A Paladin's War Ch. 08

Aran nodded. "The Masha is a powerful being. Her spirit glows." He remembered seeing her through his vala for the first time. In many ways, she resembled an arohim, though she had not the vala.

"Yes," the Orc to Evoni's right agreed. Earlier, Aran had heard Reikar call her Hegra. She was pretty, with big, morning-grey eyes and long black hair in dozens of thin braids that fell loosely over her shoulders. Except for the myriad scars criss-crossing her pale green skin, she reminded Aran of Sorla. "She is very old, and very wise. She guides us and teaches us." His eyes found hers for a moment and her lips curved briefly before his attention was brought away.

"In less urgent times," Reikar said, "We would feast you, Anarion, and share tales of glorious victories and bitter defeats, but we sense that your time here is short."

"Thank you, Reikar," Aran returned. "Your hospitality sounds enticing, indeed, but you are right; I must be moving on as soon as I am able, and so must your people." He braced himself for protest from the Orcs, but none came. In fact, every one of them merely nodded soberly. Aran could hardly believe it; a people that would come to him freely, without needing to be convinced, conquered or cajoled? He almost wanted to laugh with joy! He kept his face smooth, though; the Orcs were going to be leaving their home to fight in a battle that might see them all dead. That thought put paid to his momentary jubilation.

"Yes," Reikar said with a tone of finality. "What must be done, must be done. The Sun cannot be stopped with axe or bow or sling. It rises and falls, caring not for the whims of those who walk in its glow." He stared at Aran for long moments before continuing. "There is a prophecy among my people. It says that the Ash'goth will be led from Sen'dara not by an Orc, but by a man who carries the Blade of the Sun. The Masha has seen your sword, Anarion. She showed it to me while you slept. She says in your hands, it glows like the dawn of a hundred suns."

"He will come from the West," Hegra whispered suddenly. "And for eight nights he will dream. On the ninth, he will awake bearing the marks of the chief, and he will lead them from Sen'dara."

Every eye turned to Aran as Hegra fell silent. He was stunned. They wanted him to be their chief? Surely, Reikar was more suited to that role, and Aran had much more to do on his own, yet. There simply wasn't time to lead a clan of Orcs as well. "I... am honoured," he said finally. "But with respect, I think your prophecy may be misinterpreted, friends. I do not bear these marks of your clan. Perhaps another is meant to be your chief."

Around the fire, heads swung. "This," Hegra said as she reached across Evoni to point at his chest. There was a scar, there, the skin still pink and puckered. He had taken the wound in the gar'ji dreams, fighting off a horde of Heralds if he remembered correctly. The scar was two slanting, parallel lines just below his left collarbone, with a third line crossing through them. "Is gar'morna. One who has died."

"And this," the big male on Aran's left rumbled as he pointed to Aran's left arm where he'd taken a roughly circular burn just above the elbow, "Is gar'infa'tarn. One who remembers."

Aran looked down at his own body, for the first time really seeing the scars he'd taken in the dream. The pink, still-healing patterns on his chest, legs, arms and midriff stared back at him, badges of his painstaking journey to reclaim his meldin. There were more on his back, too.

One by one, Orcs pointed and explained what the scars meant, until finally they fell silent, watching him gravely. Nine scars, nine different patterns. Some of the Orcs had identical designs painted on their skin. Reikar had no fewer than four, more than any of the others.

As if reading his thoughts, the big Orc spoke. "We have no chief, unlike other clans," he explained. "Some think that foolish, that it makes us weak, but that is not the truth. We are circular, but we must have direction." He pointed to a rune on his chest, where a circle was pierced by a thin, straight line. Aran had the matching scar on his own chest. "That is your purpose, your obligation to us, Anarion. You are the spear that will guide us forward."

"Yes," a new voice said as Masha strode in from outside. All eyes turned to the almost impossibly lush Orc as she moved to stand behind Reikar, directly opposite Aran. As bare as everyone else in the room, she regarded Aran for a moment before saying more. "All that is left is the ritual of the gift."

Aran's eyebrows rose. "Ritual?" These Orcs had more rituals than the Emerin Forest had trees! Still, he kept his silence; this was an important time for the Ash'goth. A thousand years they had waited for him; he would honour their rituals. "What gift do you require, Masha?"

