Of Heaven and Fire
So now since I’m home and only doing online schooling 2 days a week. GUESS WHAT I HAVE FOR ALL MY ORC LOVERS OUT THERE? YYYYEEEEESSSS MORE ORC GOODNESS. With a spin on my new creation- THE MOURA. Enjoy. This part is rated t for that good good in the beginning but it’s going to be rated M for mature in later parts. Because I’m a lemon flavored factory.
You were having the most peculiar dream again, having had similar dreams for the last month or so, you were walking through a market. But not one that you had ever been in before. It had all kinds of strange foods and the smell of the ocean was in your nostrils and you could hear the crashing of the waves nearby but couldn’t see them because of all the stalls surrounding you. You were being led by a little girl, she had dark green skin and black curly hair and you couldn’t tell what she was but she just sounded adorable as you bought all that she wanted, since you seemed to have unlimited funds in your heavy coin purse on your waist, you bought all kinds of treats and fabric and thread to make her dresses but as you put the fabric up to her, her face was blurred. But she called you “Auntie Yana” so she she knew you and after you bought all that her heart desired, she led you back to her home, that strangely felt like home to you too as you dropped off your food in the kitchen before you dropped everything else off in a communal bedroom that she shared with her sisters, where her bed was close by as you went through all that you bought with her before you found something else that you forgot to put into the kitchen before you excused yourself to bring it there before someone grabbed you by the waist and you were pressed against a big strong chest that felt abnormally warm as you relaxed against it as a bright excited smile bloomed on your face
“Have fun in the market today?” A distinctly masculine voice rasped in your ear as his massive hands began to stroke you all over, making a shiver travel from your ear all the way down to your toes as you felt yourself smile as your head plowed back and laid it against his chest as you turned your head up and to the side to smile up at him, but his face was blurry too but he kissed you over your shoulder sweetly and held you with care as his hand caressed your face. You could sense he was so strong that he could easily hurt you but you felt you trusted him not to. That you were safe, if not very loved and cared for.
“Not nearly as much fun if you had been there with me.” You purred as you reached back with your free hand that wasn’t around the sack of spices and you felt massive bulging muscle underneath his clothes and you could feel your center start to tighten and heat up in anticipation.
“Well did you get a chance to miss me?” He rumbled as you felt sharp teeth playfully nip at your exposed neck and shoulder, sending delightful shocks of lighting down to your groin and your knees buckled as one of his hands found a slit in your skirts that your moura feather cloak made for him so he’d have access to your body without having to actually lift up your skirts and his fingers found your waiting slit practically dripping for him.
“No,” you defiantly maintained as you bit your lip to keep your voice in check as he pressed his finger past your outer feminine lips before digging in just right which made you keen and your breath hitch in your chest before it came out in a labored gasp.
“How come your body is saying yes then?” He teased as he started to rub at your nub perfectly, your whole body betraying you as it writhed against him. Your plump breast being squeezed ever deliciously by his other hand as you felt his hot breath on your neck and shoulder between hot kisses to your flesh, the shoulders of your gown now falling off to expose even more of yourself to him.
“Because it’s a traitor.” You managed to sass him as he was already half way to giving you an orgasm as he started laughing which made him pause in his ministrations which made you whine in protest.
“Come on, don’t stop now.” You pleaded before he pulled away from you.
“Well if you want me, come and find me, or do I have to catch you again? Midair perhaps?” He urged as he pulled away from you, taking his warmth with him as you turned around and the bastard had vanished into the shadows! Damn smug son of a bitch.
Then you heard the alarm. And it was getting louder and louder and…
You were awoken in the middle of the night by an alarm being sounded by the patrolmen that guarded the colony in shifts at night, all of you quickly running to the jump points on the roofs as your parents urged you and your siblings to change into birds as you did as you were told as your father was already half way through putting on his armor, quickly hugging and kissing you goodbye and reassuring all of you that you would see each other again soon.
“What’s happening?” You asked.
“We’re being attacked, we need to fly to safety.” Your mother answered as she made sure all of her children were changed into birds and with her before you followed her, all of you flying as fast as you could up into the night sky as hummingbirds, known for their dexterity and nimbleness just in case there would be arrows to take you down and small enough to fly through a net easily if need be. But there was no net and the higher up you got, the bigger all of you got as you continued to change forms, to bigger birds with bigger wingspans to climb higher faster.
“To the cloud!” Your mother called as she made sure all of her children were flying with her as were the other moura mothers and fathers were doing with their own children as the non moura parents were defending Suchi as the children without the moura gene were hidden away safely in the bunkers with other mouras choosing to stay behind to defend the bunkers, transforming into the largest phoenixes they could change into, ready to kill any attacker without hesitation.
Suchi was a mixed moura community in the mountains. From this height and in this form, you couldn’t tell who was attacking but you could see the mouras who were staying to defend it turning into phoenixes to burn whoever dared come against it, spewing fire like dragons over the city gate as others flew up to the dragons to awaken them to fly down to protect the colony. Since mouras and dragons were allies before you saw the dragons flying out of their caves to come to the colony’s rescue, relief filling all the citizens of Suchi who saw it and dread into the attackers.
Mouras were a magical being, usually living in the heavens themselves, their grand castles and estates disguised as clouds from the surface. Mouras had three forms, a bird of their choosing including a pheonix form, a human form or a human with bird wings like angels. Most mouras on the surface were married to royalty- kings, cesars, emperors, sultans, czars, whatever the case may be otherwise mouras usually only married their own kind. But some chose to marry non royalty because they fell in love with outsiders. Because of that, they were outcast of the moura society in the heavens and in the palaces and harems and made their own societies called colonies, there were colonies of mixed moura families in the mountains in every mountain range on the surface, all of you in alliance with the other mixed moura colonies and new colonies being built almost constantly to keep from overcrowding. You were born into such a community to your moura mother and mixed human father. However in times of disaster- such as war or seige- you were allowed to take refuge in the clouds themselves for a short time.
