Isolda

Isolda stood over Jan'idae as she slept, she had been asleep for a few days after the Bramble beast attacked their little camp and nearly killed all the orcs she had came with. Yoka had walked away with just a few bruises and scrapes but Jan'idae had been in a coma for more than three days and Isolda wasn't sure she would make it through the night every night since.

She searched the shadows of the woods for any sign of the kraken orcs, not a scout or ravager was to be seen. Yoka took care of Jani'dae, devoted to her fallen friend she would even dribble water into her mouth to help keep her lips from cracking and splitting.

Even though her mask had been badly broken the largest section she still wore, though part of her mouth was uncovered the shame of losing her mask altogether was too great so yoka made sure to leave it on her.

Isolda wanted to leave their campsite as soon as they could but she could not while Jani'dae was injured and she knew forcing yoka was not an option, so she sat stagnant waiting. Isolda was not proficient in healing magics, it seems her abilities in that discipline was lost as she allowed more of her masters darkness in, she had tried many times to perform any healing spell nothing would happen, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't make the spell work.

"i have given you another power. One that will take time to grow before you can use it. Your power is vast even now but there are even more powerful skills awaiting in your future." Her master spoke in her head, she hadn't had time to take his council and he hadn't offered her any as such.

The Bramble bird had been keeping to a tree limb above her tent, it would sing a beautiful song that would entice the bard owls and the bass swallows and tenor finches to its tree only to be killed and eaten by the little black bird.

It would sing its terrible song all day long, deep into the night. Its eyes glowed red and pierced the nights darkness. "useless bird, it just sings all day and night bothering your mother. Send it away, its a cursed soul, it can not be smart keeping the bramble beasts soul so close to you." Yoka did not like the bird at all, the owl clan had many superstitions and plenty of them were about the bramble beast of the orc lands and the bird that follows ones death.

" Where ever a Bramble bird goes death and destruction follow. It was said there was a clan of orc long ago who made their masks in the likeness of the wolf and battled the bramble beasts in the eastern side of the lands. They managed to reduce the numbers and push the beasts west where our ancestors had settled before they took to the trees. They said that they killed so many bramble beasts that the birds they left behind had driven away almost all other birds in the area. No songs from the bard owls or bass swallows, only the song of death screeched by the bramble birds were left. They say on the night they drove the last Bramble beast out of their territory a great tragedy happened killing every single Wolf orc and all the bramble birds disappeared."

Yoka leaned in " Bramble birds are bad luck, wherever they sing their song death follows."

"She can stay above my tent, this bird has a mystical property, I can sense it, though i'm not sure for what yet." Isolda had decided to keep it, it was the size of a swallow and seemed to follow her. Yoka told a couple more stories about the bramble birds and how bad things happened whenever one was seen.

Yoka was a lot more talkative than Jani'dae, who tended to only speak when she had some wisdom to give, Yoka loved to tell stories and she had a new one for Isolda every time she managed to get Isolda to stay in one spot for a few minutes. It was no wonder yoka had chosen that particular guard to accompany her.

The day had started to fade and Isolda had started a fire in the pit outside their tents, she wasn't afraid of Bramble Beasts anymore, this time she made sure to use some extra enchantments to help keep the beasts away from them She also was pretty sure she could kill another beast with less trouble now that she had already done it. Never the lesser she decided to take precautions in case they were set upon again, she didn't want to be attacked while they slept.

Vlad has gone dormant in her locket, she would hold it to make sure she could feel him with her still, the locket felt like a beating heart though its pulse had waned as she grew stronger in her masters power. "Vlad" she whispered sounding very much of her old self before teh nightmares and the maw, "are you still with me?" no response came though she hoped he would but vlad was always a very weak Daemon and she wouldn't be surprised if he died and left her forever.

"Child dont fret over your daemon, he is fine. A daemon is like your soul it can't die unless you do, but it can change just like you do." Her master to her in her mind where he always gave her council. " I havn't heard him or felt his presence in weeks, and his power seems to have begun to die, he feels sickly." Fragile indeed, even more so than he was before she left La'velle, " If he is not dying what is wrong with him?"

