Orin The Great Ch. 06

The targeted ogre was too distracted by the other fighters, to see Pantares and Auxin running up behind it. Just as the creature began its turn to see what was coming, the brave knights hacked at the back of its legs. The ogre collapsed to its knees, but as it did this, it let out enough of a growl to warn its two fellows.

Bartram's arrow zipped by, striking a second ogre on the arm. The creature for a moment appeared stunned, shaking its arm as if a bee had stung it. When the ogre moved against the archer, Orin leapt into the fight.

Thanks to the closeness of the trees, he could not swing his polearm effectively, forcing him to thrust its sharp end forward. Orin only did this two times, before the ogre grabbed at the long weapon and jerked it out of the young man's grip. As it was, the sudden lurch caused Orin to fall forward on his chest. He landed heavily, but he was trained well enough to roll aside, crashing into a tree trunk, but missing being stomped flat by the ogre's huge foot.

Orin had a moment to right his body, when Bartram's next arrow bit into the monster's upper chest. Once on his feet, Orin pulled his sword and stood ready.

"Keep your distance." He said to his self. "Beware of that thing's reach. Keep away from its hands and aim to cut at its fingers."

The ogre lunged at him, but in a strange and unexpected manner. It bent at the waist as it thrust its arms out. Orin leapt back, slicing out with his sword and missing. The first ogre was heard roaring in distress, giving Orin's attacker a second of deliberation. The young man saw the intelligence in that monster's eyes, as it was watching Orin and also calculating what was happening to its kin. The monstrosity truly thought like a human, and that caused young Orin to shiver.

Bartram darted between the trees, lining up his sights for another shot. When the ogre noticed him, it threw its long arms out again. The archer fell back into the brush and wasn't seen, bringing great apprehension into Orin's mind.

"Here I am!" Orin cried out. "Come and get me! Yaagh!"

His scream was enough to catch the creature's attention. With Orin swinging his sword up and down like a wild man, the ogre flinched and leaned back. In the next instant, it had a rider and horse galloping in from behind. The rider plunged a polearm into the ogre's neck. Instead of falling or reaching for its wound, the creature flung its huge arm around and smashed its fist into the horse. From where he stood, Orin saw the horse violently spin, nearly in a full circle, while its rider was flung from the saddle and sent tumbling to the ground.

Again Orin shouted, slashing away and hitting nothing, as the nimble ogre used its wide strides to avoid his blade. The monster moved to close to a tree, bending the long weapon stuck at its neck hard enough to bring it loose. It cried out, as if only now registering the pain from the wound, before it ran off.

Pantares, Auxin and others were converging on the first ogre, Orin saw, while the third ogre must have already fled away. The remaining men on horseback gave chase.

"Bartram, are you well?" Orin called out, hurrying to the spot where he'd last seen his friend.

"I'm here, Orin!" The man replied, soon bursting out of the brush. "I fell on my bow, blast it! I broke it!"

It was in instances like this that Orin new the archer was a true warrior. Bartram was more worried about his weapon than he was on his injuries. Seeing that the archer was well, he hurried to find the downed rider. Orin came upon the fallen horse first, hearing its labored breathing and suspecting it was grievously injured. He search through a tangle of bushes, spotting a pair of knee-high boots and trousers colored in the blue of dark water.

"Are you well, sir?" Orin leaned over, ready to give a hand if the knight was willing to accept it.

"I am not hurt." A woman's voice answered him. "I am only winded."

Orin could hardly believe it was a woman, as all of the mounted knights wore hoods of chain mail and looked similar. When the woman sat up, he saw her clear brown eyes, and stray strands of brown hair at the edges of her hood.

"Help me to my feet." She reached out for him. Once she stood, she had a look around, seeing that one ogre was finished off, and that most of the knights had gone after the other two threats. Next, the woman frowned as she saw the sorry state of her mount, before she turned her attention to the young man standing beside her. "I thought I had met all the warriors from Labacum, but I haven't seen you before. Have you only recently arrived here?"

"Yes, we have just come here, but we are not from that kingdom." Orin admitted. "We are adventurers who have been given permission to join the hunt, by the good knights of Labacum."

