“O… R… C,” she read. “Orc.”
***
Lorewyn and Rhianyn emerged from the passage looking around them anxiously. They were in a grassy area of coastline, the ocean within sight. It was warm and somewhat humid. Rhianyn sighed, readying her recently-recovered Elven Defender Blade, just in case.
“They shouldn’t have been able to jump through the portal, Yellowfeather,” she exclaimed, frustrated. “That portal should’ve been closed on the other end!”
“I know,” Lorewyn agreed, the Phase Bow she had recently acquired from the Demon’s stash in her hand. “But somehow they did… and our job isn’t finished until we track them down and destroy the memory gem they must be carrying.”
“That gem led them here,” Rhianyn observed, glancing toward the ocean. “This isn’t Cordysia of the past, that’s obvious. The air doesn’t feel right. And it’s not Khelyria either. In fact…” She paused, inhaling deeply. “This reminds me of the place you, Tristyn, and Blythe found for Krysayra and her group… I was there briefly, remember?”
“Earth,” Lorewyn stated, taking note of her own senses. “Yes, this feels like Earth, I agree. But where exactly in the realm and when… that’s the question. Earth’s history concerning Humans is vast. The memory gem used for this person, whoever that was, obviously came from Earth originally… somewhere.”
They began walking inland. “This might be an island or peninsula,” Rhianyn noted. The terrain was becoming a bit more varied and the grassy banks were giving way to more wooded land when Lorewyn found what they were looking for.
“Tracks.” She motioned to them. Rhianyn examined them as well. “Not Human,” she commented. Lorewyn nodded.
“Orks, no doubt,” she said. “They’re here.”
The two Elven women followed the tracks, leading them eventually to a settlement on what appeared to be the north side of whatever island they were on, a fort with wooden palisades as a perimeter, with structures and dwellings that looked no more than a couple years old. Lorewyn and Rhianyn could see a group of Humans gathered near the entrance. They were having a discussion, or trying to. They were of the same kindred, but physically they looked quite different. Some of the Humans were fair-skinned, and were similar in appearance and dress to most Humans who had lived in New Sylestia. The others, however, were dressed more like the Humans who had lived in the Twilight Reach to the north. These people were darker in complexion. The difficulty in conversation seemed to be centered on the fact that these two groups of Humans spoke different languages.
Neither group, however, saw what both Lorewyn and Rhianyn noticed… another group approaching the settlement from the other side, stealthily, as if preparing to attack. The Orks!
There were at least two dozen of them, armed with crossbows and axes. Lorewyn did a quick check on the Humans. She could see at least thirty or so men in both groups combined. There were likely more in the settlement. Wait… she saw a few more further past the entrance… women and children! The darker-skinned men seemed to be carrying war clubs, but no missile weapons from what Lorewyn could see. The other Humans, the lighter-skinned ones, had some type of archaic-looking firearms. Muskets, she thought they were called?
“Yellowfeather, we need to help them!” Rhianyn exclaimed, starting to rush toward the fort in defense.
Lorewyn had a mind to stall her, but Rhianyn was right… there was no debate on this. Indirectly, it was their fault that the Orks had made it here, and those Orks were about to slaughter the settlers and their indigenous neighbors in a surprise attack. They’d just have to work out the other logistics later.
“Take point!” Lorewyn suggested, running as well, but toward a different location near the fort. “They’ll sweep around toward the main entrance.”
Rhianyn understood and charged into inevitable melee.
Lorewyn had another plan. She sprinted down toward the side of the palisade perimeter, leaping up into a tree several yards from the fort, then springing toward the top of the fence. As she expected, there was a narrow rampart lining the top of the palisade on the interior of the fort’s perimeter. It was largely responsible for securing the fence at its more elevated level. Not wasting any time, Lorewyn began running along the rampart, starting along the side, then the rear, then the other side of the fort, picking off as many Orks as she could with her Phase Bow.
