Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) (170 page)
Authors: Laszlo,Jeremy
“You did it, Gnak! You killed the big chief!”
“Gnak cheat, but win,” Gnak admitted.
“But you’ve done it. You’ve united the Orc clans. Now you can teach them to worship Ishanya and you can fulfill your oath.”
“Gnak think no,” he said, his grin straightening into a hard line.
“Why Gnak? Why can’t you do it?” she asked almost pleadingly.
“Gnak think Gnak dead. Jen dead, Jen here. Gnak dead, Gnak here.”
Shaking her small head she giggled, and looked at him with her best mock-stern expression. Raising one hand, she wagged a finger in his face very seriously before she spoke.
“You are not dead, Gnak. Right now, because you made many good decisions, a healer is repairing your body so that you may rise again and lead the Orcs to a better future. I am here because Ishanya wills it. Perhaps she is rewarding you for the deeds you have done. But don’t you ever think that you are dead again. Don’t you ever give up, Gnak. You hear me?”
Gnak found it odd to feel so puny before the small girl, let alone listen to her scolding him as if her were a child. But even so, he found meaning in her words. If Ishanya gave him
this
reward for uniting the clans, would she give him back Jen for real when he created for her a fortress, temples, and an army like Thurr had never seen before? Could he save Jen and his people at the same time? Was that what the goddess was offering him?
“Gnak hear Jen. Jen smart. Help Gnak much. Gnak no give up. Keep fight. Promise.”
“Good! I’m glad that you see things my way, Gnak. But the world needs you now so you have to go back.”
Gnak felt the tug and watched as the edges of the room began to swirl in his vision, and strange sounds began to invade the place.
“Will Gnak see Jen more?” he asked.
“I’m sure we will be reunited eventually, Gnak. Just don’t stop fighting.”
Then she was gone as the room twisted in upon itself and bright light erupted before his eye, causing him to cinch it tightly closed before blinking several times to adjust to the brightness. When the glowing hands were removed from his face, he looked up at the many expressions of those pressed around him. These were the Orcs who had come to his aid. They could have easily killed him while he was down and claimed the title of Chief for themselves, but something had stayed their hands.
Testing his body, Gnak rose to a sitting position before clenching and unclenching his hands and flexing his many muscles. Grinning a proud, tusky grin, he rose to his feet and appraised those around him. Many were the former chiefs of other clans conquered by himself or the big chief. Others were smaller Orcs, with bright light in their eyes. All of them had come to his aid for their own reasons, and Gnak took that as a sign that he was on the right track. Turning to his shaman, he looked knowingly at the boy in the Orc’s body and reaching up he patted him on the shoulder.
Looking around, he saw tents in all directions spanning out as far as he could see.
“While the Orcsie was taking a nap, more Orcsies come and see dead big chief. They come and kneel. They join without even a fight,” the familiar voice said.
Turning, Gnak looked to the goblin king and was both surprised and amused by what he saw. There, what had been behind him stood two, not one goblin, both with crowns of gold upon each of their heads. One he recognized, the other he did not.
Bowing his head slightly to his small ally, he watched as the goblin jerked his head to the side several times, his eyes widening as if to say something without using words. Grinning, Gnak stole the orb of will from the second goblin king, effectively paralyzing him as his original ally pounced upon the non-moving foe, driving a twisted goblin blade straight through the man’s heart.
Rising and dusting off his hands, the goblin king smiled wickedly before bending over and retrieving his fallen peer’s crown.
“Well, that settles that problem. Can we get on with it then?” the goblin king smirked.
Nodding, Gnak took the goblin’s meaning. He had the might of his Orcs and nearly ten thousand goblins, but there was much more to do. Goblins bred like rabbits. There were dozens of cities, each with their own kings and armies. Gnak would need to collect them all. In his vision he commanded the trolls too. That was yet another task he had yet to complete. No. His work did not end here. It was time to unite all of his neighbors and create for Ishanya a monstrous army of the likes never seen before upon the face of Thurr.
