Happy New Year to all!
Puffgril1952 the 2nd: will they be happy? I am not going to reveal the end here, so keep reading to find out. Thank you for your support once again, hope you'll like this chapter.
JaydBlaze: yes I tried to be as realistic as possible when writing that love scene, I'm glad you liked it. Thank you for your review :)
Enjoy!
Chapter 8: Come back alive
He reached for her and grabbed her wrist. She quickly turned her head to look at him in the eyes.
"Stay," he only said.
It wasn't an order. It was a prayer. Her smile returned and she lied back. She stayed.
Next morning, Karandra woke up first and gently shook Lothar. His eyes slowly opened as he was grumbling unintelligible things. First thing he saw was the beautiful, golden-eyed woman sitting next to him, smiling lightly to him. First thing he thought was that it was a sight he really would like to grow used to. He grabbed her and pulled him to his chest before kissing her hungrily.
"Lothar…" she managed to say between kisses. "No… we have to… get up…"
"Later," he groaned.
"No, Lothar… we have… an attack to plan…"
That made him froze. He remembered everything from the day before, and his gaze hardened. Yes, he had an attack to plan, and other things to take care about. He gave Karandra a hard smile. She saw the determination in his eyes and nodded.
They quickly got dressed and helped each other with the armours. She was about to exit when he stopped her by putting his hand on her shoulder. She turned to face him as his hand travelled on her skin to rest on the nape of her neck. He locked eyes with her.
"Are you with me?" he asked her.
"Always," she promised.
He pulled her to him and kissed her fiercely before releasing her. They exited the room and she went to find Garona as he was going to the war council with the King and some high-ranked soldiers. She hoped Medhiv would not join them, because Lothar might kill him if he was there. She finally came to Garona's door and knocked.
"Who is it?"
"It's me, Karandra," she answered.
The door opened and she was allowed to enter the room. They started speaking in the Orc language.
"What are you doing here?" Garona asked. "Do you need something?"
"Not really. Lothar left for the war council and I have nothing to do until he returns".
"And what will you have to do then?" Garona asked with a slight frown.
Karandra blushed but tried to hide it.
"I will do what Lothar asks me to. They are planning attacks and we may have to leave soon. He may ask me to prepare things for the human army".
Garona nodded. Karandra's gaze then caught something. It was a shining blue flower, on Garona's small desk.
"What is this?" she asked as she stepped closer.
"A gift, from Medhiv. He gave it to me before magically sending me back here, yesterday night".
"It's beautiful… Does it hold any power?"
"I don't know, he didn't say".
Karandra nodded and stepped back. She asked herself how long the war council would be, because she wanted to move, and not have to stay here all day doing nothing. Garona moved things around before she tossed her a large rock and took one herself.
"Why are you giving me this?" Karandra frowned.
"Let's sharpen our daggers. It's not much of a protection, so we better have them ready".
They sat on the floor as they both pulled out the tiny weapons, and started working on it.
"I went to your room this morning, I didn't find you. The bed was still neat, and your things were not there. I thought you had left".
"No! Why would I leave? I don't know this world, and I'm fine here. I'd like to live with the humans. They are great people".
"Where were you then?"
Karandra stopped sharpening her blade, frozen. She felt the sudden heat in her cheeks.
"I was with Lothar," she mumbled.
"Oh, good," Garona said. "That's why you want to stay here?"
"Yes," Karandra said with more confidence.
"Sounds like a good plan. I'm not sure I'll stay here. I look too different, people would always give me weird looks. I think I'll travel. I want to discover this world".
"Alone?"
"Probably. I have not decided yet".
Karandra nodded. Her stomach then reminded her that she didn't take the time to eat something this morning. She put her blade back in the sheath, and told her sister she was going to the kitchens. She lost her way twice but was finally able to find the place. She shyly entered.
"Hello, young one," a maid gently said to her. "Do you need something?"
"Hello. Er… yes, I didn't eat this morning and was wondering if you could give me a small piece of bread and some water please?"
"You don't want a real breakfast?" the maid asked.
"I… I don't know…"
"Here, go and sit over there, I'm going to find you something more joyful than bread and water".
Karandra sit where she was told, and patiently waited. The maid came back with a tray that she set in front of her.
"Grilled bacon, fresh cheese with bread, and light beer from the South of the country. Is that fine?"
"Y-yes, of course, but isn't it too much?"
"For one of our soldiers who defend us, nothing is too much," the maid replied before smiling and going away to her chores.
Karandra looked down to the armour. The maid wasn't exactly right, but well, she nicely gave her plenty to eat, so she wasn't going to complain. She ate the whole tray with enthusiasm, and give it back to the maid after. She started to wander around the palace aimlessly, and crossed the path of the Queen. She hesitated about what to do and the Queen must have sensed it. She gave her a warm smile and walked to her.
"Hello Karandra. Did you sleep well last night?" Taria nicely asked.
Karandra felt the blush coming back but did a great job at hiding it this time.
"Hello your Highness. Y-yes, I slept very well, thank you".
"Good. I was going to help curing and feeding the wounded soldiers and people from the attacked villages. Would you like to join me?"
"I don't know if I will be of any help," hesitated Karandra.
"Don't worry, we'll find you something to do. Please, come with me. Unless you want to stay here all day?"
"No, sure, I'll come".
The Queen linked her arm with hers and they exited the palace.
