Orc Of Mine - Book One - COMPLETED

Twenty-one - The council

Hilde hugged her three daughters and thirteen granddaughters goodbye and left for her meeting with the council. Normally, she would travel with Isolde, but she couldn't stand being around that shrew right now. After all, it was Isolde's daughter that had caused all of Hilde's stress!

She welcomed the journey, though, not bothered that she had to travel on her own. It was a moment to clear her head and be gone from the hectic life at home.

Especially today.

She'd been so relieved when Gyda finally came home yesterday. But that relief soon made place for anger and frustration. Thank goodness her daughter was still alive, but Gyda hadn't returned the same way as she'd left, and that was Olivia's fault. That stupid girl! Gyda's hair hadn't been this short since she was a little toddler, barely able to walk!

~

Hilde was getting angry all over again as she sat in the council's room on one of the few dozens of wooden chairs. She had just told Gyda's story to the other members and was now waiting for the council's headman to declare his judgment.

"Let me get this straight..." Johan said, folding his hands together while looking at both Hilde and Isolde. "Isolde, your daughter cut off Gyda's hair because of some absurd tale about orcs and their love for hair?"

To Hilde's surprise, the man smiled. He actually smiled! What did this mean? She'd expected him to be angry.

"I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this action," Johan continued. "Part of me is disappointed that one of our women turned against another. But the other part is proud. Apparently, Olivia was so afraid of these beasts that she believed she had to go to these kinds of lengths. And this kind of fear and hatred is exactly what we want these youngsters to feel, isn't it?"

"Sir Johan!" Hilde cried out, standing up from her seat. "My daughter's hair was sliced off by her daughter, and you praise the little wicked girl for doing so?"

Johan slammed his hand on the long wooden table, making Hilde and all the other people in the room flinch. "Keep your voice down, woman."

"Yes, I-I'm sorry," Hilde replied, sitting down. She shouldn't have spoken against him—the highest of the council—but Olivia had wronged her child. She couldn't let the brat get away with it.

Johan sighed. "Apologies accepted. I also said Olivia disappointed me. And, of course, she must, and shall be, punished."

Isolde mingled in the conversation. "But sir—"

"Hush, woman!" Johan raised his hand. "You have raised your daughter well to fear the orcs, but she should have never turned against one of her own kind."

"But sir, we don't even k-know if it's true," Isolde dared to say. Her voice was soft and almost unhearable. The woman's cheeks were all red and her forehead sweaty.

Hilde could tell that Isolde knew the truth. Olivia must have told her what had happened. This bitch was just playing stupid in front of everybody.

Hilde also knew that if she could tell what was on Isolde's mind, so could Johan...

"Well, the truth isn't that hard to find out, now is it?" Gerard said, the second in rank. He snapped his fingers and a young woman stood up from her seat. "Sigrid, if Hilde's statement is correct, you must have heard about it in the mountains?"

Sigrid nodded. "Gyda, Hilde's daughter, speaks the truth. The orc commander exposed Olivia by cutting her hair in front of everybody. He did so because he'd seen what Olivia had done and he didn't want a traitor to breed with an orc. Plus, I also know it is the truth because I paid Olivia a visit as the other ones were...busy." Sigrid cleared her throat. "And she wept, telling me she regretted what she'd done."