Chapter 28
Raye blinked at Gaelfr for a short, swaying instant. Taking in the sudden rigid tension all over his big body, the flaring of his nostrils, the sword gripped tightly in his hand.
And it was the sword that jolted her awareness back again. She hadn’t noticed he’d brought the sword out with him, and he wouldn’t draw it on her, would he? No. And that meant…
She followed his gaze across the garden, to the forest on the southern side — to the shadows in the forest, moving closer. People. Approaching them.
Fear spiked up Raye’s spine, her heartbeat thudding in her chest, because was it… the mercenaries? The men? Had the men followed them here? And damn it, what had Kalfr said about that awful Sybil, too? She swore she would destroy me. She swore she would track my scent, and then she…
“Behind me, woman,” Gaelfr muttered, his eyes still glittering on the shadows, and Raye belatedly leapt to obey. Hovering behind his rigid bulk, and settling her hand against his taut bare back. Just needing to feel him, maybe, to know he was here.
“Is it the men?” she breathed. “Or… Sybil?”
She couldn’t hide the contempt in her voice, but Gaelfr’s low answering growl sounded vicious, too. “I ken not,” he said, quiet. “I follow two of the scents, and one of them is an orc. An orc I…”
His shoulders hunched higher, the muscles of his back shifting beneath Raye’s hand. As if this new orc was worse than attackers, somehow. And Raye’s heartbeat wrenched even faster, her hand stroking Gaelfr’s back, her eyes frantically searching the trees.
“Gaelfr?” called a deep, resonant voice. “Is that you?”
Gaelfr twitched beneath Raye’s hand, but he raised his sword, and howled something that sounded like a war cry. Earning a similar howl in return, and then a huge, shaggy-haired orc broke through the trees, with several other people behind him. A tall human man, and… two children? Human children?
“Who are they, Gael?” Raye whispered, fast and urgent. “Tell me.”
Gaelfr’s back shuddered, his breath huffing out. “The orc is our clan brother Olarr,” he muttered. “He was our battle-captain in the war, before I… I left.”
Olarr. The name sounded familiar, because wait, there had been an Olarr in Svein’s Orc Mountain book, right?
The orc with the human family? And also, there was something about the way Gaelfr had said that last bit.
Something regretful, or ashamed. Perhaps because…
the war had still been raging when he’d left, all those years ago.
And if Gaelfr had been a warrior — likely a very good one — and then he’d run away, his fellow warriors wouldn’t have been pleased, would they?
And now, his former captain had come here?
Not even a single day after they’d arrived?
“Wait, you don’t think your captain has come here to punish you?” Raye belatedly hissed, the alarm too sharp in her voice. “Or take you away from us?”
Gaelfr’s gaze flicked toward her over his shoulder, his eyes unreadable, because — damn it. Raye had just betrayed that she didn’t want that to happen. She couldn’t stand for Gaelfr to be punished, or for him to leave them. Not yet.
But it was too late to say anything further, because this huge Olarr orc and the others kept coming closer through the garden. Olarr was heavily armed, with two massive axes on his back, and the human man beside him was unnaturally tall, with a large, gleaming broadsword hanging from his belt.
But then Olarr’s face split into a broad, sharp-toothed grin, and he lunged forward, and hauled Gaelfr into his arms. “Brother!” he exclaimed, in a deep, rumbling voice.
“Ach, it is so good to see and scent you again! Where have you been, all these summers? What has kept you away from us for so long?”
Raye could feel Gaelfr’s relief — at least this wasn’t an attack or a threat — but his shoulders were still stiff and tense, even as he embraced this Olarr in return.
He hadn’t responded to any of Olarr’s questions, either, and instead, that was a distinct flush, creeping up the back of his neck.
As if he didn’t know how to answer, or as if he was… embarrassed. Ashamed.
So in a foolish burst of bravado, Raye swept forward and stood tall at Gaelfr’s side, her chin lifted.
“In case you weren’t aware,” she said, “Gaelfr didn’t have a choice about going away, or staying away for so long.
He was obliged to, for… family reasons. He was doing his best for us, and for our son. ”
There was an instant’s silence, during which everyone present snapped to look at Raye, even the children.
And though there was only mingled confusion and mistrust in the new arrivals’ eyes, Gaelfr’s expression was surprised, then comprehending, then…
grateful. As if he appreciated Raye defending him. Taking his side. Calling Svein our son.
“So this must be Svein’s mother, yeah?” cut in the tall human man, his brows raised. “Raye, isn’t it?”
