A Wife for Owa Ch. 01

Owa decided he had spent enough time on her this morning. He had many things he had to do or get done before they left and he hadn't been joking about wanting to leave at noon.

He took her out the gate where someone had set up a place for the newly acquired wives that many orcs had taken. It wasn't the kindest thing to do. They simply didn't have the time to deal with all that was needed to take care of the new wives separately. The women would be able to help each other with cleaning up and getting prepared for the march.

It was a strange kindness the orcs had done in taking them. They were still the same women they had been except they were now devoted to their new husbands. It was often argued whether or not it was the right thing to do, but the only other option was death. The orcs did all they could to prevent any word of what had happened from reaching the ears of the other nearby kingdoms. And if the orcs didn't kill them, the other creatures of this land would.

They had, of course, not been able to stop every word from getting out, but the less the nearby kings heard of the war the better. The kings heard so little they were able to ignore and discount the tails of what the orcs were doing. It seemed strange to Owa that the nearby kings would actually want to ignore the war but it seemed that it was true.

Owa dropped his new bride off in the care of the orcs guarding the new wives. With them were the females who hadn't been taken as wives. They were young enough to make the trip and might be suitable as wives for other orcs. Yet again he thought, it wasn't nice or good, but it was better than being dinner for a dragon. At least he hoped it was.

As he set her on her feet and started to leave she suddenly grabbed him, clinging to him like a scared child and babbling away in her strange fluid tongue. Her forgotten wrapping fell away and exposed her naked skin. As he tried to pull away again, her eyes flashed like violet fire and she began shrieking at him angrily and slapped him hard enough to get his ears ringing and start his nose bleeding again. Then, just as inexplicably she stomped over to the other side of the room refusing to look at him. He felt a useless great idiot as he heard her trying not to let him hear her cry.

"She thinks you are leaving her for good because she bit you on the nose." Came a voice from behind him as an obviously amused old healer came in. His skin had faded almost white with age and he leaned on a cane, but bright amusement twinkled in his eye as he said, "Then she called you a coward for running away from her." He went on. "Such a fierce pretty little thing. Did you know about elves and our magic when you took her?"

"Our magic doesn't work on elves?" Owa asked in confusion. "I was always told it works on everything. There is even that story about the goat."

"Oh it works, though that story is a fable, it works on any humanoid" the old healer answered. "But in this case it only worked halfway." He held up a hand forestalling the next question. "You see, elves are magic also." The old orc continued. "Our magic is love so strong it forces obedience. No race is immune to love. But a rare few elves are totally immune to magical commands. So you see. She loves you but isn't bound at all by that love to do as you say."

Owa was struck speechless. All he had ever heard about this magic had said that it worked to make anything female into an obedient loving wife.

He had seen his own mother die when the news came of his father's death. They told him the magic was just that strong. Most wives starved or died of self-neglect, but a few of them just fell over as soon as they believed their husband was dead. That was why it was often referred to as a curse. The wizard had given the orc males this power with no way to avoid using it if they ever had sex, but he hadn't given the orc females any way to resist it. Fathers saw their beautiful independent daughters become someone else as soon as they were married. The knowledge and memories were the same but they lost any drive to do things for themselves. They could still be happy but they could never be the same people. And the only way to avoid it would doom the orcs to a slow death.

"Tell her. Explain to her what has happened." Owa said his thoughts reeling with implications. "And tell her I will be back as soon as I can."

With that he left to find the Warleader and finish his duties so he could think on this mess. As he wandered away half dazed, he didn't hear the Old orc say, "You are an incredibly lucky orc Owa Baranson. And I wonder how long it will take you to realize how lucky you, and your future daughters, truly are."

