Bors

A Warmaster Jack Novella

By Onyx Tao

Section Five

This text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike License © 2011 by Onyx Tao

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The next couple of days consisted mainly of Jack and his warlords planning an attack on the Shredded Flag tribe; apparently they'd refused Jack's offer of alliance. From what I could make out, the Warmaster had offered them the chance to become slaves rather than be exterminated, so their refusal wasn't surprising. Paw's war planning generally consisted of 'let's get 'em'. Jack spent several hours going over the terrain - he had maps. They were a human invention, I suppose, and kind of clever once you got used to them, sort of a flat painting of the land, but they didn't tell you a lot of important things, like how steep a hill was, and even Jack admitted they were probably wrong about some things. Of course, Jack's point was that if they found something wrong, he wanted to know about it.

Panther Lodge supplied most of Jack's scouts, although a couple of Wolves were there, too, and the first couple of hours with the Wolf Lord and First Panther was actually all about the maps; what was right, what the scouts weren't sure of. The Bear of Bear Lodge just listened. Then they talked about an assault; where the Wolf troops would encounter the Shreds, where the Shred scouts might be (the First Panther said, "Dead, Warmaster. They'll be dead"), and how they would run away and where they'd go.

"Once their horde breaks," Jack said, "they'll really have no choice. They can either regroup at their main camp or flee here," and Jack pointed to a couple of valleys marked on the map. "Urtod?"

The Panther scout nodded. "Yes, Warmaster?"

"Can they flee here? It looks like they can get further up in the mountains?"

"Yes, Warmaster, they can. Both are good, but ..." the scout pointed. "This one is easier."

"And these are the only two good places for them to flee if they encounter us here?"

"Only good ones, yes, but ..."

"Most of the other places mean we'll hunt them down fast," Jack said. "It's only here and here that they might actually get away."

Urtod considered this, and nodded. "Or if they go through us."

"Not likely," snorted the Wolf Lord.

"We should consider the possibility," Jack said calmly. "Unlikely as it is."

Urtod nodded respectfully to Jack and then to the Wolf Lord. "But you see the problem."

"Is it a problem?"

"Yes," said the Bear. "If you want Bear reserves in those two passes, and a Bear reserve for the initial assault, and a Bear rearguard. I don't know how many Shreds might come through those passes, and if we station enough Bears in both of them, and stationing less would be foolish, Bear cannot provide a rearguard or reserve." The Bear paused. "And we don't know how many warriors the Shreds will field, so ... I don't think putting forces in the passes is a good idea. What say we hold Bear reserves together, and use them to hunt down anyone fleeing." The Bear looked directly at Jack. "And those additional warriors will help make sure they flee to begin with."

"I don't want them escaping," Jack said mildly.

"Shredded Flag is larger than our usual targets, Warmaster," said the First Panther. "They'll be more than enough."

"If they get away, they might take the sows with them," Jack clarified. "I don't want that."

Urdris, the Fox King, cleared his throat. "And if those passes were blocked, Warmaster? If instead of a safe haven, they ran into a box canyon?"

"What would that require?"

Urdris shrugged. "I'm sure we can figure something out."

Jack paused, tilting his head to the side to look at the Fox King. "I want you with the assault, Darz will be here. It has to be something your foxes can do with one or two panthers."

"I can put two teams together," objected the First Panther.

"No," Jack said. "Their task is to block the passes; all they need is a guide. I'd rather have your scouts out in force. Urdris?"

"I ..." and the Fox King thought for a moment. "I have some thoughts, but I need to see if they will work, Warmaster."

"Will you know by tomorrow evening?"

"Tomorrow midnight."

Jack nodded. "Then we will resume this tomorrow at midnight. Panther, I want a screen around the camp, and I want, oh, ten wolves here for a fast-reaction team. I know nobody likes being left in camp on a raid, but it's important - no less important than the raid itself. I'm leaving Darz here, this time."

"Are you expecting an attack here, Warmaster?" asked the Bear.

"Anticipating," Jack said. "Yes."

"Nobody would dare," snarled the Wolf Lord.

"I'd dare," said Jack, staring right at the wolf-skin cloaked orc.

"You're ..." and the Wolf Lord trailed off.

"What? Stupid? Not an orc?"

"That's not what I meant, Warmaster," the Wolf Lord said, shaking his head. "You're ... well, you're you."

"And there might not be someone my equal out there?"

"I don't see how, Warmaster."

