"Kaiyer. Message from the front lines," one of Gorbanni's lieutenants said from outside the tent flap.

"Enter," Alexia spoke from my side. My other generals were discussing the position of Thayer's flank to the Elvens’ massive force.

He walked in and looked around, slightly intimidated by the five of us, wearing our horrific armor, and speaking about the fate of our world over a chewed up table with rough etchings on it. The markings indicated our forces, their forces, and the estimated terrain. We had considered upgrading the piece of furniture many years ago, but decided that whatever luck we had experienced so far might be due to the old friend that we had spent countless hours fighting, laughing, crying, and agonizing over.

"What news?" I asked him.

"Three riders from the Elven forces have crossed the field. They are flying a white flag. They stopped in the middle of the field."

"That's unexpected," Malek said from the far corner of the room. He frowned slightly.

"They probably want to surrender! They can smell our hunger," Thayer spit on the carpeted ground. Then he seemed to realize that he was inside my tent and he winced at me.

"Do you know what they want?" Shlara asked.

"No, General. They didn't give us word but I'd guess they wish to speak to Kaiyer." The man looked at me and fidgeted. He wanted to leave.

"I'll meet them." I grabbed the heavy metal helmet from my chair. Its gruesome demon face seemed to taunt the hate from me before I donned it.

"No!" five voices shouted at once. I was glad that I had the helmet on so they couldn't see me smirk.

"Gorbanni and Malek will come. Finish the placement of Thayer's troops." Shlara's face sank, but not as much as Thayer's. I laughed and was going to comment on my selection but I didn't want the young man from Gorbanni's troops to overhear our private conversation. "I'll follow up with you three shortly."

"At least take your guards," Shlara demanded before I left the tent. Each army had one warrior assigned to be part of my personal guard. They wore armor similar to mine and managed to beat thousands of others in various contests to qualify for the position.

"I will be fine." She opened her mouth to protest but then thought better of it and turned back to the table.

My heavy war mace and shield hung from a stand by the entrance to the door. My gauntleted hands found the familiar grooves in their leather handles as I armed myself with them. The weapon and shield matched my armor, each with flanged skulls that screamed in agony like a tapestry from hell. The steel-shafted mace weighed almost twenty pounds and could crush through Elven armor and horses with ease. My shield also weighed about twenty pounds. It was in the shape of a modified triangle, with three points at the top and sides that fell in a curved slope down toward my feet. Thick leather enarmes allowed me to hoister its weight in my right arm comfortably and an even thicker gauge strap enabled me to slide it over my back or tie it to the saddle of my horse.

Almost half a million human soldiers stretched out across the endless field. We mounted our horses and cantered them carefully through the open grass paths to the front lines. Our travel created a wave of salutes amongst the masses. Most here had never seen me in person, but they knew what I looked like from the tales. There was no mistaking the massive ebony horse with the man in nightmare armor on it. My cloak was a deep red with a black skull embellishment. It was a trail of blood that showed evidence of my passing. By the time the three of us had made it to the empty field that separated the Elven army from my troops, the O'Baarni were roaring like a flame devouring a forest.

It was easy to see the white flag and the three Elvens who stood beneath the banner, gleaming in the sunlight. Even in the midst of a war for the very survival of their race, their absurd obsession with aesthetics was evident. They rode magnificent horses of pure alabaster, their coats polished to a reflective sheen and their manes were braided down their sides as if they were en route to one of their ridiculous festivals. The hooves of their mounts had an assembly of bells attached to them, as we approached they shifted them around and created a soft cascade of beautiful music. We slowed our own dark steeds to a trot once we left the safety of the army.

"This is a bad idea," Gorbanni said under his breath. The words were a whisper, but Malek and I heard them over the roar of our army and the sound of the horses. "There is nothing to gain from talking to them. We have the upper hand. We should just crush them and be done with it. Their end is near."

"Maybe they will beg for forgiveness?" Malek said. The three of us burst into a dry chuckle at the thought. There would be no mercy given for a millennium of pain, death, slavery, and hate.

We fell silent and slowed our mounts down to a walk when we came within twenty yards. We were about half a mile from the side of either camp and well out of bowshot range. I could see the Elven forces stretched out in front of me. The assembly of their forces did look impressive, but they were outnumbered, tired, and their morale was broken. We'd been carefully nipping pieces off of them for the last four years. Their leadership had become smart though, and they had begun to retaliate with strategic feints and complex break offs of troops to entice us. They had finally found a capable leader, but it was too late. Part of me actually wanted to meet their general so I would know whose head to crush with my mace when the battle started. It would be a fitting end to our legacy.

