After Kalus finished feeding his charge, he stomped off and sat by himself, staring at the stream. Romana was relieved that, in spite of his own personal issues, he'd still done what he was told in a satisfactory manner. The Uruk he tended seemed... well, it was difficult to tell if they knew what was happening around them, even in some detached, dreamlike way, but he seemed better. Settling hers down, she looked woefully at the half a bowl of broth still left. She just wasn't able to get a single drop more into him.
"Make sure they're warm," she said quietly to Rukh, her gaze stealing back to Kalus. Rukh followed her eyes.
"He needs watching," the Uruk warned. "Foshân's shadowing him, but he's got to sleep sometime."
"I know," Romana sighed. "We all do. I'm about ready to collapse. Burzash knows him, by the way."
"Does he?"
Romana nodded. "He told me what work Kalus used to do in Isengard. I think... I might have a job for him," she said, then walked over to the sullen Uruk.
She knew from experience not to sneak up on any of them, even on a good day. Many were jittery, and though they surely knew by now that she meant well, there seemed to be an instinctive distrust, as if they expected at any moment for the other shoe to drop. Kalus was no different, and flinched when he caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye.
"Is this seat taken?" she asked softly. His brow furrowed for a moment, then smoothed. As was often the case with him, he only gave a damn for a second, then suddenly didn't. Romana sat down beside him and looked in the same direction he was.
"I've got a little problem, and I think you might be able to help me," she said after a few minutes of silence.
"Kill Maukum," he said simply. "Problem solved."
Now her brow bunched in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"He's taking meat from the sick ones," the Uruk growled. "Open your fucking eyes."
"I didn't know that," she confessed with some embarrassment. This wasn't the conversation she'd intended, but now a hot flame of anger ignited. "How can he do that to his own brothers?"
"He don't care," Kalus snarled. "We're dead to him."
"Well, you're not dead to me," she snapped. "I'll murder him! Dammit!" She punched the ground. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she turned to Kalus. "Thanks for telling me. Do you know which ones?"
"Me," he said, shrugging. "Those three over there." He pointed to a trio of Uruks huddled together looking warily about, as if expecting an attack at any moment. "Them." His hand gestured negligently toward a pair lying together, too weak to sit up.
"Oh god," Romana breathed, rubbing her forehead. "Why you? You're not as bad off as the others."
"I don't give a fuck," Kalus said dully. "And I ain't been eatin' anyway."
"Kalus," she whispered. "Don't do that to yourself."
He growled low in his throat, but said nothing more.
"You know, I'd expect this sort of selfish, every-man-for-himself behavior out of humans. I don't know why I didn't think you guys would do it."
Kalus finally looked at her, his expression mildly surprised. "You expect it of men, but not orcs?"
"I guess I thought... orcs were more tribal," she replied, shrugging. "I mean, you refer to each other as 'brothers.' I just assumed..."
"Hmph," he snorted, turning away. "Don't mean nothin'. Not to him."
"How about you?" she asked, arching her brow. "What do you think?"
"I don't," he snapped. "Leave me be."
"Tell me something, Kalus," Romana said thoughtfully. "What would make you happy?"
He looked at her as if she'd asked him to calculate pi in his head. "Happy? You wanna know what'll make me happy? How about you get the fuck outta my face with your fucking questions, eh? How about you lettin' me die like I want?"
"Let you take the easy way out?" she said mildly. "While all your brothers are suffering and dying?"
"Easy," he snorted. "It ain't easy. Cowards kill themselves."
"I see," she said, nodding. "And... you think you're a coward, is that it?"
"We're dead," he snarled, gritting his teeth. "Our Master, dead. Our purpose, dead. We got nothin'. This lot, we're it. There ain't no more Uruk-hai after we drop. Even we're not fucking stupid enough not to know how you make more of us. Who's gonna mate with us? You? With all of us? After you kill yourself keeping us alive?" He shook his head. "We gotta just accept it. It's over. We're dead. All of us."
"Ah," Romana said. "That's it, then, is it? You want a mate. What about orc females? There are orcs all over the place, right? There's bound to be..."
Kalus blanched. "Those ugly bitches? No. I'd rather stick my cock in a bear trap. Snaga wouldn't even let'em near us. I saw a few once, and didn't mind them keeping their own to themselves. Master bred us to human females. So that's what we want." He waved his hand dismissively. "So we'll die. Cause there ain't no human female gonna want us, and there ain't enough of you to go around."
Romana shifted uncomfortably. " I suppose it's an improvement that you're not lining up to force the issue," she muttered.
"Rukh would have our heads if any of us came near enough to sniff you," the Uruk growled.
"He's keeping you at bay, then?" she asked stiffly.
Sighing deeply, Kalus muttered, "No. Most don't want it now. Only one who even talks about it is Maukum. Another reason to kill him, if you ask me. You're... different. Maybe I don't wanna go on, but there are those too stupid to see the end is upon us. They'll hold on, and you'll buy'em another month or so. I suppose... they got the right. We all know that if we do anything to you, we're fucked. One word from you, and whiteskins'll run us down, slaughter us, finish us off. Maukum either don't see it, or don't care."
Nodding, Romana said, "I confess it would be really hard to defend you guys if even one of you stepped over that line."
"So... Rukh didn't, eh?" he asked quietly, not looking at her. His brow was furrowed uncertainly.
"No, he didn't," she said pointedly. "He won me with his... charm and... uh... something or other. Hard telling, now that I think about it." She gazed off into space thoughtfully. "Could have been the sex. He may not have known what the hell he was doing, but he picked things up pretty fast."
