Roderick and Gorlana Pt. 03

If you haven't already, you really should read the first two parts if you don't want to be completely lost, but if you have, and just need a refresher:

-RECAP FROM PART 2:

Roderick, aka 'Lightbrew' - A human (but secretly eighth-orc) General of Andralia (the human realm) has been escorting Princess Valessa deep into Orthalia (the enemy orcish realm) from Southern-Orthalia (their allied Orcish territories) to meet with the Orcish Queen Malgora to negotiate a peace-treaty. Despite the armistice, their small army of humans and allied-orcs was suddenly attacked on the road by enemy Orcs and Rechlingers (a previously ostracized group of smaller but more vicious orcs from the northern reaches), and Roderick learned that Malgora had suddenly died. Princess Valessa's double was killed in the attack, but she herself was able to escape into the woods.

Gorlana, (aka General Springsnake) an orc-woman (but a quarter human), and the niece of Malgora. She and Roderick fell in love 10 years ago, after meeting briefly, but have been lost to each other since. She has begrudgingly allied with the Rechlingers to control them, making herself seduce their leader. Now, with Malgora's death, Orthalia has been thrown into violent chaos, with clans fighting for the empty Orcish throne.

-As clarification/reminder, in this story 'mating' for orcs simply means sex, with procreation only happening if 'Rutting' occurs.

...I really hope this isn't getting too complicated.

Thanks for reading,

***

Roderick and Gorlana.

Part 3.

***

The chirping songs of birds mixed like a chorus around him in the thick forest until Roderick heard again what he was listening for. A voice out of place, that had lead him in this direction, cooing like a bird, but clearly human. He crept forward through the brush in the filtered light from the canopy above. Finally he saw her.

Princess Valessa was crouched, half-covered in dirt with dishevelled hair, staring forward with an almost deranged intensity in her eyes.

"Coo-OO-oo," she intoned again nodding and smiling at the bushes in front of her.

Roderick crept forward carefully. She didn't look like she was right in the head. There was a small stain of dried blood near her scalp. Usually a head injury wouldn't make someone act quite like this though. Not without them being unconscious or bed-bound for a few days first at least. Maybe she was war-shocked. He had seen it before. Soldiers who had been in particularly vicious battles, often turned to drink or violence or both, with anxious delusions, reliving the trauma of the battle. Or, perhaps she had eaten some bad mushrooms out of desperation, though she had only been missing for a day.

Roderick finally saw that she was in fact cooing at a bird. A pigeon, perched in the bush in front of her.

Was she hunting it? Going to eat it?

"Princess," Roderick called out softly.

She froze and turned her eyes towards him menacingly, holding up a finger from the hand closest to him.

"Valessa. It's me Roderick. I-"

"SHUSH!" she whispered. "I almost have him." She looked back at the bird, "Don't you fucking move."

"He's a pigeon he can't understan-"

"I mean YOU, don't you dare come any closer," she bit at him, though barely moving her head towards him and quickly focusing back on the pigeon, "There there, Coo-OO-oo."

"Valessa, I know you're probably hungry but we salvaged plenty of food provisions for the remaining sold-"

"SHUSH! Be quiet. I swear to... I'm not trying to EAT him, you ass," she whispered in frustration.

"Okay, okay I-..." Roderick shut his mouth at another intensely threatening look from Valessa, rolled his eyes and stayed crouched, deciding to let her do whatever her mixed-up brain wanted her to do.

"Coo-OO-oo-oo-oo," she softly intoned again, carefully stepping forward, then started bobbing her head along with the pigeon.

Roderick closed his eyes and shook his head, fearing what this all might mean.

Finally Valessa closed her hands around the pigeon and jumped for a moment as the bird tried to take flight but she held it firm and snuggled it up to her bosom, shushing and cooing and when it settled, finally so did she.

"Ohhh thank the Gods," she suddenly blurted out, and her face seemed to regain its sanity all in a single moment.

"I can't believe you almost made me lose him again, barging in like that, you horse's-ass," she said, but laughed at him with a beautiful and relieved smile all the same.

He gave her a doubtful smile back and finally stood up from his careful crouch.

"Why?..."

