Introduction
Welcome back to Maledicturs Terra. This is a Chain Story between myself and @lex-zaiya, meaning that we each write the parts alternatively.
If you have not read Maledictus Terra Book 1: Mortis Custos yet, it starts HERE at Part 1 and ends at Part 101 HERE. At the end of the Part 101 post you will find links to all 101 Parts!
Maledictus Terra Book 2: Sanguifex started HERE with Part 1 and ends at Part 111 HERE
The previous part by @lex-zaiya can be found HERE.
Part 30
As far as feasts went, this was not unlike any human festival that Adrian had been to. For something arranged by the Orcs, he would have thought it to be more crude and perhaps the other humans in the party thought it more crude than what they were expected but Adrian could see no differences.
There was music played on stringed instruments, pipes and drums. Perhaps more drumming that the average Human gathering. There were long tables with the most important people seated together and places for other warriors and important people.
There was ale and beer, Gorma had explained that the Clans had been trapped with some of their stores from back then, like them it had been preserved perfectly as though no time had passed.
As for the food, this had been recently acquired. The Clans had set out hunting and brought back a massive selection of meat. Adrian recognised plenty of the venison and fowl on board. Some of the meat looked like it might have been cattle, which probably meant that some farmer was missing some of their herd.
Magna had already remarked on this and spoken quietly to the High Chief of the Orcs that this action would be understanding of a war-tribe surviving but not of friendly allies. She would carry the cost of these initial livestock poaching but the Orcs shall have to trade with farmers from now on should they wish to keep the name of the Tribes clean.
The High Chief nodded and graciously and thanked Magna. After this, the party settled in at the head table with the other Chiefs who were mostly present with their mates or other family. Some were missing, such as the dour Master Pattoq.
The High Chief of the Goblins who was nearly invisible was also absent, though to be honest, he might still be in the crowd, pretending to be another Goblin or even hiding somewhere and observing. Adrian thought it might be possible to detect this Goblin Chief with magic but resisted the urge to try, there were Shaman among the Orcs and these may take offence to him casting magic at the feast.
Adrian had taken the opportunity to move slightly over the course of the feast. He had done this many times even as a kid and he was well-practiced in the art. He had a few drinks and a bit of food. But even at the head table there was occasional seat-swapping as various delegates changed positions so they could engage in conversations with others.
Adrian took every opportunity to move himself to the side of the bench. If he ended up staying at the feast, it would be less noisy. If he saw an opportunity, he would be able to slip away unnoticed.
He only needed to be wary of Magna. She knew his tendency and she had already given him a warning look earlier in the evening. He knew what it meant. They were still twins after all.
He would escape anyway. If he got the chance.
He managed another seat swap as Gorox tried to get closer to Oggha Tusk as they spoke of battle and hunting. This put him on the edge of the table finally and one more step away from being able to leave. Magna was busy with Mortis, High Chief Kerghug Gholug and Chief Durbul Lockjaw in a pitched discussion. This was perhaps even more important than the initial negotiations.
Without so many heads of a council, the two foremost leaders of the Greenskins could speak more freely and negotiate with less... formality. And they seemed to get along with the Princess fine.
Adrian sipped his small cup of ale and picked at the food before him. It would be time soon.
There was a mug slammed down on the table opposite his seat and a figure larger than him and muscular slid into the seat in front of him. He half expected the tusks of an Orc warrior but instead it was a grinning female face that was green but rather soft and pretty.
"Tryin' to get away are you?" Gorma asked loudly.
Adrian's eyes shot across the table to see if Magne had heard. She did not seem to. "Oh no, not at all. I was just making way for some of the more animated feast goers."
Gorma snorted loudly in a crude manner. "Bah! The jig is up little Prince. You sister had told me of your feast shuffle move earlier and counted on me to keep track of you." The Orc woman laughed raucously at Adrian's expression.
"Damn sister." He grumbled.
"Oh she's lovely." Gorma countered. "She told me that you often disappeared early and then would go read or whatever it is you do."
