Page 60 of The Orc's Rage

After some coaxing, Kiya finally walked out into the snow, approaching the group of cats gathered there. A big one got to its feet as he approached: Liga, Cedar realized. But she resisted the urge to greet Kargorr’s companion, and waited while Liga slowly, carelessly slinked toward Kiya. He lowered his body, as if in respect, and Liga stepped around him in a circle, sniffing him all over.

Then, nearby, some of the younger cats appeared. They had spots and stripes like Kiya did, and when they all began to greet one another, she realized they were his siblings.

Soon, he was chasing the others around, and they were chasing him in return. He forgot all about Cedar as he played wildly with the cats his own age, leaping and tumbling and rolling over each other.

He needed this, she realized. He couldn’t be cooped up all day with her.

She’d thought she’d be taking him back home that night, but when she moved to leave, he was utterly distracted by his playing. If Cedar called to him, he would come, expecting his treats—but what would be kinder to him? What would be wiser?

Rathka stood watching while Cedar debated with herself.

“Shall I say something, or will you bite off my head again?” the orc woman asked.

Cedar hadn’t forgiven Rathka, either, for filling her head with doubt and fear. But Rathka was, unfortunately, the only one who Cedar spoke to besides two little orclings and the old leatherworker, who she wasn’t sure she would see again.

“Say it.”

Rathka gave a curt nod. “Be selfish a little longer. It will not hurt him.”

Cedar’s gaze jumped to the older woman’s. Was she really saying something kind, something helpful? There must be some sort of blade hidden inside it.

“I have heard Lord Kargorr will be leaving again soon, and you will want your pet with you,” Rathka added.

There it was. Cedar nodded, understanding. She had expected as much. All of this had been preparation, she knew, for his plan.

“Kiya!” Cedar called, whistling. The cat halted in the snow, then turned to her with ears pricked forward, and she reached into her pocket. He flew toward her, stopping right at her feet to wait for his treat. She held it out and he licked it up out of her fingers, then rubbed his cheek against her hand.

“Come home now,” she said to him, scratching his head. “We’ll return tomorrow, I promise.”

29

Kargorr

“Ithink you should go yourself,” Orgha said as they both stood hunched over the map, trying to determine how many days’ ride it would be to the nextparog. “I will take Samrak with me and lead the gift envoy. I already negotiated once with another lord who wanted to take off my head before I explained myself. I can do it again.”

Kargorr didn’t like it. But he also knew that, as always, Orgha was right. Convincing another lord to join his mission was something he ought to handle himself. He just didn’t want to leave hisyapiraso soon, without fixing what had gone wrong between them.

But perhaps it wasn’t something that could be fixed with a nail or a length of rope. There was, he hated to think, a chance she might never forgive him.

In that case, she would need time to forget. Perhaps Kargorr could return from this mission successful and have the reunion with her he had hoped for, and it would be good for both of them.

“Two days’ time, then,” Kargorr said, nodding. “We will load a heavy cart with goods for the easternparog. That lord is a more finicky orc, so you will need to be gentle with him.”

Orgha snorted. “If I can handle you,kazek, I can handle him.”

Kargorr barked a laugh. “Spend your day tomorrow with youryapira,” he said. “As I will with mine. And then we ready to leave.”

The other orc looked at him thoughtfully for far too long.

“Yes, I will remind her of our bond for when I am away,” Orgha said at last. “So that she will be thinking of me as I’ll be thinking of her.”

Kargorr furrowed his brow. It was an odd thing for Orgha to say. He never discussed his relationship with Rathka, nor had he ever shared anything about his life with her before now. With a significant nod, Orgha turned and left the tent.

Right. If Kargorr could remind Cedar of what they once had, and perhaps create a good memory together before he left... that would be in her heart while he was gone.

The sun hung low in the sky, casting long bands of orange among the poles holding up theparog. Kargorr studied the bustle of activity as he walked, before word had spread of the upcoming journey. Families ate together with their doors open or sat around fires. Off in the distance, he heard a drum beating.

Someday, Kargorr thought, that would be him and his own orclings. But they would have a new world, a different one, one that he had hewn for them from solid stone. His departure was necessary to create that world. Then, he could claim Cedar as hisyapira, once the foundation of it was steady under his feet.

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