Half-Orc Redemption

by Luke T Barnett

  “Lady, you go on and get some rest. Don’t worry about this one. I’ll see to it he’s no trouble to you.”

  After a moment, Marian gave a subdued “thank you” and then hurried off.

  “I wouldn’t have thought you of all people-“

  “Hold your tongue!” Dolanas ordered him. “Your thoughts don’t mean a pittance. You want to keep your rank and your head, you’ll learn not to put yourself above your captain. Understand?”

  The archer merely gave a begrudged, “sir,” in reply. Dolanas removed his halberd from the man’s neck and resumed his seat in front of the cage with his back to the archer and his weapon in the grass beside him. He then took out a small piece of wood and a knife and began to whittle.

  ***********

  A brief shout pierced the noontime air and the cage lurched forward as the horses pulled it from the muddy ruts that had formed around the wheels.

  The entire company of soldiers and refugees were now twice fed, had regained their strength, and were glad to at last be on their way. There was much talk in hopeful tones along with those few who still grumbled as the army resumed their long trek to Galantria. Mara was among those grateful to be moving if nothing else than to have a change of scenery. She mused that perhaps they would reach a land that did not have quite so much rain.

  Gash checked his wound and the mud around it as Marian, Dolanas, and the other five soldiers walked alongside the cage.

  “How fares your wound?”

  Gash looked up to see Marian walking just outside the bars and looking in at him.

  “Healing,” Gash replied simply.

  “I certainly hope it does not become foul,” Marian said. “I will speak to the captain about getting you some proper bandaging when we stop again. Though in truth, I cannot say he will grant it.”

  “It does not matter,” Gash replied, again turning to tend to his wound.

  **********

  The army traveled all that afternoon, stopping only to rest and eat once night had come. Along the way, Marian began to teach Gash the basics of how most civilized humans lived. She had been surprised to find that he had indeed been raised by orcs, his behavior having given almost no indication of such an upbringing. When the army stopped to sup and rest for the night, Marian went off to aid in the cooking while Mara took the opportunity to pester Gash about questions that had arisen in her mind during his lessons with Marian. When Marian again brought them their supper, they ate, this time without the harassment of the archer.

  The next morning they rose early, even before Mara had finished her exercises, and began moving again. Marian continued her lessons with Gash as Mara listened along, her mind drifting off whenever they touched on a topic that bored her. Gash learned much about the lands around that area and the many ways in which humans acted. All he had seen until this point were the few humans he had seen on the plains and the army of which he was now a prisoner.

  “Many in this world do not care for courtesy or a knightly honor,” Marian told Gash. “Most will be kind enough. They will not spit on you just to hurt you or the like, but neither do they seek to be cordial in any way. And still there are some who simply take what they want and they do not care who they hurt to get it.”

  “Orcs,” Gash stated.

  Marian did not look at him.

  “Humans too, I’m afraid,” she said.

  “Orcs are evil,” Gash rebutted.

  “Humans are too,” Marian came back, not at all confronting. “As are elves, dwarves, and every other race of being on the face of Sylrin that walks, talks, and draws breath.”

  Finally, Marian looked at him.

  “All of us are fallen, Gash. None of us are able to save ourselves from our own wickedness. It would be like trying to clean your face with a dirt-ridden cloth.”

  Mara listened for a moment, expecting more, before finally speaking up.

  “So how do we escape?” she chimed in. “How do we achieve righteousness?”

  “We need someone to save us,” Marian replied looking up at the teenager. “To take away that filth and impart his own righteousness unto us.”

  “But if we are all just as wicked as the next, who is there?”

  “He would have to be someone perfect,” Marian replied, looking back ahead, “untainted by wickedness.”

  Mara gave a brief laugh of disbelief.

  “But not even the gods are free of that,” she said. “To be completely untainted by evil, he would have to be…outside of evil.”

  “And how would one be outside of evil, Mara?” Marian asked her.

