Roderick and Gorlana Pt. 04

Roderick sighed and let his head fall, then nodded as his breath slowed, though his lips still trembled.

She turned to leave.

"I thought you said you weren't going to torture me?" he muttered.

Gorlana stopped and gave a faint sniff. "You think this is hard for you?" She let out a long breath and a single hopeless laugh. "At least you have the chains to hold you back."

She turned again, and was gone.

...

Yendell turned to look up at Korboq as he sat down next to him by the campfire, which was sunk into a small hole, dug as deep as they could in the shallow soil of the mountainside, to avoid detection from anyone scouting from down the slope. They had not seen any sign of scouts let alone bands or armies for days though. All moved to Orthanhall. Almost all.

"What troubles you lieutenant?" the orc asked.

"Nothing much more than the usual I suppose," Yendell said.

Korboq sniffed, "I think I know you well enough now to smell a half-lie."

Yendell chuckled, "Damn you to the Gods ya green oaf, but fine. We've had too little to keep us occupied on our little journey here and I'm looking too far into the future, is my problem."

"Hmm, so my reassuring you that these slopes are safe enough would not be of any use."

"Well our little group here has to remember that it's not just a matter of being safe, it's being secret. But yeah, that's not what's got my hackles up."

"Even if we are spotted it will not be disastrous. Being recognized for who we are might be worse, but even still. They will not know why we are here. And we are few enough they may not even care. Unless we are captured."

"Yeah thanks I guess Korb. That's something at least."

"As to the future. You wonder how it will play out, if and when this whole plan comes to a head?" Korboq asked.

Yendell nodded. "I've been in some bloody battles, but what might come has me nervous."

"If all goes to plan and all act with honour there should be no need for bloodshed," Korboq said.

"Ha! Yeah I don't need a magic nose to sniff out your doubts about THAT statement,"

Korboq snorted, "It's not MAGIC. No more than the far sight of your human eyes is magic."

"Yeah yeah. My point, is that it's either going to go completely fine, everyone leaves alive, and mildly annoyed. Or... it's going to be a complete fucking bloodbath. And, I'm finding it hard to see how it could be anything in between."

Korboq chuckled deeply, "A wise warrior does not thirst for blood, yet one should not be afraid of being a verse in a warsong."

Yendell scoffed, "Yeah I don't know about that. You ever asked someone who ended up as a verse in a warsong? The older I get and the more I see I really doubt any of them are truly glad to have ended up there. They're never the ones that write them."

Korboq laughed and slapped his human friend's shoulder snorting hard enough to send a few embers rising up into the cold night air, over the quiet forest of the mountain slopes.

...

It was harder, and yet it was not. The cold mud clung to his boots as Roderick trudged along the path with the long line of orcs. His boots were heavier, but the slower pace made it easier to avoid tripping as he walked, bound and blindfolded as usual, and his crutch stuck in the mud less than a boot. His mood had been taking swings over the past few days but now had levelled off into a sort of satisfied acceptance, after his initial frustration. The thought that Gorlana ignored him out of fear and avoidance of an attraction that was still strong, perhaps even a love that was still strong; this was far less demoralizing than her simply thinking nothing of him and pushing him aside.

He should take what he could get, he supposed. If all he ever got was what passed for closure, and the knowledge that she did in fact think of him, perhaps that was better than the nothing he had starved with over the past years. Would he think the same if and when he finally left her? Could he be happy with Valessa? Or with seeing Gorlana with anyone else?

He would have to be, he decided. No matter which way he dreamed it, nothing realistic in his mind could win out against the bitter truth that Gorlana had spoken. That there was no way they could let their feelings come to fruition without the utter ruin of everything they were and everything around them. At least, not as things were. Not now. He hung his head in a sigh as he admitted... perhaps not ever.

Their convoy seemed to have made an impressive distance by the time they finally stopped to set up camp. The almost daily rains had held off for now, seeming to be happening more regularly at night, which was to their benefit. Especially now that he had been given shelter. A cold drafty tent, but a tent nonetheless. Again, he would take what he could get.

For the supper rations he was tied to a pole outside as he was used to, but two orcs, who had yet to tell him their names, were sitting next to him, sharing bits of their meal with him in exchange for some conversation. He did not underestimate the unique type of intelligence many orcs possessed. Nonetheless, he did not think he underestimated the wits of these two, and was quite sure, unless they were better actors than he'd come across before, that they did not possess the skill to extract sensitive information from him without him realizing it.

