anything to trade for?”

Each gnoll showed him a sack they were carrying, full of the monsters that had originally driven Vel off his farm and into Adrianople. Vel thought he had figured out what Iah had been doing to jostle him. She had been cutting these creatures down. It looked like the gnolls had been clearing the area of them. Vel did not know just what town or city Ryrrg had come across, but they would undoubtedly be grateful to be rid of that many of these things.

“Vel, I want you to do our negotiating for us,” Iah said, “I don’t want to waste magic casting a translation spell on any other humans.”

“That’s fine with me,” Vel responded, “But I thought I was the only one getting anything, well, besides some currency for you.”

“Iah let us taste those, uh, cow things,” Hestrihz said, with a hungry look in her eyes, “and they were very delicious. “

“We want to get any other domesticated meat beasts you can get for us,” Ryrrg said, licking his lips and looking like he was on the verge of drooling.

“I should be able to arrange something. Whoever you found should be real happy you cleared out that many of those monsters.”

“That’s good,” Iah said carefully, like she was thinking about her following words carefully, “Because we want something else too. We want to purchase what slaves they can spare.”

Vel’s blood ran cold. If they wanted slaves, they certainly did not want them for heavy lifting. No, all the gnolls were thinking about right now was food. There was no obvious way of talking them out of this line of thinking either. He did not know enough about how they think to do so without risking even more lives. Frankly, he was confident that, from their perspective, they thought they were being polite about this. Between the three of them, they could take whatever they pleased and had a good laugh about anyone who tried to resist them before crushing them under their mammoth paws. It felt like he should try and do something for them, but he could not think of what to do.

“I’ll, uh, try my best,” Vel said solemnly.

“Excellent,” Iah said with a smile before her expression turned more serious, “And Vel…”

“Yes.”

“I hate to have to say this, but if you try to run off with the other humans to get away from us, well, I acknowledge your right as prey to try and flee, but that will also be the end of our more friendly relationship,” Iah explained, “And then we will kill everyone that gets in our way when we try to get you back, and we will get you back.”

As friendly as the gnolls had been with Vel, this was a harsh reminder that he was dealing with a race of giants that did not share in human morality. It was good that he had not been thinking of trying to escape. No matter who he ran into, even if it was the emperor himself and his personal legions, Vel was not confident they could protect him from the gnolls. However, this did all bring up a new question.

“What if they try to force me to go with them?”

The gnolls all shared a look before Iah responded, “Do you think that’s a possibility?”

“If they figure out I’m that valuable, I suppose it is. People are panicking right now, and they might think it’s a good idea to abduct me and try to force you to do some favors for them.”

Iah said, “That would be…unwise, Vel. If they try any such thing, we’ll be forced to start leveling their settlement, and we won’t stop until you’re returned. And, by the gods above, if they should happen to harm or kill you while you are under our protection, not a single human will make it out of that settlement alive.”

Vel gulped, “I’ll try to make sure not to mention my value to you while letting them know the consequences of harming me then.”

“Yes, that sounds like it’s for the best.”

And with that, they were off, headed towards the settlement Ryrrg had spotted. Iah was now carrying him in her hand. She wanted the humans to spot him so they would hopefully figure out that they were not hostile. When the supposed settlement came into sight for Vel, he was astonished by what he saw. It was no mere settlement but the capital of the frontier province, the city of Regulbium. Vel had been to it a couple of times before to trade goods. But it had taken over a week to get there from his farm, and here they were after just a couple of nights of travel, and Iah had not even been going particularly fast as she had been stopping to kill monsters.

Vel turned to Ryrrg, “I thought you said this was just a settlement. That’s the most important and largest city in the region.”

Ryrrg looked back at him and laughed a little before stopping and noticing the expression on Vel’s face, “Oh, you aren’t joking. It just looks like a collection of toys to my eyes. Sorry.”

