In the grey light before dawn, her scent wrapped around him in his sleep. In the best dream of his life, Maukurz reached out and actually felt what he craved, tucked close to him. His hands swept over her on instinct, stroking her softly, settling in the warmth between her legs. After only a moment of his sleeping touches, his hands were wet and the powerful scent of feminine arousal slapped him in the face, waking him. Yet the dream was so sweet that Maukurz childishly refused to open his eyes… even as his hands now played with deliberate and provocative intent, his cock was raging stiff, and a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. My Halla's here at last…
There was no shame in the place between sleeping and waking, where the subconscious ruled all. And while in their waking hours Men did their damnest to ignore their primitive senses and instincts, in her sleep Halla knew her lover by scent and touch, and even the faster rhythm of his beating heart. She came awake dreamily, arching her back instinctively, encouraging and accepting him, too immersed in ecstasy to give any thought to the profound relief sweeping through her. She came even before Maukurz could get fully inside her. Sighing deeply, Maukurz coaxed Halla onto her belly, took her hips in his hands and rose on his knees behind her.
On the other side of the screen Dagalur threw off Narzum's arm, groaning miserably. "Peaches…" he muttered. "Oh, damn I want next!"
Narzum rose up with a low, threatening growl, pinning his playmate's shoulders to the floor. "Fuckin' think about it, I'll spit yuh and eat yuh, and not the way yuh like."
"What the fuck is this?" Baiurz hissed in Black Speech, blinking in the dawn.
Narzum glared at Dagalur, then released him. "Nothin' boss," he said, staring a hard warning at Dagalur.
"Better be nothin'!" Baiurz whispered fiercely. "She got our next brother in her belly, and she'll probably pump out a couple more after that! I don't care how good it smells—or sounds! Anyone fucks with her gonna be her next meal!"
Maukurz's sharp hearing picked up the dangerous exchange. By now he had Halla on her back, her legs hooked over his shoulders. He kissed her mouth roughly to smother her little gasps and mewls of pleasure, then lay his fingers over her lips, shaking his head. There was something deeply erotic about this new need for silence, and Maukurz let himself enjoy it fully. But once he'd finished, he stood and stretched like a satisfied beast. "You'll wanna get dressed, ashgaz," he said, nodding to her pile of clothes. All the same, Maukurz strutted naked around the sheet dividing the cave.
"Aww, shit," Dagalur moaned.
"Yeah, gimp-nuts," Maukurz sneered, grabbing his wet cock. "You want somethin' I got?"
"Enough!" Bauirz spat, sitting up, frustrated to no end about his mangled leg. "We ain't fightin' over snatch! Now there's huntin' to do! Shatauz got a new bow he wants to try out, and there's water and meat and firewood to gather! So if you—Maukurz—are quite done stinkin' up my cave with your musk, and you, Dagalur, are done runnin' face first into a pile of hurt, maybe you fools can get to work! Or yuh think winter just gonna wait for us to be ready?"
"Back to work, whelps," Narzum grinned, leaning back against the cave wall, picking his teeth leisurely with one sharp claw.
Maukurz glared at Dagalur, then let it go. He cut his eyes to the left and sucked his teeth playfully at Narzum. "Yeah, you first, cock-sucker."
"Not lately," Narzum chuckled, casting a glance at the brown Uruk. Dagalur, utterly defeated, huffed his way out to find some wood or meat, whatever took him farthest away from the cave.
Maukurz looked right. Shatauz woke lazily, but his eyes were wide with amusement. It didn't take the sharpest buck to figure out that the girl would cause trouble… Or need to be ignored, as much as Shatauz could possibly manage.
"What you used for the string?" Maukurz asked.
"Guts. Check it out."
Maukurz knelt by Shatauz, inspecting the well worked wooden bow. There was no recurve on it, a pity, but the string was strong and needed some force to draw. "Shoulda been in the armory," Maukurz said appreciatively.