"They HATE feet?" one of the orcs exclaimed with a mouthful of food.

"Not hate. Just..." Roderick shrugged. "I mean, there's a few humans that are into them, but most just don't think much of them, and some are grossed out by them."

The orc scoffed, "They are what connects us to the earth. The fulcrum on which all of one's actions depend. The most important-..." the orc let out a gruff sigh. "Ughh, weird humans. I'm glad to know there are SOME of them that appreciate their beauty at least."

"So, human babies must drink massive amounts of milk. I assume. Why do they not grow faster?"

"What? No I... don't think they drink more than orcs," he said doubtfully.

"But if all human men value is the size of a woman's breasts..."

Roderick sighed and chuckled, "No. It's not like that. Actually, I once heard a Sage at an inn mention that size and milk production had been proven not to be related, when the topic came up in a drunken common room. The barmaids and patrons had mixed reactions if I recall... Anyway, no. It is NOT the only thing we care about. Almost any part of a woman can be attractive."

The orcs both gave grunts of approval.

"Legs?" one suggested.

"Absolutely," Roderick said with a grin.

"Ass," the other said hungrily.

Roderick nodded and chuckled, "Lips, eyes,"

"Tusks,"

Roderick hesitated and shrugged.

"Elbows! Ahhh nothing like a strong-boned elbow."

"Mmmm to knock the wind out of ya and hook around your neck as you seethe under her on the ground."

"But Lightbrew, you haven't been able to look upon any of these orc women. What is it that you find alluring?"

"...what?"

"Which ones are you attracted to, and why? There's a couple bets going on."

Roderick lost his amused smile, "I... I'm not really."

"Your smell is hard to track and decipher but we've figured out that you're stinking over someone. Maybe more than one. Some say it's Springsnake herself, and there's rumour Carthala finds you interesting. Vellartha is the one most think it is, though she spreads that rumour herself. Finds you fetching. Some say there's an old drip of human blood in her line, it would make sense, but I think it's Torvrul's assistant Paqria. She gives you extra string root chews often enough. Seems to have a soft spot for you."

Roderick gulped, "I can tell there's honour in most of them I suppose. But I have no delusions of winning their affections, as if it would help my cause here."

"Perhaps you assume too much, you never know," the orc laughed. "Desire is desire. Do you deny it?"

Roderick was silent.

"Pfft, he avoids it. Wise probably. I'd be nervous around human women. Demanding, and devious, I've heard. They can trick you into-..."

There was a sudden sound of a war horn and they turned to look. Roderick frowned in concern at first but the other two were not jumping to their swords.

"Traulch returns," one of them said sourly.

Roderick narrowed his eyes behind the blindfold. He suspected he wasn't going to like this.

His companions drifted away into what sounded like a milling crowd. There were a few shouts, some of respect, some of insult. Laughter, spitting, growling. It reminded him of a rival city's knights arriving at a tournament but not one for which the rivalry was in entirely good fun, yet where both teams kept begrudgingly on good behaviour for the sake of the peace. He noticed the Rechlinger smell that he had been growing accustomed to, was growing in the light breeze that blew by.

After an hour or so, when the new bustling sounds seemed to settle out into the usual late afternoon camp noises he was used to, he heard trudging growing louder and a raspy, higher pitched voice he identified as a Rechlinger. Was this him?

"Why would you keep him as a prize and not toy with him? What use is that?"

"His use is for ransom. We have extracted what information we can from him," Carthala's voice answered behind.

"I doubt that very much. We would lose nothing as long as he stays alive. You'd be surprised what even a weak pinkling like him could endure if you're careful," he laughed in a sharp cackle.

"The orders are not to harm him Traulch!" Carthala warned.

So it is him. Roderick thought to himself. He stood a bit straighter and stiffened himself. Suddenly a blunt hand with longer claws than he was used to, grasped his throat.

"And why?!" Traulch hissed, his spittle moistening Roderick's face, "Why would we give him a mercy that a HUMAN like him has no right to? It is embarrassing enough that we do not grind his bones into the ground under our boots as they all deserve!"

"He is a political tool, and I will not see you ruin Springsnake's power by breaking him." Carthala reasoned. "Step back!"

