Learn waited until it was dark before he left. He waited until the sand cooled and the hot exertions of the day had sent the Biter clan to fitful rest. Most importantly, he waited until Conquer had retired to the largest tent. So Learn wouldn’t get caught by his father.
It had been a few moons since he had decided that he would leave. Weeks, since he had given up grappling with the decision, with the fact that he would be branded traitor and coward. He just… couldn’t live here anymore, not really. Couldn’t thrive, in this Red Desert, where nothing stimulated him intellectually. The battlefield tactics that had engaged Learn before now brought him to bitter tears.
He had decided to bring nothing with him, save for the clothing around his waist. That way, he wouldn’t be taking anything of value from the Biters, and they wouldn’t come for him. He didn’t want to hurt them, didn’t want to take what was theirs. He still cared for them, of course.
But he wasn’t one of them. That was the apex of the issue. He had no family, not really. Nobody who he was close to. Scorch had died years ago. Conquer had been distant, demanding, focusing more and more on expanding his territory, on getting the best food, the best shelter for the Biters. He had no time for a disappointing, useless Whelp.
Learn was a member of the Biter clan, but he wasn’t a Biter. He had tried tactics, but he was no tactician, had tried surgery, but was no surgeon.
So he left. Alone and under the cover of night, Learn stole himself away. Away from the Red Desert, into the unknown of the Spread Lands.
Learn closed the door behind him, the creaking ending with a rusty “thump” that rang of suffocating finality.
“Hello father.” He said. He stood in a neutral pose, hands clasped behind his back.
“Learn,” Conquer accused, “Why did you leave?”
The question was so mundane, so unexpected, that Learn was taken aback, and it took him several painfully silent seconds to formulate an answer. He could hear the pain in his father’s voice, and it hurt him. Learn had tried so, so hard to make sure he didn’t take anything valuable from the Biters.
“Nothing keeping me there.” He said pensively, looking at his father to test the reaction. He recognized the flash of wrath that shone in his father’s eye for a split second, before being replaced with that same calm expression that Conquer had had on before.
“So family means nothing to you, my Whelp? You are my seed. I raised you. This means nothing?”
Learn shook his head. “Not nothing, no. Not enough, though. The Red Desert held little for me, and my Name had soured from disuse.” Learn noted, in some, separate part of his self, that this was the first full conversation he was having in Talk since he had left. Falling back into the language was as easy as waking in the morning, and he had truly missed the colorful metaphors the language allowed for. “I could no longer be as red dust underfoot the Biters. I needed to leave and find myself.”
“And look where you’ve found yourself, Whelp. Tuskless, hopeless. You will return with me to the Red Desert.” Conquer bared his tusks, the points settling into the long, age-worn leather grooves on his cheeks. He, unlike Learn, had chosen to tattoo the dimples so that the tusks looked to be even more in shadows, making it appear that the tusks were aimed back, inside his face.
“I will not!” Learn shouted, fists clenched at his sides. How could this man, how could his father expect him to live like that again? “I will not live half of an existence, I will not go back with you. I am not Whelp, father. I am Learn.”
Conquer moved forward. Not quick, not trying to be tricky. He moved like an inexorable force, like a sandstorm that would drag Learn back into its wake, step after dolorous step. Unconsciously, Learn took a pace backward.
“Do you know what I’ve done, Whelp?” Conquer asked, looking disdainfully down his tusks at Learn. “I have done what no other has done in all of our history. I’ve united us. All of us.” Without asking, he grabbed Learn’s chin and wrenched it upward, forcing their eyes to meet. “Bleeder clan is no more. Gouger clan is no more. There is only Biter. And then there is you.” He released Learn, and turned to pace the small room.
“You belong to me. It is our way. Now, I give you a choice. I take you by force…” Conquer turned and picked up a piece of debris from the floor, a small section of ceramic. He crushed it in his fist and let the bits of pottery fall to the floor. “Or you come willingly. All of the Red Desert is at this city’s walls. All of the Biters willing to give their lives for their head.”
Conquer met Learn’s eyes. “Willing to give their lives for me. Do you want to risk that? All of these people, innocents, slain by your decision.”
“Oh, you consider them people now, Father? Your choice is your own, not mine. Can you truly say that you’re enacting Free’s will by denying me a real choice?”
His father had never been philosophical, but what religion the brutal orc had was easy to ascertain, and possibly to manipulate. Things had to be done the right way, the proper way. Conquer would ensure that they were, and he would get angry, furious, if they weren’t. It was a dangerous balance to hold, and Learn had never measured with the scales he was using now.
Poke a bear, and the bear would attack. Poke Conquer, and there was no telling the distances he would cover, the armies he would amass, the time he would wait to take his vengeance.
“Free’s will is not giving everyone even choice, Whelp,” Conquer stated, pithy, as if he were talking to a child. “Free’s will demands strength, the ability to take what is yours.” Fanatical zeal filled his eyes. “I am the strongest. I conquered the Red Desert. I united our people. I am Free’s will, and you will bend.”
Learn tried to pull his eyes away from his father’s and found he couldn’t. As he spoke, a red tint spread, expanding outward from the pupils and emanating into the air. It spread around Conquer, covering the skin. No, Learn thought, that’s not right. Everything he was seeing was being tinted and coated in the color. Too late, Learn tried to use his sense, to Learn what his father was doing to him. He felt it like a resounding drum, vibrating through him.
