[Queen of Orcs 02] - Clan Daughter (16 page)

“What if I refuse to do it?”

“Do you want sapaha to lead you through mountains?” asked Muth-pah. “If so, you will come with me tonight.”

Muth-pah’s manner disturbed Dar, but she realized there was no choice but to give in. “What is this darkness?”

“Place where visions come,” said Muth-pah. “We’ll go there together. Tonight, you’ll serve at feast. Later, you’ll understand everything.”

On the day of Bah Niti, no one ate until the feast, which wouldn’t begin until all daylight left the moonless sky. Already hungry, Dar was annoyed that she would have to fast. Hunger made her irritable, and her irritation increased when she discovered that all the sons scrupulously avoided her. Everyone knew that she was thwada, and even mothers kept their distance. Dar’s only satisfaction was that Muth-pah was also thwada.

The feast took place outdoors. The Embrace of Muth la was marked in an open space using piles of wood that would later be lit to create a ring of bonfires. The entire clan gathered within the ring and waited for darkness. A lone fire burned within the center of the circle. There, mothers stirred a huge pot of savory stew. When the wind blew its aroma in Dar’s direction, her mouth watered. She sat beside Muth-pah and the two were an island of solemnity within the festive gathering. Dar was surprised by how openly couples displayed their passion. Dar found it hard to watch, for the sight aroused thoughts of Kovok-mah.

When the night sky filled with stars, the bonfires were lit. Then Muth-pah and Dar served the feast. After that was done, the matriarch led Dar away from the circle of light. As Dar followed her into the dark, she still had no idea where she was going or what she would do there. The two walked awhile until they reached a fold in the ridge’s rocky wall. No starlight entered there, and it appeared absolutely black except for the dull red light of a fire’s embers. Muth-pah halted at the shadow’s edge and began undressing. “Take off clothes,” she said.

When Dar was naked, Muth-pah took her hand and led her into the darkness. At first, Dar could see nothing except the embers and was dependent on the matriarch’s guidance. As Dar moved farther into the gloom, her eyes adjusted. She saw that the embers’ glow reflected off the sides of a fissure within the ridge’s stony wall. Whether by artifice or natural forces, the opening resembled the entrance to a womb. Just outside were two copper vessels the size and shape of small cauldrons and a small wooden bowl. Muth-pah handed Dar the bowl. “Drink this.”

Dar sipped the liquid. It was earthy and bitter.

“Drink it all,” said Muth-pah. She watched Dar empty the bowl before grabbing one of the copper vessels. “Now you must be cleansed,” she said, pouring herb-scented water over Dar’s head and body. Then she had Dar do the same for her.

Afterward, Muth-pah told Dar to enter the fissure, which was the opening of a narrow, low-ceilinged cave. The embers of several fires were beacons leading the way deeper into the rock. Muth-pah told Dar to follow them. After Dar passed each beacon, Muth-pah extinguished it with water from the other copper vessel. Thus, as Dar traveled deeper into the cave, darkness closed in behind her and the air, which was already hot and pungent with smoke, grew steamy.

The tunnel made a sharp turn and terminated in a rounded chamber with a ceiling so low that Dar had to squat to enter it. A cavity in its floor held more embers. “Sit,” said Muth-pah. Dar sat cross-legged. Muth-pah did the same, then poured the remaining contents of the vessel on the embers. Total darkness arrived with a loud hiss.

“I feel dizzy,” said Dar.

“Your spirit is leaving your body,” replied Muth-pah.

Dar touched herself for reassurance, but her fingers were numb. She felt that the floor was dissolving and she would soon fall. Dar tried to fight that sensation by speaking. “Tell me why I’m here. What am I supposed to do?”

“You said you spoke to Velasa-pah. Perhaps you will again.”

“I think he’s dead.”

“He is. That’s why you’re here. Only spirits can speak to spirits.”

“Then won’t I be dead also?”

“You may return,” said Muth-pah, “if Muth la wills it.”

“Thwa,” said Dar. “I can’t do this.” She tried to rise, but her body wouldn’t respond. It was so numb that the only evidence that she still had a body was a pain below her breast. It felt hot and cold at once. The pain spread, and, in her mind’s eye, Dar saw a hole growing in her chest. As it did, her essence streamed out into the black void. As her being dissipated, Dar perceived there was something else within her. She didn’t know what it was; yet she knew it was precious. “Must save…” she mumbled. Then, there was only the void.

