Isolda

Isolda awoke covered in sweat as she did every night, her nightmares had progressed and became even more aggressive and horrifying. The creature in her dreams called itself "the great maw" and it delighted in her fear and agony, its laughter would fill her dreams, deep evil laughter ringing through the black-fire that she was always surrounded by. She would wake up feeling like she never slept at all, dark black circles had formed under her eyes and her demeanor was often short, getting frustrated easily by the slightest inconvenience. Her magic had even begun to change with her, she no longer could shadow hop, she would often try to hop into the shadows to find them no longer inviting and would reject her throwing her from them(often into walls or bookshelves). Her daemon vlad had even begun to be more cruel, often forcing creatures to battle to the death at Isolda's request during the times when she felt exceptionally bored.

Jani'dae had begun to sense something amiss with her new daughter, her magic felt different, but familiar. Orcs were unaware of omens as only man was afflicted with them, the soul of orcs were too strong for the Ancient evils locked away to latch on to. She had watch as the weeks had gone by and Isolda with it, her personality began to change as her nightmares became more frequent. Her hair which she had taken to let fall down her back had now been tied back tight giving her the appearance of horns behind her mask(which she had taken to wearing as the orcs did). She had also walked in on Isolda attempting to reanimate a small rodent, the attempt failed and the corpse of the animal quickly rotted away to a black sludge as Isolda just stared coldly.

Jani'dae had begun to fear corruption in the young girls magic and had decided to speak to some elder orcs on the matter.

"Black cloud hangs over us so long as the child remains here." One of the elder orcs said, fear in his voice as he said it, he was slightly larger than Jani'dae but his voice made him seem smaller. " she is a part of the clan, by law we cannot throw her from the city without probable cause the spirits will not allow it!" Jani'dae knew they would want to banish Isolda but she also knew that if Isolda was having a magical crisis it was the orcs responsibility to help one of their own.

" The child is foreign to us and she is from the enemies to the north. One of their children, perhaps she is a trap, a spy meant to destroy us all!" Another female orc spoke, her voice had fear and anger swimming through her every word, " we must save this child, she may not have our blood but we made her an orc. She is ours and we must protect our own." A very old orc, so old its voice was no longer male or female, but its words brought silence to the arguing elders. " I am the first mother, she who bore the first orcs. I was there when the first great council came together and i will remain after this ones end. Never in my time had an orc ever turned their back on one of their own. Are you not powerful in magic? Are you truly afraid of the Autumn witch so much so you can't even try to find the root of her corruption and remove it root and stem? Never in all my lives, past or future have I seen orcs so quickly refute their own!" The words of the ancient orc struck like swords across the group, her words were full of a malicious truth.

The council knew her words rang true, that Isolda was by all rights was now considered an orc no matter her species and they were not able to turn their backs on her. " what do you say we do then Old-mother? What can we do to help our orcling?" We don't even know what is afflicting her." Jani'dea held the light of hope close to her heart after hearing old-mother, if anyone knew what to do it would be her. She was as old as the orcs themselves, she was credited as the mother of the owl clan birthing the first chief and eventually creating the great council. Her words held great weight, and outsider looking in may believe she was the true leader of the clan.

"The magics we practice here can not help her if what is indeed corrupting her is magical and not natural. Im afraid if she is afflicted with a magical corruption we may not even be able to use what magic we have to see beyond the veil of her heart to even tell." Old mother spoke with a much softer tone than the one she had used prior, she now had to convince her clan to send an envoy to the coasts of the savage lands and seek out another clan.

The silver owl clan was one of many tribes that spread across the savage lands and many clans would take the same animal as their mascot and were differentiated by color, for the most part the orcs were peaceful amongst each other but not all clans. Some clans felt that it was time the orcs to spread into thre'a and asserted their dominance in the region. Those clans also squabbled with the larger more prominent clans in hopes of furthering their ideals and power amongst the orc clans.

One of these clans happened to be the clan of the blue kraken, a clan who takes to water as the owl clans take to plant life. This clan used a more aggressive branch of magic and practiced the arts of warfare to acquire more territory and had recently made a presence in the area. The owl clan had powerful protective magics that kept the unwanted advances of other clans or races out of their city without invitation. These orcs worked tirelessly on counter enchantments in hopes of raiding the city and now old mother was suggesting they go to the clans captol and them for help with a non-orc clan member.

As absurd as the plan was old mother had a plan, the kraken clan would love to just take the city by force and enslave the rest of the clan. Old mother had a daughter, particularly young and childless and next in line to join the council and she planned to join the clans in blood by offering her daughter to the Kraken clans chief. He himself was too old to take another wife but his heir was not. He was in fact a youngling possibly twenty years old( making him around ten in orc years) .

"My own daighter, Yoka-he'a shall create the bridge to peace, we shall offer a truce by marriage to the kraken, peacefully integrating with their clan when their heir becomes chief." The room went silent, heavy breathing against masks was all the room could offer for no one dared to speak. Willingly giving themselves to the rule of the kraken clan seemed foolish, they were a feudal society who valued power and were more of the barbaric brutish type the royalty of thre'a used to give validity to their war of expansion.

"We would just submit to them! Without even a fight! They can't even get through the enchantments we have placed here, why would be even think of it!" The voice of the same orc yelled as before, but old mother commanded such respect with just one of her four hands she could bring the room to a deafening silence. " because we will make it a point that we will marry our princess to their prince so long as the prince is raised here with us so he can learn about the people he intends to lead."

The other council members began to understand how her plan was to unfold. The krakens were a more barbaric culture, but this new king could be raised in a sanctuary of peace and learning and by the time he became of age to take over the throne he could be trained with ideals of the owl clan. "Its better to raise your king than to be conquered by him. Send an owl to the kraken clans chief that I myself wish an audience with him. He will find it an insult if anyone less asks for him personally." Old moth slowily floated out of the hut leaving the whole room in a furry.