“Mine.”
And in an instant, all conscious thought was gone, replaced with a fury like none other Learn had felt in his lifetime. He wanted to fight, he needed to fight. To claw, to maim, to kill. He needed to bleed something, now.
There. In front of him. A weak, pathetic excuse for an enemy, just standing there. Larger than he, but slower. Learn would take him to shreds, gnaw through his skin, and learn first-hand just how every vein worked, how every muscle twitched, and how sweet the sound would be as he broke every bone in that body.
Learn let out a high-pitched battle cry and threw himself at the orc, bringing all of his weight to bear in the strongest punch he could muster. The orc grinned, and their clash began in earnest.
Every blow that Learn landed was answered with a hit from his opponent. Neither of them tried to block any blows, but simply tried to overpower the other through sheer, brute force. Learn took a punch to the jaw. He expected to flinch, but the pain never registered. He let out a grin, and his next breath out sent out a bloody line of spittle.
He punched, he got punched. He clawed, he was raked in return. His muscles screamed at him, accompanied by another voice, deep in the recesses of his mind. It was shouting at him that this was wrong, unnatural. That he didn’t want this, didn’t want to fight.
That he would lose the battle. He let out another roar, trying to silence the annoying voice. It was still there, and he ignored it, rushing his opponent.
The tide shifted, and Learn couldn’t tell why. Suddenly, his attacks were missing. He wasn’t getting hit back, but he wasn’t doing the damage he so desperately wanted to inflict on this enemy. He threw a punch, and it was caught in a fist stronger than his. He let out a snarl and kicked, and his leg was deflected, the snap of bone registering in a distant sense. He tried to bite, and his head met solid resistance and—
Learn came to, aware of a blinding pain all throughout his body. He gasped. His leg was broken, and he nearly collapsed upon it, held up by his father. His father, who had somehow given him Free’s Blessing. For what just happened could be nothing else. That rage, that strength. It had been beautiful, while it was happening. Learn had felt unstoppable.
Now his body was screaming at him for the things he had done, he was nauseated, he was bleeding, he was broken. He looked up at his father, and despite himself, he rejoiced in the damage that had been dealt. He shouldn’t have enjoyed seeing the wounds and the cracked-open skin, nor the way that Conquer held his arm to his side, flapping slightly with each movement. It nauseated Learn.
“Wh… how can you?” Learn asked in a soft, wheezing voice. Conquer grinned.
“I am Free’s will in the Spread Lands, Whelp.” Conquer let out a gasp, and spread his tusks forward. One had been hit back, embedded in the cheek, and it pulled forth a spray of blood as it did. “I command our people, I Conquered our people.” He let go of Learn’s arm and hobbled to the doorway. Learn collapsed onto the floor, and had to push himself up with his arms. They shouted at him to stay down.
“You have your choice, Learn. Come willingly, or let this entire city fall for your selfishness.” He looked to the ground outside the door, and swept an arm as if displaying to Learn “If you still don’t believe me, let today be a lesson.”
Conquer left. Learn collapsed.
————
Learn didn’t know how long he laid there, bleeding on the cold, hard floor in the sewer. After a subjective eternity, he lifted his torso off of the ground. He couldn’t stand, his leg was shattered. He gingerly prodded at it. Broken in two spots. Both on the calf. He decided to crawl. He took a deep breath and hoisted his chest up, putting his weight onto his knees.
After the stars faded and another eternity passed, Learn managed to crawl his way out of the door. He bolstered himself for what he might see, prepared for the worst. Poor Alvin had come down here out of selflessness, to help him. How could Learn have let this happen…
Learn opened his eyes. Alvin was sitting against a wall, legs pulled up to his chest. The dwarf was rocking back and forth. He stopped moving for a second, shuddered, and let out a loud, honest sob. In front of the dwarf was the woman known as Hide… and a few feet away, her head, eyes staring up emptily at the ceiling. Something had cleft through cleanly, leaving no wound as it went. There was no blood. No sign of a scuffle as far as Learn could see. No weapon, either.
“Alvin,” Learn tried to choke out. His throat was too dry, gummed-up. He swallowed, though it pained him, and tried again. “Alvin.”
The dwarf didn’t respond.
“Been like this a while.” A high-pitched voice chimed in. Learn blinked and turned to look. He had to maneuver his entire body around to do it, and it took some time.
Lgthpt stood over him, calmly opening a hit she had on her. She popped open a bottle and held it up to Learn’s lips. He drank carefully, but greedily. It was water, but there was something else there, too.
“Lgthpt… you,” he paused to breathe. Everything hurt. “You’re here?”
“Celeste told me to follow, so I follow. And I don’t like fighting, not at all, and they’re all going to fighting up on top now. So I followed, and I hid, and I didn’t see what happened but I hid again when the big mean you came out.”
Learn could barely understand her. “In the water. What… what did you do?”
“It puts you to sleep Learn, so you can rest and get better. You fight the big mean you or something? Musta hurt real bad. I’m going to get someone to come and help and bring you up and then we’re going to figure this all out, okay?”
Learn meant to nod, but his head drooped as he did. Lgthpt was here. Alvin was here. They were both alive. Conquer could… could. The Blessing.
His thoughts blurred, and Learn didn’t notice when sleep took him fully.
