The Half's Way

Shauba shook off her hesitation. "Right. Mikel, Danica, try to protect Alog up here," she said. She started down the rockfall slope, half-running, half-sliding. Alog couldn't pick off all the orcs. And if Sorgha didn't get free, all was lost.

That meant that all Shauba had to do was stop six orcs. With Druk right behind them. She couldn't even catch the first two, as they would be past her before she reached the bottom.

Easy.

She caught her balance, almost ending up finishing the descent on her ass. Rock dust and gravel scattered into the air as Shauba charged down the rest of the way. Four orcs veered towards her. She drew her hatchet as the ground leveled out beneath her, her father's voice in her mind's ear.

She heard the scrape of stone on stone above and behind her. A small boulder careened down the slope, just south of her, followed by a cascade of head-sized rocks. The two lead orcs chasing Sorgha screamed, caught in the minor landslide.

The first orc to reach Shauba bore a spear and shield. She twisted away from the jab of the spear. Once inside his range, she had the advantage. She held her war ax high on the haft. Feinting with it high, she then chopped his legs from under him with the hatchet.

Shauba sidestepped a sword cut, hooked a shield, and split the next orc's skull. Just in time, as the next two tried to flank her. Druk strode across the clearing, right towards her. Apparently the Pikeskull was not his concern.

The two orcs coordinated their attack. Shauba couldn't bring both weapons to bear against one of them without exposing herself. She backed up towards the rocks, beating off one sword and then the other, to keep them in her sight. All the while, Druk came on, a sneer on his face and a poleaxe the size of a tower in his hands.

A swish of grass came from behind Shauba, a familiar grunt. Rash Girl slammed into the knees of the orc on Shauba's left, knocking him face first into the ground and savaging him with sharp tusks. Shauba charged the other startled orc, deflecting his blade and slicing into his ribcage.

Druk roared and charged. He swung his polearm at Rash Girl, forcing the pig to retreat from his kill. As Shauba stepped in, he reversed the haft, slamming it into her ribs.

Shauba fell, wheezing, clutching her middle. Rash Girl charged again. Druk leapt aside and kicked the pig. The spike on his boot must have penetrated the studded leather coat, because the warpig squealed and rolled. Rash Girl scrambled up and away from Druk's next swipe.

"It's over, Druk!" Shauba yelled, claiming his attention. She struggled to her feet, still heaving from the shock of the blow.

She saw Mikel rushing down the slope to help her.

"Stay back," she warned him.

"Half-quag," Druk snarled. "It seems like every time I run into you, you're lying on your back. If only Bashukk could see you now."

"The Pikeskull is gone. Your orcs are beaten. You've lost."

"I don't fucking care. I'll paint the rocks with your blood and call it a win."

Shauba spat. She gripped her axes. "Come on, then."

Druk roared, lunging towards her, swinging. The range of the polearm was immense, and Shauba had already seen that Druk could use the haft and butt too. She stayed just out of his reach. His blade licked the air where she'd been.

She circled, not allowing him to force her in any direction, looking for an opening.

"You hate me that much," she said. "To lose and call it a win?"

"You're no better than a human whore," Druk snarled. "No loyalty. No respect for our ways. When I kill you, the tribe will thank me."

Just another bully.

"Maybe they will," Shauba said. "But you'll still never fuck again."

Druk roared, launching an overhand swing that would split her down the middle. Shauba dodged and stepped in. Druk reversed the weapon, swinging the haft at her like a staff. Ready for it, she chopped it clean through it with her hatchet.

Druk recovered quickly, throwing the butt end at her face and brandishing the remainder like a war axe. But now his reach was much shorter.

He lunged again. Shauba danced backward, but not fast enough. The blade drew a thin, stinging line across her abdomen. Ignoring the pain, she saw her opening, blocking the backswing. She ducked down and planted her hatchet in his booted foot.

Druk screamed with rage and pain. He dropped to a knee. Shauba batted his weapon off center-line with her war ax and cut across his throat, nearly taking his head off. Druk's scream drowned in a wet gurgle. The hatred faded from his eyes, and he fell backward, spouting dark blood.

Shauba panted, staring at his dying body for a moment. The other orcs were either dead or fled. She felt her own blood dripping under her sliced blouse. Rash Girl sat a ways away, grunting with pain. Mikel went to help him. Alog and Danica were nowhere to be seen.

She grimaced as she felt her wound. It seemed light, but it didn't hurt any less. "Where are the others?"

"Fine for the moment. Alog took an arrow. Danica is tending to it." Mikel said. "They're up top."

Shauba walked over to Mikel. Rash Girl was hurt, but the warpig lurched to his feet when Mikel offered a wild plum. It seemed all of that pig fat, along with the armor, was good protection.

"Let's go up and find them," Shauba said.

By the time they made their slow ascent to the top of the rockfall, Danica had bandaged up Alog's shoulder. She set to Shauba's cut with water and cloth, then looked at Rash Girl's wound.

Alog had killed four orcs in the meadow, though only one of them got close. The scout's lance sprouted from that one's chest. His hogmount stood by him, an arrow dangling from the beast's thick leather barding.

