It was Drafli who moved first, his hands gesturing wildly in the air before him, and then Baldr began speaking, murmuring in soft black-tongue. And though Ella couldn’t comprehend his words, Natt surely did, and spat something under his breath that made Baldr flinch, and glance at Natt with an almost hurt look — but he didn’t stop speaking, his eyes darting between Drafli and Grimarr.
Grimarr listened until Baldr had fallen silent again, and then replied in kind, again in the incomprehensible black-tongue. But when Grimarr looked back at Natt again, he nodded, and his eyes spoke of a grim, settled determination.
“I await your questions, brother,” he said, and again, Ella could almost feel the shock reverberating through Natt’s form. Making it quite clear that this had never happened before, this hadneverbeen granted to him by this Captain before, and Ella couldn’t seem to stop her hand from reaching toward Natt’s, her fingers curling tight against his hot, sweaty skin.
His hand suddenly gripped back, so hard it was almost painful. And she could see his throat bobbing as his body leaned forward, his eyes fixing firm to his Captain’s face.
“I wish you to speak your truth,” Natt said, “of my father.”
The Captain’s big shoulders rose and fell, but he didn’t look away, his eyes held steady to Natt’s. “Your father was Rakfarr, of Clan Grisk,” he said. “He served as Speaker of the Grisk, and oft raised his voice against my own father, Kaugir of Clan Ash-Kai, who was then Captain of Ash-Kai, Grisk, and Ka-esh.”
“And your father hated mine, for speaking this truth,” Natt said, his voice curt. “And for the power he wielded through this.”
Grimarr nodded, slow. “Your father sought not only the truth of the Grisk, but that of all five clans. He gained the trust of many orcs, and began to move the Grisk away from the mountain, to this camp at Meinolf, where you were whelped. There, he sought to keep his orcs and their mates and sons safe from men, and from my father.”
Natt only kept watching Grimarr’s eyes, staring at him across the table, and Grimarr sighed again. “As Rakfarr’s power grew, he began to call for my father’s truth, spoken aloud before all five clans. This my father could not risk, not with Rakfarr so powerful, and all the Grisk at his back. My father feared that Rakfarr sought to defeat him, and take his place as Captain.”
“And what did your father do to mine,” Natt hissed, his clawed fingers again gripping painfully against Ella’s hand. “And tome.”
Grimarr’s harsh face looked almost weary, but he still didn’t look away. “My father wished to be rid of yours, without drawing blame upon himself,” he said slowly. “Thus, he first spread word among the humans of a fearsome orc who wielded powerful black magic, and who sought to use it against the men. Once my father had sparked this fear, he then spread your belongings to the men, so that you could be hunted.”
What? Ella was staring between Natt and Grimarr, caught in the tension of their eyes, in the raw fury all over Natt’s face.Thiswas why Natt had been hunted all these years? Because the orcs’ ownCaptainhad sold him to their enemies?!
“In doing this,” Grimarr’s slow voice continued, “my father also gave up the Grisk camp to the men, since this was where your scents were held most strongly. And thus, when the men attacked, it meant not only Rakfarr’s death, but also the deaths of many Grisk orcs. Many Grisk women, and sons. Near to one hundred deaths, this one day.”
The room felt even stiller than before, the air gone thick and heavy all around, and Ella could hear Natt’s choked breathing beside her. But he hadn’t spoken again, and to Ella’s vague surprise, it was Baldr who spoke next, his voice hushed, stilted, perhaps even pained.
“It was trulyKaugirwho did that?” he asked, his blinking eyes held to Grimarr’s. “I know Nattfarr has spoken of this, but many of our brothers have dismissed him and denied this, and you have never —“
He bit his lip with a sharp tooth, clearly not about to openly accuse his own Captain of intentionally keeping such a horrible secret — but beside Ella Natt laughed, the sound hard, bitter, broken.
“Ach, ourCaptainhas never spoken of this,” he snapped. “He cannot risk losing the Grisk to his father’s betrayal. He cannot risk losing them tome. And thus, he has left me to be hunted, so that I shall stay out of his way, and not hold him to account for his sins and hislies!”
Ella could feel Natt’s body vibrating under her hand, and his eyes on Grimarr were glittering, merciless. “This is truth,Captain,” he demanded. “Is it not?”
There was silence all around, the room’s full attention on Grimarr’s stony face, on the slight spasm on his mouth. “I did not know what my father had done until it was too late,” he said. “But I ought to have seen this. For what Rakfarr did, with the Grisk — it was notsafe. It only courted danger, to set up this camp so far away from the mountain. It put an entire clan at risk. I cannot have you do this again, Nattfarr.”
But his voice sounded oddly laboured, his breathing heavy, and Natt abruptly thrust Ella’s hand away, and instead gripped at the table, leaning over it, his eyes cold, blazing, on fire. “You shall speak truth to me,” he growled. “It shall only be to your gain when I am dead, with no son to my name. And it wasyourfather who killed the Grisk.Notmine. Is this truth,Captain?!”
The power seemed to snap through the room, drawing Grimarr’s big form closer over the table, his eyes wide and unblinking. “Ach,” he said, his voice very quiet. “This is truth.”
The stillness swarmed the room again, broken only by a gasp from Jule beside Grimarr, and a sound like a moan from Baldr’s mouth. And Natt had recoiled almost like he’d been struck, and he shoved himself up and away from the table, onto his feet, claws out, ready to strike.
“And even now,” he rasped, “you donaughtto help me. You do naught to avenge your father’s wrong, or make right the wrongs of this mountain. Instead, you seek to force me to do your bidding, and betray my ownsoul, so that I may be trapped always in your web. It is only now that I have —“
His voice broke off sharply, but his eyes had shot a brief, betraying glance downward, toward — Ella. And Ella wasn’t even slightly following now, only blinking up at his face, uncertain, lost.
“It’s only now that you have — what?” she heard herself say, her voice very thin. “What, Natt?”
But Natt’s head only jerked away, his glittering gaze back on Grimarr. “You have not yet told her,” he hissed, “why this man seeks her hand.”
Grimarr’s eyes had closed, but when they opened again, they flicked back to Natt’s, looking tired, resigned. “Lord Tovey and his father, Lord Culthen, regret this peace treaty they have sworn with us,” he said. “They have made allies of their neighbouring lords in Preia and Dunburg, and together they seek to sway more lords to again spark this war against us. But they are greatly hindered by all they have lost on their last battles against us, and so they seek for yet more wealth, to aid this goal.”
It was like the air had been sucked out of Ella’s lungs all at once, and her eyes gaped at this awful orc, at the awful truth written all over his awful face.
“You mean,” she said, between the rising gulps in her throat, “that not only is Alfred hunting Natt, for money, but he’s also plotting to start anotherwar? And he’s marrying me so that he can — he can usemymoney topayfor that war? Againstyou?!”
Grimarr’s black head nodded, his eyes still held to Natt’s glittering, flaring ones. “Yes, woman, this is truth,” he said, with a sigh. “These men wish to take your hoard, and use it to break our peace, and destroy us all.”