What made mouras the most coveted by royalty is they had the ability to turn whatever they wanted to- into gold a power fueled by the sun itself- a secret every moura guarded with their lives because such a gift becoming well known could lead to enslavement and the reasons dragons preferred to nest near moura colonies was a mutually beneficial relationship. Dragons protected the colonies in exchange for their caves practically bursting with gold and a few animals from the colony’s livestock as food every now and then along with friendship and companionship, not to mention the protected nesting sites and their own courting grounds.
But mouras had much more than the ability to turn what they wished into gold. They had healing powers as well. Add to these gifts- their affinity for music, singing and dancing to accompany their supreme grace, elegance and swiftness and naturally ethereal and gorgeous good looks- which was why they were so prized for and by royalty. Who wouldn’t want a companion who was beautiful, graceful and elegant, swift, nimble and flexible and would fill any treasury to the point of bursting with gold and heal your afflictions? Which also meant that the moura colony strongholds were a magnet for merchants, willing to climb the steep mountain roads and trails to sell everything from fabrics and furs, furniture, other metals, tools, spices, food, cattle, herds and flocks of all kinds, instruments and jewels and everything else under the sun and they were often paid in gold- what was in reality, the very rock that mouras carved their stronghold out of in the mountain sides- turned into gold in private.
Granted your life wasn’t as grand as your cousins in the heavens who’s very great castles were made out of the clouds, or your other cousins in the great harems in the different realms, served by a myriad of servants and dripping with jewels and pampered to an extreme degree, for your family didn’t have any servants, all of you being as self sufficient as possible, but it wasn’t as harsh as it could be in other parts of the world and it was better than living in the streets. The fortifications were strong and colonies were always built on top of several mountain springs and rivers so that clean water was always in abundance and the colonies surrounded mountain valleys where the different flocks and herds could find pasture because the very dragons that inhabited the caves in the mountainsides closer to the peak, fertilized the valleys so that they grew almost neon vivid green grass, herbs and wildflowers in abundance and the forests around the colonies particularly thick because of it too.
And even though your life wasn’t as charmed as your cousins, you had something none of them could boast of- your parents loved each other very much and had freely chosen the other and raised you and your siblings with love and care whereas your heavenly and earthly royal moura counterparts were often arranged into their marriages- something that the mountain moura communities were escaping from and vowed to never do to their offspring and your colonies were very close knit and friendly and a haven for all who sought refuge there. You knew nothing of hunger or sickness because mouras never got sick and because of your moura mother, you and all your siblings inherited your moura traits from her and your father was just a humble blacksmith, happy to make coins, weapons and armor for the non mouras just in case of besiegement and the colony was built like a maze so that just in case it was besieged- it was almost impossible to navigate unless you were born and raised into it. Each moura colony making their own strongholds in such ways.
Once all of you were safely in the cloud you all watched as the moura parents changed the cloud into one big room for all of you to rest in so you wouldn’t have to keep flying to stay up before the eldest moura got everyone’s attention as everyone kept asking the other why they were being attacked.
“Attention everyone!” Elder Veros said as she raised her old withered hands as everyone soon hushed.
“I know all of us are scared and concerned for our non moura family members who had to stay behind. We were attacked by an army of orcs, we tried to offer them gold to leave us alone, but they wanted marriage and they think they can take us by force!” She explained as you all gasped in horror.
“How come this is the first time we’re hearing of this?” Others asked.
“They’re orcs! What moura in their right mind would want to marry such a barbaric beast?” Elder Trikeng countered in a condescending sneer.
“We could have opened the gates and let them come and try anyway! Like we do for every other kind that comes to us.” The others argued.
“I know. That was offered. But it wasn’t good enough! They wanted us to participate in a reaping, where they would just walk through the colony and take whoever they wanted off the street! Can you imagine the chaos? How many of our mothers would they choose? Without any inkling if they had any family already? Imagine our little ones! Imagine them taking our little ones and we can’t argue or fight it and I don’t want to imagine the horrors they would inflict on them.” She explained as everyone seemed to let that sink in as your mother hugged your little sister tightly, her feather cloak turning into a massive fur blanket to cover all of her children from the chilliness up at this altitude as you sat down, your own feather cloaks becoming cushions under you as the others did the same, thankfully because of your moura heritage- breathing up here wasn’t so hard, it definitely was a strain and took several long moments to get used to but you could tell there was less oxygen this high up as you held your little sister Perideli in your lap as your mother nursed your baby sister as your other siblings held onto their little siblings as you all huddled closely together for warmth. You were lucky, your mother was a pureblood, meaning all of her children carried the gene, the other families weren’t so fortunate. Often having at least one child in their families without the moura gene because their own parents were often a few to several generations of mixed moura.
“We have fought tooth and nail against such things, there was no way we were going to ask any of you if you were willing to sacrifice yourselves to them. You all deserve to marry for love and marry who you want to marry no matter their status.” Elder Veros insisted as you looked at your other friends before you handed off your little sister to your other sister Yaviane who didn’t have a sibling in her lap, kissing her on the head before you got out of your mother’s fur blanket.
“Benyana!” Your mother whispered harshly. “Get back here!” She ordered.
