Arranged to The War Chief Ch. 02

"Ma is a very observant woman." I nodded. She could scent the coming of rain and feel the rising tides of change. Our villagers would go to her for advice over my father, and he encouraged this, choosing to be proud of it rather than feeling threatened.

"Maghera has never been considered beautiful, Khurag. Even when I first saw her, I was not pleased by her face. After we talked at length that night, however, she informed me that she was expecting you, and I chose to marry her." He informed me.

Their story was unconventional, and quite beautiful in it's unique simplicity. Most Orc women wanted to be courted with gifts of venison, horn cups, and the weapons of our enemies. The club of a troll was said to ensure a happy marriage. Boots made from goblin skin were a prized gift given only after a wife delivered her husband his first child. But Corgak and Maghera had wed within weeks after he eradicated the trolls from our territory. She had not demanded courtship or luxury, as she would have been entitled to by the richest, strongest Orc in the land. She accepted no gifts and instead arranged to feed the entire village in a celebration, during which she divided up the trolls' and goblins' loot equally. My people would have been within their rights to think she was complacent and weak-willed, but her gracious nature and cunning earned her only the highest respect. "You chose well." I told him finally.

He sighed in a reminiscent way and stroked his beard. "Best sex I ever had, makin' you, ye wee bastard." He said, and threw his head back to laugh so loudly a flock of crows took flight.

"Alright." I replied dismissively, immediately looking away.

"They called her Maghera the Minx, able to fuck a man out of his wits." Corgak told me proudly.

"Ugh, ew." My face distorted in disgust at the mere thought and I turned to walk away before he could continue. When he followed me, I knew that this was my punishment for raising my voice at him.

"No man in his right mind would wed a woman before she birthed his child, they told me. "That wee imp could belong to anyone," my own ma said. Then I saw you, with that ugly mug, and I knew you were my son." He declared proudly, coming to wrap an arm over my shoulders. I shoved him off and groaned. "I showed your bare naked ass to the whole village, and none challenged my claim to you after they saw that birthmark." He continued.

"Da!" I roared, desperate for him to end my suffering. My cheeks had burned with humiliation.

"No shame in having an ass like a bruised apple, boy. When your ma lays her hands on that mottled flesh, I--"

"DA!" I had grabbed my ears and run off. He pursued me through the forest, yelling any manner of embarrassing things, and I'd been able to leave our argument feeling both heard and enlightened. Now, standing in the courtyard of my new wife's home, and finding myself on the side of my father, I recalled this memory with a deep, profound appreciation for him.

After a moment, I broke my gaze with the fire and looked over to see Varak, Drakan, and Gujek staring at me. "Well look who escaped his own giant head." My brother laughed.

"I was thinking." I told them, and they laughed.

"Ay, ay, don't laugh." Drakan chastised the other two men. "That's always been a difficult task for our great Chief." He reminded them. I grabbed his head and squeezed his neck between my bicep and arm. His laughs became strangled coughs.

Gnoth approached us, a half-orc. He had been born shortly after we had migrated east of the land belonging to the Elves, after a long and tiresome war that ended in the conquest of the Blue Mountains, terrain rich in wildlife and perfect for a settlement. Raised in the house of his Elvish mother, he had been educated and warily tolerated. Only after he became a young lad and grew large tusks, thick skin, and a temper did his mother turn him out. At only thirteen years old, Gnoth had traveled towards Ar Kibogh to find his father, who took him before the Chief. The decision to keep him was entirely based on the young halfbreed's potential to be the best advisor the Orcs had ever had. Even though many were concerned that he would act as a spy for the Elves, or try to overthrow him, Corgak had reminded the people that Gnoth brought invaluable knowledge to Ar Kibogh; he could read, write, and do something that involved counting, but at a much higher level. I'd once seen him accurately count an entire shipment of human grain by counting the wagons on the road below us. To this day, I still had no idea how he could do such magic. "Pardon me, Sir," He held up a palm and all four of us regarded him. "Duke Seymour has requested that you return to the chapel, and also has ordered that the fires be put out before he sends his men out here to do so." He informed me, and gave Drakan a look of mild concern.

