Private Tales Don't go into the woods

[Hath Charosh]

Hath's gaze lingered on hers for the span of a few heartbeats before he nodded. If she had tried to draw him out of his moment of sullen silence then he appreciated it. If she truly did need help getting a fire started then he at least appreciated that she drew his attention back softly.

"Of course," he replied. Hath didn't mind using his axe in trees. The magically keen edge almost never needed to be sharpened. From his pack he drew out his preferred knife for making shavings of wood to light.

There were already plenty of dry branches littering the woodland floor, along with twigs for kindling to start with.

"Everything changes us," he grunted as he gathered some materials to start. "We killed that thing in Pandemonium and I killed the bit of it left with me."

There was a note of finality in the statement. Hath cleared a space and set to getting the kindling lit.

 

[Lagakh]

"Just..." Her gaze followed him as he set upon his task. "Don't touch the spruce branches..." She pointed towards a pile that she had collected prior to snacking on the venison. "That's for the bed. Though gather more if you'd like a thicker pile." In her experience, men tended to be the biggest complainers about qualities of bedding. She couldn't count the number of times that thatch or hay in a hut simply wouldn't do or, gods forbid, the linens bundling up the material had a tear or whole.

Though if she thought hard enough, she could probably count a similar number of women making very similar complaints.

"I'll gather some small branches..." She uttered as she knelt near a tree, pulling some foot long pieces together. Quickly enough, she had an arm full and was approaching the soon to be proper burn pit. Starting with a few sticks, she got moving with building a skeletal pyramid by balancing the sticks together. She'd leave enough room for the shavings and debris collected by Charosh. Though now she realized she needed to find a couple of flint rocks or material of similar sparking capability.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Without magic Hath preferred not to waste time frustrating himself getting a fire lit. He made his way over to his bag when he was ready. Everything in there was disposable. If he had to run the bag was dumped. If he had his bow, a sword or axe and a knife then he could survive.

It had been a few weeks since such a desperate occasion which meant that at the base of the bag he had a small wooden box with fire striker and flint. They were easy to trade for at the smaller human settlements east of his home.

A soft click, a spark and the shavings of wood were smoking. He blew gently on them and added some kindling when there was real flame.

"That's enough for a bed," he observed. In the dry savanna they often didn't get the luxury of soft leaves.

 

[Lagakh]

He wasn't a picky sleepy, she had figured that much out from their time in the mountains. This only further confirmed it. She had to admit that as she looked at the pile, she could have done with a bit more moss.

Taking a step back from the pit, she sat down on forest floor and stretched out. Feeling the warmth of the fire growing against her feet, she was ever aware of her utter lack of need for warmth in the sauna of this climate. But there was something soothing about the crackle of a fire and the spit of embers into the air above.

Leaning back on her hands, she wiggled her toes and pushed back a bit to distance herself from the heat. Head tilting, she concerned herself once more with Charosh and his recent adventures. He bore a small scar from the demon and pandemonium but it had weighted his steps and lengthened his shadow. He didn't seem to look much older but the concern he was burdened with had a tendency to age even the most youthful Orcs.

"It was some coincidence meeting you, again, in these woods...was it a coincidence, Charosh of the fiarach?"

 

[Hath Charosh]

Comfortable in its heat, Hath remained hunched over the fire. He shielded it from the gentle breeze with his back. He nursed it until the crackle of flames was equal to the rustle of wind through the trees.

Hath liked to watch the little embers dance as they rose from the flame, flitting into and out of existence. He had seen wind spirits moving across the savanna, sometimes the flames dances so much he was certain that he must have captured a spite of fire.

Slowly he turned to face Lagakh. He stepped away from the fire and eased himself to the ground beside her.

"I did not follow you all the way here, if that is what you're asking," he replied.

 

[Lagakh]

She eyed him as he approached and sat down. Turning to look towards the fire, she pursed the center of her lips around her small tusks. Like an animal with an under-bite.

She let the ambiance of the forest and the crackle of the fire fill the silence between his comment and her response.

"That's not what I was asking."

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath canted his head to one side. He hadn't expected that was what she had meant. Scratching at the side of his jaw he turned back to the fire.