“I just want to see.” You told her as you and the other teens and young adults managed to make a window in the cloud to look down and changed to your eagle eyes to really see what was happening before you saw that the orcs were clothed in fireproof armor and had already anticipated the fire that would be unleashed on them, loading trebuchets with meteorites, that were harder than the stone walls of your fortress and the meteorites were too dense and had such a high melting point that the dragon fire and phoenix fire was actually making them more destructive and the city’s gates were being battered because once the meteorite struck and did damage, in practically bounced back to them and they were retrieved to be used again, each time, they were relaunched, they gained more heat from the dragon and pheonix fire and thus did more and more damage.
Clever bastards. They were going to break through
Mouras were intelligent, fierce, strong and resilient by nature, as most predator birds are but with the orc numbers, preparation and brute strength alone- it looked like things were going to be in the orcs’ favor. If the orcs got through- it was all over. Suchi had only been besieged a handful of times since it’s being built- usually by now- the attackers would be dropping like flies because of the altitude sickness and trying to crawl down the mountain again. But these barbarians were not. It was like the altitude didn’t affect them at all. With every impact of their hits, your wrathful anger grew into a rage so much so you could feel the phoenix fire burn in your chest as it went up to your nostrils as the tips of your fingers grew clawed, forcing your clenched fists out of their hold. Oh those bastards were going to pay with their lives for this.
“They’re using meteorites!” All of you announced before the others made windows in the clouds to see for themselves before you collectively heard ‘oh no’s’ from everyone else before you got an idea.
“I need the fastest flyers! If we can go down and dive and strike the meteor balls that they have and turn them to gold, gold is softer than our stronghold. The gold will dent, break apart and melt before it destroys the walls or even strike at their armor and weapons it will melt too!” You called. “It’s too risky!” The adults argued but one look among your friends and you decided before you flew out the cloud’s windows and dove before you could hear any other argument from the others, transforming into missile raptors, a bird so fast they could leave fire in their wake like missles, sounding like them as they would dive down, the fastest flyers in the world and diving towards the orc army, all of you swooping down and striking the meteorites and all the other weapons and armor with your fifth golden feather to turn it into gold with lightning fast speed before you would take to the skies again and out of reach as you heard the cheering sounds from the non mouras behind the walls that could see what you were doing and began to direct you and you in turn directed the others, screaming your commands as the others obeyed. the phoenixes and dragons now burning the gold until it melted into pools at the orc’s feet, the orcs quickly discarding their melting armor before it would melt to them and they got burned, all of you passing through the fire because you were all immune to both dragon fire and phoenix fire before the orcs simply ran with what they could carry, mainly their own weapons turned to gold- all the meteorites, being slapped out of their grasp along with most of their armor. But just as you were about to take to the skies but you heard a voice- the same voice from your dreams and it made you pause and look back to see who was the owner of the voice-
A terrible mistake-
The bastard managed to capture you with his bare hands, plucking you out of thin air and holding you fast so that you couldn’t wriggle out of his grasp or break free and in the commotion you were captured and taken with them as they retreated and it didn’t matter how much you clawed and bit at who had taken you, once you were put in the leather sack, you could barely breathe from the little bit of air coming from the mouth and it was too thick to claw through.
“Quick, a cage,” the holder hollered before you were dumped rather unceremoniously into a bird cage that was barely big enough to hold you, but the thick iron bars would take all your phoenix strength to melt and you had exhausted most of your reserves so you couldn’t even change it and melt it if you tried but it had two sets of bars, a big set and a small set, not even if you changed into your hummingbird form could you get out of it. But at least you could breathe and look around now- as you screamed your lungs out, making your distress call- calling for another moura to come save you but no one answered as you started to panic and try to get out of the cage itself all the way down the mountain as they all ran for their lives, all the towns on the way up to the colony being boarded up protectively, a few brave souls peeking out to see the orcs pass through before the cage you were in was wrapped in another leather wrap and put on the back of a draft horse, the horses running for hours, as you braced yourself in the cage, still trying to scream your distress call, every time you did, the cage was hit by the rider as you were yelled at to keep quiet and once the horse stopped then the cage was taken off the horse and handed off- the rider ordering for the cage to be brought into the warchief’s home before they stomped off and you didn’t hear their voice anymore, you were carried into a house and the covering was taken off to reveal an orc family with little ones as one warrior came in, his burn wounds on his arms extensive.
“We failed. They’re protected by dragons, phoenixes and missile raptors, but not like any other missile raptors we know of. The raptors turned everything they touched into gold, our armor, our weapons, everything, it was all useless when they’re gold, it all melted off of us, and those damn raptors are fireproof, I watched as they all passed through the fire unharmed. We’ve never seen or even heard of anything like it, the elders warned of us of the phoenixes and the dragons, they were wise not to mention the raptors, we would have had it if it had not been for them,” the Warchief explained in staggering gasps as healing balm was put on his burns by his servants and his warchieftess as they stared at his dented and half melted gold battle axes that had been dumped on the floor.
“Could be worse, they could have turned them to foam or wood or something, at least the gold is worth something.” The warchieftess tried to soothe as she dressed his wounds herself.
“Where’s Brock?” The Warchieftess asked before a younger male orc came in and revealed himself, as you recognized him as the one who had caught you out of mid air, the one who’s voice you had recognized and now in this light- you could see the bastard as he was nursing his own burns and scratches that you had inflicted when he caught you before he had put you in a sack since his shield had burst into flames before you struck it and it turned to gold before it partially melted too as he dropped his shield down along with his own golden broadswords and battle axes, all of which were mostly melted before he kicked the cage in vengeful anger, melted gold stuck to the leather of his boots and coming off in dried crusted drops.