Vel could not see Iah’s face, but by the way she flinched a little bit and the looks on Hestrihz’s and Ryrrg’s faces, he could tell they were all surprised by that fact, too. He could see Hestrihz and Ryrrg evaluating the city more closely, and Vel did not doubt that Iah was probably doing the same. They were perhaps counting buildings and checking the number of smoke stakes in the manufacturing parts of the city. From above, Iah asked, “How many humans live in that city?”

“I’ve heard they were approaching 15,000 residents before this convergence event, as you call it, started to happen,” Vel explained, “But based on the tents I can see scattered around the area, I’d say they’ve added another third of that population in refugees.”

“And this is only the largest city in the region? Not one of your grandest cities,” Hestrihz asked wonderingly.

“Oh no, the imperial capital is many times this size. This is a major city for the frontier,” Vel said with a bit of pride, “but it is still just a frontier city.”

The gnolls went silent after that. Obviously, they had not grasped how many people could fit into a city when they were not giants. And then Vel suddenly realized what a terrible mistake he had just made in educating their ignorance. They wanted slaves for food. Before he had let them know about the numbers that existed in the city, they were probably going to ask for a far more conservative number than they would be thinking about now. Vel cursed himself, as he was sure those that would suffer for his carelessness and stupidity would also do from beyond the grave. It was too late to do anything about that now, though. All Vel could do was try to dedicate himself to being more careful in the future.

As they approached the city, Vel saw a lot of activity on the walls. There had been a lot of workers on them when they first came. Regulbium may have been well built for dealing with barbarians on the frontiers, but it had been built with repelling humans in mind. The current walls offered minimal protection from the monsters Vel had fought. As for the gnolls, Vel doubted those walls even presented them with a tripping hazard. Workers had been trying to correct that and looked to be trying to more than double them in height, but that still would not have been enough for the gnolls. Vel assumed they had not run into anything of their size yet and must have been panicking.

As the workers streamed off the wall, some very hesitant soldiers began filing in to take their place. It was apparent the gnolls noticed all the activity, too, as Hestrihz said, “It looks like an angry hive of insects is ready to pour out and attack us.”

“Let’s stop here for now,” Iah said to her companions before directing her attention to Vel, “Is there some way we can signal we wish to parley?”

“Do you have some sort of white cloth you could wave?”

Iah briefly chuckled softly, “So it’s the same here too. Guess something that simple is easy to catch on.” She pulled out what might as well have been a large tent worth of cloth to Vel, but might not have been anything more than a handcloth to the titan of a gnoll. She waved it back and forth a few times, and that was able to get another reaction from within the city. They had to stand there and wait for a while, but the gates to the city eventually opened and a few soldiers in immaculate, sparkling armor came riding out to the gnolls, which their horses seemed none too happy about.

As the soldiers neared, Iah signaled the other gnolls, and they all took a knee as she lowered her hand to the ground and let Vel hop to the ground. The soldiers seemed surprised to see Vel. This gave them something else to approach besides the titans in their midst, even though Vel was sure they took a knee to try and make themselves seem smaller and less threatening. That was hard to do since they would have towered over a person even while lying down. On their knees, they were still a match in height for any building in Regulbium.

Eventually, the riders made their way up to Vel, and the one leading them bowed in greeting, “Greetings stranger. I am General Calvinus. May I ask how you came to be in the company of these…fine beings?”

“And greetings to you, General Calvinus. My name is Vel Apelles, and I was captured by the big one, Iah, at the town of Adrianople,” Vel said, gesturing towards the lead gnoll.

“I don’t suppose you desire a rescue,” Calvinus inquired sardonically.

Vel looked up at Iah before responding, “That…probably wouldn’t be a good idea. They would not take that very well.”

“I don’t suppose these three are responsible for completely wiping out a couple of towns in the wilderness, as my scouts have reported?”

“Two towns,” Vel exclaimed, “I had only seen one, and I hope we are talking about at least one of the same towns. But no, they did not wipe out any towns. Not yet, at least.”

Vel let that implied threat hang in the air, and Calvinus nodded slightly in understanding. After taking a moment to think, he said, “So then we still have some town killers out there.”

