Chapter 17

Darras was back in good cheer when he finally joined Pollo and the rest of the traders in the still encircled wagons. They were currently preparing a meal as well as grumbling about the time the Orcs were taking in dealing with the numerous bodies from the battle.

“Just be thankful we won,” Pollo chided them. “Otherwise, you’d be dead.”

“We have Darras to thank for that,” Oligo added. “He has some skill with that bow of his.”

“Might pay you to hire a few archers should this ever happen again,” Darras suggested to Pollo.

“Not a big thing in Xallant, sadly.”

“Not the only place that has them,” Darras chuckled. “I’m sure these fellows here know of a few.”

“For sure,” Oligo nodded. “I can bring a couple next time I trade out here.”

“Price will have to go up,” Pollo warned.

“Beats being dead though,” Oligo replied with a smile as the other merchants nodded.

“Orcs will have finished by this evening. We’ll set off at dawn and will probably reach the main tribe by tomorrow evening, assuming they haven’t moved again,” Pollo announced.

“How likely is that?” Darras asked.

“With Orcs? Who knows,” Pollo chuckled. “They seem to up and move on a whim.”

“Don’t they have a fixed encampment?” Oligo asked.

“They do, but it’s not a good trading centre. It’s more for worship and tribute,” Pollo explained. “The best trading is done in an auxiliary clan camp before they hand in any tribute taken from raids.”

“That where this Clovak character is?”

“Yes. Seriously, don’t mess with him as he will kill you, given a chance. He also has a reputation for using others to advance his influence,” Pollo replied solemnly.

“He can try,” Darras chuckled, making the rest of the traders, including Pollo, break into a smile.

“Darras may be the exception,” Pollo laughed. “The rest of you, be cautious if dealing with him.”

“Agreed,” Oligo replied for all.

“Good. Now, rest up, as nothing will happen till the morn.”

Pollo’s estimation of Orc intentions was accurate and the train set out just after dawn the following day, with the Orc escort apparently in high spirits at an easy victory despite the odds. Progress was rapid and several other Orc riders joined the guards as they approached the clan camp, though none approached the train itself. It was evening by the time the train pulled into a circle near the camp as the Orcs rode off into it. Pollo had warned the traders to not enter until the morning, informing them that a drunken Orc was a very dangerous character to be around, even for other Orcs.

So it was the following morning that Darras entered the camp, toting his goods and already feeling the presence of a shadow, perhaps even more than one. The marketplace was in the centre of the camp and soon several Orcs, including several females, the first Darras had seen, were looking at the goods the traders had on display.

“Dwarven steel?” one of them asked, checking the sharpness of an oversized, for a human, knife.

“Yes, for cooking, not combat though,” Darras replied politely.

“Cooking knives? Amazing!” she replied. “How much?”

“Ten coppers for the smaller, going up to a silver for the larger type, using Elven weight, naturally,” Darras replied. “Though I will trade for equal value.”

“Are they faulty? Ten coppers seems unusually low,” she countered.

Darras simply took a leather strip and, taking the knife, chopped through it with a flick of his wrist. “Not the best quality Dwarven steel, but far superior to anything you’ll have seen before,” he added.

“So it seems, I’ll take one of the small as well as that cleaver.”

“One silver ten copper then, by weight,” Darras indicated a small scale Erren had given him.

What he ended up with was a variety of coins from several Kingdoms, though the weights matched and so he handed over to the Orc lady the two blades in their sheaths.

‘Told you they’d be a hit, ’ Erren giggled.

“That you did, my Erren,” Darras agreed, as other Orc women approached to see the ‘cooking knives’.

It didn’t take too long before a group of Orc males approached, one of them possessed by a shadow. The females scattered from their approach and the group made a beeline for Darras, who merely stood and gripped his staff.

“Selling weapons to women is forbidden here,” the possessed one stated.

“They aren’t weapons, Orc. Now, go back to your master’s kennel,” Darras replied indifferently, only to slam his staff down on the hand of an Orc who was reaching out to grab one of the knives. “Don’t touch what you can’t pay for, Orc.”

“Kill it,” the possessed one hissed, only to go down as Darras’s staff slammed down on his head.

Darras then exploded into the suddenly confused Orcs, though reached down to grab the shadow by its throat in doing so, making it appear like a dodge to avoid a stab by an Orc. He then used the staff to wreak havoc on them, even as the shadow died and dissolved in his grip. Finally though another group of Orcs piled in and pulled the original Orcs away, most looking bruised, with their leader looking dazed and confused.

“You will explain yourself!” the leader of the second group demanded as the Orcs for once actually looked warily at Darras.

“Just selling my wares until these kennelled curs interfered,” Darras replied.

“The Human was selling weapons to women. It is against our lore!” a guttural reply came from one of the bruised adversaries.

“They are kitchen tools,” Darras sneered. “Do you prevent your women buying cutlery?”

“Show me,” the leader demanded.

Darras produced a standard knife, as well as his own, which were markedly different as in Darras’s own having a hand guard and not simply the blade merging into the tang and handle.

