The Longest Road, Part 13
As Khaytala finishes talking, you're both silent for a while. Then, finally, you speak up. "I didn't realize you had gone through so much," you say. "Thank you. For letting me hear your story."
"It... felt good to share it," Khaytala says. "I don't know if what I'm doing now can really make up for everything I put my mother through... but it's the best I can do. And I figure it's worth doing."
You frown. "Why do you talk about it that way?"
"Talk about it what way?" Khaytala looks confused. "What do you mean?"
"Everything you put your mother through?" you echo. "Khaytala... it wasn't you that put your mother through any of that! You didn't force her parents to disown her. You didn't force the other humans to treat her like dirt. That was all on them, not you!"
"I... But..." Khaytala struggles for the words. "You... you can't blame them for being afraid of a monster, Talavar. The things the my kind have done to them... The things I've seen in all the years I've spent fighting other orcs, defending caravans against them... Slavery, rape, slaughter..."
"You think humans don't do all those things?" you demand. "If orcs are 'monsters' then all the other races are monsters too. But they aren't. The orc who attacked your mother... the humans who mistreated her... it was their choices that created all that of cruelty. Not some trick of ancestry."
Khaytala stares at you, her expression conflicted. "But... I could feel it in me, when I was growing up," she says, her voice a whisper. "Like I told you before. The anger. The rage..."
"Who wouldn't feel angry?" you ask. "You and your mother hadn't done anything wrong. But they mocked you and attacked you, for no damn reason. And you blame yourself for feeling angry about that?"
You place a comforting hand on Khaytala's shoulder. "Most anyone would have felt angry," you say softly. "But you chose not to let that anger consume you. You chose not to treat them the same way they treated you. Even though you share blood with the orc that attacked your mother, you're nothing like him. Because you had a kind mother who showed you a different way... and you chose to listen to her."
Khaytala looks down, unable to respond. It's clear that your words have thrown her into a turmoil, one that won't be resolved quickly or easily. But after a few moments, she looks back up. "Thanks, Talavar," she says. "You're... a great guy, you know?"
You smile back. The two of you don't speak too much after that, just sit there around the fire, quietly enjoying each others' company. After a while you each depart, bidding the other a fond good night as you head to your respective bedrolls, where you quickly fall into a dreamless sleep.
The following day, the caravan begins its final push to reach the village of Eckenburg. You walk along, ignoring yet more venomous glares from Arne Rothach. The caravan master seems more convinced than ever that something is amiss between you and his daughter. Some fatherly instinct, perhaps? Or perhaps Greta is just doing an increasingly poor a job of hiding her post-cotial bliss after your repeated rendezvous, and he's starting to suspect?
That could be troublesome... but there's little you can do about it at this exact moment. Instead, you glance over at Khaytala as she rides by on her patrol. She does seem a little more thoughtful than usual, likely still mulling over your conversation, and how the world may not be quite so black and white as she'd thought. But for the most part she still keeps her focus outward, alert for any sign of danger.
As such, she's the first person to notice the smoke rising from up ahead.
You hear her curse, shouting all the guards to ready their weapons. Even as she speaks, she's already kicking her horse into a gallop, racing up to the nearest hill to get a better vantage point on the situation. You run after her, using as much of your inhuman swiftness as you dare. As you crest the hilltop, you look down across the plain and see the source.
Eckenburg is burning. Several homes are on fire, sending up the pillars of smoke that Khaytala saw. Also apparent is the cause of those fires, as even at this distance you can make out the crowd of green-skinned warriors pillaging the town. An orcish raiding party.
Shit, shit, shit. The Witch Queen may have banned all such attacks... but apparently some of the army are so discontented with her prohibition that they've decided to go raiding in secret, even against orders. You wouldn't be surprised if Varthurg had a hand in this, or at least arranged to turn a blind eye to their absence. In fact, given the distance from here to Kovora, it's likely that this group had already departed before your summoning and his loss of face.
Khaytala's face is twisted into a mask of rage, and you know this must be bringing back memories of what she saw in her younger years, during the war. You can practically see all the fragile work you've done trying to convince her not to fear her own nature... as it threatens to buckle under the fresh horror of the imminent massacre.
