Private Tales What Does Not Kill Us

[Hath Charosh]

Hath shrugged, which made his pack bounce on his back. He scratched at the scruff of his chin. It was strange to be around an orc and not be speaking in his native tongue. This was going to be the single longest period of time spent speaking in another language.

"Is not so many weeks. You take them one a time," he said as they approached thee smithy. "Hope you can run and carry tools."

Death was part of life. You travelled somewhere then there was a good chance that you would die. Stayed with the tribe and there was a good chance you would die. It was just the way of the world for his kind.

He could, however, sympathise. The unknown made you anxious. Walking through a crowd in the city made him angry, ready to lash out. He could understand that kind of fear.

"I wait outside?" he asked, "I need to speak better human."

 

[Pern]

Yeah, Hath was not very good at the whole reassurance thing. Pern made a solid effort of offering him a nod and a smile, but mostly she looked like he'd just asked her to eat hot coals and insisted they tasted delightful.

"I jusht need a moment," she said as she stepped into the Smithy and immediately moved to her workbench. Samwen was there, looking a bit out of sorts that she hadn't arrived before him.

"Are you ill?" he asked.
"No," she shook her head, "I am leaving for a mishive for my father. I-" a paused to sort through her pack and it's copious amounts of pockets before she retrieved a folded envelop with Ignatius' wax seal, "need you to give thish to Mashter Gibbshon. It ish very important he shee it ash shoon as he getsh in. If there are any queshtunsh he may shpeak to my father."

Sam looked just about as uncomfortable with this news as Pern did with her own earlier news, "So...I'm here on my own?"
Pern nodded again, "Until Gibbshon getsh back thish afternoon."
"But what?" his jaw went slack as he gestured around, "What am I supposed to do?"
"Take the ordersh, add them to the book. Take the payementsh ash they come in. You will be fine."

Confident words spoken only just an hour to her earlier ... in a roundabout way. Pern realized this and made quick work of stowing away her tools, opting the leave the anvil behind. Her prized hammer, however, would be coming with her tucked securely into the belt she cinched at her hip. Stepping out into the bright morning sun, she gave the place one last look around before nodding to Hath that she was ready.

 

[Hath Charosh]

"I prefer your city from the outside," he announced suddenly as they walked away. "Looks...calm from out here."

There had been a silence as they left the city. It wasn't the comfortable silence of two knowing the road beneath their feet, feeling no need to fill the space with words. Hers was a silence of uncertainty. One of a mind asking many questions when there was no where to turn for answers.

Hath turned to look over his shoulder. His gaze slowly rose from the wall, up through the residential districts to the grandeur of the college.

"Orcs of savanna do not build. Not like this. Not enough good farmland. And we do not farm."

She was going to get warm travelling south with all this gear. Hath still wasn't certain why she had decided to carry so many tools with her. At least the hammer could be useful if they got into a scrap. Hath was hoping they could afford any serious danger on the travel, but the wilds of Arethil were not always willing to oblige.

 

[Pern]

Pern may have neglected to mention the magical nature of what she presently stowed her belongings away into. The pack, which Ignatius so fondly dubbed the Insatiable Sack (she hated that name), was magically enhanced with pockets upon pockets and more space than one could fathom. She likely could have packed away more had she been so inclined, but her essential smithing tools, some ingots, and a couple of her own daggers made in the forge would do.

The gryphon's feather kept it all light as a cloud, tucked away securely between the pages of one of various books, stowed inside the bag. Even her steps felt light - just as Ignatius had said they would.

Golden eyes glanced back at the city, now growing small at their heels, and a soft sigh escaped her. Pern had no words to add. She liked her city, liked the look of it from the inside where she knew every turn and cobble and doorknob and face.

"Your tribe ... it followsh the herdsh?" if they didn't farm it only made sense that they would follow their food.

 

[Hath Charosh]

If Hath had known what the magical pack and feather were achieving he might have foisted more of her luggage onto Pern. Though he traveled relatively light anyway.

Despite the value of a shield he did not carry one. In the wilds he was more likely to need to run away or use a spear than a shield. Extra weight would simply be discarded when there were predators nipping at your heels.

Yet Hath was not a lone hunter and scout for his speed. He took pride in picking the safe paths. He drew his tribe away from the danger and towards the herds.