"He's one of my messenger pigeons," she explained. "Just by chance I happened to recognize him. I think he found ME instinctively actually, but was too timid to get too close. I would have killed for a handful of grain just then. Do you realize how important this bird could be?"

Roderick finally understood. "You could have said something..."

"All you needed to hear in that moment was 'shut up and wait,' I was lucky enough to catch him with us whispering as much as we were," she chastised him.

Roderick tightened his lips, but simply said, "I'm just glad you're alive." And still sane. He reached into the inner pocket of his cloak and found a small sack, pulling out a few grains of corn meal away from the bits of dried meat. "Here,"

Valessa cupped her hand to accept it from him with a small smile, and sat slowly on to a log to feed her pigeon. "Thank you," she said graciously, finally seeming to have settled down to her usual poise, "I'm... glad you're alive too," she said with another pretty smile that seemed to dance with the shadow of the leaves on her face. "I would have greeted you with more relief if it wasn't for him," she gestured downward. "Is... anyone else?..."

Roderick saw a nervous vulnerability finally make its way on to her face and felt his muscles tense as if ready to defend her from the land itself then and there.

He let a long breath out and sat down as well. "Between 30 and 40 of us, depending on who survives their wounds and who else might have turned up."

"Todrin?" she asked.

Roderick shook his head grimly. Valessa looked down and bit her lower lip then replied, "The two body guards that retreated with me are dead as well, defending me from a few pursuers. I don't think the orcs knew who I was or more would have followed. Felishen killed the last one but died last night from her wounds. I tried to help but I took too long to string my bow and then they were locked in the fight, I didn't want to hit her..." her voice faltered and a small tear finally formed on her face.

Roderick almost put a hand on her shoulder but hesitated and suddenly Valessa stood up.

"We should get back to the others then," she said. "I saw fires in this direction last night but didn't want to approach until I knew it was you."

"Roderick nodded. We camped near the battle site, but we don't want to stay too much longer in case the Rechlingers and their allies regroup.

"Indeed. So, those WERE Rechlingers. I was fairly sure. That explains a lot."

"There's a lot more to explain..." he said, and felt her take his hand to be led back to their camp.

...

The arrow struck with deadly precision. Blood spattered against the tree as the instantly-dead body was pinned to it. The feathers exploded out from it almost in celebration.

Valessa gave a delighted smile and Roderick raised his eyebrows in surprised respect. She had hit the pheasant from 30 paces off.

"You really DO know how to use that thing," he gestured to her bow.

She gave a smile with her mouth but a frown with her eyes, "Don't look too surprised, general. I'm well educated AND well trained in many ways."

"Will you be picking up a battle axe next?" he asked with a challenging grin.

"Would you train me?" she raised an eyebrow.

"If you can find one you can lift..." he chuckled. "On a more serious note, princess, we're about to break camp. We can probably wait a few minutes to gut that thing, but we need to move before that band comes back, or in case anyone else wanting to pilfer our remains decides to come sniffing.

She nodded, "Of course."

"You're wandering a little too far from us for our liking as well," he said carefully.

"I thought I just displayed how capable I was," she argued.

"The most skilled bowman in the realm isn't going to fend off a band of orcs if they stumble upon you. I know it paid off this time, but just... be wary."

"I'm not going to go wandering beyond ear-shot like some naive school girl, General. I'm aware of how dangerous this countryside is."

"Well, perhaps. It's become a great deal more dangerous than it even was before. I'm about have another conversation with Korboq and the others about that and how we can somehow maneuver a way out."

She nodded, "Lead the way then."

As she walked ahead of him, her svelte lower body gracefully swaying in her brown leather pants and her bow dangling casually at her side, flashbacks of Frali plagued him. He tore his eyes away and took a breath, deciding that must be why her stance and skill with the bow had been making him feel a certain excitement. Remembering his pretty, mischievous, now dead, archer, he hoped he could spare Valessa from a similar fate at least.

....

"I'm not quite sure what I expected when I saw them, but their appearance was surprising," said Valessa, as their small army trudged in a line across the thick leaves of the forest floor.

"The Rechlingers?" asked Roderick.

"Yes. I thought they'd be even bigger, even taller, but they were noticeably shorter."