Eighteen

Someone was pouring water over Dar’s body. It felt good, despite its chill. Dar opened her eyes. She was lying outside the cave beneath a dawn sky. Muth-pah bent over her holding a copper vessel. “Tava, Dargu,” she said. “You’ve returned.”

Dar looked about with confusion. “What happened? I don’t remember anything, except…” Dar felt her chest for a wound, but her flesh was whole. “I thought I died.”

“Death tasted you,” said Muth-pah, “but it did not swallow. You passed test.”

“What test?”

“It is said washavokis often spoke words that had no sense.”

“Such words are called ‘lies.’ Did you think I said them?”

“When you spoke of Velasa-pah, I had to know if you spoke these ‘lies.’ I had to know if he sent you here.”

“He didn’t,” said Dar.

“He told you to follow your chest. That’s why you came.”

Dar had no recollection of divulging Velasa-pah’s advice to Muth-pah. “So that’s why you spared my life,” Dar said. “To question me in darkness.”

“Once, Pah clan was queen’s clan. When queen ignored Velasa-pah’s warnings, she sealed clan’s fate. That is why we linger here, forgotten. Our doom was to guard against washavokis and wait.”

“Wait for what?”

Muth-pah gazed at Dar thoughtfully, apparently weighing what to say. It was a while before she answered. “Muth la gives wisdom, but she’s seldom generous. I’ve learned less than I hoped and don’t understand everything I’ve learned. But I know this: World has changed.” Muth-pah clasped Dar’s hand and bowed to her. “Shashav, Dargu.”

“I don’t recall saying anything. All I remember is pain.”

“If you remember it, then it was vision from Muth la,” replied the matriarch. “Heed its message.”

Dar said nothing. While all her visions were frightening and enigmatic, this one was particularly so. It seemed a glimpse of her dissolution. Dar rose, dressed, and followed Muth-pah to the hall. There, she realized the import of her visit into darkness, for the entire clan was waiting outside the hall for her and Muth-pah’s return. An expectant hush fell over them. Then the matriarch spoke. “World has changed. So says Velasa-pah.” A murmur arose from the crowd, then died away. “No more will sons deliver death. Tonight, we will burn skulls in ceremony, then turn our eyes eastward.”

It occurred to Dar that Velasa-pah had sent her to inform his clan that the Goblin Wars were finally over.
That knowledge could have been the precious thing inside me
, she thought.
The news of it could be what streamed from my chest
. Dar willingly embraced this interpretation of her experience. It seemed confirmed by the joy caused by Muth-pah’s announcement. Both mothers and sons beamed as they realized that the arduous and futile patrols were a thing of the past.

As Dar watched the clan disperse, exultant with the news, she felt tired and woozy. It was a while before she noticed Kovok-mah, waiting for her like a proper son. With faltering steps, she walked over to grab his hand and brush it against her breast. “I’m very tired,” she said, “yet I want to be alone with you.”

Four days later, Dar and her party departed the Pah clan settlement. Within that short time span, Muth-pah’s announcement had altered everything. Sons worked the fields with such vigor and enthusiasm that the planting was done early. With more hands available for every task, more could be accomplished. Work began on expanding the hall, and hope pervaded the talk at meals. Life had so improved that Thak-goth thought his sister would change her mind and bless the union of her son and Fre-pah. Thus, he offered to serve as sapaha to Dar and her companions so he might accompany Fre-pah and her muthuri to the Goth clan settlement.

Fre-pah behaved as though the blessing was assured, and her optimism set the tone for the journey. Dar felt lighthearted also. She was no longer lost or ragged. For the first time, she walked with sandals on her feet. The footwear was a parting gift from Muth-pah, along with an outfit of urkzimmuthi clothing. Dar wore a newly made neva, a length of woolen cloth that was wrapped around the waist to form a skirt, and kefs, a pair of short capes. One was worn on top of the other in warm weather. When it was cold, one cape covered the chest. Thus attired, Dar felt more like an urkzimmuthi mother.