They wore impossibly brilliant golden armor that cascaded down from their shoulders in layers as thin as fabric. It wasn't as weak as cloth though; each ridge of gracefully crafted metal alloy would stop all but the most powerfully swung sword. It was one of the reasons I used a mace. It crushed their bones with each hit and ensured that I wouldn't get my weapon caught in a dying corpse while another misbegotten animal attacked me. Their armor was still tight around their bodies and I determined the shape of a man and two women. Their elegantly curved helms and painted masks hid their faces, but long hair slid down each of their backs. The man's was a pewter color, dull and lifeless, the woman in the back had hair that matched new snow, and the one in front had hair of coppery red blood. It burned in the harsh light of the morning like her back was on fire.

I had seen that hair a million times in my dreams.

My eyes watered like I had suddenly looked directly at the noonday sun after spending a month in a dark cave. We stopped our mounts ten yards from them. They were careful with their hands, keeping them on the silk braided reins of their horses so that we wouldn't mistake their actions as aggressive. I was glad I wore my helmet. The look of shock on my face would have hindered whatever conversation we were about to have. I could still taste her lips on mine, feel myself inside of her, smell her hair as it wrapped around my body.

I concentrated on slowing my heart rate and breathing to a normal pace, I didn’t want my generals, or worse, the Elvens, sensing my unease and making any assumptions. I could smell her from across the field, her scent both familiar and intoxicating in its freshness. Seeing, feeling and smelling her in my memories was very different from actually being faced with her again. I thought my memories had been vivid, but compared to the sensory onslaught of having her here in front of me, they were like the muted sounds of voices heard underwater.

No one said anything for a few minutes as we measured each other.

"What do you want?" Gorbanni said with boredom. It wasn’t an affectation or overconfidence. We were completely sure of our victory, and they had to be as well. This was clearly a last ditch, desperate attempt at surrendering with some of their dignity and troops intact.

"We wish to speak to your leader. Alone," the white-haired female in the back said.

"We'd like for you to drop your pants so we can shove our swords up your asses. But that isn't going to happen either," Malek said without smiling.

"No need to be insolent, human. We mean him no harm now," she replied back with a careful smile.

"Oh, my apologies," Malek said, his voice thick with sarcasm. "I didn't mean to be rude. It's not like your kind have ever done anything . . . abusive to me."

"Say what you need to say and be gone. We have Elven massacres to plan for," Gorbanni said. I was surprised that he had spoken again.

"Tell your dogs to leave you," the white-haired woman said to me as she edged her mount forward. Her mask had a stylized pine tree etched over the left side and a red star over the right eye hole of the mask. Gorbanni and Malek's hands went to the hilts of their swords and I heard the metal leave the scabbards as they drew them an inch in warning.

"If your leader wishes to speak privately you can leave her company and I will ask mine to go," I said. My voice rang dead and hollow in my ears. Malek and Gorbanni grunted in annoyance.

The white-haired woman and man didn't like that either. They frowned and were about to protest when their leader's arm shot up and pointed toward her troops.

"Quarter of a mile and post," she commanded. Her voice sounded exactly as I had remembered it: a calm breeze blowing through a forest. It raised goosebumps across the skin of my neck and shoulders. I closed my eyes and focused on breathing again, slowly and with control. Her generals nodded and set their horses off, their bells echoing as they retreated.

"Wait for me," I said over my shoulder to Malek and Gorbanni. Gorbanni growled in annoyance and I heard his horse spin around and gallop away quickly. Malek moved his mount slower. I turned to watch and saw him look over his shoulder half a dozen times before he made it half a mile.

No one could hear what we spoke of now.

"It's been a long time . . . Kaiyer," she spoke softly from behind her mask, almost hesitant to speak my name, she said it as a beautiful, breathy exhale. I didn't say anything. My mouth was dry.

"It is you?" her voice quavered.

"Yes," I answered. I could end her now. My mace would crush the life from her in a split second. My father and brother would be avenged.

"How many years?" her horse shuffled to the side a bit and she made a snapping sound with her lips to get its attention.

"More than thirty," I said. It had been thirty-six years since I had seen her. Thirty-six years I had been without her touch, thirty-six years I had been without her body, thirty-six years since she had killed the only other people I had ever loved.

Her hands went up to her helm and untied the harness under her chin. She carefully lifted off her golden helmet. Her mask was still attached, its face etched into the image of the sun and the moon. She slowly reached behind her head and unlatched the strap, letting the mask fall away from her beautiful face.

