A Paladin's War Ch. 01

The pretty Amun'norothi stood nearby, turning the spit slowly while Aran prepared some edible roots he'd dug up from the ground earlier. The days and nights were warmer on this side of the mountains, warm enough that he'd shucked his shirt some time ago. The further east they went, the warmer it seemed to become. Still, it was a pretty land from what he'd seen so far. This valley was one such example, with gentle slopes that met at a stream at the bottom, the channel winding its way through the rocks and thick roots from the trees lining its bank until it found its way out the other side. It was good, clear water from the mountains, cool and refreshing. Insects native to this side of the mountains buzzed a chorus in the trees, hundreds of tiny voices singing an echoing, singular cadence that Aran found soothing, peaceful. Looking up into the trees, he used his vala to find the insects, clinging to leaves high up and vibrating something in their bodies that produced a clicking sound so rapid that it sounded like one continuous note.

"They are called cicas," Evoni said suddenly. She was smiling at him over her shoulder as she turned the spit nearby. Her creamy skin glittered in the firelight as if it had been lightly dusted with crushed diamonds, a mark of her heritage. She was unclothed, as was the way of her people, and he let his eyes travel over her slim back and down to her full bottom for a moment. Preferring her natural state over clothes, she always disrobed as soon as they made camp of an evening. During the day, she wore a shirt, vest and flowing, baggy trousers. When he'd first seen her in them - the first time he'd seen her with anything on - she'd explained it was what Giants wore when visiting other places where people might respond unfavourably to nudity. "The males are singing their mating call."

"It's beautiful," Aran said with a smile, only partially meaning the cicas. Evoni received the compliment and gave him a ravishing smile before turning back to her work.

"This was a good kill," she said in her low, yet musical voice as she gestured to the meat. She was young for a Giant; only coming of age a decade or so ago. That made her roughly Aran's age in relative terms. In the way of Giants, she would grow larger as she aged, and would eventually reach a height of sixty feet or more, though that would take two thousand years. Aran wondered if he would still know her then, or if he would even still be alive. There was no guarantee of him surviving his inevitable confrontation with Maloth. He hoped he would, but he tried not to dwell on it too much; what would be, would be. "You are a masterful hunter."

"I have Elaina to thank for that," he said honestly. "She taught me this, among many other things."

Evoni turned to face him directly, changing hands so she could keep turning the spit. "She sounds a remarkable woman."

Aran nodded. "She is."

"And there are others, too, are there not?" There was a touch of vulnerability in her tone.

"There are." A pregnant pause followed. Aran sensed Evoni wanted to ask him something, and he allowed her the space to do so.

"In Atlos," she began slowly, watching the fire. "If two Norothi favour a Noroth, he may take them both as his Yun'darek." Aran didn't need to ask the translation; he had had many conversations with Evoni on her culture over the past three days. Yun'darek meant 'life-mates,' or close enough. "It can be done with more than two Norothi, and more than one Noroth," she continued. "Though it is very rare. The same may be done with two Noroth and one Norothi, though that is almost as rare." She went silent again.

"What troubles you, Mei'avana?" He asked her gently. The term was out of his mouth before he thought it. Where had he learned it? He was sure Evoni had not used it before, but somehow, he knew it meant 'my love,' in the Noroth tongue. Another vala-memory, perhaps, though the vala had been distinctly non-forthcoming regarding the subject of Amun'noroth.

"I fear I will have no place among your people," she said finally. "And that your Yun'darek will not accept me."

Aran put his knife down. "So, you want to live together, then? Even knowing there are others?" He had hoped she did want to stay with him once their travels were over, but he had not asked it of her; she would be away from her people, her home.

"I think that I do," she confirmed slowly. A few strands of her cobalt hair shifted in the breeze, glinting softly in the firelight. She was so beautiful it made his chest ache. "Is this what you want, also?" She asked in almost a whisper, as if afraid of the answer.

"Yes," he said directly. Rising, he went to her and folded her into his arms. She was warm and soft against the bare skin of his chest. "Would you like to join with me? As my meldin?" He asked, speaking into her hair. She was a few inches taller than he, but now he felt as if he were holding someone much smaller, more fragile.