"Forgive Orin for his discourtesy." Bartram went to stand by his friend. He bowed his head. "My lady, my name is Bartram and this is Orin. We are simple travelers, and as Orin has said, also adventurers. Orin, you must do better when you address a noble."

"Of course." Orin replied. "I am sorry, milady. It was the thrill of the hunt that went to my head. I am so full of excitement that it is nearly spilling out of my body."

The woman smirked at him. "Spilling out of your body, you say? What an excited boy you must be. I am the Lady Olarya of Castra Devana. I must say, you put yourself at no minor peril to stand before an ogre and yell as you did. You are either full of courage or full of ignorance."

"I was defending my friend Bartram." Orin insisted. "I thought he was hurt."

Olarya considered the archer for a moment. When she turned to look at horse again, she frowned, as what was once a strong and healthy animal had ceased breathing. The lady turned when Pantares called out to her.

"We have the head!" The knight shouted, holding up the trophy. It dripped streams of green blood.

"Good." Olarya said, before she motioned at her dead horse. "And we also have a big feast to look forward to, as soon as we drag that one back to camp."

The two cooks were merely a couple that had been hired away from the village that lay nearest to the campsite. They had a story to tell once the others had returned.

"It was the strangest thing to see." The homely woman revealed. "That old lady that just arrived today, she took a handful of dried corn kernels and went to set them by the edge of the camp. That deer walked right up and started nibbling at them. The lady had already told the men to be ready with their arrows. It was simple as pie to fell the beast."

"You could nearly say that lady knew the deer would come." Her husband seconded.

Several pairs of eyes looked to Sundri, who shrugged back.

"It was luck, mostly." The sorceress fibbed. "I can hardly believe it myself."

"But this has never happened before." The cook replied.

"The deer has already been skinned, and here we have the horse ready for that same chore." Auxin frowned. "We have no way to preserve any of the meat. Let us skin the horse, bleed both animals out and quarter them."

"At least we will eat well for the near future." Pantares said. "Meat tonight, meat in the morning and broth for the rest of the week!"

"Better than sucking on rabbit and squirrel bones, as we've been doing lately." Another Labacum knight said.

When the conversation lulled, Orin walked out to the edge of camp. Several men were standing out there blowing horns, calling back all riders still out in the woods. The sun was drawing nearer to the horizon by then, but fortunately a few riders were still unaccounted for.

Orin passed the time by walking up to any and all knights around, and engaging them in conversation if they were willing, or until they barked at him if they were not. In this way, he was introduced to the wealthier, handsome knights of Praylum, and the hairy, unruly men from Grauxall, or Graux Hall as some said it.

As the last few riders trickled in, Bartram joined him.

"Some of the knights from Labacum and Castra Devana are upset because they will have to share the reward for that ogre with the four of us that came late." The archer revealed. "The more sensible of them understood that they had already been battling those ogres for a time already, with little success in dividing their force."

"We were, what, eleven in total?" Orin reasoned. "Five pounds of gold can be divided up into eleven parts. What is the trouble with that?"

"You are being reasonable, that's what the trouble is." The archer explained. "Not all men are as fair-minded as you are."

"Should I be unreasonable?" Orin considered. "All right, I will try. I say that only those who struck the ogre at the time it was killed should get the reward. That would mean that only you, the Lady Olarya and myself should split the gold. There. How was that, Bartram? Am I a scoundrel now?"

Bartram smiled as he reached out to ruffle the youth's hair. "You'll have all of these men jumping on your back, if you tell them something like that. Let's head back to the campfire. We will have our bellies full of deer and horse tonight, after eating not much of anything over the last few days."

Having eaten their fill, Orin and Bartram joined Sundri and Miriam. The two women had already supped and gone off to converse with one another in a secluded area of the camp. The women grew silent at the approach of the men, their faces and forms illuminated by the glow from a candle they'd set on the ground.

"Look at those guilty looks they have." Bartram kidded. "I know what they were speaking about, Orin. They were speaking about our cocks. Sundri has that lustful look about her, doesn't she? And as for Miriam, what sort of mood do you think she's in?"

The black-haired girl looked appalled at how blatant Bartram's words sounded. The sorceress, on the other hand, returned an alluring look to the men.

"Tell us what you really want, Sundri." Bartram persisted. "Or are you afraid to say it before the virgin Miriam?"

