***** Author's Note *****
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66
Alaesia stared at Zathra like he had grown a second head, "W...What?"
"Yer gonna question me about that now? After begging fer yer freedom this whole time? Come on, lass, if anyone deserves that, it ain't me, and yet I know ya 'ad it in yer head that ya could convince yer olog ta let me an' Bar go." The orc raised his own wrist, having been clasped in spare chains by Frogblood after Ar-Tashk had beat Zathra bloody, and nodded at her chains at the same time. "But we're both in a bit of bind 'ere, wouldn't ya say? I'd spring these locks fer the both of us if that stupid beast that ate my arm 'adn't lost me my spare picks. Come ta think of it, it might've eaten those too... But that's not the point." Zathra took a brief moment to refocus, "The point is, I decided to stay cuz a Bar wasn't wrong. Yer not gonna survive long out 'ere alone. Couldn't bring meself ta leave ya like tha'. Not after what ya did fer me an' Bar. But we're both gonna be at the mercy of a very angry olog if he does wake up an' we don't have a consensus on how ta handle 'im."
"But... won't Ar-Tashk j-just hunt us down a-again if we escape...?" Alaesia asked hesitantly. She had only just come to terms with the idea that she would rather submit as Ar-Tashk's slave than ally with Frogblood, then found herself torn up at the idea that she played a part in putting him at death's door, and now Zathra expected her to suddenly believe freedom might be an option once more? And for such an idea coming from Zathra after Frogblood's attempted to offer the same under threat? The emotional whiplash was a lot to process all at once.
"Well... The hope ain't ta escape but a decision on his part ta willingly let ya go. Yer actions prolly saved his life. I'd say 'e owes ya fer that. An' ologs ain't completely unreasonable. N'fact they uphold blood debts a lil too well sometimes. Doggedly loyal those bastards are... But I'm thinkin' tha' maybe if I help heal 'im up like ya asked, 'e might be a lil more open to negotiatin'. An' iffin I can't reason with 'im, then maybe I can persuade him ta stop houndin' ya of his own accord, if ya catch my drift," a spark of blue light filled his pupil with a wink.
"Oh n-no, I d-don't think that's a g-good idea, Zathra..." Alaesia stiffened. The gleam in his eye seemed otherworldly, but it was not something she was keen on meddling with nor putting much stock in, not after she had seen such an attempt fail and turn sour once before, "Ar-Tashk is d-dangerous when he's angry. Y-you even said... the thing about the r-rat seeing it coming? If he r-realizes what y-you are doing, he will k-kill you! Please... I d-don't want you t-to get hurt. I c-can't stand seeing anymore d-death..."
"There ya go again, worryin' about others before yerself," he paused examining her anxiety-riddled features, his tone turning far more serious, "Alaesia, I need ta know, if yer absolutely sure. This is the last chance ye'll get ta change yer mind. I know I'm making the chances of winnin' yer freedom sound easy as smashin' ghul eggs, but I could be horribly, horribly wrong. If 'e survives with or without my help, we can't be caught without a plan. If I don't interfere and fate takes him anyway, ya could juss leave as ya wish, free as a bird. I won't fault ya either way. Do ya actually want me to try ta revive 'im?"
Alaesia was quiet, for a good long moment, while she rolled the question around her mind. There really was no easy or straightforward answer to give. When she finally spoke it was as if her jumbled thoughts of the matter simply couldn't be contained to her head, and her only resort was to pour it all out at once. "When I k-killed Tuka, I was so s-scared I didn't think, just acted. I almost d-did the same to you... And Frogblood... I just got so a-angry. His face... It h-happened so fast. But I n-never wanted to kill anyone! I didn't w-want to hurt Ar-Tashk!"
"Defendin' yerself ain't the same thing as killing in cold blood, lass," he rebutted gently. "Not when it's yer life or theirs."
"M-maybe so," she whispered, "but then, I-I'm not defending myself right n-now... He's hurt... because of me... I would be d-dead a hundred times over if Ar-Tashk had turned a b-blind eye every time I-I've been attacked or i-injured... I... even t-tried take my own life once before, but h-he stopped me." Her hand clutched against the long, deep scar across her chest as ghosts of the painful incident ran through her head. "M-maybe I am a fool t-to need him. Maybe, he w-will kill me himself s-someday. But I can't turn a blind eye. N-not now. Not wh-when it's my fault he is h-hurt..."
Zathra gave her another wry smile, "Heh, ya really are soft. A daft silly pinkskin feelin' sorry fer yer olog. If tha's the case, I don't think ya need ta worry as much as ya believe. Maybe he can be reasoned with after all."
Alaesia clenched her burned hand in a small, painful fist, attempting to ground herself and prevent the visions of what fate might befall Zathra if his plan failed or if he got on Ar-Tashk's bad side, "Why? Wh-what makes you say th-that?"
"Firstly, I'd hazard ta guess ya've got a magic all yer own over that olog, iffin 'e's been preservin' yer life," Zathra tutted his tongue in speculation. "Do ya have any idea how unheard of it is ta survive encountering a horned up ol-"
"STOP!" Alaesia interrupted before he could finish his thought. "Please stop! Don't..."
Zathra watched the blood drain from her face, realizing he had broached a sensitive topic, "Ah, I didn't mean ta upset ya. I'm sorry, lass."
Alaesia drew tighter in upon herself, pulling her ragged clothing closer around her shoulders as she whispered, "I know wh-what he wants... B-but it would kill m-me. I c-can't...!"
