Chapter Seventeen
~
“Wish to go by yar place?” Ike asked, as we broke camp the next mornin’.
I could only grin for a moment. Delia had been on my mind since I woke. Never really left all night. Eager to see her, didn’t come close to describin’ how I felt about ensurin’ the human female remained at my cabin. Didn’t bother to ask myself where else she would go. But she was too special for me to expect she would stay very long—with me.
I wanted to soak up as much of her as I could, for as long as she remained about.
“Yes. To see how she—how Delia’s doin’.”
Ike didn’t respond other than to motion me to take the lead, to get us to my cabin. I pushed the pace a little, but knew the three bulls behind me wouldn’t notice. Crestin’ the last peak, I happily smelled burnin’ wood, and caught the wisp of smoke comin’ from the spot I knew would be my cabin.
I allowed my pace to quicken further, usin’ the deep slope into my little dell as an excuse.
Delia wasn’t on the porch where I hoped to find her, neither was she inside. The three rested while I made a pan of cornbread and brewed tea. I nervously paced, lookin’ out the front door. She hadn’t gone far, or she would have smoldered the fire with ash. The water in the kettle, though it had been swung away from the remainin’ fire, was still hot.
The place had been spiffed up over the past five days. Blankets hung to air over the porch rail. The rugs had been shaken, the threshes removed, and the floorboards scrubbed. It didn’t look like the same place. Smelled too clean. Not a bachelor’s home. Thought made me grin, maybe.
I took my chunk of bread outside to eat. Eyes studied the forest hopin’ to find Delia exitin’ the woods. I popped the last bite in my mouth as I caught motion. I stared. A pair of eyes glared back. I walked toward the trees, finally pickin’ up her scent.
Delia stood, but didn’t approach.
“What are ya doin’ out here?” I asked.
She scoffed and made a face. “I saw those three giants. Didn’t realize you brought me to such a popular gathering place. Dragons and such. Don’t care for all the visiting.”
“We’ll be headin’ for the Hamlet shortly. Ya needn’t worry.”
“What happened to that fair-haired human you left with?”
That wasn’t a question I wanted to deal with, yet. Besides, even though Lucas might be dead, I felt a tinge of jealousy rise inside me.
“Ya needn’t hide out here. Come on back.”
“Those two are goblins.”
I nodded.
“Then I’ll stay right here. Haven’t rubbed shoulders with no one in fifteen years. Don’t need to friendly up with their kind today.”
Her expression twisted oddly, in a manner I couldn’t grasp. But I couldn’t help but smile. Was hard to resist the temptation to lurch forward and take the petite human into my arms. It was almost painfully good to see her again, to see she’s real, not a dream.
“I don’t know when I’ll be back,” I said.
“To show my appreciation for your help—” She waved an arm to encompass the near woods. “I figure removing only five saplings and that one good-size pine would open up enough sky to allow a summer garden. Would you mind if I put my back to that?”
Hardly the kind of effort I would leave to a tiny human woman.
“Don’t figure the thin topsoil would allow much of anythin’ to grow here,” I answered.
“Then what can I do?” She almost stamped a foot. Her eyes danced, daggers in my chest.
“Ya need not do anythin’. Ya’re supposed to be recoverin’.”
Delia whirled around, the red hem of the orc’s dress danced, her hair darted back and forth across her back as she strode deeper into the woods.
What did I say? “What did I say?” I shouted at her.
She disappeared into the gloom without answerin’.
A slap, or a stone from a sling, wouldn’t have hurt any more. I wanted to run after her, but decided that wasn’t appropriate. With her spunk, she might take a tree branch to my head. Could she reach my head? It’d have to be quite a limb. Humans don’t act the fragile creatures, as they look.
The thought took away a little of the sting from her rebuke, and pinched a smile back on my face. I turned and saw that Ike and the two goblins watched, hangin’ from the cabin door.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d assume she’s yar mate the way she put ya in yar place.”
“Very funny.”
Bent Nose and Big Ears said somethin’ I’m prolly glad I couldn’t understand, because they chuckled, a high pitch sound that seemed to originate in their sinuses. Ike met me in the clearin’ and handed me my staff and bedroll.
“That hunk of wood weighs a ton. Why do ya carry it everywhere with ya?”
I opened my mouth to answer but before I could, a charge leapt from the head of the staff into Ike’s shoulder. The ogre didn’t jump as Lucas did when the thing struck him, but Ike hissed a coarse expression. The two goblins jumped backward and murmured in their tongue.
“Ya did that, and don’t blame it on a mindless block of wood.”
I walked on without acknowledgin’ my friend, who remained where he stood, I think.
Ike bellowed. “See how ya like it when I start our next fire with that thin’ as kindlin’.”
I felt conflicted, wantin’ to enjoy the humor, startled the staff acted as though it held a consciousness of its own. Was troublin’, but also upliftin’ in a manner I couldn’t place.
Ya should have a name.
I smiled as Ike came abreast.
“The human was too good to come say hello?”
“She prefers to stay away from the riffraff.”
“I’m the riffraff who gifted her the silver-plated mirror,” Ike said.
“If it was solid silver, she prolly would have let ya kiss her hand.”
Ike glared across at me before pickin’ our pace up to a solid run. “Irritatin’ I still can’t reach Taiz’lin.”
“Ya would have to tell him about Lucas,” I said.
Ike grumbled another oath—more a translation of a troll one, I think. “Don’t look forward to tellin’ Iza. I think lettin’ Taiz’lin tell her may be safer—for me. She’s more likely to rip my throat out than her mate is.”
Did Ike not want a reminder I could likely help him reach Taiz’lin? Did he want an excuse to procrastinate? We would be near crags soon where either dragon could prolly land, shorten our last run to the Hamlet.
Why am I even continuin’ on to the Hamlet? How did this goblin conundrum become my problem? Concern maybe a better word.
I would have stopped and returned home with that thought if I wouldn’t have appeared a simpleton. My mind is fogged by Lucas and Delia. Or maybe I’m indeed slow witted. I respect Ike. Don’t want to look the fool in front of him, so I continued on. But the why of my continued involvement with the young ogre bull escapes me.
Delia needs space anyway, I argued. She isn’t used to havin’ anyone about. Give her time to make my cabin her own.
Similar thoughts kept me mentally busy the next two hours, even when we paused at streams to drink. I hardly noticed the pace. Ike’s use of grisly oaths brought me out of my reverie before the view of the Lake did. A quick inspection of the rollin’ hills before us didn’t reveal anythin’ out of sorts. I looked back at Ike, to follow his glare. It led me much farther away, through the trees. Across the Lake. There didn’t appear to be much movement, though we were still miles away.
“What is it?”
“It starts anew.” Ike followed that with another string of goodly ogre curses.
We dipped below the crest of a hill. When we made it out of the depression, we rose above the trees for a half-minute. I almost missed what irritated my friend. They were camped east of the cove. Hundreds of them. From the staked out horses, they had to be humans, though elves are comfortable about the beasts too.
Bent Nose and Big Ears’ voices reached me and Ike, as the two goblins shortened the distance between us. Not understandin’ Goblin wasn’t the problem with appreciatin’ what had Ike worried.
“Why do the humans trouble ya? Doesn’t their presence provide a sense of security for the Hamlet?”
“More likely press us toward hostility.”
~
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