Chapter 12

Marvik

A bell sounds in the distance and I wake from the best slumber I’ve had in ages. My body relaxes into the mattress and I let out a sigh. The mattress is old and lumpy, certainly compared to the feather beds I grew up sleeping in as a noble, but after months of resting on a pile of leaves, it feels like pure luxury. And the dream I was having . . . that was luxurious as well. The orcress, no, Dura, was in it, though her personality was different. Rather than taciturn and sarcastic, she was as she was when I first woke, gentle. Welcoming and teasing. She danced just beyond my fingertips as I chased her through a moonlit wood. When I would catch her, she would kiss and caress me before pulling away and running again, laughing. And when I finally caught her for good, she took me , holding me down, using me for her pleasure. I was helpless to do anything but let her take her fill and see her fierce joy at conquering me. I have always been the dominant one in my relationships and life, the leader, the one on top. It never occurred to me to submit to a female, but apparently being around the orcress has brought out different desires in me.

I roll on my back, eyes still closed, letting myself linger in the feelings of the dream for a while longer. Has so much changed since yesterday? I think so. Now that I am not focusing constantly on escape and vengeance, I can admit that I am attracted to the orcress. Have been for a long time. Is it because we are fated mates, like the orcress thinks, or base physical need? She is beautiful, but I do not know. But I do know that I want my dreams to become reality.

Reaching down, I feel my cock, still hard and tenting the blankets. I have not spilled in my trousers, thank the gods, though it was a near thing. Any longer in my dream, I think I would have. I open my eyes, the canopy of the four-poster greeting me, and will my manhood down. Glancing over, I see the orcress is gone. Alarm courses through me. After all this time, has she left me ? The irony is laughable. I sit up hastily, though a little uncomfortably, as my cock rubs on the material of my trousers.

My relief is immediate when I see the orcress sitting cross-legged on the floor, eyes shut. Her face is more peaceful than I have ever seen it, the picture of serenity. Her necklace is back on, the pendant hanging low and leading my eyes to her breasts, which do not help my hardness. She doesn’t acknowledge that I’ve gotten up. Maybe she hasn’t even noticed, meditating like she is. I wait for a long moment, willing myself to soften, then exit the bed.

“Good morning,” I say as I stand. My muscles feel stiff. I probably should have stretched before bed. Oh well, I’ll do it now. I am extending my arms above my head to lengthen my shoulders when her eyes open.

Immediately, the sense of peace leaves her and wariness takes its place. “Good morning,” she returns, her voice a little skeptical. I suppose I have never greeted her before. But that was then, this is now.

“The shops are probably open now that the morning bell has rung,” I offer conversationally. The words are a little stilted, even to my own ears. I suppose I am out of practice with being friendly after a month of being enemies.

“I thought as much,” she says, still looking on guard.

This is going well , I think ruefully. I finish my stretches and my eyes spy the other two meatpies from last night. I pick one up and proffer the other one to the orcress. No, Dura . Dura . I need to get in the habit of saying her name.

Dura gracefully takes to her feet and grabs the pie from me. After she starts eating, I take my own bite. They are still good even when cold and I remember the innkeeper’s brag that they were famous throughout the kingdom. I smile a little at the memory. They are good enough to be, though I am sure that he was exaggerating.

“Why are you smiling?” Dura asks suspiciously.

“The pie,” I respond. “It’s good.” Excellent ?, you sound like an idiot .

But if she thinks my words are stupid, she doesn’t say anything. “It is,” she agrees and takes a huge bite.

Again, I am struck that she is unlike the dainty ladies I knew at court, with their pretty table manners. Are all orcresses like her? Straightforward and bold, utilitarian in their actions? I would have never thought that I would be drawn to one such as her, but she is magnetic. A lodestone. I feel helpless to resist her pull. It was the same even when she was my captor and I fought against her.

Finishing her pie, Dura looks at me and says, “We should head to the market. The mercantile should have what we need. Maybe the tailor as well.”

I nod and go to pull on my boots. Dura does the same. I stand and head to the door, hesitating before pulling back the bolt.

“Ready?”

She nods, then taps the pendant on her neck twice before disappearing.

“Ready,” comes her voice from the spot where she was standing.

I nod to where I think she is and then unbolt the door and open it, stepping out into the hallway.

???

