Galek saw them coming. He heard the caravan coming rattling down the road as loud as crows.
It was a marching party. Not large enough to harm him but none the less he looked on warily.
In the middle of the formation was an enclosed transport.
The party stopped in front of the orcs.
Ian's mother did exactly what Ian said to do. One of the guards raised the white flag. The guards moved away from the transport the door opened and out walked a woman! A genteel woman. How strange and highly irregular.
She spoke loudly as one does to a foreigner to help them understand you better.
I am the mother of Ian the engineer. I have a message for you.
She had no notion of the change of face and body position that Galek took on once he heard that name. His body hummed with listening.
She took the canteen out and she took a brass goblet. She poured water into the goblet.
Galek was confused by this but stayed silent trying to understand.
The woman spoke the message she'd been instructed to give.
He took the water and the goblet and looked at it confused.
"I am to wait to see if you give me an empty cup or return it full."
Not one to waste water he gulped at the cup splashing water as he drank
Finishing he let out a satiated sigh.
"Do you have more?"
"What? Umm yes. Yes of course."
She poured. He drank. All the while trying to see what he might see.
"Ahhhhh" he gulped and finished it then handed it back.
"My son would not tell me the river story. What happened?"
He grimaced not knowing how to take her.
"Trust your son then. Do not ask."
She swallowed a complaint.
She began stepping back.
" I will take this message back to him. Thank you."
The transport turned and went from which they came. He watched until it was a tiny speck.
Still thinking he turned back to his fire and the orcs there. They were unruly and he had to establish order again. They were restless from the visit and tonight would have no comfort.
He sat down to think about what happened.
Tomorrow morning they would leave.
He thought about that day at the river. Rescuing the man then taking him to their room. What was it the mom had said?
Wishes you well in your journey to join back.
What a funny way to say that.
Journey... join... rescue... saving... protecting.
Something was not right here.
He inhaled sharply.
He knew. Ian had sent him a plea. Somehow he could not get to the orc himself and had sent this message.
Galek pieced the ideas of what happened. The orc used every last bit of his thought to come to the conclusion that he was going to go in a get Ian. And run!!
As he prepared he thought of what he'd done - taken a drink from the cup with was from behind his house.
Behind...
Ian was the cup!
He thought of how he'd taken that drink of water quenching his thirst. Yes. The cup was Ian and he was going to get the man and bring him back through the boundary! Now he knew Ian would go with him.
YOU ARE READING
The Orc Warrior and the Soft Man
FantasyPlease check out my new orc mm fantasy, The Orc and His Horse Boy! It promised to be even better than my last two! Ian had always been large, thick. He couldn't think of a time when his belly didn't puff out or his chest didn't resemble soft breas...
