Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) (152 page)

Removing his crude Orc blade from his belt, he discarded it among the piles of bones. Picking up the pair of odd blades he shoved them into his belt, one on each hip. If he had not been wearing his newly acquired armor, it would not have been possible to carry them in such a manner, as even in his belt one blade from each weapon faced up and impeded movement of his arms. There was no help for it, and with the new weapons in his possession and the giants growing nearer by the second, he decided it was time for them to leave. Except his decision came too late.

Around the bend in the pass ahead ran a pair of Orcs, leading their prisoners, directly towards him. Immediately Gnak recognized Korx, and was not surprised the Orc had come this far to find a sacrifice. The Orc with him was the other twin, either Kunk or Burl, whichever one he hadn’t kill just little more than a week ago. The pair led one of the armor-clad human warriors and a Troll, each upon a leash. Both parties spotted each other at the same time, and in his armor his fellow Orcs did not recognize him. He watched as Korx raised his spear, still running towards him to evade the giants that followed. Stepping between Korx and Jen, Gnak did the only thing he could.

“Gathos!” he grunted loudly, raising a hand to his chest, announcing them as members of the same tribe.

Watching as Korx lowered his spear, growing nearer with each step, he could not look back to Jen lest he betray his secret. He could not back up to her side, lest he be seen as backing down from Korx, pride demanded he hold his ground. The approaching Orcs and their prisoners slowed.

“Is you, Gnak?” Korx grunted, his head cocking to one side.

“Is me,” Gnak replied.

“Good. Now we three. We kill giant,” Korx said.

Gnak’s heart sank. Once the words were spoken, the decision was made. To offer another option would be seen as cowardly.

“Giant?” Gnak asked. “Was more.”

“Korx kill big female. While sleep,” Korx grunted proudly, banging his fist on his chest.

“Kank kill youngling giant,” the other Orc replied.

Gnak was somewhat relieved that the young giant and its creepy songs were silenced. It answered his question, two actually, now that he knew which of the twins he had killed. But now there was no more time to discuss the matter as a great sucking sound issued from ahead and the giant rounded the corner, eyeing the trespassers.

“You armor, you charge first!” Korx shouted again, binding him to a duty by pride.

Gnak realized that perhaps Korx was not as dumb as he seemed, using pride and tradition to his advantage. It was something he would have to keep in mind if they survived.

With no other options available, he stole a glance towards Jen as he turned to face the giant. His clan-mates shoved their bound and gagged prisoners to the ground, issuing them orders before turning to watch his charge. Ahead of him the giant came to a stop, a cloud of dust trailing it from around the corner of the pass. With a trumpeting roar that showed its rage plainly, the giant thrashed its four immense arms, swinging the large club he had seen days before in one of its massive hands. Gnak pulled his new blades from his belt and tested the feel of them for only a fraction of a second, before he leaned forward and charged the giant beast. The giant charged as well.

Racing ahead, the ground seemingly bouncing beneath him as the giant came, Gnak could feel the makeshift bindings on his armor begin to loosen. His breastplate and backplate began to bounce with every stride. His pauldrons began to shift uncomfortably as well, but it was one of his shin guards that failed him.

Twisting to one side, the shin guard slipped down from the inside of his calf, its metal edge catching upon the stone of the chasm’s floor. Over Gnak went. He knew he would not recover from the trip. All he could do it try his best to make it look graceful, purposeful, and spare himself later ridicule.

Tucking his shoulder, he met the stone with a jarring clang as his ill-fitting armor clattered with him across the stone. Using his momentum to roll off of his shoulder, he watched as the great club of the giant passed by him, only inches to spare. The fall had saved his life. Rolling back to his feet, amazed he had managed to retain both of his blades, he leapt towards the feet of the rushing giant.

Stabbing one blade into the enormous ankle of the beast as it passed and holding fast, he was whipped around the creature by momentum and carried up into the air as it continued in its stride. Holding on for life and limb, as his weight carried him around the heel of the great creature, he lashed out with his other blade, all but severing the main tendon at the back of the beast’s leg. Dismayed, his blade had not been long enough to cut through the beast’s thick flesh and sever the tendon in entirety. Then down he came with the foot, and Gnak swung away from it as he smashed bodily to the ground, his blades coming free of the giant’s flesh.

A great roar erupted from the giant and Gnak watched as the remaining strands of the creature’s tendon gave way beneath its weight, its calf muscles visibly snapping up into its leg as blood sprayed out of the wound. Over the giant went, its ability to remain upright destroyed. Smashing to the stone floor of the chasm the giant roared, trashing its limbs as a great cloud of dust rose from the impact.

