How good it felt to stalk two-legged game again.
And this time it was personal. The three younger Uruks dropped silently down the choppy, root-pitted hillside. At the bottom and a good quarter mile off, their quarry was checking traps alone. Each of them felt badly that Baiurz had remained behind then, remembering how the huge fanged springing trap—suspiciously of Isengard make—had mangled the Commander's foot. He might have wanted this kill.
All the same, this would be a shitty place to run. As much as they might have wanted to run and catch, someone could easily wind up just like the Commander. Maukurz reached back for his bow, and they slowly moved in closer.
They were definitely going to kill her, it was only a matter of when.
The stocks they had her in were a humiliating affair, splaying her uncomfortably forward, locking her hands near her face. The lock was a big bit of iron, easily picked if the Orcess had use of her pale, silvery hands. But of course, she had not the use of her hands.
And why the fuck did I come this way?
Right, cause that little northern bastard said it was the safest way to freedom. I would use his skin for arm guards if I could get my hands on him.
Uliima couldn't see well in the daylight, and the forest canopy did little to help that. She didn't like the trees, either. She had spent the best part of her life under Lugburz, and when she went outside, it was on the black open plains of Gorgorath. But that was no place for an Orc today, what with the forces of the Elf-lover slaughtering folk. Warriors that made these dirty hairy reeking little Men look like rabbits. All in all, Uliima thought she was better off in their stocks than running from the knights of Gondor. The only thing wanting was a way out.
The Wild Men were keeping their distance from her, content to leave the Orcess they had ambushed in the stocks well away from their main camp. Still, Uliima could smell their roasting meats. She could hear the braying of their brats, the bickering of a group of women-folk, who while freer than Uliima had ever been did not tend their sprogs, rather leaving them to cry. Two Men loafed about nearby, posing as her guard but mostly telling lewd stories about their women, and sharing some hard drink. Uliima had already driven herself half-mad trying to work her hands out of the stocks, sure that if she did, she could take those two out, grab her bow and quiver, and have a nice head start before any others noticed. She had not escaped pitching sundering earth, crashing towers, and rivers of fire to die at the hands of stinking ill-tempered hairy pink rabbits.
Maukurz's hands were shaking as he cracked the Man's ribs. As Captain, the heart was his. He couldn't get it in his mouth fast enough, but he didn't want anyone to know how fiendishly he was craving it.
This had nothing to do with revenge, Maukurz knew. He could dress it up that way for his companions, but this was pure gut desire.
For a moment, Maukurz hesitated. He'd never forget the taste of Men: the soft, gelatinous organs, the fibrous tendons and fatty muscles... But he had managed to put it to the side. First, because Baiurz had commanded it, and then, because Halla would be beyond horrified, if he continued to eat her kind. She might even leave him.
"Somethin wrong, Cap?" Shatauz asked.
"Nar..." Maukurz said, sighing. "Just bein' stupid. We've a right to this, sure enough. These bastards killed our brother."
His fingers smoothed over the bloody organ, then seized, and gave a hard tug.
"He thinkin' about our girl-brother, and what'd she'd say," Narzum said.
Maukurz's hand froze halfway to his mouth, his teeth grinding together.
"Our girl-brother Halla ain't the same species as this bag of shit here," Shatauz said. "Their females prolly all hairy too, don't you think?"
"No," Maukurz said. "They ain't. Terribly hairy, that is. Prolly some of our Ma's is Dunlending, seeing as they sold their own women up for breeders."
"Good cunny?" Narzum asked.
"Like you care," Shatauz said, rocking back on his heels, tossing a bit of intestine at Narzum. "I know what you want. That pretty face lad what's friends with Halla."
"He wants me, get it right," Narzum said, grinning, licking his bloody teeth smooth. "I can tell. You ever had one of their Men, big brother?"
"No," Maukurz said, and the other Uruk-hai went pop-eyed with shock. Maukurz felt the sudden need to turn away from the others. They were right, in a way. Halla's people had fought Dunland for generations, as he'd heard it. So it wasn't-the same thing-And besides, Halla was not going to know about this. They'd all sworn to that.
He sunk his teeth in, still hot Mannish blood spurting into his mouth. He shuddered at the pleasure of it. The sense of complete domination was one thing... But the taste... All the old magic was there, as if Saruman was whispering praise over his shoulder. Maukurz groaned softly, and before he knew it, the entire heart was gone, and much of the Dunlending's fleshy thigh besides. Maukurz was left dizzy. He had a terrible feeling that he'd done a deep, deep wrong, but there was no taking it back now.