"Will it bring us closer?"

He nodded. "It will. Much more so. We will be linked in mind, heart and spirit."

"Then do it, Aran. I love you. I have since you first arrived in Atlos." Suddenly she was kissing him, and Aran opened his vala and reached into her, flooding her with light. She gasped, breaking the kiss, trembling as the melda took hold. Aran felt himself smiling as new awareness of Evoni bloomed in his consciousness, from her emotional state to her physical condition. He felt her heart beating, slow and strong like a drum, quickened from the intense experience she was having. He waited long moments for the melding to settle, holding her tightly.

At first, the Giants had been difficult to read; their hearts and minds appearing vastly different from those of whom Aran was used to. It was how Maharad had hidden from Aran in Immelanle and Mandaralorn. Now, though, Evoni was opened to him like a book, and while she was still different, he could now see her completely. Love, fear, joy, sadness, gratitude. It was all there, just different, like hearing a foreign language he could now understand. She was more beautiful to him now than ever before.

"I can feel you," she whispered, cupping his face in her hands and searching it with her eyes, as if discovering him for the first time. She was, in many ways. "I can feel how you love me. It is not how I imagined."

"And what did you imagine?" Aran asked, unable to tear his gaze away from hers. Her eyes were like stones just below the surface of a pool shimmering under a full moon.

She shook her head slightly. "I do not know, but I like this very much." She kissed him, then, long and deep. Aran lost himself in the kiss, pulling her hard against him. Her hands went to his hips, to the waist of his breeches and began to tug at them until they were halfway down his legs. A moment later she dropped to her knees and took him into her mouth, suckling him softly, lovingly, yet insistently. His fingers tangled in her hair and he groaned in heady approval. Reaching through the melda, he tweaked her pleasure sense, setting a fire in her that would burn slowly, increasing over time. She moaned around his hardness in response and slipped a hand between her legs as she continued to please him.

"I want to feel what it's like when you come," she said breathlessly as she briefly pulled her head away. Her eyes burned with desire. "Please do it now, in my mouth." She resumed her bobbing, taking him deep until her nose was pressed against the smooth skin of his pelvis. Aran released his control and felt the tightness building in him that signified his release. With a cry, he began to shoot into the warm, welcoming cavern of her mouth. His lover shuddered as she felt his pleasure through the melda, which in turn brought her to her own peak. The hand that had been caressing his bottom now clutched tightly as if to support her, or perhaps to force him deeper as he flexed and spasmed between her lips. She continued until he was done, slowing her pace until she was barely moving her head at all.

"That was wonderful," he told her when she finally stood, her beautiful face flushed with excitement. She giggled almost girlishly.

"I think I am going to like mating with you even more, now that we have this bond. Can we do it now?" Aran wanted nothing more than to indulge her, but his stomach chose that moment to growl ominously.

"As much as I would enjoy that, my meldin," he told her honestly. "I should eat and restore my energy. I promise to give you my all later this evening, if that sounds acceptable?" He was being playfully formal, and he smiled as she made a show of thinking about his proposal, with one arm beneath her breasts and the other hand tapping her chin.

"This sounds agreeable," she said finally. "But you must promise to keep me up all night, if that's what I want." Aran laughed and gave his consent before she went back to the fire to finish the meat. Pulling his breeches up, he resumed preparing the roots.

*

The next day dawned bright and fair, and Aran and Evoni left the valley as the sunlight began to spill over the ridge and into its depths. With his vala guiding him, Aran angled southeast once out of the valley. The land was quiet, for the most part, devoid of any civilisation, though there were animals aplenty in these unpopulated places. Every now and then he opened his vala - not nearly as far as it could go, but a few miles out - to get a sense for what was around. Each time he did, he felt nothing but trees and birds and animals, many of which he did not recognise, a familiar feeling on this side of the mountains. A strange, small bird with a long beak that let out an ululating cry that almost sounded like laughter. A water creature covered in sleek fur that had the feet and bill of a duck. A rotund, hairy thing like a small bear that shuffled along the ground as if it were in no hurry, pushing its nose through the dirt as it looked for food. The trees were as varied as the wildlife. There was the tall, pale-trunked variety he'd seen before, with all their branches and leaves high off the ground. A smaller, sprawling thing with grey-brown branches that angled off in every direction. The branches were bare, though the leaves were wide and long and a brilliant green, and in the centre of each fan of leaves was a bunch of beautiful pink-white flowers that gave off a pretty scent. Aran picked one and tucked it behind Evoni's ear. She said it was called a farangi, and the Giants often used them in their medicines. Aran's eyebrows rose when she broke one of the smaller branches off and a thick milk-like substance leaked out.

