Page 20 of The Savage Vow
Nargol rolled her eyes and ignored her friend’s comments.
“No. I was getting a feel of the humans here,” she said. She paused and licked some of the juices from the meat from her fingers. She plucked one of the soft yellow oriane off the plate and popped it into her mouth. She wasn’t sure where Makhel had gathered this food from, but she was appreciative of it. “I learned how Cardu allows the humans to be treated here. Why there are so many here.”
“And?” Makhel’s grin faded.
“There’s a separation between the orcs and the humans. The humans are tolerated for the workforce. Some are here working on contracts,” Nargol spat. She didn’t want to think of how Orlena came to be here. She’d mentioned she’d been here in Soza since she was a child. Who would sell their child off for money? According to Orlena, she had five more solars. How long had her contract been?
“You’ve got to be fecking kidding me,” Makhel muttered. She angled her head to the side.
“No. I wouldn’t jest about something like this. The humans live in a separate part of the village. They call it the human quarters.” Even though she’d paid close attention to Orlena, she hadn’t let some details escape her. She’d noted how crampedtheir living quarters were. It didn’t take much to see that there was pride in the homes. Each home held distinct decor to individualize them, and the small yards were all immaculate. These humans didn’t have much, but what they had, they clearly took pride in. “They are hard workers. Some yearn to leave but are unable to.”
She didn’t want to say it was just Orlena. If she had desires to explore the world, Nargol knew others like her probably held the same dreams.
“Are you saying you want to liberate them? The humans?”
“I’m not sure.” Nargol thought of Orlena and knew without a doubt, she wanted to free her little human. She wanted Orlena to have whatever it was she desired most, and if leaving here and going to the ocean was one of the things she wanted, then Nargol would make sure she got to experience the damn ocean. She turned to Makhel and arched an eyebrow. “Where have you been today?”
“I spent time where warriors go to drink and complain.” Makhel shrugged. She finished off her food and wiped her hands on her trousers. “They talk more freely when they think no one important is listening.”
“And?”
“There are orcs who have traveled to Udenia recently.”
That caught Nargol’s attention. She swallowed the food in her mouth and eyed Makhel.
“For what purpose?” she asked.
“Trade, they say. But word of the attack has made it here. Some of them are unhappy about how Tulak handled it.” Makhel reached down to the floor and brought a canister up. She popped the top off and took a large sip.
She offered it to Nargol who accepted it. She tilted it back to her lips and was met with ice-cold water. She took a few gulps then handed it back to Makhel.
“Is that so? What did they have to say specifically?” Nargol asked.
She tried not to clench her jaw. There were many who disagreed with her father and his ways. It was expected, but it still bothered her that some could not see that he truly cared for all of Aghon. He was a fair chieftain, and if being fair meant pissing off some, then so be it.
She just hoped she could control herself if someone spoke ill of him in front of her.
“I got a name. There was an orc who drank and talked too much. He claimed to know things. Claims the uprising was only the beginning.”
“We will need to speak with him,” Nargol said. She finished off her food and set her plate back down on the table.
“I know, but we will need to be sympathetic of their cause,” Makhel said.
“I can do that.” Nargol frowned. This was not her first job. She had experience in blending in. She was the damn chieftain’s shadow. She knew how to obtain information from the unlikeliest of places.
“I mean, we will have to align against the chieftain. Can you do that?” Makhel asked softly.
“I can and I will,” Nargol growled. She had been sent here for a purpose and she was not going to let her father down. She’d have to curb the urge to cut out the tongues of those who spoke ill of him.
But she could do it.
“I will play the part with no issues, my friend,” Nargol said.
“You will have to. If we are discovered, our cover will be blown.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Nargol snapped.
Makhel didn’t have to remind her of what was at stake. If their cover was blown, they risked death. She swung her legsover onto the bed and lay down. She folded her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling. Thoughts of a certain brown-skinned female came to mind. What was Orlena doing right now? Was she thinking of her? Nargol couldn’t wait to see her. Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.
