The Weight of Blood (Half-Orcs Book 1) (19 page)

“Remember a few months back when I came home beaten, bloody, and blue?” he asked. “Guards caught me trying to sneak inside Maggie’s Tavern. They attacked me, said they were going to arrest me as the Forest Butcher. Aurelia stopped them.”

Qurrah rubbed his chin, lost in thought. He glanced at Harruq, a tiny smile forming on his face.

“May I meet her?”

Harruq immediately began blubbering.

“No, but you see, I don’t know if she’s ready, and you might not…I need to let her know you’re coming first!”

Qurrah chuckled.

“Why do you worry?”

The big half-orc let his gaze drop to the floor. “She’s an elf. Is that alright?”

Qurrah walked over and put a hand on Harruq’s shoulder.

“You may be with whoever you wish, my dear brother. Just do not try to deceive me.”

Harruq nodded. “Alright, then you can come this morning. We’ve got to hurry though, or we’ll be late.”

“I am ready,” Qurrah said. “When
you
are ready, lead on.”

The big half-orc flew about their home, grabbing his old swords and donning his faded leather armor. When ready, he nodded to Qurrah, who let out a rare laugh.

“You are amusing, brother,” was all he said before following him out.

“T
his is it,” Harruq said as he gestured about the small clearing he and Aurelia sparred in.

“Where is she?” Qurrah asked. Harruq shrugged in response.

“She’s never here. She always shows up after I do.”

The smaller half-orc scanned the area, seeing no sign of the elf.

“Perhaps she is not coming,” Qurrah offered. “You are late, after all. On the other hand, perhaps I scared her off. I do have a creepy aura about me, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Suuuure, Qurrah,” Harruq said, crossing his arms as he waited. “You’re big and scary and send little kiddies running when they see you on the street.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” said a female voice behind the two brothers. “Any man who would hang out with a brute like Harruq must be a disturbed individual.”

Both turned to see Aurelia step out from behind a tree. She smiled at Harruq, and then nodded to his brother.

“Care to introduce me?”

“Oh yeah, this is--”

“Qurrah Tun, my lady,” Qurrah said with a bow that sent Harruq’s jaw dropping. “It is a pleasure to meet you. May I have the name of the one who has brought civility to my brother?”

Aurelia laughed at Harruq’s flabbergasted look.

“I am Aurelia Thyne,” she said, offering a quick curtsy. “And it will take years to civilize that big lug. I’m not sure I have the patience.”

“If your patience matches your beauty then my brother will soon be dressed in nobles’ finest, sipping wine and commenting on the taxing errors of our dear King of Neldar.”

Aurelia blushed. She smiled at Qurrah. “You surprise me. It truly is a pleasure to meet you.”

“And it is a pleasure to meet the elf that my brother is so smitten for.”

Aurelia giggled at Harruq’s squirming. “He’s a loveable puppy dog, but I do not think he is smitten. Are you, Harruq?”

“Um, course not,” the half-orc said. Aurelia and Qurrah shared a quick, knowing smile. The frail half-orc’s face lost much of its lifelessness, and a gentle caring filled his eyes. His seriousness quickly buried it, but Aurelia had seen enough.

“I shall leave you two to your studies and sparring,” Qurrah said after a long pause to torture Harruq. “Although I doubt the wisdom of leaving him alone with such a beautiful teacher.”

“Good thing you will not have to worry about that, considering I see no beautiful teachers around,” Aurelia replied.

Qurrah walked to Aurelia and bowed again, taking her hand in his and kissing it. As Aurelia smiled, he rose and whispered into her ear.

“He loves you, elf. I can feel it. Do you love him back?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

“Will you hurt him?”

“Never.”

“Then accept my blessing.”

Finished, Qurrah bowed once more, wished his brother good luck, and then trudged through the forest toward Woodhaven. When he was out of earshot, Aurelia walked over to Harruq and jabbed him in the side with a finger.

“Now why did you take so long to let me meet him?” she asked.

“I, but, he, but…”

“No buts. He was a perfect gentleman.”

The half-orc threw his arms up in surrender. He sat down beside her and did his best to focus on the letters. Aurelia seemed impressed enough with his progress, and they soon began working on simple words further into the book.

 “Why does your brother speak so strangely,” she asked once they were done, trying to broach the subject casually. She sat stretched out on the grass, her legs crossed and her weight leaning back on her arms. The whole time they had taught she had found her mind wandering to the sick, spidery voice Qurrah spoke in, a voice that had nearly spoiled his otherwise surprising charm.

“Qurrah was sold to a necromancer. I told you that, right?”

Aurelia nodded. “I believe you did.”

“Well, he caught my brother practicing a spell once. Qurrah was forbidden from ever casting magic, yet he tried anyway. He’s like that, always been, always will. Anyway, his master took a hot poker and shoved it down his throat. Said that way he’d never cast again.”