“You stupid fucking raptor! You ruined everything!” He roared which only made you scream back defensively before you tried to make your distress call before he picked up the cage and punched the cage with his free hand which temporarily shut you up before he slammed it back down on the table it had been put on, if that table had been made out of wood, you’d be impaled on a pile of shards but thankfully it was only metal and the metal banging rung painfully in your ears.
“Brock don’t! That raptor might be worth something yet, don’t stress it any more than it is.” His father growled which made his son just glare at you as you glared back.
“We should roast it and eat it.” Brock sneered.
“You will do no such thing!” You screamed back, your voice so hoarse and raspy from screaming all night before everyone froze to look at you.
“Did the mouras seriously train a missile raptor to talk?” The warchieftess murmured as she paused in dressing her husband’s wounds to look at you curiously.
“Oh I can do more than talk.” You seethed at Brock.
“That so? Turn your cage into gold then.” Brock taunted.
“No,” you refused.
“Why not?” Brock prodded.
“Come closer and I’ll turn you to gold instead.” You threatened, it would cost you your life but it would be worth it.
“Really? Do it, I dare you.” Brock pushed before he tried to put his hand to the cage before his mother ripped his hand back.
“Don’t get in an arugment with a fucking bird! It’s a magic bird but it’s still a bird, you look and sound like a lunatic.” She reprimanded.
“At the very least a barbaric asshole.” You seethed and he looked like he was ready to crush your cage with his fists.
“Go check to see if anyone else has caught another one Brock.” The Warchief ordered before Brock growled menacingly at you as you screamed back before he left the tent and you did your best to break free but you were too weak now so you just hung your head in defeat and started crying.
“Pretty bird cries.” A little one noted as it walked over to you. The thing had to be younger than 5 as you begrudgingly realized that her voice sounded too familar in your ears as you stared at her, trying to place where you’ve seen her, but your head hurt and you were utterly exhausted.
“Kari no!” The mother said before the young girl stuck it’s fingers in the cage. You were half tempted to bite the little monster’s fingers off but you did no such thing because you knew that would be a line too far but you just sat there and begrudgingly let it pet you through the cage.
“Don’t cry pretty bird.” She cooed to you which made you huff a laugh before you leaned into her touch because pets always did feel good no matter what form you were in as she wiped your tears from your eyes. Damn it she was a darling and cute little thing too. Practically adorable.
“Look, bird tears papa!” She said before she pulled away and showed her father the tears from your eyes.
“Birds…don’t…cry.” The warchief muttered but she just wiped the tears on the bandage and kissed it before she came back over to you as the warchief and warchieftess both just looked at each other as they tilted their heads before Brock came back into the room with a silver cuff on a thin silver lead.
“Kari get back!” He roared which put you on the defensive again.
“Don’t hurt the pretty bird!” Kari said as she shielded you with herself, standing between him and you despite her small size. Bless her soul.
“Do you want to turn to gold?! I saw that thing turn a whole stock pile of meteorites into gold. Get away from it!” Brock ordered.
“She’s already stuck her fingers in the cage, if it was gonna turn her into gold it would have already, the thing is tame, she’s been petting it the whole time and not so much as a hiss or a snap.” His mother argued. “Unless that bird just happens to either like kids or like girls or both.“
"Both.” You confirmed.
“That thing ain’t natural.” Brock pointed a finger at you accusingly.
“No duh genius.” You bit out as you glared at him through the bars as he just glared even more hatefully at you as Kari giggled.
“Did any anyone else catch one?” The warchief asked.
“No, this is the only one, others were caught but they all managed to escape within moments of being captured, they all said they shrunk down to a smaller bird and flew away.” Brock admitted and you blew out a breath of relief. Thank the gods. Although now that you thought about it, that’s what you should have done. Damn it.
“Papa can I have the pretty bird?” Kari asked hopefully. “I promise I won’t eat it.” She swore.
“It’s the family’s bird.” He informed her gently but firmly as you narrowed your eyes at that.
“Here, put this on its leg, that cage is too small for it.” Brock huffed before she took it from him. Something about that thing wasn’t right but you were too panicked to really slow down and think it through as to why. In a colony that the citizens can turn everything into gold- silver was king, all of Suchi’s real money was in silver. But this silver was different. But you couldn’t process why or how. But something about it made your soul recoil in abhorrence.
“Please don’t, I can’t be enslaved, no, no, no! Please don’t do this Kari!” You pleaded, crying again and backing up and trying to get in a ball and hide your legs in your feathers.
“Were you a slave?” She asked as she paused.
“No, but my mother was.” You explained. “That’s why Suchi was built, for all who want to break free from slavery.” You explained.
“How much do you know about the Moura?” The warchief asked, not noticing how quickly he was healing already.
“If I tell you about them? Will you let me go?” You asked.
“If your answers satisfy our curiosity.” He ventured yet you didn’t trust that answer. There was no way in hell it would be that easy.
“Put the cuff on, so you’re not cramped in that tiny cage, and once you satisfy our requests, then we’ll let you go.” Brock offered.
“All of you swear to me that no one will touch me without my consent and that I will remain unharmed.” You put to them before they agreed, Brock begrudgingly so.
You submitted and let Kari put the silver cuff on your ankle before she wrapped her arm in a cloth so you could get out as you gingerly got on her arm before you tried changing into a hummingbird to get out of the cuff but it shrunk to fit your foot before you changed into an eagle but it changed again before you turned into a phoenix but all it did was change with you and no matter what you did, you couldn’t get it off, not even when you spewed fire at it, it wouldn’t melt.
