Waking the Gods

Chapter 8

Faroo was quick to gather the bowls and leave under Garluk’s watchful glower. Just before he shut the door behind him he sent a small smile to Vera, which she was quick to return and wipe off her face, hoping Garluk would not notice.

Unfortunately, by that time, his attention was back on her, and his scowl deepened at the interaction, but he didn’t move or speak. Instead, he only glared at her, but she thought she saw his jaw muscles clenching constantly.

“He only wanted to speed my recovery. I’m grateful for his kindness-,”

“You should not have drunk at all. That was Orc beer. It should not be wasted on weak humans,” Garluk interrupted gruffly. He folded his arms across his chest, and Vera fought the urge to cower away from his bulging muscles. His stance reminded her of Marge, right before the woman was ready to show just how much strength she had over Vera.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t think-,”

“Tsk, of course not. I don’t expect you to. Just follow and obey.” Just like Marge, she wasn’t allowed to speak. Even without moving, he was exuding the same energy Marge always did when she was in the mood to hurt something, namely, Vera.

“I will,” Vera muttered, looking down. His figure was swaying between a large, muscular Orc with green skin, and a hulky human woman. Every fiber of her being told her that it didn’t matter which form became the permanent one; she was about to be hurt.

Vera had no idea if it was the leftover hangover that was affecting her like this, or Garluk himself, but she wanted him to leave desperately, especially when his voice somehow sounded exactly like Marge and yet nothing like her at the same time.

Garluk paused and only looked at her, but she refused to lift her gaze to him. Finally, he let out a grunt.

“We leave day after tomorrow. Rest now, I will not carry you all the way north, and you will not slow me down.” His words were clipped and hate-filled, and Vera had to fight the urge to exclaim. There was no way she could keep up with his pace! She didn’t even know where they were going, but she hadn’t been able to keep up with him for five minutes yesterday.

“I-I can’t…” she tried to articulate what she was thinking, so that he would realize and not expect too much of her, but a harsh snarl filled the air.

“You will not talk back!” Suddenly he was by the edge of her bed, looming over her shuddering form. She was not able to stop herself from shrinking away from him when he, once again, became a bloated woman with an outstretched arm, ready to strike.

Garluk must have seen something in her eyes, because he backed off. He stood close to the side of the bed, gazing down at her while she tried to get her suddenly too heavy breaths under control. He didn’t move a muscle until she was able to breathe normally.

When she was finally able to, she craned her neck up to look at him. She knew tears were threatening to fall, but after she came back to herself she could only realize that he’d had no intention of striking her. His anger had made him move forward, but he hadn’t raised his arm at all, and somehow, that made her reaction worse.

“I wasn’t talking back, but stating the truth,” Her bottom lip trembled, but she spoke slowly enough that her voice did not waver. “I am saying that I cannot keep up with you.”

Garluk didn’t move, only gazed down at her. His green eyes bored into her soul as he met her eyes and held the contact. She couldn’t understand anything she saw there, but it seemed like there were several emotions flickering through him at a quick pace. What surprised her was that she didn’t see the one she expected: anger.

Finally, after an uncomfortably long time, Garluk looked at the bed, instead of her. Vera was thankful he did so just as the tears that had formed before, enlarged by the poorly-timed eye contact, fell to the furs below her. She took one more breath before also looking down.

“I will try though.” The words were barely a whisper, but Garluk’s gaze snapped back at her and she met his eyes.

“Faroo explained the situation. I don’t know what’s happening, or why you found me…but I promised him I would help however I can. If that means going north with you…so be it. I only hope I’m more of an asset than a burden.” Vera explained as steadily as she could.

“But you have to realize that I am human. As you say, “I am weak”. I cannot keep up with your pace, and I will slow you down. But I will try not to.”

Garluk glanced over her body, as though assessing how strong she was, and nodded slowly to himself.

“You are weak.” The words were almost so quiet she couldn’t hear, but not quite, and even though she knew it was true, it still hurt to hear them confirmed.

Garluk was quiet again. At one point it looked like he was going to cross his arms again, but at the last second he stopped and, while looking back at Vera, lowered them again slowly.

Finally, after an eternity of just staring at each other, he sighed.

“Fine. Gather strength for now. We have mountains to cross first.” He grunted before turning and quickly leaving, not forgetting to slam the door behind him.

Vera looked after him. Part of her was still recovering from imagining Marge in his place…the other part wondered how she was supposed to “gather strength”?

Looking around the walls of her hut gave no clue, and the effects of the stew were finally starting to calm her head, but all she could think of was sleep. That was how she usually recovered…or maybe that was how she escaped. At this point she really couldn’t tell, but felt like it was the only option she had.

He hadn’t seemed happy with her interacting with Faroo, so going into the camp didn’t seem like the best idea, and she wasn’t hungry anymore thanks to the stew. Vera lay back down on the furs. They were soft, and somehow all the information and emotional hills she had experienced since she woke up made her tired. Or maybe it was the effects of the lingering Orc beer that she wasn’t supposed to drink in her system.

Either way, Vera found herself sinking back into sleep, hoping that this would “gather strength”. She felt she would need it…and she was right.