Turning to my men, I dropped Drakan and shoved him off. "Move the camp into the fields so we don't accidentally burn down the Duke's prized rose bushes." I grunted with a roll of my eyes. They weren't even edible. Humans spent too much effort growing things. They nodded, and I headed into the estate with Gnoth at my heels. He was smaller than even the human men, but far bulkier, and though I could not see him over my shoulder, his footsteps were noticeable, as he favored heeled leather boots over going barefoot.

"You were able to persuade Her Grace into accepting the proposal?" Gnoth asked me.

"Who?" I asked.

"Your bride, Lady Millisenta." He replied.

"Seems so." I said, although I wasn't sure that her decision was related to anything I had done. I had not expected her to attack me, and maybe, while I was stunned by those blows, she'd had time to think over the consequences of her actions. Had I nearly torn her limb from limb after that hit to my jaw? Yes. Was I shocked to be laid out by a direct hit on my windpipe? Also, yes. Did I regard her differently after the encounter? Perhaps. Needless to say, I would not be so slow to strike if she decided to engage me in combat again. "Human women are more complicated than I thought." I sighed, looking over the doors to remember which of them led to their absurdly lavish altar.

"All women are complicated, Sir." He told me.

"What do you know of women?" I asked, giving him a pointed look. He blushed and averted his eyes. This was how I knew he had never become fully Orc, and it was the reason he struggled to move any higher amongst our people. He could not stand a challenge. "You are right." I admitted finally, my hands pulling open the largest set of doors. All of the humans had returned to their pews and, to my surprise, I saw that my mother still stood in her place on my side.

Gnoth took a seat up front, the only to sit. When he noticed that, again, all of the Orcs stood, he slowly returned to his feet. As I resumed my position by the altar, my mother approached me. Her hair was twisted into braids and her fur dress was decorated with the teeth of every predator my father had ever hunted. It was the same she had worn to every ceremony in the village, growing more and more decorated as the years passed. It was one of only a few times I had ever seen her wear the goblin skin boots father had firmly gifted her after my birth. Bent over with age, she leaned on a staff carved from the same wood as my father's hut. "Your wife is quite strong." She observed, gently touching my jaw.

"Still too weak to stand before her own husband." I grimaced, pulling away from her.

Maghera looked disappointed by my words. In her eyes, I could see myself reflected as the same scrawny young boy who had feuded with my father over this treaty. "You will have to help her grow stronger, then." She told me simply. "The same way I helped you grow stronger as a child." Her head turned as the doors opened, and I was surprised to see her smile as my bride walked, alone, down the aisle. "Already, she is much bolder, after only one encounter with you. I see plenty of potential for her." She laid a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. I did the same to her hand and nuzzled her cheek before she turned to stand with her sisters.

My bride escorted herself to the altar with her flustered father at her heels, whispering frantically to her. She seemed annoyed by his presence, now. Before, she had walked quite slowly, hanging onto the arms of the Duke. I had been concerned that she was an invalid and unable to walk by herself, but Gnoth had mentioned this briefly when I'd asked him to explain the human ceremony to me. When two other women tried to fix her hair at the altar, repositioning the white fabric in her hair, she tore it out and let it all fall around her. Oddly, this changed her entire appearance, and I much preferred her this way. Instead of the wide eyes and innocence she had presented with at first, there was now a determined set to her jaw, a severe look in her eyes that belied intense scrutiny. Even her shoulders were set higher, broader. Perhaps surviving her first fight with an Orc had given her the confidence she lacked mere hours ago, but whether this was a permanent change or not remained to be seen.

Finally at the altar, she gave me a tight smile and a nod. I grunted. We both looked to the incredibly old and withered priest they had found. He began to recite the words of their holy book, though I found them long and tedious, so I moved the enchanted coin from under my tongue and listened to their gibberish as I studied my bride. Light brown hair the color of autumn leaves. Eyes like moss. Skin like a peach; soft, and somewhat fuzzy. Her nose was narrow and longer than my own, as was her whole face. Rounded ears, too small to reliably hear incoming threats, and a thin neck connected her to a body that was, given her numerous layers of clothing, hard to see. She was short, wide set, and had a very large rump. Gnoth had told me that noble women were often quite soft, as they ate plenty of food and did not have to toil in the fields.

