I listened to the Orcs celebrate and cheer for the rest of the afternoon.  I had no idea what was going on, but even if I’d spoiled their fun by beating Brag, they weren’t slowing the party down. 

After a while, Brag was thrown back into the pit.  He was alive but still out.  I hoped he’d stay that way.  The last thing I needed was for him to wake up and be pissed that he didn’t get the job done.  Maybe he’d be grateful I hadn’t killed him. 

I doubted it, though. 

As night fell Grundund and the other slaves returned to the pit.  Grundun was shocked to see Brag laid out unconscious and that I was still alive. 

“Holy shit,” he said, taking a seat next to me as the rest of the slaves climbed down into the pit.  “I didn’t expect to see you again.” 

“Yeah, me neither,” I said, clutching my wounded arm. The gashes burned, but the feeling had started to return.  I was still covered in dried blood and dirt. 

“You bested Brag.”  Grundun whistled.  “Must have been some fight between the two of yous.  Brag killed the two others he faced.  But they weren’t as big as you, though.”  He shook his head.  “And you didn’t kill em?” 

I shook my head.  “Nope.” 

“The Orcs are gonna make you pay for that.  They don’t like being denied their blood.” 

“No, it didn’t seem like they were too happy about it.” 

Night was coming on fully now, and I wondered if there’d be more guts to eat.  Maybe the celebration was a special occasion, and they’d give us something better, but I doubted it. 

There was a murmur from the men in the pit as a female Orc appeared above us.  She opened the gate and dropped down a rope, then pointed to me. 

“Me?” I said, pointing to myself.

The big female nodded. 

“Good luck with wherever they’re taking you,” Grundun said. 

I was sure I was gonna need all the luck I could get. 

I grabbed the rope, and the big female Orc effortlessly pulled me to the top of the pit, then grabbed me and pulled me out.  She closed the bone gate and latched it back when I was on solid ground.  Then she grunted and pointed in the direction of the main hut.  Urog’s hut. 

“Well, shit,” I said as I started walking.  This wasn’t going to be good.  Were they going to kill me for not killing Brag?  Was Rhux still alive? 

I walked slowly, a little too slow for the Orcs' liking, and she pushed me in the back to speed me up.  I wasn’t in a real big hurry to get wherever we were going. 

We passed the main arena, and I saw Rhux, still chained to the post, on her knees, her head hanging down with exhaustion. 

The female Orc noticed where I was looking and grunted and pushed me along. 

I wasn’t even sure Rhux saw me. 

We got to the main hut, and the Orc wrapped her huge hand around my neck and held tightly as we entered, keeping me under control.  When we went through the door, we entered into the main room.  In the center, laid on a very ornate bed, was a very old-looking male Orc. 

He was dressed in full battle garb and had a thick white beard and thick white hair splashing down around his green face. 

Chief Vakgar, I was sure.  He must have died and was now laid out in state.  The life of their chief and Urog taking over were what the Orcs must have been celebrating.

The female Orc kept her hand on my neck and steered me to the side of the room through a hanging curtain. 

We stepped into a much smaller room.  In the center was a pallet made of animal skins the size of a king-sized bed from back home, surrounded by trunks and a chest.  In the corner was a desk with a large mirror, the kind a woman might use to put her makeup on or get ready for a party.  Sitting in front of the mirror was Moda, Urog’s wife. 

She saw us in the mirror and turned.  She said something to the female Orc in their language, and then she unclasped my neck, turned, and left. 

Now it was just Moda and me. 

This was unexpected.

Moda stood and walked toward me.

Her red hair cascaded down her shoulders, and she wore a thick leather robe that covered her shoulders but was tied loosely at the waist, revealing her very impressive green cleavage.  Her face wasn’t as feminine as Rhux’s, but she wasn’t as ugly as Umog either. 

“You fought well today…”

It took me a second to realize she’d spoken in my language. 

“I’m… I’m sorry… what?” I was stammering.  “You can speak my language?”

She smiled if you could call it that, showing her rather sharp teeth.  She towered over me by a foot and her canine teeth stuck up sharply from her mouth.  But there was a softness in her yellow eyes.  She might have been tall and green and looked more like a monster than a woman, but her eyes were kind. 

