CHAPTER EIGHT
No sooner was the giant slain, than both of his clan-mates moved to collect their prisoners. Moving to do the same, Gnak willed his mind to think, but could not find a solution. There was no way to talk his way out. There was no way of simply letting her go. Not yet, anyway. If the other Orcs realized that she was not his prisoner, his chances for making a change for his people would be lost, Jen would be killed, and so too would he. He had to keep her from talking. She was smart. She would understand.
Rushing to Jen, he snatched her up, clasping a hand over her mouth. Turning to hide their faces, he shouted at her in a menacing tone, trying to convey his true emotions upon his face.
“You human no talk. You talk, you die. You walk only.” Growling, he snatched two leather belts from the ground and lashed her arms with one, and used the other around her face as a makeshift gag. Though she was obviously not comfortable with the change, her eyes showed that she understood the predicament and trusted in him to find a solution. Tightening up the temporary lashings upon his armor, he quickly shouldered the bags of supplies and human wealth, pushing Jen out in front of him, one hand on her shoulder to guide her.
“Stupid humans,” Gnak grunted to no one in particular. “No can walk in dark.”
“I have human, you have tiny girl,” Burl said, laughing at his insult.
“You have human warrior. Good sacrifice,” Gnak agreed. “And Korx have big brute of troll. His better than you.”
He watched as his words elicited an approving grunt from Korx, the three of them leading their prisoners side by side, before he continued.
“Me catch tiny girl. It talk to human god. Belong to human god. Does human magic,” he stated, puffing his chest out.
Both of his fellow Orcs made effort to put more space between themselves and the small human girl, but neither voiced a reply to his words. Magic was not known to the Orcs. It was not trusted. Gnak would use it to his advantage. Already his plan was working, and he had just begun. Thinking ahead, he knew he could use magic as an excuse for Jen’s escape while the other Orcs slept. He could then go after her to recapture her once more and take her home instead. Then things would be back on track. He just needed to wait for the opportunity. With Catunga coming to an end, however, he could not wait long.
He knew not if one of the Orcs would try and kill him, and claim Jen for their own. He also did not know if they would simply kill her, in order to make their captures look more enticing. He dared not attack them for Jen’s sake, but could not flee them either without appearing a coward. Again it was Orc logic that made him a prisoner to his situation. With no other option, all he could do was be vigilant. On he guided Jen through the winding mountain pass, steering her clear of obstacles with one hand on her shoulder and the other on the handle of one of his new blades. Just in case he needed it.
It was slow going with the prisoners, and as such was late morning when they reached the other side of the mountains. They had passed the other two giant corpses less than an hour ago, and now they stood overlooking the desert that stretched on to the horizon. Had it been only the Orcs, they could have ran and made it home by nightfall, but with the prisoners they would need to rest and travel slowly. It would take at least two nights of travel, resting during the day.
“For us bring good sacrifice, humans need rest,” Gnak stated, eyeing their surroundings, his peers simply looking at him for explanation.
All around them lay the picked-through carcasses of what just more than a week before had been goblins. Flies buzzed everywhere, their sounds filling the air as if the whole world pulsed with it. Each piece of ruined flesh was covered in a roiling layer of maggots, and the stench pervaded everything. Though all three Orcs fought to maintain their resolve, both humans vomited. The troll seemed not to note the smell.
“See humans,” Gnak pointed. “They weak. Need rest.”
His point made, his clan-mates nodded their approval and they sought suitable ground to rest. It took little time for them to find an outcropping of stone along the mountain’s face where they could shelter out of the sun. It did not provide any real protection, but back in a land they knew, the Orcs feared little. Except for Gnak.
While he led Jen up to the outcropping Korx had discovered, he sought out the easiest route for her to escape. Putting some resistance on her shoulder, he slowed her, letting the others put some distance between them.
“Hear my words. When time, I make free. You go back through mountains. You hide. I come take home,” he whispered, to a responding nod.
Good, then the plan was made. Climbing the rise to the temporary camp site, Gnak sat Jen away from the other human and troll, and made a big show of binding her to a tree. There she was safe, out of the sun, and she had plenty of room to stretch out and rest if she could allow herself to. Removing the two bags he carried, he pulled open the supplies and rummaged around inside the pack. Pulling out what he now knew as bread and cheese, he began to prepare her a sandwich, another word he had learned, layering in a piece of the dried meat as well. She would need her energy. Handing her the meal, he sat the remainder of the water skin at her feet, to drink as she felt was necessary. Without a word he rose, and turned to find his fellow Orcs staring at him.
“Young humans dumb, no can feed self.”
Kank seemed to accept the explanation, turning back to securing his own human and kicked it twice for good measure. Not Korx, though. He seemed distrustful, and watched both Gnak and Jen like a cornered predator. Gnak knew Jen would not be safe with his rival alone and had no plans for resting himself. If he took the first watch, and the other Orcs went to sleep, he could free her and set his plan in motion.
“I watch first, you sleep,” Gnak told his fellows.
“I watch first too,” Korx replied.
Gnak gnashed his teeth, his jaw clenched to keep from cursing. Again Korx had thwarted him. It made sense, if considering both Catunga and Orc tradition, if two were awake, one could not kill the one that was sleeping as the other would see it as a cowardly action. Eliminating their rivals had to be done in a proud way. This prevented any of them from killing each other in this instance, as no two among them would work as allies. Or would they? Korx and Burl had been together. Had they met in the pass by chance as he had come to join them? The question made him even more paranoid. Not that it mattered. Now that he would never be alone with Jen, he had no chance of setting her free.
Settling down upon the ground he peered off into the distance, his anger raging within him. There had to be a way to fix it. There had to be a way to set her free. The only way he could see to do it was to kill Korx and then Burl. But without the ability to kill both of them at the same time, there was no way of knowing how things would turn out. If one was attacked, the other might kill Jen if they suspected something. Again he was forced to wait, hoping for an opportunity to arise.
Just after midday, Korx kicked the snoring Burl and the two exchanged places. Even so, every time anything moved Korx’s eyes popped open, looking around suspiciously. Gnak knew his opportunity would not come this day. At least Jen appeared to get some rest. Hour after hour the day passed and without the opportunity he sought, he rose as night began to fall and woke Jen, allowing her to round the tree to relieve herself before giving her yet another meal. He ate a scrap of the meat himself and, taking up his bags when she was finished, he untied her from the tree as his fellows gathered their sacrifices as well.
The entire night went exactly as Gnak expected. They walked all through the night without so much as a single spoken word. They eyed each other suspiciously, none trusting the others, the whole situation filled with unbelievable tension. It was late in the night that Gnak realized that this night was the whole of his life. Every day was like this. Orcs lived trusting no one. Sure, they had clans, that were more for security from outsiders than anything else, but their society was so skewed that there was no real joy in it.
It was a strange realization. He knew that pride and honor
were good qualities. But it was now that he finally realized that Orcs dwelt on them so much that they had twisted them into traits that made their lives pointless. There was more to life than honor and pride. It had taken a small human girl to show him this. A small human girl who was relying upon him to get her home. The same girl who walked before him, seemingly with no fear for herself. Could she have that much faith in him already?
That thought alone gave him more pride than any other achievement in his life. The fact that she trusted him, even with her own life, when she walked towards death with her head held high. Humans were not dumb. Nor were they weak. They had discovered a life that was better than the lives of Orcs. He owed Jen more than her life and a bag full of wealth. He owed her more than his own life. There was nothing he could give the girl that would repay what she had given him. He hoped one day he would be worthy of the trust she put in him now.