Chapter 4 #2
This time by the humans who sat outside their houses on the steps, or the ones traveling to their own places. Their gazes were wary, curious, and some were even disapproving.
Nargol ignored them all. Orlena stopped in front of a short walkway that led to a small olive-green dwelling.
“This is me,” she said.
Nargol nodded and followed her to the home. They stopped in front of the door and stared at each other.
Nargol wasn’t ready to leave, but she knew she couldn’t overstay her welcome. Besides, she was sure Makhel was wondering where she’d disappeared to. She had to get back to the inn.
“May I see you tomorrow?” Nargol asked.
Orlena hesitated. Her gaze swept the neighborhood, coming back to her. She studied her a moment longer before she responded.
“I will be at the shop. I take my lunch at noon.”
Nargol smiled and nodded. It was all she needed. She took a step back.
“I’ll remember.”
Orlena’s gaze swept over her once more, then she turned to the door and slipped her key inside the lock. She pushed the door open and stepped in. She paused and offered Nargol a smile, then she shut the door.
Nargol stood there, the warmth of Orlena’s smile washing over her.
Tomorrow.
That would be enough.
For now.
Nargol didn’t remember the walk back to the inn.
She remembered Orlena’s smile instead. She also remembered the sound of her laugh and how it was soft, and her breathing grew ragged at the sound of it.
Or how her shoulders had relaxed just a little by the time they had reached the human quarters as though Nargol’s presence had eased something inside her.
That realization unsettled something in Nargol more than any blade at her throat ever had.
Was Orlena scared to walk home at night? She said she did it often, but did anyone bother her on her trek home? The memory of the orcs outside the tavern who’d watched her came to mind. Nargol’s hand balled into a fist at the thought of one of those orcs putting their hands on Orlena.
The inn loomed ahead. Most of its windows were dark save for a few lanterns burning low in some of them.
The night had deepened while she’d walked.
The stars shone brighter overhead, the moonlight helping to guide her back.
Normally, she catalogued every sound, every shadow. Tonight, she’d noticed none.
But that didn’t matter.
Even if someone tried to attack her, it would be a grave mistake for them. Her skills with the knives adorning her body were automatic.
But why was she so distracted?
Why on this mission?
She had crossed paths with countless souls before—orcs, shifters, witches. She had bedded some, shared drinks with others, and left most behind without a second thought. Her focus had always been sharp on missions. Her dedication was to the chieftain, her father, and her clan.
Yet one human woman had slipped beneath her skin in the space of a single evening.
Nargol paused at the inn door.
Is this fate? she wondered.
The goddess Nogora was never subtle when she wished to be known. She wove lives together with iron threads and watched to see who pulled free and who bled. Nargol had seen it before. She’d heard of mates bound by dreams, by scent, by instinct so strong it defied reason.
This would be a time she needed to speak with her sister.
But alas, she was off on a mission while her dear sister was at home planning her mating ceremony.
Had fate truly found her? She would never have believed it.
She went inside the inn.
The common room was empty, the hearth reduced to glowing embers. The innkeeper’s desk stood abandoned. The ledger was open, and her quill was dry. It was late enough that even drunkards had stumbled to their beds by now.
Nargol moved silently up the stairs. She reached their door and pushed it open without knocking.
Makhel looked up from where she sat on the edge of the bed, a plate balanced on her knees.
“You’re late,” she said.
“I may have lost track of time.” Nargol shrugged. She closed the door behind her, stalked across the room, and removed her cloak.
“That has never happened before.” Makhel snorted. Her sharp gaze swept over Nargol. Then she wrinkled her nose. “Were you with a human?”
Nargol’s muscles tensed. She forced herself to hang her cloak up on the hook on the wall. She turned and eyed Makhel.
Makhel grinned and shook her head. “You found the little human who beat you, didn’t you?”
Nargol didn’t answer. She walked to her pack resting on her bed. She removed her weapons from her body and stored some of the daggers inside her bag, slipping one beneath her pillow.
“So, you aren’t going to tell me where you’ve been? Is it a secret?” Makhel leaned forward with her plate in her hand. She scooped up some of the food and shoveled it into her mouth.
“I was…learning. Gathering details,” Nargol answered. She closed her pack and set it down on the floor near the headboard, then dropped down on the mattress.
Makhel jerked her chin toward the plate sitting on the table between their beds.
Nargol nodded her thanks and reached for it.
She hadn’t realized how hungry she was. Her stomach gave a small grumble.
There were roasted vegetables and lokapi meat that was juicy and tender.
Nargol groaned appreciatively as she swallowed her first bite of the lokapi.
“And? What did you learn? Details on how the little human beat you?” Makhel teased. She grinned and shot Nargol a wink.
Nargol rolled her eyes and ignored her friend’s comments.
“No. I was getting a feel of the humans here,” she said.
She paused and licked some of the juices from the meat from her fingers.
She plucked one of the soft yellow oriane off the plate and popped it into her mouth.
She wasn’t sure where Makhel had gathered this food from, but she was appreciative of it.
“I learned how Cardu allows the humans to be treated here. Why there are so many here.”
“And?” Makhel’s grin faded.
“There’s a separation between the orcs and the humans.
The humans are tolerated for the workforce.
Some are here working on contracts,” Nargol spat.
She didn’t want to think of how Orlena came to be here.
She’d mentioned she’d been here in Soza since she was a child.
Who would sell their child off for money?
According to Orlena, she had five more solars. How long had her contract been?
“You’ve got to be fecking kidding me,” Makhel muttered. She angled her head to the side.
“No. I wouldn’t jest about something like this.
The humans live in a separate part of the village.
They call it the human quarters.” Even though she’d paid close attention to Orlena, she hadn’t let some details escape her.
