Waking the Gods

Chapter 9

Vera woke again feeling much better than she had the first time. Her headache was gone, and she wasn’t freezing, so she sent a silent thank you to Faroo for getting her food. If that was what Alber was dealing with every morning when he stumbled back home, she was no longer confused about why he was so quiet and hated loud noises.

While making a promise to herself never to drink that much again, Vera pulled the furs over her bed and stood to the side. Her first thought was that she should clean. That’s what she always did when she woke up. But as she looked around she realized that there wasn’t a broom, and it actually wasn’t that dirty in here, probably because it was so small there was nothing to collect dust.

Realizing she would have to leave the hut to find some work, Vera hesitated. Garluk hadn’t told her expressly not to leave the hut…but none of the Orcs, except Faroo, had seemed particularly welcoming, so she had no doubt it was an unspoken, but very firm order.

“Still, I need to do something…”

With that determined thought Vera strode as confidently as possible to the door and pulled it open. Afternoon warmth spilled through and it took a moment before her eyes adjusted. As she stood in the doorway a moment, the full sounds of the camp greeted her.

There weren’t many mulling in the camp, but she caught several walking between the caves carved into the mountainside. They carried ore, furs, or food from one cave to another, somehow never faltering in their steps, even when the paths were barely cut into the rock.

Vera worried any job she might find would involve walking those paths, and she was sure she wouldn’t be able to do it as gracefully as the orcs who lived here. She would have to find something closer to the ground.

Looking around, she found that might be harder to do than she’d hoped. Every trace of the party last night had been cleared away, and the only orcs near her seemed to be on sentry duty from the way they would sporadically check outside the wall before resuming sharpening what looked like already over-sharp weapons.

Vera shivered as she caught the eye of a sentry. He was almost as large as Garluk, but had several long, deep scars criss-crossing one side of his face. She didn’t know if he was missing his eye on that side, but she highly doubted he could open his eyelid anyway.

While she watched in fascination, he swiped at his axe with his whetstone, while maintaining what could only be described as aggressive eye contact with her. The axe was definitely sharp enough that he didn’t need to continue sharpening it, but he seemed to find a need in her eyes as his pace picked up, apparently getting it ready for use now that he’d seen her.

“There you are, I was about to come get you!” Faroo appeared out of nowhere, behind Vera. With a sharp glare at the one-eyed orc, he steered Vera in the opposite direction by her shoulders.

“Did you want a tour of the camp? It’s not much, but we did find good ore recently. With any luck it’s a big vein and we can build a nice forge…” He started rambling but Vera only shook her head.

“You’ll build here instead of going back to Dracora?”

“It’ll be a long time before we can take Dracora back, even if Garluk is successful. The best thing to do is build this place up as much as possible, maybe get more to come here. If we ever do get the chance to get our stronghold back, a few will no doubt want to stay here, and keep growing it.” Faroo looked around with barely contained excitement at the prospect of this camp growing.

“Who knows, maybe this place will become its own stronghold one day.”

Vera was cheered by his optimism, while also remembering how badly it seemed to hurt him to lose Dracora. As she looked around, she wondered if someday, someone would care enough about this thrown-together-looking camp to not want to leave it…to think of it with pride, as their home.

As Faroo continued rambling, pointing to the different caves and how deep the vein they’d found ran, Vera found herself wondering what it felt like to miss a place. She didn’t miss her family, or the small village, but maybe it would take time for that to hit. She’d only been gone for two days after all…but shouldn’t she be missing it already? Or at least wanting to go back? Or wanting to see anyone from her life?

Truthfully, she didn’t. If anything, she wanted to stay with Faroo, just because he was so nice, but she wondered if she’d really miss him once she left. As she pondered, she looked up to see him still rambling, still pointing, and still leading her around, as though she were an important guest that he desperately wanted to impress.

He would smile down at her, his tusks disappearing slightly as his mouth stretched, making him appear almost human…if he stood about a foot shorter and didn’t have green skin and bulging muscles. She returned each of his smiles, even if she wasn’t fully listening all the time. His large hand rested on her shoulder as he steered her around where he wanted her to look.

Somehow, she found the weight comforting instead of oppressive like she would have if it had been anyone else. Even though there was a gentle breeze, his large hand engulfing her shoulder emanated a gentle warmth to her body. He took shorter strides to match her, and eventually Vera joined in his conversation, pointing out where she might organize a bit more of the camp, if she were to stay.

Faroo took her recommendations as seriously as if he would really do them, which made Vera feel even better, even though she doubted he would do anything she said. She was an outsider, after all, and a human at that!

Still, by the time the sun was setting, she and Faroo had planned out every detail of how this camp would expand into a stronghold one day, complete with nurseries, forges, smelters, and training grounds. Faroo led her to the cave that was really the kitchen had been carved. Inside, three orcs, a bit rounder than the others, looked at her curiously while Faroo scooped her out another bowl of stew.

Faroo was able to draw them into conversation as well, expounding enthusiastically about the suggestions that Vera had made until she had blushed. That seemed to amuse the round orcs and they began to tease Faroo about his “cute lil’ pet”, until Faroo’s cheeks were as red as Vera’s and he quickly made an excuse that they should leave.

Just as Vera was about to stand from where Faroo had placed her while she ate, the door to the cave swung open in an increasingly familiar way, with an increasingly familiar form blocking the light that filtered in.

“Don’t leave on my account. Surely you’re not done feeding your pet.” Garluk strode into the small space with a fierce glare at Faroo. “Surely that’s what it must be, since you keep disobeying me and getting close to it.” Faroo bristled, and his hand on Vera’s shoulder tightened almost enough to be uncomfortable, but he was still gentle with her.

“She is no one’s pet, Garluk, you know that. And there’s no harm getting to know her, especially when you made it seem like she’s so important.” Faroo’s voice had become uncharacteristically hostile, and Vera looked up at him in concern. He had explained that he was Garluk’s second in command. Surely that meant he wasn’t supposed to be challenging him like that?

“It isn’t important. What it is, is what matters. Don’t get too attached, it will be leaving soon. For now, I think I need to impart some ground rules so it doesn’t get any funny ideas, the way you seem to be doing. Don’t forget, once I’m back, you’ll be second again. Either accept it, or be ready to challenge.”

With that Garluk dropped the rabbits he’d had slung over his shoulder and pulled Vera, who was now standing by Faroo, closer to him and out from under Faroo’s hand. Vera was too busy trying to fight the pain in her heart to be considered a pet. When the cooks had said it, she could tell they were just kidding with Faroo. Even when he had blushed he had been grinning and laughing with them.

Garluk was different. It was clear he meant to insult with every pronounced reference to her. She just couldn’t understand why he wanted to humiliate her so badly.

Faroo seemed about to object, but she sent him what she hoped was a reassuring smile and Garluk gripped her shoulder, tight enough to make her wince, and lead her back to her hut. More like he dragged her by her shoulder and threw her in, slamming the door behind him as she regained her balance.

“You humans are all the same. The second you show up you cause problems!” Garluk practically snarled in her face once the door was shut.

Vera only hung her head, waiting for the assault that always came with slamming doors, knowing Garluk might end up being worse than what she was used to.