Roderick and Gorlana Pt. 06

"Right..." the guard hesitated and asked, "So... your sister, what's her name?"

"Lindrol of the Greygulch hold."

"Do you think there's any chance I could meet her?"

The other guard scoffed, "Oh come now, just 'cause you've had a string of bad luck with the ladies around here doesn't mean you should give up and run away across the mountains."

"What? Don't look at me like that. If an orc girl's good enough for General Roderick then why not me? There's half-breeds a plenty in Fringeland, and in the South of Orthalia I'm told. She sounds nice."

"You have not yet found a life-mate? Nor have I, unlike my sword-brother here. Is that abnormal for your age? Do human women likewise find you unfit to breed?"

The guard's friend opened his mouth to retort but then gave him a regretful cringe, "I mean, I wouldn't put it THAT way."

"Wouldn't ya!?" he said, crossing his arms bitterly.

"I mean, I TRIED introducing ya to my sister-in-law, but you dug your own grave there friend. You wouldn't stop singing! It was awkward for everyone."

"That's the one thing I got! Everyone says I got a knack for it. I wanted to show her."

"But there's a time and place, and it came out of nowhere. We were tryin' to eat and talk."

"You are a singer?" the orcs eyebrows shot up, "Lindrol was spellbound when she heard a human singer with a merchants crew years ago. Still talks about it to this day. Though if you are as good as he was, she might not be able to fight off the other clan-women for you."

The guard stared dumbstruck at his good fortune, as the other spoke up, "Yeah I noticed that about orcs, the first night here, when they had me workin' security at the inner ballroom door, I got to see the crowd and hear the music. I saw a lot of the orcs lookin' right mesmerized at the orchestra. That tall one you mentioned, Zurgana? Yeah, if you want to catch her eye, I'd suggest taking some lessons on the lute, the way she seemed to melt towards that player."

"Pfft, I doubt even that would give me a chance with her. I have found myself at least as lacking as you, my friend, when it comes to seeking a life-mate," the other orc lamented.

"Oh, you might not be as skilled with the sword, but you can throw a rock farther than most. Just wait, one day you'll be having a wild animal torn off your face and suddenly you realize your Rutt was at your doorstep all along," he said, laying a heavy green hand on his shoulder, though his warrior friend looked no less sullen.

The guard studied him, "Hmm, well... would you have anything against a human woman if she had the right features? You know, different than the ones in the palace here?"

"Well, perhaps, there have been a rare few I noticed, mostly out in the city and on the journey here. I admit I did not have the courage to speak with them. A human scent is a strange thing to get used to besides, but I suppose I'd be willing to try."

The guard pointed at him with conviction, "I got a cousin. Grenly. Works on my uncle's farm near Bog River three days' ride west of here. Big young woman. Wide shoulders, heavy angled jaw. Short on luck that way, but works a plow like none other. Heart o' gold too. Kind as ever. Even despite gettin' teased or ignored by the boys growin' up, and looked down on by the women."

"Looked down on... Because they were even taller than her, and therefore more desired?"

"Er... no not literally, I mean because, like I was tryin' to say, they don't see her as attractive. Rest of the women aren't as comely as the palace girls here, but more like them, relatively speaking. She's all but given up on finding a man last I heard my uncle say."

"How big are her feet?" the other orc asked with a suggestive glance at his captivated friend.

"Almost bigger than mine," the other guard butted in, "Met her when we were on countryside patrol with this guy a while back, figured I could switch boots with her."

"Hey now, you don't have to-"

"I must meet her!" the orc stood up in excitement. "Please, my friend. If what you say is true I must at least TRY to save this Grenly of the Bog River clan from the unappreciative idiots that surround her, if one such as her somehow goes unmated! If I am worthy to smell her desire, that is, of course."

The younger guard stood up as well and shook his hand with a smile, "You know what, absolutely. If you two can find a way to let me meet this Lindrol someday."

"You have my word of honour, friend."

They sat back down with fraternal smile and sighed in satisfaction.

"Whenever we are free to leave here, that is," one said finally.

"And, assuming we are not at war."

"Damn, but it'd be a shame to have to cross spears with you kind fellas."

"Here here," the orcs both agreed.

