you.'
'What, both of us? Me and… him?' He nodded at the door.
'I was thinking of you.'
'Thanks.' He smiled. 'But I reckon you're in a minority of one.'
'Oh, I don't know. I reckon Stryke has some regard for you. Maybe a couple of the others.'
'They've a funny way of showing it.'
'You've got to understand how it is between orcs and humans. And not just in this world. We've got… history.'
'Maybe that's something I can understand.'
'Can you?'
'You think orcs were the only downtrodden race on our world?'
'You're a human. Your kind does the treading.'
'There are humans and humans.'
'Isn't it time you came clean about yourself?'
'What's to tell?' he came back stiffly.
'Don't close up on me.'
'Would knowing my past change anything? I mean, haven't I proven myself yet?'
'You have to me. But most of the others…'
'I give you my word that I had nothing to do with the theft of the star.'
'And what would your partner say if I asked him about it?'
'Standeven's not my partner,' he returned sharply. 'And he'd give you his word too.'
'What value could I put on that?'
'As much as I do.'
'How much is that?'
'If Standeven says he didn't — '
'Why are you so loyal to him, Jode?'
He sighed. 'Habit, I suppose. And not wanting to believe certain things even of him.'
'What is the bond between you two?'
'Complicated.'
'Not enough. Tell me more.'
He had to grin. 'You're persistent, Coilla, I'll give you that.'
'So reward me. Open up a bit. I'd like to know something about the man I owe my life to.'
'How about that flask again?'
She dug it out. He took another draught. Coilla had one too.
'Well?' she said.
'I'm a Trougathian.'
'You're a what?'
'A Trougathian. After Trougath, the place we come from.'
'Never heard of it.' There was a chair by her, and she sat.
He followed her lead and perched on a barrel of nails. 'The world you and I come from is much bigger than the part you call Maras-Dantia.'
'And your race renamed Centrasia,' she replied with a trace of bitterness.
' Some humans did. My sort didn't get to name places.'
'So what sort are they?'
'A little like you orcs.'
'Yeah?' She couldn't keep the scepticism out of her voice.
'Well, I said a little like. But there's a couple of similarities. One is that my race has a martial tradition too.'
'That explains your skill with a blade. So your race fights as a living, like we do?'
'No. It's not inborn with us; it's learnt. Though over so long a time it practically is inborn now. But we're not fighters by inclination, or even choice. It was just practical. Most of my race would prefer untroubled lives.'
'If you didn't choose to fight, you must have something to defend.'
'Ourselves. And our land.'
'The first I understand. But dying for land, that seems odd to me. Maybe because orcs never had any.'
'They did here.'
'And your race took it from them.' She raised her hands. 'Sorry. Tell me about your land.'
'Trougath's an island off… well, it doesn't really matter where it is. It's large enough for us and the soil's good. So's the fish harvest. We're islanders, we have an understanding with the sea. Most of all, it's our homeland. But it's got one flaw.'
'Its location.'
'You're smart.'
'For an orc, you mean?'
'No, just smart.'
'Stands to reason you'd only have enemies if there's something you've got they want, or if you're in the wrong place.'
'I can see why you're the band's mistress of strategy. But you're right; a very wrong place. At least, that's what it became. Trougath stands at a point where it could threaten free passage for its several neighbours, had we wanted to do that, which we didn't. So we sat in the middle of a wheel, each spoke sharpened and pointing at us. All the neighbouring states had a lustful eye on such a favourably placed island. Whoever took it could cow the others. That's why my people embraced warfare, and kept them out.'
'How come, if those nearby states were so strong?'
'My people had been there since long before the rise of the powers that came to surround us. We were numerous and well established. We knew the terrain. And we fought well, as people will when they're protecting all they've got. We were always on alert, and often under actual siege. We did without enough arms; we did without salt. Even water, at times.'
'How long did that last?'
'Generations. Eventually it dawned on them that they couldn't conquer us, so they took to flattering us. So in addition to the skills of combat, we learnt the black art of politics. The game became playing one off against the other. That, and occasional wars, kept us sovereign for a long time.'
'But I'm guessing your luck ran out. Otherwise you'd be there now.'
He nodded. 'Our leaders sided with the wrong tyrant. Not through any liking of him, but by necessity. That caused a schism among my people. Not a civil war exactly, though that came close, but enough of a distraction for us to drop our guard. The very warlord our leaders befriended was the one who took advantage.'
'There's a surprise.'
'It seemed like treachery to us. Hell, that's what it was. Those were dark days, and we all did things we weren't especially proud of, in the name of patriotism. None less than me. I won't bore you with the ins and outs. The upshot was that our nation was smashed and what survived of the population scattered. We became drifters, peasants in foreign lands, impoverished merchants, even mercenaries. Some were enslaved.' The latter came out with particular vitriol.
Coilla kept her peace for a moment, then, 'You said there was more than one way your race was like mine.'
'We're both maligned. And once your enemies stigmatise you, they can justify any crime, any indignity they heap on you. Our name was blackened and it sticks. Even false ignominy carries on, like a rock cast down a hill.'
She could relate to that. 'The storytellers, the scholars with their books: they're from the winning side, more often than not. You wouldn't believe the shit they spew about orcs. They say we favour human flesh, or even that we eat each other. They put it about that we sprang from elves, for the gods' sake. All lies!'
'They said we conjured demons and sodomised goats.'
Coilla burst out laughing. Pepperdyne looked stern for a moment, then joined her.