The hidden trail to Goth clan territory wound through a network of valleys, and the way was often hard. The travelers passed abandoned halls and spent nights in some of them, but it was nine days before they encountered any orcs. These were three Goth clan mothers who were collecting herbs. They knew Fre-pah and her muthuri, but Dar amazed them.

“Dargu is like Velasa-pah,” said Thak-goth. “Muth la guides her.” Afterward, the mothers treated Dar with respect but curiosity.

Later that afternoon, Dar spied terraced fields and a collection of stone halls. Thak-goth led them toward the one where his sister had her hanmuthi, which was one of several within her muthuri’s hall. Recalling her first meeting with Muth-pah, Dar was slightly nervous as she neared the building, but not nearly as nervous as Fre-pah. As the time approached to speak to her velazul’s muthuri, optimism deserted her.

Thak-goth’s muthuri, Tho-goth, was the ranking mother in the hall, so she was the one who greeted the visitors. They found her seated on a stool in the rearmost hanmuthi. Since only strangers were formally greeted, Tho-goth nodded to the two Pah clan mothers, then addressed Dar. “I’ve received news of you. It’s said you can speak, but I know not how to greet you.”

Tara-pah, Fre-pah’s muthuri, spoke up. “This mother has Muth-pah’s blessing.”

“I know not which is stranger,” said Tho-goth, “that you name washavoki ‘mother’ or that Muth-pah blessed it.” Then Tho-goth’s curiosity got the better of her manners, and she rose to examine Dar more closely. “I’ve never seen washavoki before.” She sniffed Dar and appeared surprised.

Tara-pah spoke again. “This mother has led these sons through many perils. She also entered darkness to guide our clan. Much has changed since she came. Sons have put aside weapons to work alongside mothers.”

“I’m amazed,” said Tho-goth. “This is pleasing news.” She declined her head toward Dar. “Greetings, Mother. I’m Tho-goth.”

Dar bowed and stated her name. Afterward, her companions were greeted. A meal followed where the conversation began with news of Tho-goth’s relatives at the Pah clan hall and ended with an account of Dar’s adventures. Those astounded Tho-goth. “Dargu, I must take you to Muth-goth tomorrow. She’ll be most interested, and I’m certain she’ll find sapaha for you and these sons.”

Tara-pah waited until the meal was over before bringing up the subject of Fre-pah’s blessing. She suggested the matter should be reconsidered in light of changes wrought by Dar’s revelation. “Life used to be hard for husbands of Pah clan mothers,” she concluded, “but future will be different.”

Tho-goth considered Tara-pah’s arguments, then frowned. “You speak wisdom, but I doubt my daughter will agree. Thak-goth doesn’t understand his sister. She wants her son close, whether he’s content or not. Yet we can speak with her. Perchance she’ll change her mind.”

Dar watched hope depart from Fre-pah’s face, and her heart went out to her. Later that night, when Dar lay against Kovok-mah’s chest to sleep, she heard an unfamiliar sound coming from the adjacent chamber. It was low-pitched and repetitive, like muffled whimpering. “What do I hear?” whispered Dar.

“Fre-pah is sad,” whispered Kovok-mah as he embraced Dar a little closer. “She will not be blessed.”

“What will she do?”

“Return home, never to see her velazul again.”

Fre-pah, her muthuri, and Thak-goth departed for home early the following morning. Dar remained and was presented to the Goth matriarch later that day. Muth-goth was the most elderly orc Dar had ever seen, and the only frail one. Her flesh hung from her large frame and her face was a cobweb of wrinkles surrounded by wispy white hair. After formal greetings, the matriarch rose with difficulty from her stool and hobbled toward Dar. She halted a hand’s length away and squinted at her with frank curiosity. “I’ve already heard much about you,” Muth-goth said. Her lips curled into a grin. “You’re no washavoki! Your teeth are black.”

“I chew washuthahi seeds, Mother,” replied Dar.

“It helps,” said Muth-goth as she continued her examination. “But not much. Still, it’s better to be wise than pretty. Are you wise?”

“I doubt it,” said Dar.

Muth-goth grinned again. “Wise answer.” She turned to the others. “I wish to be alone with Dargu.”