-END
Conquering both Catunga, a rite of passage for his people, and his own despair at the loss of the human girl called Jen, Gnak found himself blessed by a god unknown to his race. With power from Ishanya he tried to resurrect the human girl, only to watch the flesh rot from her bones as she was once again torn from his grasp. Defeated, he summoned into himself the small girl’s will, and clung to it like a precious memory.
With the desire to please the new god he served, Gnak vowed to unite his people and teach them of her ways. Though secretly, he hoped that he would also learn how to bring back the small human girl who had saved his life.
Killing his own father, the chief of the Gathos clan, Gnak led his people to join the big chief and fight a war against the humans to the north. Using the war to his advantage, he began uniting other clans to his own cause before the humans arrived on the battlefield. After a single battle the orc forces were decimated and Gnak, barely escaping with his life, had learned new abilities of his magical powers. Escaping the clutches of death, he returned to his people and rose again with the help of yet another human, to challenge the big chief and unite the clans.
Now, having successfully killed the big chief, Gnak claimed the title for his own, but his oath to the dark goddess has not yet been fulfilled. And time is running short.
Sand filtered up between the bones that were his toes as he strode up the slope to its crest. With fleas biting at his flesh, causing bumps to arise that each brought the desire to scratch, Gnak struggled to ignore the urge as he peered across the distance before him. From here the landscape was an ocean of orange and gold sand that stretched on for miles, its infinitive sparkling facets lost only between the wave-like dunes in the distance. Lazily, the sun sank lower and lower into the sky, casting beams of brilliance sparkling across untold distances, telling him that the night was just beginning as wisps of smoke crept overhead from behind him.
Though the scents of roasting meats enticed him, causing his mouth to water nearly uncontrollably, he struggled to focus upon his current dilemma. Just days before, he had slain the big chief, and claimed the orc’s title for his own, but his work was as yet far from complete.
Unite the orcs
, Ishanya had told him. Teach them of her worship and create for the goddess an army of the likes Thurr had never seen before. Gnak had only managed one of three thus far. But that was not what stilled him this night. At least, not entirely. No. Tonight he sought the opinion of another, and hoped that with it he could come to a solution that was as of yet out of the realm of his knowledge. He hoped Jen would answer his call. They hadn’t spoken in too long. He wanted… no… needed to hear her voice. It was soothing to him. Calming.
It had been more than a week since he claimed his new title, and the vast change in ideals was taking time for everyone to adjust to. He now commanded what he believed to be the whole of the orc nation, though just the evening before a small clan of stragglers had arrived. His army now numbered nearly twenty thousand, and that was not including the near ten thousand goblins currently at his disposal. But even with thirty thousand troops, the deeds required of him by the goddess seemed too much. Too far. Too distant. Gnak felt the urge to bring the goddess’s desires to pass as soon as was possible, though he knew not what caused the anxiety that drove him.
The first day and night had been the worst, with more than a dozen would-be attackers falling to his magical abilities. They each had hopes of claiming the title of big chief for themselves, but Gnak had survived every would-be assassin with help from his clan shaman. Though the boy in an orc shell was not really an orc, or a shaman, or even belonged to the Gathos clan for that matter, his healing power and loyalty had already become an asset, no matter what his own motives were.
Over the next days Gnak had spoken to his people about the abilities given to him by Ishanya. He had instructed them to pray to her and give themselves wholly to her cause. He encouraged them to ask her for power, and each night they all prayed as one clan to the dark goddess. For now his orc and goblin horde went through the motions, but he knew inside that they would soon see what he saw.
His captains, all of them newly named, forced his will upon his people, molding them into a single clan with a single purpose. Repetition, he learned all too soon, was the key to change. Tell them, show them, and do with them, that which you wanted them to do, and eventually they would learn.
Change was hard for the orcs, but Gnak had faith that if they continued as they had these last few nights, all that was revealed to him in his visions would come to pass. But for such things to happen he needed to achieve the impossible and even as the most powerful among his kind, Gnak was uncertain if he had the strength and intelligence required to pull it off. Only Jen could ease his fears. So he called to her again as he had done several times since climbing atop the hill of sand.
“Jen, Gnak need talk.”
“I’m here,” came the small, musical response.