"Our stubborn kin. I admit I once thought the ultimate honour would be to conquer these lands across the mountains, but they are so vast and full of such different people and towns. It is not our place."

"But that's the issue ain't it. Too different to truly get along. Too different to be under one rule."

"If only there were some middle ground. I thought perhaps there was starting to be."

"I think us four standing here, are guarding that middle ground as we speak."

"Yet, these two have chosen each other over either of their clans and countries. Rejected both."

"Hell I'm ready to reject either two choices if each means more senseless war."

"Rgh, Even as a warrior I agree. I'm tired of being stabbed. There is honour enough in guarding a homestead, and hunting to feed and raise my young."

"If only there was a third option."

"I feel like there's always lots of options. Just takes people seein' it and believin' it."

They nodded silently, then he scoffed, "Listen to us, talkin' like high minded Sages. Barely makin' sense."

"Hah. Carthala would swat us for speaking so. We leave our trust in our leaders as ever."

"Yep. I'm sure they're further along than us four could ever get. Just hope they figure out something soon."

After a long silence, one of the guards chuckled and said, "Now you two have got me cravin' a bowl of porridge, since you mentioned it."

"Ah, but we have yet to find it here. New strange foods are served every day, but none such as the porridge that Lightbrew shared with us."

"Oh, well they never bring it up for guests. They keep that slop down below for the servants. We'd just have to flag one down and ask them to send for some, there's always extra."

The orcs both stared with mouths agape in disbelief.

One stood up and roared down the hallway, "SERVANTS!"

...

The blast from the center of the meeting hall brought all else to a stop as the vision of every orc and human turned red. A cloud of opaque strange-smelling crimson billowed around them, as their ears rang from the crack of the explosion. They released themselves from their grappling, and left their opponents alone to shield themselves instinctively from whatever was happening.

No pain or injury came though. The cloud was all there was. No destruction, only a few curses and exclamations of surprise, but everyone's heart beats settled gradually along with the falling plume as they realized they were not dead or maimed.

As the red churning slowly dropped below their faces and continued downwards past their waists they all gradually turned their attention to the man in the center of the room with his arms raised high.

"STOP! And, LISTEN!"

It was Professor Beleros.

"I am the high Sage of the Andralian College! Knower of the secrets of the earth! Of Flora and Fauna, of Mineral, Medicine and Poison! By my power and authority as Sage I command you HALT! Lay down your weapons! Unclench your fists. Release your opponents! And, Listen!"

The Orcs all opened their mouths and eyes wide, and did as he commanded, standing in fearful respect. The humans stopped as well, but with far more confusion and doubt at the professor's words.

He saw this and added, gesturing to his upraised hand "IF you refuse and continue to act with hostility. I will drop this vial like I did the last, and you do NOT want to discover what THIS one contains!"

Now the nobles' eyes shot wide and they complied with far more decisiveness, keeping their hands to themselves and stepping back with obedience.

Beleros commanded loudly but with a slower, more calming tone, "Leave alone the ones beside you. Stand. Breath out. And simply listen." He then turned to his assistant, who was still half-cowering from the explosion, but with a lute in his hand. "Fenwick," he said with a nod.

On cue, the young assistant nodded and after a gulp and a breath began playing the lute. A soothing melody ringing out from the instrument, filled the room.

"Professor, why are you-"

"SHH!"

The Sage waited with his finger raised and let the music-filled silence stretch on. The orcs seemed to respond first, their eyes and ears transfixed on the blushing but determined Fenwick as he played. Eventually even the human nobles seemed to un-furrow their brows and relax their shoulders, gulping and smoothing their ruffled clothes guiltily as they let the music calm the air, despite their confusion. As Fenwick's fingers loosened he brought the melody through a dramatic arpeggiated crescendo and a louder ringing strum, after which there was a thud as Zurgana fell to her knees with welling eyes.

Professor Beleros finally continued. "Thank you. Now, continue to simply breathe, remain calm, and think! Look at yourselves. You are not animals, helplessly beholden to selfish instinct - and YES I am talking to you!" he pointed at the group of human nobles, before they could raise their noses in the air. "You are people! Free thinking people. Orc people, human people, each with the intelligence and the courage to make your OWN choices. Not simply repeat the cycle of mistakes of the past. To sink back into senseless back and forth vainglorious violence!"