"Not with all them fucking snaga," Shatauz said idly, admiring his work.
"Ever figure out what was in them spike-balls?" Maukurz asked, looking at the other Uruk sideways.
"Still dunno. Smelt like piss," Shatauz said thoughtfully.
"Maybe it was piss," Maukurz said, grinning.
"Yeah, wizard piss," Narzum said. "Blows up, kills Elves by the thousands. I heard the Man-king was keepin' him alive in a dungeon, bottlin' the shit. Just in case."
Baiurz—his age rendering him most superstitious of Saruman—shook his head. He pushed himself up, gimping out on his bloody foot to take a piss himself.
"He don't like that shit," Maukurz warned.
"Nobody likes that shit," Shatauz said, looking at Narzum. "Know he ain't dead. Sometimes I think: what if he's calling boys up, and we're wrong somehow, can't hear him…"
"The whole fucking thing is done," Maukurz said firmly. "You get it? You remember the end of last winter? It's over. We're here, don't know who else is, don't really fuckin' matter. We're gonna live, we're gonna keep goin', that's all that matters. We don't need his power. We got plenty of our own. Just gotta grow it and train it up."
Maukurz looked thoughtfully over his shoulder, gratefully, towards the white sheet. The other two Uruks didn't look, but they nodded their heads, and allowed themselves to hope.
"I'm surprised you show your face here," Finnan said, looking up with the drizzle pelting his face.
Edwyn rocked one heel back, digging a spur into the mud. "Well, you know I'm crazy."
"Where is she, Edwyn?" Finnan asked coldly.
Edwyn sighed. "D'you really want her back?"
Finnan held his head in his hands, pressing his fingertips into his wet hair as if his head would explode. "I can't even believe it. The more I think of it… It's just… insane. Halla? Little, quiet Halla? Of all our women to like… that… Not her."
Edwyn arched his eyebrows, wondering if Finnan had ever taken a true look at his wayward bride. Or, Edwyn wondered, was that just his firsthand knowledge of what had somehow crept in and seduced Finnan's wife? Finnan was properly horrified, but Edwyn, treasonously, thought he might understand the girl. All those lean hard muscles… and those knowing eyes… But far more than that, Edwyn was also deeply interested in figuring out how Maukurz had come so close, so quietly.
"Will she keep her mouth shut?" Finnan asked sharply, thinking of the more pressing concern.
"I think so. She doesn't want to be put aside, though, or have her name made a scandal."
"So she thinks she's coming back?" Finnan asked.
Edwyn turned away, his eyes landing on a slim, graceful hawk circling overhead. He closed his eyes, wondering if he had saved Halla, or merely gotten her out of the way. He didn't want to think he was capable of that… even though, at the time of the wedding, he couldn't have dreamed up a better way to get the girl out of the picture and ensuring she would never have influence over her husband.
Except… I like Halla. She's full of life, and her heart is open. Though I don't want her with Finnan. And… it's my duty to find out where the Uruk came from. And together, none of it makes any sense…
"I don't know if she'll come back or not," Edwyn said truthfully. "You did try to kill her. I think, right now, you are a monster to her."
"Interesting choice of words," Finnan said bitterly, rising from the steps. "I suppose she likes being roughed up."
"I don't think so, Finnan... At least, I've never seen her bruised before." Edwyn caught Finnan's arm, stared him down. "What happened to you? I wonder if I know you."
Finnan glared, shook his head. He shrugged his arm away and walked on. "It's not the same anymore," he complained. "Out there… everything was so clear. You did what you were called to do. Here… it's all politics and threats and building wealth, hanging onto it with fangs. I was never meant for this. Everard was. He was their golden son, the ideal heir. All I want is to ride away, and never look back. Rescue a village, ride down my enemy. Feel the wind in my face, and never, ever have to balance my books again."
"Well, you could get a steward for that," Edwyn said gently, smiling.
