3
In silence, Harruq Tun stared at the body. Seven, he guessed. No older than seven. He didn’t know the boy’s name or why he had wandered into the forest. The bloodied corpse was sprawled across the knotted roots of a tree, its innards spilled through a massive gash from shoulder to waist. The eyes remained open, their young innocence spoiled by a lingering look of horror.
You’re an orc, aren’t you?
Harruq snarled and shook his head. He shouldn’t have spoken to him. Shouldn’t have let him ask questions. The last of his adrenaline faded as images of the child’s quivering lips and trembling hands haunted his vision.
“Half,” Harruq whispered as he wiped blood from his swords onto the grass. “Only half.”
The kill had been quick, just a single cut through the shoulder blade, the heart, and then the lung. No suffering, little pain. It was all he could offer.
“He’s dead, Qurrah,” the half-orc shouted. His deep voice, like a bear’s growl, seemed right at home in the forest. “Come on over.”
Qurrah approached through the trees, clutching a worn bag in his long fingers. His brown eyes glanced over the dead boy. He nodded in approval.
“Well done,” Qurrah said.
“Killing kids is hardly worth a well done.”
Qurrah frowned as he glanced from his prize to his brother, who sat against a tree, arms on his knees. “Take pride in all you do,” Qurrah said. “Only then will you improve.”
Harruq shrugged. “You need me?”
The smaller half-orc opened the bag he carried. Inside were ashes, roots, herbs, and a sharpened knife: all Qurrah needed to work his art.
“No. You may go.”
Harruq rose, glanced at the body, and then departed.
“What are they looking at?” Harruq later asked as the two brothers walked down the winding streets of Woodhaven.
“Let us see,” said Qurrah.
Harruq muscled his way past two men, his brother following in his wake. They found a proclamation nailed to a post.
“What’s it say?” Harruq asked.
“All children are to be kept outside the boundary of the forest,” Qurrah said, his eyes narrowing. “Six have been killed by the…”
Qurrah laughed, a hideous sound.
“By the what?” Harruq asked.
“The Forest Butcher,” said an aged woman next to him, her voice creaking as if she had tiny pebbles lodged in her throat. She glanced back to the worn brown paper. “Hope they find him. Been a long time since we had an execution, but whoever that sick bastard is deserves a gruesome one.”
“Such hatred in a meager body,” Qurrah said, and his smile earned him a sneer.
“Come on, Qurrah. I’m getting hungry,” Harruq said as he trudged off, his hands at his sides grabbing the air where his swords no longer were.
The two brothers lived in the poorest part of town, sheltered in an old building long abandoned. When they had first arrived, several homeless men claimed it as their own. Harruq had slit their throats when they slept and then Qurrah worked his art. The few vagabonds left in the city quickly learned to avoid the worn building marked by holes in its roof and long shadows that lingered no matter where the sun shone.
Harruq shoved open the door and then halted as he breathed in the stuffy air.
“Nothing like home, eh?” he said.
“Move, before the meat spoils,” Qurrah said.
The big half-orc stepped out of the way. Qurrah came through, carrying a slab of meat in his hands. He weaved across the missing planks in the floor and sat next to a small circle of stones. Above him was a hole in the ceiling for the smoke to escape.
“Since when has spoiling meat stopped me from eating it?” Harruq asked.
Qurrah laughed. “Which explains so much.”
Murmuring a few words, he smashed his hands together. Fire burst to life in the center of the stones. Harruq grabbed a small pot and brought it to the fire, but Qurrah stopped him.
“There is no need,” he said.
“How come?” Harruq asked.
Qurrah narrowed his eyes and stared at the meat in his hands.
“I have something I wish to try.”
The bigger half-orc stepped back, willing to watch his brother work. While Harruq was skilled in swords and had all the muscle, Qurrah possessed far more interesting talents.
Qurrah mumbled words, sick and spidery. The bones in the slab of meat snapped erect as if pulled by invisible strings. He kept whispering, his eyes wide. The meat floated from his hands and then lowered into the fire. Qurrah twirled his finger, and the slab turned as if on a spit.
“We’re eating fancy tonight,” Harruq said, tossing the pot back to its corner. His stomach growled as the aroma of cooked meat filled his nostrils.
“Glad you approve,” Qurrah said.
They ate in silence until only bones remained, which Qurrah then tucked away in a pouch. Harruq relaxed and enjoyed the heat while his brother tightened his robe and leaned toward the fire.
“Things are more dangerous now, aren’t they?” Harruq asked after a pause.
Qurrah nodded, his thoughts distant. “They’re ready for us. Many elves will be lurking inside the woods as they hunt for the Forest Butcher.” Again Qurrah chuckled at the name his brother had earned.
“Will we stop for a while?” Harruq asked.
The smaller half-orc shook his head. “Of course not. I must keep learning, increasing my strength. We will resume, just this time amid the darkness.”
Harruq nodded, obviously uneasy. “Hey brother?”
“Yes Harruq?”
“Are you sure what we’re doing isn’t wrong?” He twiddled his fingers, suddenly embarrassed. “I mean… they’re children.”
Qurrah sighed. He had sensed apprehension in his brother before, especially when it came to the children. Such nuisances needed to be eradicated.
“If given a choice,” Qurrah asked, “would you split a seed or burn a flower? Let the children meet their end before they learn the torment and anguish of their parents. Besides, kill a child and the mother has one less mouth to feed. Kill the mother or father and all the children suffer and starve.”
The larger half-orc shrugged. He was not convinced but that mattered little. He would trust his wiser brother as he always had. Qurrah let his eyes drift back to the fire. “Tomorrow night, bring me a body, but don’t let yourself be caught. A gruesome execution does not suit my immediate plans.”
“Sure,” Harruq said. “Whatever you want.”
They slept in their pile of hay and cloth. Harruq did not wake until late morning, but Qurrah slept far less. The dream had come again.