Olive’s Magic enveloped them, and Ghar opened wide her eyes, wondering what all that Magic was about to do to her. She couldn’t break contact with that strange old female, because the Magic was freezing her body. Then, memories rushed to Ghar’s mind, a flow of endless images, for all the hundreds of years that Olive lived. On the other side, Olive was seeing Ghar’s childhood, her continuous fights with her ten siblings, and later on, with all the youngsters in an arena, training all day to master their skills.
Olive watched how Ghar was taught by her mother, a strong female that never smiled, on how to cook, how to hunt and how to remove the fur from their prey to make clothes, the meat to cook, and the tendons to make ropes and strings. She saw Ghar learning with her father, an immense Orc with gentle eyes, on the values of a clan warrior, about honour and several techniques to rend her opponents unable to harm her or to kill them in the quickest way possible.
Olive wondered at the sight of a big Orc offering Ghar a crown of flowers, and Olive blushed with the images of the bonding on that same night, between the happy couple. Olive then saw Ghar crying over the dead body of her lover in the middle of a battle when another Orc clan attacked their village.
Ghar went in a killing frenzy, and after that hateful day, she abandoned her village and made her life purpose to eradicate every single member of the clan that attacked her village. Olive felt Ghar’s mind at ease when the last Orc of the clan she hunted down, died when she arrived at Azurath. Ghar was now at peace, and wondering what her purpose would be, now that she had her revenge.
Alex and the others waited, wondering why they were taking so long to make the contract. After almost five minutes, the Magic dissipated, and Olive was cleaning her tears and Ghar was looking at Alex, with a puzzled look. She made an endless symphony of low growls while pointing at Olive, at the Earl, and her.
Olive made a slight smile and spoke, “Ghar says ‘What was this Magic? I saw these two fighting warriors from Orc clans! Some of them I knew, others were my clan’s enemies! Ax… Your name is Alex Brim! I saw you being slapped in the butt by her! So funny!’… it was this more or less, her mind is overflowing with questions and doubts.”
Alex made a puzzled look. “Wait a minute, let’s go back a little… You are the daughter of Shinatobe and one… Jack Andrews, is that it?”
Olive made a deep frown. “Really? You now have an Orc that you can question all you want, and that is what is puzzling you right now?”
“Yeah… it’s just… a big surprise… So, can you ask her how she got here?”
Olive looked at her and Ghar made a few long growls, but Olive shook her head and placed one finger over Ghar’s lips while pointing with the index finger to her head.
Ghar went silent and after a few seconds, Olive spoke, “She doesn’t know. She attacked that Orc and then a dark round thing appeared behind her and as the Orc pushed her, they both went through it. The next thing she saw, was the ground getting closer, and she had to find a way to survive the fall and used the Orc as a cushion. It seems I can perfectly read her mind, and she can read mine, and like that, it’s easy to communicate between us. She is very interesting, Alex. She is a powerful and honoured clan warrior. In her World, Orcs are divided into clans, and there are several Monsters that they hunt or have to fight for their lives, like Harpies, Goblins and others. In some cases, Orc clans have pets from other species of Monsters, and in other cases, they forge alliances with Harpies or Goblins, to bring strength to their Orc clan. It’s a violent society, and she never knew peace, except when there were no battles, which didn’t happen very often. Her lover died during a battle with another Clan, and she has been hunting that Clan for the last couple of years, and those Orcs that arrived with her, were the last ones. She is now wondering what her purpose is, now that her revenge has come to an end, and she is still alive.”
“Why every Orc that arrives here always kill a bunch of people, or rape them? What is the purpose of all that?”
After a few seconds, Olive Andrews spoke, “It’s what Orcs do when they find an enemy. They kill them all or ruin their will to fight, and raping is one of their sickest tactics. Not even the pets of their enemies are safe from being raped or killed. It seems the Orcs that arrived at Azurath always saw everyone as a potential threat. Maybe because no one ever tried to communicate with them, at least is what Ghar thinks. The normal procedure is to send a single unarmed warrior that would kneel and ask for a hearing. As for the Harpies, Goblins and Four-Armed-Orcs, those are different. Most of them are mindless beasts that only want to eat, but there have been cases of some of them that developed intelligence.”
From the bed, a weak voice was heard, and Alex, Olive and Yahei, immediately approached, “It seems that even… on my deathbed… I learn new things… Alex, now it’s up to you… Yahei, stop being a monk, damn fool… or at least forget that stupid vow of chastity… Olive, live on my behalf and… I will see you from the Wind… and… if a gentle breeze… caresses your hair… that will be me… Okami and Shinatobe… Thank you for everything… tell Suijin… he is scary… Heheh… cough… cough… No, thank him… for me… Ghar… help her, Alex, she will… bring hope…”
As the Earl spoke with his voice fading at each word, Alex and everyone else started to cry. They saw the Earl looking a little better only minutes ago, and the contract between Ghar and Olive distracted everyone from the real condition of the weak Earl.
Ghar watched as the dying man took his last breath, and while Olive was leaning her head on the Earl’s chest, Ghar raised both arms to the ceiling and made a long and loud growl.
They all stayed near the bed, and Yahei whispered a few prayers.
He then touched the forehead of his old friend and whispered, “Thank you for everything, Kayden, you were truly an amazing friend…”
Yahei then faced Alex after quickly cleaning his tears. “Are you all right, my son?”
