The nights were cold, though the long night was months off. Kolfosh pulled tight her furs and huddled near the fire. Across the flames she could see Hokarlnokh's shadowed form hunched over a stump, seeing to their meager meal. She didn't care what he'd caught, so long as it was meat. Skûmsat was on watch; the Orcess could hear his incessant sneezing off a ways in the trees. Nearby was Akashkur, curled under his own furs like a slumbering bear. His snores were muffled and comforting to hear.

It was a risk to light even so small a campfire. They'd been on the run for months since the war's end, dodging increasingly alert and wary patrols of Men. Her company once counted fifty sturdy lads and lasses, then their Master fell and the number dwindled. Tarks always found them. One by one, she'd lost them all. All but these three lads. The last fight two weeks back cost her the one thing she couldn't bear to lose. Hokarlnokh hadn't spoken since.

The butchering done, Nokh brought a share to her, and sat at her side to eat his own. Kolfosh knew by the scent it was squirrel. She curled her lip, but hid her disappointment.

"There'll be others," Kolfosh said quietly for perhaps the hundredth time. Nokh paused his chewing briefly, but said nothing.

"Fuckin' starvin'," Skûmsat announced as he emerged into the firelight, rubbing the chill from his hands. "What's fer eats?"

"Squirrel," Kolfosh told him with some annoyance. "No bitchin', yuh got that?"

"Yuh kiddin' me?" the pizurk muttered as he fetched his ration. "Better'n we had last night."

"Don't eat'em both," the Orcess warned. "Other one's fer Kash."

"Pfft. Fuck'im if he don't get his ass up."

"Skûmsat," she growled sternly.

"Yeah, yeah." Skûmsat settled on the ground with his squirrel and tore into it with vigor. Kolfosh tried not to see his sunken belly and prominent ribs.

"Moon'll be up soon," she informed them. "Eat yer fill, then we move on."

"Better kick Kash's ass, then," Skûmsat replied as he picked bits of gristle from his teeth. His face suddenly contorted, then he let loose an explosive sneeze. Wiping his streaming nose on his ragged sleeve, he groused, "This shit better kill me. Getting' fuckin' tired of it."

"So are we. Yer lousy nose's about gotten us found a few times."

"Ain't my fault!" Skûmsat snapped.

"See about it, I don't care how."

Skûmsat grimaced and offered a mocking salute that ended in a rude gesture only after Kolfosh had turned away.

Rising from her seat, the Orcess looked over her charges. They were too thin, and getting weaker by the day. If tarks found them now, they'd be easy prey. Especially Nokh. Something broke inside him two weeks ago; she feared he wouldn't fight if death came for him.

Kolfosh stepped around Skûmsat and nudged Kash with her foot. "Oy. Get up, you. Vittles."

The snores sputtered to a halt, followed by a growling yawn. "Stick it, Kol. Ain't movin'."

"You'll move if I have to drag yuh," Kolfosh snarled, yanking the fur off her pizurk. "Get up. Eat your ration. We're headin' out soon."

The Orc glared at her resentfully, then crawled on hands and knees to the stump where Nokh had left his bit of squirrel. Kolfosh bit her lip; he wasn't too weak to move, she was sure of that. He'd lost a goodly amount of fire. So had they all.

"Look sharp," she told them later on as they gathered their gear. The fire was buried, their tracks brushed clear. She surveyed her little troop with a critical eye. "Swords loose, lads." Then she took point and led them from the campsite.

It was the howling that drew them. Kolfosh hunkered down in the bushes on a slight rise overlooking the clearing below. The night was nearly spent; they'd have to find a hole to hide in soon. But down there was a Mannish dwelling, and from inside it came a howling and bellowing fit to wake the dead.

"Ghouls you reckon?" Skûmsat whispered nervously.

"Why don't yuh have yerself a peek?" Kash snorted.

"Don't be stupid," Kolfosh growled. "Look at the place. Ain't been tended for months and months. I'm guessin' some squatter's in there."

"Doin' what?" Skûmsat breathed. Kolfosh shrugged.