Kalus stared at her. She glanced over and blushed. "We're kind of... in a rough patch, at the moment. He... sort of... went down that road a little. The one he used to walk. Scared me pretty badly, but he stopped himself. Then we found you guys, and... I guess our problem just sort of... wasn't as important anymore."
"What if... if he whelps you?" the Uruk asked in an undertone.
She raised her eyebrows. "You mean, gets me pregnant? I hadn't given it much thought, actually."
"What're you gonna do if he does?" he asked cautiously.
"Deal with it, I suppose," she shrugged. "Why? What do you think I'll do?"
He grimaced, and as he spoke, he began to rock, hugging his knees. "They used to drown'em or strangle'em, I heard. In the pits. The females. If they got a chance at it. Knew they'd get put outta their misery if they made Master angry, so they muh... murdered the young. Got so a whole bunch would be dead in a single night." Kalus winced and shuddered. "Heard about it. It's why Master took'em out early. Before them females could get a hold of'em." His voice grew harsh and bitter. "What would havin' mates get us, eh? Maybe we get a whelp or two, if we're lucky, then we watch whiteskins come screamin' down on us, slaughtering the younglings like they're... like they're animals. Like they're filth. Or the females we mate with'll kill'em soon as they draw breath."
Pausing, Kalus glanced down. Romana had hold of his hand, clasping it tightly. He hadn't even noticed. Looking up, he saw the look on her face. Far from glaring with hatred, or grimacing in disgust, her face showed sympathy, her eyes welled with tears for his pain. He honestly didn't know what to do with that.
"You the only one?" he asked hollowly.
"Only one what?"
"That don't... look at us and... run."
She squeezed his hand and patted it. "I don't know. I hope not. If ever someone needed affection and understanding, it's you guys. I want that for you all so badly. But I can't promise it. A lot of shit went down in this country, you know. Humans don't forget easily."
"We did what we were told," he muttered.
"I know that," she nodded. "If I can swing forgiveness, I'll consider myself a miracle-worker. Honestly, humans are the most efficient predators on the planet. We can afford a little sympathy."
Kalus sneered. "There is no greater hunter than the Uruk-hai," he snapped. "Humans cannot best us. We..."
"Amateurs," Romana interrupted, shaking her head. "We'll kill each other faster than you can imagine. We'll hunt down one person until we've razed an entire civilization. We invent new and better ways of completely destroying our enemies, rooting them out of their lairs, knocking them back into the Stone Age, making their lands uninhabitable for generations. Don't tell me the Uruk-hai are better at this shit. You know something? There are no orcs where I come from. None. If humans don't like it, feel threatened by it, or just think it's inconvenient, we snuff it out."
"Then there is no hope for us," he growled.
"There's always hope," she replied. "We may be predatory by nature, but we are also nurturing. If there's a spark of pity in those people at the fortress, I'll fan it to a roaring flame. You – the Uruk-hai – were pawns. You were used. You didn't even know what you were doing was wrong because the one person who did know didn't see fit to tell you. He brought you into the world and threw you at his enemies without telling you why you should hate them, why you should kill them, what you were fighting for... I'm afraid I don't think you should have to suffer for that. Not eternally, and not like this."
Kalus nodded slowly. It was difficult concentrating on her words when her hand held his as if he were one of her people.
"I'll take care of the Maukum problem," she said quietly. "In the meantime, I need you to work on my problem. We have a lot of Uruk-hai that need to move over land with few springs. We have about... I don't know, ten miles to cover... three leagues, I think, before we get to the Deeping Stream. So we need to figure out a way to carry water, and lots of it. Once we get there, we can just follow the stream all the way to Helm's Deep. Can you do that? Can you figure something out? Burzash said you worked leather and skins."
"You get us there, and they let us in," Kalus conceded. "Then what? What of mates, then? Eh? What good does it do us, being 'allowed' to live by their pity?" he spat.
"One thing at a time, Kalus," she said.
"No," he snarled. "You talk, but I do not see. Show me a whiteskin female that does not weep at my touch, and I will consider living."
"Are you challenging me?"
He glared at her for a moment, then snapped. "Yes. I challenge you. And I will not stop. I do not wish to live. I will continue to try."
"So it's a race, then," Romana said with a wry smile.
His expression softened slightly. "A race. Bring me a female of my own before I die. One that has not been...," he said, faltering. His voice shook. "One that has not been scarred by one of us."
"I accept your challenge, Kalus," she said solemnly, squeezing his hand one last time before getting up to deal with the other issue.
"Maukum, sweetie," Romana purred, walking up behind the Uruk without giving a god damn whether her boldness made him nervous or not. She was not accompanied by Rukh or any of the others, and he was standing straight and powerful, looking healthier than any of his brothers. Two Uruks with barely the strength to sit up, cowered before him, one in the act of handing over his ration to the vicious leader.
"What do you want?" Maukum snarled, snatching the meat from the Uruk and taking a large bite. He chewed tauntingly, daring her to say anything.
"Just a word of warning," she said, tilting her head to the side, a slight smile on her face. "I catch you doing that shit again, or even hear about it, I'll split you open like a pig and rip out your guts. I don't think I'm quite strong enough to drag you by them, but I know someone who is. Don't make me fetch him from the battlefield." Leaning a bit closer toward his furiously snarling face, she said confidentially, "I confess I've never done it before. I doubt I can keep you alive while I do it. We'll just have to see, won't we?"