To that Adrian merely shrugged.
"So now that I have you trapped there is no sneaking away anymore." Gorma grinned at him. "Unless you wanted to slip off with me." She winked.
Adrian was speechless and blushed furiously. To this Gorma laughed uproariously. She seemed a little drunk but in a joyous way. Her noise drew the attention of Oggha who rounded on the Orc princess. "Oh! Gormy! Let me see it lass! I have been meaning to ask!"
"Yeah yeah." She answered the Shield Chief. She leered at Adrian. "Check this beauty!" She pulled out a single bladed axe from seemingly nowhere and slammed it into the table, the blade pinned into the wood. It was beautifully crafted. The lined and edges smooth with exotic contours.
"This is one of our relic axes. My father gave it to me since I am going with you guys." She explained.
"You are coming with us?" Adrian asked.
Gorma nodded. "I had requested it and my father, the High Chief and Magna all agreed that I should. I can bear witness to the rescue of the Goddess and get to know all of you. This means I get to know you better." She winked at him again and giggled again leaning forward. She was wearing a loose blouse instead of her armor and suddenly Adrian realized that the Orc woman had an impressive chest. An ample green cleavage was visible at her neckline.
Oggha chuckled and interrupted them without seeming to notice their exchange. "Yeah! That's if you don't lose this one like the others!"
"I won't!"
"That's what you said last time!" Oggha laughed.
"What does that mean?" Adrian asked. Thankful for the change of topic.
Despite Gorma's protests Oggha explained loudly, Gorox and the nearby greenskins all listened in. "Gorma, you see, loves axes. She fights well with one. But once in a while when an enemy is out of her reach, she has a tendency to throw the axe!" The large greenskin laughed and the other joined in the laughter. Gorma did not laugh and seemed cross.
"Surely warriors throw some weapons all the time?" Gorox asked, puzzled. "It is a deadly reaction that has often slain an enemy of mine!"
"Oh indeed master warrior!" Oggha agreed. "Only, perhaps you should not hurl a named weapon, belonging to a Clan Chief at the enemy!"
Again the table erupted in laugher and mirth, more of the greenskins were caught up in the drunken laughter. Gorma, who had seemed positively tipsy and mirthfully drunk earlier, was fuming quietly. No doubt she would have liked to fight Oggha for is jests and teasing but it was either not worth the fight, or Oggha was not someone she could challenge.
Yet Adrian felt sorry for her. He reached over to her, this caught her attention. The look in her eyes was not confident and full of knowing as it had been before. Instead, it was replaced by vulnerability. He tried to speak but he was sure that she could not hear him over the noise at the table.
She stood up and leaned over, inadvertently giving him quite a view of her cleavage. He tried to advert his eyes and be polite. "Can you lend me your axe?"
Gorma seemed puzzled, but also caught his blush on the Prince's cheeks which seemed to cheer her up. She seemed about to object but slid the axe over the table to Adrian who picked it up to examine it.
Adrian seemed to be able to move the axe in his hands easily enough, all the unwilling training with his father at least made the weight bearable. Yet he had to concede that it was far too heavy a weapon for him to wield at any decent speed.
He set the weapon down on the table before him. He studied the haft intently and cast a minor spell to inspect its properties. He nodded at satisfaction as the resonance of the weapon told him what he wanted to know.
"Hand." He said idly.
"What?!" She yelled.
"Give me your hand!" He yelled back.
Gorma placed her hand on the table before him. He took her hand with both of his and flipped it over. He noticed that her hand was rough and calloused as a warrior's should be. It was also very large and powerful. He nails were black, but he did not think that it was cosmetic.
Now that he had done this, and pinned her hand down, also studying it some of the Greenskins had stopped laughing and one by one more of them fell silent.
Adrian ignored them and fished out a gemstone from a pouch at his belt. The gemstone was purple and faceted into a square cut that greatly enhanced its brilliance. He placed the gemstone in Gorma's palm and looked up at her face. He nearly laughed to see how wide her eyes were. Her cheeks were flushed in a deep dark green orcish blush.
