“They’re arguing over us,” Lanisa whispered. “The officer wants us dead, and the shaman wants us spared. Both are claiming it’s a matter of honor.”
The argument between the two lasted for another minute before the shaman screeched something while pointing at the corpse of the former leader and the unconscious form of its mate that was being drug away by her hair. With a gnash of its teeth, the orcish officer turned away and motioned for us all to follow. The crowd and his warriors looked hesitant to allow us to pass, but a roared order from the officer caused them to hastily give way.
The orc officer led us through the city, a handful of his guards accompanying us. The shaman shuffled at the back of the group, constantly chanting and shaking its ceremonial staff at us as if casting a primitive blessing.
We finished in a sparkling ice palace, its frozen ceiling kept intentionally thin so the sun would make everything glitter. The handful of guards fanned out. They watched us warily, but also looked around in confusion. Marching importantly to the raised dais with the throne, the orc officer sat on the elaborate frozen seat of leadership. The shaman screeched at the officer, shaking his staff angrily.
“He’s angry,” Lanisa translated. “The officer hasn’t earned the right to sit upon the throne.”
“Then who gets to?” I asked.
The athletic elf listened for another handful of moments before her eyes shot open. “Apparently, I do,” she said. “Although there’s some contention to that thought.” My eyebrows raised in surprise as she listened to the continued interaction. “Orcish law dictates that leadership goes to the winner of a duel of honor between the chieftain and his opponent. But the law also dictates that a woman cannot hold any position of power.”
The orcish guards themselves started arguing the points of the law. Almost split in half, they shouted their arguments and shook their weapons at each other. They formed two groups, one that supported the shaman, and one that supported the officer.
“The divisions are deep,” Lanisa said. “Without the chieftain’s influence to hold the city together, not only will we fail to complete our quest, but we may still be executed.”
“Oh, fuck no.” I growled. “We haven’t gone through all this shit just to die here.” I roared and there was sudden silence, every head turning to me. I turned to Lanisa. “Can you translate for me?” When she nodded I turned to the orc officer.
“According to your laws a woman cannot rule. However, because a woman won an honorable challenge against your chieftain, you’re people are headed for a civil war. Am I right?”
After Lanisa translated the officer gave a long growling laugh. It spit a sentence back at me.
“He says he’ll be chieftain in the end,” Lanisa said.
“And how many warriors will you lose?” I asked. “How many valiant orcs will support the wrong side? And I’ve only seen one shaman in your city. If he sides with the opposition, then what will you do for a shaman? I’m willing to bet he’s the one who creates all this.” I waved my hands at the ornate palace of ice.
The shaman smiled with conceited pride at my statement as Lanisa finished. Both orcs grunted their responses to my claims.
“The one thing they both agree on is that a woman can’t lead,” Lanisa said. “The officer wants to take command, and the shaman wants to divine the new leader since there was no clear male victor.”
“And what if I could give them a male victor?” I asked. Lanisa translated with a confused look on her face. “Technically, I’m the leader of our party,” I said. When Lanisa’s eyes narrowed, betrayal clear on her face, I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Everywhere else you own the credit. It was your victory and if there was any other way I wouldn’t take that away from you. But if it both gets us out of here alive or, more, gets them to agree to help…”
Lanisa started translating before I finished my sentence. Her scowl told me her sense of betrayal cut her deeply as did her overly grandiose bow to me when she finished. Both orcs responded, the shaman mollified and the officer indignant.
“While the shaman is willing to consider your leadership, the officer is offended by the thought of a human leading them, your highness.” The elf glared hard at me. I was surprised at how much her sarcasm hurt.
“If they promise that they’ll assist in the upcoming battle, then I’ll abdicate right here.” I looked at the orc officer as Lanisa translated. “To you.” The orcs smiled at each other, then broke into raucous laughter. The shaman’s more relieved and the officer’s more victorious. “Of course we have to walk out of here with all our gear,” I added when they finally calmed down. “All of us.” The two orcs, officer and shaman, looked to each other.
Suddenly, the officer leapt to his feet and shouted in rage. It was shaking a clench fist at me, and pointing at all the women of the group. I was sure I’d over-played my hand again, when the shaman stepped between us. He used his ceremonial staff to guide the officer several feet away from us. They whispered for almost a minute, before the officer suddenly broke into a wide grin. It didn’t bother favoring Lanisa with a glance as it grunted its response.
“It seems you have your final alliance,” the beautiful elf said. “He’s agreed to contribute as long as you keep your word and abdicate.”
“Of course,” I said with a smile.
The orc officer returned my smile and waved me to him. As respectfully as possible, I approached the dais and knelt before him. I turned my head back to Lanisa. “What now?” I half whispered. She pointed at her eyes then to the officer and I turned back just in time to see a meaty orc fist descending.
