An army of orcs, an ambitious young leader with an impossible proposal, and more secrets yet to be revealed. While Orvar and Gyda would love nothing more than to spend time with their newborn girl, the universe has other plans for them, but they are...
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We sat at the table post-dinner, watching the older kids play in the big hall. The small ones were asleep in the children's room, where Revna and Rune had babysitting duty today.
Skye, too, was in dreamland. But she was close to me, peacefully lying in her crib, which a few older boys had carried to the dining hall at my request. I loved how everybody was always willing to help one another in the mountains.
I hadn't eaten much, but enough to feel full. It was nice to get out of the bedroom, even though Amira had been so kind to stay with me until dinner time. We had been lazy in bed the entire time. I'd even dozed off, and to my relief, I didn't have another dream. That, and the fact that I had such a loving friend beside me, made me feel a bit better than I'd felt the entire time Orvar had been gone. Of course, I was still worried and afraid something would happen to him, especially now that we were all sitting together and talking about the men.
"You know what?" Beatrice said. "Let's not talk about them anymore. Not for the rest of the evening. There's nothing we can do anyway, and I feel like everybody will only get depressed if we keep thinking and speaking about worst case scenarios."
Amira let her hand rest on Beatrice's shoulder and patted her. "Good idea, Mom. I finally managed to stop Gyda from sobbing her eyes out this afternoon. I don't want my girl to start crying again."
"I haven't been sobbing my eyes out. Not yet anyway," I replied, half smiling, half scoffing.
"Aw, those are just your hormones, love!" Betsy said. She held Happ in her arms, feeding the boy. "But I agree. Let's not speak about those silly giants anymore. Before we know it, I'll start crying because I miss my Ston, and nobody wants that!" She looked down at her son. "No, nobody wants that, hm, my precious chubby one?"
"Yeah... he really is growing fat," Ellie said, smiling.
"I know. He's greedy for my tit, just like his father," Betsy replied.
Doris laughed. "Oh, not this again. I think we all know how much Ston loves your—"
"I found another one!" Jolagh yelled, running towards us, waving his hand through the air. Between his clawed fingers, he held a little black bead.
Jolagh was one of the boys that had helped carry Skye's crib today. He was thirteen years old, a sweet and smart one. His hair was lighter than most orcs, a shade of dark blond. He missed one eye, which he hid under a dark leather eyepatch. He was the only orc I knew who covered up his "flaws", and I wondered why. I had not dared to ask him, though, as it was not my business.
"Good job, Jolagh!" Ellie replied. "Put it in the jar with the rest of them. Vildon will be happy when he gets back and sees how kind you were to get all his beads back. He was so sad about losing them."
"I'll go look if we can find more!" He threw the bead into the jar with the rest of them and ran back to the other kids.
I could tell that Vildon was loved by the younger ones, maybe even all the orcs.
