"Fine. You see that it looks wrong, right? So she's the princess, but there aregrazhil-there are binding-wounds on her arms. They're brutal people, okay. But then their chieftain, he doesn't even come to say goodbye? To his own blood?"
"She speaks the Ka Morth. Only their kings learn it."
"Don't some of their clerics? She could be some kidnapped nun?—"
"She's not a nun." He'd snapped it. There was a silence. The fire cracked.
"... I'm sorry," Khal said. "This is a lot."
A flask uncorked, a slosh as it was passed around. I hung between waking and sleep, heaviness pulling me to the earth, their voices, grunts and breaths, drawing me back to the fire.
"You're right." Khal had spoken, a huskiness to the rasp. "It doesn't add up. The pieces are wrong. That the alliance was agreed to at all. That their chieftain-baron shows so little regard for her welfare. Her wrists." He drew breath. "I think I was so willing to believe in an eager princess who wanted to leave her people and a distant man who yet loved his daughter because I was too exhausted from the fighting to consider the alternative: that we were all played for fools, and I most of all."
The silence stretched, and I almost slept, before his companion's voice broke the night. "We all thought it was worth trying. Don't try to…" he slid back into Orcish. "We are here for you, is what I'm saying. Even Farkath. Even Vrathgar. You are not alone. …not until you're telling your mother."
"Hah."
"Do you think she's going to feed your insides to eagles first, or a slow roast over a fire?"
"I'll deal with it."
"You'll have to. I'm not coming near that." It got quiet. "We love you."
I found the warm void of unconsciousness. The last thing I heard was Khal saying "And I you."
The march continued,but this time I felt my limbs were coated in lead. The orcs were on edge, kept running scouts to check up ahead, nerves frayed. A few times we plunged off into the forest again. My feet were an excellent distraction from how much every other part of me hurt, because they hurt more.
Khal came alongside me as I limped off the road again, touching trees for support.
"Rowena," he said. He switched to the old tongue. "I had a question to ask you."
My Ka Morth was rusty. This was Thea's strength, not mine. She'd studied it longer. "I listen."
He stared down at me, walking as if the very ground didn't try to make us trip. "What happened to your wrists? Why were they injured?"
Alibis were always safest when they were as much as possible the truth. The more truth you told the less you had to remember. But my stomach clenched at telling the orc anything. "My father is a strong leader. He is strong with those who displease him."
"How does a daughter ever displease a father so much?"
"I ran away."
His step slowed. "You'd seemed eager for marriage."
"I did not know yet, when I ran. About the marriage agreement. I found out when you returned a victor." This was more time than I'd ever spoken aloud the Ka Morth. Thea with her patient repeating over prayers would be proud of me. The thought stabbed.
He lunged over the ditch I'd just climbed out of. His brow was furrowed. "You had one day to make this decision?"
I pictured the chamber, me still bound on my knees, Thea pleading for leniency for me. The terror in her eyes when the news came. "I had minutes." I watched her face again, the relief mixed with horror in my fragile sister's eyes. "I said yes in a heartbeat."
"You are a decisive person. I could not have moved so quickly."
I climbed over a log. Thea's dress was going to be a mess. My legs were heavy manacles to drag. Everything was pain. I did not know what he wanted, why he kept speaking to me. What could he need to know? I shouldn't speak till I understood what was expected, but I found myself answering in the common tongue. "People in the city often marvel when beggars run across the rooftops as if they have no fear. They don't stop to ask why they're running." I used my arms to pull on a branch, keep myself lurching forward. "The right fear makes heroes of us all."
"I have never seen a city of men. I know a little."
"They are good places to disappear."
A soft intake of breath. He'd laughed. "Not for everyone."
