Orc Ch. 11

Note: This is a much shorter chapter than usual with no nookie in it. I wanted to tie up some story threads here so that the final act can have a clearer focus. Business shall resume as normal in chapter 12.

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Trying not to run was frustratingly difficult when you had not seen your lover in almost a month. Despite it being a bright and warm afternoon, there was a scarcity of orcs out about their business; even the public fountains were unattended. There was an oppressiveness in the air that made haste feel disrespectful somehow, even though Misty usually cared little for pretense. Still, the human had been made to wait and she was torn between rushing or taking her own sweet time.

Misty had been summoned by the Sibyl, the orc community's combined leader and holy woman. After almost half a year absence, on some self-appointed task that Misty did not have the details for, she had returned. That had been four days ago, the out of place human had spent half of that time unconscious.

After her initiation/near death experience her friend, Avelee had taken Misty back to her and Ghoen's house where Misty, after demanding to see Roaji immediately, had passed out from magically induced exhaustion. She had awoken on the third eve, demanded to be taken to Roaji, but had been convinced to eat and wait until morning. On the fourth morning, she had been ready to charge off when an orc messenger she did not recognize summoned her to the Sibyl's hall.

The human had been receiving ominous warnings about the head orc since she had arrived at the nameless orc settlement, yet she was still unsure as to what to expect. The Sibyl seemed to demand a great deal of respect through fear, a technique Misty was used to seeing being wielded ineffectually by her home town's self-important elders. From what she knew, however, the Sibyl was no ranting fogey.

It did not matter; Misty would deal with the politicking after she had seen Roaji safe with her own eyes. She had not had much time to consider her feelings for the orc over the past weeks, being too busy negotiating the cultural and social battleground that was to live among an alien species. The most terrifying of all words: 'love' had crossed her mind more than once, though the concept was as foreign to her as the orcs themselves.

Would she have put herself out as much as she had for Roaji for any of her human lovers? She would like to think so, but she could not be certain and she had not been able to save her lads from being marched off to war. Before she could reminisce further, the village hall was before her. Misty did not hesitate before entering, she did not even knock on the wide door.

The human squinted as she crossed the threshold as it was bizarrely brighter inside. She resisted the urge to shield her eyes from the ethereal glow and made herself move slowly forward towards the center of the room. She had not been in the hall that often, but she quickly recognized that it had been vastly redecorated. The most obvious change was a quartet of levitating lanterns that slowly circled the room filling it with bright light.

As Misty's eyes adjusted, she noticed the second biggest change: a large dais had been erected on the far end of the hall upon which sat a handful of chairs and a sumptuous looking white divan. There were people occupying the seating, but to look directly at them she had to look up at the lanterns also so they were little more than silhouettes to her.

"Greetings... Misty, is it?" an orc voice speaking Kingish filtered down to her like cool rain, making her shiver despite herself.

The human shrugged off the uneasy feeling and responded with a solid, but non-committal, "Hi."

There was a long drawn out silence which Misty knew she was expected to fill, but she did not. She was done with niceties and playing along with orc women who looked at her like she was unwanted pet. She just wanted to see Roaji and talk to him; alone. She squinted up at the figures above her, there were about a half-dozen. The chairs to her left she noticed had humongous leaves draped over them to provide shade from the glare, whilst the lounger to her right did not.

By their figures, Misty could tell that those seated were orcs, whilst the one reclining on the sofa was possibly human. In between them a pair of male orcs stood slumped and wretchedly, one of them might have been Taldereht. She was deeply worried about that orc; in a fairer society he would be blameless, but among the orcs she did not know what fate might befall him now. That she had not heard a peep from or about Enge left her feeling more worried than relieved.

The voice that Misty assumed was the Sibyl spoke up again, "You have travelled far to join us, Misty. You brought home to us our most favored gatherer of herbs, Roaji. You have my sincerest thanks."

"Um... You're welcome," Misty kept it brief again; Roaji had warned her not to talk of the dwarfs and she was not going to volunteer any information she did not have to. The girl understood that she was being interrogated again and wondered if the elevated lighting was meant to purposefully disorient her.