"The world is a big place," Hath sighed. "Even walking through this forest is like...Two ants on a beach."

He frowned, watching a chunk of wood as it started to disintegrate.

"An unlikely coincidence."

 

[Lagakh]

"Unlikely…" She returned, chuckling softly. So unlikely that she suspected it could have at least been partially correct. "I did have a theory though…"​

​

She rolled back and pulled the remains of the venison, grabbing a strip of charred meat. Coming back to her seat, she investigated the piece of meat by turning it over and over. Blowing sharply on it, she freed it of any debris or detritus.​

​

"An Orc runs upon another group of Orcs. Agitated sort, clearly roughed up. They're the bickering sort and happy to belly ache about their misfortune. So they tell him about the individual who had done them wrong…" She pulled some of the char off and clearly enjoyed eating it.​

​

"An ondividual that maybe reminds this Orc of someone he met once. Chances are slim but these woods are dangerous…" She offered a bit of meat to Charosh. "Getting close?"​

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Oh yeah, I met those fuckers," he replied. Hath wasn't planning on keeping that a secret.

"You made a right mess of that lot. When I heard you were heading for the elven city I thought to stop you," he admitted with a shrug.

Hath realised she had been working her way around asking the question directly. Now, apparently, they were going to the city.

"Didn't know was you, but sounded that way. Looked that way."

 

[Lagakh]

"Well...they said I couldn't pass. I didn't care for that." She had places to go and other things to beat. Last thing she needed was to spend her time and energy on a group of Orcs that thought they owned the road. The fact remained that she left them alive, which was a best case scenario for their encounter.

Admittedly, she was surprised that Charosh had jumped directly to the end of the story. It removed what fun remained in the sort of cat and mouse in story telling. Being blunt and straightforward was the nature of their kind. That, however, didn't prevent Laga from mourning the loss of the moment.

"I appreciate you coming..." She finally stated, diverting her attention from the fire back to Charosh. He wasn't going to outright say it and she probably wouldn't either. But she sensed a bit of concern somewhere in his motivation. And while it wasn't needed, it was appreciated. "I haven't had anyone to speak to in some time."

 

[Hath Charosh]

"I have heard of that tribe before. The orcs of the region will not provide them any sympathy." He made a rude gesture with one hand.

"They would have tried to stop me on my way too. I was heading back to my own tribe."

HE did not say to his home. Hath had been travelling for so long that he wasn't sure he had one any more.

"What exactly happened to send you so far south?" he asked.

Finally someone to talk to, but they were asking the questions Lagakh might not have wanted to speak.

 

[Lagakh]

"I promised myself I wouldn't come this far south or west..." She answered quietly, picking off the rest of that particular piece of meat. The edges were almost overwhelming with vinegar and spice, though the carbon helped to cancel it out.

Leaning back, she pulled her legs in and crossed them. She allowed that statement to hang in the air as she thought on those Orcs and the way they had laid claim to things that weren't theirs. No right and no power of enforcement; it was a silly sort of group that seemed almost a caricature of an honest and noble tribes.

"All my life I had been told that I was the product of...rape." She didn't come to the word that easily but she wasn't one for dancing around the statement. "That my mother had been taken by a band of slaves, recently escaped from Molthal. Never really sat right with me, you know? This fierce woman claimed by slaves that were likely starved and demented, joyous over the smell of fresh air." She played at an sharpened bone anklet covering a scar of painted white, in the shape of an abstract horn that ran from the top of her foot to just beneath her knee.

"Turns out my instinct was right..."

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath fell silent for a short while. He didn't feel uncomfortable with the topic, but it was an admission that required respect. It needed to be thought about before he opened his mouth again.

Hath had always been quiet among his people. He could tell stories when the evening fire was lit, but he rarely wasted his words.

"You hope to get the rest of the story from him or do you just want to find out who your father is?" he asked. He turned to study her slowly. Lagakh was the second half orc, half elf he had come to know.

"I know another orc whose father is an elf. She visits him from time to time."