“What is this?!” You shrieked as you changed into every bird you could think of, wearing yourself out as you did so as Brock just grinned wider and more smug by the minute before he took the lead and yanked it.
“True form.” He commanded as he did a whipping motion with the lead as he did so before you changed into your human form and landed on your ass on the floor as everyone else gasped, including yourself as Brock just stared at you, slack jawed before he just started laughing, at first in amusement before it turned into one of victory. Your feather cloak shielding you mostly from the impact before it became armor for you since it could no longer turn into wings for you.
“I knew it! You’re not a magic missile raptor, you’re just a shapeshifter.” He boomed before you found your feet and tried to attack him, your hands becoming clawed again as you tried using the last of your energy to become a phoenix again but couldn’t, you just collapsed on the floor at his feet, unable to even stand, your own body barely skin and bones now as your clothes hung off of you since your moura cloak could became your clothes when you weren’t in bird form and the armor continued to shrink to try to fit you properly.
“Hey you hurt me or any of us- that null and voids our word not to hurt you.” He taunted as you just glared daggers at him through your thick lashes before his mother took the lead from him.
“Hey!” Brock frowned.
“She’s not going to stay tethered to you, you’d abuse the privilege and power like you just did. Kari already proved we’ll get farther by being kind.” His mother explained. “But Kari is too tender hearted and you’re too vengeful right now to manage her. So I will.” She decided.
“What’s your name?” She asked as she turned her attention back to you.
“Benyana Auksa, Yana for short.” You begrudgingly answered as you just sat on the floor and pouted before Kari came back over to you curiously before she climbed into your lap, your armor receding around her since you sensed she meant you no harm where as your armor grew spikes directly at Brock before gave you a hug as you hugged her back. At least Kari was nice- she reminded you so much of your little sister Perideli.
“Thanks for trying to help me.” You thanked her.
“You’re welcome.” She murmured as she sat in your lap and inspected the embroidery in your clothes, practically entranced by it.
“Do you have children of your own that we’re keeping you from?” The warchieftess asked you wanted to lie but this stupid thing on your ankle wouldn’t let you, if anything it was like it was compelling you to answer with the whole truth.
“No, just 6 little brothers and sisters.” You answered as the warchieftess and the warchief nodded in understanding.
“So, what are your names?” You asked as you held Kari and rocked her as the time of night started to really affect you, you felt it was almost dawn as she yawned and got comfortable in your lap, your outfit growing a fur shawl to wrap around you and her since she was a little furnace in your arms and you were particularly cold since you used up all your reserves and had no body fat to insulate you anymore.
“Warchief Drad, this is my wife and warchieftess Rhoslan…” He explained before he introduced all the other members of his family.
“So ask your questions.” You put to them once they introduced themselves. Hopefully you’d be able to go home by morning.
“So what do they call your kind?” They asked.
“A halfling.” You answered reluctantly.
“A halfling of what?” They asked.
“Human,” you bit out.
“Humans can’t shapeshift, so what’s the other half?” They asked and the more you thought about lying the more this damn shackle burned you. There was magic to it as you stared at it hatefully.
“Moura.” You finally hissed before the burning stopped.
“So mouras are shapeshifters,” the warchief realized.
“Yes, but not all mouras carry the shapeshifting gene though, most in Suchi do not, I myself make up a precious few who do.” You explained and they nodded in understanding.
“Do you know why we were denied from entering Suchi?” Drad asked.
“From what I was told by the colony elders as we all sought refuge from your attack is you wanted to reap us, take who you wanted off the street, without any thought or consideration as to who they were, if they were already married with children to another. You could have reaped our children. What mother willingly lets a stranger steal her child and do the gods only know what to it? Especially if that child is still nursing?” You returned as they frowned deeply at you.
“That’s not what a reaping is or how a reaping works. Only single marrying age people would be selected.” Brock argued.
“How can you tell if they are all standing in the street?” You countered.
“Because it happens on a specific day, everyone is prepared for it. Only the single should be out of the house besides it’s not like we would be complete strangers, that’s why we would want to enter the city first, at least scout or befriend the potentials first.” Brock explained.
“But your elders shut the city up before we could even try to approach. And we approached many times.” The warchief pointed out.
“You’re orcs, how could we know that you weren’t there to raid us?” You argued.
“Because we were unarmed!” Brock argued. “All your elders did was try to bribe us into going away before they insulted us.” Brock pointed out as he folded his massive arms over his chest.
“That’s because you insulted us first by trying to reap us!” You yelled angrily at him.
“It goes against our culture and is the very thing we’re trying to free ourselves of. All other mouras are either in the heavens or in the royal palaces. And for most mouras they are arranged into marriages in their childhood or at birth. The colonies are a haven for the outcast mouras, mouras who just wanted to marry for love instead of money or power or politics and marry on their terms, your reaping goes against that, with you reaping us, we have no say so, no control, how is that different than the life we were shut out of and shunned for wanting something different from? For the other mouras it is unthinkable to marry an outsider, a non moura, let alone a non royal. So they cast us out of the heavens and the royal houses forsake us too. The mountain colonies are the only homes we have and the other outcasts are our only families since the rest of our families shun us and would no sooner slit our throats than offer any kind of aid. To finally carve out a life for ourselves just to be "reaped” right before we can finally choose for ourselves who we want to marry and live the rest of our lives with, it is too much like what we were fighting against and the very reason we ourselves are outcast. We have fought for our freedom and we deserve to fly free because of it.“ You explained as Rhoslan gave her son and her husband a meaningful look. Something akin to ‘I told you so’.
“Now, I have answered your questions, let me go.” You demanded.