"They ACT like they are. They try to compensate," Korboq spat from between his tusks. "They think they can make up for strength and stature with viciousness and treachery, as they always have."

"I had thought the rumour that they had goblin blood in them to be silly when I heard it, but with the slightly shorter height and the longer nose and ears I can almost see it."

"The same legends are known to us. Perhaps they are true. The most important similarity, if it is true, is not the look, but the actions. They cheat, and steal and do whatever they wish to do to succeed, regardless of any notion of honour."

"In any case, unless I misunderstand it, the Rechlingers themselves are only an extra bit of chaos on the whole mess. They're not to blame for the civil war, if that's what this is, unless they were the ones who killed Malgora," Roderick said.

Korqob was silent.

Roderick looked at him, not having been entirely serious "...Do you think they did? Kill their own queen? That they could have?"

"I have no direct knowledge that would lead me to think that. We do not even know if she was killed intentionally. She was old and apparently in ill health already."

"I suppose it doesn't matter. The other orc clans must not suspect too highly since they've already allied with two of them."

"Two allegiances, not two clans." Valessa corrected. "So, just so I understand it right, there are 4 women vying for the throne, all female relatives of hers, and each has at least several clans backing them, correct?"

"4 Swords were lain on the steps of Orthanhall yes," Korboq confirmed. "And the chieftains were split between them and could not find agreement by the third day."

"I suppose it bodes well that the Rechlingers are split in two now as well."

"Unless it's a front to spread their influence."

Korboq scoffed, "A disgusting thought but possible nonetheless. Though the northeastern and northwestern Rechlingers have always been separate and often at odds. Their own feuds kept them from turning south for much of the past."

"Could we join an alliance?" Valessa thought out loud.

Korboq looked at her and then looked off without speaking, seeming stuck in troubled thought.

"No," Roderick said simply.

"Why not? The Rechlingers have," Valessa argued.

"Because despite their differences Rechlingers are still orcs, and still part of Orthalia. We're not." Roderick said. "If one alliance did somehow let us join I'm guessing it would simply bolster the support of the other ones."

Korboq looked up, seeming to avoid the topic and said, "Nardill is back, I'll go see what he's found out," then he sped ahead of them to meet with the scout who had just come within eyesight.

Valessa looked at Roderick defensively and said "I'm just trying to see a way we get out of this without being captured and ransomed."

"Ransomed if we're lucky... Look Valessa, I don't think figuring out the politics of this mess is going to help us in the end. We just have to sneak our way out. Somehow. They attacked us from the south so we can't return that way. Everyone's moving and rearranging themselves quickly, but of the two directions open to us, west does seem to be safer than east, even though it's away from the mountains, so that's where we're headed for now, and hopefully veer south again towards our own Orthalian territories in not too long.

"How will we know which path south will be safe?"

"There's a lot of things we're just going to have to be okay with not knowing, but I've got 4 orcish scouts out there making sure we don't get caught off guard. We'll lay low and hope everyone's too preoccupied with fighting each other to worry about us.

"Only orcish scouts?" she asked.

"Yes. They know the land better, and they might have plausible deniability if they get seen or caught."

"Do you trust them?"

He gave her a frustrated look, "Yes. We have to. We won't survive, and none of any of this is going to work if we can't find a way to trust."

She gave him a begrudging look and a shrug, "Very well. Trusting too much is partly what got us into this predicament. Just remember that General."

He looked away in frustration and walked ahead to see what Korboq was finding out.

...

The land to the west was not as densely forested as where they had come from, but the rolling hills were more sharply cut through with ravines and gullies. It made for what seemed like safer passage but Roderick was more reliant on his scouts for knowing what was ahead. He normally would not feel any doubt, but the princess' words had sunk into his mind like a venom and he resisted it eating away at his confidence in their allies. She was playing nice enough otherwise, talking and riding with some of the orcs but still staying with the humans more than any others and giving hints of even more patronizing superiority to them than was her usual. He couldn't decide if the special attention she paid him, trusting and almost affectionate if he let his imagination run free, was due to his rank or due to the... something more he felt like he was a wishful fool for detecting.