Roderick felt Traulch be shoved away and the sliding sound of steel, Traulch's hacking grunt of pain but then Carthala's gasp of choking helplessness.

Traulch growled, "You draw steel on me and I should have the right to slay you where you stand! You southern women think just because you're taller than me that I will bow to your commands? When Springsnake is Queen with me as her mate..."

"Then you will answer to her command like the rest of us!" Torvrul's voice interrupted. "Release her, Rechlinger, or this sword pierces your neck."

Traulch paused a moment, then cackled a laugh, "I simply teach her a lesson. Ha! Look here. See the pitiful human sneering and pulling on his binds as though he could think the threaten ME. He stinks of a hatred mixed with... jealousy I think. Lightbrew is it? When they told me of you they joked that you were starting to make a stink over one of these orc-women. Is it her? Would it break your weak heart if I crushed her throat?"

Roderick heard Carthala give a furious strangled groan and a wheezing breath.

"TRAULCH!" Gorlana's voice sounded distant, but he could pick out her quick hard footsteps. "Get your honour-starved hands off my third-hand or you will have neither of them to tug on that blunt cock of yours!"

He heard Carthala give a breath of indignant relief and heard another shove and a scuffle before Gorlana shouted again.

"Enough!" she chastised them.

"I was not truly hurting her!" Traulch complained, "Only holding her tightly enough for her to know that I could!"

"He was going to harm your prize prisoner," Carthala said. "You should tie him up as well, then see which one of them pisses and moans about it more by the morning."

Traulch growled and kicked at the dirt.

"Traulch, you have been too long apart from civilization again, you risk growing feral."

"When your camp seeks to outpace me what can I do!" He spat petulantly.

"You need to remember the first lesson of success in war and politics, is the need for allies, and thus the need to accommodate our differences, and honour our rules and agreements."

"Or you can claw your way back to your ice hovels and starve," Torvrul added.

"That's unnecessary Torvrul," Gorlana warned. "Come here Traulch."

"Rrgh, yes I will leave these two ingrates behind for YOU my Queen. Too long apart indeed." Traulch intoned, with a slimy hunger. "I was right, your lust has built stronger than ever now. Missing me and finally having me back was the key, I can see it now."

"Say what you will," Gorlana scoffed a laugh, then asked seriously, "Did you ensure the eastern flank was free of any incursions?"

"Of course my queen. We came across one band but slaughtered them to the man when it was clear they were not allied with you."

"What clan were they?"

"They wore no armour. They were weak and on the run. What does it matter? They were not ours."

Torvrul gave a growl of disgust.

"What does it-..." Gorlana gave a scoff of anger. "Traulch, besides the dishonour of such a 'victory', the information is what I need, not to be 'protected' from a small band of refugees without so much as armour! Did you travel east enough to flank the mountains? Into the foothills? We still have no lead on where Darganya has gone."

"Close enough," he said. "There was no force of any size that we detected."

"Something tells me you could have been more thorough."

"Your guides you sent with me wanted to search longer, but I would not be kept from you. From the true glory of arriving at your side at the Orthanhall moot! Unless it was your intent to keep me from that?"

"No, that was not the reason for your excursion. I wanted to know that area was clean. But I suppose it will have to do."

"You bore me with such talk of 'information', all will be clear enough when our forces meet at your capital."

"If you think all is 'clear' then your eyes are even more short-sighted than usual."

"Urrggh I see enough." he hummed, "I SMELL enough. You grow ripe with mating-scent. Even more now. Out here, with our clans around."

"If you say so," she replied mockingly.

"Your body itself seems to crave it, more than I've ever seen," he sneered lowly, "Rrrgh, let us be deprived no longer!"

"If you are so eager to reinforce your devotion to your Queen..." she challenged, "You may meet me in my tent later."

"Now!" He growled.

Gorlana let out a soft grunt of surprise.

"Let us mate in front of them as we did after our declaration of our clans' bond! As in a Rechlinger hold, when a chief returns from a campaign to his clan and his mate!"

Gorlana exclaimed a loud groan, as feet scuffled over the dirt. The Rechlingers around made noises and clanking of approval. Roderick gritted his teeth and pulled instinctively on his ties.

"Agh! Do you succumb to your desire for your high-chieftain so quickly?" Gorlana asked in a jovial tone, while sounding like she was struggling.