Shopping is easy, but tedious. At the mercantile, I buy a sack of dried meat and a pack of spices, some furs, a hunting bow and arrows, a length of hempen rope, a hatchet, a pot, a knapsack, and another bedroll. At the tailor’s the woman at the counter tries to talk me into custom clothes that will be ready in just a few days, but I don’t want to stay here long, especially after Dura’s theft yesterday, so I buy what little they have ready-made that will fit me. I eyeball the clothes to see what could fit Dura. I briefly consider some sturdy work dresses, but dismiss them almost immediately. She is a warrior. Dura doesn’t seem the type to wear dresses, and we will be living in the wilderness. She needs something more practical. I pick two tunics and some trousers, as well as some thick, soft-looking socks.

I am leaving the tailor’s shop when I hear an unwelcome and familiar voice.

“There he is! There he is! Arrest him, he robbed me!”

I bite out a quiet curse and turn to see the fine goods merchant dragging a town guard behind him, pointing directly at me.

“What’s this?” I ask, trying to sound affronted.

The other man stops in front of me and sneers. “I’ve been robbed and I know it was you! Open your pockets at once, you thief, and I’ll ask for leniency! This is your only warning!”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask for you to turn out your pockets, sir,” says the guard, sounding apologetic but firm.

I still have some of the man’s coins in my pockets, though considerably less than what I started with. Has he marked his coins so that he’ll know that they are his, or can I get away with a lie? While I hesitate, I feel an invisible hand reach into my pocket, grab the coins and slip out.

Holding back a grin, I put all my purchases in one hand and use the other to turn out my now-empty pockets.

The merchant gapes, his color going a reddish purple. “Well, he’s obviously spent it all! Look at his hands, they are full of purchases! Just yesterday, he said that he’d been robbed of all his worldly goods, so how is he buying things? ”

“I sold my wife’s earrings,” I lie, looking at the town guard, who is looking unconvinced by the merchants’ rambling. “Yesterday, I went to sell the earrings to this man, who wanted to cheat me out of their true price, so I left and found a traveling merchant who was willing to give me a much better deal, though still not the true price of the earrings. I sold to him instead, which is where I got just enough money to get some things for me and my wife.”

“The nerve!” the merchant gasps. “I have cheated no one in my life. If you found someone who gave you more money for those forgeries, then they are a fool.”

“Where is this merchant, so that we might corroborate the tale?” the town guard asks.

Fuck, I didn’t think that far with my story. I think quickly, quicker than I probably ever have before. If I just need to get out of town, then I can run and lose the guard in the Deep Wood. “He said he was leaving this morning, heading to Orik. We can try to catch him.”

The merchant scoffs. “That story is rubbish and so are you. You stole from me and I’ll have back what you owe, or I’ll take it out of your hide!”

Alright, that’s enough. I put on my most aristocratic voice and say, “And if I am not lying, do I get to take it out of your hide? It’s a crime to falsely accuse in Adrik, you know. Even rubbish like me knows that the one who falsely accuses must face the punishment for the original crime if they are found to be lying. Do you have any proof that it was me, or are you still just bitter that I wouldn’t sell you my wife’s earrings for a pittance?”

That seems to bring both the other men up short. The town guard turns to the merchant and says, “That is true, Garrett. How do you know for certain this man is your thief? The wares he is carrying aren’t nearly enough to have spent all the coin that you said was missing and he doesn’t have any others.”

The man stutters, “ I . . . I . . . I am sure of it! He was the only customer I had before I noticed the missing money and . . . and . . . and. . . just look at him! He looks like a beggar! What was he doing with Airdan Sardithas earrings? He must be a thief!”

“Then you admit that my wife’s earrings were not forgeries, and you lied to try to swindle me?” I ask cooly. The merchant pulls in a shocked breath, looking a little ill. His eyes dart to me, then to the guard, who is looking at the merchant with a frown.

“Well,” I declare, still in my aristocratic voice, “this has been a spectacular waste of my time. Guard, one of us is a proven liar, and it is not me. If you’ll excuse me, I must go to my wife.”

I turn to leave, when the merchant exclaims, “The wife! That’s it! That’s who must have the rest of my money! The wife.”

I let my tone go threatening as I say, “Leave my wife out of this.”

“No! Where is this wife he’s always talking about? She must be his accomplice!”

“Where is your wife?” asks the guard.