“Possibly not, General,” Vel said, and Calvinus raised a questioning eyebrow, “A group responsible for destroying at least one of those towns tried to ambush us out in the wilderness. Two zebra people around the same size as them and six scaled people they call kobolds that are about a third their size. These creatures, gnolls, carry what’s left of them as provisions for their journey.”

“Good thing they were also traveling in a group then.”

“Oh no, General. It was just Iah and me at the time. She wiped out the group on her own.”

The general had enough self-control not to shiver, but the glance he gave Iah and the other two gnolls made it clear that he was fully aware of their situation. He might have hoped that the gnolls were not as tough as they looked, but just one of them had taken on a force that Calvinus had to know the single legion stationed at Regulbium would not have stood a chance against. Vel saw his lips moving even though no words were coming out, and Vel knew that he had to be sending up a silent prayer to the gods.

“And what do these gnolls want of our fair city.”

“They wish to trade in exchange for services they have provided.”

Calvinus leaned in close to talk with Vel, as if he wished to speak privately, even though Vel was not sure if that was possible based on the ears that the gnolls had, “And why don’t they just demand what they want.”

Vel thought about whispering back but just spoke normally. He did not want the gnolls to believe he was plotting something, “As I understand it, they’re mercenaries, not bandits. I think they are trying to act honorably, by their standards at least.”

The general rubbed his chin thoughtfully, saying, “I suppose I could offer them payment for wiping out that enemy force for us.”

“That’s not it, General Calvinus,” Vel then looked up to Iah, “You can show them what you’ve done for them now.”

Iah nodded and told the others, “Open your bags.”

The horses did not like the sudden movement from the giant predators in their midst, and their riders had to put in a lot of effort to keep their mounts from bolting or bucking them. Once the general managed to calm his mount down, he said, “I hope that series of growls wasn’t meant to be as aggressive as it sounded.”

“So you really can’t understand her?”

“And you can?”

“Yes. Iah claims that the world these beings come from is magic,” Vel explained, “She’s probably telling the truth too. She cast a spell on me that lets me understand them, and they can understand me, or possibly all humans, for all I know. I’m not the one familiar with magic.”

Calvinus nodded his head somewhat disbelievingly, “Very well. I just hope you are not mad.”

“As do I.”

While they were speaking, the gnolls finished opening up their bags that they had been storing the corpses of the monsters they had slain. When Calvinus looked inside, the stunned man said, “By the gods, I thought the attacks by these monsters from the south of the city had been light today. I would kiss this Iah if I didn’t have to climb her like a mountain to do so.”

By the way Iah smiled, Vel was sure she had heard that comment. Vel did not want to spoil the mood, but he had to say, “You may not be in such a good mood once you hear what they want.”

“Oh, and what could they possibly want of us?”

“Well, they do want some actual currency so they can pay for things that way.”

“That should be no problem.”

“And they’ve also tried out some abandoned cows and found their flavor to their liking. So, they want more, and they want to obtain other domesticated animals. That’s also for my benefit, and they want other spices for me and any goods I may want for our travels. They want me well taken care of.”

“How kind of them,” replied Calvinus, “Sounds more like they’ve taken to you like a favored pet. But all those requests sound reasonable. We can’t care for all the animals the refugees have brought in. We simply don’t have the grazing land or supplies to feed what we have through the winter. I suspect many of what we have would only end up starving to death anyway. Is that it?”

“No, they also wish to acquire some…slaves,” Vel said, “as many as you can spare.”

“For what possible use,” Calvinus asked, looking up at the gnolls. He observed them carefully, watching as even the slightest of their movements would cause powerful muscles to put on amazing shows of power beneath their fur-covered bodies. “I know the wealthy like to show off by bragging about all the slaves they own, but mercenaries don’t seem like the type to engage in displays like that.”

“Sir,” Vel said with deadly seriousness, “The only thing the gnolls want besides currency is food.”

Calvinus’ eyes widened in astonishment for a second before he stated, “They’re maneaters.”

“Their predators, General,” Vel said, “If it’s made of meat, they eat it.”