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Standing across the room facing the wall and trying not to sob Anna didn't notice when Owa left. She had no idea what was wrong with her. When the orc who had carried her in started to leave she had been certain that he was leaving her for good, giving her to some whoremaster to be used by all the orcs. She had begged him to keep her. She had offered him anything she could give. Then when he had tried to leave again she had suddenly felt such fury she couldn't stop herself from hitting him. She had cursed him as a dog among men. She belittled his manhood. Then she had stalked in a towering fury over to the other side of the room and cried in utter despair that he was leaving.

"He will be back as soon as he can." A strange voice behind her said in perfect elven, but no elf ever had a voice that rumbling deep. "He asked me to tell you that, and to explain what has happened."

"Why am I feeling these things?" Anna whined, hating that she was whining but unable to stop herself. "What did he do to me?" And then going on in a hopeful tone she hated even more. "He will be back?"

"Yes, he will." The voice behind her reassured her. "And as far as what you are feeling. It is something almost all women of any race feel. You are in love."

"What!" She yelped, turning finally to see an old orc in blue robes regarding her. Regarding her, as she stood naked before him she realized. Darting over and snatching up the red cloak she had been wrapped in earlier, she quickly covered herself, blushing furiously. She heard the old orc's chuckles and blushed even more, but she had to go on. "I can't be in love." She was whining again as she fought against her realization of the truth of his words. "He is an orc. He raped me. Oh, what am I going to do?" She raced across the bare room and into a corner trying to hide there, sobs wracking her small form.

"Here now, no need for that." He said behind her. "Yes, I know it is a terrible spot you think you are in. Think about it though, what do you really know about orcs? Forget all the horror tales and propaganda. You are smart enough to know them for what they are. Do you really know anything at all about orcs?"

"I know he raped me!" She said, with venom in her voice. "I know he killed the wizard protecting me and raped me."

"The wizard protecting you?" The old orc asked in a mild voice. "You mean the wizard using you as bait for a trap to kill orcs?" He continued in a scornful tone. "Isn't this how it went? 'With gold, food, and your lovely self, my dear, the brutes won't even know they are dead till they hit the floor.' Isn't that what he told you?"

"How can you know that?" Anna asked in shock. "How can you know the exact words he used?"

"And the poisoned wine and food that foul wizard had laid out in case his plan failed?" The old orc went on savagely. "Did you know about that part?"

"We had no choice." She said in a whisper. "The orcs were attacking us for no reason. They were coming to kill and enslave us. We had to kill as many as we could so they wouldn't be able to catch and kill the women and children we sent ahead."

"There was no one sent ahead." The old orc went on in a tone of disgust. "They had them all killed so the Warlord's scouts wouldn't find tracks of them leaving and send some of his forces after them." he went on. "And the orcs were provoked. A force was sent into the hills to destroy any orcs they could find and lure the army here. Brend wanted all the orcs here in the castle so he could spring his final trap."

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"It's not poisoned? That doesn't make any sense." Owa said. "Why not poison the food? You are sure they didn't just leave some unpoisoned food on the top so we would think it was all safe?"

"We have checked it all with magic and by eating from all containers when magic detected no poison." Gron replied. Gron was in charge of the army's logistics. Anything the orcs used, the clothes they wore, and the food they ate, came through his hands. He was incredibly organized, and his scroungers could find food or gear in places no one else would think to look.

"And the runes that had been set on the walls? I don't understand why they didn't set them off. You say they would have burned everything inside the walls, including the stones?" Owa asked Garak. "I don't have your knowledge of magic but why would such a deadly trap remain unsprung?"

"Something prevented it is all I can tell." The Warlord replied. "When you snapped that wizard's neck they should have gone off and fried us all into cinders." He continued. "When he died something grabbed the trigger spell and held it until we were able to break the runes and disable the spell. It must have been something incredibly subtle, as we can't trace it."

"As I have told you Garak," said Jerd, the head of the healer priests that accompanied the army. "You, and your family" he glanced at Owa. "Are marked by a great destiny. It will defend you as long as you stay true to its plans."

