Part 13 (2/2)
”Why fear?”
”Magic is taboo A fear ofwater! Everyone saw it, and appreciated it”
”I 'blessed' the water, I did not bewitch it Not for ood of the people That's why I said a shaood without a tribe to work for
”And now I'd have us cross our ancestral lands I don't knowthe grasslands-prairie-is stronger than the tundra, but the life drain happens there too We ic to survive, andI don't knohat I'll do”
”You'll return to youron tiptoes to kiss his cheek
”Then we rise and pack to eed her off the ground and kissed her soundly
Chapter 12
Toch swung his club backhanded and s down the hillside, rolling in dust, the wounded orc sprawled to a halt, clutched a blood-spurting nose, and sobred, ”What that for?”
The larger orc wasn't finished Toch crabbed down the slope, raised his obsidian-studded club, and thumped Kab repeatedly
”No noise, I says! Quiet, I says! But you, you burp at wrong tier with more blows Other orcs squatted on their heels and picked at stones, or scratched lice, careful to avoid catching hell Kab wailed and howled and screa liray, warty skin
Finally Toch's arust With filthy, cracked nails he scaled the slope again, plunked his tusked jaw atop the rise, and glared at the world The goats had bounded up to higher slopes, out of reach Toch was so hungry he could eat rocks Perhaps he should beat Kab more, tenderize the meat, then eat it It would teach the others to follow orders and ave birth soon Baby orcs made excellent stew, and he could keep it all to hi fe, Toch stood on the huo next Likelimbs and hands that could break bones With the approach of winter, gray hair thickened on his hide like a mountain pony's His head was a rat's nest of lank black hair, but he still wore a steel helray wool that retained the faded sigil of the One King, a red hand with fingers splayed The paint hadto the One King's army How the chief orcs had said they'd be well-fed, have huts and villages instead of wilderness and badlands, how they'd live a as they didn't kill anyone Details were fuzzy, but he remembered fine food: fresh-killed beef, apples fro eels from stocked ponds, even real bread such as orcs could never bake, and whole barrels of wine that ray lips at theLots of food, steel weapons, not ht
Then it ended They claion, or overrun by eneone to sleep in the catacombs Or that he'd shunned the orcs because they didn't work and fight and kill enough to suit his bloodthirsty ways Or that they were too quarrelsome for his ideas of peace Me had been good
Noas chief of a troop in the Dee, a hard life even for orcs The land was difficult to cross, either naked rock or stunted cedars and heather and gorse, ia around Ascore and Sepulcher and Cantus Too well Men and dwarves banded together to root the orcs fros Toch's troop retreated to the foothills of the Deame
Goats were swift and bouncy, remorhaz and condors inedible, wolves and mammoths wary, humans nonexistent, and cave trolls considered orcs slave-fodder So, after a frustrating summer in the north, Toch led his band out of the mountains, but the southern forests were infested with elves, and the prairie too open Nohere? West, into unknown lands? Or perhaps he should reduce the force, kill the older orcs and wohters across the prairie to fat lands in the far south They had to go so over the next hill, scrounging what they could
He sighed like a bellows, licked Kab's blood off his fingers It was hard being leader
”Uh! Look! There!” grunted an orc ”He comes! He comes!”
Toch whirled, and almost fell off the hill
On awas human, but his skin had a yellow cast that denoted orcish blood, orcs always believed The , solemn face that was as cold and pitiless as a corpse's He wore silvery robes with a splayed hand red as blood, and a silver crown studded with gems black as coal The Hornet, people in Tinnainen had called him, like a black-yellow insect inHe kicked at his long heorse Two-score orcs fell back in awe and fear Toch tripped down the slope Dimly he re up his studded club, he swatted the orcs to kneel, then knelt hi's words ”Uain I have returned to the world As before, I, uh, coain there will be contenthout the lands-”
”And food?” The words escaped Toch He tre
”Uh, yes, food! Much food! Mead halls full of it Tables groaning under the weight of golden turkeys stuffed with chestnuts and, uh, crusty brown bread! Wine by the gallon, rich and red as blood!
