Chapter 5
Valka remained in place, a silent spectator, as the loud human female walked over to a bucket that had been left amongst them so they could drink water at will. She picked up an earthenware bowl that had been tossed beside it and scooped some water out of the bucket, then left the other humans as she moved toward the end of the jagged cliff wall jutting up out of the sand they sat against.
Watching curiously, he didn’t understand what she was doing. Then suddenly, he saw it. A gray skaevin lay there in the shade of the rocks. This one was white bellied with a light gray back. Its head was white, with a large black beak, curved at its tip as most birds of prey had, and its legs were gray, leading to sharp black talons.
The loud female spoke softly, making clicking noises with her tongue as she very, very carefully approached the skaevin. “I don’t know what you are, but I know you’re hurt. I saw it when you brought me back here. Will you let me give you some water?”
The skaevin lifted its head and looked at her.
The female held her injured arm against her chest, reaching out with her good hand to place the bowl near its beak and backed away, waiting to see if it would drink.
The skaevin dipped its beak into the bowl, drinking down all the water.
Carefully, the human approached the bowl, taking it in hand and returning to the bucket to fill it again. She did this repeatedly, over and over again. Each time she’d place the bowl where the skaevin could drink from it, until finally it wanted no more. Then, she reached out her good hand to the creature. It watched her for a few seconds, then unconcerned with her presence, laid its head down rather than bite at her.
She moved closer to it, trying to better see its lower body.
Valka watched as she cautiously examined the torn flesh of its leg and thigh where it attached to its body.
“You’re a pretty creature, aren’t you? I’m not sure what you are called, but you’re beautiful. And you’re hurt.”
The skaevin kept an eye on her, but was satisfied to just lie there and let her remain near.
Valka couldn’t tell what exactly she was doing, other than tending to the injured skaevin. But his brows rose in surprise when after she’d examined the skaevin, she lifted the hem of her skirt to her mouth and used her teeth to tear it. She took the torn skirt out of her mouth and inspected the tear she’d put in the cloth, then returned it to her teeth, gripping it securely as she used her teeth to tear it in the opposite direction from her hand, tearing a strip off the bottom of her skirt. Kneeling before the skaevin, she very carefully applied the strip of fabric to its injured leg, using the forearm of her injured hand to gently hold the fabric in place as she wrapped it around the leg with her good hand before tucking in the end to hold it in place. She sat back on her haunches and inspected her work. “It’s the best I can do at the moment. But you’re going to be alright, I think. When they bring us food, I’ll share mine with you. Will you let me come back?”
The bird gave no indication that she’d even spoken to it, simply lying still, so she reached out and laid her hand on its chest, surprised when what she thought were feathers felt more like long singular strips of leather each growing from the creature’s body, with multiple smaller and finer strips extending from all around it, giving it the appearance of feathers. She smiled when the raptor trilled softly in its chest. It reminded her of a cat purring, only more high-pitched. “See? I won’t hurt you. And I’ll be back with more water and some food when I can,” she promised.
She stroked it a time or two before going back to join her friends.
When she reached them, she moved among those sitting on the ground in a tight group.
“Why are you taking care of that monster, Delia?” Louise asked her. “It’s the reason we’re here.”
“Delia,” Valka said on a whisper, testing the feel of her name as it rolled off his tongue. Now he knew her name.
“It’s not a monster. It’s a living being, and it’s injured. If I can let it see that I’m not a threat and that I’m trying to help it, perhaps it will help us one day,” Delia answered. “Besides it’s not responsible for us being here. The ship’s crew is.”
“It’s not going to help us. There’s no one to help us. We would have been better off on the ship. We’re surrounded by monsters. Men with fangs and green skin, who are monsters! Huge birds that eat people, and that kidnapped us and brought us here that are monsters! At least our destiny aboard the ship would have been human-based,” Patricia sobbed.
“If by human-based you mean that you’d have drowned and the fishes would be eating you by now, then yes, it would have been human-based,” Louise said, intentionally trying to upset Patricia.
“Actually, it’s not a bad idea,” Bettina said.
“Being eaten by the fishes?” Louise asked, confused.
“No, making friends with the birds. Are you sure that thing is a bird?”
“It’s got wings…” Delia said, shrugging slightly.
“True. And that Skala is scary, but some of the males are not all that monstrous. Some show a genuine interest in us.”
“Do you not see the green skin, and the tusks protruding from their mouths?” Louise asked.
“So, I’ve got freckled skin. You’ve got a golden color to your skin, we’ve all got different colors of eyes. Our hair is all different shades, and some is curled, some is not. Does it make any one of us better than the next?” Bettina asked.