"You must give our clan a child. Your child." It was not a request. Masha looked down at him imperiously where she stood. It was all Aran could do to maintain his composure. Evoni looked as surprised as he felt inside, her cobalt eyes wide and her mouth open.

"It is the way of old," Masha continued as she walked slowly around the circle until she was standing behind him. She settled to her knees and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Upon being raised, the chief must always provide at least one child to the clan, to keep our blood strong."

"We have not had a chief for long years," Reikar added. "And you have the strongest blood of all, Anarion. Hegra has volunteered as the mother." Aran met Hegra's eyes, soft, open, even eager. "She is a strong warrior, and as loving as she is fierce. An excellent choice. The Ash'goth stand behind her."

He took a deep breath. How will Sorla feel if I give a child to another Ash'goth woman? He had hoped to one day have a child with her, if that's what she wanted. As he did with all his meldin. Induin and Liaren carried his babes, and thinking of them always swelled his heart with pride and joy. He wanted the same for the others, too.

"I sense conflict in you, Anarion," Masha said softly, putting her face close to his. Her soft hair fell down over his back and across his chest, sending tingles across his skin. Her earthy, feminine scent filled his nostrils. "What troubles you?"

"There is another Ash'goth whom I love, far from here. Her name is Sorla Kargen. I had hoped for her to be the one." Next to him, Evoni smiled sympathetically and touched his knee. Hegra cast her eyes down, looking disappointed. Aran wanted to apologise, but didn't even know where to begin. Some memories of how to handle the Ash'goth and their sense of ceremony would not go amiss, Aros, he thought with a tinge of irritation. The last thing he wanted was to offend them, but Sorla...

"Ah," Masha said knowingly. "Your fears are unfounded, I believe. I do not remember the name, but if she is true Ash'goth, she will accept - perhaps even encourage - this union of chief and clan."

"Truly?" Aran asked.

Heads nodded all around in confirmation. Aran was either going to have to refuse outright or trust them. I need them. The world needs them. Hoping he was making the right choice, he nodded. "Then I accept."

Hegra's face brightened, her eyes shining in the light of the flames. "Then we will begin," Masha said at once. Standing, she invited Aran to do the same. When he was on his feet - wobbling only slightly - she turned him to face her. He looked up into her eyes, into the infinite depths of wisdom he saw there. "This is for honour," she told him as she cupped his face in her hands and bent to press her mouth to his. Her lips were soft, lush, yet firm and insistent. Her lush body was warm, her skin like silk, her titanic breasts enveloping his chest. The kiss took some time, and when she released him, another female Orc turned him to his right.

"This is for blood," she said firmly as she seized him much more directly than Masha had, pressing herself against him and planting her mouth over his. Her tongue demanded his lips part, and he allowed it, kissing her back with the same ferocity.

A flicker of warmth started in his belly, making him want to smile. The vala was coming to life! No sooner had the kiss finished than another was turning him. This time it was Evoni, her beautiful face alight with desire, hope and passion. "This is for love," she announced tremulously before surging forward. He met her hot embrace eagerly, their skin slapping together as their bodies clashed. Again, his vala flickered, but this time it settled into a steady pulse, growing stronger by the second. The Orcs watched silently, unmoving.

Once Evoni reluctantly relinquished her hold on him, another stepped in, and then two more after that, until he was standing before Hegra. With his vala back in his control, he opened it enough to feel into her. She had the spirit of a warrior and the heart of a mother. He found himself smiling as he aligned with her. She gasped as the vala enveloped her. Recognition dawned on her face as the sense of knowing Aran took over, as if they'd been close for years.

Next, he surrounded them all, the entire room. Sharp breaths echoed simultaneously as the souls of the Orcs were laid bare to him, and his to them. This was a strong a union as he could make without melding them.

"This is for hope," Hegra whispered before gently stepping forward. He folded her into his arms and tilted his face up to hers. She moaned softly as their lips met, as if she were kissing a lover she had long yearned for, but been apart from. In truth, that was exactly how it felt for Aran, too. Such was the gift of aligning.