“But the consumption of people-”

“Is something they would be honored to do,” Vel cut off Calvinus before he could say anything that would offend the gnolls, “They say we are perfectly worthy of being consumed by them and are willing to help clear out some of the monsters so that we don’t have to be humiliated by being consumed by what they consider vermin.”

Vel hoped the general would take the hint about what he was saying. Calvinus did look between him and the gnolls a couple of times. He did look a little confused, but he also seemed to come to a slight understanding of the situation. Fortunately, Calvinus did not push back against the eating habits of the gnolls. Based on the general's subsequent statements, he may not have pushed back enough, “We can spare 100 slaves for each of the gnolls.”

Vel was stunned by the general’s willingness to part with that many slaves. The empire was not like some of the more barbaric tribes to the east. Slaves were still considered people. Their murder was considered homicide. And here he was, willing to give up 300 with no fight whatsoever.

“Really, you can spare that many?”

“Most of the slaves in the city are useless anyway. They were collected by the wealthy to show off their wealth and have not done a day’s hard work in years,” Calvinus said with a sigh, “The ones that have been brought in from the plantations with the refugees are more helpful and have been indispensable in helping to upgrade the walls. But, with us trapped behind the walls by those monsters, we might as well be under siege. We don’t have the supplies to feed all the mouths we have. Taking some of the ones off our hands that will probably be participating in food riots a few months from now might be doing us a favor.”

In his head, Vel knew the general was right. They had already been talking about rationing food in Adrianople. If the legion could not deal with the monsters in the area around Regulbium, rioters would probably be burning parts of the city down before winter was over. With all the refugees in the city, the slaves were probably already going to take the least priority when it came to food. As far as Calvinus was concerned, Vel knew the slaves must have already been the walking dead. Still, the callousness of it all bothered him. Vel was just some farmer himself. If he had one or two bad harvests, he might have been one of those slaves. It must have been much easier for the general to bargain with the lives of slaves when he had no chance of ever being one of them.

“Tell the general that we would like 500 each,” Iah suddenly said from above.

“What did the beastwoman just say,” asked Calvinus.

Vel felt numb as he relayed what Iah wanted to the general. He looked like he was thinking about what was being asked of him. Vel feared he would just give in. But what could he do when faced with such titans? The silence that lingered felt like it lasted forever to Vel, but it must have been only a second or two because none of the gnolls tried to rush them. Eventually, Calvinus asked Vel, “You say they are honest mercenaries looking to do honest trade.”

“As far as I can tell.”

“We’ll see about that,” Calvinus said so quietly even Vel barely heard it before he looked up to face Iah, “That’s close to three-quarters of the city’s slaves. We can’t afford to lose that many, not when we have walls to build up to deal with these monsters threatening us. 150 each.”

“We’ve already nearly cleared out all the vermin to the south of your city, and we’ll do the same to the north when our business is concluded here,” Iah said as Vel translated for her, “That will take some pressure off you and give you more time to build your walls. You can spare more than that. 450 each.”

Calvinus sighed, “We would be very grateful for that, but we still need those slaves to work as quickly as possible, in case more of those things show up after you leave. 200 each is as far as I can go. That will require me to strip the wealthy of all their fancy ornaments, but the ones brought in from the countryside are too experienced workers to be let go of.”

“I hope you know what you are doing, General. You’re a braver man than I, negotiating like this,” Vel whispered to the other man. He was impressed with him for being able to stand firm against the gnolls when any of them could crush him and his horse like bugs.

Much to Vel’s surprise, he heard Iah huff, “You make it sound like I’m going to act like some dishonorable barbarian if I don’t get my way, Vel. I’m just trying to go a bit high while I get used to the numbers in this land. Don’t translate that part, by the way. We still have other things to negotiate for. But now I feel like we are coming off like some highway bandits, so tell General Calvinus that we will settle for 200 each.”

“What was that all about,” Calvinus asked, not understanding a word of what had just been said.

