He well knew that it was the nature of all creatures to castthemselves as the morally upright faction and their enemies as morally bankrupt.
The elves thought the orcs were morally challenged. He would not necessarily say that the elves thought the word “evil,” but it amounted to that.
Orcs came from a land of fire and smoke. They were tall and burly and strong. They spoke in a language of guttural sounds. They were fearsome. They were sometimes violent, though not truly more violent than the elves themselves.
The elves saw them as primitive. They saw themselves as civilized. They saw the orcs as frightening and uncontrolled. They saw themselves as restrained and kind.
What was funny was that the orcs thought very similar things about the elves, only they prized what the elves saw as primitive as being natural and good and right. The elves were seen as cold and calculating, unpredictable and unnatural.
This alliance, it would have to make the fair elves think they were “saving” the orcs. Maybe even saving them from themselves, from their own worser natures.
For that matter, Dathor thought as he watched the army march off, perhaps the orcs could stand a bit of saving.
Am I an elf?he thought to himself.Do I think of myself as inherently superior to the orcs?
He mused over it.
He did not want to think such a thing, because he wanted to be above it all, able to point it out in others and therefore immune.
But was that not just its own sort of superiority?
He thought he was superior, he realized. Perhaps all creatures thought it. Perhaps it was impossible not to think it. But, he supposed, he must challenge the notion from time to time. It was a blind area in his brain. He must not allow it to think it was always correct.
Should he run right after the high commander now? He could go on horseback, trot right next to the man and tell him the plan for the alliance with the fair elves. If he was going to do it, now was the time, before the highcommander was gone.
But he did not think he could convince the orc if he went now. He needed time to carefully plot what he might say, needed time to find the exact words to convince the other man.
He would have to wait.
And then, at some point, he would have to go, seek out the high commander, maybe even find the High Chieftain, who was with another faction of the orc army. He would have to leave Aerhril to do it.
Would she be his again before he left?
Had he truly done all of this for her?
He thought that it would be the fiercest of ironies to win the entire war and to lose her in the process.
HAFINDEL AND AERHRILmet in her chambers again.
“He’s antsy,” said Hafindel. “I do not think any lasting damage has been done to him. He may never speak without that rasp, I suppose, but he is not going to die. He is going to heal and be just fine.” They were speaking of Celedin, of course.
“I think you are correct,” said Aerhril. “That is, if he doesn’t kill himself, because that is what he said to me today, that he thought he should end it.”
Hafindel regarded her. “I’m surprised you did not go and fetch him a revolver.”
“So am I,” admitted Aerhril, feeling a bit ashamed of herself.
“It’s all right,” said Hafindel with a sigh. “I do remember the time, was it only a month ago, when he was in his cups and he took you by the throat and slammed you into the wall again and again and said that if you did not learn to control yourself, he was going to choke the life out of you one of these days.”
“He apologized when he was sober,” said Aerhril with alilt to her voice. “He said he did not mean it.”
“Well, then, all is forgiven,” said Hafindel darkly.
Aerhril put a hand to her forehead. “We need a plan. And it cannot be for me to try to get free and go to warn the other castles and keeps in the Silvarenna ahead of the orc army, because he has already guessed this is my plan and he will prevent it if I try.” She thought of the conversation they’d had of his never letting her out of his sight.
“This is the orc, Dathor? He will prevent it?”
“Yes,” said Aerhril.