Another day went by uneventfully, and then another, and Aran's vala was keeping them on the same bearing. Whatever it was leading him to, the goal was southeast, perhaps trending a little more south as time went on. As the days passed, the air grew warmer, steamier, and the land became less flat and rockier, tilting this way and that with ridges and hills and valleys. Ferns and palms became more prominent, and the rocks and many of the tree trunks wore heavy coats of lichen. A day later and they were in a dense forest, the air heavy with moisture as if it might rain at any moment. The ground was thick with wet mulch and the vine-wrapped trees towered high into the sky, creating a protective canopy above. They stopped at a waterfall in that forest to bathe in the clear pool beneath the cascade and take a rest. They made love in the water, Evoni wrapped around him so tightly he thought she might break some of his bones. It was when they were exiting the pool and making for their clothing hanging on a nearby tree that Aran sensed another presence. It was too late, though; he'd been so wrapped up in Evoni that he hadn't felt them coming, and now thick arrows were trained at their backs from the other side of the pool.

"Hara!" A deep, gravelly voice called. "Hara ni meshudu morn!" Aran froze and raised his hands. He could catch or dodge arrows, but Evoni couldn't. The stranger spoke a language he didn't recognise. There was a brief flicker at the corner of his memory, but it disappeared before he could catch it. Evoni, however, appeared to have no such trouble.

"Da vor en naela!" She called back, mirroring Aran's stance, hands above her head. He wondered if he could get to her in time. He might be fast enough to grab her and get into the trees before they could shoot, but he would have to leave Oroth behind, as well as the rest of their gear. Evoni said a few more hurried words in the Orc tongue, but Aran was already aligning with them. A dozen Orcs, six males and six females, all tall and powerful. The men wore naught but a cloth covering their privates, and the women a tight linen wrap around chest and waist. All had paint decorating their skin in strange patterns. Aran felt them lowering their bows as the alignment took hold. He sensed no evil in their hearts, though there was no shortage of anger and pain. Pain because of what, he wondered.

There was movement, and suddenly a female Orc stood before him. Half a head taller and pretty in a severe sort of way, she eyed him critically, running her eyes over him as if inspecting a horse she intended to buy. Aran had seen Smythe look over a freshly forged blade in the same way; keenly searching for flaws. Her skin was coppery, and hard muscles shifted beneath, blending with her soft curves in an appealing way. She looked a lot like Sorla, if you discounted Sorla's half-Human heritage. Her midnight-black hair was pulled back tightly from her face into a braid that snaked down her back until it almost touched her full bottom.

Aran lowered his hands slowly but made no movements otherwise. Beside him, Evoni did the same. One of the Orcs back in the trees said something that made a few of the others bark a rough laugh. Evoni's cheeks flushed, and Aran felt anger and embarrassment flare hot and sharp through the melda.

To Aran's surprise, the Orc standing in front of him poked him hard in the chest. Not provocatively, but as if testing for something. A reaction, maybe. It didn't hurt, exactly, but it made him grunt; she was strong. She walked a slow circle around him, prodding him here and there. When he shot a questioning look at Evoni, she shrugged slightly, unable to shed any light on the Orc's invasive perusal. Another poke came just above his bottom, and then her finger trailed down over his buttock. She said something that made the other female Orcs laugh and then slapped him on the rump. Evoni's eyes widened as she watched, but Aran bore it all with as much grace as he could muster, though if he had to endure this much longer his patience would wear thin. Finally, the Orc stepped back in front of him, her face unreadable. Her emotions were almost as blank, though he thought he detected a distinct note of curiosity.