"Your confidence in me is flattering," Jack said, sounding amused, "but at some point someone will take advantage of one of our raids to launch a raid of his own." Jack looked around at the other orcs. "It will happen." The Warmaster got up and poured himself a glass of pale yellow liquor. "And at no time would an attack hurt us more than when we're out on a raid ourselves."

There was some grumbling, but for the most part, they seemed to accept what Jack said. I was astounded; Paw usually ended up beating one of his warchiefs senseless during a war council - not that we had a lot of them. We certainly didn't have these kind of planning meetings, or anything like breaking up the responsibilities of an attack. Generally, it was just Paw deciding who to go raid.

Jack had me and Heam attend; I'm not sure why, and I don't think any of the others knew, either. On the other hand, we were there because Jack wanted us there, and that ... was good enough for them. I thought about asking Jack, and then decided against it. If - when - he wanted me to know, he'd tell me.

Besides, he'd just given me my own bitch to play with. I could let a lot go for that.

Timdon was waiting for me back on my cot; well, she had to be, since she was still chained to it, since Jack put the sow collar on her last night. She didn't look that much like a bitch - human females are a lot softer than the soft males are, and they have those massive teats, but then, Timdon hadn't been a bitch that long, and still looked like the stud he'd been, except between her legs. Somehow that just made her that much more fun to fuck.

Even if Jack was watching. I made sure Timdon had food and water, and got ready for bed. I figured I'd fuck her once or twice, and I was getting hard thinking about it when Jack spoke up. "Bors, don't keep her in the bed."

"Huh?"

"Chain her to the post over there; don't leave her in bed with you while you sleep."

"Why?"

"Because if she can wrap that chain around your neck, you will die," Jack said in a matter-of-fact way. "."

"Oh," I said. Huh. I rubbed my throat. Suddenly that scenario seemed unpleasantly possible. "She'd do that?"

"I don't know," Jack said. "She might not think of it. But why give her the chance?"

"Yeah," I said, pulling my hand away. "Tidmon ... doesn't speak orc?"

"He didn't," Jack said thoughtfully, staring at the now-bitch. "But she'll pick some up. Might as well start being careful what you say." He grinned. "Never know who will pick up an idea, or what he'll do with it. Dangerous things, ideas."

I thought about that while I was fucking her that morning, but not very hard. Well. I was hard, and maybe that interfered with the thinking part, but the way she squirmed under me ... somehow, I managed to ignore Jack, although I knew he was watching me. I'd thought he use Heam. And when I looked over at him, he was using Heam; the large orc's head was moving very slightly at Jack's crotch. Jack had one hand on Heam's head, and the other was toying with a long, thin dagger. He was wearing his gauntlet, again, dulled metal scales over worn leather, and the dagger made soft chink sounds as it clicked against the scales.

I was just finishing on Timdon when the gnoll, Darz, burst into the room. I knew it was her, because she's the only one who'd dare that. Jack's reaction was simply to point the long dagger at her. "Knock," he said.

"I wanted ..." she stopped, and looked over where I was still fucking Timdon. "You tried it! How ..."

"It worked as expected, so far," Jack said.

"I thought you'd ..."

"No," Jack said. "See? He's useful, after all."

The gnoll didn't respond to that. "Get off her," Darz told me, and I should have listened.

"In a minute," I said, and something tackled me, slamming me into the wall.

" Darz! Stop!" said Jack, in a tone I'd never heard him use before, but it sure stopped me, where I was trying to get up off the floor. I froze.

"I will be obeyed," Darz said, sounding angry. "A ... a ... puling hostage?"

"Simmer down," Jack said, the command gone from his voice. "He'd obey you normally, but at the moment he's thinking with his dick, not his head. If you're going to order a male to stop fucking something when he's near, well, it's not a command you should give." Jack looked over at me, and apparently decided I wasn't too badly hurt. "And, Bors, in the future, when Darz tells you to do something, do it."

"Uh, yes, Warmaster, sir," I said, and as I got up, I got a better look at the gnoll. She was holding a short metal rod - some kind of magic thing, I was sure, and it was still pointed at me. I was pretty sure that whatever it did I wouldn't like.

"Get out of my way," Darz said, and that I was perfectly happy to do. She moved over to Timdon, examining the human carefully. Timdon made a motion to protest, and Darz snapped something in the human language - I suppose it made sense that she'd speak it too. She seemed most interested in the bitch's cunt; inspecting the lips and interior, going so far as to spread Timdon open.

"Well?" asked Jack.

"It looks right," Darz said. She looked over the human. She still looked, with the exception of her cunt, male. No breasts, not even the slight dugs a sow would have. She ran a hand over Timdon's face. "It seems ..." she said, and then said, "When was the last time the human was shaved? Before? After?"