"Oh hell no, we’re not done.” Brock argued and if you had the power or the energy you’d burn him where he stood as you stared daggers at him. You could feel that you were actually tethered to him since he was the one who caught you and introduced this hell shackle. You wished your heavenly moura cousins could have heard your call and would come to the call, except for Kari- you wanted all of them to burn- especially Brock.
“I think it’s time for bed before we ask anything else.” Rohslan suggested before she handed the lead to one of her older daughters as you reached out to touch the gold weapons and armor- turning them back to their original iron as you sucked as much density out of the metal as you could, knowing it was going to take quite a bit of work to get them straight and viable as a weapon again and even then- they would rust to dust well before that. That single act regaining some strength back, the muscle mass at least in your limbs returning a little so that you had some strength to pick Kari up and carry her to the other room before her other sisters directed you to put her before they pointed to a spot you could lay down on before you used your own moura feather cloak to make an enclosed cocoon to sleep in. The silver chain sticking out like a tail before you cried yourself to sleep, your tears turning to diamonds around you. A sign of extreme distress for mouras.
The next day you gathered your diamond tears and put them into a little pouch on your waist before you peeked out of your cocoon, your feather cloak looking like dragon scales in a cocoon before you noticed it was safe and the dragon scales receded and changed to normal feathers before turning into your outfit for the day before you were brought by Kari’s sisters to a meal- apparently dinner- since you slept most of the day away as Kari had you sit right next to her before you thanked the servants there for their service, which they seemed particularly happy with before you asked and received some tea for your throat before the warchief and warchieftess and Brock and his other brothers came in for the meal too.
“So do all moura tears heal?” Drad asked as he unwrapped his arm to reveal the whole area where your tear had been wiped on the bandage had been made anew as you looked at his healed arm and sighed in defeat.
Damn it. Another moura secret out.
“No. Your daughter’s intent with that kiss to heal you probably did that, orcs have magic too just like any other being, well, except humans who have none. So since I’m half human- my magic and abilities and powers are significantly less than my purebred mother’s. My tear just enhanced Kari’s own power. Moura tears are just tears until they’re used with intent, if Mr. Asshole over there for instance were to strike me and force me to cry to do the same, my tears would burn him to the bone before they would act like viper venom in his blood.” You explained defiantly before you began eating the food that was laid out on the table before you licked your lips and kissed Kari.
“Now go kiss all the booboos.” You urged her before she giggled and did as you told her too, her kisses healing the members of her family before she returned to you and kissed your cheek affectionately before she got back into your lap to eat from your plate as you tore your food into bite sized pieces for her.
“Why am I the asshole?” Brock asked after he marveled at his healing wounds.
“Because somehow, you managed to catch me midair which takes skill, one that under any other circumstances- I might just respect, but currently, no, you can go straight to every circle of hell for all I care, but then you enslaved me by whatever magic is binding this silver cuff on my ankle and the chain. So that means, either you will be the one to release me or you will be the first to die when I am rescued.” You defiantly explained to him as Kari’s older sisters were grinning because while you were half their size, you were twice as fierce and had spunk and spirit and they could respect that.
“If.” He reminded you and if your stare had real daggers, he’d be dead by now. Damn him!
“Oh no, that’s a when, I gave that distress signal long and hard enough that my cousins in the heavens should have heard me. And if they didn’t, I stand out, words going to travel like wildfire that the orcs managed to enslave a moura, do you really think that whatever land you live on- that the ruling family will eventually find out, and when they come to investigate- they will take one look at this silver cuff and enact justice. It is illegal to enslave a moura in every single kingdom. You will all pay the consequences of my enslavement, to the point that not even your own enslavement will save you from our wrath. It is best if you let me go now, they might show leniency.” You threatened which if you were a royal moura- would have real power and backing behind your words.
“Yeah, except you’re in the middle of orc country and you’re looking at the warchief,” Brock reminded you as he nodded to his father. “Who to orcs- is the same thing as the king. And it’s not illegal here to enslave a moura. So even if the neighboring countries were to try to rescue you, it would be an act of war. Do you really think that your one little life is enough to entice a war? If anything, they’ll just write you off as a casualty. And you will grow old here, just like the rest of us. No one is going to rescue you.” Brock insisted and damn him to every circle of hell, he had a point. Only the heavenly moura had the numbers and strength to really rescue you, the royal moura had too much political agenda and you sincerely doubted any of them would ever trouble themselves to save the offspring of the black sheep of the family.
You put Kari to the side, kissing the crown of her head as you did so before you got up, pulled a feather from your skirts, transforming it into a dagger and yanked him off the bench of the table backwards by sticking your fingers in his nostrils and pulling with all your strength and weight so that he landed on his back on the floor and put it into his hand and pushed it to your own throat as you straddled his large chest, manage to balance even though your knees couldn’t touch the floor as you sat over him, your long platinum blonde hair falling like a waterfall around you, the ends of your hair splaying out on his chest.
“Then kill me now, I would rather be dead than live like a slave!” You urged him, angry tears welling in your eyes. You never envisioned your death like this, but this still had more dignity than life as a slave.
“No, we have already vowed not to harm you.” He let his arms go lax and they were so heavy you couldn’t keep ahold of them before they fall above his head, his hand purposefully letting the dagger go and tossing it to the side so that he was unarmed and the dagger transforming into just a feather again.
“You stupid good for nothing son of a bitch! How dare you do this to me! Kill me like the monster you are damn it!” You demanded as you just started hitting him in his chest, your tiny fists barely do anything to him as he just sighed and shook his head and turned you over so that you were on your back as he pinned your wrists above your head as you tried kicking him but he just pinned your legs down with the weight of his own leg as you still struggled against him. He wasn’t even trying that hard to pin you down, his own weight alone was more than enough to practically smother you and his hold on you was firm but not bruising or harmful.