“Gnak not know what do.”
“You don’t know what to do about what?” Jen asked from within his head.
“Make vision real, Gnak need all goblins, all trolls.”
“Then you need to conquer them, silly.”
“How Gnak conquer? Many die. Make weaker,” Gnak responded aloud.
“You have an army now, Gnak. Go from one goblin city to the next. Most will probably surrender to your superior force, and those that don’t you can easily crush. Once you have the goblins you can move on to the trolls,” Jen advised.
For long moments Gnak pondered her plan, and it was not long before he decided that she was probably right. Even so, he did not feel that it was the correct solution to his problem. He felt that the time to complete all that Ishanya wanted was growing nearer by the moment. The time of his judgment was upon him, and he had not yet performed the tasks he was sworn to before the goddess.
Seeking out and moving from one goblin city to the next would take months, perhaps even years. His desire to see the tasks completed was too urgent. Whatever feeling it was inside him that drove the need to see it through, and quickly, told him that this was not the way. There had to be another option.
“Gnak think this too slow. Need fast. Ishanya no wait for Gnak,” he replied finally.
“Sorry, Gnak. I have to go now. Maybe the goblin king has an idea. Maybe the boy…”
“Jen?” Gnak called out to the sand around him.
Several times he tried to summon her again, but she was gone. He was alone with his emptiness once more. Though she had not given him the answer he needed, she had been right. He needed to talk to the goblin king. He might know of a way to gather the kingdoms of the goblins beneath a single banner. The solution was out there. He just needed to find it.
Rising from the sand, he brushed the loose grains away where it clung to his skin, with fingers of charred bone and sinew. His armor had been badly damaged in the fight with the big chief, and as of yet the goblin armorers and blacksmiths had yet to complete the repairs. Gnak missed the security that came with being wrapped in a metal shell. He preferred to keep his un-healing injuries concealed as well.
Turning, he looked down upon the sprawling camp below and was reminded of his oath. Here were tens of thousands of lives, each of them in service to him. Each of them was precious, and it was his job to save them and usher them into Ishanya’s cause. He needed to gather the remnants of those in his vision and begin building. Ishanya demanded temples, and he would see them completed. Time was of the essence, and as such, Gnak bounded down the dune side, leaving a trail of tumbling sand behind him.
As he entered the camp, a path was cleared before him as multitudes of bodies began to spill out into the night. The camp was a full mile across, if not more, and he made his way towards its center where his tent, and the tents of the goblin king and his captains stood. With the immense expansion of the camp, growing in size by nearly six times, the layout had changed from rings of tents in a nearly circular pattern, to a square pattern of rows upon rows of tents. It was not nearly as easy to guard as before, but with such a vast number of troops, more than a thousand were on guard at all times, and patrols roamed the sands for miles around the camp. They would not be caught unawares.
Everywhere he passed, goblins darted between the tents, clinging to the tops and sides of the temporary structures as others gathered in small clusters playing games of chance in the aisles. Music issued from various places about the camp, and goblin songs carried upon the air as the first clangs of the blacksmiths started to sound. A lazy breeze swept the sounds towards the south as Gnak moved against it, arriving at the center of camp just as light was extinguished from the world to the west.
Pulling the flap aside, he strode into the tent of the goblin king, into a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke that filled the structure. Coughing, his senses and grasp upon the world felt strained as the oxygen in his lungs was replaced by the thick fog. Shaking his head, and waving his hands through the air in an attempt to clear it, he caught movement from the corner with his one good eye.
Turning, he strode towards the back corner of the goblin king’s temporary abode as several females of the smaller race fled at his approach, each clinging their belongings to them as they swept past in mock modesty. Grinning at their flighty departure, Gnak turned his attention on the small king, who even now lay upon his bed in scarcely anything but his crown.
The smaller man was only about four feet tall with green leathery skin, striped through with other shades of greens and browns. His limbs, though muscled, were long and wiry, and his face was dominated by a wicked grin that split his visage with two rows of razor sharp teeth. Though his eyes were shot with blood, and his demeanor spoke of nonchalance, Gnak knew the small man to be vicious, intelligent, and cunning.
