The journey back into orc controlled lands started uneventfully for Kegan. The orcs clearly respected him more after the fight, but he still couldn’t speak with most of them. Tam was recovering from her wounds, and not very talkative with the crushed ribs. Wangozak seemed excited about something to do with Tam. He kept looking at her as if searching for something.

After two weeks when Tam was more recovered she seemed constantly angry and upset. She would snap at Kegan whenever he asked a “dumb” question. Kegan initially feared he’d done something to upset her, but more of her anger was directed at her father. Wangozak was unphased and seemed to even enjoy the fact that his daughter was yelling and cursing at him every other night. Tam seemed to be yelling so much that her voice became hoarse and deeper.

The orc war party was zigzagging back and forth across their lands. They were heading to each of the villages on the border of the marshes. At each village they would tell the orcs and goblins living there to pack up and head out. Tam explained to him that these villages would become fodder for the bone knights, feeding their armies with bones for the bone knights, and flesh to sate their hunger.

The crops would be burnt, and any livestock the villagers didn’t take with them would be slaughtered and turned into dinner for the war party.

A month of this and Kegan was feeling restless. He was planning to leave the war party soon and just head back with Jot to his cabin in the mountains. However, he had become very curious about what was happening to Tam.

Her voice had never recovered and it seemed permanently hoarse and deep. She was growing bigger too. She’d gained at least an inch in only a month, but her shoulders were also filling out and growing larger.

Kegan finally got the resolve one night to ask her what was happening. Tam and Wangozak had been arguing and yelling at each other as they did every night. Well, Tam had been yelling at Wangozak, and Wangozak had mostly stood there with a smug grin on his face. Tam must have gotten tired of the smug look and she took a swing at her father.

He moved swiftly, dodging her punch, then grabbing the arm she’d tried to punch him with, and pulling her forward off balance. Then he threw a quick jab right into her face. Tam fell to the ground stunned, with a bleeding lip. Wangozak then said something in orcish that Kegan actually understood “Nice try, boy”.

Kegan helped Tam up and asked her what happened, specifically why Wangozak called her boy.

Tam chuckled then answered “I was pretty sure you had misunderstood why I was nameless. We orcs are not the same as humans. We are all born as girls. If we become pregnant we will stay as women. Otherwise there is always a chance that we will transform into men. After the battle with the bone knights, my transformation has begun … I am becoming a man.”

Tam’s voice was tinged with bitterness, and she stared at the ground in front of her for a minute without speaking.

When Kegan was about to ask a follow up question she spoke again.

“My father has robbed me of the life I wanted. I did not want to join battles or live in the field. I was happy with my research in the capital. I tried desperately to find a man that would make me pregnant. But my father had threatened to castrate any man that touched me. He only wants male heirs, and until I become a man he has refused to name me.”

“I’m sorry the life you wanted was stolen from you.”

Tam merely nodded in acknowledgement and then walked off.

A few days later they were travelling to the latest village when they heard horns blowing in the direction of the village. The orcs looked to Wangozak with concern and fear on their faces. Wangozak’s face hardened and he called out orders. “Speed up, ready yourselves for fighting!” Kegan understood the simple command without Tam’s translation.

They rode over a small hill and the village was visible in the distance. There was an army at the village. Hundreds of bone knights mixed in with with countless orcs and goblins. There were pits where the villagers were being roasted and then fed to all of the troops. All of the orcs in their party looked at the scene in horror. Wangozak spoke softly “So it begins”.

Their group rode off quietly. The army in the village either not noticing them, or not caring about them.

They weren’t far from another village. Kegan was relieved to see that there were no bone knights here. His relief only lasted a moment before Wangozak barked out a new order.

“Burn it all, no one lives”.

One of Wangozak’s sons began to argue with him, and Tam helpfully translated everything. She seemed sad but not surprised by Wangozak’s orders.

“Father! Are you crazy, I thought we were saving the villagers!?”

“No, son. We are not here to save the villagers, we are here to save all orcs. You saw what happened to the last village. Every orc and goblin that lives is just food and bone for their army. We cannot fight them. We can only starve them.”

Wangozak turned to Kegan and Tam.

“I will consider this the final trial for you to both become warriors. You have already proven that you can fight on a battlefield. Can you kill for the greater good, even when your life is not in danger?”

With a stony, determined look, Tam unsheathed a sword as her answer. They both looked at Kegan.

He looked down at the villagers who were being rounded up. They had looks of confusion on their faces. A few of them had begun to cry in fear. Kegan knew the history of the wars with the bone sorceress. He knew exactly why they were doing this, and he knew there was no alternative. These people would either die here and now, or they would die in a few days when the bone knights and their army arrived.

“No.”

Wangozak nodded. “Normally you would be killed for failing the warrior’s trials. But there will be enough killing for today. Leave with your dog. You refuse to help us, so we will no longer help you. If we see you again we will be enemies.”

Tam seemed angry at him.

“You are weak Kegan. Maybe this is why the humans are gone and the orcs still live. We have the strength to make hard decisions. I wish you a peaceful coward’s death in your sleep.”

Kegan just shook his head at her words. There was no reason to explain to them. He and jot dismounted from their pig and began walking away. He knew where he was and how to find his way back to the valley.

The villagers began screaming and begging for their lives as the group of orcs began slaughtering them. Kegan forced himself to not look back.

It had been almost a year since Kegan had left the valley. The blue spirit had said something about his cheating issue being resolved. His mind was elsewhere.

This valley was special to him. It was the one piece that always came with him whenever he was reborn. He knew he’d been trapped in here by the blue spirit for many lives. All of his skill memory perks gave him glimpses of old lives he’d lived in this valley. He’d built the cabin and lived in it for decades before passing away. When he had first gotten the perks and been offered the chance to leave, he chose to stay.

Yet, this life he’d decided to leave the valley and find trouble. He’d wanted a distraction, something to occupy his mind. He hadn’t wanted to think too much about his last life. The valley had left him feeling trapped by his own troubled mind. Life was too easy here. He would have have spent all of his time reflecting on his last life and how he could have done things differently.

Time had helped heal those wounds. The valley was once again peaceful. Life was coming back to it slowly after the feral goblins killed everything and left. The valley was no longer a mental trap for Kegan. He could live here happily with Jot until they both passed away from old age.

There was only one problem with this plan. Kegan had unfinished business. The sorceress needed to die. He’d fought her on her own territory and barely escaped with his own life. She was too powerful to fight on neutral ground. He needed to beat her forces and draw her out. Given enough time and planning he knew he could beat anyone in this valley. He smiled to himself. Once again, this valley would be a trap, but this time Kegan would not be the victim.