Scrambling to his feet, Gnak watched as the Orc he now knew as Burl leapt into the fray, thrusting his spear into the giant neck of the beast, to little effect. The giant thrashed and kicked, attempting to raise itself off the ground, while trying to swat the two Orcs now near its face. Rounding the creature, Gnak lashed out with his blade, slicing through the unprotected wrist of the giant that it was using in an attempt to rise. The flesh split open, revealing ligaments and more. The giant roared out in anger. Stabbing the point of his blade into the open wound, blood sprayed him from head to toe like a geyser as he punctured the blood vessel within the creature’s wrist, but still the giant did not relent.

With a movement that was as much crawling as sliding on its belly, the giant ignored the Orcs and turned its attention to the other beings in its domain. Gnak watched as the prisoners tried to flee when one of the giant’s hands shot out towards them, but none of the trio reacted fast enough to escape. Gnak’s heart dropped in his stomach as he watched the great hand swing out towards his small human ally. One smack of the hand would crush her tiny body, and there was nothing he could do but watch. But the blow was never landed.

Just as it seemed all hope was lost, the giant’s arm crashed to the ground, sliding to a stop just feet away from the Orc’s prisoners. Turning, he watched as Korx thrust his hand deep into the oozing eye of the giant, twisting his arm this way and that, as if searching for something. Grinning, the Orc pulled his arm free, dragging his spear out from the wound. As the giant twitched in its death throes, the prisoners moved away from its hands to avoid being killed by the dead giant. Korx strutted around the dead giant, obviously pleased with himself.

Though it was Gnak who had brought the giant down, it was Korx who would be heralded as its slayer. He was beginning to see a trend in Orc logic that made him uncomfortable. Even so, he had bigger things, even than dead giants, to worry about.

No sooner was the giant slain, than both of his clan-mates moved to collect their prisoners. Moving to do the same, Gnak willed his mind to think, but could not find a solution. There was no way to talk his way out. There was no way of simply letting her go. Not yet, anyway. If the other Orcs realized that she was
not
his prisoner, his chances for making a change for his people would be lost, Jen would be killed, and so too would he. He had to keep her from talking. She was smart. She would understand.

Rushing to Jen, he snatched her up, clasping a hand over her mouth. Turning to hide their faces, he shouted at her in a menacing tone, trying to convey his true emotions upon his face.

“You human no talk. You talk, you die. You walk only.” Growling, he snatched two leather belts from the ground and lashed her arms with one, and used the other around her face as a makeshift gag. Though she was obviously not comfortable with the change, her eyes showed that she understood the predicament and trusted in him to find a solution. Tightening up the temporary lashings upon his armor, he quickly shouldered the bags of supplies and human wealth, pushing Jen out in front of him, one hand on her shoulder to guide her.

“Stupid humans,” Gnak grunted to no one in particular. “No can walk in dark.”

“I have
human
, you have tiny girl,” Burl said, laughing at his insult.

“You have human warrior. Good sacrifice,” Gnak agreed. “And Korx have big brute of troll. His better than you.”

He watched as his words elicited an approving grunt from Korx, the three of them leading their prisoners side by side, before he continued.

“Me catch tiny girl. It talk to human god. Belong to human god. Does human magic,” he stated, puffing his chest out.

Both of his fellow Orcs made effort to put more space between themselves and the small human girl, but neither voiced a reply to his words. Magic was not known to the Orcs. It was not trusted. Gnak would use it to his advantage. Already his plan was working, and he had just begun. Thinking ahead, he knew he could use magic as an excuse for Jen’s escape while the other Orcs slept. He could then go after her to
recapture
her once more and take her home instead. Then things would be back on track. He just needed to wait for the opportunity. With Catunga coming to an end, however, he could not wait long.

He knew not if one of the Orcs would try and kill him, and claim Jen for their own. He also did not know if they would simply kill her, in order to make their captures look more enticing. He dared not attack them for Jen’s sake, but could not flee them either without appearing a coward. Again it was Orc logic that made him a prisoner to his situation. With no other option, all he could do was be vigilant. On he guided Jen through the winding mountain pass, steering her clear of obstacles with one hand on her shoulder and the other on the handle of one of his new blades. Just in case he needed it.