  Mara’s brow furrowed and she stared off into space as she thought on the matter.

  “Either he would have to be so far from evil, that evil could never reach him…”

  “In which case, he could never come near enough to save us.”

  “…or he would have to exist…apart from evil?”

  The conversation was starting to make Mara’s head hurt and she rubbed it in annoyance.

  “There is a prophecy,” Marian said, “of a Coming One who will restore all things and impute righteousness to many-“

  The sound of a horn came from the front of the traveling army, interrupting Marian’s words. The two women looked ahead to see a steep incline bearing down on them.

  “What is that?” Mara said, standing up.

  “That is the way out of this valley,” Marian replied, hiking up her dress and girding it about her. “I’d advise you to hang on to the edge of that cage if you don’t want to fall off.”

  “I would rather do something else,” Mara stated as she moved to the front ledge.

  Mara prepared herself as the cage approached the bottom of the hill. As the horses climbed and the cage began to slant, Mara moved her feet onto the edge, one balancing on the edge, the other moving to steady her on the front side, which had almost become the top. Gash had moved himself to the opposite end and now squatted on the rear wall while bracing himself against the floor.

  The cage slowed and lurched as the horses struggled to drag the weighty object up the muddy road. Dolanas and Allister had gotten behind it and were putting their backs into pushing it up the hill, but it made little difference. As Mara balanced, she heard a voice call out to her. Turning to look to her left, she saw the sergeant standing there.

  “Get off and help,” he told her, pointing behind her.

  “Do it yourself,” Mara shot back. “I am well where I am.”

  “Do it. Or you’ll be laid waste.”

  Grumbling, Mara turned, slid down the roof of the cage, and plopped down into the mud and onto one knee. Rising, she moved to the rear of the cage, threw her staff inside, and braced herself against the wooden wall.

  “Heave!” the sergeant ordered.

  Mara and the two soldiers gave a push. Their feet sank into the mud. The cage barely moved.

  “Heave!” the order came again.

  Again the three pushed hard and made some slight progress. Gash turned to the sergeant.

  “Let me help,” he told him.

  “Silence, Orc, or I’ll have you run through,” the sergeant replied. “Heave!”

  “This is prua,” Mara spouted, out of breath. “We will not get anywhere like this.”

  “Listen, you two,” Dolanas told them. “I’ve got my foot braced on a rock. Next shout, you let me push alone. I’ll get her moving. Then you two come in and we’ll have a steady momentum. Just don’t give all your strength. That’ll be my job. I’ll come in a moment later and lighten the burden for you. Got it?”

  The two nodded and allowed most of the weight to fall on the short man. Dolanas felt the rock beneath his armored foot. His hands were braced against the back of the cage. His arms and legs were bent. He was ready.

  “Heave!”

  With all his might, Dolanas pushed the cage forward. The other two quickly came in and pushed, their feet digging into the mud, but keeping the momentum begun by Dolanas who fell to the mud before painfull
y rising and rejoining them. The three of them pushed hard on the cage, being careful not to give all their strength. They struggled hard to keep their momentum, their feet hoping for solid rock but finding mostly soft mud. When one would lose his ground, the other two would pick up the slack until he could get back his footing. The hill was steep and immense. Their arms and legs ached. The horses neighed, adding their own voiced agony to that of the three who grunted as they pushed. Pain streaked through their limbs. They were at it so long, though they be in good physical shape, they began to weaken. They could not maintain their momentum for much longer. At last, they felt the weight lift from them as the cage crested the hill and rolled on flat ground. Mara fell to her knees, exhausted, her limbs burning, Allister having collapsed into the mud. Dolanas exercised his arm, noting within himself that he was getting old.

  “Good work, Men,” the sergeant congratulated. “Back on top, girl.”

  Mara looked at him a moment, wanting to spit disdain at his words, but found herself too tired to object. So, instead, she painfully and unsteadily pushed herself to her feet and moved towards the cage as Dolanas walked over to his companion and offered him his arm. Allister took it and was surprised to feel the strength in Dolanas’ arm as he hauled him from the mud.

