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Low murmurs rise but no one disturbs me.
“Much has happened in the past century. But despite what many may believe or say about my growth, my commitment to our kind; the future of us is still important to me. This is an apology. I lost track of what was important: the protection and prosperity of our kind. But in my travels, I also found more. More to fight for.” I pause.
“I have limited interests in playing power games, but we face an enemy that is ahead of all of us. An enemy that has eluded all our people for eight decades. We have tried defense, but it hasn’t helped. We will not win if we continue as we have been. It’s been 80 years. And those Soko scum are laughing in our faces! We are warriors, but we are being embarrassed by short orcs with tails who aren’t even half who we are! Is that who we have become?” My rage intensifies when I think about the Soko and what has happened. They are really playing in our faces.
“Big words from the orc who was showed by feeble humans?” Hettar’s voice booms from behind me. I turn to find him and many others standing behind me. The crowd that has gathered behind me laughs, even as they do so sparingly.
“An orc is not measured by how or if he falls, but by his rise and what he does when he rises.Youof all should know that.” I say.
“All you have are fancy words from the humans. While we have been fighting here and defending this land with our lives, what have you been doing?” One of the sorosin my team whose friend was taken last time stands and says loudly.
I can feel his anger and bitterness but also a note of defeat. I look around. They all look at me in resentment, but I also see that it is directed at more than me, they feel like failures themselves. We are a proud race and we have been swindled by those we see as inferiors.
“I have been absent, that much was unavoidable. But we can’t twiddle our thumbs, stay in the past, and wait for them to keep taking. They have the utter advantage. We don’t even know what their civilization looks like. We need information. They keep slipping past us. We need to know how. What if they slip and they go to our communities? To our mothers, our mates, our orclings. What then?”
“The order from the Kings said we are not to engage them.” Hettar says sternly. There is a rise in murmurs. Clearly not everyone is happy with that answer either.
“But why?” I demand.
“We have no means of crossing the Red Serpent’s Way, or the north land of Ragu, nor do we know the way of the under caves.”
“What have we tried?” I ask.
Hettar’s face hardens and the mood dims. “We have tried a few times. We sent three separate teams and in those endeavors, we lost 40 orcs. This is all we are doing.”
“I will go then.” I say, keeping Hettar’s gaze.
Murmurs and gasps rise.
“Go where?” Hettar asks, but he knows.
“I will cross the river and I will go scouting.” I pause. “We can’t twiddle our thumbs and wait for them to come back in more months or weeks while we waste away here.”
Hettar tilts his head. “I can’t allow that.”
That was one of the things I disliked about him. He was always safe. Choosing to rather kneel to preserve his life then take the bold steps and die with honor. Don’t they see we will never win this war holding our sacks in our hands and licking our tusks?
I want to tell him to go climb down a serpent’s tail, but many of the orcs here respect his rule and challenging him right now will be me proving my regression. It would be much easier to challenge him. But there isn’t time for the political unfoldings that will follow that. I must navigate with care.
“I know the way of the river from the old Dalun province.” I try instead.
“I can’t deploy any orcs to go with you. It is too dangerous venturing near the land of the dragons.” He states.
He speaks the truth. But it is the only way.
As dangerous as it is, it is the only way we can cross the Dali River at its shallowest point and make it to the Soko lands safely.
None of us knew how the sokos were crossing through the caves safely or the serpent’s way. None of us had seen any flying beasts. And from years ago, the caves concealed in them terrible monsters that were flesh eaters, that is if you could survive the swim down to get to the underwater caves. Besides no one had seen a dragon in over a thousand years. Last time our elders said their numbers were dwindling and they are all thought to have died off.
Our world was one of unspoken and deadly beasts. It was best if you just remained in your section of the realm. That meant orcs on land, and we leave the rest to the others. But all those cautions had to be stretched. Somehow, we need to get to the Soko lands, and we need to understand what it is exactly we were up against.
Sitting here guarding the border was only going to hold so long. What if they brought numbers next time? The fact that they could slip past the guards at the bank and get what they wanted and only get detected when they were leaving spelled of something much larger and potentially darker than we knew how to handle. And we needed all information we could get.
“I will go alone.”
“No.” Hettar says with finality.
More gasps ring but I hold my center. It is dangerous and reckless, but I have children on the way. If we don’t stop this now, then my children will live under this threat too and I don’t know if I can allow that.