Another Orc - a big male head and shoulders taller than Aran and with arms thicker than Smythe's legs - stepped into view, then, coming out of the foliage carrying Aran's and Evoni's clothes and packs in a big bundle. Oroth stuck out of the bundle, which looked to have been gathered up quickly. Words were exchanged, and the female appeared interested in the sword. The male grasped Oroth by the scabbard and let the rest of the bundle drop to the ground in a heap before he offered the blade to his leader, hilt first.

"I would not do that," Aran said quickly as the female reached for the hilt. Evoni hurriedly translated, and the Orc's fingers stopped short of the boar hide hilt. She directed a hard stare at Aran but stayed her hand. "Tell her its magic and is dangerous to anyone but me," he told Evoni without taking his eyes off the Orc. It was true enough; Oroth would burn anyone of evil intent who touched her. Aran could sense no evil in these Orcs, but it paid to be cautious. Evoni translated again and the Orc lowered her hand before barking instructions at the one holding the sword, sending the hulking fellow hurrying off into the brush. He vanished with surprisingly little noise.

The Orc woman snapped more orders, and in the next few moments Aran and Evoni were surrounded before being escorted south at spear-point in the centre of a tight ring of Orc bodies. Several times Aran thought about freeing himself and Evoni and going after Oroth, but each time he did, something made him stop. Strangely, his vala was telling him he was where he needed to be.

*

The forest stretched on for miles uninterrupted, the air filled with a symphony of bird calls and insects chirping and frogs croaking. One bird sang a song that sounded like a whip cracking, while another sounded almost as if it were trying to talk like a human. In several places, Aran heard the rushing of water as they passed a nearby river or stream, often hidden by the dense undergrowth. The Orcs never slowed, seeming to know the route despite the lack of trail or track. Aran sensed their destination well before they reached it; though it was no less impressive once he came upon it for true. Between one moment and the next they had stepped out of the undergrowth into a vast clearing so large he could not see the eastern or western sides with the naked eye. A massive wall dominated the area, fifty feet high and made from logs as big as he'd ever seen, standing side by side and ringing what was on the other side; a city in the forest, home to thousands upon thousands of Orcs. He tried to count the myriad lights in his mind that signified the living souls therein, but he quickly lost count. His best guess said fifty thousand, possibly more.

"Sen'dara," Evoni breathed as she gaped at the wall. "I never imagined it would be so big!" A couple of the Orcs eyed her sharply, though they said nothing.

As the party entered the clearing, a distant shout rose from the wall, and an Orc waved his hands at someone below, on the inside. A moment later, a huge section of the wall began to slide open. Aran noted their simple ingenuity with interest; the heavy gate was resting on a series of logs - hollowed out and skewered on rails that ran below the surface of the ground - that rolled in place, allowing the gate to be pulled across the top of them. By the time they reached the gate, there was an opening just wide enough for them to walk through. Inside the wall, stout, squat buildings of wood and stone stood, shaped almost like domes, though they had too many angles to be called that. Many of them bore thick wooden spikes, probably as a last defence if the wall ever failed. Hundreds of Orcs went about their business as Aran and Evoni were led down the wide, hard-packed dirt avenue that wound its way from the gate and into the city. Many of them turned to watch as the group passed, curious looks on their faces. Almost all the Orcs Aran saw were a similar shade of copper to the ones around him, though they varied from hues pale enough to be called beige to dark enough to be brown. Some bore paint on their skin, while others bore none. All wore similar garb in the cloth wraps, though Aran did see a few in less, or nothing at all.

Further into Sen'dara, the buildings grew larger though no less fortified. Aran thought that if any force ever attacked this city and got through the wall, they would be heavily bloodied by the buildings alone. The sun had dipped below the high forest canopy outside the walls when Aran's escort stopped before a wide building with a big brazier burning on either side of the arched entrance.

"En," the female Orc said firmly. Aran didn't need Evoni to translate this time; it was obvious what she meant. The Orcs in front of the ring made way, leaving the entrance to the building clear for Aran and Evoni. The Norothi squeezed his hand as they walked inside. Aran sensed the quivering sharpness of fear in her, but stronger than that was a steady, solid feeling; her trust that he would keep her safe. Except for the leader, who followed them in after handing her spear to one of the others, the other Orcs stayed outside.