Shauba looked back down the slope and saw where a boulder had crushed one of the orcs. "Who caused the landslide?"

"Danica and I," Mikel said. "We just dislodged one rock, and it did the rest. I think Sorgha made it."

So far, anyway. The Pikeskull would still have to get past Red Tusk scouts. But he seemed like a tough one.

"We killed Red Tusks," Danica said. "That wasn't part of the plan."

"There was no talking through that," Alog said. "Druk was out for Shauba's blood. Once that was clear, it was either us or them."

Shauba nodded. "He hardly even cared about the Pikeskull."

Alog's snarl was weak. "Besides, we're orcs, aren't we? Sometimes we disagree."

A shout came from the edge of the meadow. Riders atop hogmounts. Dozens of orc warriors wearing red tassels. At the head of the host was a familiar face.

"It's Lash," Mikel said. His mouth twitched into a smile.

The female orc leader rode triumphantly towards Shauba's little group. Warriors fanned out around them and climbed down the slope to check on the dead.

With all these orcs behind her and that look on her face, maybe Lash had finally won the Boss-meet's support.

She reined in her hogmount, her gold-flecked eyes shining in the sun. They lingered on Mikel.

"Drop your weapons, traitors," Lash ordered. "Every one of you."

Shauba's war ax slipped from her fingers, and thudded in the grass.

**

Shauba stared at the rock walls of their cell.

It had been four days. Her human companions were near blind in the darkness. But Shauba could sense the minute changes in ambient light that distinguished day from night, even beneath the esker. She and Mikel had spent more time now locked in the cell than they had free in the village.

She'd memorized every nook and cranny of their stone tomb. Mikel and Danica sat across from her, as listless and filthy as she was. The guards had taken Alog away on the first day, and never brought him back.

The guards would say nothing, even when they brought pig slop to feed them. But Shauba and her friends had been able to piece events together on their own. They had done exactly what Lash wanted. Once they had succeeded, she dropped them like fire-baked rocks. Pretended they'd acted entirely on their own.

Shauba guessed that their greatest crime had not been the Red Tusks they'd killed. As Bashukk said, Red Tusks murdered each other all the time. No, their greatest crime had been treachery. They'd freed a Pikeskull captive.

Shauba and Danica had little status to protect them. Mikel had none. They were truly, lethally, fucked.

So Shauba clung to simple truths. She'd come to her father's home and lived like a Red Tusk. Those two days had been the greatest in her rather brief life. She'd done everything she could to save the tribe. If that wasn't being true to her father's memory, what was?

The guards came, making them lie on their bellies before they entered the cell. An orc roughly tied Shauba's hands behind her back and clapped an iron collar around her neck. Then he jerked her to her feet. She locked her eyes on Mikel and Danica as they shoved her out of the cell.

The Boss-meet was as full as it had been the first day she'd come. Oruk was there, rolls of fat bulging from his bear pelt cloak. Bashukk, in full spiked leather armor. Lash, in a simple dress that hugged her curves and bared one muscled leg. Shauba could see how Mikel had been taken by her. She was powerful in her own right, smarter than most.

Only Alog was missing, she noted with dismay. Shauba sobbed for the fate she'd brought upon him.

The guard threw her to her knees before Oruk.

"Shauba, daughter of Shagdab. We took you into our tribe, and you betrayed our trust. You committed treachery. You killed a member of our Boss-meet and ten other orcs in furtherance of your treachery," said Oruk. "If your father was anyone else, your head would already be on a pole, and your blood would be pigfeed." Oruk sniffed, gray whiskers twitching. "But your father was Shagdab. And for that, you will be allowed to speak before we are done with you."

Shauba looked at the crowd of orc faces. Bashukk's grin was more cruel than ever. Every bit of his passion seemed forgotten. Lash's expression was flat, with not even a memory of the concern she'd once shown.

There was no point in implicating Lash. She would be ready for it, and no one here would believe Shauba. There was no point in begging for mercy, because orcs had none.

"I ask that you spare Mikel and Danica," Shauba said. "They hurt no one. I forced them into everything. They are loyal to orcs, and their friendship will serve you well.

"I did what I did to save the Red Tusks." She felt tears hot on her cheeks. She'd etched their fucking tribal symbol into her chest. She shouldn't need to prove her loyalty.

"This is how I honored my father Shagdab. I'd do it all again. So just fucking kill me and get it over with."

The Boss-meet chamber fell silent for so long, Shauba wondered what was happening next. She craned her head around, until she felt the guard's hand, heavy on her shoulder.

"What shall be the punishment?" Oruk asked the Boss-meet. He looked at Bashukk.

"This half of an orc is a queer creature," Bashukk said. "At times she seems like one of us. But she is not one of us." He looked pointedly at Lash. "Clever plotting is not the orc way. Trickery to avoid war is not the orc way.

"She slew Druk, who was my friend, and a great warrior. But if she had not, Druk would have slain her. She has no fear of killing and no fear of death, and those are traits we hold in the highest regard.