"You have been initiated into our kinship by my Second. Allow me to formally welcome you into my home."

There was a muffled feminine sounding gasp from the person reclining on the couch that cut off Misty's wary words of thanks. The woman sat up straight and, Misty could tell, stared right down at her. The woman streamed off a series of alien sounding fluty syllables at The Sibyl who replied in kind. Incredulous shock hit Misty like an anvil; it was an elf! An elf sitting right above her, hissing in her elf language.

As her vision finally adjusted, the human could get a detailed look at the rare being. She was almost inhumanly long and slender, well over six-foot-tall with skin unblemished and paler than Misty had ever seen. Her face was an equally lengthy oval with pointed ears that extended to her scalp. The elf's large piercing eyes turned back to her and Misty flinched, realizing that she had been staring. Too awestruck to think of something witty to say or do, Misty instead looked away, straight into the eyes of Roaji.

He had been there all along, one of the two slouched male orcs. They only made eye contact for half a moment before he looked down again at his feet, but the warning in his expression was clear. It was hard to heed it however, when the relief of seeing him alive was dizzying. Misty almost went to him before the warning sank in.

Was Roaji cautioning her for a reason besides the obvious though? She was behaving as politely and passively as she could force herself to and she already knew how terrified by The Sibyl everyone was. She did not know, nor could she think of anything she could do differently. Misty knew she was being interrogated again, but she would take The Sibyl's false niceties over Enge's paranoid fury any day of the week.

It all seemed tremendously petty, however, when a month's build-up of fear had finally been assuaged. That said, her lover did seem worryingly gaunt and pallid on closer inspection and Misty wondered if that transition had happened before or after he had joined up with The Sibyl and her retinue.

The orc leader raised her voice to draw the human's attention back to her, "Speaking of my Second, the matter of her punishment has yet to be decided."

Seemingly awaiting this cue, two large orc females entered through a side door dragging a hysterical Enge through with them with a frightened looking Taldereht trailing behind them. What the fuck was going on? The Second looked terrible; maniacal and haggard in a way that should take longer than a few days to achieve. She spied Misty and lunged at her with a scream, but was barely held back by her retainers. Misty was too shocked to even flinch.

"What did they do to you?" the girl whispered to herself.

The Sibyl heard her, "She disobeyed me, shirked her responsibilities and attempted to murder you. She has been dehydrated pending judgement."

Dehydrated? The idea of doing that to a person who was literally a water elemental was one of the sickest things Misty had ever heard. She could not help but pity the orc despite her attempt on her life, "Looks like she's been punished enough."

The Sibyl's eyebrows quirked in what may have been amusement, "You think so? I like to give the aggrieved party a say in the offender's discipline. Would you have her pardoned? I'd wager that if we let her go now you'd be dead in moments. My former Second really has a great dislike for you."

She had Misty there; there was violence in Enge's eyes. It made little sense that the orc would blame her potential victim for her current unfortunate state, but hate was a funny thing like that. The human looked to Roaji for help, however he was casually ignoring her as opposed to pointedly ignoring her. Was he trying to keep whatever their relationship was a secret? How much did The Sibyl know? That was not the issue at hand however, Enge and Taldereht were.

"What is the normal punishment?" the girl asked carefully.

"Treason or attempted murder individually can warrant an execution by a variety of means. Besides that, banishment is a harsher sentence."

"What about jail?"

The Sibyl laughed in a manner that cusped cruelty, "Orcs are nomadic, my dear."

"What about a fine?"

"A 'fine'? I sometimes forget humans' sacred regard for currency, orcs have no need for coin."

"It doesn't have to be money. What about trade or service?"

"Service is an honor, not a punishment. And what would you consider an adequate recompense for treason and attempted murder?"

Misty shook her head, feeling the trap snap shut, "I don't know. It's just kill her or banish her, right?"

The Sibyl's eye ridges twitched, "It's them, not her. And so?"

"Wait, what? You mean Reht, I mean Taldereht?"

"Of course, he is hers in body and fate."