He wondered for a moment why she was so shocked. It was as though she thought he was about to propose or something! He smiled. "This is a gift to you. Wait patiently."
He raised his hands over her and his palms began to glow. At this there were some grunts at the table and some others as Shaman and other greenskins sensitive to magic noticed something happening. Some of those came closer to see.
Streams of purple mist was forming a bubble in Gorma's palm.
"This is your primary axe-striking hand yes?" He asked softly, this time, she could year for the noise was heavily decreased.
"Y...yes." She answered.
"And for throwing too?"
"Yes." She said more strong this time.
"Excellent." Adrian said and the mist bubble glowed and flowed into her hand. He picked up the gemstone from her palm and Gorma seemed almost disappointed that he did so. He placed it on the handle of her axe and again the glow of magic came from his hands. Without causing damage to the axe, the gemstone slipped into the axe handle until it was gone.
"There we go. It is complete." Adrian said and looked up at Gorma and grinned at her.
"What is?" She asked, frowning.
"Well. Now you will never lose this weapon again." He explained.
She frowned at him, suddenly looking extremely angry. "You think that I need magic to help me to keep track of my weapon? Do you think me incapable?"
"Oh no!" He waved his hands and stood up. "Not that at all. I have given you something much more... handy than that!"
Groma's face turned from anger to curiosity again. "You walk a thin line between insult and intrigue. If I were not such an understanding Orc, I would have struck you down already!"
"I apologize. I wanted it to be a surprise." Adrian said. Raise that hand into the air above your head... away from others, we would not want to hurt them."
Gorma grinned. "I like the sound of that." She complied.
"Think of your axe, as though it must now be in your hand and then close your hand as though grasping the hilt." He instructed.
She shrugged but did as she was told, closing her eyes for a moment. As she started to close her hand the axe flew up from the table and smacked into the palm of her hand as she gripped it. Her eyes flung open and she stared at the axe, now in her hand. The blade was pointing in the right direction to hack and slash.
"What?!" She said stunned. There was a cry of awe from the crowd of Orcs and other greenskins that were now watching this exchange.
"Now... you thought I gave this to you so you can retrieve a misplaced weapon. But that's not it. It was mentioned that you are good at throwing axes but you can't throw a priceless relic axe because you might lose it. But not this one! If you throw it and then think of it being back in your palm, it shall return again, allowing you to fight or throw once more!"
"That is..." She began.
"An amazing blessing and ability!" Oggha Tusk exclaimed. "The Prince has turned your weakness into an amazing strength! Go on! Demonstrate!"
"What?" She asked.
"Do the throw that returns!" Oggha commanded. "Show us!"
"It will require a bit of practice to get it right." Adrian said, realizing that they were putting her on the spot. But it was true. It might not always work. "Gorma should be allowed to get used to it first. I can guide her in some exercises to..."
Gorma raised her axe above her head and pulled back. Aiming at the air above the common feasting tables she hurled it with an insane amount of force. Adrian would not want this Orc woman to punch him based on the distance that she managed to hurl the weapon.
"Look out!" Someone yelled.
"Take cover!" Someone screamed.
Gorma raised her hand and began closing her hand purposefully. This time she had her eyes open and without looking at the arc of the weapon travelling, he looked instead at her face.
Unbridled mirth shone on her face and she grinned as the axe twirled end over end through the air back toward her. The haft slapped into her hand, which she did not move and the spinning ended up exactly perfect to bring it back to the ready position again.
She started at the weapon in wonder as the Greenskins at the feast hooted and hollered. Some were in awe, some still were fearful or puzzled. Soon rumours spread as those at the head table explained what had happened to the others.
Adrian caught Gorma's eye and bowed his head. "I hope you like your gift!"
You're up again @lex-zaiya! You can decide what her response is!
Thank you for reading!
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