Garlthik shook his head seriously. "Not just yet. Not just yet. We've one more errand to run, for you know how to call back the city and I do not." He gestured back at the orks.
"I've promised them a big share of the reward, you see. If they don't get it…," he said.
then passed his hand over his throat in slitting motion.
"Why should we trust you?"
"Don't. But if you don't do what I say, I'll kill you His face broke into a grin again.
"G'day. We'll be leaving soon." He turned and walked back toward the leader.
Yes, J'role thought with approval. Garlthik had set the choices right out in front. Do it or die. The truth. Not the choices his father had offered, each year slowly withering with promises of “preparations" that would never come. He stared after Garlthik, then sat back down, his thoughts full of the future. Would the citizens of Parlainth be able to remove the creature from his thoughts? Would he get his voice back? Would he and Garlthik go on and have adventure after adventure?
Would Releana ever trust him again?
31
In his nightmares, as in his childhood, his mother makes him speak to her: She tests him almost daily, when no one else is around, to see if he still speaks with the voice of madness.
Slowly she becomes insane. The transformation was slow in life, but speeded up in his nightmare, and he can see each of the subtle transformations on her face and in her eyes, like the shifting of colors during a sunset.
Another day of travel followed, filled with growing apprehension among the ork raiders.
J'role noticed that though the leader of the raiders put on a good face for Garlthik, others among them did not. Some of the raiders mimicked his straighter posture; others pointed at his clothes and laughed. It occurred to J'role that Garlthik was not much like his fellow orks, despite being of their race. He spoke dwarven fluently, and dressed in clothing much more like that of J'role's people than the furs and decorative bones of the raiders.
Throughout the day scouts rode off in the same direction the other group had come, returning quickly their expressions like bad news. At noon, when the raiders had stopped to feed their animals and rest, Garlthik came over to J'role and Releana. “We're being pursued. The scouts are certain of it.” he said.
"Dwarfs?" Releana asked with sudden hope.
"Elves, actually. Though I can't imagine what they have to do with any of this."
J'role, however, knew exactly what, but decided not to bother trying to communicate what he knew of the meeting between King Varulus and Queen Alachia.
"The elves number us at least, riding their bone steeds," said Garlthik after a moment. “If they catch us, it could be bad for us all." Garlthik waited another moment, probably hoping either J'role or Releana would offer some information about the elves. When they didn't, he simply walked away.
"She has the ring of longing, doesn't she?" Releana said.
J'role nodded.
"She's after the city. Maybe they know we're heading for it." She paused, then said,
"J'role, have you been able to work your bonds free at all?”
He nodded, lying. Though he had been trying, Garlthik had tied the knot all too well.
J'role didn't know if he'd ever get out of them.
He lied, but wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was so he could make Releana feel that he was doing well. He told her what he thought she wanted to hear
He wanted her affection back.
More anxiety filled the afternoon. Scouts were sent off in another direction; in the general direction they had been traveling, and returned with more bad news. Garlthik never came over to explain what it was.
The orks pressed their beasts harder, and J'role recognized landmarks as the raiders followed Garlthik's instructions.
J'role once looked over his shoulder and saw a line of mounted figures rushing after them from the western horizon. The figures were tall and thin, and their steeds looked white but insubstantial. He tried to focus on the mounts as he bounced along, and saw that they were bones the bones of horses. The sight sent a chill through him, but at the same time there was a stark beauty to the skeletons. As the creatures ran gracefully over the hilly terrain, J'role saw that it was elves from Blood Wood who rode them. But the elf queen was not among them, and J'role assumed, she had sent her servants to finish her work.
Turning forward again, he saw another line of riders approaching from the south. They were closer to the ground than the elves, and J'role recognized them as dwarfs mounted on ponies, their battle armor and swords glinting in the afternoon sun.
Terrible emotions tugged at J'role: Who to please now? He wanted all the choices to go away. He didn't want to hurt anyone else. He just wanted to go adventuring with Garlthik.
"There's a way to make that happen," said the creature.
"I don't want to die anymore."
"But you certainly don't like being alive.”
"Why can't you leave me alone?"
"Soon enough. Soon enough."
As they rounded a turn in the gully J'role saw the wide, flat-topped hill. He did not feel the longing with the same intensity as when wearing the ring, but a ghost of the memory returned. He remembered standing on the hillside, looking at the city, wanting so much to enter it.
And now he could call it back.
Garlthik rode up alongside the mount on which J'role sat. "This is it? Isn't it, lad?" J'role nodded his head vigorously. The ork leader called a halt, and the beasts stopped awkwardly, breathing heavily, spittle flying from their mouths.
Garlthik dismounted, walked over to Releana and grabbed her from behind the ork she had ridden with. He carried her a ways, then set her on the ground, facing the city.
"There's something to be said. Say it!"
She stood silent and emotionless.
A panic began to rise up in J'role. Did she really think they could wait until the dwarfs arrived? What if the elves arrived first?
A long, horrible moment passed among the group. The leader of the ork raiders walked up to Releana and drew his sword. He raised it high threatening her with it, shouting at her in his strange tongue. She did not respond.
He slashed down at her.
J'role scrambled to get off the beast, and fell down to the ground. Lifting his head, he saw Garlthik parrying the leader's blow and then the two men shouting at each other. Garlthik was undoubtedly telling the ork leader that they couldn't afford to kill Releana.
Then the leader of the orks ripped a scarlet jewel from his fur vest, raised it high, and smashed it against a big rock at his feet. J'role pulled back, afraid of the magic it might release. Releana dropped to the ground, as did Garlthik.
A flash cut through the air where the jewel had struck the stone. He heard the roar of hoof beats rushing closer from many sides; within moments the dwarfs and elves would arrive, and the site of the vanished city would become a bloodbath.
When he turned back toward the ork leader, J'role couldn't believe his eyes.
Standing on the spot where the stone had shattered were Mordom, Phlaren, Slinsk Gore, all of them smiling upon the gathered crowd.
Mordom looked around at the assembly, moving his raised palm: this way and that, the eye in the hand blinking every so often. He turned to Garlthik. "I take it we have reached the site of the city," he said. “This is the arrangement I had with these scorchers."
Garlthik reached for his sword, but the orks around him drew their blades and surrounded him. Garlthik stayed his hand.
"One too many tricks, Garlthik," Slinsk said. "I'm going to kill you, but I'll always admire your style."