"Before," Jack said. "Right before."

"She's still fairly smooth ... it looks like the facial hair was suppressed," Darz said. "That's actually better than I'd hoped ... how many times has she been used? Seed will actually fuel the transformation."

"You told me," Jack said. "Me, maybe three times. Bors here, four or five."

"Seven," I said.

"Seven," Jack said.

"Good progress," Darz said. "Are you taking her?"

"Bors here prefers sows. Or bitches, apparently."

Darz just snorted. "So you're giving her to him?"

"For the time being."

"You realized she'll go into heat in the next few days, depending."

"Yes," Jack said, starting to sound irritated. "I remember. You were quite clear. You've taken a look, is there anything else you need here?" It was pretty clear to me Jack expected a no.

Apparently it was clear to Darz, too. "No," she said. "Although ... I'd like to talk to you tomorrow. Privately. I understand you're taking Urdris and not me ..."

"Yes," Jack said. "I'm starting to worry about being attacked."

"Really?"

"No, not really, but I need the warlords to take the threat seriously, so I have to pretend to take it seriously. And I need to show Urdris I trust him."

"You trust him?"

"Of course not," Jack said, sounding irritated again. "But I don't distrust him."

"You think he won't notice the difference?"

"No, I don't," Jack said. "Do you?"

That caused her to pause for a moment. "Maybe not," she said. "What about me?"

"You?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course," Jack said.

"You're lying," she said.

"Of course," Jack repeated, in exactly the same tone.

"Do you distrust me, then?"

"I know you've lied to me," Jack said.

"Lied? About what?"

"Only irrelevant things," Jack said. "So I'm not entirely certain why you bothered."

"What have I lied about?"

Jack turned to look at me.

"I was just going ..." I said, grabbing my pants.

"No, stay," Jack said, looking amused.

"I'd rather go, Warmaster, really ..."

"Stay."

"Yes, Warmaster."

Darz regarded me balefully. "He should go."

"No," Jack said. "I want him here."

"Then we can continue this conversation tomorrow."

"Sure thing," agreed Jack. "I'll bring him."

"No!"

"So, you don't trust me," Jack said softly.

"I don't trust him," Darz said.

"Trust me, Darz," Jack said. "Really. I don't care. You are more likely to get what you want if I know what it really is."

"Oh?"

"If it's contrary to my plans, you won't get it whether you tell me or not," Jack said bluntly. "You have to realize that by now."

Darz said nothing, but a sharp breath gave me the feeling she wasn't able to disagree.

"So ... If you tell me what it is, I can help you get it."

"Why would you?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Jack countered. "You've been ... tremendously helpful, much more than I anticipated. I thought you were going to be some kind of -" and here Jack used a human word - "but you haven't." He smiled. "Which is very fortunate, because I've come to the conclusion you'd be a lot harder to kill than I thought."

"You were planning to kill me. You're admitting it."

"Of course I was. And you know it. You're stalling."

"What have I lied about?"

"More than I thought, apparently," Jack said sounding surprised.

"How ..."

"If it was just the one thing, then you'd know what I'd caught you at," Jack said. "Look, Darz, I have plans, lots of plans, and I've reached the point where not knowing the truth about your plans is causing pain. Whatever you want, I'll work into my plans."

"I want to start a mother-cult," Darz said.

"No that," Jack said, "is a lie. So, what kind of cult are you really starting?"

Darz looked at him. "Why ..."

"Because you haven't," Jack said. "You've had the opportunity. Mare is at your disposal, and, if you wanted, you could easily turn them to the worship of the Mother of Monsters. You haven't, though."

"No?"

"No," Jack said. "And that business with the Goggspawn?" Goggspawn?

"That," Darz said.

"And you claim to worship the Mother of Monsters?"

Darz nodded. "I understand that it looks odd, but ..."

"It is impossible," Jack said. "So, why don't you tell me what you really want?"

After a moment, Darz started speaking - rapidly - in another language; it might have been human but it didn't sound like it. It was, well, different. Jack, though, clearly understood it, and he became more and more thoughtful as she continued.

"Interesting," was all Jack said, switching back to orc. "Very interesting. And I won't stand in your way - if you won't stand in mine."

"No. He has made it clear to me that I am to conform to your plans," Darz said, and I wondered just who he was. "But ..."

"But?" prompted Jack.

"I had expected ... you'd object."

"No," said Jack.

"It seems ... against your long-terms plans."

