Page 48 of The Orc Warrioress and the Elf Lord

“Well, not yet,” she said. “But, well, we have taken the capital.”

“Did you come back to celebrate?”

“What happened?” She gestured to his family’s farmhouse.

“Ah,” he said. “Dragons.”

She stiffened, shaking her head. “Dragons?”

“Well, one dragon, really, just the one. They are solitary, after all.”

“A dragon did this?” came Iahir’s voice.

“Who is that?” Maldred squinted as Iahir appeared in the darkness. “Is that an elf?”

“Ignore him. He is not here. He is not important,” said Gathren. “A dragon?”

“Yes, it was large and had massive wings and it was blue. Bright blue. Like a robin’s egg is blue,” said Maldred. “And it burned everything, just back and forth, spewing fire out of its mouth, and then it took your mother—”

“What?” she squeaked.

“Yes, sorry about that,” said Maldred. “We all said it was better to go as my parents did, as your uncle did, to go in the flames. Because Haem only knows what a dragon wants with an aging orc woman.”

“Haem only knows,” she repeated, stunned.

“What do you mean, took her?” said Iahir.

“Grasped her up in its claws, flew off,” said Maldred. “Really, you’re not just an elf, you’re nae Oir, are you not?” The Valaedor elves were sometimes called nae Oir, which translated to “of gold.”

“As I said, ignore him,” said Gathren. “You’re saying my mother’s alive?”

“Like those stories,” said Iahir. “The ones where the dragon takes some woman off and imprisons her in his lair, or something? It really took her?”

“Gathren, it’s very difficult to ignore someone who keeps speaking and asking questions,” said Maldred.

Gathren sighed heavily. She turned and gave Iahir the most lethal stare she could summon. “Not now,” she said to him.

Iahir bowed his head.

Gathren went back to Maldred. “How long ago did this happen?”

“Three weeks give or take,” said Maldred. “We would have sent word to you, but we had no notion where you were. We could not tell Ratharg either, because he left Arzakh to join the invasion when you did.” Ratharg was the orc from a neighboring farm who’d been sent across the pass, the one she’d gone to Arzakh to try to help. They’d all been able to get letters from home for a time in Arzakh, but not recently.

“Was his family’s farm damaged?”

“Not their house,” said Maldred. “But fields and fields of their crops.”

“That’s horrible,” she said. “And we have no indication why the dragon did this?”

“They’re dragons,” said Maldred. “They breathe fire.”

“Yes,” spoke up Iahir. “But there are treaties. There are agreements. This dragon is in violation of every single one.” He stepped up next to Gathren. “Sorry. I know you don’t want me to say anything.”

“Who is he?” said Maldred.

“Iahir nae Cirlahir, at your service.” Iahir gave a little bow.

Maldred was taken aback. “Why are you here?”