It looked exactly as I had remembered. Her almond-shaped eyes glowed bright like hot silver and the blue ocean when she gazed at me. Her skin was as smooth as a marble statue, but any marble sculpture I would compare her to would have more flaws in it. Her lips were as red as the dying sun being buried into the sea and they made me want to taste them like a starving man wants to suck on a ripe peach.

"Let me look upon your face, Kaiyer." Again she hesitated at my name, as if she were afraid to say it. I couldn't tell if she commanded it or asked it. Everything she had ever said to me in the past had been a command. Her voice was the same but her tone was softer. Before I could puzzle out the correct reaction, my hands moved of their own accord toward my helmet to remove the piece of armor. It was less complicated than her affair. It locked into my chest plate, so I just twisted it before I lifted it off my shoulders.

Our eyes met and I had to bite my tongue to keep my expression calm. The taste of my own blood kept me from trying to kill her. Or maybe it kept me from trying to kiss her. She looked around my face, my mouth, and at the rest of my armor.

"It seems like you have not aged at all. Of course, you aren't quite the scrawny boy I remember either," she smiled lightly and continued to appraise me.

I clenched my jaw and wrapped my spare fist around the reins of my horse. Her nonchalance was infuriating. She looked and acted as if we were simply old friends running into each other, exchanging bland pleasantries. As if I had never run my fingers through that hair, moving it aside to kiss the white skin of her perfect neck, tasting her. As if I had never felt her nails raking my back as she moaned my name. As if I had never felt her body move around mine while deep inside of her. As if she had not murdered my family in cold blood in front of me. As if we were not currently attempting to annihilate each other’s people in complete genocide.

"Why did you wish to speak to me?" I finally said after half a minute of agony. I'm sure she heard my heart beating in panic. Hers was beating calmly.

"I wanted to make certain it was you. You've been quite a thorn in our side for the last thirty years.” I smirked at her words. A thorn in their side? Her people were on the brink of extinction at my hand, and she had the gall to refer to us as a minor annoyance? “At first I didn't believe that the same Kaiyer, my Kaiyer, led this band of lost slaves. What is the name you gave yourselves?" She licked her lips and smiled seductively at me.

"The O'Baarni."

"What does it mean?"

"It is our old language. It means ‘The Ancients,’" I said. Why was I telling her this?

"The Ancients? That is an odd name."

"We were here before you. We'll be here after your kind is dust, Iolarathe." Her name slid off my tongue like sweet wine. I closed my lips into a hard line, fighting against the desire to taste hers again.

"I doubt that. You can't honestly believe that you are going to win this?" She sneered at me and gestured with her arm across the battlefield.

I didn't answer. It was obvious that the humans would be victorious. She was outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and we had been winning all of our battles against them for the last ten years.

Silence hung between us as she waited for my reply.

"You won't win. You'll die. You all will. I am here to strike a bargain." She looked back to her generals.

"A bargain right now? This should be interesting," I said flatly. She wanted mercy.

"I offer a truce. We will split the planet in half, you will take whichever side you want and we will have the other. We will never attack or enslave a human again if you vow to do the same with us." Her face was serious.

I considered for a moment before answering.

"Is that it?" I crossed my arms and relaxed my hands. The blood taste had faded from my mouth. I could do this. I could work objectively with her.

"No, there is one more thing." She hesitated and looked back over to my troops briefly. "We require one prisoner to take with us."

"Just one?" I laughed. She nodded.

"Who would this be?" I found myself smirking.

"You," she said without smiling.

"Ahh. So I can never create another army again to destroy you? That's an excellent plan. Let me go get my sack of belongings and I'll be right back," I said with as much sarcasm as Malek had used earlier.

Her face turned to anger for a few seconds before she relaxed.

"You will be treated well. You will not be harmed," she tried to reassure me.

"Not that I am going to really consider your offer, because your race has lost already and your bones will be ground into fertilizer within the week. But, I'm just intrigued, why do your people want me in exchange for some truce?"

She looked into my eyes, holding my gaze for a few seconds past what was comfortable. I forced myself to look back with confidence. She bit her lips and continued to stare into my eyes as she spoke. Her voice was urgent, her eyes pleading, willing me to believe her.

"You will not win tomorrow, Kaiyer, I can guarantee you of that. You have been successful so far because I have allowed you to be, tomorrow I will not. Tomorrow you will die, your friends will die, and your people will be thrown back into a million years of slavery. I offer you a solution that will work well for your entire race. You will be a hero and the rift between our people might be repaired. Perhaps we will share this planet in harmony one day." She smiled at me reassuringly

"I doubt that. Also, your offer ends well for everyone but me. I'm willing to sacrifice my life to see us free from your race, but I won't be a slave again." I wanted to spit on the ground but I resisted.