“That’s not my point, Bettina,” Louise said.
“Well, it’s mine. We’re all different, they are, too. Maybe if we’re respectful of them, they’ll be respectful of us.”
“You heard them speaking of selling us! There is no respect on their part!” Patricia whispered through tears.
“Then we’ll have to earn it, as will they,” Bettina said.
“Yes, befriend them. As Delia is befriending the large killer bird,” Louise said.
“They didn’t kill us,” Delia pointed out.
“That is true. And they did eat the bastards that kidnapped us and locked us in the hold to drown.”
“Good birds,” Louise said, nodding.
“I suppose it’s worth a try to earn the respect of the males. It’s no different than we’d be facing if the captain had managed to get us to the port he’d intended, is my guess,” Bettina agreed.
“Except these males are green and have tusks. Louise said so already. They are not human!” Patricia rushed out defensively between hiccups.
Bettina turned her gaze on Patricia. “Can you stick to praying? Your negativity isn’t helping anyone.”
Patricia wailed slightly, then closed her eyes, rocking in place as she whispered prayers, all the while with tears streaming down her face. “They’re monsters,” she said between prayers.
“The real monsters are the humans that chained us in the bottom of that ship. The creatures here aren’t monsters. They’re just different — hopefully. I think the giant birds are called skaevin, and I think the people are Orcs,” Delia said.
“What is an Orc?” Louise asked. “And how would you know that?”
“The angry one up on the cliff mentioned Orc women. So, I think they’re called Orcs. I could be wrong, but that’s what I think. Skala said we were lucky the skaevin didn't eat us, so I believe that’s what the birds are called. Since the birds were eating the crew of the ship.”
“Doesn’t really matter what they’re called. We’re stuck here with them, or whoever we’re sold to, no matter what name they’re known by. It only makes good sense to try to endear ourselves to those currently in control of our immediate futures,” Louise said.
“I agree. I do know if we make ourselves become a burden, they could just as well throw us to the birds as feed. We have to make ourselves easy to keep alive. Agreeable,” Delia said.
“You already started a disagreement with the one called Skala,” Bettina pointed out.
“He was going to attack Patricia and the others because they wouldn’t stop crying. Someone had to do something.”
“If he harms her, it’s your fault,” Louise said to Patricia.
Patricia, who’d managed to somewhat calm herself with her prayers, started sniveling again.
“Oh, good Lord! Control yourself! I don’t want them thinking we all behave like you!” Bettina hissed out, looking around to make sure that none of their captors was approaching.
“Patricia, it’s going to be alright. Just try not to appear so weak,” Delia said. Then she looked around at the rest of the women. “Don’t forget that we are alive, and as long as we’re alive, there’s a chance of freedom. Remember ladies, you do not give up. You survive, whatever it means that you must do, you do it, and you do it well so that you’re treated well. Stay healthy, stay alive, then when your opportunity comes, you make a break for your freedom. It is then that you kill the bastards if you must, then you run and you keep running until you are free. Never give up. Never stop fighting!” She stood up and went back to the water bucket, scooping water into the single bowl they’d been given.
“You’re giving more of our water to that, what did you call it?” Patricia asked.
“Skaevin. And yes, I’m determined to make it not want to eat me. You keep huddling there and hoping for the best.”
Valka nodded approvingly. Delia was strong. “Should be Orc,” he mumbled as he rose to his feet and started back toward his cave.
~~~
Delia had tried many times to start conversations with the three other women there with them, but they were so shutdown that it was impossible to draw them into conversation. Sighing tiredly, she looked away from the three who wouldn’t even respond and lifted her head to the sky.
“I wonder where the other women are. If they survived, or if they drowned in the sea?” Delia said.
“Maybe they got away. There’s a chance, right? Maybe the skaevin didn’t see them,” Louise said.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Delia said, her face lifted to the sky. It seemed like hours ago the sun had been directly overhead, and now it was lowering itself toward the horizon. She suddenly realized that the women might not know how to determine which direction they were going in if they ever needed it. “That direction is West,” she said, lifting her good arm to point toward the sun. “It was above us earlier, so I think it’s late afternoon now, and that direction is West.”
“Why would we care?” Patricia asked tiredly, her head resting on her arms. “We are where we are and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“Because, if you ever have the opportunity to free yourself, you may not want to run West, because the shore is just over there beyond the cliffs, and these people will be waiting for you. Or perhaps you will want to run West, after you find out whatever other people lie to the East.”