"You know," Taria started. "I was wondering about you. You look much more human than Orc. Even compared to Garona, you look more human. Apart for your wild hair, you could easily pretend you're just a girl from a farm. You have all the human features, no tusks, the tanned skin is common, the only striking things are your hair, which can be easily smoothed, and your golden eyes."
Karandra didn't know what to answer. All that Taria said was true. But what was there to answer?
"So," Taria continued. "I was wondering, how come you look so much like us, if you're an Orc?"
"I'm half-Orc," Karandra explained. "My mother was an Orc".
"Half-Orc," the Queen repeated. "And the other half?"
"They never told me. My mother died after giving birth to me so she never told me".
Taria nodded. They arrived to the infirmary, and nurses came to them.
"Hello, your Highness. It's an honour to have you here".
"We're here to help, you need any help you can get. I'll have more food be sent here in the next days".
The nurses attributed a task to each one of the people who came with the Queen, including Karandra. She was shown a shelf filled with jugs of fresh water, and was asked to give water to the wounded. She took one and immediately started to fill each wounded's glass, and helped some of them to drink. She did this for almost three hours before they went back to the palace. She quickly ate an apple she took at the kitchens and went back to her room. She sat at the window for almost an hour, looking at the scenery.
After nearly another hour, she stood up with a slight frown. Lothar should have been back by now. She draped herself in her blue cape and opened the door to start searching for him, when she heard the conversation between two soldiers passing by.
"You've heard about the Commander?" the first one was saying.
"Yeah. He's destroyed by his son's death, because he would have never lost his temper like that usually," the other one answered.
"I heard Medhiv was provoking him during the war council. Anyway, we have to go fighting without our Commander".
"What?! What do you mean?"
"The King ordered to have him put away in a cell until he regains his composure. Come on, we're supposed to prepare our things, we're leaving soon".
Karandra stood still, shocked. Lothar, in a prison cell? She bolted out of her room and ran as fast as she could towards the dungeons, but was stopped by a soldier.
"Lady Karandra, the King sends me. He asked for your presence," the man announced.
"Right now?" she asked with an internal groan.
He nodded, so she followed him towards the throne room.
"Karandra, good, we were only waiting for you. You and Garona will join the army for our next attack," the King announced as soon as she entered the room.
She took a second to think, and replied calmly.
"Alright, I will go and see Lothar so he can tell me which regiment I'm assigned to".
Everyone present in the room looked away awkwardly.
"Lothar won't be coming with us," the King said with sad smile. "As you may have heard, his son is dead and it affected him too much to go into battle for now".
"Then I'll go to his room, to tell him goodbye before we leave".
Medhiv cleared his throat, catching her attention.
"He's in a prison cell. He nearly attacked me earlier. I think Callan's tragic death gravely affected his mind. But he's allowed to have visitors, you may go find him in the dungeons".
Karandra had to control the hatred running in her veins for the mage, she couldn't jump on him and slice his throat in front of everyone, even though she badly wanted to do so. How could he let Callan die? Why did he push Lothar so much? Did he want Lothar out of battle? She shook her head, getting rid of those unpleasant thoughts. But one tiny voice remained in her head. He is your father… She ignored it. She had always been an orphan, and it didn't change a thing that Medhiv was her supposed biological father.
"When do we leave?" she asked, shifting her attention towards Llane.
"Just after sunset. You have about an hour to be ready," he answered.
She nodded, and walked out of the room and towards the dungeons. The soldier at the entrance didn't ask her any question and let her go to him. He was sitting on the wood plank that was supposed to be a bed, head in his hands, when she slowly entered the prison. However, he jumped up when he heard steps approaching. She stood just in front of the cell bars, holding them, while he still stood two meters away. She saw anger in his eyes, as well as sorrow, grief, and anxiety. He looked distraught, but he was trying hard to keep an unreadable face.
"Why are you here?" he asked in a neutral voice.
"The King, he goes to fight the Horde. With your Guardian's help, Durotan will kill Gul'dan," she said.
"Don't trust him".
"Garona told you, Orcs do not lie," she frowned.
"Not Durotan," he said before quickly waling to her, holding her hands around the bars, his face inches away from hers. "Don't trust Medhiv".
She searched his eyes, seeing the same doubt that was in her mind.
"I will try to protect your King," she replied.
"Don't go with him," Lothar pleaded with a low voice, despair in his eyes.
"Why?" she asked with the same tone, not understanding.
He sighed softly, looking into her eyes. These beautiful golden eyes that he had come to love staring into these past few days.
"I don't want you to get hurt," he whispered softly.
He saw her hand reaching her neck. She tugged hard on her necklace, and then the little blue orb was in her hand with its thin silver chain. She looked down and placed it in his hand. He closed two fingers on it so it wouldn't fall but suddenly grabbed her wrist with much strength.
"Come back alive".
Barely a whisper, his order sounded like a desperate pleading. She nodded slowly. Then he abruptly tugged on her wrist to bring her even closer and roughly crashed their lips together. He managed to sneak an arm between the bars and around her, while she reached to tangle her hands in his dark hair. He groaned and tried to pull her against him but the cold bars were a cruel reminder that he couldn't. He eventually let her go.
"I'll come back to you, Anduin Lothar, I promise," she vowed with a clenched jaw before quickly turning and walking away.
Lothar looked longingly at her form fading away.
"And I will be waiting for your return, Karandra," he sighed.