The gathered leaders of the army muttered uneasily at this mention of something controlling their fate. Orcs had long ago had enough of powers they didn't understand leading them down paths they would not have chosen for themselves.

"Be that as it may" Garak said. "The war is over. And we must return home. Owa, I want you and your men to stay behind with a few of our mages and priests to make sure that no stone of this castle is left standing."

For as long as was remembered orcs had lived in caves or ruined building built by other hands. It was a mark of their new freedom that they refused to live in buildings abandoned by others. They preferred to build things for themselves now.

"As you say, Warlord" Owa addressed his brother. "But I don't need all my men to protect us. Can I send those who have families waiting on them ahead with you? I would still have a good thirty men with me and you all know that six fists of my orcs are a match for anything this land can throw at us."

Owa's men were the elite of the orc infantry. They were always the vanguard of any attack and they were the best armored and equipped of any of the units in the orc army. His men were matched only by the warlord's own heavy cavalry and a healthy rivalry existed between his and Garak's men. He was not wrong that even a third of his hundred-man unit was a match for anything this land could throw at them, and Garak knew it.

"Any who want to go ahead can do so brother." Garak said with a smile. "But I think you will find that they will be content to stay with you and take the long lazy way home."

"Lazy are we?" Owa replied with a smile of his own. As the others present chuckled and grinned "We can march those nags your lazy men ride into the ground without breaking a sweat."

Garak's cavalry was mounted on fine Herdani horses that had been left when their former riders had no use for them. They had stamina and speed that was legendary. Owa knew Garak had plans to set up a breeding program for them so that one day the orc's own horses would be as famed.

With a few last taunts back and forth, arrangements were made with Gron so his men would have any supplies they needed for the trip. The meeting broke up and Owa headed over to tell his men about their unwelcome duty.

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Anna had sat through the morning talking with the old orc in the blue robe. She now had a few sets of clothes although she had never before worn pants, but at least they were clean and covered her. The old orc helped her find a place to wash and brought her the clothes then set and talked to her as she bathed, kindly facing away and guarding the door for her. He was strangely persuasive with his old face, young merry eyes and calm deep soothing voice. Now that she thought about it she had never caught his name.

He had explained her situation to her and reassured her that Owa's brutal attack on her was truly against his nature. It had been pain and fury at the attack that had sent him over the edge and made him take her as his wife, but it has also been the certain knowledge that if he didn't do it another orc would. And once she calmed down she agreed that it was probably kinder than death. After all it was a basic tenet of elf lore that as long as one lived, hope could live also. She felt a bit strange that she would trust the old orc so completely after such a short time, but when she looked up from dressing and saw him gone she found she wanted to talk with him more. There was something about him.

She found her way back to the room where she had first met him and was trying to think of where to look for him next when a blow to the side of her head sent her spinning into the corner.

As she looked over to see what had hit her she saw an orc advancing on her. He was not nearly as big as her orc, but still far larger than she was. As he advanced he was growling and barking out words in the strange orcish tongue obviously enraged for some reason she couldn't understand. She tried to run past him and he caught her and threw her back into the corner. She hit her head hard on the wall and colors flashed across her vision. He grabbed her by the arm and slapped her across the face still keeping up a steady stream of incomprehensible words. She was dazed and reeling he slapped her again. Then she felt him reach up and grasp her tunic and rip it away, he grabbed her breast in a painful grip and a new terror shot into her. Not again she thought "Never again!" she shouted and the words came forth as an impossibly loud earsplitting shriek that sent the stunned orc staggering back across the room.

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The scream echoed inside the castle. An incredibly loud scream of fear and anger that Owa somehow knew came from his strange new wife. He barreled straight through the room he had been having a meeting in, sending a table and all the papers on it flying. She begged me not to leave her was all he could think. Hearing another deafening scream he raced out and jumped down the stairs clearing fifteen feet of steps. He came down on the floor running. The silence where the screams had sounded before brought a chill into his heart. Something has killed her he thought to himself and felt his heart clench. Out the slashed door and across the paved courtyard Owa ran. He jumped the short stairs and ripped the door open. He dashed into the room where he had left her, and stopped in stunned amazement.