“Let me go!” You shrieked.
“I will let you go once you calm down and quit being difficult and so dramatic! Gods, I thought the street performers were dramatic! They’re nothing compared to the hysterics you’re throwing yourself into. You’re not going to live like a slave, we’re not going to hurt you or starve you or work you to death or anything like that, life with us isn’t so horrible that it’s worse than death, you’re actually part of the family now, so honestly? It could be so much worse, we could sell you as a slave, that’s always an option.” He explained as you started to suck in snot from your nose to try to spit venom at him.
“Hey- don’t spit at me or on me, I swear to the gods, you spit at me or on me, I’ll dunk you in the horse trough!” He warned as he pulled a hand away from your wrist to point at you. “A nasty, slimy, mucky horse trough.” He warned as you narrowed your eyes at him and swallowed your spit. That would take ages to clean out of your clothes.
“Now quit yelling and screaming and cussing like some kind of banshee. Mouras are supposed to be lovely and the epitome of sophistication and civilized behavior. You’re bringing shame on your moura heritage.” He taunted as you gasped in outrage.
“How dare you-” you tried argue but he just grabbed your face, his fingers pinching your cheeks to keep you from talking but not hard enough to bruise as you grabbed his wrist, your fingers becoming clawed to get him to release you.
“I said- stop.” He repeated, using the same calm and condescending tone he would with a two year old having a tantrum.
“Act like a lady and we’ll treat you like one. Act like a damn fool with more barbarism than we have, and we’ll treat you like that too. You set the tone for your own treatment.” He reminded you as he watched your eye teeth turn more and more fanged.
“Hey you bite me or spit venom at me…remember, horse trough or…you know what? I’ll kiss you, I owe you a kiss for every strike.” He realized as you gasped even more scandalously, your fangs instantly receding before you shut your mouth and bit your lips to keep them from being available to him for that.
“There we go, found your weakness sweetheart.” He crooned as you stopped struggling altogether and just frowned deeper and deeper at him and glared even more hatefully at him.
“Enough Brock.” His mother warned before he got off of you and let you go before you took the feather and put it back in your dress.
“Don’t you ever touch me again.” You growled.
“Hey, you touched me first.” He argued and that stopped you, your mouth hanging open to argue before you shut it as you once again realized he had a point. Smug motherfucker.
“Now, go eat the rest of your dinner, we let you sleep all day to gain some strength back, you’re as skinny as a stick.” He urged which made you stand up and dust yourself off before you stood up to your full height and walked back down the table where Kari and her sisters were nearly crying from holding in all their laughter.
“So, where were we, oh I know what I wanted to ask- So what about turning things to gold and back again?“ Drad asked thoughtfully and your shoulders sagged in defeat as you just held your head in your hands before dragging them down your face in frustration. There was no use fighting.
"That’s a power every shapeshifting moura guards with their lives to keep this very situation from happening to them again. How do you think every royal house got to be so rich? And why do you think it’s now illegal for anyone to enslave a moura in every realm there is? It’s to protect us. Of course if you ask- it will be denied until everyone is blue in the face. But it’s why it’s considered only royalty is good enough for a moura to marry into which is ironic.” You answered.
“Why is it ironic?” Rhoslan asked curiously.
“Because that’s just a different kind of slavery altogether, you have to obey any edicts from the council and the realm that you’re inhabiting, they get to live in luxury- but they have no control over thier own lives, it’s all controled via the council who decides who lives where, who will bear who’s children, what will happen to those children, everything- which is why the mountain moura will hold onto their freedoms and their power over themselves and autonomy till their last breath and why we hang onto it so strongly. If you really wanted a moura in your lives, you would have better luck going to the council and renting one just like everyone else, although the chances of you getting a gene carrying moura are very slim since not all moura children get the gene and if they do- it’s incomplete and for royal moura- right now the odds are one in a hundred and twenty eight chance of having the gene because you’re talking six to ten or more generations from the original heavenly moura and moura genes are delicate and have a very short half life but at least you’d get one in name and pedigree, which I have neither. But otherwise to marry a non moura and a non royal- it’s considered a foolish waste. It’s a power that’s extremely costly to use. It took me and my friends years of reserves to do what we did last night. I’m usually twice this size and three times as quick and four times as strong, so clearly, that’s what that power has cost me personally.” You answered as you held out your skinny little arm- your elbow joint being the biggest part of your arm besides your hand.
“Where do your reserves come from?” Drad asked and you were tempted to growl in frustration because these motherfuckers were asking all the right questions, they were smarter than you anticipated and damn this silver ankle cuff because it was burning you the longer you fought not answering the question and answer it with nothing but the whole truth.
“Purebred mouras get all of their strength and reserves from the sunshine, but us halfbreeds, we can only get half from sunshine, the rest we have to get from food and rest just like everyone else and most of us who are born without the moura gene altogether, and therefore the sunshine would affect them no different than anyone else and they couldn’t escape when you attacked. You were going to win had I not talked the others into intervening, you would have won and so many of my friend’s have siblings and non moura parents would have died last night along with my own father, and you would have been responsible for massacuring half the colony all because your feelings got hurt because of an insult? Do you really think any moura in their right mind would ever marry an orc after this? Any orc from any clan ever for the rest of their lives? Do you have any idea how staunchly we hold onto grudges and prejudices? Do you even know how long mouras live?” You posed.
“How long?” Drad asked curiously.