" Nothing child, my power changes a being when they accept it, and as you have accepted it so has your daemon. He is going to change and be able to do things no one but you and I will ever understand. Now forget the Daemon and listen to my next command." The master pulled Isolda into her own mind once again, revealing a cloaked figure surrounded a never ending void of blackness, there was a vast moon casting its soft light against what was more black where ground should have been.

Isolda had appeared in her mind pool floating and she remained suspended unable to move as she followed magically behind the figure who had taken to walking as if it were an evening stroll, his hands casually rested in the pockets of his thick black robes, " You must let go of the owl orc, let her die or kill her yourself I do not care about which you choose, but you must go to the Kraken orcs with your current companion in tow. I command it, kill the orc and go to my servants and remind them of me." He stopped at what seemed like the edge of the blackness.

"I live inside you now Isolda, I have granted you my favor and majority of my power but not all of it, I still hold power that no mortal can comprehend, as quickly as I make you I will end you. You are in my service in perpetuity, and when you have children they too will belong to me. "

The maw pulled a long thin pipe that had a stem that curved for what looked like the length of an arm and put its end into the blackness under its cloak. The other end burned with black flames and red smoke that smelled of spices she did not recognize began to form great clouds that seemed to be solid enough as the floated off the edge of the black cliff.

Isolda could not speak, she could not move, she just stayed suspended in the air with a look of dread about her face. Her hair floated above her as if she were suspended in water, she wanted to leave this place, this darkness that she had let in.

"Do not worry child, you are frozen because I wish it. You will awaken when i wish it and you will kill the Orc because I command you to ."

Isolda still couldn't move but her eyes told more than her words ever could have, they showed regret of a choice ill made, but resolve to become more powerful than her master so she cold one day do this to him.

Isolda awoke covered in sweat, it had been a while since she had been locked in her nightmare, when she declared her magic for the maw they stopped happening, He started speaking to her through her mind and kept her consult there. She shook as she got off the floor of her tent, she felt weak and cold even though it was deep summer and sweat was a constant film on everyone's skin.

She thought about how she was going to kill poor Jani'dae, and how she would do so without yoka seeing her do it, the damn orc stayed by her side or just outside her tent at all times. She decided to step outside and let the warm air help blow off the chill that had set in.

Isolda stepped out of her tent to have Yoka sitting by the fire waiting for her. " Come sit with me Isolda. I have some honey water and a few slabs of crisp bread we can share while we wait for sleep to allow us its embrace." Yoka was rather well spoken for an orc, most sounded as though they came from the poorest sections of La'Velle, where the simples and foreigners lived. Yoka managed to sound more like a lady of Merrimore than the savage lands. Orcs had their own tongue, each unique to their tribe followed by a second common tongue of their own to which only a few clans could speak.

"Tell me Yoka, do you want to marry this Kraken clan prince? Are you not afraid of what may come o you with them?" Isolda took a swig of honey water from a skin that Yoka had handed her, it was sweet on the tongue and as light as spring water, she handed it back to Yoka who sat silent for a moment as she chose her words.

" I love my clan, and the Krakens will eventually come for us, if I am accepted then the owl clan will be aloud to take the oath of the kraken wthout them slaughtering our people, .We lose our masks and will be outcastes until all of our blood had been mixed with theirs and our children are given proper masks of the clan, some of our children will not even be given that honor and we will have to wait till our grandchildren until some of us are unshamed."

Yoka swallowed hard, Isolda knew the sound of holding back tears and decided to take pity on the poor orc. " tell me more about Bramble Birds, it seems i may be stuck with mine and i wonder if it serves a purpose besides being a sign for death."

Yoka immediately started telling the tale of a Bramble beast as large as a Kraken who's head overlooked the forests tree tops and left titan tree saplings behind when he walked, In her story it found a great castle where the elves had kept a small watch. Unfortunately for them it destroyed the castle and most of the elves guarding it. It had been killed but the great giant left behind a horde of Bramble birds that left like a cloud screaming their cloud chasing the remaining elves back to their golden ships.

"Did they make it to their ship?" Isolda had gotten sucked into the tale, usually she didn't care for orc story telling but tonight she wanted to be somewhere else other than where she was. She was still to kill Jani'dae, no matter what happened or how she felt the orc had to die.