Rhianyn had reached the main entrance. Her presence with a sword caused alarm on the part of both colonists and indigenous people, and they quickly began aiming muskets and approaching with war clubs.
“No, no!” She shouted, pointing on the other side of them. “I’m here to help! They’re the attackers!”
At that moment, the Orks that Lorewyn hadn’t been able to take down suddenly emerged around the palisade. There were shouts, screams, and several people began running in panic. A couple of the colonists got some rounds off with their muskets, but misses mostly. The natives engaged a few of the Orks, fending them off with their war clubs. Rhianyn jumped in melee and started slashing away.
Lorewyn came around on the rampart and jumped down near the entrance, continuing to fire. The battle didn’t take long. The Orks were ultimately outnumbered and overpowered by the two Elven women’s arrival. The aftermath, however, was problematic and required some serious diplomacy.
There was no effective way to cover this up. There were over a hundred colonists who had seen the battle, plus a dozen or so indigenous residents of the island who had observed and participated as well. A handful of colonists had been slain by the Orks, but most had survived.
Lorewyn and Rhianyn did the best they could to explain it all. No, they weren’t “witches” and the Orks weren’t “demons” (although Rhianyn was close to just calling them that). The fact that the Orks looked so different from Humans and had been the aggressors was favorable in convincing the people that the two Elves, who looked far more like Humans, were in fact friendly, had been there to help, and were in a position to help further if needed.
One of the women colonists named Eleanor Dare was instrumental in working with Lorewyn and Rhianyn. “My father, John White, had to leave,” she explained. “He sailed back to England to explain our situation and request help. But that was two years ago. He left just a few days after my daughter Virginia, his granddaughter, was born. We’ve begun to work out a truce with the Indians now, but my father still hasn’t returned. Are we going to be attacked by more of those… ‘Orc’ … things?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Rhianyn responded. “We hope not, but…”
“They shouldn’t have been able to get through the portal to begin with,” Lorewyn added. “We have their memory gem now, but no telling if other such gems from abducted people with similar memories of this time and place still exist and could be used. You might still be in danger.”
“So, this is your fault,” another woman named Margery stated.
“Kind of, yes,” Rhianyn answered. ‘But we’re going to try to help make this right.”
“We’re in a tough position,” Lorewyn explained. “You all have seen way more than you should’ve. We could do a series of memory wipes on all of you. That’s one solution. It would take some time, but it would also leave you vulnerable if somehow more Orks found their way here through the portal.”
“Is there another way?” Eleanor inquired.
“Yes,” Rhianyn offered. “We could help you resettle the colony elsewhere, in another realm, a place where you’d be safe, without the threat of Orks or anything else coming through magical portals.”
There was some conversation. Margery made the first concession. “We initially started this colony in the New World because we were seeking wealth. But what we came to realize was that we really wanted a new home, a place to live life on our own terms. I suppose we can do that somewhere completely different, if it means assurance of not being invaded by those… creatures.”
And so, it was decided. The Roanoke Colony would be resettled elsewhere, i
n a new realm entirely. The indigenous people who had witnessed the event assured Lorewyn and Rhianyn that the secret would be safe with them. Some things were packed up, and Lorewyn and Rhianyn found a large tree in the area. They opened a passage in its trunk, and the colonists began to go through. Eleanor and Margery were the last to enter the passage.
“Those creatures,” Margery wondered. “They were called… Orcs?”
“Yes, I think that was their name,” Eleanor replied.
“How do you spell that?” Margery asked.
They were inside the tree now. The passage was almost closed behind them. Eleanor quickly took hold of a knife and carved in the bark.
“O…R…C… I think,” she said. And then they were gone.
From the perspective of anyone looking at the outside of the tree, the letters carved appeared to read backward, spelling “C…R…O…”
***
Lorewyn came out of her reflective moment, the memory having washed over her like a tidal wave. She was still in the library with Esther.
“Lorraine?” the student asked.