"When she burns so hot how could I not seize the chance?!" Traulch growled in a greasy lisp. "RGH! Take your hero's seed! We know you crave it!"

There was another rough scuffle, thumps and clanking. Hoots and jeers from the crowd, mostly the Rechlingers, and both growls and laughter from Traulch and Gorlana, though Gorlana's laughter at least perhaps sounded forced and uncomfortable, or did he only want it to?

Roderick told himself to stop picturing anything of it. Stop listening. Make sound meaningless. Be somewhere else. Anywhere other than this hell he'd suddenly found himself. Right in the middle of the camp?! In front of him?! He had prayed and pleaded to be released from the blindfold for so many days, but now was eternally grateful for his lack of sight. He fought his mind off from forming images but the sounds of 'struggle' were too clear and obvious.

"Agh! Your strange scent! You are like a challenge to overcome, but not so daunting for one such as me!" "Hrrgg my rare and extraordinary mate!"

"Ah! You should know by now none should compare to your queen!" Gorlana exclaimed with a breathless grunt and another short flat laugh.

Roderick gritted his teeth near to breaking. He could not decide how much of this might be against her wishes or how much she was truly enjoying it. He hated it either way. He knew enough of orcs to know it was almost always consensual with how their scent was involved, but her mix, with his Rechlinger differences... She's already been fucking him for weeks. He forced himself to stop thinking of it again.

Think of anything else. Anything to distract from the sound. He pictured the ties on his wrists. The rope, the type of material it was made from, how they might have made it, the knots they might have tied, ...whether he could rip it if he pulled hard enough so he could strangle this Rechlinger pig.

Gorlana gave high grunts of exertion, "Ugh! Yes I will take your offering. I will- Ah! Accept your show of Uh! Devo- UH! Devotion! UH! UH!"

"RGH! YES! MY QUEEN! RGH! RGH!" Traulch barked in gloating excitement.

Roderick heard the slaps of flesh in time with their exclamations and no further denial could be made of what was occurring. Every muscle in his body flexed as he shook in nearly maniacal rage. He felt sweat dripping off his chin, and nearly screamed. He started hyperventilating, readying himself to bellow out a challenge of honour-combat to be allowed to cut down this bastard Traulch or die trying.

Suddenly a hand was on his shoulder and a calm whisper in his ear, "Stay silent General, stay still, don't let them see you react like this. For her sake if not your own. She uses him, I promise you. That is all this is," said Carthala soothingly. "She will never Rutt for him despite his boasts. This will be over in a minute. It always is."

Roderick froze and did as she said, though it still took effort and pain.

Carthala continued, "They rarely do this in the open, so just make it through this once. Let us thank the Gods you are down wind from the crowd today."

Roderick now had the fear of what realization Carthala had come to, mixed in with his disgust and jealousy. Thankfully she was right, and he heard Traulch give a loud growl and a long hacking groan, evidently reaching his climax.

"Rrrgh! Finally," the Rechlinger groaned.

"Your devotion is rewarded as ever, General. Don't complain after showing such clear pleasure," Gorlana said tauntingly, though breathless herself.

"We're out of practice. You'll start draining me faster soon enough," Traulch rasped.

Roderick hung his head in his own exhaustion, shaking it bitterly at hearing their words. The crowd's mixed voices, sounding either of amusement, pride or dismissal, quieted to a din.

Traulch spoke again, "Let me smell this human and see if I can pick out any jealousy. The thought of his impotent pining amuses me and I wish to know its source. If it's for my Queen I will relish it all the better. ...Before he dies."

Carthala's voice sounded further away from Roderick now, between him and Traulch. "You will not approach him again, Rechlinger!" she said.

Traulch growled. "You were next to him. What does he feel Southerner?"

"Simply disgust, and anger, I promise you that I can tell it better than your unfamiliar nose," Carthala said dismissively.

Traulch snorted and growled in annoyance, "Agh, I don't smell a lie on you. So be it. My attention is better deserved elsewhere." He spat and walked away.

Carthala gave a sigh of relief.

A minute later Roderick heard her speak to the assistant quietly. "Paqria, tend to his wrists. They're bleeding."

He hadn't even noticed.

...

He had a duty. A duty to his realm. To his king. To his princess. To his family. To the soldiers that had fought and died to keep him and his goals alive all these years. To those who likely continued to risk their lives for him. He had a duty to survive.