And jam tarts with fluffy pastry, and fruits, such as , the orcs slavered as the king raood old tied Finally, he sus or butter-we must take up arms, spread south, and attack the outposts of the Netherese Empire! As before, the Neth are our enemies! You, uh, what is your name? Toch? Toch, you are to lead your band south, cross the Barren Mountains to the Sanguine that flows red with rust, and punish the tall folk of the prairie! You will know theolden horsetails that shi+ne in the sun! Find the in the old days!”
”Tall folk Horsetails A-salted” As trained years ago, Toch repeated the co them He did understand that they should ah ”Steel,blades” He offered the obsidian- studded club as evidence
As kings should, the One King anticipated his subjects' request Gesturing the orcs to shuffle backward, the tall human sketched a door shape in the air, and a door appeared Orcs oohed and ahhed The king pulled the wooden handle With a clatter and a clang, hand weapons cascaded out of nowhere: war axes, ood steel sharpened and blackened against rust Orcs scra, he grabbed a short-handled war club of two lethal iron spikes shaped like buffalo horns The tough hickory and heavy steel hefted nicely in his gnarled hand
”Take the ”Go south and harry the tall ones with horsetails! You willa hand into the phanto withdrew a silk roll, a paint brush, and a crock sealed ax Toch remembered this from the old days too He shook out the silk, found it a cut-out pattern for the red hand such as decorated his faded tunic
”Garb yourselves to show respect,” the One King co my seal, and spread the word to all outcasts to punish our eneht, and cut out your hearts”
Banging shut theraised both hands in the air The orcs cowered and whi only crossed his breast and disappeared like a soap bubble
Orcs one, their awe soon evaporated, and they squabbled over the weapons bloody-nosed Kab took a fancy to a cleaver clutched by a female He picked up a rock, bashed in her skull, and snatched the weapon ”With this, I kill eneh and cackled to the , buried an iron spike in Kab's temple The orc dropped dead, and Toch wrenched loose his weapon, pleased at hoell it killed He kicked Kab's body hard several times, then spat on it
To the rest of the tribe, he ordered, ”Paint yourselves with the red hand like o south to kill horsetails! But first,” he kicked Kab's body again, ”build a fire! I hunger!”
Far away, in a cave high in a listening top of the scrying table Froic at his disposal, she smoothed the surface and spied on the world And occasionally stepped into it disguised as the One King
Using that legend, she chuckled, was brilliance on her part As with all 's death had mattered little, for rumors circulated that one day he'd return to lead his people to greater heights
Of course, Sysque-dead wizard with drealory Eventually, as alith such petty despots, the ”One King” was exposed and killed, and his army fell apart
Sysqueabond bard or freebooter na an eye on Sunbright, tweaking odds to win her bet with Candle's ways, had heard his insipid speeches, and remembered that he'd scared the hell out of the Neth Me in nooks and crannies of forgotten lands, the e had often seen the faded red hand on the worn tunics of bandits, orcs, and other uise, a flowery speech, many promises, a fistful of weapons, and threats of death, alht Sysquemalyn had rejuvenated an army and aimed it like a fire arrow at her enemies Even now, scores of bloodthirsty villains attacked outposts of the empire, especially the fields and orchards that fed Ioulaum and Specie, where Lady Polaris had homes, and the pastures and forests of Castle Delia, her country arth Barbarians, whouine Mountain, which would soon live up to its naht will suffer when his people suffer And Polaris will suffer, wounded in the purse The whole empire-the whole world-will pay for what I've endured! And I, as Sysquemalyn, ait until my enemies' lowest ebb Then shall I strike, and bathe in their blood!”
Cackling, she stroked the tilted black tabletop, located another wandering band of , returned to work
Having decided to leave the wasteland, the tribe did not depart in two days, or even a week
In a flurry of activity, people flocked to kill wild game, barter for old cattle and sheep and jerk the meat; to slice hides into straps and pouches and boots; to hunt relatives in town and persuade them to rejoin the tribe; to fashi+on neeapons and baskets and clothes