Isolda

Isolda and Yoka slept next to Jani'dae, her skin was pale and cold, but neither could bring themselves to bury her quite yet. Yoka wanted her to be sent back to the city for her burial, but they could not go back so they agreed to an orc funeral in the morning before they packed camp and set to the Kraken's keep.

Isolda didn't dream, the maw let her grieve, a bit of mercy she supposed. For all intents and purposes Jani'dae had been her mother and the only one she had ever had. Her tears kept falling even as she slept, her bed roll had become soaked with tears as well as the left half of the white blouse she had on.

Yokas mask had stained from the tears she had been shedding, she had taken to crying in random fits as she slept. The air grew colder as the end of night neared and the darkness struggled to keep the light at bay. The sun eventually won as it always had and rose high in the sky when they had decided to crawl from where they were sleeping on either side of Jani'dae, in silence they wrapped her body in the finest fabrics and skins they had packed with them, using some cords of rope to bind them to her.

Yoka insisted they dig the grave by hand, Isolda could have just used magic and instantly have a proper grave for her but understood, she did create a couple shovels from two sticks and two coins, a spell that Yoka was very impressed by. "it's just a transmutation using two elements. The North calls it alchemy. It can be very useful at times so long as you know what you need to make what you're creating, if you don't it can be very bad."

Isolda rambled on for few minutes before her shovel broke dirt and Yokas followed, they worked in silence, as if to speak while they dug would be an insult. Their hole wasn't perfect either, and they had to dig it twice as deep and twice as wide as a mans grave. The orc and small child worked well into the afternoon before their misshapen grave had been dug. piles of black earth lined the deep dark hole. Isolda had decided to widen it still so that Jani'dae would have plenty of room to rest. She deserved the right to rest easy, she would miss the old orc and her wisdoms.

Yoka had to allow magic to put Jani'dae in the grave since both of the together couldn't put her in the deep grave without dropping her in and Isolda wouldn't have her mothers body handled so. Isolda levitated her body to the grave below. She and Yoka both had many words to say to her but chose to speak only to themselves their goodbyes. They picked up their shovels one more time and began throwing the damn black earth back to where it came.

They had chosen a spot underneath a nearby red pine, its needles looked of fire when all others were green, Yoka enchanted the tree so that the needles never fell so the place where she rests would never be covered by the forests debris. Isolda enchanted beautiful yellow flowers to grow permanently on the grave as well like a giant quilt tucking her in for the long sleep.

Night had fallen and they finished their duties as they felt to Jani'dae, Yoka decided to also decided to bury Lizard on other other side of the same tree and asked Isolda to enchant flowers onto his grave as well. Isolda wasn't a friend to that orc but Yoka was and Isolda did so as a kindness to Yoka. large Bright red flowers blanketed the mound of dirt where he too took the long sleep.

"I guess tomorrow we make our way to the Krakens keep, we spent a day caring for our dead, there's no shame in honoring the dead, and today we did as orcs of the owl clan should for their own. I do wish we had more food so we could have a decent supper. iv built up an appetite but i'm afraid i may have finished off the food we had left last night." Yoka was saying as she cast some enchantments on a thick pile of brush warping them into a hut much like the ones they had built before when they were four.

The light in the sky was nothing more than a mere crack across the sky as night pushed its darkness onto the forest around them. Yoka lit no fires as there was nothing to cook andthe the air was warm. Isolda hadn't spoken much since they came back to the camp, They had been at the campsite for several days and had not seen anything or anyone other than the boy in the woods. No iron bears or other Bramble beasts and certainly no Kraken clan orcs.

"At first light we leave, we have wasted a lot of time here." Isolda said as she crawled into the hut with Yoka who answered with a angry look she shot at isolda like razor barbed arrows. "Trying to save one of our own is not a waste of time!" she scolded, Isolda ignored it and curled into a ball under some skins on a pallet she had made from pine needles and leathers.

First light came quicker than sleep did, Isolda felt as though she hadn't slept at all, she closed her eyes to no sooner finding sunlight creeping through the hut made of brush and branches. Birds sang in the trees for the first time in days, the Bramble bird did not return after he took Jani'daes soul and the birds who had fled from it finally returned when the song of the Bramble bird had gone silent.

"strange your bird has gone missing don't you think?" Yoka had noticed as wel, she hadn't heard it's song the day prior when they were burying their comrades and she hadn't heard it as they undid their charms and prepared to set off south again. Isolda stomach growled as they didn't have any food to break their fast. They were not too worried as Yoka had knowledge of the plants of the savage lands and what was safe to eat and where you could most likely find it.