Dagalur, he reminded himself. This is about Dagalur. That's what I told Baiurz, to get permission. That's what I told the boys, so they could feel, for just one moment, like they were masters again, rather than rats scurrying beneath the table of the Mannish world.
With one hard blow of his fist, Maukurz shattered the near-picked clean skull of the Dunlending trapper. His bloody hand scooped up a bit of the gelatinous grey substance inside, the part Master used to seem to stick his fingers in to give a good painful scramble if a fellow acted up in his presence. "Narzum, stay here and get rid of this mess, and what you can't, just make it so they don't know for sure. Break the big bones and shit, scatter it around for the wolves. We don't want none of their folk findin' body parts. Shatauz, let's take a jog."
Shatauz stood up obediently. "Where we goin' Cap'n?"
"Gonna give Dagalur a taste."
"Now that's right proper creepy," Narzum huffed, getting down to the pleasurable work of total dismemberment. But he was glad that they left him alone to savor his revenge for the Uruk who had saved his life as Isengard drowned.
Shatauz followed Maukurz through the forest, wondering if his Captain had gone dushatar on him; Maukurz had spent much more time with Master. Soon thought he saw sunlight, and he recognized the clearing where they had found Dagalur's body. The stake was still there, but Dagalur's scent and remains were gone. Probably picked clean by animals, Shatauz thought, or taken for trophies by the Dunlendings.
Maukurz looked about warily at the clearing, taking a thorough sniff of the air. Satisfied that it was safe, he crept out into the bright sun, and then jogged to the stake. Shatauz, fingering his still-bloody homemade dagger, followed behind a moment later. Stopping before the stake, Maukurz ran his fingers over the dried black stains, all that was left of the brown Uruk. He didn't want to sit on the ground, and so he placed a bit of the meat on the ground before the stake, then gave some to Shatauz. "Here. Eat with old boy."
Shatauz understood immediately, and complied. He felt around in his belt, pulled out one of the small knifes he'd bent and broke and filed out of his canteen. "He can have this too," Shatauz said, putting it on the ground beside the bit of brains. "Nobody won't know who made it."
"Right. That's about it—" Maukurz froze. I felt it, he thought. Just as he was about to tell Shatauz to break out of the clearing, the scent of Man crept in.
Only it was female. And alone. "Fall back, quick," Maukurz gestured, a signal he might have used on a march.
But they stopped at the edge of the forest, slipping into shadow.
"Don't believe this shit," Shatauz whispered.
Maukurz couldn't either: it was the red-headed woman. She looked about cautiously, and Maukurz's heart began to bang. It isn't possible she saw us, is it?
His worst suspicions confirmed when the woman bent before the stake, taking a moment to study whatever it was on the ground.
"We're fucked," Shatauz said. "We should grab her. Don't think we have a choice but to make sure she don't go home."
Maukurz nodded, shifting his weight uneasily. He didn't want to have to make the coming decision: kill her first, or let the other two get the white-skin fuck they hadn't had in well over a year. He knew what a Captain ought to do. Trouble was, he knew what Halla's lover should do as well. He knew what a fellow grateful to Ailith for saving Baby ought to do most of all.
The woman stood sharply, turning around, peering into the forest. "I know you're watching!"
"Oh, shit," Shatauz breathed. Maukurz, smelling the sudden rise of the other Uruk's musk, chewed his lip irritably. "Shit, that's all but 'come get me', ain't it? Can I catch her?"
"Dumb fuck, you wanna be next on yonder spike? Might be a trap of some sort. Sit still and shut up."
"I know what happened to your friend!" she called.
Maukurz hissed between his teeth. "You wanna stay or come?"
"Rather have your back, if it's trouble," Shatauz said.
Maukurz nodded, and stepped back into the sun. The red-haired woman began to walk towards them. They could smell her fear, and it made them anxious: why would she approach them, if she was afraid of them? If she'd had no fear they might think her mad, but she obviously knew what danger she was in.
Yet there were no other Men about, and the woman was unarmed but for a little knife at her woven grass belt. Her red hair hung in two long braids, and she was quite thick and good-looking, but for a shiftiness in her eyes that reminded Maukurz of the looks of some of the smallest snaga in Isengard, they ones who caught the worst beatings from Uruk-hai tired of being bossed about by creatures they saw as smaller and inferior.
Maukurz stomped up to her. "What happened to 'my friend'?" Maukurz demanded.