He looked around the room, hoping to the Gods the remnants of the red cloud's scent blocked the orcs from smelling the doubts behind his performance, "Yes, harm has been done. Treachery and deceit brought unfairly upon Andralia," he turned to Valessa, "Yet so too has the same been brought upon Orthalia during this conflict."

Valessa's cautiously confused stare, which had turned cold for a moment, fell with a sigh and begrudging twist to her mouth as she looked down in thought.

"It is a useless endeavour to try to weigh these injustices as if some precise calculated result and repayment could be agreed upon. Instead we must toss aside those scales. Agree to forgive, if not forget. And, have the courage to make what sacrifice needs to be made now, to pay the cost now, to achieve the riches of a prosperous peace into the future. To open your eyes to broader possibilities, even if unprecedented, and listen with open minds."

He paused and seemed to weigh the silence, studying their faces. He nodded in satisfaction then turned.

"Thus, it is in this spirit, I bid you to return to your seats, peacefully. And..." he cleared his throat, "Lady Dabirra, I believe you might have something to say?"

Dabirra suddenly lifted her head with wide eyes of realization, and an excited breath, she grasped Korboq's hand and smiled at him, pecking him a kiss, then looked to Yendell who shrugged and nodded encouragingly.

"Yes, kind Sage, in fact I do."

"Dabirra? Professor-" Valessa stopped her retorting words at Beleros' upraised finger, looking very much as if he was about to send her out of his classroom for bad behaviour, as he had very likely done in the past, and Valessa surprisingly backed down.

He responded sharply "She represents a group for whom I recently gave counsel, and I assure you, her words will be relevant, and should be taken with utmost consideration."

She sighed, "Very well. You may have the floor, cousin."

As they walked back to their desk at the far side of the council hall, Fenwick whispered to the professor, "What was all that about your power and authority as a Sage? You have no officia-"

"Shhh, never mind. You did well. Leave it at that."

As they sat down Fenwick whispered again, "What was in the second bottle you threatened to smash? It was right where you told me it would be, but it didn't have a label. I was running through the halls with those vials in my hands, what if I had dropped them?"

"It was nothing," the professor whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing dangerous... Er, fine, it was a left over charcoal flask. Now be quiet, we'll debrief later. Just listen," he hissed, looking over his shoulder.

Fenwick's shoulders dropped in wide-eyed disbelief, then he too turned to watch the center of the hall.

Dabirra stood tall, wide, and proud, the engagement ring on her finger seeming to bring her a new endless confidence, "Thank you, your highness. My esteemed country-men and women. Nobles and high-chieftains. I bring to you... a proposal.

They listened.

...

3 days later,

Roderick leaned back against the stone wall, sitting on the ledge of the open window, gazing out at the green leaves of late spring, listening to the songs of birds and breathing in the cool fresh air. He sipped on a glass of water and chewed on a small morsel of cheese. They were getting more of an appetite for regular food over the past day, and able to stand being apart for longer, and at a greater distance. Her distance from him was only across the guest living-quarters in this case, but they were slowly edging towards a hint of normalcy as time went by and their Rutt slowly waned.

It would never be like it was though, he knew. His precious Gorlana would be his life-mate, truly, to love, and protect and honour. To be honoured, and protected and loved in return. They felt bonded in a way that no force of nature could ever threaten.

Roderick suddenly became aware that her scent had washed completely from his nostrils, though instead of seeking her out with a hungry urgency as he might have a day or two ago, he simply turned and looked back into the room, and his heart settled quickly, seeing her smiling at him and walking back with a plate of bread.

He admired her voluptuous figure, shining through under the black silk of her open gown, as her wide round hips swayed and she admired his body within his open white robe with a sly satisfaction. She smelled of clearly missing his presence too, but instead of pouncing on him, simply set down the plate and kissed him gently, but deeply, sitting down next to him and caressing his thigh as they each ate.

"Do you feel ready?" he asked.

She sighed as she looked out the window and then back at him, holding his hand confidently, "As much as I'd like to stay alone in here with you forever, we shouldn't put it off much longer I suppose."