"why would they attack the killer of the beast? this bird has done nothing but eat other birds and sing that stupid song. The stupid thing fits in the palm of my hand." She pointed to the bird who had decided to sit next to her on the log they had been using as a bench, Its jet black feathers shined like oil against the firelight, one may have thought it a crow or raven until you saw its beak and took into account its size.

"you're bird seems to be a bit different, the birds would follow the victor but it would never come so close, they prefer to torment their victoms before they take them to meet death, this one just likes to follow you and sing, I would still get rid of the thing before it shows you why you should."

With that Isolda changed the subject back to the Kraken clan. " are you going to miss the treetop city? I assume you'll not be returning with me."

"actually one of the terms of this union is that the prince comes and stays at the treetop city so we can insert him in seamlessly as the future chief of the owls." Yoka said off handedly, Isolda didn't believe that would be an option, from what she had been told the Krakens were more likely to lop off her head and send it back than to allow their next orc king to live with their conquered.

" do you think they'll agree?" she asked, skeptical tones danced in her voice.

"My blood line is of the first orcs from the first mother. Even Krakens revere old bloodlines and wish to intertwine with theirs to legitimize their claims to rule over all the other clans. I am sure my mother was right to offer this to them." Yoka spoke with a bit of offense, Her mother was the first mother, a title given to the eldest daughter of the first bloodline. Held in high esteem not too different from a Queen, the first mother could tip the tides in any dispute in the council and declare war, she sat on any war council and could remove members of council as well."

"So you're a queen in wait? does that mean when you become of age you'll be the next first mother?" Yoka shook her head, " Yes, I would be the next first mother when my mother finally takes the long sleep." Yokas voice grew sombr as she spoke of her mothers death, orcs lived longer live than man and mage but were not immortal and her mother had lived well beyond the years of a young orc, but she was not creeping on deaths door either. Slow moving and a bit hard of hearing her old mother was, but she was not knocking on deaths door by any means. Too old to bear anymore children that was certain, but still strong in mind and body for watching over the clan.

Isolda did not really pay too much attention to the story behind the first mothers, but Yoka told the it anyway, " legends were that the first orcs were female and were meant to be an immortal race but the creator decided he had too many and decided to make orcs the first mortal race. He hadn't created any men and decided the orcs were to breed with the frej, and immortal race of ice giants lacking females. the first mother was the first female orc to lay with the frej and conceive. " Yoka took a drink from her honey water flask and ate a little bit of her bread, she passed the water to Isolda again who happily took a drink of the sweet liquid inside.

"The baby born was the first male orc, he was much larger than the men are from most of the clans, thats where the krakens lay their claim over the rest of the clans, their men were larger than any other clans orcs, so their blood is of the first orc, least dilluted from line crossing. They say when the first came it sparked a chain reaction. there were a hundred first mothers all with orc babes in their bellies."

"Immortals can't make babies, it's known even with the children of the great cities." Isolda said as if she knew the history of Thre'a better than anyone alive, "if they could the elves would not be holding up on their island with almost no one left."

"Immortals can not breed with eachother, but can breed with mortals and create half-breeds. A troll is the cross between a frej and an elf, some believe a mage is what happens when the elves take human lovers. goblins are when a whambaggins and an orc male lay.." Yoka was interrupted immediately as she uttered the word "whambaggins".

"A WHAMBAGGINS! what is a whambaggins" The word seemed like utter nonsense to her. The orc had to be pulling her leg, having a good jape. " I have never heard of that ever, i had private tutors at the orphanage and they taught us many of the immortal races, gone and here and they never once mentioned a whambaggins," She was not going to be patronized just because she was a little girl, she was the future queen of the realm who had all the power of the ancients at her little fingertips.

" The Whambaggins are a weird little group if halflings, all of them resemble dwarfs, curly haired wearing magical spectacles the lot of them. All look identical in appearance but their clothes vary according to what trash piles they manage to get into. tricky little things too, their magic is powerful but also harmless. They are the voice of the Thre'a and speak to the creator on behalf of us all. Or that is what's told to us in old stories told by even older orcs. stories to entertain the restless orcling. "

"POPPYCOCK! Just because i'm young doesn't mean i'll believe in whamboogers or whatever it is you want to call it. " Isolda had her encounter with the Kraken clan scouts playing fresh in her mind, the blood she spilled and the power she held. Of course she couldn't show even half of it to anyone right now, she had to play weak.