Finnan closed his eyes, groaning. "D'you know what she did? I've no idea how, with all that went on... Yesterday morning, the miller says, she sent him five pounds of silver and told him to take it off the mill fees. Why would she do a thing like that? Is she soft in the head?"
"The heart, I think," Edwyn said quietly. I just hope it's not her downfall.
The rain over Finnan and Edwyn was fog and light snow up in the mountains, where Halla and Maukurz walked along, picking up what firewood they could find. Halla's feet were frozen in her boots and her cheeks were crimson, but the view, even obscured by the weather, was marvelous. Halla might have thought herself in one of the enchanted lands of the tales Aunt Hilda had told her.
"Did you shoot that wolf?" Halla asked, thinking of the soft but pungent fur she'd curled up on.
Maukurz looked at her sideways, shaking his head and smiling. "Nooo, never. He was already dying from someone else's arrow. Slow and hard, too. I sent him on his way. Sometimes there ain't nothin' else to do." He swept down, picking up the sticks Halla was carrying, then stealing the little bundle from her arms and adding it to his own. "There's a whole pack of wolves up here. The top female was in heat not too long back. She'll be havin' pups when the snows are deep, I think. Baiurz says eat 'em when they come, but I won't be lettin' that happen."
"He was mad this morning," Halla said quietly, anxious again. "I could tell when we left. He doesn't want me here. He doesn't like me."
Maukurz leaned against her, murmuring, "He likes you just fine because of Baby. He likes you more than you know. He said, anyone who bothers you, he's gonna kill and make you a nice meal from."
Halla grimaced. "I suppose that's… kind of him…"
Maukurz laughed. "You're gonna be just fine, ashgaz. You'll see."
"Cap'n you done yet?" Shatauz called through the fog. "It's clear a ways down… just some rain, and the deer are cold and lazy!"
"You shoot?" Maukurz asked Halla.
She shook her head. "My uncle wouldn't teach me. He said it wasn't a woman's role. Even… in the War."
"Aw, forget that," Maukurz said. "Come on, let's go get us a deer."
It was a thrill for Halla to walk beside the two Uruks, knowing they meant her no harm. Shatauz was shorter and thicker-set than Maukurz, but there was a rather Mannish gleam in his green eyes. Of course that was destroyed by his rather prominent incisors, long, piercing fangs that could rip easily through flesh. And he was as giddy as a little boy at a harvest fair, excited about the possibility of his bow being serviceable enough to be duplicated for the use of the others. It was odd for Halla to look at the two powerful males while knowing how utterly vulnerable they were. Like children, almost, just learning how to survive on their own, starting out with absolutely nothing.
Maukurz dropped off the firewood in the mouth of the cave. Baiurz peered out to see Halla standing in arm's length of Shatauz. The old Uruk figured out he'd have to look out for the girl: two sets of eyes were better than one, when it came to three horny pizurks breathing her in day and night. What she had to offer him—a future—made Baiurz determined not only to see Halla safe, but glad to stay in their company. Force wouldn't work anymore, at least where mating was concerned: they had no cages, and they didn't have the numbers to guard girls to keep them from running off. But maybe, if such a fine looking white-skin was happy to join their company—and obviously glad to mate, that was clear enough—others might follow. Baiurz would like to see a female for each of the others he had in his care. He had no idea how long it took without Master to make a whelp; Halla was Baiurz's experiment.
"Thinkin' hard, boss," Maukurz said amicably.
"Yup. Where you takin' her?"
"Gonna hunt, then teach her to shoot a little. Idiot Men never gave her a chance to learn."
"Good," Baiurz said. "Real good. Weapons make you feel strong, and we want her strong."
Maukurz looked at his commander curiously.
"Get on, now! Meat ain't gonna walk in here on its own!"
Laughing—and deeply relieved that Baiurz accepted Halla after the morning's trouble—Maukurz took Halla by the hand and followed Shatauz down the mountain.