When the world swam back into view, Shieldwall and Tallus were pulling me to my feet a good distance from the dais.
“Congratulations,” Lanisa said, her arms crossed over her chest. “You’ve officially abdicated.”
“Great,” I muttered rubbing my swelling eye.
With the crisis averted, the new orc chieftain declared the rest of that day and the next as days of celebration. We were gathered just outside their glacier city as orcish laborers piled our gear near us. While we waited, the orc shaman showed his thanks to me by healing our wounded. He made a quick job of it, not the detailed work that Vetta Winters had gone to, but he made sure there wouldn’t be any permanent disabilities.
As the orc laborers brought out the last of our armor, the new chieftain approached from the depths of the glacial city. Behind him marched the former chieftain’s mate. She lost all her status when she’d lost her mate, along with her privilege of clothing. She was leashed by the neck as we’d been when we’d arrived. He barked a few guttural, shitty sounding words at me and handed me the leash.
“It would seem you’ve earned a prize,” Lanisa translated as the orc continued in its ugly language. “And a promise. He will commit to assist us in our fight.” The new chieftain waved at the shaman who pulled an ugly but unique feather from his ceremonial staff and handed it to me. “When the time comes, return that feather. They’ll know to send support.”
I was about to give my thanks when the new chieftain pointed away from his glacial city. Heads turned to Lanisa, although the orc’s meaning was clear.
“Time to go,” she said.
“And I was so looking forward to discussing literature over tea,” Tallus said with a smirk.
“Would you like me to express your disappointment?”
“I’ll catch them next time around,” he said, falling quickly into line with the rest of us.
Instead of heading directly for the elf lands, which meant crossing both more orc territory and Withermoor, we headed west. Shieldwall knew of an entry to the dwarf tunnel complex of Deephome only a few miles away. Once inside, she could lead us all the way to the northern border of the Weald in relative safety. First, though, we moved north in search of the two wounded elves we were forced to leave behind.
We pushed as hard as we could manage, but we were all drained from our ordeal in the orcish city. We still had to sto
p to rest a handful more times than we wanted to on the trek. On our first break, I sat down next to Lanisa. Her only reaction to my pleasance was a raised eyebrow.
“I’m not a big fan of keeping her lock up like that,” I said, glancing at our collared orc. The female sat on her haunches in the snow, shifting her eyes between each person in our group. Her gaze lingered on Lanisa and I just a bit more than the rest.
“Indeed,” the elf said, the first words she’s spoken to me in the hours since we’d left the orc city. “It’s one thing to keep a prisoner in restraints, but she’s more a slave. There’s nothing more detestable than slavery.”
“Then let’s cut her loose.”
All eyes watched Lanisa and I as we approached the orc. We expected some form of hostility. Even as a female, like humans and elves smaller than their male counterparts, she towered over all of us. But generations of subjugation turned the potential lion into a demure lamb. The orc sat quietly, likely expecting some form of abuse.
The orc’s eyes flew wide in shock when her collar fell away. Her shock turned to confusion as Lanisa used her magic to pull foliage from winter shrubs and evergreens. In moments the female wore a delicate dress of tiger striped forest and hunter greens.
Lanisa used her affinity with the orcish language to try and convince our new charge that she was free to leave and find her own life. But, whether out of a sense of duty, familiarity, or fear of being on her own, the orc tried her best to assimilate into our group. The orc showed uncanny perception, quickly sensing the bond between Lanisa and I. She seemed to adopt us as family, often bringing the two of us gifts of dead animals, edible plants, or other thing orcs find appealing.
It was early afternoon when we’d again stopped to catch our breaths. I was rummaging through one of the sacks Winters had given us for a snack when I felt eyes burning into my back. Slowly, my head turned to see the orc eyeing me with a soul penetrating stare like that of a cat. Withering under her obsessive stare, I had an epiphany.
Remembering how clothing seemed to be a sign of status in orc culture, I gave her the only article of clothing I had to give. I unclasped the G-Shock GA100-1A4 watch from my wrist and strapped it to hers. The orc woman stared at her gift with awe and reverence. For the rest of the day, she seemed contented with staring at and stroking her new marvel.
Night was just starting to darken the eastern horizon when we found the elves. One was half eaten by mountain predators. We followed the trail of the other into the forest. He’d crawled hand over hand to the wood line, then passed out in the middle branches of a tree. Our new orc friend raced up the tree before everyone else, graceful as a cat. Gently, she pulled the elf free and lowered him to our waiting hands. My nod and smile of gratitude was returned by a giant toothy grin of validation.