“Oh only three to five hundred years. Half mouras get a fraction of that though. The mouras in the royal families? They’re lucky if they live to see a hundred years because of their own genetics, most can not even change like I can. Like I said, moura genes have a very short half life. I don’t even know of any moura has even had relations with an orc. No half moura orcs have ever come to us, at least that I know of. But I’m only a youngling, only 17 summer solstices and 18 winter solstices old. But I can tell you- that there is no way in hell you would ever reap from us now, even if this clan were attacked tomorrow by another clan and even if your women and children managed to escape and sought refuge in the colony- after the attack last night? There is no way that we would let you in or that we would ever offer you shelter. If you had just taken the gold offered or set up trade or something, anything other than attacking us, we would have though. But now? We would think it’s another trick or attack again, another trap. Although, to be fair- the elders never announced your previous attempts or approaches, they made it sound like you came to the colony only yesterday and made you demands and once we tried to negotiate, you dismissed the negotiations, turning your noses up at them and promptly threated to take us by force and bring war to our door. It wasn’t until last night when we were in hiding, that they told us about it at all. They made it sound like you would just barge in and take whoever you wanted in the street without warning. But they are older, and I know for certain that most if not all are speciesist. When the dwarves that helped carve out Suchi intermarried with the moura there was a lot of stigma, still is even after a few generations.” You revealed.
“So if you’re going to ask me to turn anything else to gold, it’s going to be a very long wait until I can replenish myself.” You insisted as they nodded in understanding.
When you were done with dinner, the leftovers were taken back to the kitchen before Kari showed you around the clan as the sun was setting over the sea. It was beautiful.
The clan lived next to an estuary. Where a river met the sea, it was gorgeous if you were honest, with birds flying overhead.
“Are the birds your family?” Kari asked as she watched you watch the birds flying overhead, your heart breaking in jealousy and sadness but the sunshine was helping.
“Not these birds.” You answered in a whisper as you wiped the tear from your eyes before she walked you over to the market where the fresh fish was being cooked up, the leftover from that morning’s haul, the fishermen fishing all night the night before as news of the failure seemed to spread before they looked at you curiously as in the fading light, your moura marks were starting to glow. Beautiful scrolling patterns on your front, feathers on your back and arms.
You covered your mouth as they picked up huge…bug looking things that Kari giggled at as they moved in the air as they were being picked up and placed in pots of boiling water.
“What- is that?” You asked as she brought you over to the bucket that that one had been pulled from, finding more in there.
“It’s a lobster! You eat the tail meat, it’s really good!” She insisted.
“Uh, ok, I’ll take your word for it.” You placated her as she walked you through the market, pointing everything out to you and telling you about each one as her sisters walked with you, holding the silver lead casually before they started talking about the different kinds of fish in the market, which ones were good, which ones were ok, which ones were awful and so on. You recognized sardines- because during the summer solstice, when you would fly over the oceans, you could dive easily for these but all these others were too deep to dive for. But they were pretty as the girls decided to treat you to them as they got some of everything at all the stalls, each vendor having a different spice mix on frying them or cooking them in various ways.
You were used to raw fish, but cooked fish was especially tasty. Especially grilled with some salt and citrus. It was awesome and you ate until your stomach distended from your belly and thankfully Kari got full from her meal too and got sleepy before she took your chain and walked you back to their sleeping quarters and had you make another bed out of your feather cloak which you obliged before she got in with you and cuddled up with you as you did the same, grateful for her warm nature before you dozed off, a lone hole in the top, far enough away that no one could reach inside and grab you or her but would get a good air flow as her sisters went to bed too.
“So? Was she worth it?” Rhoslan whispered to her son as they both peeked inside and watched you sleep peacefully, the light of the moon filtering in through the room from a skylight, the moon making your moura marks radiate and pulse as you pulled even more energy from it, Kari cuddling up to you as the feather cloak became a thick white fur blanket to stave off the chill in the air as they could see your moura marks through the fur.
“She will be. She almost has too much fight in her.” He complimented as he smiled fondly. “But looking at her now, I can see why the whole world is in love with them and I can see why they’re so hard to get to and get a hold of, let alone keep.” He murmured quietly.
“She’s not going to love you with that chain on her ankle.” Rhoslan reminded him.
“I know, I just can’t let her go too quickly, or she’ll fly away before I really get a chance to prove myself to her. So maybe not today, or in the coming weeks or maybe months, but hopefully, sooner than later, I can win her over. I just can’t believe that the woman I’ve been dreaming about for a month is real, I froze on the battlefield when I heard her voice, imagine my surprise when she came right out of that fire and promptly turned everything on me to gold as a missile hawk. In all my dreams she has always been a dove.” He sighed as he rubbed at his chest, where you had “hit” him earlier. While he understood your hatred and misgivings, to have you so close and above him had sent him practically into a tizzy because he had dreamed of that too several times but you were always lower and riding him like you owned him and it hurt that you would hate him so much and so fiercely and downright almost forced him to kill you, the dagger had even cut your neck a little and he had wanted so badly to disarm you and kiss the mark but you would surely kill him if he tried just yet. He just couldn’t get over how beautiful you were. You were all piss and vinegar and anger and wrath and just fire, pure fire, from the heavens themselves as he wondered how magnificent you’d be at full strength.
“Well it looks like Kari is doing most of the work. It’s probably because of her that she’s even half as decent as she is.” Rhoslan murmured.
“True, thank the gods for her.” Brock nodded in agreement.
“You have an uphill battle on your hands. She’s going to make you earn every inch.” Rhoslan warned.
“And she’ll be worth it.” Brock grinned before he left and took care of a few things before he went to bed himself.
