Vespa closed her eyes and shook her head as the beast glared around the camp and began snorting and sniffing at various orcs, all of whom tried to give her a wide birth. “Argh, did you get another then? We need enough for our companions.”
“Uh, yes, ma’am. I did,” Tar Roth Non said, stammering.
Tommus was grinning. “You seem to have things under control, Vespa, except perhaps for this D’Warg.” He chuckled; it sounded quite evil. “I need to get back. Tar Roth Non, can you clear some space?”
The young D’Orc nodded and shepherded a couple of D’Wargs out of the way, and Lord Tommus went back through the gateway.
Tal Gor jumped as something wet banged up against his bad leg. He glanced back and around. He had been so distracted by Lord Tommus’s departure that he had not seen the ugly D’Warg make its way around to him. It was poking its nose at his bad leg, and then in his butt crack, sniffing. Tal Gor stood perfectly still; this was clearly not a friendly D’Warg.
The D’Warg, Schwarzenfürze they had called her, stepped back and eyed him up and down as if trying to decide if he was a worthy meal. It then snorted as if in contempt and looked around the camp. After a moment, she moved again towards Tal Gor, pushing him with her muzzle, shoving him in the direction she had been staring.
Tal Gor nearly lost his footing; he twisted to stare at Vespa, not sure what he should do. Vespa was staring back at him, or more precisely, at Schwarzenfürze, and she seemed to be completely shocked.
“What does she want, Commander?” Tal Gor asked rather helplessly as the D’Warg shoved him again.
“I am not sure. It certainly can’t be what it looks like. I’ve known her my entire life; this is not like her.”
“What should I do?” Tal Gor asked.
“Unless you want to fall and be trampled by her claws, I’d suggest you move where she’s pushing you,” Vespa said. The other D’Orcs were also staring at the D’Warg.
She pushed him again, so Tal Gor moved forward, and the D’Warg pushed him again. He just kept moving where she pushed him. After a few pushes they were next to the saddles and harnesses the D’Orcs had brought through the gateway.
“By Lilith’s bloody teat!” one of the D’Orcs cursed. “I think the bitch wants him to ride her!”
“Ridiculous!” another exclaimed. “She won’t let anyone ride her. Even when she was mortal, she was a mean one; only Helmut could ride her. Even Vera, his wife, couldn’t get close.”
Tal Gor suddenly found himself sprawled on a saddle after the D’Warg pushed him into the pile. He looked at Vespa.
The commander was shaking her head. “Well, lad, I cannot in a million years believe this, but I think I’m going to have to show you how to saddle Schwarzenfürze. A D’Warg is different than a warg; the wings and the fact that you fly a thousand feet or more above ground makes the harness quite different.” She shook her head. “The rest of you Crooked Sticks, pay attention now. All the other D’Wargs will be simple to saddle in comparison.”
“You know, I find Trisfelt’s lady friend, Hilda, quite charming. She seems extremely perceptive and bright for a layman,” Lenamare observed apropos of nothing while applying butter to his toasted muffin.
Across the small breakfast table, Jehenna arched an eyebrow and glanced up from the letter she was reading. “You would think that,” she snorted.
Lenamare paused in mid-motion, tilting his head to ask, puzzled, “What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Oh, come on.” Jehenna shook her head. “You must have noticed.” She reached for her cup of tea.
“Noticed what?” Lenamare asked, clearly confused and not understanding what she meant.
“Yesterday?” Jehenna gently shook her head from side to side. “She was buttering you up better than you’re doing to that muffin!”
Lenamare looked taken aback. “Seriously? You must be joking!”
Jehenna sighed. Putting the letter down on her lap, she stared directly at Lenamare. “You cannot tell me that you, Lenamare the Great, do not know when someone is flattering you?”
Lenamare’s mouth opened in a stunned O. He finally shook his head. “What possible reason could that woman have for flattering me? What end would that serve?”
Jehenna sighed heavily. “Men! You are all so dense. I don’t know why we women put up with you.” Lenamare was completely baffled at this point. Jehenna just stared at him. Finally she said, “She obviously has a crush on you!” She raised her hands in hopelessness. “She’s like any senior student infatuated with a famous professor!”
“No...” Lenamare denied. “That cannot be.” Now he was shaking his head. He paused and looked thoughtful.
“Men are always the last to realize when a woman is flirting with them,” Jehenna noted archly.
“But I thought she and Trisfelt were courting?” Lenamare said.
Jehenna gave her head a small shake. “Clearly, she’s simply using him to get access to you.”
Lenamare grimaced. “Ah, poor Trisfelt. Here I had been hoping he might have finally found himself a companion.”
“It is a shame, particularly since the woman is clearly working a lost cause,” Jehenna stated firmly.
“What do you mean, ‘lost cause’?” Lenamare asked, looking slightly insulted.
Jehenna closed her eyes briefly, and then reopened them. “It is a lost cause because you are with me, and that is not going to be changing. Is it?” Jehenna asked sternly. There could clearly be only one correct answer.
“Oh. Of course not.” Lenamare replied, startled and slightly embarrassed at having missed her meaning.
“I just want to stop by my suite to check on everyone before we launch the next hunting party,” Tom said. “I assume, since we are calling on Ragala-nargoloth, that you will be commanding the hunting party, Arg-nargoloth?”
“It would be my honor, Great One,” Arg-nargoloth said, clearly trying not to sound too pleased.
“I too would check on Fer-Rog, who I believe is with Rupert,” Zelda said.
“We shall meet the rest of you back here in the assembly area before long.” Tom nodded to the commanders. He and Zelda headed off towards Tom’s suite.
As they made their way through the corridors Tom asked Zelda, “Do you wish you were going?”
Zelda snorted slightly. “It would be a great experience. However, as steward, my duty is here in the mountain.”
Tom nodded. “But at some point, perhaps it would be good for you to go on a hunting party. After all, as the Steward of the Mount, you must intimately understand all details of the Mount and its provisioning.” He glanced at her.
Zelda nodded, “You are quite wise, My Lord, and when appropriate, I shall be honored to add to my skillset in order to serve the Mount.” Tom was not sure, but he thought he detected a bit of extra brightness in her eyes and the subtlest whisper of a miniscule grin of pleasure on her face.
“Excellent!” Tom smiled.
They entered his suite to find Reggie, Antefalken, Boggy, Tizzy and Talarius all there. Estrebrius was presumably still with Vaselle; Rupert and Fer-Rog were off someplace.
“You two are back!” Tom smiled at Reggie and Antefalken. He looked over to Talarius, who seemed a bit different. It took Tom a minute to register the difference in the knight’s posture. “Got a good night’s sleep, I take it?” Tom smiled at the knight, who immediately seemed to get agitated.
“I did rest for a bit,” Talarius admitted.
Tom grinned. “I see no one roasted you in the night.”
“No. They did not.” Talarius said tersely.
“Talarius, for the last time, I will not roast you or kill you down here. At some point, I will see to your safe return to Astlan. You have my word on it. Provided, of course, that you don’t try to or succeed in killing any of the others under my protection while you are here.”