She was looking at me. I glanced at the priest. Just as I slid the coin back under my tongue, he repeated the cue. Again, we did the needless task of moving the ring, which I had sent Gnoth to purchase on our way here. If he hadn't asked me about it in passing, I would have shown up without one and the wedding would have been further stalled.

At that point, I most likely would have gone through with my childish plans of trying to wipe out the humans and reclaim our lands by force, simply to save myself further headache.

Finally, with our words and vows exchanged, and the rings on our fingers, the ceremony was complete. Or, so I thought. "You may now kiss the bride." The priest told me quite happily. I looked at Gnoth. He nodded and gave me an awkward look; he had failed to mention this part. Looking down at her, I saw the way her eyes locked onto my tusks. The weight of every eye in the room watching us was immense, but I leaned down, and pressed my lips as gently as possible to her own.

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Millisenta's POV

The way he leaned down was quite gentle, and this surprised me greatly. Still, my heart leapt in my chest and I nearly stepped away from him when he came close. He was so tall that, even bending down to me, I still needed to raise up to my toes to meet his lips halfway. The four tusks protruding from his lower lip brushed against my cheeks, and it seemed that he wasn't sure how to do this. I'd seen him kiss an older woman, who may have been his mother, if Orcs had such things, on her cheek, but I couldn't imagine that their garish maws allowed for intimate meetings of the lips.

The image of his black tongue flashed through my mind and I pulled away. As awful as it was...the image of it in my memory disgusted me. When our eyes met again I feared that he could sense this, and I felt ashamed. The music picked up again, startling me, and we stood there for a moment before I realized that he did not know we were meant to walk down the aisle together. "We may now leave the altar." I told him softly. He grunted in acknowledgement--something that seemed to be quite common for him--and shocked me by turning to walk away and through the doors.

Rubbing my face to ease the tension, I groaned and tossed down my bouquet to gather my skirts and quickly walk after him. When I found him outside, he was skulking across the fields towards the Orc's camp. All around me, other Orcs exited the estate and descended the stairs to follow him. One of them, rather short and less barbaric, approached me. "Forgive him, Your Grace. He has to attend to his people." The odd looking monster told me. He had long, silken blonde hair and gray skin. While his ears were just as tapered and large as the Orcs', they were far more slender and angled upwards. Additionally, he wore clothing that seemed to be tailored to fit him, rather than the wraps of animal skins his brethren wore.

"Am I meant to follow him?" I asked, wary at the thought of simply walking into an Orcish settlement. Would they recognize me as his wife, or kill me on sight for trespassing?

The odd creature sighed heavily. "Of all the things I have learned since coming to live with the Orcs, I have yet to crack their social codes. Weddings such as ours are not known to them, and the ceremony is essentially meaningless until a child is produced." He informed me.

"Our?" I repeated, looking him up and down in confusion.

"Ah, forgive me." The beast offered me his hand, which I reluctantly accepted. "I am Gnoth Eilysten, of Ilytheria. My mother was a High Elf, but my father was one of Chief Khurag's cousins. I've been helping your husband navigate the intricacies of human culture, but there are some aspects of it that simply fail to translate, such as the decency of extending common courtesy to one's wife." He laughed, and offered me his arm. "Please allow me to escort you on his behalf. Will you be joining us in the feasts to celebrate your union, or would you prefer to retire to your chambers and rest before travelling for the mountains tomorrow?" He asked me, and I was utterly astounded that he possessed such articulate grasps of both dignified living and language.

"Gnoth, was it?" I asked, accepting his arm. He nodded. "I should like you to stick close by and help me survive this unknown territory." What luck, to have a creature such as him readily available and seemingly versed in every manner of propriety.

Gracefully sculpted almond eyes widened and he gave me a great grin, revealing much smaller tusks than what my new husband possessed. "It would be an honor, Your Grace." He replied.

"I must dress in something more appropriate for this feast. Would you please accompany me and my maids to my room? Your discerning eye should prove invaluable in helping me make a proper first impression amongst my new people." Already, my mind was teeming with questions that could now be answered. I needed to know everything so as not to embarrass myself, and what luck that he spoke English fluently. Gnoth smiled and walked with me into the house. We completely ignored father and ascended the stairs as we began to talk as though we were old friends.