  “Well done, boy,” Dola told him as he slapped him on the back.

  Gash tossed Mara her staff as she approached. Mara easily caught it and vaulted herself up, giving a brief shout at the pain in her arms and landing in a heap on the roof of the cage.

  Gasping for breath and moaning, she thumped her staff on the roof.

  “Why do you have to be so heavy?” she called out to Gash.

  The army paused there for an hour as they waited for the rest to make the steep climb out of the valley. Mara took the time to view the landscape around them. Open lands dotted with hills were before them to the east and to the north and south, the edge of another forest some distance to the south. She could see a line of larger hills running to the north, seemingly springing from the valley they had just left. Behind her, to the west, she viewed the large peaks of mountains that jutted up from the ground like great, sharp teeth. The road had taken the army between two mountains both of which were part of the range that made up the eastern and northern edges of the valley. The army’s elevation was now much higher and Mara wondered, as she stared on, how such land had formed.

  “Quite a sight is it not?”

  Mara looked down to see Marian standing there, also looking on at the valley.

  “That hill used to be solid rock,” she continued. “Of course that was many years ago.”

  “It is as the great maw of a beast,” Mara said, astounded.

  Marian nodded.

  “That is why it is called the Valley of the Maw. The Mountains themselves are known as Karas-Cair or ‘Dragon’s Teeth.' I believe the orcs call them Kceek Tulik or ‘Beast Teeth,’” she said.

  “How did such a land come to be?”

  “Now there is a subject of much debate,” Marian told her. “Some say a great star fell from the sky and crushed a great kingdom that once stood where the valley now lay. Others say that it was a great trembling of the earth that swallowed up the kingdom and lowered the mountains. Still, others say a great and terrible dragon met its death here.”

  Marian raised a finger and pointed towards some distant mountains across the valley.

  “There is a range of mountains,” she continued, “that connects to this one but runs slightly north and then lengthily to the west. If looking on a map, its shape resembles the spine of an animal. Thus it is named the Dragon Spine Mountains.”

  “Yes, I traveled along them through a vast plain much like this one,” Mara commented. “But why this gap in the mountains? Did the beast lose a tooth in a great battle of some sort?”

  Marian chuckled at the idea.

  “No, I’m afraid that isn’t part of the legend,” she replied. “There used to be a mountain here, the same as the rest of these. Many say that two or three-thousand years ago, a white-skinned elf named Lilliandra moved the mountain with but a command to make way for a great army to pass through from the Northlands.”

  “Lilliandra?” came Gash’s voice.

  Marian turned to look at him, her brow slightly furrowed.

  “That’s right,” she replied. “Do you know her legend, Gash?”

  “I have heard of it,” Mara said. “Her name has reached even my land. They say she is a great sorceress and daughter of the earth, destined to inherit it when all of nature at last falls away.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t quite say that,” Marian responded, surprised.

  “Who is she?” Gash asked the learned woman.

  Marian looked back to Gash and observed the great concern he seemed to hold for the matter, and so she spoke with equal care.

  “Some say she is a sorceress. Others, myself included, believe her to be a herald, proclaiming the reign of the Godking who rules in righteousness and truth as well as the prophecy of the Coming One. But one should not merely go on hearsay. I would suggest asking her yourself, should you ever have opportunity to meet her.”

  “I should like to meet her,” Mara stated, laying on her stomach and resting her chin on her arms as she stared off into nowhere, “and to speak with her. Righteousness and truth…”

  The horn sounded again as the troop at last began to move. Gash sat still as the cage lurched forward, his mind heavy in thought about his encounter with the light elf. Was she a sorceress? Had he been deceived? He might have thought so, given Mara’s account. Mara was more of a kin to him than Marian. But Marian was well learned and genuine. And the way Lilliandra had spoken to him…

  “What troubles you, Gash?”