"We do. At village to south sometimes the old stay with the youngest. Teach them. Raise goats for food for dry season."

It was not something all tribes did. They migrated back to the south where the heat of the dry season was not so bad. Into the lands where the savanna slowly turned to forest. It had seen the tribe through some difficult seasons.

"How fast can you run?" he asked. Not a reassuring question.

 

[Pern]

That was a lovely picture ... even if Pern did have a difficult time picturing it. Exposure to other orcs being what it was in Elbion - limited at best - she could only picture others looking in the fashion of Hath or Scy or the few other orc faces she'd seen over the years more than once. A younger Hath was somewhat of a daunting task to imagine. It looked more like an angry, over-muscled gremlin.

She blinked from her musings, looking upwards at the larger orc nonplussed, "I am a shmith," she replied, gesturing to herself with a sweep of one clawed hand, "there ish not mush need for running."

So ... probably not very fast. Pern liked to think she was stamina over speed.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath made a thoughtful little noise in the back of his throat. Ignatius might have been able to ask anything of him given the circumstances but this was not going to be an easy task.

There will come a point where you will have to leave her behind

If it came down to it, abandoning Pern would not only ensure his own survival. If he left her behind then he couldn't rightly go to Ingatius' friend on the far side of Falwood. As the corruption grew it was not just a force of anger. It had a sense of self preservation.

"Just be ready to drop heavy things. A bow, a weapon, a waterskin, portal stone keys. That is all we must have."

 

[Pern]

The heavy weight of her journey was growing heavier despite the magic of the golden gryphon's feather. Pern's lips wilted around her tusks into a harrowing frown, a nod of understanding given to her guide. Truly, she had no idea if what the road brought them was anything she could survive, but she would try her hardest and listen well. If nothing else, she'd always been a good student.

Two days down and Pern found herself standing at the precipice of the farthest she'd ever been from her home. She struggled in silence with the growing sense of anxiety in her chest, engaging in friendly conversation as it came. They were lucky with warm weather and no challenges on the road - somewhat expected in the realm of Elbion. Yet upon reaching the limits of the long stretch of farmlands she paused.

What if she never made it back? What would become of her father? Was Hath as trustworthy as they thought? Was something far worse happening to him than they knew? What if he didn't make it? What if the corruption claimed him fully?

They were so close to the portal stone - the monument was within sight, much as Hath had pointed out earlier. Less than half a day's walk now.

Pern's feet came to a halt and found themselves as heavy as anvils.

"Hath..." the orcess' voice struggled in her throat, "...I don' think I can do thish. I'm not-" Pern knew a lot of things she was not, too many things to say them all, "I'm not like Shcy."

Her closest friend was everything she was not, and then some.

 

[Hath Charosh]

An anxiety had settled in his own chest, but for a very different reason. This was one of the portal stones where the demons had arrived. Where the red mists had touched nothing grew. As he walked across the blackened ground he was certain the wound in his shoulder started to ache more acutely.

Maybe she should go back... It coiled beneath his flesh, seeing a chance to continue to grow without the interference of this healer. Soon it would have him. Hath would Ascend.

He came to a stop. Turning, he set his hands on his hips. Standing that way he made Pern look small and slender. She was used to a world where everyone else had to look up to meet her gaze. A word that he dreaded, but the monsters that lurked in the shadowy alleys were more easily avoided than the things in the wilds.

He clasped a hand across her shoulder, leaned close and jabbed a finger towards her chest.

"You are not. You are still orc. You can learn. Nothing eaten me yet. It is like..." he frowned deeply as he tried to form the analogy.

"You could fall stairs, break head. In wild you could meet hungry gryphon. We take route as safe as can. Do not worry."

It was an exceptionally basic, but very orcish way of explaining the world. It was dangerous, death would find you when it came. You made the best choices you could nd tried not to worry about that beyond your control. The wind could change.

Of course, it was well within Pern's control to turn around and walk back. With that voice whispering that he was better off without her anyone he would not stop her.

 

[Pern]

Master Gibbson had always remarked that Pern had shoulders broad enough to hold a mountain and the strength of ten men. That with her hide which could handle the heat of the forge and her hands which could take the hard labor to task, she was perfectly made for smithing. He was one of the few men in Elbion she needn't turn her gaze down to. There were very few in the city she ever had to look upwards at.