The woman swallowed fearfully with the two Uruks standing over her. But she looked quite clearly between their faces and said, "My man said he tried to rape me, but it wasn't the truth. He tried to save me."
"Save you from what?" Maukurz asked.
The woman shrugged and looked down. "From my man. Sometimes—lots of the time—he hits on me. We was walking in the woods, me and him and his brats and brothers. As ever, the brats got into it. The boy's always picking on the girl. The girl and I were gathering walnuts and acorns and crab apples, and he kept knocking her basket to the ground. So I smacked him. My man don't like that. When he started beatin' on me, your friend came running out of the forest and attacked him. But his brothers were close behind, and they had bows. I wish he would have killed all three of them. He's almost killed me twice before."
Maukurz grimaced slightly. He'd played the whole thing wrong: if he had let Dagalur take the woman when she'd been near death, Dagalur would be alive. "He would have taken you with him," Maukurz told her, fishing quickly now. He wouldn't miss his chance again, to bring another woman into their group. But it was a deadly serious matter, deadly dangerous for their group, if he went about it wrong.
The woman nodded. "I'd have been better off, maybe. You might want to know, one of your people—well, not one of your people, you're the Great Isengarders like my Da used to fight with—but an Orc lass got caught by some of our hunters yesterday. They're having fun watching her starve and burn in the stocks, but they'll kill her soon. We ain't friendly with you folk since we made treaty with Rohan, but I think it's shit. She didn't bother no one."
"So why don't you let her go?" Maukurz asked.
"Two Men's watchin' the keys. But they're far enough away from the village—not so far, mind you, but far enough at night maybe—that anyone set on getting her free could do it."
"You trickin' me?" Maukurz asked, a soft malice in his voice as he looked the woman over for signs of deceit.
"I'll stay with one of you, if you like. The other can save her. Wish my man was doin' guard duty. But he ain't, more the pity. Still, you set that poor lass free, then once you get back safe, you let me go. A hostage, like."
Maukurz narrowed his eyes, wondering if she was in fact a touch mad. Not that it mattered overmuch, since most the breeders up in Isengard were full out insane after a while. "What if I don't let you go?" Maukurz asked. "You know too much already."
"Oh…" the woman said, turning her eyes to the ground. "Then maybe you could just make it quick, if you wanna kill me. I don't really mind. I don't wanna go back there, you see… I guess I been playin' in my head a little, coming here, remembering. Thinking he was gonna save me or something."
The Uruks were stunned into silence.
"My twin sister, see, she went up to Isengard. Da sold her near two years ago, right about when my man took me. When the war was over I saw her once, with some Uruk. Far as I know, they said they were going north. She was gonna have his baby, or some baby he was planning on claiming for his own, I never really got the full tale from her. And she… she was happy. If he'd have saved me, your boy, I'd have gone with him."
"Wanna come now?" Shatauz asked.
"What, with you?"
Shatauz grinned. "Yeah, with me. I won't knock you around. Gotta a girl there already for you to talk to, his girl. She's happy too."
The woman looked around, and then a grin of wicked pleasure crossed her lips. "Right now, just like that?"
"Right now," Shatauz said.
"Slow down," Maukurz said. "You—" he looked at the woman. "You fucking with me, right? Trying to find out where we come from, all that?"
Her brown eyes went wide. "No! Not at all! You… you can't imagine how awful it is for me! I'd do anything to get away! He killed my daughter when she was just a babe. I'd do anything to leave him."
"Even do like your sister," Maukurz said, and the woman nodded. "You listen, sharlob, if this is some fucked trick… If you make any trouble, I'll kill you myself, and it won't be quick."
"Come on now," Shatauz said, his eyes already greedily roaming over the woman. He stepped to her side, his tongue caught in his teeth as he slipped an arm around the woman's waist. "She ain't gonna make no trouble. What's your name?"
"Bregun," the woman said, feeling her flesh thrill a little as the Uruk gripped her hip.
Maukurz looked the two of them over, Shatauz and the plump red-haired woman. He had many questions about her, and he wasn't sure he was doing the right thing. But we were going to kill her anyway, he thought. "Fine. We'll have to explain it, but you can take her. And we'll come back tonight, to help the Orc female if we can. But now we'd better go."
Shatauz wasn't even sure what to do. Throw her over his shoulder? Carry her like he'd seen Maukurz carrying Halla home? He'd never touched one who was standing still before, waiting for it. Bregun looked up at him boldly. Shatauz noticed the splash of freckles across her nose, and the lovely darkness of her black lashes.
In the end, he took her hand.