"I am not afraid." Sundri replied.

"And I am not a virgin!" Miriam barked.

"Say it, Sundri." The archer urged.

The sorceress opened her mouth as if volcanic steam was coming out of it. She uttered a single word. "Cockle!" She started laughing right after. "You will have to wait a short while, my lovers, until I finish up what I was discussing with Miriam. Don't go too far from me!"

"What were you speaking of?" Orin inquired.

"Oh, I was trying to teach her the Witch's Alphabet."

"A Witch's Alphabet?" Orin looked puzzled as he turned toward Bartram. "Have you heard of such a thing?"

"I have not."

"And you won't ever hear of it, unless a witch lets you into her confidence and tells you about it." Sundri informed them. "You both speak and read in the Common Tongue, and you can recognize letters if you see them. In the ancient past, all of these letters were once symbols. These represented many things, such as specific types of crops, animals, terrain or stars in the heavens. If an ox fell into the water and drowned, for example, you would show the symbol for the ox followed by the symbol for water, or the symbol of the ox within the symbol of water. That is how words first came about, when simple images weren't enough to convey complex messages.

"But how is it a Witch's Alphabet?" Orin didn't understand.

"You will not grasp it, because you are simply not learned enough in the crafting of spells." Sundri described. "Let me start you off with a simple concept. The image of an ox is a crude figure of an ox head with two horns. I can draw it on the ground here so you can see it." She did this using the end of her foot. "Can you see the ox head I have made? Now come and stand on this side, where I am."

Neither Orin nor Bartram could see what she was getting at.

"One of you, draw the first letter of the alphabet of the Common Tongue." Sundri told the men. "Draw the letter Alpha."

"I'll do it." Bartram volunteered. He set the image beside Sundri's image.

Orin compared the two figures. "They look similar, with one upside down compared to the other."

"That is correct." The sorceress replied. "There is very little difference between my ox head and Bartram's first letter, the Alpha. In the Common Tongue, the first two letters are Alpha and Beta, and that is where you form the word Alpha-Beta or Alphabet. In the Witch's Alphabet, most of the letters remain the same, but certain letters and sounds are removed. This enables a magician to form sigils, but I won't tell you what those are just yet. Sigils can produce powerful magic, even if the person creating one is a novice. There is more to say about alphabets, in that witches turn things around and say or write them down backwards, that is right to left, in contrast to left to right as you learned how to read and write. You remove certain letters, and you write incantations backwards, and there is your result, the Witch's Alphabet. Miriam does not know that each letter has a name to it, such as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and so on. Before I can teach her about the Witch's Alphabet, I have to teach her the common name of each letter. This way she will know what letters to remove and then we can proceed with the next lesson."

"Did you know any of this before, Miriam?" Orin wondered.

"No." The girl answered. "I know about plants and herbs, mostly, and a little about the stars. The rest is all new."

"Perhaps such occult knowledge should not be told to Orin." Bartram suggested. "There is something you should know, Sundri."

"Yes?"

"This Lady Olarya was giving our young man long and steady looks, while she sat across from us by the fire."

"Did she now?" Sundri grinned.

"Oh, yes." The archer nodded. "If Orin wasn't so fascinated by the stories being told by the knights, he would have noticed it."

"The Lady was watching me?" Orin asked, becoming mischievous. "Did she want a cockle with me?"

"Stay away from that woman." Sundri said.

"Why?"

"Because you don't know a thing about her." The sorceress replied. "What if you let something slip through you lips? What if you mention that I am a mage, and magic has been outlawed in... Where was it again?"

"Castra Devana." Bartram answered.

"I won't say anything." Orin resolved.

"If you go near her," Sundri threatened. "I will cause your mouth to vanish."

"Can she do that, Bartram?"

"I don't know!" The archer replied.

"But she is a lady!" Orin persisted.

"And what am I?" Sundri asked.

"Are you a lady? You didn't tell us that before!"

The sorceress realized she had blurted out something she didn't want known.

"Bartram, make her tell us!" Orin pressured the archer.

Bartram had seen the way Sundri had shut up like a clam. "She will, when she is ready to tell us. In the meantime, you should listen to her. We know very little about these new people around us, past that they are all nobles of some degree. As Sundri said, some of these kingdoms might have prejudices against magicians. Best not to stir up the pot at this point."