The weight of Hath's hand was surprising in more ways than one. Though he was meaning it in a reassuring gesture, his own strength and the weight behind it was enough to cause her knees to buckle slightly. There were also very few people in her life that deigned to offer physical contact of any kind - small gestures even such as this were avoided with non-humans. Pern was, effectively, caught off-guard by the touch but not necessarily frightened by it.

Golden eyes looked to the hand on her shoulder then upwards at the orc as he made the effort with his words. He was getting better, she mentally noted, even if his common was still broken and simple. The frown persisted only long enough to saturate a trying smile. It became something of self deprecation, a small and hapless laugh squeezing through her throat.

"I don't... I don't know what it meansh to be an orc."

She could learn. He said so himself. The pep talk did nothing to calm her worries (there were gryphons this close to elbion other than the Dawnbringer?!) but she'd taken her own number of hard knocks in the city. Hell, she was certain she'd tumbled down some stairs more than once, in both her youth and her adult years. She'd undergone assault and threats at the dockyards. She'd lived through ridicule of her fledgling years as a Smith's Apprentice. She'd been turned away by her own community on numerous occasions and been told she'd amount to nothing.

Ignatius had always been so supporting through her formative years, without him she wasn't sure how she would have made it this far. He believed in her to do this. He'd seen her gain the respect of local Knights and Guards when her weapons and armor held fast and strong against their enemies. Pern had grown learning how to be the most human she could possibly be, forgoing all orcish manners, traditions, culture, and instinct to become who she was. What if being an orc was easier? Could she be happy as an orc like Hath?

"But I would like to learn."

And if she could help her friend along the way then that was well worth the effort.

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Learn. Good," he said bluntly. "Because I not...speak it well. Even in orc. Learn good."

The right corner of his lip twitched upwards as he turned away from Pern towards the portal stone. It was the slightest hint that there was a touch of humour in his attempt to confess that he could not easily say what it meant to be an orc. Learning by experience was better anyway.

"We live as have done. Have always done," he said softly. Perhaps, he thought to himself, that was as close as he could get to an explanation. The orcs lived wildly varying lifestyles, but the savanna tribes were as they had been for generations. The same could be said for those who rode great lions and mountain leopards.

In every corner of the world there was a tribe of orcs. They did not change the world around them, but found ways that worked and passed them on through the generations.

"You not used stone?" he asked. There were many lessons for the wilds, but knowing what was coming to avoid a panic when travelling by portal stone was the first of them.

A small watchtower had been build a distance from the stone. A pair of horses were tethered near its base. Hath assumed they were to allow the occupants to ride to Elbion with a warning should any more monsters emerge from the portals. So far the guards made no move to climb down.

 

[Pern]

The trepidation fueling her increasingly pounding heart had lessened none, but the steel of her spine had strengthened just a bit. Pern raised a brow at Hath as he spoke again, having to re-translate the broken common in her mind. Was he meaning she needed to learn to speak orcish to learn how to be an orc? That made plenty of sense, she supposed. Pern gathered she would need to make a concerted effort to do so on this journey, if for no other reason than to be fair on Hath's struggle to speak common.

She nodded, eyes narrowing at the second part. Assuming he meant that the orcs lived now as they had ages ago - that little had changed. Curious, she thought, did they refuse to evolve and change as much as Elbion seemed to?

Bare feet followed after booted feet, the stones of the road being of no consequence to the hardened hide of her heels. She took the short moment of silence to reconsider her position of the journey. If she looked at it as more of an educational project, perhaps it would seem less daunting? Pern had always been a good student, so said Ignatius, and she did enjoy learning new things. Hath even supported this line of thought by bringing to light the first lesson: How to Use A Portal Stone.

Brown curls lightly bounced before her eyes as she shook her head, "Never. I have only read about them and heard my father'sh shortiesh."

 

[Hath Charosh]

"It is like...Botthir..." Hath frowned in frustration as he searched for the word.

"Drowning!" he said triumphantly, his glee at finding the word not matching the warning Pern was being given. "It over quickly."

Hath meandered slowly towards the jagged lump of rock. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Something about the air felt wrong here.

