The female Orc tilted her head, puzzled by that strange language. She placed her right fist on her chest and said, “Ghar!”
She then pointed at Alex with a raised left eyebrow. As he didn’t speak, she hit her chest again and repeated, “Ghar!”
Alex nodded and answered while hitting his chest as well, “Alex!”
The female Orc twisted her lips in an effort to repeat the weird word, “Ax!”
Alex shrugged with a slight smile. “Yeah, something like that. So, Ghar, now what do I do with you? I suppose that killing an intelligent female Orc such as you would be a bad idea, but I really don’t know what…”
Ghar opened her eyes wide and pointed at the Armoured Boar that was near Okami. She made a loud growl and signalled with both arms for the boar to approach. Alex saw the Armoured Boar running towards the female, and stopping at two metres from her, with surprise in his eyes. Ghar slowly approached him and stroked his snout, making a few low growls, as if she was greeting him.
She then looked at Alex and made a big smile while pointing at her and at the boar. “Ghar! Ghumprh!”
“Yeah, you may find him pretty, but he sure is ugly to me.”
The Armoured Boar made a few whines mixed with some growling, and Ghar made a loud laugh while pointing at Alex and growling at the boar. Alex thought they were probably talking about him, considering how the boar kept on frowning at him while growling, and Ghar couldn’t stop laughing. It was a weird laugh; it looked like a snoring pig, but it was kind of cute because it was muffled and at a high pitch. She then looked at Alex and pointed at the boar while making a few low growls.
Alex shrugged. “He is not mine, but you can have him if you want. See if I care.”
Ghar made a big smile and easily mounted the Armoured Boar, and she then pointed at the puzzled group that was looking at her from a safe distance. Alex nodded and said, “I guess they won’t harm you as long as you behave. I am not sure if it’s safe to let you go. It probably would be better if you stayed near me. I don’t want to risk you attacking a village somewhere, because I was too much of a fool not to kill you.”
Alex walked towards Okami and signalled Ghar to follow him. She made a low growl and pointed at the dead bodies. Alex asked with a puzzled face, “What do you want to do to them? We have enough meat, we don’t need more.”
Ghar frowned, wondering what he was saying. That strange being was really going to leave without taking care of the bodies? She quickly growled and gathered Magic in her hands and pointed at the dead bodies. She shot a big fireball that made all the dead Orcs burst into flames, and then raised both arms high and let out a loud growl, as if she was asking the sky to take them to the afterlife.
Alex kept on looking at her, and she seemed sad, but she whiffled her head and slapped her face a few times with both hands and gently tapped the back of the boar’s neck to make him walk.
As they were approaching the group of dumbfounded Adventurers, Alex went to one saddlebag on his horse. He took from there a long cape with a hood that he gave to Ghar, signalling her to put it on and cover her head with the hood. As she was tying the string of the cape around her neck and putting on the hood, Alex signalled to her to pull down the hood a little more, so that her face couldn’t be seen.
She raised the tip of the hood to look at him with a questioning look, and Alex nodded at her with a slight smile. “Yes, that’s more like it. Use it so that no one notices you are an Orc. Your skin is light brown, but you can pass by a Human that has spent too much time in the sun as long as you keep your face hidden. Your nose and tusks are a clearer indicator that you are not from here.”
Ghar pointed at the two Orc thighs that Alex’s horse was carrying at the back of his saddle and he clacked his teeth while rubbing his belly. “Nhac, nhac! Yummy, tasty food.”
Ghar made a disgusted face, and she pointed at the big stallion that Alex was mounting. She made the same clacking sound with her teeth and rubbed her belly. Alex frowned and shook his head. “No, he is not for you to eat. Try this, it’s dried meat. I think this is chicken.”
Alex threw her a slice, and she sniffed it for a second before biting into it. She munched a bit and nodded, taking another chunk. As they were approaching the group, Alex gave her two more slices and a canteen of water, which she eagerly drank.
While squeezing the hilt of his sword, James Macdonald asked, “Mister Alex… Why… is that Monster with you? Do you want that thing to join us?”
“She is Ghar, an intelligent female Orc. And in case you didn’t notice, she is not only an excellent fighter, but she can also use Fire and Water Magic. I think she can do that because of the necklace of Magical Orbs that she is wearing. I don’t want to let her go because I am not sure if she will kill anyone without me around to stop her, and I can’t kill her because she is not an angry beast like every Monster that comes from the Magical Voids. That makes me wonder if the Monsters are only mindless beasts like everyone thinks, or if they in fact have some weird society from where they came, and killing everything they see when they arrive has something to do with how things are in their World. Strangely, Ghar here acts differently. She seems like another species of Monster, despite looking like an Orc.”
“Well… she really looks different… but can you reassure me she won’t try to slice our throats while we sleep?”
“I can’t promise you that, but I have the strange feeling that she is a warrior, judging by the way she acted while fighting the Orcs. She even burned the bodies, and she seemed to pray for them as they were burning. That makes me believe she has some kind of sense of honour. I don’t trust her either, but this stupid Armoured Boar seems to. Okami, can you keep her under close watch for me?”