 

[Lagakh]

She shook her head slightly, not having an immediate answer for him. Laga was prone to acting without thinking and if she was being truly honest with herself, she might have been inclined to believe this migration landed in that category.​

​

She had no plan. She had no idea what she was looking for. But she knew where this man was and that seemed like all she needed at the time of her departure.​

​

"I don't really have any pieces of the story…" She shrugged, laughing in a defeated fashion. "I just know my tribe lied to me and now I wonder what else they lied about." About her mom? About the nature of dark magic?​

​

She shook her head again and gestured towards the fire. "I just want to look him in the eye and know why...but I don't know what the question is. But I…" Her hand came back to her lap. "I don't know. Anything."​

​

She wasn't prone to skulking about and feeling sorry for herself. But Charosh's question brought to a head things she had bottled up and kept far away from her thoughts. And now all it took were simple questions and curiosity.​

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Sounds like a good place to start," he said plainly. "If we meet elves we should tell them you are looking for a relative. We will not sneak into their city."

He studied her carefully. Lagakh had always seemed more like a force of nature itself than an orc or an elf. There was darkness in her past. Even before this revelation, enough had been spoken in that dwarven inn for him to see that.

His whole world had been thrown off kilter so many times now he had simply given up trying to find a firm footing in the world of the familiar, but at least he knew where he came from. Hath shifted his weight forwards, sitting more upright. A waft of smoke from slightly damp wood had him narrow his eyes.

"I hope you find answers Lagakh," he said firmly, reaching out to clasp a hand over her shoulder.

 

[Lagakh]

It hadn't occurred to her to just try and walk in to the great Elven village. Everything seemed to work against her, like she was constantly swimming upstream. Since she had left her tribe and taken this exceptionally long journey, she had been alone. She had been made to do tasks she didn't care for or complete work that was far beneath her skill set. All for the sake of eating or finding shelter.​

​

It had turned her abrasive, even more so than when she had met Charosh in the dwarven hills.​

​

Even as he moved to clasp her shoulder, she felt her hackles rise. Touching wasn't something she was particular keen on as of late and up into this point, she hadn't much reason for it. Which was why she was surprised by this sudden and strong urge, driven by an exhaustion brought about by excessive magic use. She wasn't bleeding but she felt the drain through her bones.​

​

Leaning over, she rested her head against Charosh and cared little for how felt about it.​

​

"Maybe you don't say much, Mountain Orc, but you say the right things."​

 

[Hath Charosh]

Much of their communication was dictated by physical cues. Perhaps that was why, despite catching no warning in particular, he felt her discomfort just as his hand came to rest on her shoulder. It meant that what came next caught him by surprise.

Hath tensed for just a heartbeat. Relaxing, he stretched out with the same arm to drape it across her shoulders. The palm of his hand ran across the gentle ridges of her scarification.

He said nothing at all. Despite wanting to thank her. That he could save until later. It was it a complement he heard often. He had heard the very same thing of his own father, a man he had never met. His mother hadn't even told him that. Being too busy running the tribe Hath had heard it from her second hand.

Hath was no leader as it was said his father had been. From the time his mother had taken on a new mate he had been kept to the fringes of the tribe. Even when he did talk, most would not listen.

Lagakh's battle with her own demons would not have such a sudden ending as his own, extinguished at the end of a spell. At least in his own mind it had ended on that day. Perhaps he could help her find at least a few answers.

The fire reached its peak as the moons took control of the night sky. Soon it would crumble to embers, as Lagakh was clearly close to collapsing back into sleep. He could take the first watch.

 

[Lagakh]

Her eyes fluttered open as the light of Lessat pierced through the canopy, sending ribbons of blue and green across exposed floor. Propping herself up groggily on her elbow, she spied that the fire was in its last moments of life. She was laying on the bed of spruce and moss and, to her surprise, Charosh was nowhere to be found.​

She stirred and stumbled to her feet as she heard something in the woods nearby. She had been with Charosh long enough to know his practiced steps and caution in these woods. These were not her steps, these were the steps of something else. A something else that was clumsy and big, breaking branches as it paced.​

She heard a growl and the sound of a boisterous exhale of air from nostrils. She stumbled over to the tree and withdrew the bone club from the leather holster she had purchased from Alliria with the precious little coin she had. The previous holster had been torn wide open, caught on some scree as she descended the mountain. ​

Out from the shadows, she could see a large golden eye. And a snout that was as long as her forearm and multiple times more wide. Her gaze narrowed as she searched around for companion, acutely concerned that he was lying dead somewhere in the bushes - half eaten.​

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath did not whistle or hum as he pissed. There was never a need to make more noise than absolutely necessary when you were alone a short distance from camp, with your sword just out of reach.