"Key," he said, waving her closer. He pointed towards the large symbol in the centre of the ring.

"This is Here," he explained, finger moving towards the symbol in the lower left corner. "Where we go. Touch key to middle, then put hand..." Hath pointed to the destination symbol he had shown Pern. He took a step back.

It did take some bravery, he thought, to come out here from everything that was familiar. His reaction through anxiety and into rage might have been different, but the cause was the same. Lashing out was of no more user than Pern nearly turning back.

 

[Pern]

"W-wot," Pern blinked at the orc in response. Felt like drowning? Who in their right mind would subject themselves to something so awful? Then she recalled him saying he'd traveled by Portal Stone before ... and so had Ignatius. It was over quickly. Imagine that.

Apparently the mildly unhinged or crazed.

Frown returning, she pulled the silver chain around her neck back over her head, lifting the portal stone key amulet into view and stepped closer. Hath wasn't the only one to sense the strangeness of the area. A sense of foreboding overcame her, ever so much more strong than the dread she was already harboring in the pit of her stomach. She muscled down the feeling that was slowly creeping up her esophagus like a bad case of acid reflux to listen to him.

So the main symbol at the center demarcated their current location. Then, surrounding that, other symbols that signified other portal stones. To travel, one touched their key to the center of the main symbol and touched their hand to their chosen location symbol. This all sounded familiar and aligned with what she had read up on. Ignatius had provided her with his own travel journals and a few useful books for the journey, within which his notes on traveling by the stones. She'd not read far into it, having been mostly incapable of focusing over her ever-growing anxiety in the few nights leading up to this point.

Now here she was and here the stone was, staring her in the face. Somehow she thought it'd be bigger, more grand. More intricate and awing? Admittedly, aside from the feeling of unease she picked up, it was rather underwhelming.

"And..." she began, carefully palming the key in her fist to look around them, "everyone inshide the shircle will travel together?"

Hath nodded.

She set her brow, giving the amulet a little squeeze in her hand and pointed to the lower left symbol again, a questioning glance given to him. He nodded again.

Seemed simple enough.

With a deep breath she pressed the key to the center of the main symbol and touched her hand to the lower left corner. The effect was instantaneous and to Hath's credit he was right. It did feel like drowning. Felt like being dropped into a cold, black abyss with no air, no ground, no sky. Nothing. Just a fathomless void.

Suddenly, ground. Pern dropped to her knees with a deep gasp of breath, eyes bulging at the feeling of utter disorientation. What just happened to her? Where were they? What was that noise?

 

[Hath Charosh]

It was never pleasant for Hath. Some orcs had described it as almost relaxing on the year they had travelled north and east to Bhaithark. It had always felt like losing control to him. It didn't bring the same reflex as drowning. Instead you felt almost detached from your body, yet still weightless. He heard whispers in the void, then a sudden voice inside his own head.

She will get you killed.

Hath closed his eyes as light suddenly returned. He blinked slowly. The shape of Pern came into focus. She was down on her knees. That did not surprise him. What surprised him was how loud that voice had sounded. Never before had he heard whispers in the void before, though other orcs had spoken of it. It had not sounded quite like his own any more, even though he had been thinking some of those same thoughts.

He offered Pern a hand. He drew it back before she could even reach for it.

The sun was lower in the western sky here. The footfalls came from that direction and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust and see the shapes coming down the gentle slope. The sound of waves striking the cliffs below them had its soft rhythm disrupted by the pounding of feet.

A cry rang out. It was an orcish voice. Three warriors bearing down on them.

Good.

His bow was always half strung. His pack fell to the floor and the stave whipped around his body. One tip was pushed against his foot and the bow creaked as he held it in the middle with one hand and pushed the string into the groove with his right.

Hath didn't even call for Pern to stay back. He felt that insidious force twist within him, still not recognising it as something else. He wanted to draw blood. Unleash that aggression that had been contained back at Elbion.

An arrow was in flight a moment later, thudding into the soil a few strides ahead of the orcs. A warning. Even if the next arrow was true he would still only bring down one before they were upon him.

Should have killed with the first.

 

[Pern]

Still gasping for breath and fighting the sickening tightness of her gut, Pern reached for the hand that swam into view only to grab at air. The hand was gone and the sound was getting louder. Staggering with a collective amount of physical and emotional effort, she leaned against the portal stone to use it for grounding and blinked away the bleary lights in her eyes.