Most of the orcish force seems to be concentrated around the town hall, where you suspect the population of the village has taken shelter. Some of the orcs have taken a large beam from the wreckage of one of the houses and are using it as an impromptu ram. You watch the tiny green figures as they batter on the doors of the large building, while those on the inside try hopelessly to barricade them shut.
You hear the sound of a sword drawn from its sheath, and you see that Khaytala's murderous eyes are sweeping back and forth across the village, studying the orcish position as she quickly determines the best line of attack. It's then that you realize that she's preparing to kill that entire raiding party, all by herself. Even though they outnumber her by well over fifty to one.
It's then that Arne Rothach comes running up, panting for breath. His eyes bulge as he sees the situation. Khaytala turns to him before he gathers his thoughts, wasting no time. "Have the caravan pull back as far as it can," she snarls, and Arne is so cowed by the raw fury in her words that he can't muster so much as a single word in reply. "I'll deal with them."
If the stories you heard from Iskro about these heroines are true, you suspect Khaytala might well be capable of pulling off a feat like that. Except... she's also still weakened from the poisoned bolt she took, which means she'll be fighting at a significant disadvantage. Even if she does emerge victorious, you suspect that she will be left in very bad shape afterward. And that assassin is still out there somewhere, aiming for her life—a potentially deadly combination.
Glancing back at Arne, you wonder for a moment if you could convince him to have the rest of the caravan guards back Khaytala up. He glares back at you, hands clenched into trembling fists, and you realize that it's a lost cause. Any other caravan master you might have been able to convince. But Khaytala is not going to risk endangering the villagers with delay, and Arne's virulent animosity toward you is such that, even if you could somehow convince him to listen to you, you don't think you could do it in time.
Alternatively, you could try to fight alongside Khaytala. But given your ineptitude at offensive combat, the most you could hope for would be to distract one or two of the enemy and get them to chase after you while you dodge. The impact will be minor at best, and it stands a real risk of exposing your demonic regeneration to Khaytala as well.
Or... there is another option. No one else knows it, but this raid is in direct defiance of the Witch Queen's explicit orders. You could threaten the orcs, warning that the queen knows of their absence and has sent you after them, using all your charisma to intimidate them with the dire consequences for such disobedience unless they turn back immediately.
Of course, doing so would display knowledge that "Talavar Kessen" absolutely shouldn't have. Still, if you just give your threats in orcish, you can just lie later on about what you actually said. You doubt anyone in that town hall speaks the language, and Khaytala...
...shit.
Khaytala might have been raised in the human lands... but knowing her particular fascination with languages and her long history of fighting orcs, you can't rule out the possibility that she might have studied their language at some point, if only to understand her enemy. Indeed, you'd almost be more surprised if she hasn't. And if you head into danger there's no way she won't follow... which means she'll be close enough to hear whatever you say.
Still... even assuming she can speak orcish... you might be able to work around it. You could try to obscure the exact nature of your threats, speaking in implications and complex phrasings that a more rudimentary grasp of the language might not be able to track. You're pretty sure you could at least keep her from flat-out realizing that you're the Witch Queen's agent.
However... even if she doesn't know exactly what you said, the fact that you clearly were phrasing it in such an obscure manner might still cause her some amount of suspicion. Not to mention suddenly displaying such frightening prowess at intimidation, where before you've only presented a reserved image, such as with Brannek's provocation in the tavern. It wouldn't be conclusive... but it may cause Khaytala to suspect that you might be hiding something from her.
Or... there is an even more audacious play. One that would avoid suspicion entirely. Instead of trying to obscure your threats... you could "accidentally" reveal who you really work for, using impassioned words that are—secretly—aimed just as much at Khaytala as the raiders. Remind the orcs of the Witch Queen's order of protection over the human villages. Threaten them with her fury at the loss of innocent life. Subtly imply that your true purpose here is peaceful... while letting Khaytala think you didn't intend her to hear any of it.
On one hand, this would definitely be sooner than you planned on showing this much of your hand. You're not sure how Khaytala would react, or how this might affect your campaign of temptation. On the other hand... there are certainly worse ways for that part of the truth to be revealed to her than saving a village full of innocent families.
And of course, your slightly-paranoid guess could just end up being completely wrong, and Khaytala might not speak orcish at all. But somehow... you doubt you're that lucky.
Either way, this is a matter of life and death. You're going to need to make a decision.
