"You said we were near your house," I remembered, pulled back as well. "What is this place?"
"It's Vrathgar's. He built it last autumn, for an engagement that fell through. He offered it."
I tried to hide my racing pulse at the idea of confronting the orc again. "Oh. That's…generous. Is he…"
"He's staying with Tyralk's family for now, while things are hard." He must have seen my fear. "Tyralk lives. And he will keep his leg. Thanks to you."
I'd heard relief described as a weight removed, but this relief was a weight dropping onto me, like it would pull me to the floor.
“There's damage, but he's building back the strength on that side. Vrathgar will be there to fuss and hover over him." he started to draw me towards the rope bridge.
"They didn't seem that close, Tyralk and Vrathgar. They fought a lot."
Khal's lips twitched. "Vrathgar fights everyone a lot. But he comes through when we need him." His smile faded. "He wanted to apologize, for his harshness. He was unfair to you."
The clouds shifted, far above, the precious light dimming around us. "This was unfair to all of you.” I shivered. “His anger is justified."
"His anger, perhaps. His behavior, no."
The planks swayed a little, but I was okay if I held his arm.
“The rest of us,” he said, “we chose to deal with the baron. We entered the contract with an expectation of good faith. You didn't have that luxury.” At the bottom of a stair, he helped me to the ground. “If you’ll come this way, we’ll have something to eat soon.”
The forest floor in this bizarre cavern, this place with its pocket of sky, was open and soft, paths denoted by rocks, only roots and ferns to step around. Water burbled ahead, and orcs, older than the ones I’d met, faces kind or creased with concern, waved to us from courtyards and firesides.
“They all know you,” I said.
“Of course.”
An older woman with animal claws as earrings openly stared, her disapproval following me.
Children’s voices broke the quiet, echoing off the trees.
“Khal!”
A knot of them barrelled out of the tall ferns, several colliding against our legs, and Khal steadied me. They seemed so alien with leaves in their hair and the cast of their skin, but these were children’s faces, children’s eyes, and they shrieked and babbled at us, grabbing at him.
Khal answered them, pointed at me. They gasped.
The whole cohort was staring at me now, wide and challenging eyes. A small girl- I think she was a girl- grabbed my skirt and tried to lift it. I pulled away. It was like they were asking a hundred questions, rapid fire, and Khal was firing back answers, very quickly, till he switched to Common. “And we’re all being rude, because Rowena doesn’t speak Orcish. It’s Common or nothing.”
There were cries of consternation.
“I don’t care. She’s hungry, and I’m taking my wife to get food.” He started moving, and they moved with us, running and sliding and scrambling on the leaves.
"Why did you marry afa-grik?"
"We don't use that word."
"Yeah, but why?"
"Because we chose each other." He was starting to walk faster, brusque. There was color at his neck.
"Is he strong?"
"She'svery strong."
"She doesn'tlookstrong."