He always kept a short sword when he could. It was a good weapon if he lost his axe. Small enough to keep beside a bed at night or to be carried out at the night when the urge drew you from camp.

Returning to the fire he found that Lagakh had gone. He assumed for the same reason. Setting the sword down within reach of the bed, he dropped to one knee.

That was when he heard the growl, the sound of something large rummaging through the forest floor. He wished that he had a spear instead.

Hath took a moment to string his bow. Between two hands and the inside of one foot it could be done very quickly. A wolf could be sent scampering away with an arrow in its flank, a troll would probably ignore one.

Taking care not to make much noise he crept in the direction of the sound.

 

[Lagakh]

She took a step back as she laid eyes on the beast. Or at least, laid eyes on its countenance. Opening her hand, she spit and rubbed the bottom of the club. It had grown slick with dew over night, held at evidently just the right distance from the fire. And the last thing she needed was that thing slipping free of her when her magics were already so depleted.​

The creature emerged further from the shadows and let out a soul shaking roar. It was a bear, just a bear. But not just a bear. It was the biggest bear Laga had ever seen. As it turned out, she hadn't become an ursine expert overnight with her countless bear encounters between here and the spine. The creatures were quite uncommon given the rampant presence magical creatures and otherwise. And the ones she had seen, she spied them from afar as they picked at raspberries or fished along rushing streams.​

And none of them could compare to this particular beast. It was hard to make out, but it must have stood at nearly double Laga's height when on all fours. And his weight, it could have been 100 or 200 stones. The ground rumbled as it moved with each step and it took her some time to recover from the blast of its maw. ​

It roared again.​

Laga roared back, baring her teeth and tusks. It charged and she planted herself on the ground, convinced now that either Charosh was dead or would hope for death in fear of the verbal lashing he would get if Laga survived this. ​

As it neared, Laga caught another glimpse of it and jumped hard to her right. The bear tumbled past her and slammed through a large oak tree, likely disoriented by the arrow sticking out of its left eye. But that didn't stop it as it started to circle back around. The tree moaned and titled before leaning over and beginning its decent to the ground.​

 

[Hath Charosh]

That could not be a bear. Nothing could have grown so enormous. Hath caught sight of it barrelling through a solid tree as if it were a twig. It simply had to be an avatar of some angry spirit.

The air temperature had been changing rapidly. His bowstring was damp. Good ways to break a stave, but Lagakh couldn't fight this thing along. He was not sure they could fight it together.

The monstrous thing turned its bulk around. There was blood matting its fur on the side nearest Hath. Perhaps a deers antlers had done the damage. There couldn't be many creatures that would deliberately take this thing on.

Hath drew his bow. The sound as he released was softer than usual. At this distance his arrow still carried a lot of momentum. It struck the bear behind its front leg, driving deep.

Another sound echoed through the woods. One that made his heart sink. He had heard an elven horn once before in his life. Moments before an entire human camp of soldiers had been wiped out for staying into elven territory. It was some distance away, but it was hard to tell in the woods.

"Shit."

