[Queen of Orcs 02] - Clan Daughter Read Online Free

slowed their pace. They passed fields filled with sprouts and orchards laden with tiny green fruit, but saw nothing fit to eat. Occasionally, they encountered an isolated hut or two. They left the road to avoid those. The travelers were making such a detour when Dar halted. “Kovok-mah,” she said, “come with me.”
    They had been walking through a grove that bordered one side of a peasant holding. Dar led Kovok-mah to the edge of the woods so he could gaze across the fields at the hut. “Look around that hut,” said Dar. “Do you see…” She paused, trying to think of the Orcish word for “root house.” When she couldn’t, Dar started over. “I’m looking for house dug into ground—mound of earth with door. Washavokis keep food there.”
    Kovok-mah gazed into the dark. “I see mound with door.” He pointed.
    Dar looked where Kovok-mah indicated, but she could barely make out the peasant’s hut in the gloom. “I can’t see it,” she said. “Describe where it is.”
    “I’ll lead you there.”
    “Thwa,” said Dar. “You must not be seen.”
    Kovok-mah noted that the scent of Dar’s fear had grown stronger. “What are you planning to do?”
    “We need food. I’m going to get some.”
    “Why does that make you afraid?”
    Dar didn’t know the Orcish word for “stealing” or even if the orcs understood the concept. Thus, it took a while for her to explain what she intended to do. When she was finished, Kovok-mah looked concerned. “You say washavokis often do this thing?”
    “Hai,” said Dar. “If I’m caught, no alarm will go out. No one will track you down.”
    “Yet you’ll be punished,” said Kovok-mah.
    “Hai.”
    “What will happen?”
    “I don’t know,” replied Dar, refraining from saying that thieves were often killed or mutilated.
    Kovok-mah smelled her apprehension. “This seems very dangerous.”
    “We haven’t eaten for two days. We need food. I see no other choice.”
    “Please don’t go,” said Kovok-mah. “My chest is strong in this.”
    “I must. Now, tell me where mound lies.”
    After Dar got directions, she warily crept toward the hut. Eventually, she could make out a hump in the ground behind it. When she was in the regiment, she had often encountered such structures on the farms the soldiers plundered. Root houses were stone-lined pits that were roofed over with sod to provide a cool, dry place for storing fruits and vegetables.
    When Dar reached the root house, she paused and listened for sounds indicating that she had been detected. When she heard none, she slowly opened its slanting door, fearful that it might creak and betray her presence. The opening was so black that Dar had to find the ladder by feel. After glancing nervously around, she climbed down.
    When Dar’s feet touched the dirt floor, she could see nothing except a square of night sky above. She shuffled away from the ladder, waving her arms about in cool air that smelled of earth and vegetables on the verge of spoiling. She touched a basket, and her fingers examined its contents. The rough and wrinkled texture of the tubers inside revealed them as tabuc, a root that must be cooked to be edible. Dar continued her search. The next basket smelled vinegary and contained apples. They felt soft and spongy and many were rotten. Dar stuffed a few of the sounder ones into her knapsack.
    The next basket was the real prize. Dar recognized its contents on first touch, for goldenroot was a highland staple. It was filling and could be eaten raw. As Dar began to empty the basket, she pondered how much to take. Stuffing her sack would make it more likely that her theft would be noticed, but it would also postpone the need to steal again. Dar decided to risk taking as much as she could.
    When the knapsack was filled, Dar lifted it onto her back and hurriedly ascended the ladder. After closing the door behind her, she would have run if she hadn’t feared stumbling in the dark. When Dar reached the