"It sounded like they'd be willing to give us more time. We could stay in here another day... I don't think we'd be bored," he suggested with a sly smile as their fingers became more interested in dancing over their mostly-naked bodies than the food.

Gorlana moaned and slid her claws up his thigh to his engorging cock, "Mmmm, just because we can stand to leave this room and start to resume our lives doesn't mean I'm not going to want my fill every few hours at least, my love," she said, sliding her hand over his balls, and tracing up the already fully hard shaft of his cock.

He slid his fingers along her naked breasts, her green skin taught and goose-bumped from the cool breeze, caressing her hardened nipples, and leaning closer to her dark lush lips, "I wouldn't doubt that for a second," he agreed, "But... what if they've decided to imprison us... Apart."

She stifled a growl but dug her claws possessively into his hips and ass, pulling herself against him, she settled her breathing, saying, "If they were planning that they would have done so already."

"Likely," he said, panting at her face as her breasts pressed into him and her pussy hovered above his cock. "I wish I knew for certain."

Gorlana gulped and her lip quivered along with her thighs around his waist, "Would you let them take you alive, if so?"

He grunted with a swelling desire and grasped her hips with a matching possession, then shook his head confidently, "No."

"Nor would I," she whispered, then her tongue shot in his mouth with a loving passion as she drove her pussy on to his cock.

"OH! Roderick!"

"Ah! Gorlana!"

She ground her hips down on to him and rolled body in a wave that he wanted to drown in. He dug his fingers into her soft muscular back and bit her shoulder making her growl and purr in satisfaction.

"I will go nowhere without you," she rasped in shuddering pleasure as their bodies contorted together, "And, anywhere with you."

Roderick nodded as he groaned and pulled two delicious handfuls of her ass down to thrust into her with all his strength, "Anywhere," he agreed, "Whether exile, or a throne."

She giggled and nuzzled into his grunting face, then kissed him deeply again, "Likely something in between, but I don't care," she moaned as his cock slid deeper and he increased his intensity, "As long as it's with you... AH! Oh Roderick!"

He wrapped his arms around her waist and screwed his eyes shut as their pleasure soared into the clouds as it had so many times already, "Gorlana!"

They started to cum together with a precious, familiar exhilaration. She drooled on his hair as the taste of his seed washing against her womb, still more delicious than anything she could ever imagine, spread through her. He huffed and groaned in time with every pride-inducing blast, steadily emptying his ever-replenished stores, as knives of gratification stabbed through him, and his love and adoration seemed to absorb into her from every pore of his skin.

They held each other in an unmoving silence for what felt like an eternity, other than the equal movements of their pressing chests. In one final resistance to their obligations they held and cherished each other in the cool sunlight. Finally, sensing each other's feelings, they each lifted their heads, stared deeply into the eyes of their one true love and rose, to face their fate, together.

...

The door to the meeting hall opened.

Roderick and Gorlana stepped forward together, hand in hand. In eerie silence they walked to the center of the oval floor. Back to where it had ended; where it had begun. They held their heads high, without shame, as their feet came to a stop on the now rug-less floor. The faces of those around them were unreadable. Roderick noticed the incense candle burning between them and Valessa on her raised platform, evidently to help mask scents, and he supposed he could not blame her, though he knew it would not work completely.

He could sense Gorlana well enough. Even without it, he knew they had full confidence in themselves. Whether what was to be said to them was to their relief or to their ruin, as with anything else in their lives from this day forward, they would be confident that they could face it, together. If he knew nothing else, he knew this.

He did not fault Valessa for the hint of offence and disappointment that broke through the edges of her flat expression as she looked at his unremorseful face. He would not grovel though. He and Gorlana both gave a respectful kneel and then resumed standing, hands clasped affectionately, and waited.

"Roderick and Gorlana," Valessa said, as if weighing the two names being spoken together, while she studied them.

"Your highness,"

"Valessa,"

They replied in turn, Roderick meeting her eyes as he said her personal name.

She did not flinch from her impassive stare, and said, "You stand before this hall, before those of the highest nobility and highest honour, in our two realms. Before I inform you of your fate, what words would you say to us, regarding what happened when last you were here?"