The week passed easy and she'd begun to notice that Cold Hammer didn't watch her so intently anymore. Not since the night she and Lohke had shown off their scars. She felt more accepted by those around her. They'd seen her badges of honor, they'd seen her brought into the pack of dire wolves as if she was one, and they'd learned of Everfen. Somewhere through that, she'd earned their respect. Possibly, begrudgingly, Cold Hammer's, too.
She no longer felt as reserved with Lohke, but free to ask him what was on her mind. "How long will it take to reach human country?" Something had changed between them all. They shared a story and a night that meant something to them.
"Another few weeks, I suspect. Perhaps longer if we have delays. Then we'll have to set about finding a human for you to go to."
"Go to?"
"Someone who can get you some place safe. Or guide us to a village where we can leave you. If I am going through all this shit to rescue you, save you, and come all the way out to human territory, then I'll be damned if I let some ill fate fall upon you because I left you alone on the edge of human territory instead of somewhere safer."
"I have often been told I am too stubborn to do something like die."
"Is that so?"
"Nukbrik said it to me many times."
"Why would he say that?"
"Because I didn't die all the times he tried to kill me."
Lohke frowned at her, "I wish you were joking."
"You know I am not."
He licked his lips thoughtfully before he said, "It does amaze me on some level you're not dead yet. By all accounts, you should be considering how many times in the past week you've challenged Cold Hammer. Not to mention you've done so knowing his reputation."
She glanced back at Cold Hammer in time to see him roll his eyes. She cast him a devilish grin that he ignored, "He doesn't scare me."
Cold Hammer answered, "He should scare you."
"I don't think she's afraid of any orc." Kitchka called.
"Stupidly so." Cold Hammer grumbled.
"You're not the only one with a reputation." Lebrik commented. They'd had one other run in with another village, leaving her outside of it so they could go in. There they'd inquired farther about Everfen and gotten more stories. She wasn't eager to share her fighting stories with them, but she didn't mind that they heard about them.
Erinne sighed, though, as they bantered back and forth from astride their dire wolves. Lohke, sitting behind her, leaned forward, "What's wrong?"
"I was afraid of one orc."
"Nukbrik?"
"No...Donrin." Saying his name made it all the more real in her mind and her voice shook. The past week had changed everything for her. She was on her way to safety with the humans, under Lohke's escort, but she already felt safe. Lohke was a respectable chieftain, and not only that, she'd learned he was the youngest Great Chieftain to ever exist.
It was obvious those that followed and supported him cherished him. All eight warriors that rode with them were prepared to do whatever he said at a moment's notice, not because he was their leader but because they absolutely respected him. They would die for him in a heartbeat. He was an orc of integrity and he inspired integrity in those around him. Some would call him charismatic, if that were a word orcs used.
He'd kept her from a terrible fate. She'd fought in fight rings, but somehow she wasn't so sure she would have survived the encounter with Donrin. Not mentally anyways. After everything she fought so hard for, that was the one thing she didn't think she would have come back from.
"He cannot harm you now, Sheobulf."
"I know, but he did scare me. The last time I was that scared, I was being taken from my home by orcs..." She drifted off, she didn't want to offend Lohke by mentioning the war band that stole her. She didn't want him to hear the hate in her voice, either.
He smiled lightly as if he understood her thoughts, then sobered and asked, "Do you know why Nukbrik stole you?"
She shook her head. "He used to tell me he chose me because I was a fighter and he enjoyed breaking something's spirit. I don't know if it's true or if he just said that to torment me further."
He chuckled, "Indeed, he never succeeded in breaking you..." he trailed off as if lost in thought for a long moment before he said, "For what it is worth, I am sorry you had to go through so much in your short time."
"For what it is worth, I am sorry for you, too."
"Maybe we could stop it." He suggested and she turned on the dire wolf to see him. "You and I, we are unique amongst our people. There has been hate between our races for so long. But look at you, look at me, sitting here swapping tragic tales. That's why I have set laws in place as Great Chieftain, laws that keep as many orcs as possible from doing harm to humans. I don't want to breed more hate, I want it to stop. I never want this to happen to another human, I never want what happened to me to happen to another orc." She studied him as he spoke and he laughed without mirth, "I know, you think I'm crazy. Most orcs look at me like that when they hear me talk about peace with humans."
"I'm not sure what you're trying to say."
"You and I, we could stop the war together. I need the humans to have a reason to make peace with us. They need to be able to look past their hate of orcs. You could be the missing piece I've been looking for to help me broker the peace."
"I can barely speak the human tongue, Lohke. You speak it better than I do. Maybe that's your missing piece."
"No," he shook his head, "I need a human that can stand up and have my back, tell them that I am not a war driven machine."
Tendrils of apprehension flitted through her gut, "But Lohke,"
"You're a capable woman." He assured her and she sighed before he said, "What would you do to keep what happened to you from happening to another? What if you have a family in a few years? Do you want to worry that one day they'll be taken like you were—"
"No!" she snarled at him. "I would fight for them, just as my father tried to fight for me!"
"And you would die just like him."
She drew back, staring at him. One part of her was furious he would say that, but the other part of her took it for truth. She would die before she let her children become enslaved, before she let another family suffer the way hers had, but he was right. Once she was dead, they could still be taken.
"What if you didn't have to die?" He countered his own statement. "We could stop it before it happened."
His words hit her deep. Could he even understand how deep? He was a prisoner for a time, not his whole life. She could sit and meddle and pay no attention to the wars of humans and orcs once she left him, move far from orc territory and live in peace...but she'd been doing that as a child when they invaded her home and took her. You couldn't ignore a problem that came crashing through your door. Besides, she was too much of a fighter to sit on the sidelines. If there was a way, she wanted to fight for it. She wanted to keep other children from the hurts she'd faced. She wanted to keep any children she might have one day out of the line of fire.
"Your words hurt me, Lohke, because I suspect they are true. I would die but my death would never stop an enemy from taking more...children like us."
"I don't want anymore children to live as we did."
Tears threatened her eyes and she blinked to make them leave but they wouldn't go. Instead they filled her eyes and she barely contained them. Her fingers brushed absently along the line of her slave collar before she finally answered him earnestly, "I don't want anymore children to live like us either."
"Would you help me reach out to the humans and speak of peace? Perhaps even to the king himself?" He asked her. "I am willing to negotiate terms, a treaty."
"I am not certain I believe any of this is possible, Lohke, but yes, I think I would like to try." She couldn't remember the last time she'd made a decision for herself. Not a snap decision in anger as she sometimes did with Nukbrik, but choosing where her life would go. It was terrifying. This decision could change the world. "Are all choices in life this hard?"
He chuckled and nodded, "I suspect most of them are, but this one could free, not just you, but all of us." He told her. "I can feel it in my bones, you and I can make this happen."
She stared at him and shook her head. "Well, your bones are so much bigger than mine, maybe it takes longer for it to wedge itself into mine." He laughed but uncertainty clutched her gut. Maybe he was right, but if he was wrong, what would happen? Where would that leave this war and their futures?
The more she thought about it, however, the more it bothered her. There was no need for all this suffering and she wanted it to end. She needed it. To live without the fear that the orcs would one day come back to drag her back to Nukbrik, or that the bastard would come find her himself. With a peace, maybe she could live in peace. They all could. As he said, they would all be free of the fear that ruled their hearts, human and orc alike.