Harruq chuckled.

“He was wrong, obviously. Qurrah was stuck talking like that. Like a snake hiss or a raspy whisper.”

“Or a dying man,” Aurelia whispered, so soft that Harruq could not make out her words.

T
he streets were all the same to him, so down them all he wandered. The image of Aurelia and Harruq danced in his mind, and conflicting feelings rippled through his chest.

“She seems a kind enough elf,” Qurrah said, talking to himself since he had no company. “Beautiful as well. Of course Harruq would be attracted to her. We have elven blood in our veins, do we not?”

The words felt hollow against the constant ache in his heart. Hard as he tried, he could not place it. Was it anger? No. Surprise? A little, perhaps. Jealousy? Certainly not. Worry? Fear? Doubt?

The only emotion he was certain of was confusion. So he walked and would walk for the rest of the morning, wishing there was something he could do to banish the sick, hollow feeling in his stomach. There was nothing he knew to do though, and that made it so much worse.

T
heir sparring ended, Harruq and Aurelia sat side-by-side against a tree, both glistening with sweat.

“Getting better,” the half-orc said. “You’re going to be beating my ass in a few weeks if you keep learning as fast as you are.”

“Don’t worry,” she said, patting his hand. “Your ass is safe with me.”

Harruq laughed at the absurdity. Aurelia, meanwhile, absently drew lines in the dirt. He watched for a moment, suddenly nervous and quiet. The words of his brother echoed in his head.

“Aurry?” he asked. “You said most elves remember when men were created…do you know how orcs were made?”

The elf looked at him. She was trying to read him, Harruq could tell, but he endured it without protest.

“When Ashhur and Karak warred, there were elves that sought to end it,” she said. “Against Celestia’s orders, they joined Karak, hoping their aid would finally end the conflict. When our goddess imprisoned the two gods, she cursed those elves. She stripped them of their beauty, their intelligence, and their long life. They weren’t evil, Harruq, but Karak offered them strength and they accepted it. The dark god drove them to war against elves and men. Finally the orcs were banished to the Vile Wedge between the rivers.”

“Do any still worship Karak?”

“Most don’t,” Aurelia said. “They’ve turned to worshipping animals now. I’ve even heard of some worshipping Celestia once more, hoping she will forgive them and remove their curse. They are a sad race, Harruq, but believe me in saying there is no shame in your blood.”

The half-orc shifted uncomfortably, unable to meet Aurelia’s eyes. He watched her trace lines in the grass. Seeking a way to lighten the mood, he asked her how to spell his name.

“Harruq?” she asked. “Hrm. My best guess would be H-a-r-r-u-k.”

A soft blow of air from her lips turned the grass to dirt so that a large space lay available for her to write on. She wrote ‘Harruk’ in the dirt with her finger, spacing out each letter. Harruq stared at the words representing his name, feeling a tiny thrill.

“How about my last name, Tun?”

She wrote out T-u-n. The half-orc stared, absorbing every detail of his name.

“Can I see your name?” he asked. Aurelia nodded, tracing her hand across the dirt.

“A-u-r-e-l-i-a.”

The half-orc smiled at the name.

“It even looks all pretty,” he said, eliciting a laugh. “Do Qurrah now.”

Aurelia did not begin writing immediately, instead thinking over the pronunciation.

“Qurrah,” she said at last. “It is a little tricky, but I bet it is spelled like this.”

Letter by letter she wrote ‘Qurrah’ in the dirt. Harruq stared at it, whispering his brother’s name as his eyes traced the letters. As he did, a thought hit him. His eyes went back and forth from his own name and Qurrah’s.

“You spelled my name wrong,” Harruq said.

“What? How?”

The half-orc reached over, erased the k in his name and drew a clumsy, capitalized Q at the end. He leaned back and smiled. The name in the dirt now read ‘HarruQ’.

“Why did you change it?” she asked. “It’s a rather odd spelling.”

“Look at my brother’s name,” he said. Aurelia did, and then she saw what Harruq had also seen.

“Your name is your brother’s, only backwards.”

“Yup,” Harruq laughed. “Mum was always smart for an orc. Even knew how to read, if you believe that. Bet she did that on purpose.”

“Yes, but why?”

Harruq shrugged. “Thought she was being clever? Who knows! but I can spell my name now!”

“Good for you,” Aurelia laughed. “Now go on home, you bother me.”

“Well fine then,” the half-orc said, feigning insult. “I see someone’s jealous I saw it before she did.”

Harruq dodged the first two springs of water but the third one caught him square in the face. He was still dripping when he arrived home.

“You and her go swimming?” Qurrah asked him.

“Shut up,” was all he said.

Qurrah laughed. The pit in his stomach suddenly didn’t seem so awful.