“As I told this madman, we were robbed and most of our clothes stolen. My wife is only in her shift and isn’t fit to just wander around the town.”

“Then bring us to her,” demands the merchant.

“Are you saying that you want to see my wife in her shift?” I ask darkly, narrowing my eyes. Another trick I learned from my politician father: when wanting to hide something, put the other person on the defensive.

“What? No, I . . .”

“C’mon, Garrett,” the guard says, “that’s inappropriate.”

“That’s not what I meant! I mean, I . . .”

“Look,” I interrupt, “I’m sorry that you were robbed. But it wasn’t me and you have no proof that it was. If you keep accusing me, then I will be forced to report you for false accusation and let you pay the price. So if you have nothing else to say, I’m going now.”

I walk away as the man is still babbling and, blessedly, they don’t follow. Once I am out of sight, I start walking briskly, wanting to leave as quickly as I can before they recover and start looking for me again.

I turn down an alleyway, the same from yesterday, and turn around.

“Are you here?”

“Yes,” responds Dura, her voice coming just from a little bit away.

“We need to leave town. Before they decide they must talk to my wife .”

“I could pretend to be your wife,” she offers.

I shake my head. “That won’t work. You need to stay out of sight, remember? What if the guard decides to get one of the orcs to help him? They might recognize you.”

“This is true,” she agrees, grudgingly. “I suppose I could just take the supplies and leave. If you are on your own when they find you, they can’t tie you to the crime.”

“You won’t get rid of me that easily,” I say, smiling a bit at her ploy. How the tables have turned. Now she is trying to unburden herself of me . “If they find me again and I can’t produce a wife, I’ll look extremely suspicious. No, we should just leave town. At once.”

“Fine. But where are we going? We never decided what we were going to do after getting supplies here.”

Because I was planning to betray you to the orcs and make my escape. I didn’t think we had to plan this far. But I do have some ideas. “There’s a forest just to the east of Grimblton, the town where I grew up, called the Eastforte Thicket. It has game aplenty, and at least one cave that I know of where we could shelter.”

Her eyebrow quirk is apparent in the tone of her voice when she says, “You want to trade one cave for another?”

I shrug and say, “It’s a much nicer cave. It was my refuge as a young boy and adolescent, the place where I would go to hide from my responsibilities when my parents became too much. I even took some old furniture from our castle to furnish it with. It should still be there, though I don’t know what condition it would be in now. You are the one that says we have to live away from society. My cave is as good a place as any. It is out of the way and the only other person that knows of its existence is Adalind. And it doesn’t have to be forever. We can go there to hide and decide our next move.”

“But if this cave is in a pleasant forest where hunting is so easy, wouldn’t we risk running into townsfolk in such a place?”

I shake my head. “The eastern edge of the wood goes over the border into Barakrin. People tell tales about meeting vampires in those woods, of being spirited away to be a blood slave, never to return. The fear of the Barakrini vampires outweighs the need for game and the townsfolk give it a wide berth, preferring to take their chances in the Deep Wood.”

“Even with the werewolves?”

“Even so.”

“But why?” Dura asks, obviously confused. “Barakrin is a peaceful country and its king encourages his subjects to feed on animals. They are pacifists and isolationists, to boot. The Barakrini vampires are nothing to fear.”

“Now they are not,” I agree. “And haven't been for the past few centuries that their king has ruled. But it is said a long time ago, during the God War, they were in league with demons and were creatures of nightmare. Pitiless as demons, with an unquenchable thirst. All the old tales of Barakrin are grim warnings about them becoming monsters once again.”

I can hear the wry smile on her lips. “But you went into these woods, anyway? Even with the old tales that frightened everyone else?”

An answering small smile quirks my lips. “I considered myself a brave knight, even as a boy. Thought of it as a test of my courage to explore a forbidden, feared place. But I never ran into another soul in the thicket, in all the times I went in. It should be safe for us.”

“Alright,” Dura replies, “but we have to go quickly. My invisibility charm is about to end and I don’t want to be seen as we leave. It appears that the orcs that are stationed here mainly work at the gates. ”

I nod and crouch down to put my parcels into my new knapsack, packing everything in tightly, before shouldering the load. We didn’t leave anything in the room at the inn, so we should be good to travel immediately.

So, with that, we head out of town and on the road again.