The shadow of Hath's figure came into focus first, the muscles along his broad shoulders pulled taught against the weight of his drawn bow. An arrow flew and she followed its arc outwards to the approaching figures. They were fuzzy at first and she wiped at her eyes, hearing finally returning to a clarity that told her that sound was heavy and fast footfalls accompanied by a rangey roaring sound. Having never heard an orc battle cry before, Pern's mind immediately went to gryphons.

The first arrow did little to dissuade the group of their approach. The second arrow flew and hit the middle orc square in the throat. He tumbled forward with a heavy smack and a gurgle into the ground.

The other two orcs drew their blades, now within vision distance there seemed to be some hesitation in their stride as they honed in on Hath's figure.

 

[Hath Charosh]

They were perhaps wild orcs. A trio of men who had been cast out of their tribe, looking for trouble. They could have been hoping for a caravan to attack. They could also have been the equivalent of the Elbion watchtower. A group from a local tribe watching for danger.

This stone was used by far more than orcs. In fact it was much more common for human traders to moor at the nearby port and bring their goods here to be taken to distant lands through the stones.

If they are without a tribe then no one will miss them.

Even in the circumstances he carefully laid his bow on the ground. He did not have a spare and they would need it for the journey south. He snarled as he wrapped both hands around Biter and took a step forwards.

"Wait!" called one of the two orcs, holding up a hand. Hath took a moment to scan the horizon, looking to see if any more were coming.

 

[Pern]

There weren't any others. Not within eyesight on the horizon, anyway. The second orc skidding to a halt at the shout of the other and the pair exchanged a glance. Pern pushed herself to stand fully, having finally caught her breath despite the sheer shock of their welcoming party, and squinted at them as her vision slowly reached focus.

She watched with worried saffron as the two seemed to reach an agreement and promptly began retracing their steps, leaving their dead companion to rot. Clearly they were not expecting something of Hath's calibre to come through the stone.

Blinking in alarm and confusion, Pern pushed herself away from the stone and watched them go. Her gaze panned around their immediate surroundings, see no others, and landed upwards on Hath, "Ish thish normal?"

 

[Hath Charosh]

"No, not normal," he replied, stepping forwards slowly. "But not..."

Hath trailed off. He was trying to find the human expression 'exceedingly rare', but could not recall it. He was also distracted, fighting a tug to go chasing after the last two, to put them in their place for daring to raise their weapons against him.

Whilst orcs leaving a tribe and causing trouble was not that rare, they would not usually be so bold as to linger around a portal stone looking for trouble.

Hath walked up to the one he had shot. He used his boot to roll him onto his back. The orc was still gurgling quietly, mouth opening and closing. The arrow hadn't struck a major artery, his death would be slow. Hath drew out a knife, dropped to his haunches and drove his knife in under the sternum without a pause. The orc shuddered and fell still. Hath wiped the blade on the orc's jerkin.

"Nothing worth taking," he grumbled. "Ah," he corrected, finding a cloth wrap filled with dried, salted meat.

 

[Pern]

Pern reckoned she understood what remained unspoken and offered a nod to him despite him not looking. Her silence on that end would be enough. Her bare feet followed after him, magnetized by the things his presence represented in what was quickly unraveling to be a dangerous landscape.

Safety. Knowledge. Wisdom.

... brutal mercy.

Couldn't keep her eyes on that scene, one she was certain would turn her stomach if she looked too long. Pern wasn't a religious type but she felt out of sorts not having something to say or do with her hands to signify a mostly quiet passing. A frown cemented itself around her tusks while Hath looted the body, brow furrowing. Theft. Theft - the entirety of the last five minutes beat against her ironclad morals and better judgement.

Don't take his things! That's wrong! Disrespect of the dead! What if he needs them in his afterlife? Did he have an afterlife? What sort of faith did the wild orcs keep? What would his companions have done? They left him to rot, clearly their scruples lie elsewhere. Like surviving. He wasn't using those things anymore.

But it's wrong!

She settled for saying nothing and frowning at a distant, innocent shrub instead. Her gaze burned a figurative hole in it from her internal turmoil and flickered off to something else. Keeping an eye on their surroundings, being alert, prepared for any further threats from ... from ...