“See, whilst deadly enough, it’s clearly a kitchen tool for cutting, not stabbing,” Darras elaborated.

“Point made,” the leader nodded. “He can trade. Leave him alone!” he said to the group that had attacked Darras.

“He attacked us first!” one of them hit back.

“To stop theft,” Darras chuckled, relaxing now. “Do you take someone’s equipment without asking?”

“He is correct. You want to examine a product, you ask. Now, either challenge him individually or leave. You only have two choices.”

None of the group looked willing to take Darras on, despite being stronger than him. The deciding factors being Darras’s staff and sheer speed. And so the first group left, hauling their still unconscious leader away.

“You should be cautious, Human,” the leader of the new group advised. “Plorta, whom you struck, is a favourite of that cur, Clovak, and he will likely react to save face.”

“Any honourable challenge is welcome, though from what I’ve heard of this Clovak, he may well be underhanded,” Darras replied politely.

“You have that right, Human. So, be careful.”

“I will and thanks,” Darras replied, though the group were already leaving and the women clustered around to view his stock.

“Do we know where this Clovak might be, Erren?” Darras queried as he packed up after a successful day as word had got around as to the quality of his products.

‘He’ll hang around the central yurt, vying for power, though will now know of the humiliation you visited on his underling, as well as the loss of a shadow, ’ Erren replied.

“All going to plan then,” Darras chuckled.

‘As I don’t know your plan, I couldn’t comment, ’ Erren giggled.

“I’m just forcing him to try something to save face,” Darras replied seriously.

‘Yes, that should work.’

Darras was unsure quite what happened next as it was over so quickly, but it appeared that he grabbed his staff and used it to bat away a bullet that had been cast from outside the market area.

“Was that you, Erren?” he murmured.

‘Sort of, I just told your sub-conscious about the threat, then your own body and reactions did the rest.’

“My sub ... what?”

‘Never mind. He’s that way, spinning another bullet, ’ she pointed out mentally.

“Last one he’ll ever cast,” Darras gritted out, then exploded into action as he accelerated towards where Erren had indicated the caster was, holding his staff ready to deflect a bullet.

The Orc was caught completely off guard as, in his limited experience with Human traders, he had thought them to be timid cowards. His opinions changed when Darras took the fight to him, though only for the short time he still lived as Darras was in no mood to be merciful with someone attacking him without warning and from a distance. Darras swept aside the hastily flung iron bullet into the side of a yurt before bringing his staff down hard onto the head of his assailant with a loud crunch, felling the Orc who had been trying to draw his sword to defend himself.

It was also clear that the Orcs in the vicinity were somewhat shocked at Darras’s response, though not at the killing of one of their own, that was simply a risk of being an adult Orc. Still, once again Darras had to face a patrol of Orc warriors hastily summoned to sort out the situation. Darras suspected it had more to do with confirming his supposed death as the Orc leader seemed unsure as to why Darras was still alive and the Orc not.

“So, he cast a bullet at you whilst you were in the market?” the leader asked.

“Yes, the coward did it when there were still women around too,” Darras replied.

The patrol clearly bristled at a Human calling one of their own a coward, though were somewhat constrained by the fact it had been a cowardly act, even by their somewhat flexible standards.

“And you killed him for this?”

“Yes. Wouldn’t any of you?”

This caused a good few of the patrol to calm down as, yes, they probably would have re-acted as Darras had, even if realistically they would not have survived the first attempt.

“You will need to explain yourself to Clovak, who is in charge of this encampment,” the leader temporised.

“I need explain myself to an anti-Human coward who cannot control his own people?” Darras needled the Orc leader, as he already knew any such explanations were never needed for a one-on-one situation between Orcs.

“Clovak is no coward!” the leader hit back, clearly rattled as many of his patrol obviously agreed with Darras.

“I call him coward for lacking the control over an encampment any true Orc would have had,” Darras hit back, hoping to force a situation between himself and Clovak. “Were he a true Orc he would be here himself to justify his standing!”

There was a loud grunt of agreement from many in the patrol as the leader floundered at Darras’s statement of the reality of the situation in which he pointed out the laws the Orcs were supposed to abide by in regards to any death in an encampment. Granted, it was unusual for a camp leader to actually attend, but this was the second incident involving Darras.

“You will come and see him, Human!” the leader blustered, totally out of his depth.

“No, I have broken no laws,” Darras hit back. “That coward can challenge me if he wants, but I have no reason to pander to him.”

“He leads, you obey!”

“Fuck you Orc! Why would I risk a stab in the dark?”

“The Human speaks truth,” one of the patrol agreed. “This is the second time he has been attacked with no reason, why should he risk another when both attackers were known associates of Clovak.”

“Humans do as they are told by Orcs, that is the law!” the leader yelled, clearly unaccustomed to being challenged by his own people.

“You don’t have laws, you have customs,” Darras countered. “Nor am I obliged to follow them after being attacked, particularly as it seems this Clovak is behind it.”