Lorewyn realized that she must’ve appeared to have been daydreaming.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized, snapping out of it. “I was just… lost in thought. So, you said you wanted some advice.”
“Yes,” Esther continued. “Do you think I should show this information to Professor Devereaux? Perhaps I could use it in my paper? I know it’s odd, and the idea that ‘CRO’ could actually be ‘ORC’… I’m not sure what it means.”
“Well, what do you think?” Lorewyn asked. “This is a paper you’re writing, yes? You’re being asked to make a claim and provide evidence. You need some premise to go on, something to direct your argument. What do you think?”
Esther considered for a moment. “I used to think that the indigenous people were responsible for slaughtering the colonists. But I also thought that the colony might’ve just been relocated to another island nearby in the Outer Banks. Now… I really don’t think either of those theories work. As for what I think?” She closed up the book she had been showing Lorewyn and smiled. “I think for now I’m just going to keep an open mind and continue researching.”
Lorewyn smiled in return, nodding. “I think that’s a wise course of action, Esther Jameson,” she stated. “For most anything in life.”
CHAPTER 26
Lorewyn completed her doctorate, all but dissertation, in the Spring of 1995. She planned to take a few more months to write her dissertation, which dealt with the differing views of King Valamir’s allegiance during the Battle of Nedao in 454 CE. Fortunately for Lorewyn, she had an insider’s perspective on the details. But it was a debated point in the world of Late Antiquity/Early Medieval historical academia, and she believed that she could offer a very solid and defensible case.
She spent some days on the campus of Berkeley City College, teaching part-time and continuing work on her dissertation. Lorewyn liked a particular coffee shop on Durant and frequented it often on her walk in the mornings. She liked their tea especially. She had come to observe and get acquainted with a homeless man who posted up regularly near the corner. She would offer him change when she had it, or buy him something from the coffee shop. The man who ran the neighborhood market next to the shop soon figured out Lorewyn’s pattern and confronted her one day.
“If you keep giving him money or buying him food, he’ll keeping hanging around!” He complained. Lorewyn just looked at him with a calm gaze.
“And… is that a problem?” she asked.
“For me, yes!” the man exclaimed. “I don’t need beggars harassing my customers! These other businesses don’t either.”
The man’s accent was Eastern European from what Lorewyn could tell. Maybe Balkan? She just shrugged honestly.
“Well, I’m one of your customers, as well as a customer at the coffee shop next door, and he’s not harassing me,” she offered. Lorewyn glanced around. The homeless man was eating the breakfast sandwich Lorewyn had just bought for him. Other people passing by were just ignoring him. “I don’t see him harassing anyone else either. Has he been harassing you?”
The proprietor just shook his head, waving his hand toward Lorewyn in a dismissive manner. “You just cause trouble”! he commented. “People like him should work… not beg! You’re not doing him any favors, lady!”
Lorewyn ignored the “lady” remark and directed her attention toward the market window. There was a “Help Wanted” poster. She smiled and motioned to it.
“I see that you’re hiring,” she remarked. “How about you give this man a job? Then your problems are solved. He won’t be begging because he’s earning money from you. You’re helping to make his life better, to promote your belief that people like him should work, and fulfilling your need as well… an employee to help with your business. Sounds like the perfect solution to me! Unless of course your comments are just about hate and bigotry and not about actually helping to find solutions and improve things for people… including yourself.”
Lorewyn offered a slightly waved hand in farewell, gave the homeless man her change from her tea purchased earlier, and handed the proprietor a couple of bills for a newspaper she picked up before continuing her walk down the street.
The class she was teaching that semester was Women in Medieval Culture & Literature, a course she had actually developed and received approval for. It was popular among History majors, and even non-majors, especially female students. She was wrapping up a unit that focused primarily on Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The class had ended and all her students had left, save one.
