Chapter 3 #2
That was a moniker I had not expected; one of a band of orcs. "One of us."
A cloud covered the moon.
"I know you're running from something," he said into the dark between us.
"I've seen the marks, and I know you were not eager to wed me because you were suddenly taken by my countenance.
You flee something that maybe I cannot imagine now.
I certainly couldn't have imagined you three days ago.
" He bowed his head, and the faint light of the stars concealed as much as it drew his features.
"You don't have to trust me yet. But know, it was my pledge to keep you safe.
I hope someday you'll tell me what we're running from. "
I stood in the silence, digesting that. Khal didn't know this relationship would be over in maybe a week's time.
He didn't know it was pointless to bother himself with a story he didn't need to know.
"Thank you," I said. "You're…kind." I meant it.
I had thrown myself to destruction for my sister, and maybe he was still kinder than me.
"You don't seem comfortable with the idea of someone carrying you."
"I'm not."
The moment stretched, only breaths between us. Was this it, then? Was this when he-
"We should go check on Tyralk." He cleared his throat, cleared his throat again.
"Oh," I said. "Yes. Tyralk."
I stepped into a hole and fell.
"Rowena! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine—"
He lifted me out, and I thought of the awkward way one picks up a cat. He set me on my feet. "Did you hurt your leg?"
"No, I just fell."
"Would you tell me if you broke your leg?"
"Yes, because then I couldn't walk."
He sighed and let go. "We are not so savage as your people are. I hope you come to think of us more highly."
"More highly than what?"
"Than to hide pain." He held out his arm.
I stared at him.
"This is normal among your people, is it not? Taking an arm?"
I flashed back to vague memories of Thea's etiquette lessons, of before, when we thought I'd become valuable enough to be introduced as her sister. "It is."
"This is better than being carried, I assume?"
I slid my hand into the crook of his elbow. I didn't tell him normally the man wore a tunic, that there would have been fabric over his skin, just hoped the darkness would hide that my cheeks flushed. This shouldn't be affecting me. We had done worse. "I…I hope Tyralk will be okay," I got out.
Khal moved more slowly to account for me, steering me around obstacles I couldn't make out in the darkness.
"He'll be okay. We have good healers at the enclave.
Everyone is just used to fussing over him.
" He held back a branch. "They complain about Tyralk being the spoiled chieftain's son, but we all care for him. "
My hip bumped into him, and I fumbled for something to say. "I thought you were the chieftain's son."
He shook his head. "We have more than one chieftain. Three of us in this one party were eligible to form the bond with your people. I volunteered."
"Why?"
He hesitated. "I speak the best Common. It would be misery to bond with someone you couldn't understand." His eyes shifted away, and I knew in my gut he held something back.
"Gnarlak mentioned that you were engaged to someone else."
He tripped.
A crash rang out as he stumbled into the brush, and I almost went down too. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine; just some scratches." He straightened. "Pardon. He told you about that."
"I'm sorry. Should he not have?"
"No. No, it's fine." He steered us around the bush.
"Yes, I suppose that was part of my motivation for this.
We…" His footing seemed less sure than it had before.
"There was a lot of pressure on both sides.
Terzha is…a very capable woman, but I am not the kind of orc she's looking for.
It was better to remove myself from the situation. "
"You care for her." Of course someone like Khal would care for people. He seemed to care for everyone.
"I do not gthir- sorry. Common doesn't have the right words." We walked in silence a moment. "I care for her…as a warrior cares for a warrior. Not as one is supposed to care for a wife."
I digested this. "You have…a lot of people who care for you."
"We have gone through hard things. Hardships bring people together."
"Yes." I thought of Thea again. "I suppose they do."
We were nearing the fire, the quiet rumbling laughs and voices of the others. I wanted to let go of his arm, to avoid the mocking that would come, but it didn't seem kind. Kind. Was I thinking about his feelings now?
The one with the heavy brow noticed us. "Ach, you were gone so long! We were worried! We almost came after you!"
"Yeah, have some pity on us, Khal, over here worried sick—"
"Rowena," Khal said, ignoring them. "You should eat more." He pulled Tyralk's pack off, opened his own.
"Fine, be like that!" The browed one hollered. "Ignore me as soon as you find someone pretty…"
Someone had roasted some smaller birds, and Khal got me half of one. It seemed like we were continuing to converse with each other and leave the other orcs outside. The meat was hot in my fingers. "So there were many, then?" I said. "Back with your people?"
"Many what?" He took a bite of his.
"Other women."
Khal choked. About half the rest broke into laughter.
Tyralk was leaning on his crutch, gasping."Yes, Khal, were there many? Were they lining up?" His chortle sounded like he was wrenching up his lungs. "Were you among the conquests?"
"Shut up, Tyralk." Khal was not looking at me. "I don't tell Shirrah when you get the shits on a patrol." His cheek was darkening, and the back of his neck.
"Did I say something wrong?" I looked up at Gnarlak, back to Khal. "Is that not…how this works? With your people?"
Tyralk was still laughing. "Yeah, he had twenty wives and sixty concubines. Gods, Khal, what have you been telling her at night?"
"Orcs are like humans, little flame-thrower," Gnarlak drawled. "We take one mate, unless the worst happens."
"I misspoke," I croaked. "I meant courtship."
"They were fighting!" Tyralk yelled. "It was a blood bath! Five dozen of our women died—"
Someone shoved Tyralk. He toppled off the crutch, and suddenly everything was chaos, yelling and pulling him up. While they rushed and pulled and yelled, Khal answered me.
"...no." Khal cleared his throat. "No, there were no…others."
Adrenaline coursed through me. "I meant no offense."
He spoke in the Ka Morth. "None was taken."
Things quieted, but the focus seemed to be off of us for a bit, a chance to take a breath.
"What about you?" he asked, still in the Ka Morth. "Was there someone else?"
A strange question for someone who'd had my blood on his body. "No," I said. "There was no one to love there."
I was less exhausted tonight, which was odd, with everything that had happened. Maybe I was getting stronger. Still the warmth here was drowsy, soothing. Something occurred to me. "How do you know the Ka Morth?" I asked.
He was setting the bones of his half of the bird in front of him, a pattern I didn't follow. "My father taught me." He laid the little wing bones out.
I leaned on my knees. "How does an orc chieftain know the old language?"
"My father isn't an orc chieftain."
“But you said…” What had he said? And why did I think it was my place to ask him?
“My father is not a chieftain," he repeated. "My mother is."
I blinked, letting this sink in.
"I am Khal, Drazha's son."
"Then who is your father?"
It was his turn to blink. "You couldn't tell?" He gestured to his face. "My father is human."