"All I have is the short-term one," Jack said. "Fuck the long term." He lifted the dagger, and then stared at the gauntlet he was wearing. "Hold on." He took it off, and dropped it onto a table. "If I manage what I want, then the disruption might be sufficient for you to seize ground."

"I ... I had thought of that," Darz admitted. "But ... I hadn't wanted to bring it up."

"Because you think I had longer-term hopes."

"Yes."

"I don't," Jack said. "After I'm done, you can do your worst. Or best."

"That seems ... out of character," Darz said cautiously.

"Does it?" asked Jack, sounding amused, and then he switched over to that human tongue. Presumably one that Timdon didn't know, either. Darz looked dubious at first, and then her entire body tightened up. She shook her head, and Jack just kept talking.

She finally said just one word.

"Yes," Jack said, switching back to our language. "And there's an easy way to make it happen."

"I fail to see how."

"Indoctrinate ... him," Jack said softly, nodding to me. Me? What the fuck?

"But he's ..." and then she paused. Looked at me, like I might look at a cow, and her eyes narrowed. "I see. I will have to consult my Master."

"You know what he'll say," Jack said, sounding disappointed. "Why do you do that?"

"What?"

"You know what he'll say," Jack repeated. "Why do you go running to him over every little detail? You are a learned mage, a powerful priest - you have your own desires. Why does everything have to get his stamp of approval? Just do it, Darz."

"He'll still want to know. Your ... private ... " Darz paused, struggling for a word. She finally used a human one.

Jack, with no expressions, offere, "Amusements."

"Amusements, yes," Darz said, "are interfering with your judgment."

"I doubt that will be a surprise." Jack said with a grimace. "Grow up, Darz."

"Grow up?"

"Yes," Jack said, vaulting from the bed to an upright position. "Why do you think your Master put you here, and told you to obey me?"

"You're orc, you know these tribes ..."

"Wrong. It's because I don't need my hand held," Jack interrupted. "And neither do you. We know what he wants. We know what we want. We know how to cooperate. We can get everything we want, Darz. Everything."

The gnoll just stood, uncertainly, while I wondered just why that everything made me so uneasy. "And you think my Master will stand for that?"

"If he gets what he wants, why the fuck would he care?"

"How do you know what he wants?"

"I asked him," Jack said patiently.

"And you believed the answer?"

Jack shook his head. "It doesn't matter. He'll get what he asked for; if he doesn't like it, he should have asked for something else."

"That may not be good enough."

Jack just shrugged. "It's only a problem if he's stupid, and if he's stupid, he won't be a problem."

Darz muttered something, too low for me to hear. I don't think Jack heard it either, but the half-orc just waved his hand at the door, and Darz - reluctantly, I thought, left.

"Darz has a Master?"

Jack's attention refocused on me, and for a long moment I wondered if that was a good thing. "Obviously," Jack said finally. "Did you think it was just my winning personality that kept her here, under control?"

I blinked, and then just said, "Yes. I mean, she's afraid of you."

"Is she?" Jack said musingly. "Maybe. She doesn't need to be."

"Are you?"

"Afraid of her? No," Jack said, with a laugh. "Probably should be, but ... no, not at all."

"Her Master keeps her in line?"

"What?" asked Jack, sounding surprised. "No, of course not. Darz keeps herself under control. She has her own goals - perhaps hers, and perhaps partly her Master's, too, but I don't control her, her Master doesn't control her, she's here because he trusts her judgment."

"But you said ..."

"Darz doesn't trust her own judgment," Jack said. "Which ... I understand."

I just looked at him. "Why wouldn't she trust ... that doesn't make any sense!"

Jack shrugged. "I know several things about her and her Master that you don't. You'll just have to believe me. Or not." He gestured back to Timdon. "Were you going to fuck her or not?"

"Yeah," I said.

The next night, though, Darz ordered me to come with her into the shrine. The rumor was that Darz had delved it magically, summoning creatures from ... elsewhere ... to burrow out a sanctuary. There were other rumors, too, about how Darz would occasionally bring boars down into her lair.

Those rumors had absolutely nothing to say about boars coming back out, though.

"Come," was all Darz said before walking through the gap in the rock. The heavy stone door to the shrine was open - but then, I'd never seen it shut, so that was expected.

I didn't have much of a choice. I followed her into a tunnel, and down a set of stairs. The air was cool, verging on cold. There were torch mounts, with unlit torches, and I wondered at them. "What are the torches for?"

"Trouble," Darz said from ahead of me. "If they're lit, they'd ruin your vision in the dark."

Oh. "You expect ..."

"No," said Darz.

So much for that conversation.