"Where are we?" she asked rather suddenly, half glaring at the innocuous landscape.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Death was a part of the wilds. It could rear its head and strike at any time. But even a few strips of jerky could be the different between life and death. Hath uttered a complaint at the orc having fallen onto his arrow and snapped it. One less arrow could be that difference too.

"Come, come," he called the Pern, walking at a brisk pace north. They did not have to walk far before the sound of the waves crashing against the sheer cliffs became a constant, soothing rhythm. Every year the portal stone came closer to falling into the ocean.

Hath waved to the west, along the coast. "That way for over a month: Elbion." He turned around and pointed south east.

"We go that way," he announced. The olive-skinned orc turned his head back over his shoulder, imagining the distance to Elbion.

"How you end up there again?" he asked. He could vaguely remember some details of the story from when he had passed through Elbion the first time. It felt like a lifetime ago now and he wasn't even sure she had told him much.

 

[Pern]

Over ...

Pern blinked at him, stopping mid-stride to follow his casual gesture in some non-descript direction.

Over a month?

She did not know her frown could deepen, but it did. Pern tried to swallow but found she'd somehow gotten a rock lodged in her throat. It sat there, stubbornly refusing to move. When Hath asked of her origins, the voice that managed to escape was rasp and forced at best.

"Ahm-" she squeaked, rubbing a hand at her throat and turning her back on where she was told her home lay. Over a month away. "Ah-" Pern cleared her throat and gave a light sniff, blinking away a stinging sensation in her eye. Focus on the story Pern, you got this.

"Ig -erm- Ignashush found me ash a babe in the hayloft of a farm on the shouth of the Cairou. He shaysh a shmall tribe of orcsh came through the area, shaid they were shpiritual folk. Peesh-ful. They were looking for shafety in Elbion but ... the Mershant Counshil would not grant them pashage acrossh the river. Shaid they were carrying a disheashe. Many were shick."

Her feet followed a bit more readily now, just off Hath's heel as he lead the way.

"They were fleeing pershecushun of a larger clan and before Ignashush could convinsh Elbion to give them shanctuary they were chashed out by their pershuers. He tried to help but there were too many. I wash left behind, hidden. Not more than a half-moon old. Ignashush took me in and cared for me shinsh that day."

 

[Hath Charosh]

"It is a a month. But could go through stone and see your walls," he said, pointing back towards the stone. The world was a collosal place. The portal stones made it seem smaller. "Do not think of what is behind, unless you need it to survive. Think of what is ahead."

There was a pause as he digested her story.

"He found just you?" he asked rhetorically. "Then you strong," he said, lifting his chin as he turned to regard her. Some of those words had gone over his head, but once again he knew enough to pick up the gist of the story. Teaching her some orcish was going to prove difficult when his common was so limited.

"Frail do not live like that. But tribes..."

The thought of trying to explain the political landscape of orc life in common gave him a headache. He was still catching his breath after the unexpected fight, no matter how brief.

"Hard life. Kardidua is chief. She keeps tribe safe in hard times. You will see."

 

[Pern]

Pern shook her head, rubbing lightly at her hairline and pushing a few wily brown curls from her eyes, "Not shtrong ... jusht lucky." Had Ignatius not found her there was no telling where she would have ended up or how long she would have lived. Lucky indeed to have been found by a Maester of the 3rd Order at the time. Thirty years later, two orders more learned and ten years into retirement had seen her life through some curious tucks and turns.

Nothing so curious as this, however. Pern tried to keep Hath's wisdom in mind: focus on the now, on the present, on the path ahead.

"Kardi-doa?" she repeated. Safe sounded good. Pern liked safe, "How far?"

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Kardid-dua," he said, trying to speak as plainly as possible. "Our chieftain. She is my mother."

Scabhair had been somewhat put out when he hadn't made that piece of information clear from the start. The truth was that she had always been his chieftain and hardly ever his mother. He had never come to realise that it had been for his protection. If she had doted on him after his father had died then her new mate may have disposed of him.

"Two weeks perhaps," he said. "Have to find them. Or decide to carry on. Do not stay in one place."

He pointed far above them, whisps of clouds moving south.

"Rains will come soon."