Sarutahiko Okami was staring at the Armoured Boar that was peacefully grazing the grass on the floor, and she then faced the female Orc that was munching the dried meat and smiling at her. “This is really weird, Alex. This guy is a little picky with people, but he let her mount him as if it was only natural to him. He also seems to be able to speak with her, and that is astounding. I can order him around, and he more or less does what I say, but sometimes it’s difficult for me to understand what he wants. It’s a pity she can’t talk with us. I have a lot of questions… Maybe… Alex, I think we could try to find a Spirit to make a contract with her. Since she is intelligent, I believe it’s possible, and maybe her Spirit can act as a translator.”
“Wouldn’t that be incredible? But how will the Spirit understand her?”
Okami shrugged. “The same way a Spirit understood Mermaids, Elfians, Humans and Fairys in the first time they made a contract, millennia ago. In the ancient days, our common language was not that common, and every species had a different language. The Spirits acted as translators, and eventually, the common language developed over time. We just need to find a Spirit that will accept to make a contract with her. It will be very difficult considering that until now, a Spirit always tries to kill a Monster. I am having a lot of trouble not to slice her throat, actually.”
James Macdonald spoke, still with his right hand on the hilt of his sword, “It’s difficult even for me not to attack this Mons… I mean, Ghar, right?”
The mention of her name made the female Orc look at James Macdonald, and she nodded while hitting her chest. “Ghar!”
She pointed at James Macdonald, and he jolted. “J… James!”
Ghar twisted her mouth and tried to say that weird word, “Jaes!”
She then laughed briefly, repeated the word, and laughed again. Ghar scratched her nose as if that sound tickled her, and said that weird name two more times, rubbing her nose and laughing every time. James Macdonald let go of his sword and made a slight smile. “I never found someone… or something, that laughed by saying my name. At least not to my face.”
Pearl Pearson approached the female Orc and stared at her with a serious expression. Ghar stared back, and she then noticed the pointy ears. Ghar opened wide her mouth and pointed at the ears. She signalled for Pearl to approach, and slowly stretched her open hand and gently touched the tip of Pearl’s left ear. Ghar made a big smile and a few low growls while staring at the ear.
Pearl Pearson said without even blinking, “It’s a little abusive to touch my ear like that, Ghar. I will let it pass this time, but don’t make this a habit.”
Pearl turned her horse around and went back again, stopping near Anika Wright, who was looking at Ghar with her mouth wide open. Pearl reached for her and pushed her chin up. “Close your mouth, Anika, before you eat a bug.”
Anika Wright gulped, “It’s… a female Orc… an intelligent Orc… this is unbelievable… and… it’s just me, or she is rather pretty despite looking like an Orc?”
Alex rode his horse and stopped near the smiling Ghar. He faced the others and asked, “I know this may be a little too much, but does anyone have any problem if Ghar joins us? I don’t want to let her wander off, and I am hoping to find something more about where she came from and how she got here.”
James glanced at the others, and since none of them spoke, he nodded. “I think she could be handy if we meet another group of Monsters. She must keep her face hidden because her nose and tusks don’t fool anyone for long, and she could put all of us into a lot of trouble if the wrong people realise what she is.”
Alex tapped Ghar’s arm and said, “Welcome to the Party, Ghar! What do you say if we get out of here? The smell of those Orcs is making me hungry!”
The female Orc tilted her head while munching the dried meat, wondering what he wanted, but she quickly tapped the boar’s neck to make him follow the others. Okami guided her deer and stood behind Ghar, watching her like a hawk. During their travel, Ghar kept on saying her name and pointing at each member of the group and tried to repeat the names she heard, failing every time and inventing a new name for everyone, similar to the sound she heard.
James Macdonald signalled to the others, and he made his horse run for a while, and Ghar was having a blast at the back, with the movements of the Armoured Boar on his wobbling run.
Along the main road, Alex heard a whisper from Shinatobe, “A group ahead, Alex. They are riding at full speed in our direction. They seem to be in a hurry… ten of them… fully armed.”
Alex signalled the others with his right fist up, and they all stopped. He then guided his horse to the edge of the road, to see if the approaching group wanted to speak or to continue voyage. James Macdonald went to him and asked, “What’s the matter? It’s because of that group that is approaching?”
“Yes, I don’t know why they are in such a hurry. Maybe they are running away from something or are going somewhere. Either way, let’s be careful.”
Alex looked at Ghar and signalled for her to put her hood down and to hide her face. She quickly nodded and did as she was told, with Okami standing next to her and slowly reaching out her trembling hand to adjust the hood a little more, while her other hand was going to the sword. Okami was still struggling with the temptation to kill that strange Orc and Alex’s request to let her live.
As for Alex, he faced forward again, and hide a throwing dagger on each sleeve, waiting for the strange group to approach.
Anika Wright half-closed her eyes and spoke to Wenammy, “Something is fishy… They are arguing among them…”
“You have good eyes. I can only see them moving their heads. Do you think we need to prepare for a fight?”