"Hey, hey, yer alright, lass. Just breath. Don't let it get ta ya. I promised I wouldn't let 'im hurt ya. I mean that," The orc quickly tried to soothe her rising panic. "Ta be clear, I didn't mean ya should do anything of that sort. Tha'd be far too dangerous. I just meant ya 'ave him under a spell of sorts. He'd prolly do anything ya asked of 'im, that's all. An' if we work together, I'll make sure yer kept outta harm's way. Once yer free, he won't get the chance ta hurt ya again."
"But..." Alaesia gnawed on her lip pensively until she realized it had started to bleed. His clarification did little to reassure her of his plans. She wasn't entirely sure whether Zathra's haphazard musings should make her nervous or eager. Just as the orc had surmised, so too had Alaesia worked out Ar-Tashk's bizarre obsession with her as his slave. Zathra didn't seem too far off with his speculations of Ar-Tashk's compliance with her requests either; the olog had at least stopped his explorations of her body when she had asked. Though her request to correct his name for her seemed only to prove the opposite as well. She didn't even quite know how he would react to a request for Zathra's freedom, let alone to tricking him into letting her go. It felt risky to attempt something as brazen as asking for her own freedom. "Wh-what would I do after th-that? Where would I g-go? I h-have no family, n-no home to return to."
He gave her an apologetic shrug, "Well, Ta be honest, I haven't really figured that bit out yet. We'll just have ta work that out when it comes to it." Unable to offer much else on the matter, he pivoted to his next point, "That aside, I have other tricks up my sleeve that might help."
"Such a-as?"
"Ya know what I was saying, about my magic protectin' me from the Dark Lord's influence? An' how it's all quiet 'ere? I don't think that's a coincidence," Zathra lifted his stump of an arm in demonstration and honed his focus upon it. "I've never seen or felt anything like it... Just lookit this 'ere!"
The glow in his eyes pulsed brighter, and the sensation of sparks started traveling along his veins towards the lost appendage. A faint bead of sweat condensed along the muscles on his neck as he pushed the little magic he had at the moment to the extremes. Both his and Alaesia's eyes locked onto the end of his arm as he held it aloft, waiting for the magic to reach it and when it did... nothing happened. What power he had mustered seemed to flow and simply disappear when it reached the end of his lopped-off limb.
Alaesia took another bite of her ashy warg meat, quickly covering her mouth with one hand to hold back a fit of coughs.
"Er... wait... That's not what I meant to happen..." Zathra frowned. "Nevermind. Just ignore that. What I am meanin' ta say is that I don't think it's juss coincidence."
"Y-you said that already," the woman pointed out and coughed again.
"Right, sorry. I'm juss a bit out of sorts," Zathra mumbled and irritably rubbed the end of his stump before elaborating, "Stupid magic... The wraithy arm thing! Ya saw it, yeah? When I was healing yer hand? Somethin' about my magic is diff'rent now. Like my magic's never been able to do anythin' like that, an' all my other tricks felt a lot more powerful. It's changed... grown maybe? And I think it 'as somethin' ta do with this place." He waved his remaining hand at the trees at the fringe of the clearing, but the vague gesture only made Alaesia more confused. "I bloody well healed Bar's flayed leg like it was juss a scratch! I was able ta stop ya from losing yer hand entirely ta a sap fire!" His voice started building eagerly, "Skator gash, I even saw through a warg's eyes! The same bleedin' shrakh that ate my arm I think! If something in this forest is helping me keep the Dark Lord outta my mind, or making my magic stronger than before, I need ta find out what it is!"
As he was speaking, Alaesia tried to compose herself again, but confusion sent her for a loop at his last declaration, "Wh.. Huh? A w-warg?"
He hesitated, noticing she was shrinking away again at his outburst, "Oh, right... Uh... Now 'ow do I explain that part... Hmmm..."
"I don't unders-s-stand how that will h-help convince Ar-Tashk to let either of us go, Z-Zathra," she prompted, trying to redirect him back to the conversation at hand.
"Ah, I was getting ta that," Zathra gestured his hand at Ar-Tashk, "I don't think that lil snooze 'e's havin' at the moment is juss cuz 'e's tired. I gave 'im what I thought was a lil push. Didn't think it would hit 'im that hard. But if my suspicions are correct and my magic is stronger, there will be less chance he'll be able ta resist my influence. If I can knock the blighter out with just a pop like tha' an' a single command like sleep, juss think what I can do..."
Without thinking about it, Zathra had pantomimed towards Alaesia at the same time opening his mind to hers to demonstrate what he had done to Ar-Tashk. Alaesia's eyes suddenly lost all focus and rolled back before closing. It only took him a split second to realize his mistake. "Oh-SKAITA!"
He scrambled forward as Alaesia started to fall backwards, grabbing the chain attached to her collar just in the nick of time to catch and stop her from dropping like a rock. The warg meat she had really only nibbled at rolled out of her hand and back into the dirt by the fire pit; he couldn't blame her for not eating more of the foul meal. Her whole body had gone slack without warning. The lines of worry that had furrowed Alaesia's forehead now eased and her breathing steadied as she had, at Zathra's unintentional demand, fallen fast asleep.
"Huh, tha's... uh... one way ta get some rest, I suppose... Sorry about that, Lass... Hope ya won't be too angry with me," Zathra lowered her suddenly limp form to the ground gently, riddled with both amusement and perplexity. He had assumed, seemingly incorrectly, that because he couldn't summon his wraith-like arm upon command, his magic would prove ineffective at the moment. Clearly, he had miscalculated, "Guess I'll be keepin' watch tonight then."
***** Translations *****
Pinkskin - Human
Skator gash - Hellfire!
Shrakh - Shit
Skaita - Dammit
***** Author's Note *****
I'm still taking a rolling break, so chapters are still going to be spaced further apart (as far as posting here), but rough drafts are uploaded to my discord as soon as they are finished.
Now Available! Read up to Chapter 68 on my discord!