Instead of taking her head, we should send her out into the world to sow the same chaos she has brought upon us. To prove to the human world what even a half of an orc can do." He gazed at her, his intensity like the cold blade of a knife. "I choose exile."

"What?" Shauba's exclamation of shock was inaudible over the smattering of cheers and shouts in support of Bashukk's choice, from his side of the chamber.

Oruk looked at Lash.

The female orc licked her lips, tongue curling over her tusks. "This Boss-meet should not forget the result of Shauba's treachery. One Pikeskull army has already withdrawn from the field. Other hillforts suspect that the entire tribe will soon turn tail.

"Pikeskulls fear Red Tusks! As they should! We have used our alliance with humans - despite the humans themselves - as a whip on the backs of our foes." Lash looked down at Shauba. "This is what Shauba's actions - foolish and wrong as they were - have wrought. I choose exile."

Shauba could only gape, as the roar of support from Lash's side filled the chamber.

Oruk waited for anyone else on Boss-meet to speak, but no one did.

"Then, Shauba, daughter of Shagdab, you and your human companions are exiled from Esker," he growled. " Do not come back."

**

"This confuses me," Shauba said to Mikel, as they climbed a grassy hillock on the way to Clearwater March. Danica was just ahead of them, almost to the top. "Who is fucking who now?"

She winced a bit as she climbed from the cut across her belly. It still stung, because they hadn't been able to properly care for it while in the cell. Rash Girl, on the other hand, had been well-cared for. The warpig grunted happily along, even with a bandage wrapped around his bulk, stopping to root in the dirt for tubers.

Danica scoffed. "I can't believe that after everything that happened, that's all you're concerned about."

"Everything else that happened in Esker makes sense. Mikel fucking women does not make sense. It's fucking unsettling. What about you two? Are you two...?"

"What difference does it make?" Danica huffed.

"If you two are going to be fucking each other all the time, I'm going to feel left out."

Neither Danica or Mikel answered. Shauba supposed that meant they were, indeed, fucking.

"Okay, I admit, there is one other thing I don't get," she said. "Where were all the other half-orcs in Esker? I saw children, but no adults like me. Bashukk talked like he'd never even met one before."

"That's because they leave. After years of being treated like less than a person, half-orcs usually find their own path as soon as they are able," Danica said. "You may have been luckier than you think, to have the father you had, Shauba."

The former alchemist's apprentice glanced over her shoulder. "And... really? Everything else that happened in the last week makes sense? Don't you wonder why Bashukk spared you? After you walked out on him? After you kicked Druk in the balls and axed him to death?"

Shauba had wondered about that. Maybe Bashukk still had plans for her. Yes, he still craved her. Shauba was sure of it. Gods, that orc could fuck.

"It's an orc thing," she said. "You wouldn't under-"

"Oh, just fucking stop, Shauba! I know about orcs too."

"Uh... I think we're being followed," Mikel said, speaking for the first time in a long while.

Shauba looked behind, following her friend's distant gaze. It was a hogmounted scout, following their trail. Shauba could just barely make out the red tassel.

"By Kelthala and all that is holy," Danica said, squinting into the distance. "Are we not leaving fast enough?"

Shauba grinned with joy as the scout came closer. "That's not any Red Tusk. That's Alog!"

They made a quick, cold camp. After a heartfelt greeting, Alog was soon sitting with them around a lunch of dried meat, berries and flatbread.

"Join us, Cousin," Shauba said, leaning into him with affection. "We're on our way to Clearwater March."

Alog shook his head. "I've got to stay and fight."

The flatbread Mikel was about to eat didn't make it to his mouth. "Fight whom?"

"Pikeskulls. Who else?" Alog tore at a piece of jerky. "When the foe runs away, you attack."

"Fucking orcs," Danica muttered.

"We feared you were dead." Shauba said.

Allog pulled the furs down from his good shoulder, exposing part of his back. His green skin was criss-crossed with dark welts. "My punishment was briefer than yours. More painful."

"I'm sorry," Shauba said.

"So what are you doing here?" Mikel asked.

"I have a message from Lash. She wants you to go on a quest. For the Red Tusks."

"No!" shouted Danica.

"Fuck no!" Shauba said.

Rash Girl grunted in agreement.

Mikel pursed his lips in thought. "Maybe," he said. "It's not like we have anything better to do at the moment."

"I don't have to get back to Esker until morning," Alog said. "I have some cold roast pork. How about we have a true fucking meal, and talk it over?"

Shauba rubbed her temples in confusion. "Lash had you whipped, Alog!"

"And thrown off the Boss-meet," Alog admitted. "But... she was right. The Red Tusks are better off now." He regarded his cousin, lips curling in wry admiration. "We can't always follow old traditions and hope to survive. Lash understands that, just as you all do."

"I could maybe be persuaded," Shauba mused.

Danica only rolled her eyes.

As Mikel went to fetch the food for their meal, Shauba scooted closer to Alog. She draped her arm around his long neck, careful to avoid the wounds. "By the way, Cousin... just how closely related are we?"