The little elf stood over an orc who was lying on the ground unmoving. Again and again she kicked him between his legs. She was flushed red with fury, naked to the waist, and spitting out what were obviously curses. He didn't know elven, but if his ears were any judge she went on for an impressively long time without repeating herself. As she moved around to start kicking the unfortunate orc in the face she caught sight of him as he stood panting in the doorway.

From the fury in her eyes at first glance he was sure she was about to come over, knock him down and start kicking him. Then her eyes softened and her raged faded. She ran the short distance between them and jumped up hugging him around the neck and sobbing into his shoulder. Her words flowed in a hoarse, teary voice and even if he couldn't understand them, he heard the misery.

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her as her feet swung a good two feet above the floor, and took her across the hall to another room and sat on a chair holding her in his lap and stroking her hair.

"Its all right." he said in as gentle a voice as he could manage. "I don't know what you did to him but that orc won't be coming near you again. At least not if he has any sense." he said with a chuckle.

She looked up at him obviously thinking he was laughing at her and he saw some of the anger come back into her tear-streaked face.

"No, I am not laughing at you." he said trying to contain his mirth. "After seeing what you did across the hall I would be a fool to do that."

She looked so fierce, this tiny woman in his lap glaring up at him. Her pouty frown and glaring eyes fit to knock him dead.

"Ah well can't say I was ever overly fond of my nose anyway." he said and bent down to kiss her.

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Anna was startled when he kissed her. Sitting in his lap like this, her face was very close to his and she didn't have a chance to see it coming. She was even more startled at the warmth that ran through her at the kiss. Before she had time to think, she found herself kissing him back. She felt a strong tingle all over her body and felt her nipples stiffen on her, she suddenly realized, naked chest. Also sitting in his lap like this she could feel something else stiffen underneath his pants.

She pulled away gently and pointed to his chest saying in a husky voice "Owa". The old orc had told her his name. "Anna" she said pointing to her own chest. "My name is Anna."

He looked down at where she pointed and said something else in a rumbling chuckle, but she could hear the lust in his deep voice and knew he wasn't laughing at her this time.

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"So what is the other one named?" Owa asked with a chuckle after she pointed at her left breast and said 'Anna'. Of course she didn't get the joke but he would remember and tell her once he taught her how to speak properly.

"Anna" he said and bent down to kiss her again.

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It sent a thrill through Anna when Owa said her name in that deep lust filled tone. She responded to the kiss passionately, reaching up and grabbing his ears to pull him back when he started to pull away before she was ready. Finally she released him and caught her breath.

She caught him looking down at her breasts and took his hand in hers and placed it over them. She shivered as he gently stroked her nipples with his rough calloused hands, and reached back up to kiss him again.

Something was definitely stirring underneath her and she decided she should finish what she started. She did love him after all, she admitted to herself. And if she had no choice in the matter she should get all the pleasure she could out of the situation.

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Owa was startled when she swatted his hand that had been stroking her breasts. She had looked like she was enjoying it immensely. He dropped his hand and she hopped up off his lap and turned to face him.

He was surprised and very happy when she grabbed his belt with both hands and started trying to unbuckle it. He left her to it and unlaced the front of his tunic so he could get it off over his head.

She paused, watching him undo the ties and as he started pulling it up over his head he felt her hands slide across his chest. With a sudden weight as she leaned over his lap he felt her small mouth kissing up along his stomach. With the light, almost tickling, kisses running up his chest he found himself trapped by his own tunic. He had forgotten in the passion of the moment to untie his cuffs, and now he was stuck with his shirt over his head and his hands trapped inside his sleeves. He could pull the shirt back on but that would stop Anna from doing the wonderful things she was doing.