A dozen protests formed in her mind, all of which she had to squash as fruitless. Men here were more property than people and making appeals to the manservant's rights would be scoffed at. She glanced at Roaji who was wearing only a loincloth, his usual pocketed tanned leather get-up nowhere to be seen. He was certainly doing his best to appear like sculpted furniture, yet Misty could still see the tension beneath his mottled skin.

Perhaps... "Would he be worth anything as compensation? Can he be taken from her?"

The Sibyl frowned, "Hmm. An interesting proposition. To trade a male as physical currency is not something that has been done before. Perchance you'll make an orc after all." Misty ignored the barbed praise and let the orc continue, "And who would take ownership over him? Both of us are aggrieved, who is more worthy?"

The human shrugged trying to ignore the metaphorical walls closing around her again, "I don't mind. I'm happy to leave it to your wisdom."

"I see. An interesting thought experiment and perhaps worth further consideration, but not today. I think execution is the only moral choice for them."

Snap. "No! This is bullshit! Reht didn't do anything wrong and Enge is a bitch, but she doesn't deserve to die." Misty took a quick, angry breath, "I was taught as a child that orcs were nothing more than savages, but over the last weeks I learned that wasn't true. Now I beginning to question that again if you think it's 'moral' to murder an innocent-"

"Enough!" literally everyone was surprised to find that the shout emerged from Taldereht. He was not finished, "Misty, our fate is decided, but yours is not. You have some measure of protection for completing your ceremony, but not as much as you should. The Sibyl places her whims and ambitions above the traditions of her people. She will try to break you like she did the one before you. You must-"

Taldereht in turn was cut off, however, this time by a brutal kick to the head delivered by Roaji. The manservant collapsed with a wordless thud and Misty could not be certain that he was not dead. She staggered and tried not to throw up at the sight of her lover as he dropped down beside the body of her friend in the manner of a remorseless predator.

In orcish, he asked up to the Sibyl, "Kill?"

Despite what he had just done and his sudden bestial appearance, Misty still wanted to reach out to him. Roaji was just out of arms reach, just one step and she could confirm that he was real. Above her the elf hunched forward with a bloodthirsty sparkle in her wide eyes. The human caught herself, reminding herself who and where she was and admonishing herself for falling prey to the mad pull Roaji held for her.

The Sibyl looked at her with what seemed like genuine fascination and despite the brief commotion looked disturbingly unfazed. Any other person of power Misty had known would be frothing at the bit after being undermined by an inferior like that, yet this orc was not. The girl did not know whether this made her more dangerous or less. Misty thought it better to err towards the more, however she had little time for strategy now.

"Banish them," the human said directly to the Sibyl, holding eye contact with her black orbs as long as she was able.

The grand witch shrugged her broad shoulders, "The male is not so innocent anymore is he? To speak out with such presumption at his own judgement should increase the severity of his punishment, don't you think?"

Misty ignored the question, "Please."

"Please?" she laughed, "Please is a word with no weight."

"What do you want?"

"For an alteration of their fate? A little favor, perhaps some help with my work."

Roaji's head jerked round to face Misty's, he mouthed, 'No.'

"Fine, just don't hurt them anymore."

"Banishment is a sterner sentence than death, however I understand your meaning," said the Sibyl sagely before commanding the guards, "Take them to the outskirts and set them loose."

The guards did as bid and Misty watched them leave, Reht slung over a shoulder and Enge maintaining her crazed murderous gaze on her until they were gone. The girl was not sad to see the back of her and hoped Taldereht would get away from her as soon as he was able. Where would they go in a world mostly hostile towards orcs she did not know; she could only hope for the best.

Presently she did know that her own fate still hung in a balance consisting of factors she was still struggling to understand. The Sibyl seemed reasonable, but Misty was not blind to her undercurrent of wolfish intelligence. Everyone had warned her to stay as far away from the orc as possible, yet how realistic was that when she held all the power?

And what of Roaji? Misty had hoped for an end of his mixed messages when he returned, but that did not seem to be on the menu. Did he have a plan? Could she trust him? Should she trust him? Orc men could be controlled by their female kin at a deep carnal level. Could her lover resist or was he as much a thrall as the others?

There was nothing for it; Misty needed a plan of her own.