After collecting the remains of the deceased, we made camp about 100 yards inside the densely packed forest valley. The meal was quick and cold, as was the decision to not build a fire and put two people on each watch instead of just one. I had the bitch-shift, the middle one, and should have racked out. But I wanted, needed, to talk to Lanisa. After asking my watch-mate for a few minutes personal space, I went looking for the beautiful Ranger. I found her in a tiny clearing, staring at the bright moon in the satin night sky.
“How’s Nelaris?” I asked of the injured Ranger.
“His spine is broken,” she said. “With luck, the Consortium will be able to repair the damage.” I stood next to her, staring silently at the stars for a few moments, before I turned to look at her. That beautiful scar seemed to shine in the moonlight.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “If there were any other way out of that orc hell-hole, I’d have taken it.”
“It’s ok,” she said softly and glanced toward me. Her face wore no smile, but there was a distinct warmth to it. “You did what you had to. I just…” I kept my eyes on her as she trailed off, hoping she’d continue. The beautiful elf seemed to read my mind.
“After I finally escaped the human lounge, the last thing I ever wanted to do was go back. Especially not right away. But just inside the Weald, I discovered a contingent of my people led by our king. They were waiting for the opportunity to wipe that filth from our land and, when the king asked me to do him a personal favor, I was ecstatic. He was not only taking an interest in me, but giving me the chance to atone for failing to protect my entourage. I’d expected him to send me on a scouting mission, or to lead an assault.”
“He wanted you to go back in,” I said quietly.
“I knew my duty,” she said. “The only way to open the gates from inside was to get caught again. Fortunately, the two guards at the gate were lusting after a fresh victim. After they took me into the gatehouse, I made sure I was the last elf they ever saw naked. With the gates open, the compound fell quickly.” Lanisa turned her soft, lavender eyes to me. The beautiful elf’s voice became so quiet that I had to step so very close to hear, and she held my gaze as she continued.
“When it was done, the king claimed complete victory. There was no mention of me or my contribution… my sacrifice. And to make sure I wouldn’t cause any trouble in the royal court I was placed in a distant outpost at the fringe of our forest watching the stinking Ebon Swamp.”
“For all our positive qualities, we elves are a very vein race. As a ranking officer or war heroine my scar could be ignored. Perhaps even work in my favor. But without privilege,” she said, pointing at the scar on her face, “this disgrace is a constant reminder to those around me of my impurity and failures. Within a month of my new deployment, my suitors suddenly vanished. Even my father grew distant.”
“The king screwed you over worse than he did me,” I said. Her lavender eyes gazed deep into my soul and I suddenly felt the impulse to clarify. “He only tried to kill me.”
“In ten months I’ll reach my 66th year. If I’m not married by then, my family will be shamed and I’ll have lost any chance of bringing my father back into my life. The king didn’t just violate my honor but shattered my family.”
She stood there, staring helplessly into my eyes. I felt my heart melt with every word as the beautiful woman poured her soul out. I had no doubt that it was a story few had ever heard. More than that, I doubted the woman showed anyone this much vulnerability since she was a child. The words I had in return weren’t much, but they were everything I had.
“Of all the Rangers assigned to me, you’ve been the most indispensable. You never failed, never gave up. Without you, we would never have survived our encounter with the Bloodraven orcs, much less gain their promise to contribute to the elvin defense. Single handedly you survived honorable combat between two orcs, one of which was armed. You saved not only the team’s life, but the life of every elf in the Weald. When we get back, your honor will be restored. Hell, I won’t be surprised if they make you a general.”
Lanisa smiled, the first truly deep and warm smile I’d ever seen on her perfect face. I couldn’t help but reach a hand up and trace a finger down the portion of her scar that crossed her cheek. She reached up to grasp my hand and turn her face into it.
“It’s been a long time since any man’s thought of me as more than a weapon,” she whispered into the palm of my hand. “I never thought I’d ever be considered attractive again.”
“Attractive?” I asked, my face close to hers. “Flowers are attractive. Art is attractive. Landscapes are attractive. You are the perfection of beauty personified.”
My heart pounded so hard that I could barely breathe or hear as I leaned in. Her lips were soft and warm as I pressed mine against hers. The kiss sent a shock of energy through my body. Every fantasy, every daydream about her was nothing compared to the wonder I held in my arms now. Our breaths came in ragged gasps, whether it be from our overwhelming embraces or our overwhelming passion, we didn’t care. For this one tiny moment of eternity, we were engulfed in each other.
All too soon it was time to return to camp. If we stayed gone too long, others would get worri
ed and go looking for us. I placed my arm around her waist as she led me through the almost pitch dark forest. When we arrived in camp we curled up together, spooning for more than just warmth. As my arm found a home around her, we drifted off together into the first genuinely restful sleep we’d had in far too long.
A New World Page 23