 

[Lagakh]

A thwack echoed through the open woods, just prior to the sound of the horn on low. Laga couldn't be certain if that was Charosh from the dark distance or simply a reconnaissance scout for an elven party, testing the waters before returning back to the commando. Either way, she contemplated the value of the attack.​

​

Either it helped chisel away at the beast or it did nothing. And if the latter, she feared it might be enough to enrage the creature beyond its current state.​

​

The bear circled back around again and this time, it became utterly clear in the teal like swirl of light from Lessat. The blood across the beasts side wasn't just blood. There was gulping and roiling, like the bear had tumbled through a bed of swamp leeches and every inch of it was now covered.​

​

Its eyes were yellow but not entirely. The iris were like hot sunflower petals while the limbus was an encroaching orange, spiking into the iris like the very mountains of the spine carving the horizon. Laga only knew this because she had taken a misstep. The sort of misstep only catalyzed by the brief realization that this beast might be corrupted. It may be roaming the forest without any thought, like a rabid creature in fear of light and water alike. ​

​

The bear ran by and swiped at her. Her scars lit up reactionary, in orange and blue, and she was flung hard into the felled oak tree.​

​

Another horn blew. It was much closer now.​

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Shit four times over," he grunted. That horn could mean any number of things but it was certainly coming closer. Hath did not want to find out who it belonged to.

First of all there was keeping them both alive long enough that the meeting was even a possibility.

Abandoning the bow he found a loose rock by his feet. He circled around the creature as it swiped at Lagakh, putting some trees between them.

"Hey!" he shouted out. Her runes had flared before the impact but he doubted they would keep her alive within its jaws for long.

The rock span through the air, the impact of it striking the things skull ringing out. It struck the left side of its head, just behind the arrow.

"Hey!" he called out again.

Another earth shaking roar filled the forest. Risking the night sky a flock of birds launched from the canopy High above them.

It turned its remaining eye towards Hath. For the first time in a long while he felt genuine fear settle at the base of his gut.

 

[Lagakh]

Everything went to stars and the world turned blurry. Sound came through like a trumpet, blasting air through a wall of mud. The tree had fallen and the gaping maw of its wound caught her and deflected her into a nearby shrub. She did something a bit uncharacteristic.​

​

She screamed. Normally this sort of thing came about as she held her bone club skyward, which was now lost somewhere in the dark brambles. Normally, it came before she was enraged, supping heartily on the streams of magic that cut the open air. But this wasn't her normal scream. It was a sharp entanglement of a yelp and grunt, mixed somewhere between the pain of the initial attack and the sound of air being knocked loose from her lungs.​

​

She didn't immediately get up. It was a slow rise to the sound of hey and another hey. Like a hot blade cutting the thickets of her senses, she came to and stood up. One arm clutched a nearby tree as the other hung down by her side. Blood was running down the arm in rivulets from the slash of three grizzly claws across her forearm, dripping on the huckleberry shrubs beneath her.​

​

The defense had worked. Without it, she would be pieces of an Elf-Orc hybrid, strewn across the forest floor. "Hey!" She growled loudly, stumbling and favoring her wounded side. The bear didn't change its attention and she followed it, seeing Charosh standing there. Staring it down.​

​

Laga screamed in frustration, both at the circumstance and at the pain coursing through her. Stomping on the base of a snag, her remaining good arm and a good deal of her scars turned hot red. Picking up the wood, she hopped forward and twirled mid air. Once she landed again, the driftwood launched out from hand like it had been thrown by a ballista. The piece of wood hit the bear in the side of the head, burying the shaft deep in the fur behind its jawbone. The inertia caused it to stumble and it released a ghastly and long wail.​

 

[Hath Charosh]

At least she was standing. For a few moments Hath had been certain that Lagakh wasn't going to be getting up again. His view of her had been obscured by the foliage she had been launched through.

The beast snarled as it turned towards him. It no longer looked as if it had been wounded by a hunting party. It looked as if half of its flesh was trying to turn inside out.

The air hissed as she threw a piece of wood at the bear with an unnatural strength. Why had Lagakh even picked a fight with this thing instead of going to ground?

The beast cried out in pain but charged forwards towards Hath. He darted to his left, putting the tight grouping of trees he had seen between them. It charged on regardless, barrelling through the first but wedging its head between several more trunks. It snarled and snapped at him. It wouldn't be held for long, but at least Hath wasn't already in its jaws. The chunk of wood lodged in its neck was likely keeping it from shaking itself through the trees.

If it had been a regular bear he might have take the chance to dash forwards and go for the eye with a knife. Instead he kept his distance, retrieving his bow and putting another arrow in its face. He missed its good eye, the arrow sticking out proudly from its brow, wedged in the skull.