  Gash looked up to Marian who walked along side the cage, her face full of concern.

  “Something,” Gash simply replied.

  Not wanting to intrude upon his thoughts, Marian held her peace and looked forward as the army continued along.

  **************

  Mara stared up at the beautiful, blue sky, grateful for the warmth of the sun and only scattered white clouds that whiffed along.

  Laying back, she thought about her home and the long hunts she would go on. The fields were wide and great, mixing with forests on the edges. One could go wandering and exploring for days, finding rocky cliffs, streams, rivers, waterfalls, even caves.

  Mara thought about the latter and her mind began to recall a pleasant memory. She saw herself sitting at the mouth of a cave, her feet dangling from a high cliff. She had been but a child then, just beginning to grow into her lithe frame. She breathed in the fresh, moist air pouring off the nearby waterfall and smiled. Her eyes beheld the immense jungle stretching out before her, the distant ocean barely peaking on the horizon.

  Soft footfalls sounded behind her. She knew who it was.

  “Some day, Durin,” she told the older boy who stepped up next to her, “I shall find an equal. I shall travel the Great Waters and find him in a far land. I shall bring him back to our home and we will be happy. We shall have many children who will be great warriors.”

  “And they will rule over our tribe in righteousness, is that right?”

  Mara turned to give the boy a sly look.

  “Maybe,” she said. “Or maybe they’ll just be traveling warriors. Just because I am in line to next rule our tribe does not mean they have to rule. They may choose to pass it to another as you have done. I certainly would not restrain their hearts if they did not wish to rule.”

  “Well, before you grow wings and fly over the Great Waters, Great Mother Queen, you will have to pass the Wilderness Journey.”

  Mara simply raised an eyebrow at him, her sly smile still upon her face.

  “Alright,” the boy conceded, “so that is not such a hard test for one such as you. But you still must take it and pass it.”

  “You are one to talk,” Mara replied. “My test is not for many seasons. Yours is tomorrow. Should you not be pr
eparing?”

  “I have prepared well enough,” Durin replied, unconcerned. “Today I am to relax and enjoy my home and my family.”

  He looked down at her and smiled, “Even if that means spending time with my dream-head of a sister.”

  Mara quickly gathered up some moss and playfully threw it at her brother. The boy’s cheerful laugh was interrupted by a loud crack of thunder that ripped through Mara’s ears.

  She woke to find herself still lying on top of Gash’s prison. She stared upwards at the dark, gray sky that boomed with thunder. Moving to sit up, her arms stiff from sleep, she felt small splashes begin to fall from heaven as a cold wind caressed her skin. Then the sky opened up just as heavy as it had before. Mara just stared frustrated at the sky as she crossed her arms and shook her head.

  This is becoming tiresome.

  **********

  By the time the rains had stopped, it was near dusk. The army decided to stay the night and scouts were sent to assess the area before night came.

  Mara sneezed atop the cage.

  “Bless you,” Marian called to her.

  “What?” Mara said, sniffing.

  Marian shook her head at the congestion in Mara’s voice. Seeing the captain walking by, she called out to him.

  “Captain, a word.”

  The captain stopped and looked at Marian.

  “Quickly, lady, I have things to attend to.”

  “Could you at least let Mara inside the cage, or give her a cloak or something?” Marian asked him. “She is not faring well.”

  “She should have considered that before she chose her fate,” The captain coldly replied, “and there are those far worse off than her that have no shelter. She’ll survive.”

  He then turned and walked off without another word. Marian threw her hands up in frustration.

  “Worthless do-ga.” Mara muttered as she took off her pack and pulled from inside it a water skin and a small pouch. Opening both, she carefully tipped the mouth of the pouch over the water skin and gently shook it, shaking some powder into the container. She then closed both, replaced the pouch and shook the water skin, mixing its contents. She then took two large gulps from the water skin and made a face, nearly gagging in disgust. She hacked up some phlegm and spit off the side of the cage as a rider rode past the cage at a gallop.