They traveled swiftly through the paths that were there naturally, created by the migrations of deer and rabbits and other natural beasts that called the forests of the orcs home. Isolda suddenly wished she wasn't with a devote vegetarian as a small family of fat summer hares jumped onto the path. She wanted to freeze them in their place and snap all fifteen of their necks and cook them over an open fire but she knew Yoka would not allow her to eat them even if she killed them so she let them pass by un-besmirched .

Yoka managed to find some berry bushes and showed Isolda which she could eat, "watch for the blue ones, those will leave you paralyzed on the forest floor for days after you eat them." She handed two large handfuls to Isolda, She also found some mushrooms and some edible tree sap. Their bellies were full rather quickly as they moved through the forest, Isolda and yoka both saved some of the food for later one when they made camp when a proper supper was needed.

Isolda had decided to follow Yoka on foot for the time being, the forest was incredibly beautiful and she had decided to explore a little bit as they went. Making sure to stay within in sight of Yoka, Isolda climbed the rocks and looked for clovers, she watched caterpillars eat the leaves on the plants that were still wet from the morning dew, and she watched spiders capture caterpillars and wrap them in their silk webs before dragging to their webs.

Isolda found a nearby stream and pulled a leather water skin from her shoulder bag and filled it with the clear cool water. She sat down on a nearby rock, grey with blue and green moss growing along the bottom and watch the minnows swim along the bottom. "You killed the orc." Her masters voice echoed through her head, " I allowed you the day to grieve, I am glad you took haste in setting for the Krakens keep."

Isolda did not answer, Yoka had came to the stream as well but further upstream where the slow trickle hurried to a much harder rush of water. She may decide levitate as the owl orcs like to do unnoticed and caught her. Yoka would not let that be explained away, she would make them return back where Jani'dae was no longer able to speak for her and the old mother couldn't stop the will of all the orc elders on her own.

"master, the other orc and I are heading straight for the Krakens, I fear they do not wish to honor their oaths to you, I fear they may be preparing a trap for us." The voice laughed its terrible laugh, "they will have no choice, the blood of the old Orc runs through them no matter how watered down it may have become, their power belongs to me and they will obey."

"If you are certain my lord."

"if they do not then we will just wipe them all out and I will make new servants of the other clans." he laughed again sending good pimples down her back and across her arms. Isolda shot an arcane bold at a nearby spider- squirrel barely missing as it chattered what she expected to be squirrel insults along the way.

"I think we have spent long enough here, we should make back for the path and get more miles walked before we have to start looking to make camp for the night." Yoka had made her way towards Isolda, she had filled her pack with many herbsand roots and other edible plants that she had found as well as some water fruits that grew along the banks of the little stream.

" As you say Yoka." Isolda sort of sighed as she spoke, she was still mourning the loss of her mother however well she tried to hide it. The weight of her secret had become feeling as stones in her heart, heavy and breaking to bare.

They made their way back on what resembled a path, the afternoon sun was high in the sky and the heat rose making them sweat and their skin burn. Isolda sweltered under her mask and wished to remove it but was not permitted to, an orc never removed their mask, especially if thy were not in their own city or village. No one not of the same clan should ever see an orcs true face.

She decided to use magic and set a magical cloud above them that misted them with rain as they went along. after a while the mist had their clothes damp and even that was uncomfortable after" a short while, causing Isolda who was still choosing to walk the path to chaff. Her little legs raw and bleeding from the harsh material that her clothes were made from.

"We should make camp Yoka, the sun should be lowering anytime now and my legs can't bare to walk anymore today." Isolda had stopped and sad down on a fallen log to rest her legs and the sores in between them. she pulled her waterskin from her bag, it had almost been emptied from the days walk. "Tomorrow ill have to stick to the shadows, these sores hurt too much for me to walk another day and we can't spend more time here waiting." Isolda spoke as she grimmaced from the pain. " let me make you a salve child, it will help while we rest."

Yoka pulled a few herbs from her bag and a pewter bowl and pumice and began to grind the herbs as she aded a multitude of different materials to it with her other three remaining free hands. the paste that was created smelled of mint and aloe and was bright green in color. She took a couple spaded leaves off of a tree nearby and smeared the slave onto it. Isolda took off her pants, the warm breeze felt cold compared to what it had been, she sat there bottomless as Yoka applied the leaves to the sores.

The salve burned at first but the pain slowly melted away, Isolda felt embarrassed as she sat their pant less with leaves between her legs, what if the boy from the other night strolled out of the woods and saw her. what if the kraken orcs came to meet them and there she sat naked and weak for them to take notice. No matter how she felt she did not get up nor did she take the leaves off.

Yoka began setting up a campsite while she let Isolda rest, She set a fire pit and built a fire in it as well as set up a large sleeping hut from the brush and fallen limbs, Yoka wasn't really sur how Isolda's tent worked as Orcs built their tents with magic and materials handy at the time, But the hut was very spacious, built for size rather than speed this time around. Yoka didn't like having to squat over, this time she made the hut so she could levitate a few feet off the ground and not touch the roof. She nestled the hut with the stream to their backs and the fire out their door, there were even opening in the hut so they could see out in either directions.

