John answered with a snort, and swiftly ushered Rosa back out of the room, and into the corridor again. Leaving her to blink up at his grim face in the light of his lamp, her thoughts whirling, unsettled. “What was that all about?” she asked. “And who’s Sken? And is there — is somethingwrongwith me?”
She couldn’t hide the tremor in her voice, and perhaps John heard it too, hesitating in the corridor to face her. “Sken is another of my brothers with an old, powerful gift,” he said flatly. “But I should never trust his cryptic sight against the clear truth of Salvi’s survey, when this has again proven what we yet knew. Should you bear my son, you are likely too small to survive it.”
Right. Rosa winced, eyeing him, digesting all that. “And me having your son was still — a possibility, to you?” she asked. “You didn’t actually —wantthat, right? With me?”
John didn’t reply, and instead kept walking, his eyes straight ahead, his mouth tight. His non-answer speaking just as much as an actual answer would have, and the understanding seemed to crash against Rosa all at once, powerful enough that she felt faint.
Johndidwant a son. Even if it was with her.
But no, no,allorcs wanted sons. It had been a constant theme in Rosa’s research, hadn’t it? Orcs wanted sons, orcs went to great lengths to gain sons, an orc would steal and pillage andkill, to gain a son. And Rosa was here to see what else these orcs could do, what other atrocities they hid in this mountain, three weeks…
She felt oddly frantic, suddenly, her eyes darting about the corridor — and thankfully relief came, in the form of another opening in the wall. This one emanating a sharp, acrid smell, and a dim flickering light, which — Rosa’s steps slowed, her eyes peering inside — was due to several tiny, controlled fires, above which several unfamiliar orcs were holding more of the glassbottles.
“Wait,” Rosa said, her voice unaccountably shrill. “John, is that alaboratory?”
She’d read about laboratories, of course, though as a woman, and therefore not a student or a scholar, she’d never been permitted to enter one — and she fully expected John to ignore her, and keep walking. But his eyes had closed, briefly — and then he actuallynodded, and ushered her toward the door.
Rosa stared up at him, entirely dumbfounded — and even more so when John said something loudly in Aelakesh to the three orcs inside, and they all stopped their work at once. They were again all relatively slim and smooth-faced, and they all gave purposeful little bows toward John, before seeming to fix their collective attention upon Rosa.
“Ach, brothers,” John said beside her, nudging her forward. “This is Rosa. She wishes to see your work.”
Rosa again gaped at John with genuine astonishment, but he only gazed back at her, his eyebrows rising. Is this not what you wished for, his face asked, without him needing to speak at all. You said you wished to learn.
Rosa couldn’t help a delighted smile, and even an appreciative squeeze of his arm. And before he could change his mind, she took a few careful steps toward the nearest orc, who had a set of small vials arrayed on a tray before him.
“Thank you for having me,” she said, with a tentative, hopeful smile. “What’s your name? What are you working on?”
The orc’s black eyes on hers were undeniably wary, darting again toward John — but at the telltale impatient wave of John’s hand, Rosa could see the orc’s throat swallow, his head nodding. “I am Aaron, of Clan Ka-esh,” he said, his voice faintly accented. “I study blood, and which kinds of blood best suit other kinds.”
Aaron, who studiedblood compatibility? Rosa was already highly intrigued, and proceeded to spend the next half-hour peppering Aaron and the other two researchers — Brandr and Marcus — with as many questions as she could think of. They replied with creditable patience, even going so far as allowing her to try using one of their small flames herself — they turned out to be clever littleburners— to help create some kind of distilled disinfectant. And by the time John ushered her out again, Rosa was flushed with pleasure, and a surprising, twitching gratefulness.
“Thankyou, John,” she said, with a genuine grin up at his carefully neutral face. “I’ve always wanted to properly see inside a laboratory, you have noideawhat a thrill that was. Also, I can’t say I ever imagined orcs studyingblood compatibility —that’s a really experimental science, you know, I’ve heard they’re doing a lot of research on it at the Dusbury University right now. How didyouever get involved in it?”
John’s answer was an overly casual shrug, a slight tension on his mouth. “We lose many lives to blood loss,” he said, his voice carefully flat. “It is only wise that we study this.”
We, almost as though he were again a crucial part of that, and Rosa tilted her head, considering him — at least, until they’d passed another door. This one with a bright, blinding light emanating from within it, along with a rhythmic, deafening clanging sound.
“What’s in this one?” Rosa asked, as she stopped to peer inside. “Oooh, is this yourforge?”
She was surely testing John’s patience at this point, but again, he only sighed, and ushered her toward the door. Where he silently signalled at the four masked, pounding orcs inside, who, just like the researchers, stopped their work at once, setting aside their tools. These orcs were all larger, sweaty, and bare-chested, and as they raised their masks to look at John, Rosa realized that they were also older and rougher-looking than he was, their faces marked with lines and scars. But again, they all gave deferential bows toward him, and then focused their attention on Rosa.
John made another round of introductions — the orcs were apparently named Asger, Soren, Harald, andGary— and they explained that the Ka-esh forge ran night and day, with multiple shifts working on a range of projects. “We forge and smith all goods here,” said Gary, with unmistakable pride, “but now that the war is over, we Ka-esh have turned most of all to tools, and lamps, and jewels.”
Rosa’s eager request for elaboration soon led to a tour of a small adjoining room, which housed a variety of their work. There were still some weapons, most of all the orcs’ distinctive curved scimitars, but also things like pickaxes, shovels, and chisels. Along another wall were smaller tools, knives and pliers and tongs, which, Gary explained, were used by the Ka-esh medic teams in their work. And next was even a set of lovely wrought-iron lamps, which, Gary continued, would eventually be installed in corridors throughout the mountain, to provide light so guests like her would be able to see.
“And here,” Gary added, leading Rosa toward a smaller shelf, “are the jewels. I have finished thiskragajust today, after ten days of work upon it.”
His chest had puffed out as he spoke, his claw nudging against one of the multiple glittering pieces lying on the shelf. And when Rosa stepped closer to look, thiskragaproved to be a solid, circular piece of beaten gold and silver, with an elaborate clasp on one side. Rather like a necklace, or maybe a torc, but made of tiny little ropes all wrapped together, making a beautiful, cleverly intricate whole.
“It’s lovely, Gary,” Rosa said, with a sincere smile up toward him. “You’re a true master.”
Gary seemed surprisingly affected by the praise, his grey cheeks turning a bright shade of red. To which John gave an unmistakable snort, and then curtly thanked the orcs before ushering Rosa back out into the corridor.
The next room Rosa glimpsed appeared to be a meeting-room, with abstract-looking artwork carved into the walls, and next was what appeared to be a shrine, currently empty, but featuring a collection of skilfully carved stone figures. And then a room that held several more orcs, studiously bent over angled-top desks, with quills gripped in their hands.
“One more quick tour?” Rosa asked John, with a hopeful little grin. “Please?”
John answered with a low, irritated groan, but once again, he obliged. And this time, Rosa was treated to an enlightening — if rather incomprehensible — explanation of Orc Mountain’s geological environment, and all the planning and engineering and mathematics that apparently went into sustaining such a complex underground home.
