“Ach, when we’re bothelders,” Baldr countered, but Maria could see the flush deepening in his cheeks. “Thank you, brother.”
Simon returned this with a nod, and then slid his gaze to Drafli, brows raised — to which Drafli smirked back, and then nudged Baldr away. His hand lingering rather longer than necessary against Baldr’s arse, and Baldr’s stride back toward Maria was jerky, his eyes bright. Looking unmistakably pleased, though when he reached the step he sagged hard onto it, his hands rubbing at his red face.
“Are you all right?” Maria asked him uncertainly, eyeing what looked like an assortment of purple bruises blooming over his greenish skin. “That was awfully… intense.”
“Ach, it always is,” Baldr said with a shrug, a wry glance toward her. “But orcs heal more quickly than humans, ach? And this shall help.”
He twitched his head toward where Drafli and Simon had now begun circling each other, their movements watchful, deliberate. “Drafli is one of the best unarmed fighters in this mountain,” Baldr continued. “Along with Simon, and the captain, and Ulfarr. But Simon cannot fight Ulfarr or the captain, so this” — his eyes sparked with genuine eagerness — “is mayhap the best equal match you shall see here.”
Maria felt her own eagerness sparking too, but it was also tainted, tangled, by that mention of the horrid Ulfarr’s name. “Simoncan’tfight them?” she asked carefully. “Or he won’t?”
Her thoughts flicked back to the night before, to all those awful, hushed truths Simon had told her — and Baldr winced. “Both, perhaps,” he said, quiet. “This would be a clear challenge. A test of standing and power. One of them would not walk away from this.”
Right. Maria swallowed, opened her mouth to ask her next question — but then Baldr crowed aloud, leaning forward, his weariness instantly vanished. Because Drafli had lunged in toward Simon, moving with impossible speed — and somehow, he actually landed a tight, vicious kick straight into Simon’s gut.
Simon grunted, hinting that it might have actuallyhurt— and Baldr whooped again as Drafli shot out another kick, toward Simon’s groin this time. An attack that Simon avoided, but narrowly, while Drafli dove in again, claws slashing, aiming for Simon’s face.
Simon reared back, but not before Drafli’s claws dragged against his cheek, drawing actualblood— and Maria only distantly noticed the room’s other orcs gradually abandoning their own altercations, in favour of coming over to watch this one. Because Simon was clearly putting in an effort now, his eyes sharp and intent on Drafli, his jaw grinding in his bloody cheek.
He met Drafli’s next lunge with a lunge of his own, a visible attempt at tackling him to the floor — but Drafli was too fast, and Maria heard herself groan alongside a few of the other orcs, despite Baldr’s loud cheer beside her. Drafliwasgood at this, his movements so swift they blurred together, and he was just as tall as Simon, his reach perhaps even longer. And his strategy was clearly to keep Simon up and unsettled and moving, using his heavier weight against him, seeking to tire him out. And Maria could see how it was working, Drafli’s foot slamming straight into Simon’s groin —
Simon bent double this time, his howl echoing through the room, and Maria again heard her own shout rising, joining the chorus of watching orcs. But Simon had already raised his head, his eyes narrow and focused — and in a whirl of motion, he charged. Crashing into Drafli with alarming strength, wielding his far larger size to topple them both to the ground.
But Drafli was good at the grappling too, slithering out of the holds that had incapacitated Baldr, while also landing brutal, repeated blows to Simon’s groin and face. And Maria was truly hollering now, not even caring who saw or heard, because Simon couldnotlose to this snide sneering orc, he couldnot, it was there in his stubborn watching eyes, until —
Now. His huge body snapping tight against Drafli’s, yanking him close — and in a wild twisting jerk, he had Drafli’s arm bent precariously backwards, just the way he’d done to Baldr. And finally,finally, Drafli was the one banging out his defeat, sparking a chorus of groans and shouts through the room, while Simon leapt to his feet again, wiping at his still-bleeding cheek with a clawed hand, shaking the blood onto the floor.
He’dwon.
Maria was somehow shouting with the rest of the room, loud enough that she drowned out Baldr beside her. And when Simon’s eyes inexplicably flicked through the chaos to meet hers, she found she was actuallygrinningat him, her body warm all over, her eyes alight.
Simon’s gaze held to hers, brief — but then angled away toward Drafli, who had also risen to his feet, his face blank. And in another flash of movement, Simon yanked Drafli close, his huge hand slapping against his back.
“A worthy match, brother,” he said, his deep voice easily carrying through the hubbub. “You near had me, ach?”
And Maria was still grinning, the warmth scattering wide, because even in this, Simon was being…kind. Because based on that last bit, there was no way he truly would have lost that match. None.
Drafli had clapped at Simon too, but then shrugged out of his grip, and stalked toward the corridor. Clearly done with this, and beside Maria Baldr visibly twitched, and then darted off out the door after him.
Which left Maria somehow still alone with Simon, in a room crowded with noisy orcs, because he was looking straight at her again, brows lifted, his mouth twitching up. And when he strode toward her, intent and purposeful, Maria found herself meeting him in the middle, her hand finding his hot heaving chest, her eyes roving over his battered, bloody face.
“That was,” she managed, around her thoroughly uncooperative tongue, “appalling.”
Something shifted in Simon’s eyes, but his lips were still quirking up, his shoulder shrugging. “And yet, this pleased you,” he replied, low. “Even without my reward. Ach, wilful woman?”
And Maria was nodding,nodding, still grinning so broadly her face hurt — and Simon slowly smiled back at her, a little crooked, showing all his sharp white teeth. And the sight was somehow swallowing Maria’s breath, her hand slipping round to catch against his broad sweaty back, and if he could just come closer, just like that, fill her senses with his ease and his strength, his heart shuddering under her fingers —
“Brothers!” called a voice, a new voice, freezing both Maria and Simon to stillness — and it was a new orc, another huge orc, dashing through the door. His face craggy and hard, his clawed hand gripping tight at his gleaming sword-hilt.
“Our captain calls you to arms,” he said, his deep voice burning through the suddenly silent room. “The first band of men has come.”
17
The new orc’s proclamation sparked a single beat of silence, thudding through the room. Sharpening the assembled orcs’ eyes, snapping their bodies taut, while Simon’s heart skipped a beat beneath Maria’s spread-wide fingers.
And then everything moved at once. Orcs dropping any weapons they’d still been holding, streaking for the door, their voices rising in their wake. And abruptly Maria was moving too, Simon half-guiding, half-dragging her out into the corridor, the lantern clutched in his other hand.
“W-what does that mean?” Maria asked, as she belatedly began jogging along beside him. “Why are theremenhere? You’re not truly going tofightthem, are you?”