Isolda hobbled to the fire pit and used a bit of magic to levitate a long fallen log over to it. It would make a nice bench for them to sit and there was enough excess length they could use some of it for fire wood. "how long do you think we have till we make it to the coast?" Yoka didn't look up from the work she had started to do, she had started chopping up all the roots and things she had found along the path. Wild onions, sweet potatos, ginger root, mushrooms, berries and mint leaves, she had intended to make a stew for supper. She had a cooking pot next to her, where she got it Isolda wasn't particularly sure but Yoka had probably an enchantment on her bag to allow her more room then expected.

"I'd say we have a few more days walk before we leave these woods and enter the grasslands. from there we have a weeks walk maybe two so long as we aren't set upon by the creatures that live there or the Krakens decide to kill us." yoka put the pot on a long stick and hung it from two large sticks she had stuck into the ground on either side of the fire. She filled the pot with water she had saved earlier from the river and sat next to Isolda. "This is a very dangerous quest, one we weren't meant to do alone, but here we are alone and continuing on. We will make it to Krakens keep, I will marry that loathesome cheif, and we will save our people. Though I do wonder why they brought you with us in the first place, you are just a child and even if you have magic you can not be too much help against a city full of Kraken orcs. Sometimes I wonder about the wisdom of the great council."

Isolda forced a small smile, " they want me to get help from the krakens. They say my magic has been tainted some how, I don't know what they mean I feel just fine." Yoka stopped smiling, " your magic has been tainted, I'm beginning to understand, the Krakens were the last clan of Ancient orcs, those who sided with the great ancients in the greatest of wars. The council means for you to have your corruption removed by their magic." She spoke more to herself as her fear grew, Isolda was more dangerous than she was told, if her magic was tainted then it was possible she was also possessed by a demon or a even an ancient itself.

" What do you think? do you think my magic is tainted?" Isolda looked up innocently at Yoka, playing the sweet girl for a moment, " I'm not sure if we are being honest, but I am just a child myself and only know what i've been told. To me you just seem like a mage child who's in a place full of things you do not know and perhaps you havn't settled into it all as we would have hoped. I know that you aren't treated the same as all the others in our clan because your not truly an orc, but after this no matter what they say you will be. I'm certain you will be held in honors when we get home, your name spoken in classrooms and the great theatre where many orcs will recount this adventure. Hopefully my new husband will allow those things to exist, hopefully we can teach him the use of such things." Yoka stirred the giant pot with stick she had cleaned the bark from, the water had finally started to come a live with bubbles as it finally began to show signs of boiling.

" a stew with an audience will never cook" Yoka said, 'I think you mean a watched cauldron never boils" Isolda replied smiling at the orcs perversion of the old saying. " do you see any cauldrons? i just see this stew pot filled with stew."

Yoka was wrong, Isolda knew the owl clan would not be left to continue as it always had, she had plans for the orc of the savage lands and so did her master, but she said nothing to dampen Yokas hopes. She needed to believe the krakens would allow those who pledged themselves to them to live as they had like the northern civilized kingdoms had for he house Arcana. The krakens knew no such systems, they would kill all the males and babies still at their mothers breasts before sending their own males in to lay claim on them. Isolda would let them, war was a nasty creature and she had given her mothers life for it and now she was going to have it.

"I do miss meat, I don't understand how you could wear an owls likeness and not eat meat, owls do!" Yoka laughed, Isolda had never understood the reasoning behind the owl, owls hunted and ate smaller animals and rodents, the owl orcs ate plants like cows. " owls are more than just predators who hunt at night little one, owls are infinitely wise, a trait we treasure." yoka touched her mask with all four of her hands, " the masks are our way of honoring the animals we hold dearest. We hope the masks will remind us to strive for wisdom and in wisdom gain power, you are the first member of our clan who is not orc, at least the first for our clan."

"are there other clans with not orc members of their clan?" Isolda asked as she pulled a fur from her bag to drape over her legs to keep the misquitos and the other pests that had begun to circle her. The salve had dried and the leaves had started to peel away, no longer leaving the scent of mint and aloe on her skin, it smelled more like dog dung or some other vile substance,

Yoka was checking the pots contents, tasting the broth and checking the chunks of vegetables before ladeling the contents into a couple wooden bowls she had tucked away in her bag once again. The stew was delicious smelling with herbs and onions filling their nostrils, as Isolda sips the broth from the bowl the flavors of the berries and onions together, getting mouthfuls fo the diced vegies. "this is very good, still wish it had a little meat though."