"I'd like to stir up that lady's pot." Orin murmured.

"What did you say, Orin?" Sundri sharply asked.

"Nothing. I said nothing."

"We should go and ask about the night's watch." Bartram cut in. "Since we are the new men here, perhaps we'll be assigned to it tonight. Come with me, Orin."

Sundri kept a close eye on them, as they retreated from her sight.

"Orin will put his cock into anything, won't he?" Miriam asked. "If he saw a hole in the ground, he would probable poke into that as well."

"That is the way of most men." The sorceress replied. She noticed the tone of jealousy in Miriam's words, but it was nothing compared to the jealousy she was feeling.

Orin and Bartram were not assigned to the night's watch, which the young man was eternally grateful for, as any rest at all for their sore walking legs was a good rest indeed. In the morning, he found out why they hadn't been put on watch, and that sent Orin to groaning to his friends about it. Five knights from Labacum were heading out to hunt ogres. This left the sixth knight, and also Orin and Bartram, to guard the tents for the entire day.

"It isn't fair!" Orin complained, waking the archer up.

The four travelers had slept on borrowed and itchy wool blankets. This was because Sundri was hesitant to pull their usual sleeping gear out of her magic hiding place, for fear of retaliation in the case any of the nobles abhorred sorcery. As Bartram sat up to gain his waking senses, he saw Orin pacing through the wide sleeping tent, while Sundri and Miriam were sitting on their blankets and having a private conversation.

"What isn't fair, Orin?" Bartram asked.

The young man quickly explained the situation.

"I see." The archer replied. "Well, we will just have to make the best of it. Sundri, you and Miriam look as if you're conspiring together. What are you speaking of?"

"Nothing too important." The sorceress answered. "I asked Miriam about that salve I prepared for her. Show them your feet, dear."

Being barefoot, the girl stretched her legs out and wiggled her toes. "My feet are much better today! Thank you so much, Sundri! I could barely stand last night!"

"Yesterday, I asked Miriam to walk through the entire camp so she could show all who would look at the bad state her feet were in." Sundri went on. "Now we will make another walk around and show how her feet have improved. The word of mouth will be enough to stir the interest of the nobles and I can charge them a good price for the salve."

"You don't need the coin." Orin said.

"You know that, but they don't." Sundri replied. "We are trying to give off the idea that we are poor travelers, aren't we? What good would it do us for me to give my salve away for no price?"

"These nobles might suspect that we have money hidden on us." Bartram added. "Better to have them think we are poor, than for them to suspect we have hidden wealth. Out there in the woods, some greedy knight might lop off our heads, if he suspected that our purses are full of coin."

"Are you jesting?" Orin asked. "These are nobles, Bartram! What need do nobles have to steal money, when they already have so much of it?"

The archer glanced at the sorceress, who said, "You have a lot to learn, Orin."

This prompted the young man to look at Miriam. "Have you ever heard a story of a noble stealing? I thought they were all pure and honest and all that."

The girl said she'd never heard of such a thing.

"When the rich steal wealth, they call it taxes and fees." Bartram said. "It is stealing just the same, despite the name they give to it."

"Orin and Miriam, you both come from small villages where you have never dealt with noble families directly." Sundri explained. "They steal as much as anyone else, but they make their stealing official and create documents to empower the acts. We will speak of this at another time. For now, Miriam will accompany me to the cooking stations. Perhaps later today, I will show Miriam how to attract an animal to her, as I did with that deer we felled yesterday."

"I meant to ask about that." Orin said. "If it was so easy for you to summon an animal for us to eat, why didn't you do this while we were walking on the road?"

Sundri suspired as if he should have known the answer. "Use that hard potato sitting on your shoulders. I summoned a deer yesterday because we were stopped in this camp, and the deer could come and find us. When we were on the road, we were on the road, which means we were moving about. The deer could not hone in on our spot because we were traveling. Besides, we had food to eat from our pouches, didn't we? The only reason I drew that deer to the camp was because the people here were complaining about how little food they had. Bartram, you deal with Orin before he gives me a headache. I already have this other dense brick to deal with."