A door at the base of the stairs led into a room, roughly hewn from the mountain rock. A few stone benches faced a small altar, and niches in the wall held tiny idols, of grotesquely pregnant creatures. The air was cool, almost cold, with the smell of wet stone. Behind the altar was the three-eyed head of the Mother of Monsters, looking out over the small room. At the most, it could hold five, maybe six orcs. I couldn't help but compare it with Yellem's tent-shrine to the Fight God; it was cleaner, at least, if smaller. I glanced over at the altar, expecting stains on the rock, but it was bare, without even a hint of stain. I breathed in the chilled air, testing it, tasting it, for the salty metal taste of blood, but there was nothing, just cool earth. "It's not the real shrine," I said, half-guessing.

"Is it not," Darz said. "Still, it will do."

"Do for what?"

"Jack thinks you have some promise," Darz said.

"What?" I said, suddenly panicked. "I haven't! I haven't oathed anyone anything! Nobody's ..."

"No," Darz said. "That's not the right word. Not the oath of warriors, the ..." she paused. "The thought that you might do great things, or be able to do great things." The gnoll grimaced. "I'm still getting used to speaking orcish. But he thinks ... maybe, you could be great."

"He does?"

"Maybe," said Darz.

"This is about last night?"

"Yes," she said slowly. "I want to know if you want ... power."

"Who doesn't?"

"You mean, who doesn't say they want it," Darz said. "But power - real power - takes work. Pain. Sacrifice."

"Who do I have to sacrifice?"

"Not to the gods," Darz said. "Sacrifice to yourself. Working instead of playing. Suffering, and continuing to suffer because that's the only way to make what you want to happen, happen." A ghost of a smile crossed her face. "Like being a priestess-shaman for years in orc-lands."

"Uh, yeah," I said. "All I need is my axe."

Darz shook her head. "It's not enough. If you want to be great, you need ... more. You need to understand more, to ... be more." She leaned forward. "I can show you true power, Bors. But only you can grasp it."

"Why? Why would you help me?"

Darz showed her teeth. "Jack thinks it would be a good idea," she said. "And ... I've found he's surprisingly ..." she paused, thinking. "Understanding of what might work, alert to the ... clues of ... what could be great. That is, if he think it's a good idea, it's probably a good idea, even if I do not know why."

"So ... what kind of power are you ..."

My eyes exploded in pain as blue-white lightning boiled over stone walls as it ripped the air apart. After a half-minute or so, it stopped, and as I tried to clear my tearing eyes, Darz said again, "Power. True power."

Magic. Which isn't the only form of power, but one ... apparently not as shunned by the Sharpened Spit clan as most other orc clans. Urdris, the Fox King and the entire fucking Fox Lodge. Darz, who thought she wasn't on Jack's leash. And now Darz was offering me ... power.

Magic. If I wanted it. But what could I do with it? All it was good for was being a shaman, and I had about as much desire to end up like old Yellem as I did to end up like Darz - or Urdris. I shook my head. "No," I said.

"No?"

"No."

Darz looked at me, and said, "So be it. If you change your mind, the opportunity might still be there."

"No," I said again, and got up to leave. I expected her to stop me, but she didn't; she just stood in front of her mock-altar, watching me go up the steps back into the warm night air. Even after I'd climbed past the point where she could see me, I could still feel her gaze on my back.

Over the next week or so, I kept expecting Jack to say something, but all he did was tell me - order me, really, to fuck Timdon again. And again. And again. I saw Darz but she seemed to pay no attention to me, maybe the same as I tried to pay no attention to her. Jack broke up the planning meetings with sword practice - with me. Now, that was practice I could use, power that I knew how to take, and I was learning a lot from Jack. Some of the strategy was useful - Jack's mind was deep as a sinkhole in a cave - but he had a lot to teach me about weapons, too. I prefer a greataxe, but Jack uses a longsword - probably something he picked up in human lands. It doesn't really matter; Jack had a lot more experience than I did - maybe more than Paw did. It was all going pretty well, I thought, until two nights before Jack had planned to start his raid on the Shredded Flag. The night had gone fine; we'd gone back to Jack's rooms.

Timdon was there, waiting, and Jack just sort of jerked his hand towards her, like I knew what he expected. I did, but ... I was getting a little tired of it. As I stepped out of my trousers, though, he said, "Wait."

He walked over to Timdon, and the human tried to crawl backwards on the bed. He put a hand out to stop her - no, he reached down, and put his hand on her belly, pushed down - not hard, soft, not to hurt her, just to test the slight bulge.

"Finally," he said. "About time."