Hegra was suddenly leading Aran across the room, away from the fire to the huge bed in the rear. He followed willingly, his desire pulsing strong. Elsewhere in the room, the Orcs turned to one another to express their passions. Evoni was not excluded; Reikar approached her at once, and she accepted his offer, allowing him to take her in his broad arms. Aran was happy for her; she should enjoy herself while she could.

Aran watched Hegra's fit, curved form as she lay down on the bed's thick furs, looking up at him invitingly. Her thighs, thick with muscle yet soft and smooth, opened to show her bare sex, already glistening with her arousal. Her round, heavy breasts shifted on her chest as she got comfortable. She ran hungry eyes over his body as he stood by the bed, particularly on his groin, where his hardness stood proudly. Her eyes widened when he increased his size to better suit her, adding a few inches in length and girth.

"They did not speak of this in the prophecies," she commented with an almost girlish giggle. The air in the room was growing warm as desire mounted. Aran could sense everything without looking behind him. Reikar was on his back, being straddled by an eager Evoni. She was preparing to take the Orc's impressive member inside her as she squatted low. Nearby, Masha was the centre of a group of writhing bodies, lying on her back as a collection of hands touched and caressed her. A male knelt between her legs, on the verge of entering her, while a female was positioning herself over her face. The ensuing scream said the Masha knew how to give pleasure.

"I think sometimes pleasant surprises are best," Aran told Hegra as he got on the bed and lowered himself over her. She sighed as their lips met again, and her hips started moving at once, trying to make contact between her sex and his.

"I am ready, Chief," she whispered in his ear as his crown came to rest at her entrance. "I will bear your child."

"Will I know the child?" he asked her, pulling back to meet her eyes. "Will I see it?"

"As often as you please," she replied as her hands found his buttocks and urged him forward. Aran was relieved by her answer - he hadn't been sure if their customs would allow it - but thought was pushed from his mind as her heat enveloped him, a gripping, slick vice that only Orcs seemed to be able to manage. Her inner walls rippled, pulling him in further. It was an incredible sensation.

With his vala now humming urgently inside him, he began to make love to Hegra with his full strength, something he had not been able to do since the dreams. She met him with all the power of a warrior, wrapping her arms and legs around his body and squeezing him until he thought his might be crushed without the vala to fortify him.

The rest of the room harmonised with Aran and Hegra, resonating with them. When Hegra's body stiffened and convulsed beneath him, so did Masha's, or Evoni's, or one of the others'. When Aran reached his first peak and flooded Hegra with his seed, the male Orcs all roared their own release, wherever they were.

The afternoon continued on this way, and while the ritual had been completed upon his first climax with Hegra, the sex did not cease. Riding on a wave of excitement spurred by Aran's vala and the raising of a new chief, the Orcs kept on. Aran found himself with Evoni at one point, holding her pale breasts while she rode him on the floor, then with Masha, who invited him to take her from behind by the fire. On her hands and knees with her magnificent, monumental buttocks presented to him, Aran had little chance of resisting.

It was a weary and sweaty group that finally exited the big hut at twilight, but smiles adorned every face. To Aran's amazement, Orcs massed in the street outside, crowding together, packed between the buildings on either side. He stopped suddenly, and Evoni bumped into his back.

"What-" she started to ask, then fell silent when she saw the crowd stretching up the road and out of sight.

Every Orc in Sen'dara must be here! Aran thought, impressed. Warriors with weapons, workers still with tools in hand, mothers with children on their hips or huddled at their legs. Every eye was on Aran

Masha stepped from the hut quickly and positioned herself beside Aran. "Ash'goth!" She called loudly. "Your new Chief, Aran Sunblade!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd, whooping and shouting and thumping of fists on chests like thunder. Aran just stood there, dumbstruck, not knowing what to do.

*

Three days it took for the bulk of the Ash'goth to prepare. Aran would not have believed they could be so fast if not for seeing it himself. On the morning of the fourth day, a stream of bodies poured forth from the gates of Sen'dara, consisting of every warrior not needed to defend the city in case of attack, a horde of craftsmen and women, their wagons and carts pulled by a breed of long-haired, curly-horned oxen Aran hadn't seen before, and labourers to handle the work that came with feeding, arming and maintaining an army.