It was slow going with the prisoners, and as such was late morning when they reached the other side of the mountains. They had passed the other two giant corpses less than an hour ago, and now they stood overlooking the desert that stretched on to the horizon. Had it been only the Orcs, they could have ran and made it home by nightfall, but with the prisoners they would need to rest and travel slowly. It would take at least two nights of travel, resting during the day.

“For us bring good sacrifice, humans need rest,” Gnak stated, eyeing their surroundings, his peers simply looking at him for explanation.

All around them lay the picked-through carcasses of what just more than a week before had been goblins. Flies buzzed everywhere, their sounds filling the air as if the whole world pulsed with it. Each piece of ruined flesh was covered in a roiling layer of maggots, and the stench pervaded everything. Though all three Orcs fought to maintain their resolve, both humans vomited. The troll seemed not to note the smell.

“See humans,” Gnak pointed. “They weak. Need rest.”

His point made, his clan-mates nodded their approval and they sought suitable ground to rest. It took little time for them to find an outcropping of stone along the mountain’s face where they could shelter out of the sun. It did not provide any real protection, but back in a land they knew, the Orcs feared little. Except for Gnak.

While he led Jen up to the outcropping Korx had discovered, he sought out the easiest route for her to escape. Putting some resistance on her shoulder, he slowed her, letting the others put some distance between them.

“Hear my words. When time, I make free. You go back through mountains. You hide. I come take home,” he whispered, to a responding nod.

Good, then the plan was made. Climbing the rise to the temporary camp site, Gnak sat Jen away from the other human and troll, and made a big show of binding her to a tree. There she was safe, out of the sun, and she had plenty of room to stretch out and rest if she could allow herself to. Removing the two bags he carried, he pulled open the supplies and rummaged around inside the pack. Pulling out what he now knew as bread and cheese, he began to prepare her a sandwich, another word he had learned, layering in a piece of the dried meat as well. She would need her energy. Handing her the meal, he sat the remainder of the water skin at her feet, to drink as she felt was necessary. Without a word he rose, and turned to find his fellow Orcs staring at him.

“Young humans dumb, no can feed self.”

Kank seemed to accept the explanation, turning back to securing his own human and kicked it twice for good measure. Not Korx, though. He seemed distrustful, and watched both Gnak and Jen like a cornered predator. Gnak knew Jen would not be safe with his rival alone and had no plans for resting himself. If he took the first watch, and the other Orcs went to sleep, he could free her and set his plan in motion.

“I watch first, you sleep,” Gnak told his fellows.

“I watch first too,” Korx replied.

Gnak gnashed his teeth, his jaw clenched to keep from cursing. Again Korx had thwarted him. It made sense, if considering both Catunga and Orc tradition, if two were awake, one could not kill the one that was sleeping as the other would see it as a cowardly action. Eliminating their rivals had to be done in a proud way. This prevented any of them from killing each other in this instance, as no two among them would work as allies. Or would they? Korx and Burl had been together. Had they met in the pass by chance as he had come to join them? The question made him even more paranoid. Not that it mattered. Now that he would never be alone with Jen, he had no chance of setting her free.

Settling down upon the ground he peered off into the distance, his anger raging within him. There had to be a way to fix it. There had to be a way to set her free. The only way he could see to do it was to kill Korx and then Burl. But without the ability to kill both of them at the same time, there was no way of knowing how things would turn out. If one was attacked, the other might kill Jen if they suspected something. Again he was forced to wait, hoping for an opportunity to arise.

Just after midday, Korx kicked the snoring Burl and the two exchanged places. Even so, every time anything moved Korx’s eyes popped open, looking around suspiciously. Gnak knew his opportunity would not come this day. At least Jen appeared to get some rest. Hour after hour the day passed and without the opportunity he sought, he rose as night began to fall and woke Jen, allowing her to round the tree to relieve herself before giving her yet another meal. He ate a scrap of the meat himself and, taking up his bags when she was finished, he untied her from the tree as his fellows gathered their sacrifices as well.

The entire night went exactly as Gnak expected. They walked all through the night without so much as a single spoken word. They eyed each other suspiciously, none trusting the others, the whole situation filled with unbelievable tension. It was late in the night that Gnak realized that this night was the whole of his life. Every day was like this. Orcs lived trusting no one. Sure, they had clans, that were more for security from outsiders than anything else, but their society was so skewed that there was no real joy in it.

It was a strange realization. He knew that pride and honor were good qualities. But it was now that he finally realized that Orcs dwelt on them so much that they had twisted them into traits that made their lives pointless. There was more to life than honor and pride. It had taken a small human girl to show him this. A small human girl who was relying upon him to get her home. The same girl who walked before him, seemingly with no fear for herself. Could she have that much faith in him already?