She’d noted how cramped their living quarters were.
It didn’t take much to see that there was pride in the homes.
Each home held distinct decor to individualize them, and the small yards were all immaculate.
These humans didn’t have much, but what they had, they clearly took pride in.
“They are hard workers. Some yearn to leave but are unable to.”
She didn’t want to say it was just Orlena. If she had desires to explore the world, Nargol knew others like her probably held the same dreams.
“Are you saying you want to liberate them? The humans?”
“I’m not sure.” Nargol thought of Orlena and knew without a doubt, she wanted to free her little human.
She wanted Orlena to have whatever it was she desired most, and if leaving here and going to the ocean was one of the things she wanted, then Nargol would make sure she got to experience the damn ocean.
She turned to Makhel and arched an eyebrow. “Where have you been today?”
“I spent time where warriors go to drink and complain.” Makhel shrugged. She finished off her food and wiped her hands on her trousers. “They talk more freely when they think no one important is listening.”
“And?”
“There are orcs who have traveled to Udenia recently.”
That caught Nargol’s attention. She swallowed the food in her mouth and eyed Makhel.
“For what purpose?” she asked.
“Trade, they say. But word of the attack has made it here. Some of them are unhappy about how Tulak handled it.” Makhel reached down to the floor and brought a canister up. She popped the top off and took a large sip.
She offered it to Nargol who accepted it. She tilted it back to her lips and was met with ice-cold water. She took a few gulps then handed it back to Makhel.
“Is that so? What did they have to say specifically?” Nargol asked.
She tried not to clench her jaw. There were many who disagreed with her father and his ways. It was expected, but it still bothered her that some could not see that he truly cared for all of Aghon. He was a fair chieftain, and if being fair meant pissing off some, then so be it.
She just hoped she could control herself if someone spoke ill of him in front of her.
“I got a name. There was an orc who drank and talked too much. He claimed to know things. Claims the uprising was only the beginning.”
“We will need to speak with him,” Nargol said. She finished off her food and set her plate back down on the table.
“I know, but we will need to be sympathetic of their cause,” Makhel said.
“I can do that.” Nargol frowned. This was not her first job. She had experience in blending in. She was the damn chieftain’s shadow. She knew how to obtain information from the unlikeliest of places.
“I mean, we will have to align against the chieftain. Can you do that?” Makhel asked softly.
“I can and I will,” Nargol growled. She had been sent here for a purpose and she was not going to let her father down. She’d have to curb the urge to cut out the tongues of those who spoke ill of him.
But she could do it.
“I will play the part with no issues, my friend,” Nargol said.
“You will have to. If we are discovered, our cover will be blown.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Nargol snapped.
Makhel didn’t have to remind her of what was at stake.
If their cover was blown, they risked death.
She swung her legs over onto the bed and lay down.
She folded her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling.
Thoughts of a certain brown-skinned female came to mind.
What was Orlena doing right now? Was she thinking of her?
Nargol couldn’t wait to see her. Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.
“You are distracted.”
“I am not,” Nargol groused. She glanced over at Makhel who eyed her.
“Don’t forget I know you better than you think,” Makhel grumbled. “Distractions can get us killed.”
“I’m good, Makhel.” Nargol sighed. She rubbed her eyes, weariness entering her body. It had been a long day, and she finally had a second to rest. The bed wasn’t the best, but it definitely beat sleeping out underneath the stars. A yawn overtook her. “She won’t be a distraction.”
“Ah, so you did find the little human archer.” Makhel’s lips twitched.
“I did. She’s different…” Nargol’s voice drifted off as images of Orlena came to mind. She wondered what the female wore to bed. Had she bathed already? Was her skin as soft as it looked?
“They always are. Each town we’ve been to, I’m sure they all have something different to them.” Makhel chuckled.
“I’m serious. There’s something about this one.” Nargol didn’t want to think of the others she’d been with previously. None of them held a candle to Orlena. Nargol’s body reacted in ways it had never done before. “She wants to leave and travel. Explore the world.”
“Why hasn’t she?”
“She’s one of the ones bound by a contract.
” The room grew silent. Anger filled Nargol again at the thought of Orlena not being able to do what she desired, what she’d dreamed.
Nargol had never known that feeling. As the second daughter of the chieftain, she’d always had what she wanted, needed, and desired.
Orlena will have the same.
Nargol made a silent promise at that moment.
“Can she negotiate out of it?” Makhel asked quietly.
“I’m not sure. The fecking contract is written in Orcish.
She’s never been taught how to read our language so she doesn’t even know what it truly says,” Nargol growled.
How was that legal? She would suggest Orlena take it up with Cardu, but she already knew why the contract was acceptable under his ruling.
Cardu didn’t believe humans were equal to orcs.
“That’s no contract then. It’s a chain,” Makhel’s voice hardened.
Nargol’s gaze landed on a small spider making its tiny web in the corner of the wall and the ceiling. It worked silently and quickly to build its lair without a care in the world. If it didn’t catch anything here, it was free to move on.
Unlike Orlena.
She was trapped here in Soza for at least another five solars.
Makhel was correct. What bound Orlena here in Soza was not a contract. Contracts were made to be negotiated, altered, agreed upon by both parties.
Her hands balled into fists.
“I feel the same way,” Nargol said.
“And you are going to do something about it, aren’t you?”
Nargol glanced over at her friend who was staring at her with sharp eyes. She was right. She knew Nargol well.
“I am.” She closed her eyes, wishing she could scent Orlena again. The memory of her soft human aroma was fading fast from her mind. “I have to.”
“Why do you have to?”
Nargol snapped her eyes open as the answer teetered on her tongue. She grinned, knowing what she felt was destiny-sent.
“I believe Orlena was goddess-sent to me. She’s mine.”