There was something about the way he said it — too light and casual, with clear skepticism in his blue eyes. And damn it, Raye shouldn’t have interjected into this, because of course they all knew who she was. They all knew she’d banished Kalfr from Svein’s life, for seven years.
“Ach, this is our mate, Raye,” Gaelfr firmly replied, making Raye twitch, because had he ever spoken her name aloud before? “I have brought her and our son here to Kalfr. To help keep them safe, and to rebuild the bonds between us.”
His words quivered oddly up Raye’s spine — not only at the our mate part, and our son, but also the part about him wanting to rebuild the bonds between them. But surely this was just a show for their guests, right? Or a repayment for Raye defending him to them?
But whatever it was, it had worked, because the man’s eyes softened, while Olarr’s mouth broke into another broad grin. “It most gladdens me to hear this, brother,” he replied, with a clap to Gaelfr’s shoulder. “I am sure Kalfr is glad of it, also.”
With that, he glanced purposefully over Gaelfr’s shoulder, toward — oh. Kalfr. Striding through the garden toward them, with his arm around Svein’s shoulder.
Raye stilled at the sight, while another convulsive quiver swept up her back.
Maybe it was due to the way Kalfr was smiling toward Olarr, warm and genuine, without a trace of hesitation, but also, the way he looked…
easier, somehow. His shoulders relaxed, his eyes brighter, his face softer.
Looking even more like Svein than before, most of all with how the two of them were walking in step like this, Svein leaning close into Kalfr’s side, and eyeing the new arrivals with mingled uncertainty and curiosity.
“Look, son, our kin have come to visit us,” Kalfr told Svein, with a reassuring squeeze to his shoulder. “They have long wished to meet you, I ken.”
He aimed another smile toward Olarr, who grinned and nodded, and knelt down to beam at Svein’s face. “This is truth,” he said, placing his big hand over his heart. “It is a great honour to finally meet you, Svein of Clan Bautul.”
Svein flushed and cautiously smiled back, leaning closer into Kalfr’s side, and glancing sideways toward the two human children.
He’d never been this close to human children before, and perhaps Olarr had caught that, because he waved the children forward.
One was a small, wide-eyed blonde girl about Svein’s age, and the other was a dark-haired boy a few years older, gripping a wooden sword in his hand, and watching Raye and Svein with frank curiosity.
“These are our younglings, Alfie and Ophelia,” Olarr said, rustling his hands in their hair, while his chest puffed out with unmistakable pride. “And their other father, my beloved mate, Aulis Gerrard.”
This Aulis fondly grinned at Olarr, and then shot a sheepish smile toward Raye.
“Please, call me Aulis,” he said. “It’s so good to meet you both.
Svein, you’re the spitting image of your Pa, and almost as tall as I am, too!
Now” — his gaze dropped toward Alfie and Ophelia — “why don’t you three run off and get to know each other?
Alfie, maybe you can show Svein your new sword? ”
Alfie instantly nodded, waved his wooden sword, and imperiously gestured for Svein and Ophelia to follow him toward the small clearing beside the house.
And when Svein hesitated, Ophelia gave him an encouraging smile, and tugged at his sleeve — to which Svein shyly smiled back, and trotted along after her.
It left the rest of them standing rather awkwardly behind in the garden, until Kalfr cleared his throat, and asked whether Olarr and Aulis had already eaten.
Which it turned out they had, but they also happily accepted Kalfr’s invitation for some tea.
And once they’d all trooped inside the house again, and sat at the table together, Kalfr made them all a large pot of herbal tea, with a distinctive bold scent.
“Is this… rose mallow tea?” Raye asked him, once she’d raised her own steaming cup to her nose. “Gods, I haven’t tasted this since…”
Since her mother had died, she might well have said, but she belatedly clamped her mouth shut, and took a sip.
It was delicious, sweet and tart, just like her mother used to make from her precious dried stores.
And how had Kalfr been able to grow a rare plant from Mirkandia — all the way across the sea — let alone make tea from it?
But Kalfr’s glance toward Raye didn’t look annoyed, and he shrugged before glancing away again. “One of our clanmates at the mountain collects rare plants, and I have brought some here,” he said, a little stiffly. “I thought this tea might please you.”
Raye’s belly swarmed with warmth, because Kalfr had made it just to please her? Maybe… maybe in response to what they’d just done? And how had he remembered that, and how long ago had he brought that plant here? Had he still thought — still hoped — she would return, someday?