That thought alone gave him more pride than any other achievement in his life. The fact that she trusted him, even with her own life, when she walked towards death with her head held high. Humans were not dumb. Nor were they weak. They had discovered a life that was better than the lives of Orcs. He owed Jen more than her life and a bag full of wealth. He owed her more than his own life. There was nothing he could give the girl that would repay what she had given him. He hoped one day he would be worthy of the trust she put in him now.

With the coming of morning Gnak repeated his routine of the previous day, preparing Jen her food and drink after lashing her to a tree. But this day, it was his turn first to rest. Laying upon the ground, refusing to remove his armor, he turned to face Jen. He watched as she laid down too, giving him one quick grin before she curled up in a ball and closed her eyes. His eyes never closed. He did not dare go to sleep. If he did they would kill her, or him, or both. Of that he was certain. Instead, he kept one blade out of his belt and in his hand as he lay there for half of the day just watching her sleep, the girl who had opened his eyes to reality.

When midday did come, it was again time for Korx to rest. Today the Orc seemed more his normal prideful and cocky self. He was mentally preparing himself for Catunga, Gnak could tell. Korx moved in a way filled with pride in himself. His every action said he was not afraid. He even laid down and went to sleep, showing those with him that he was not afraid of them. Not that it mattered. Gnak could not kill Burl without waking the slumbering Orc, nor could he free Jen without killing Burl. Still an impossible situation.

It was only an hour or two before nightfall when Burl rose, and thrusting his head towards the trees behind them, he motioned to say he was going to relieve himself. It was the only opportunity they would get. Waiting for Burl to disappear from sight, he quickly and quietly untied Jen and shook her awake.

“You go now. Run. Hide. I find you.”

She nodded to him, a determined look on her tiny face, before she darted off into the trees back the way they had come the previous night. He watched her go until she too vanished, and began to prepare the scene by hiding her retreating tracks with tracks of his own. Taking his blade to his forehead he sliced it several times in a crisscrossing pattern, letting the blood pour down his face. Cuts upon the head always bled out of proportion to the wound. Then, picking up a large rock, he pressed it into the newly formed wound, coating one side with blood. Setting it upon the ground a few feet away, he laid down, closing his eyes, and waited.

More than a quarter hour passed, and Gnak thanked the heavens for every passing second, but as he knew they would, his passing seconds ran out. Returning to camp, Burl sounded the alarm with a yell, stirring Korx who arose to inspect the scene. Taking a sharp kick to the back, Gnak feigned stirring groggily, grasping at his head with squinty eyes as he rose.

“Where tiny human?” Korx demanded.

“Not know,” Gnak replied, looking this way and that, continuing his role.

“How human go?” Korx demanded again, as Burl simply stood watching the exchange.

“Not know,” Gnak repeated, then decided his answer was not enough. He needed to buy more time. “Used magic, throw rock,” he added.

They both stared at him a long moment before Korx took action, bending low where the girl had been. He peered all over the ground, his head snapping back up, his face only inches away from Gnak’s.

“No trail. Tracks gone. Magic too?” Korx questioned, his tone seething.

“Tracks gone. Human gone. Need new sacrifice,” Gnak replied.

Korx wasn’t buying it and Gnak knew it. He watched as his rival walked around their little camp, eyeing the ground, searching for a clue. It was only a matter of time before he found her fleeing tracks. Instead of giving him a chance, Gnak had another plan. He followed Korx’s lead and made a show of looking for tracks himself. He was sure to beat Korx back to the trail, and when he did he pointed to the ground and turned to his peers.

“Human no go easy. I go get. Bring back. You go camp.”

Without waiting for a reply he grabbed the pair of bags and his helmet, and ran from the camp, leaning low as if to watch the trail. Gnak sprinted ahead, knowing that Jen would not be far. She was so small that even sprinting she might have gone two or three miles in the time since she left. Even so, he watched as her trail passed beneath him, in case she veered off the course they had taken the previous night. One mile and then two passed beneath his feet and still he ran on. Their plan had worked, she was free, and he was free to take her home.

Knowing he had to be right on her tail he veered around a hill, his eyes on the ground as a blood-curdling scream caused his head to jerk up. Not fifty yards ahead stood Korx, holding the screaming form of Jen by the hair in one hand, his blackened iron blade pressed to her throat.