“Mostly chastising me for besmirching their honor,” Vel shrugged, “But she says they’ll settle for 200.”

“Excellent,” Calvinus had a relieved smile that looked more than a little strained to Vel. It took more willpower than the general had shown on the surface to negotiate with Iah. The man was probably terrified on the inside, but he had ridden out here to begin with, and he was trying to do his best for his city despite being in a more challenging situation than he would have ever thought possible. He would also be sacrificing 600 people to save the rest, but Vel did not know how to take that. Was there a better way? Not taking Iah and the gnolls up on their offer might save those slaves now, but what condition would Regulbium be in a few months from now after being under siege for all that time if the gnolls did not clear the monsters out? Would it have been better to say no and have the city collapse under its own people's weight but have their conscience remain clear? Vel was just a simple farmer at heart. He did not know if there were any good answers to this world gone mad.

After that, things went much more smoothly. Negotiations for other items were much more straightforward. All the other things were just livestock, spices, gold, and some traveling gear for Vel. It was almost easy to forget what the first part of the negotiations had been about, up until the point when Calvinus started delivering the goods later in the day. Of course, the animals looked very uncomfortable to be so close to the gnolls, but the slaves did not look too much better. Based on their lack of panic, though, Vel assumed they had been told they would be going with the gnolls but had not been told what they wanted to do with them.

Vel made sure to ask Iah to cast that preservation spell on them, saying it would make them easier to transport. It was the only mercy he could think of for those poor people. At least that spell would ensure their minds were out of it when it came time to meet their fates. Much to his surprise, she agreed right away, despite the apparent expense of magic. It was also a bit of a revelation watching how the gnolls handled the livestock compared to the humans.

When it came to the livestock, the gnolls were considerably more careless. If they broke bones handling them, it did not matter all that much. However, with the people, they were exceedingly careful. They looked remorseful if they so much as bruised a person they handled. Vel had thought that they did not see a difference between things they considered food. That did not seem to be the case. There was a clear difference in how they treated things, and Vel eventually felt the need to ask Iah, “Why are you treating my people with such care? They’re just food to you, aren’t they?”

Iah stared at him for a moment, like he had just asked her something profoundly weird, before shrugging her shoulders. It was as if she was dismissing her initial thoughts as a strange cultural difference, “You say that as if being food is a bad thing. Yes, they are food to us, and they are thinking beings. Thinking beings that will provide us with nourishment and allow us to go on living. They deserve to be treated with respect and not as mere animals. The relationship between predator and prey, especially thinking ones, is a sacred thing.”

Vel could only grunt in response to that. He was looking at the gnolls in a new way. He was no more endeared to them than he had been before, and they were still terrifying in the power they wielded. But now he was beginning to understand that they were not malicious in nature. They did act with their own sense of honor, as different as it may be from a human’s. At the very least, at least they were not like the zebras, wiping out an entire town or two simply out of hatred. They were undoubtedly predators, but at least they primarily wanted to kill merely to eat or defend themselves. Or, in Vel’s case, they needed to kill him to help preserve other lives eventually.

Vel’s ultimate fate when they reached their destination still filled him with fear, but he probably would have died days ago if not for Iah. And it would have been for no other purpose than to fill the belly of some animal that would have probably decimated the town he had been trying to protect, and his death would not have prevented the deaths of everybody he had known. But, because of what he was, he had drawn Iah to him and she had saved his town. And now she may very well have saved Regulbium too, and who knew how many more towns and cities the zebras may have destroyed if not for her. Everything Vel was going through with the titanic gnolls would mean something now. His death may help to save countless other lives and he had to console himself that it was far better than a meaningless death.

The gnolls continued to show that beneath their predatory nature, there was a certain decency there as well. Even though they had not been asked to, they walked around the edge of Regulbium, just rolling around on the ground every so often. They were spreading their scent around the city before setting up camp on the north side of it for the coming night. It was their way of keeping the monsters away from their trading partners until they had the time to clear them out tomorrow. As much as he feared the gnolls, he could not hate them and was even starting to develop a certain level of respect for them.