“More or less… It brought back a painful memory about my mother… Are you going to stay for the ceremony?”
“I wish I could, but it’s better not. It will be too difficult to explain if someone else sees me here, you know that. I trust that you will be able to take care of everything.”
Alex slowly nodded and signalled Okami to take Ghar to the dining room so that he could leave with his father, and for Olive Andrews to have a moment with her former partner.
As soon as Okami gave one last hug to Yahei, she left, gently pushing Ghar that was still staring at the dead Earl with sadness in her eyes.
Shinatobe took care of the Magic in the closet, and Alex went in with his father, disappearing behind the closed door for only two seconds. He then opened the door again and seemed a little better.
Shinatobe touched his right hand and asked, “You… seem at peace. How long did you stay with your father?”
“A few hours, actually. We needed to help each other to deal with the pain. I need to take care of… the ceremony…”
Shinatobe nodded and said before turning into a tiny ball of light and going to her usual spot, behind Alex’s right ear, “Ask Suijin to carry Kayden to the outside, and Okami can take care of the pile of wood. When Olive let him go, she needs to tell the servants that the Earl is gone, so that they can warn everyone to watch the fire.”
Alex took one last look at Olive Andrews that was still near Earl Kayden and left the room, leaving her with her memories and sadness.
…
At the back of the manor, Okami created a sturdy base of rock with a pile of wood with dry leaves above, working as a bed. Earl Kayden was on top, and Alex was in front of the pile, looking at the crowd of servants, maids, farmers and workers that arrived as soon as they heard that their beloved Earl had passed away. A few were sobbing while others were trying their best to hold their tears, but they all looked extremely sad.
Alex took one deep breath and spoke, “Earl Kayden Burke lived a long life, filled with achievements and greatness. He will be remembered forever, not only by all of us but by everyone that he touched or met. May the Goddess Izanami take him into her embrace! Join the Wind, my dear friend, and thank you for granting me your wisdom!”
Alex then turned around and faced the pile of wood. He shot a big fireball that set fire to the wood and in seconds, the entire pile was burning.
He walked back, joining the crowd that was looking at the fire from a distance, and watched as the body of his friend was consumed by the flames.
After some time, the farmers and workers began to leave to take care of their chores, then the servants, and finally, the maids. James Macdonald made a movement to go to Alex, but he changed his mind and walked away with his Party, going to the manor with Ghar at his side. Alex and Olive remained until the very end when only a pile of ash remained.
Olive then gathered Magic in her hand, and a tornado surrounded the ash, compacting it. The bones were still mostly intact, and she then glanced at Alex, which immediately increased the gravity under the pile of ash and bones to an incredible amount, crushing the bones against the hard rock underneath. With another quick mumbled Spell, the rock enveloped the ash and bones, and compressed it, turning itself into a big vase with a closed lid, with the ash and powdered bones inside.
Olive grabbed the vase and took it with her to the inside of the manor. As she was placing the vase in the room on the far east of the manor where other vases were, containing the remains of former family members of Earl Kayden, she took one slow deep breath and faced Alex. “This is now all yours, Alex. The manor, the lands, the people, and the responsibility. You want for me to stay here as the housekeeper, or to join you?”
“You will need to find someone to fill your spot here, because Ghar needs you, and also because I heard the Earl saying that you belong to a battlefield. I won’t mind having you following me around, in fact, it will be a great honour.”
“Very well. I will need to take a few things with me, mostly clothes for me and Ghar. She can’t always use that hooded cape and her fur garments. I think I have some things that will suit her. I will also change my appearance when we leave this manor, to something more… appropriate to the contracted Spirit of a powerful Orc such as Ghar.”
Alex looked at her a little puzzled. “What do you mean, change your appearance? You always looked like that, an old woman with a temper!”
“This was just because I led a more peaceful life when you met me. I normally look more… terrifying was the word your father used, one time. Come, let’s meet the others so that I can see what we can do for dinner. Tomorrow you are going to the Chamber of Lords, right?”
Alex nodded as they walked along the main corridor. “Yes, it seems they want to see me because of my new title and lands. Do you know if the King will also be in there?”
“I believe so. He always tries to attend when someone gets a new title or lands. Why? What are you scheming, Alex?”
“Nothing, I just want to make sure the meeting tomorrow will go smoothly, and with the King there, I hope it will. By the way, may I suggest that you change to a tiny ball of light when Ghar is near other people so that you can hide behind one of her ears, and speak for her? It would be far easier to talk with her, and I bet she would like to be understood, being in an unknown new World, and such.”
Olive raised one eyebrow. “I think that can be arranged, but it will be a little hard for me to hide, do you saw her ears? They are so tiny!”
Alex made a little smile. “Yes, I saw. The ears are actually cute, and her dark green eyes, tiny round nose and dark brown braided long hair make a very interesting combination. She is very pretty for an Orc, right?”
“I suppose. I never had any interest in females, and even with my contract with her, nothing is clicking. Maybe because she is from such a different species our bond is taking longer. I had a glimpse of her soul, and I kind of liked what I saw. Who knows, maybe with enough time, she will fill the emptiness in my heart, now that… Kayden… is gone…”
Alex touched her left hand. “I am so sorry… I guess… we both need some time to get used to not having the Earl around, mocking me and bragging about you at every chance he got.”
“Yes… he was an amazing man, the best I ever met. And I met a bunch of them, during my life…”