Waking the Gods

Chapter 10

Moments passed as Vera waited for a blow to land. She’d learned long ago not to tense, somehow that made the muscles hurt worse after. And if she didn’t fight back or make too much noise, it would be over quicker. At least that’s what she’d learned from Marge’s beatings.

Who knew how bad an orc hit could be? Garluk was twice a normal humans size, stood at least a half-head taller than the next tallest orc (Faroo), and had more muscles than should be possible to be held up. If anything, Vera expected another blow like from Lord Aberon.

As seconds that felt like minutes passed, Vera unconsciously grew more tense. In her head she just wanted him to start so it could be over, even as her heart trembled, still hurt by being considered sub-person before. If he didn’t even consider her a person, merely a pet, he could have no reservations about hurting her.

Still, nothing ever came, and Vera finally dared glance up at him. Though his fists were clenched and his muscles still looked like hard rocks, she could not find any indication that he was about to lash out, at least not with violence.

After another moment of hesitation, she finally decided to speak.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause you trouble. He was only showing me around,” Vera’s words were barely more than a whisper.

“You don’t need to be “shown around”. You’re leaving, he’s staying. That’s that.” Garluk grunted, a bit of the hostility he’d shown Faroo coming back into his voice.

“I know…he knows…it was just…nice,” Her voice dropped at the end.

Garluk only grunted as he glared at the floor before he finally looked back up at her. “I told you to rest. You should rest.” He nodded his head at her bed.

“I can’t lie around anymore…I’m used to working.” Garluk took a moment to appraise her, while she shivered from his intense gaze.

“You work, but still weak.” He finally judged.

Vera could only hold her head down. From being called a pet, to being weak, she could easily see where she stood in his estimation, and as nice as Faroo had made her feel, that’s how bad she felt now as she sunk back into the squalor of never being good enough.

The two stood in silence another moment. The confident orc warrior, and the small, fragile human girl, both drowning in their own thoughts, neither knowing what was going through the others' heads.

Finally, Garluk let out a small growl and left abruptly. For once, he didn’t slam the door, but Vera didn’t have long to wonder why when he came back in, carrying a small pack and a bow. The bow looked comically small in his hands, and she wondered wryly if it was a kid learning bow. With how thin and short the grip was, she wouldn’t doubt it.

“Travel clothes.” He dropped the pack at the end of her bed. “Smallest we had. Basic bow, until you get better. Also, an axe will be made for you. I couldn’t find one small enough.” He thrust the bow at her until she took it in her hands slowly.

The grip felt larger in her hand than it had looked in his as she felt up and down the cool wood. She looked up at Garluk with worry already forming behind her eyes. He didn’t expect her to know how to use a weapon, did he?

“You will learn on the way. Each night, we will train until you can hunt on your own. I won’t be the only one keeping us alive the whole way.” The idea seemed to irritate him, though she couldn’t tell if it was him teaching her, or the thought that she would be useless that was worse in his mind.

“Oh…thank you, I’ll…try to learn quickly.” She replied, looking back down at the bow. The thought of being able to provide for herself was exciting. She’d never had to do that before, and an idea emerged that maybe she could be a huntress when this was all over. Suddenly she looked at the bow with a fierce determination to become a master.

“You will have to. If I think you are slacking, I will not feed you.” Garluk immediately set himself up as a strict teacher, and Vera anticipated many nights she’d have to go without under his tutelage. While she continued her examination she missed the way Garluk seemed to be appraising her in much the same way, and with much the same determination.

“Still, I’ll be learning something. And Garluk has proven to be a good hunter, so he’s probably a good one to learn from.” Vera decided to focus only on the positive, since the negative would no doubt hit her sooner and harder than she liked.

As Vera’s eyes wandered over the pack, and her bow, while also thinking of the axe that she would apparently also be carrying, just the thought of the trek she was about to go on made her tired and she tried (and failed) to bite back a yawn.

Immediately Garluk tensed.

“You should be resting!” He admonished, taking the bow back from her and setting it next to her pack. He waited until she had slid under the furs before turning to leave.

“You have one more day to rest. I suggest you use it well.” He stated before closing the door, not slamming it for once, leaving Vera alone with her new pack, bow, and thoughts. She was so wrapped up in thinking about learning from Garluk, she didn’t even notice as evening fell fully.

This time Garluk himself delivered her dinner, though he did not stay to make sure she finished it, only coming back once more to get it. Only once he’d noted she had finished the whole bowl and seemed content staying under the furs the rest of the night did he leave her alone, once again telling her to “gather strength”.

She still didn’t know what that meant, but after the first day she’d ever remembered where she hadn’t been asked to do anything, or ordered around, or beaten, she felt more ready for bed than she ever had. Maybe this is what it felt like to relax for a moment? She hadn’t been on edge all day, except when Garluk got involved, and the dread in her stomach felt different than how she usually felt when she thought of her future.

Before, it was like a dark pit in her stomach she knew would never be filled by anything but more beatings, more harsh words, and a large giant who could fling her across a room so hard she couldn’t think.

She didn’t know what awaited her in the North, and she doubted the trip would be easy or fun…maybe it was that she didn’t know what was coming that made this pit seem different. It was still a dark pit, but this time she couldn’t see anything that was in it. Maybe there would be more beatings at the hands of her instructor, maybe there would be dangers she’d never have dreamed of facing, and maybe she wouldn’t even survive.

But it was different, and it had the possibility of being better than she’d ever dreamed. Maybe she’d even find a place that she could miss, if she were ever to leave it again.

Garluk could never know just how much the simple act of giving a bow and lessons had changed Vera’s view of her own future. If she could ever put it in words, he might not even understand how something so simple and meanly presented could fill anyone with hope, especially when failure meant starvation.

But someday, Vera would look back on that moment when he handed her her first bow, as the real beginning of her adventure. Maybe, when that day came, she’d know whether to thank him or curse him.