Lorewyn had been meaning to speak to this particular student, actually. Elena Petrakovich. She had missed a few classes recently, and when she was present she seemed heavily distracted. Today in class, Lorewyn had seen some tears in her eyes. She approached her after everyone else had left.
“Elena?” she asked. “Is everything okay?”
Elena didn’t answer right away. Lorewyn put her notes down on her desk and sat down in the seat next to her. Elena didn’t turn to acknowledge her, but seemed to be looking off into space in front of her, teary-eyed.
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered after a moment, her voice clearly troubled and upset.
“If you want to talk about something, anything at all, I’m here to listen,” Lorewyn said reassuringly.
It took a couple of minutes, but Elena let her guard down and spoke to Lorewyn about what was happening. She had noticed the symptoms about a month earlier, the ones you’d expect. She took the home pregnancy test, and it came up positive. She then went to the free campus clinic to be checked by a nurse practitioner. There was no doubt about it. She couldn’t tell her parents.
“My family is strict Eastern Orthodox,” she explained. “My father would disown me in shame. I don’t have a boyfriend currently. I’m not sexually active. But I know that I went to this party a while back, and…” She closed her eyes, shaking her head.
Lorewyn was beginning to understand. “Did you pass out at the party? Black out? Not wake up for a few hours, no memory of what happened?”
Elena started sniffing, nodding. Lorewyn exhaled sympathetically.
“Do you believe that you were raped at the party?” she asked. “Someone slipped you a drug without you knowing?”
“It’s the only thing I can think of!” Elena exclaimed emotionally. “I haven’t had sex in the past year and a half, not since I was with my high school boyfriend. I just… I don’t want to believe this is happening!”
She lowered her head on the desk, her cries muffled. Lorewyn reached out and placed her hand on her shoulder. She understood… she understood all too well.
“You feel like you can’t tell your parents,” Lorewyn said. “I understand that. What would you like to do? Would you like to talk with a counselor through the Student Services Center? If that’s something you’d like to do, I can help you get set up with someone. I know… it’s so hard
to think and sort everything out right now.”
“I want to get rid of it,” Elena stated, finally looking at Lorewyn. “But I’m afraid to go down there… the clinic on Shattuck? All those protestors. I don’t want to be seen, to be yelled at. But I don’t want it.”
Lorewyn had seen the protestors, the signs, the crowds. Anti-abortion activists. There had been crusades in cities throughout the country in the past few years. It had taken a bit longer to get to the Bay Area, but they were here now, and they were demonstrating in front of abortion clinics in San Francisco, San Jose, Concord, and recently at the one closest to downtown Berkeley.
She took Elena’s hand in solidarity. “If that’s your choice, then I’ll go to the clinic with you. You won’t have to do this alone, if that’s what you decide.”
For the first time in the past couple weeks in class, Lorewyn saw a faint smile on Elena’s lips. “Thank you, Professor,” she said. “I mean it, thank you so much.”
Lorewyn helped her with her things, and they left together.
The protestors were in true form that day to be sure. The signs that read “Pro-Life,” “Life Begins at Conception,” and “God knew you when you were in the womb!” The chants. The harassing of women as they tried to enter the clinic. Lorewyn and Elena approached. For a moment, it looked like Elena was going to turn back when she saw the people. Lorewyn drew her aside.
“I’m with you,” she said comfortingly. “No matter which choice you make, I support you. Just remember, this is your choice. Your body. You get to make your choice, not these people out here. Okay?”
Elena nodded, seeming to feel more confident and continued walking alongside Lorewyn toward the entrance. As expected, she was swarmed.
“Don’t go in there! Don’t commit murder! Your baby has a heartbeat, has a soul! Jesus loves and died for your baby too!”
Some tried to stand in Elena’s way. Lorewyn got in front of her.
“You all need to stand aside now!” she demanded. “You’re entitled to believe what you want to believe, but you don’t get to decide for other people!”
Two Birds, One Feather: The Lives and Times of Lorewyn & Rhianyn in America Page 26