“I wouldn’t even know where East is,” Patricia said, laying her head down on her arms again, which were holding her own legs tightly.
“I just told you how to tell where the East is. You wait until the sun sets, that direction is West. The opposite direction is East. Just walk away from the sunset and you’ll be going East. And if you need North or South, turn your back to the sunset and go either left or right accordingly,” Delia said.
“I’m so confused,” Patricia whined. “I don’t want to need to know that.”
“You can’t be that ignorant,” Louise said.
Patricia lifted her head and glared at Louise. “I am not ignorant. I am simply untrained in the things that husbands usually oversee. Like directions of travel. And protection of one’s self. And surviving in a strange land! I’ve never needed to learn those things! I was raised to have a husband perform those duties for me!”
“Which is exactly what ignorant means… not knowing.”
“Why don’t you know?” Bettina asked.
“I wasn’t schooled in such mundane things. I was schooled to be a gentleman’s wife and marry for position.” She smiled brightly as she began to speak of herself. “I can play the harp, and the piano. And I can sing, and dance. I recite poetry! Oh, the poems I can bring forth from memory!” she said, clasping her hands beneath her chin as her eyes took on a faraway look.
“Why aren’t you?” Bettina asked.
“Why aren’t I what?” Patricia asked, suddenly confused.
“Married to a gentleman,” Bettina said.
“I decided to marry for love, not for position,” Patricia said, her smile disappearing, her voice not quite as confident.
“Did you change your mind? Because I hate to point it out, but I don’t see a husband at your side,” Bettina said.
“I did not. I slipped away in the night and I wasted no time getting to our rendezvous. But he never came. I waited as he said to. I waited for a whole day and night. Then I began to inquire at the port where he said we’d meet. But they didn’t know of him. I sat for another day wondering what to do. My family wouldn’t have me back, I knew… I’d brought shame on them. I had nowhere and no one. I decided to book passage on a ship sailing for a land I’d never visited, where no one would know of my compromised reputation. I have much to offer any man in need of a wife. Only I never made it that far. I never expected to be here,” she said, her tears beginning to fall again.
Bettina and Louise shared a meaningful glance, knowing that whoever had made her believe they were in love with her had taken advantage of her.
“None of us ever expected to be here. We don’t even know where here is,” Louise said.
“It’s not your fault you were taken advantage of. Maybe using some of the things you were taught will help you stay alive through all this,” Bettina said.
“I can’t imagine any of them caring about my more refined training,” Patricia said, looking over her shoulder toward those of the tribe that could be seen in the distance going about their daily chores.
“How did you end up here, Louise?” Delia asked, taking the attention off Patricia.
“I made the mistake of refusing the brother of my husband after I’d been widowed. He took everything I had, driving me from my home in an attempt to force my acceptance of him. One of the few things I managed to take with me was a bottle of my husband’s best whiskey. I was fortunate to find a position in a boarding house as a scullery maid. Secured in my tiny room off the kitchen I drank myself to sleep one night. When I woke I was on the ship,” Louise said.
“That seems to be a common theme,” Delia said.
“Is that how you got here, too?” Louise asked.
“It is. The Inn I worked in was my own. One day I was fine, the next I was here.”
They sat quietly for a moment, not quite willing to look each other in the eye, aware that despite their varied places in life, they’d all been taken against their will one way or another, and were now on quite an even playing field.
“What about you, Bettina?” Louise asked quietly.
Bettina shook her head, but didn’t look at any of them, and offered no comment.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, you know? We’re all exactly the same now. Truth be told, we were the same before, just struggled under different circumstances.”
“I’m not ashamed!” Bettina snapped. “I’m just not yet sure that my plans won’t work out.”
“What plans?” Louise asked.
“I signed up willingly. I’m tired of being a working girl! I’m on my way to find myself a husband!”
The three other women looked at her in shock. “You signed up to be here?” Delia finally asked.
“No! Of course, not. I signed up to go to a different place, far across the ocean to start a new life where no one knew me, and no one would scoff at me! I want a man to love me, and to see that I’m fair and good! Just as good as any of you!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t know I’d end up here.” Her gaze wandered off to follow several of the males as they went about their business. “Maybe it’s not too late. They’re not all that bad,” she said hopefully.
Delia reached out and laid her good hand on Bettina’s knee. “You’re beautiful and bright, and funny, and you are not the only woman who has had to do things they don’t want to do to survive this world. I have no doubt that whoever you set your sights on will adore you once they get to know you.”
Bettina finally raised her eyes to meet Delia’s gaze. “Do you really think so?”
“I do. I really do.”