Like now, when she was brushing her hair next to the fire preparing to retire to her tent. He met her eyes. glowing hauntingly in the firelight and cleared his throat, "Do you need anything else before we try to sleep?"

She gave him a soft smile, "I for one have still been sleeping surprisingly fine General, despite your implication. I think the fresh air and the bird songs are actually quite calming compared to the dead quiet of the palace stones. Also the harder travelling has left my body exhausted by the evening. Having a capable man I can trust nearby certainly helps I suppose. Have you not been sleeping well?"

He suppressed a tingle of pride and shrugged, "Hard not to keep one eye open so to speak."

"You worry too much over things you can't immediately do anything about."

"It's my job to worry about everything, Valessa. Our survival and your safety-"

"It's my job to worry about everything too in that case," she interrupted, "but doing so at this moment won't get us anywhere."

He gave her a grin and shook his head, "I suppose you're right as ever. Getting back to my question though, do you need anything?"

"Need? No. There's much that I could desire if I let myself, but it would be foolish to waste thoughts on that," she said with another unreadable glance as she seemed to finish brushing her hair.

He cleared his throat again, feeling like he could never relax around her, "Very well. We'll see what the state of things looks like in the morning. Goodnight Valessa," he said.

"Goodnight General," she said.

He sat that there convincing himself it would make no difference if she called him by his first name. The fire died down as he tried once again to decide how he felt about her. He did want her at least in a way. He felt like any man would be mad not to. Yet was that the problem? Did he do so simply because he felt he should? Was he simply desperate to find someone that might give him anything that rivalled that spark; that magic that he had been chasing ever since his first time with Gorlana all those years ago. Someone that might compare. Someone that would make him feel that life, that purpose, that he had possibly tasted an echo of with Pellina. That plump widowed farm-wife had felt like the best sex he'd had in years. Was it really that he just wanted to smell an orc-woman wanting him, that all he desired was that signal in his senses? Or, was it simply that doing so let his mind remember Gorlana more vividly? He wished he knew. Perhaps finding her again would not even give him that. Perhaps his memory had conflated over the years to something that even she herself could not fulfill. So, he should forget, and move on, and find happiness in the infinite other places life could hide it. In Valessa, or more realistically in the countless other women throughout the realm... And, just like that, his thoughts were back to where he had started so many times.

He sighed and kicked out the dying embers of the fire, then finally he trudged back to his own tent, surrounded by the dark moonless night and its unknowable shadows.

...

Roderick regarded the dead orc for a silent minute and squinted in the morning sun as he looked up at Yendell, "Impressive to hit him in the dark from that far away, you're sure he was alone?" He asked.

His lieutenant shrugged, "No, no I'm not, but I saw no other movement. I honestly wasn't sure if it was just a deer, and had to chance that none of our own were fool enough to be out there."

Korboq spoke up, "He is clearly a scout and orcs always scout alone."

"I wish I could wager our lives on that Korb but I don't think I'm ready to. Get everyone to make sure we're ready to either fight or move quickly, and we'll send our own scouts - in pairs - in that general direction. In fact I think I'll be one of them, I'd like to get eyes on whatever group this is myself if I can, before I decide how we act."

"And the rest of us are simply to wait here as sitting ducks?" Valessa butted in from behind him.

He hadn't known she was there, and turned in annoyance. "Yes. We chose this spot because it's the most defensible of any other around."

"We should be ready to attack first though should we not? If this clan knows we exist we'll have no choice but to try to slaughter them to the man," said Valessa.

"We might," Roderick said carefully. "But we don't know that they do, and we avoid battle if we can. We are too few, and you've been put at too much risk already," he said.

"I will not see you squander the chance to get us out of here simply because you think I am too fragile to witness or be part of a battle, General. We will do whatever we must," she said with a cold determination.

Roderick gave a doubtful nod, "Of course princess. Even were you not with us though, that would be my strategy, given our smaller numbers. We proceed with caution, and even though this country seems to be turning upside down I won't count orcish honour out completely, to perhaps negotiate our way out of this."

She gave him a look which shared none of his attempt at cautious optimism, but simply replied, "Very well. We will wait for you here, ready for anything, I suppose," then turned to walk back to her tent.