The three orcs — Tvalli, Orval, and Ronan — willingly included John in their explanations, and once Rosa’s questions had faded, the discussion morphed into a detailed analysis of a new passage dig they were directing, and how to address some unexpected geological problem that had arisen. And though Rosa scarcely understood half of what was said, by the end, she was eyeing John with a rising, unsettling appreciation.
“How have you learned all this, John?” she asked cautiously, once they were again walking down the corridor. “And are you —in charge, of all these orcs?”
John’s shrug was definitely too casual this time, his gaze steady on the corridor ahead. “I have learnt such things since I was an orcling,” he said. “It is the duty of the Ka.”
Rosa pondered that, frowning up toward him. So hedidmean he was in charge of all this. Didn’t he?
“And who are the Ka?” she asked. “Hanarr told me you were the last one. And these orcs keep calling youJohn-Ka.”
She could see John’s jaw clenching, but he again answered the question, his voice brisk. “We orcs are split into five clans —Ash-Kai, Bautul, Skai, Grisk, and Ka-esh. From the days of old, the Ka-esh have borne two sides — Ka and Esh. The Ka have been winnowed for many years, and now that Fror is dead, I am the last of these.”
He spoke matter-of-factly, as if this were a minor detail of little import, rather than the unnerving suggestion of war and grief and devastation that it was. The Ka havebeenwinnowed.
“Did you know your parents?” Rosa asked, her voice quiet. “Before they died?”
John didn’t answer, and instead sharply turned a corner, and strode down another long corridor. This one tilting slightly upward beneath their feet, and Rosa caught the surprising scent of what seemed to befresh air.
“Where are we going now?” she asked, inhaling the sweet freshness deep. “Outside?”
Her voice actually wavered at the thought — gods, it felt likedayssince she’d seen the sky — and John cast her a sidelong look as he halted against a solid stone wall, and gave it several purposeful shoves with his hands.
“Do not hope too much, pet,” he said. “It is notoutside, as you might think.”
The wall crunched to the side as he spoke, moving on what Rosa now saw was a steel track beneath it, which had previously been entirely hidden by the stone. “Howmarvellous,” she gasped, bending over it — but then there was a blast of light and wind, and all else vanished as she stood there, and felt it, and breathed.
It was, somehow, another — room. A room that seemed on the very edge of the mountain, and which had part of the ceiling cut away, revealing the clear blue sky above. There were similar cracks in the thick stone walls, showing bright bands of rock and trees, and when Rosa darted over to look closer, she realized that she was gazing out onto a rocky plain at the base of the mountain. And from the outside, this cleverly engineered little room would likely look just like another part of the rock, and not like a room at all.
“What amarvelthis is,” Rosa said to John, who was still lingering back by the door, with his hand over his eyes. Shielding against the bright light of the sun, she realized, with a twitch of surprise. “Is it for surveillance?”
He shrugged, and waved his other hand toward a few stone benches Rosa hadn’t yet registered, which were set directly under the opening to the sky. “It has been used thus,” he said. “But it was built for Ka-esh women, who yet need sun, when we do not.”
Oh. Another more careful glance around the room showed that it indeed seemed meant for comfort — there was more abstract white artwork carved into the walls, and the floor was tiled with a clever stone pattern. And there were more benches along the walls, and even what looked to be a few emptyflower-potsstudded about.
“It’s lovely,” Rosa said, and she meant it. “It would be a perfect place to come and read, and also keep an eye on any outside goings-on, as well. Like that orc, John. What’shedoing?”
Her eyes had caught on a moving figure a short distance away, striding down the nearby rocky descent. He was a truly massive orc, by far the largest Rosa had seen yet — and even at this distance he was profoundly scarred, his huge sloped shoulders covered with deep lines and gouges. He was wearing only a dark kilt, his long hair tightly pulled back into a thick black braid, and in his hand was one of those distinctive curved scimitars, glinting silvery-white in the bright light.
John had bolted over to stand beside Rosa, glowering out at the orc through his fingers. “Helvíti,” he hissed, his voice surprisingly angry, his body coiled tight. “That fool,foolSkai. He shall not, hecannot—”
Rosa blinked at him, and then at the strange orc, who had just settled his massive bulk down upon a large rock, and grasped for a smaller rock with his huge fist. And then, resting his sword against his knee, he began to sharpen the blade’s edge, the shirring sound whistling high-pitched through the open air.
“What do you mean?” Rosa asked, frowning at the visible displeasure on John’s form, which was almost vibrating beside her. “He’s not doing anything, he’s just sitting there —”
But John was shaking his head, spitting out what sounded like another Aelakesh curse. “He risks all we have done,” he growled. “He calls downwarupon our heads.”
What? Rosa kept blinking at John, not at all understanding, because while he’d occasionally seemed irrational before, he’d never been entirely unhinged, surely? And surely there was no way an orc sitting on arockcould be calling downwar?
She opened her mouth to speak, to ask — but before a word came out, John’s hand clasped over her face, and he dragged her bodily backwards from the opening in the wall. While Rosa belatedly kicked and shoved at him, shouting muffled into his hot palm — and suddenly his other hand was on her neck, andsqueezing.
It wasn’t hard, not really, but still enough to snap a true jolt of terror up Rosa’s spine, her eyes wildly searching his, which were now glittering with rage and perhaps even —fear.
“Silence,” he gasped, harsh, in her ear. “Or you shallsuffer, woman.”
It was a threat, John wasthreateningher, he’d promised to be kind, he’dpromised— but the shout that had been rising in Rosa’s throat seemed to break at the look in his blinking eyes, at the way they kept darting toward the light. Toward the — men?
Yes, good gods, toward themen. The strange, silent men who were creeping around the seated orc, emerging out from behind rocks and trees. The man who was currently prowling in front of theirwall, so close Rosa could have reached out through the crack, and touched his black-cladsleeve.
They were all dressed in black, they all had weapons gripped in their gloved hands, and they all wore masks on their faces, covering their noses and mouths. Leaving only their eyes, glancing back and forth between one another, organizing, communicating, as they moved closer and closer to the seated orc. Planning anattack.