All told, the Ash'goth leaving Sen'dara numbered close to thirty thousand, twenty-five thousand of them fighters, though any Orc was dangerous, warrior or no. The Ash'goth all learned fighting when young, whether or not they planned on becoming warriors.

In truth, the true fighters - those that dedicated their life to it - only numbered around ten thousand, but Aran's arrival had sparked a desire in many of the Ash'goth to pick up weapons and join their warrior brothers and sisters, swelling the number of karnuri - the Orcish word for 'warrior,' by more than double. They did not have the same mind-boggling numbers as the Dwarves from Dun'Arghol, yet it was still a force to be reckoned with. Aran would never say so to a Dwarf, but he thought the size and strength of the karnuri might give them an almost even chance against five times their numbers in drengr.

During the three days, he recovered quickly, thanks to his vala returning to him. It had never left, exactly, but he now had his full strength back. A visit to amathani had proved fruitless on the second night, at least as far as meeting with Smythe, Amina or Elaina, none of whom had been present. The sky in that world had been as dark and stormy as it ever was, nowadays, though the clouds did break before his presence.

Happily, along with the return of his vala came the familiar sense of his meldin, eight individual clusters of sensations nestled in his awareness. Except for Evoni - by far the clearest, this close to him - the others were all off to the east and north, somewhere far away. Elaina felt closest after Evoni, more east than north, while the others were further north. They are closer than they should be, Aran had mused at the time he'd noticed. They should feel much further away, unless they've left the Temple. Whatever the reason was, he would find out soon enough. For now, he was just happy they were healthy and whole. The thought of being with them all again made him ache, but he pushed the feeling aside, not wanting to dwell on what he couldn't have right now.

During those three days, Aran spent as much time with Hegra as he could, wanting to know the mother of his child. He didn't think he would ever grow accustomed to the strangeness of having a child with a woman he barely knew, but the oddity of it all faded somewhat after the first day. They'd walked together in the rainforest outside the city for most of the day, then had dinner in the little hut Aran shared with Evoni. The two women got along well, despite being almost as different as two people could be.

Where Evoni was tactful and considerate, Hegra was direct, sometimes blunt. Where Evoni was diplomatic, seeking a favourable result for all, Hegra favoured attack. Where Evoni laughed daintily, covering her mouth with her hand, Hegra roared and slapped her thighs. Their differences of opinion were the inspiration for long conversations between Norothi and Orc, to the point where Aran had sometimes wondered if they'd forgotten about him altogether.

His concerns had been allayed later on that first night, when Evoni and Hegra decided they rather liked one another, and Aran had quickly found himself in bed with them both. All in all, having Hegra around had been a pleasant experience. Sadly, she had chosen to remain in Sen'dara, feeling that was the safest place to be while carrying a child. Aran had to agree, though he wished he could have had more time with her.

She'd seen him off from the gates this morning, kissing him and ordering him to survive so he could know his child. Aran wanted nothing more. Aros protect her, he prayed silently. Shelter her and the babe while I do what must be done. After saying goodbye to Hegra, the journey had begun a little soberly, for Aran, but his spirits picked up as the army marched through the rainforests, the Orcs efficiently dividing up and using dozens of narrow tracks that wound through the undergrowth until they all emerged at the other side hours later and melded back into one column, like streams reforming into a river.

Aran walked up near the head of the long snake of Orcs - Orcs didn't ride - along with Reikar and Evoni. Aran had been discussing events in the west with the big Orc all morning, as soon as they'd cleared the forests and moved out onto the rocky plains that stretched on for endless miles.

Before passing through the Eastern Gates, Aran had never come to this land before, but his old memories painted him a clear enough picture. If they kept north, keeping the Amarion Peaks far to their west, the plains of red rock littered with valleys would lead to the Heartlake, a massive body of water - more like an inland sea - that sat near enough to the centre of the continent of Ekistair to earn its name. North and east of the lake were the Sands of Nazar, a sprawling void of desert that stretched all the way to the coasts in the north and east, bordering the sea.