“I can speak your language,” she said.  “And I wanted to thank you for winning me a lot of coins today.  I think every Orc in the village had to pay me something.”  She wrapped her arm around my shoulder, pulled me over to one of the chests, and sat me down.

“How?” I asked, still shocked I could understand her. 

“I bet on you to win.”  Moda dug around in a different chest and came out with some ointment. “And everyone else bet on Brag.”  

I shook my head.  “No, how can you speak like me?”

She sat down on the chest next to me, her robe pulling up to show her thick, muscular green thighs. 

Moda looked at me, her yellow eyes twinkling. “First, what is your name?  Rhux would not give it.  She is tough, that one.” 

“Why is she still tied up?  What is her brother going to do to her?  What’s going on?”

Moda put a very large green hand on mine.   I stopped talking.  “What is your name?” she repeated.

“Jack,” I said.  She had a very intense face, borderline scary even, but those eyes were smiling at me.  I liked her eyes. 

“Jack,” she said quietly.  “Let’s have a look at your wounds.”  She raised the sleeve of my shirt, but it wouldn’t go high enough to get the whole wound.  “Take it off,” she said. 

I hesitated.  I wasn’t sure about this.  Any of this. 

Moda pulled my shirt off, and I had no choice but to let her.  She was a lot bigger than me, and I didn’t want to get her angry.  I probably wouldn’t have liked her when she was angry. “Now, this needs to be taken a look at, or it’ll fester.”  The cool air brushed my bare skin. 

My upper arm was black and blue, and there were gashes where the mace had cut me.  Moda got a towel, wet it from a water pitcher, and then wiped the blood off my arm.  Her touch was softer than I expected, her green fingers gently massaging my sore arm.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked. 

She kept wiping the blood away.  “I told you.  You won me a significant amount of coin, and because you helped me, I’m helping you.” 

That didn’t make sense.  “But I’m a human…” She pressed into my wound, and it hurt.  “Owww.”

“Serves you right for questioning me.  But if I must explain myself to you, I don’t harbor any hate towards humans like my husband, and his tribe do.  And if I’m being completely honest…” I looked into her big yellow eyes and green face.  “I do so like seeing my husband get embarrassed.”

Oh.  So that was it.  But none of this was making any sense. 

I told Moda as much.  “None of this makes sense.  I thought the Orcs hated humans.” 

She began to wipe my face, wiping the dried blood from my sore nose and mouth.  Her robe slipped open, and her large breasts were even more exposed.  She didn’t seem to notice.  I tried not to stare at their green curvature.

“These Orcs do hate humans, Jack.  But… I’m from a different tribe.  One of the northern tribes.  The females lead those tribes.  My mother is the Chieftain there.  We have had peace with humans for many centuries.  We also keep our friends close and our enemies closer.” 

“Oh,” I said.  “So, what does that mean? You’re married to Urog, right?”

Moda wiped at my face carefully.  “I am.  My mother gave me to him.” 

“Oh…” I bet that made family dinners awkward. 

Moda laughed a gruff laugh.  “She did it to ensure peace with these southern Orcs… And so that I could bend Urog to my will once he was Chief.  Which he soon will be.” 

“So you don’t love him?”  I asked. 

She laughed her gruff laugh again.  “No, Jack.  But it is my duty to my tribe to be here, to control Urog when he is Chief.” 

“And the Orc outside, in the bed in the main room?  That’s…”

Moda nodded.  “Chief Vakgar.  It won’t be long now.  Urog and his war party are already celebrating his death.”

“What’s going to happen to Rhux?” I asked.  “What’s going to happen to me?” 

Moda stared at me with her beautiful yellow eyes.  “Urog will kill Rhux once their father dies.  He couldn’t do it before.  He knows that as long as Chief Vakgar lives, he is the chief, and his word stands as law.  Rhux cannot be killed until her father is dead.” 

“And then?”

She shook her head.  “Then he will kill her.  And you, too.” 

“Well, that’s not good,” I said.

“It won’t be tonight.  The war party is drunk, passed out from the long day of drinking and celebrating.”

Those yellow eyes bore into me like they were searching for some hidden truth.

“What am I doing here?” I asked her. 

Moda said, “What if I told you there was a way to save Rhux?  A way to get out of here.” 

“I’d ask what it was.”