"You will not be a slave!" she almost screamed, then she took a deep breath. "You will be with me. You will be mine." Her eyes met mine again and for the first time she looked vulnerable.

"What are you talking about?"

"We are bonded. Forever. Don't you feel it? It hasn't been thirty years. It has been thirty-six years." Her eyes looked panicked suddenly.

"What are you saying?" I tried to control my emotions as she showed me that she was losing the grasp on her own.

"I see you when I close my eyes, I hear your voice when no one else is speaking. I've never had another lover because all I want is you, and I need you like water and food and air to breathe." She said the words quickly and her stone face broke into a look of remorse and sadness. I felt my heart swell up with pain and my throat closed so tightly that I couldn't say anything for a few moments.

"Don't you feel it too? You must. I see your eyes when you look at me. You were never good at hiding your desires. All of the other humans feared me. All of the Elvens wanted me for my status. You loved me." She looked at me again and seemed to grow frustrated. "Please, speak to me," she begged.

"You killed my father and my brother," I said flatly. It was like I had smacked her in the face.

"Would you rather I had killed you? Someone had to die. It was either going to be you, me, or them. Their deaths were the only solution. Do you understand?" She was pleading with me now, her beautiful face lined with worry.

I opened my mouth to reply but she interrupted me.

“I sent you away, thinking that my feelings would fade. It was a mistake. I thought of nothing else, and my attempts to forget you only made it clear that nothing could replace you. No one could replace you. I couldn’t live anymore without you. I decided to pull you from our army of humans, but you had already escaped. You had fled the night before and killed your handlers. You were lost to me. I had been a day too late.” Her face searched mine for a show of emotion. She must have seen something there that made her want to continue.

“Leave with me. Surrender now and we will go. It can be the two of us together, forever. I don't care if we live amongst my people or yours, or all alone. I don’t care about anything else. I just want you. My race will not die tomorrow. I will kill both of us if I have to. Don't make me decide. Come with me. I'll give you anything. Please, Kaiyer." Her eyes looked at me and they were filled with lust and something else. Love? Desire? I had never seen those emotions in Elven eyes so I couldn't identify it. I didn't even think that they loved their own offspring.

My mind spun with the thought of being with her again. Our bodies wrapped around each other. We would both live for another half a century or more. We could enjoy each other with no interruption, no humans, no Elvens, and no fear. My mouth watered when I thought about kissing her, feeling the smooth softness of her skin, wrapping my hands around her hair and pulling her head back to lick her neck as I entered her. Hearing her voice moan my name as she clung to me. I leaned forward a bit in my saddle as my body and brain blurred the lines between my imagination and reality.

Then I remembered their dead bodies lying in the grass outside of the stables. I remembered my life of fear under their rule. I remembered every cry of pain, hate, and shame I had experienced. I multiplied that a million times as I thought about the humans in my army. We would never be free if her kind were left alive. They would find a way to grow strong and enslave us again. We could only win, not accept a truce.

"I wanted you to kill me that day. I was too much of a coward to stand up and fight your entourage. I was too afraid that you would be the one to kill me. I was too afraid to end up like my father and brother. I was afraid that the feelings I had for you would not be returned, and you would kill me as easily as you did them. I am not afraid anymore, Iolarathe. I do want you. I want all the things you have said you would give me. But I also want to kill you for what you have done, and I want to destroy all of your people along with you." Her face paled and she sat up straight in her saddle. A tear slid down from her silvery eye and across her alabaster cheek. I had never seen one cry.

I pulled my helmet up and attached it over my head.

"Tomorrow your kind will cease to exist and humans will forever be free. Even if you find some way to kill me, my armies will still crush your people into dust. Then they will all be hunted like animals until every last one is exterminated." I turned my horse around and walked it away.

"Don't do this Kaiyer," she pleaded. I stopped my horse and looked over my shoulder at her, she was glittering in the sunlight like a statue of gold.

"I made a mistake when I became your lover and I made another mistake when I didn't try to kill you after you had murdered my family. There will be no more mistakes. There are half a million humans on this field that your people have enslaved. Tomorrow you will pay for your crimes. Maybe we will be together in death." I didn't wait for a response as I galloped my horse back to the sea of humans. They shifted, moved, and roared like the waves of an ocean as they cheered my approach.