“Welcomes to my home, orcsie, it seems you have just missed the party,” the goblin king stated with a wry smile.
“Gnak need plan. Want know what goblin king think.”
“I see,” said the goblin king. “In that case, let us plan,” he added as he spun upon his small bed and rose to a seated position.
“Gnak need all goblins, need all trolls, need build city and temples.”
“So orders the army to march,” replied the goblin king. “We need not waits longer to attack them.”
“Too slow,” Gnak responded. “Take long conquer all goblins. Have search sand. Not know where cities.”
“You orcsies may not knows their locations, but we goblins can reads the signs. We can finds them easy enough.”
“Is good. Know how find. Still take long, one by one,” Gnak concluded.
“Me thinks this is best way. Takes each goblin city. Kills the king. Gather ups the goblins and supplies and moves on to the next,” the goblin king said with a grin, both his hands rising before his face as he drummed the fingers from each hand upon the other.
Sitting in silence, Gnak weighed the words of the small king. Both he and Jen had basically suggested the same approach. Was it the best option? Was it the only option?
Coughing up more of the smoke in the makeshift room, Gnak shook his head as if to clear it, and nodding once to the smaller man he turned and strode from the tent. Pausing just outside the structure, he took several deep breaths, expelling the last of the smoke from his lungs. One goblin city at a time seemed too slow. Perhaps he could divide his army and conquer several at once? It was an idea that had not occurred to him before, but it might work.
Striding across the clearing that was the center of the camp, Gnak looked upon the large shrine to Ishanya that was in a constant state of upgrade. Daily, new bones were added to the thing from every kill the orcs made, creating a semi orc and human visage of a female warrior of naught but interwoven bones and sinew. Grinning his approval, the big chief ducked into yet another tent. Here he could find an entirely different perspective. Here he could hear ideas from one who did not think like the rest of his clan. Here was the boy that Jen had tried to suggest that he visit.
Like the shrine outside, the boy was neither orc nor human, but a hybrid of the two created when Gnak took the essence of the human healer and adhered it into the body of an orc shaman. With the body of an orc he was accepted by the people, and with the mind of a human, Gnak found him fascinating and they talked daily. Though their conversations were usually random, more of a means to bettering his understanding of human beliefs and use of words, Gnak thought it wise to hear the boy’s thoughts on how they might proceed towards Ishanya’s goals. Like Jen, he was a smart human with carefully constructed ideals and responses. His every thought conformed to a logical plan that
was
his life, and Gnak enjoyed speaking to him and discerning more about human ways and beliefs.
Today, however, he was approaching the boy on a different level. Though it was he who saved the boy’s life, on that account they were beyond even, as the boy had already saved his own life several times through his ability to heal. This was a matter of trust. A trust that spanned distances beyond that of race or life or belief. It was a moral trust that Gnak was putting in the boy. One that would put all those in his care at risk if the boy had an agenda. But Gnak trusted him, like he trusted Jen. Something about the boy demanded his belief in him, and today Gnak would put it to the test.
Stepping through the flap in the tent Gnak spied the boy, who grinned at his entry. Only the two of them knew the truth about the shaman and the boy who had traded lives, and neither knew what had become of the third party involved.
Entering the tent as he did daily, Gnak sat himself upon the floor, crossing his legs and placing his hands upon his knees. His supposed shaman dropped whatever task he had been working on and joined him, sitting upon the sand opposite the chief.
“Good evening, chief. What brings you so early?” asked the boy in an orc body.
Carefully listening to the shaman’s phrasing, Gnak created an answer to better convey his message, a task he had been practicing the entire week when speaking to the boy.
“Gnak has a problem. Would like you help to solve,” he replied with a grin of his own.
“I am all ears, chief. How may I be of service?”
Again Gnak chose his words carefully.
“Gnak need… gather all goblins. Need to bring all together like orcs. Need to do same with trolls, but have
little
time,” he answered proudly.
Nodding his understanding, Gnak watched as the orc opposite him sat quietly pondering his words before, after many a long moment, he spoke once again.