Because surely that was against the rules, the peace-treaty,something— but Simon didn’t immediately answer, hauling Maria sideways into his room, and then angling toward the wall. Toward his scimitar, which he strapped to his hip, pulling the belt tight.
“I no ken we fight today,” he said curtly, as he next went for his huge boots, yanking them onto his feet. “The captain makes a show, in this. Scare these men away, before others come.”
Thesemen. “Othersare coming?” Maria echoed, her voice shrill. “Fromwhere?”
Simon jerked a shrug, ducking to grasp an assortment of gleaming weapons from among the mess on the floor. “Same as always, I ken,” he said, as he thrust a smaller scimitar into his belt on the other side, and then began shoving knives into his boots. “From the human lords of the north.”
The human lords of the north.
Maria’s body froze all over, though her heart had kicked, pummelling with distant, alarming force against her ribs. That meant… her husband. His allies. HisCouncil. Didn’t it?
Herhusbandhad sent more men here?Now?
“You wait here, woman,” Simon continued, without looking at her, as he shoved another dagger into his belt. “Ulfarr shall come out with us, so you shall be safe here. If Baldr scents aught amiss, I shall come for you. Whilst you wait, you shall eat, and read, and seek to honour me.”
With that, he turned and strode for the door, his steps long and purposeful — and without at all meaning to, Maria lunged after him, and clutched at his huge arm. Wanting him to wait,needingit, perhaps — and to her distant relief, Simon instantly halted, his muscles flexing under her fingers, his eyes frowning over his shoulder.
“You’ll be —” Maria began, her voice thick, and she had to swallow hard, clear her throat. “Safe. Right?”
Simon’s bark of laughter was sudden, deep, surprisingly warm. “Ach, woman,” he said, with palpable amusement. “I could defeat this whole band alone, should I wish.”
And with that arrogant but no doubt accurate statement still ringing through the room, he strode out the door, without looking back. And for some foolish reason, Maria lurched after him into the corridor, watching him go, his weapons glinting in the last of the dim lamplight.
“Stay, woman,” his voice called back, echoing against the stone. “Obey me.Honourme.”
Honour him. With no mention of a reward this time, but even so, Maria gave a nod he couldn’t see, and ducked back into the disaster of a room. And then stood there, breathing hard, her heartbeat roaring in her ears.
Her husband was sending men. Attacking the orcs. With the aim of… what? Ofher?
But no, no,surelynot. She’d left no actual hint of orcs when she’d run. Her incriminating letters wouldn’t be sent for nearly another month — and even then, she’d been sure to avoid any obvious grounds for war within them. She’d planned her escape so thoroughly. She’d been so,socareful.
This shouldn’t have anything to do with her. Itcouldn’t.
But the discomfort kept prickling, her heart pummelling, something much likefeargrasping at her chest with cold, slippery fingers. What if she’d been found out. What if she’d somehow destroyed an entire peace-treaty. What if this meant death, for innocent orcs, or innocent men.
And what if the orcs discovered who she was. What ifSimondiscovered it. What happened then, would he send her back, would it ruineverything…
The panic had begun bubbling in earnest, for what felt like the first time since that Skai common-room. And how absurd that it should return now, instead of during any other point in this thoroughly ridiculous day so far — and it felt even worse after its unfamiliar absence, like a grinding wheel churning through her belly. And she couldn’t sink into this again, not now, please gods please —
Her eyes were darting through the room, skittering over the mess, seeking, searching,something— and then catching, suddenly, on that wooden chest Simon had given her.Whilst you wait, you shall eat, and read, and honour me.
And that was something, it was, and Maria stumbled toward the chest, and yanked it open. And inside, on top, there was indeed a basket full of meat and cheese and fruit. Along with another bulging waterskin, a bottle of milk, and that stack of treatises Rosa had brought. The uppermost one still reading,An Alternate Account of the Orc-Human War.
And yes, Maria would do this, so she grasped for the basket and the treatise, and hurled her shaky body down to the bench. And then started stuffing her face with food, while rapidly scanning her eyes over the treatise’s first page.
It began with… a tale. A tale of an ancient elf named Edom, who had been cast out by his own kin, and sought refuge under a great mountain across the sea. And there, he met a human woman named Akva, who he loved with his whole heart — and together, they birthed five sons, who became the five clans of orcs.
The tale then delved into the clans’ lives and losses, their constant struggles to survive in this foreign, forbidding land that treated them with mistrust and fear. It spoke of the gods’ cruel curse upon them, birthing them only sons, and never daughters. It spoke of the sons’ ceaseless quest for kin and companionship, their deep longing for women and sons of their own. It spoke of the drastic measures some orcs took to gain this — and then the drastic retaliations, the blood and battlefields, the bounties and fires, the poison and disease.
It spoke of an entire realm caught in a bitter, brutal war for years, lifetimes, generations. All because of…loneliness. Because of a constant, ever-spirallingrevenge.
Maria didn’t quite notice when she’d stopped reading, the treatise fallen slack in her hand, the basket of food entirely empty at her side. Her eyes gazing blankly at the opposite wall, at the mess of marks upon it.
And had it only been last night, when Simon had told her all those quiet, powerful things?My clan is dying, he’d said,at the hand of yours. You no see why we cling to our ways, in the face of this?
The discomfort kept growing, churning and curdling in Maria’s belly, and she leapt to her feet, desperately needing to move, to pace, todosomething — until her foot painfully caught on yet another rock, just sitting in the middle of the floor in the mess. And good gods, she could barelymovein this room, it truly beggared belief that an orc twice her size would ever want tolivelike this…
She glared down at the rock, and then at the disaster of this room all around her. Suddenly loathing it, loathingeverything, her horrible husband, this horrible orc, this stupid horriblewar, and…