"Makin' a shitload of noise," Kash supplied with a chuckle. "You go on down there. I'll be right behind yuh."

"We're all goin'," the Orcess told them. "Skûmsat, you first."

"Me? Why me?"

"Cause I'm tellin' yuh to. Now git." She whacked his backside with the flat of her blade.

Though he grumbled under his breath, the pizurk furtively slipped from cover and worked his way down the short incline, moving from shadow to shadow. There was moonlight enough for Orc eyes to see, and he made his silent way to a dimly lit window and peered inside. The party watched anxiously until he waved.

"All clear," Kolfosh sighed with relief. "Come on." She rose and led the others to join their scout.

Kash smirked. "Can't be nothin' too awful or he'd be pissin' hisself."

When the Orcs were together, Kolfosh asked, "What'd yuh find?"

Skûmsat kept his voice low, but couldn't hide his excitement. "Tark female." He jerked his head toward the window. "All by her lonesome."

The Orcess frowned skeptically. "Yuh sure?"

"Look fer yerself. I'm thinkin' if someone was 'round, they'd be in there with her."

Balancing on the balls of her feet, Kolfosh peered through the window. It was a bedroom, by the looks of things. The female was laid out on the bed, howling and groaning. Her skirts were pulled up, legs spread. Her swollen belly left no doubt of her condition.

Kash had gotten a look along with her, and was already licking his lips. "That's some good eatin'."

"She's got good-lookin' thighs on'er," Skûmsat added, his mouth watering. "We ain't eaten this good in a long while, Kolfosh. Yuh gotta admit it's worth it."

The Orcess gave them both a withering look. "You lads don't know shit, do yuh? Can't see what's goin' on in there, can yuh?"

Skûmsat shrugged. "She's whelpin'. So what?"

"Yeah, she's whelpin'," Kolfosh snarled. "And we're gonna help'er do it."

"What?" Kash barked, forgetting to keep his voice low. It hardly mattered; the tark was too absorbed in the task at hand to notice.

"Yer mad," Skûmsat growled, shaking his head. "We don't know how long she's been at it, or when her folk're comin' back. Best get her done quick-like, and get out."

"You don't think I can bring a whelp out fast?" Kolfosh snapped. "Yuh don't know shit about nothin'. Get in there. Move it." She thumped the two pizurk about the heads as she pushed them around to the door. Nokh said nothing as he followed them, a curious look on his face.

Kolfosh almost thought the tark was going to die of shock on the spot when the four Orcs filed into her room.

"Easy now," she told the stricken tark. "Heard yuh carryin' on, and we come to help. You just settle in and do whatcha need tuh do." Turning to Kash, she muttered, "Get some cold water. And a rag or somethin'."

"Yuh want me tuh shit that stuff? Where'm I gonna find…?"

"Look around, yuh dumb fuck!" The pizurk jumped a foot, then hastened out of the room. Kolfosh shook her head and turned back to the tark. "Males is useless in a whelpin'. Don't know shit."

The tark's fear made her laugh feeble. Kolfosh nodded understandingly.

"Ain't around when they's needed, are they? Just manage the first part, and bugger off fer the second bit." As Kolfosh suspected, the tark's face crumpled with despair. She's doin' this on her own. "Now lass, yuh need to get back tuh pushin'. Skûmsat," she called over her shoulder. She could just make out Nokh leaning against the wall in the shadows, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. "Get behind her and give her somethin' tuh lean on."

"What?"

"She's gotta push," the Orcess explained impatiently. "Needs some leverage. You ain't much more'n a useless lump, so get back there and act like one."

Skûmsat muttered some vague protests in an undertone but he reluctantly obeyed. The tark's eyes darted about in a panic for a moment; Kolfosh once more affected a soothing manner.

"There now. Don't fuss. You lean on his worthless ass all yuh like. When yer ready tuh push again, give'im an elbow in the face just fer fun."

"Hey," the pizurk grumbled, and his superior smirked. Again, the tark tittered nervously. Then her breaths huffed as she felt a contraction building. Kolfosh grabbed hold of her hands.

"Let it come," she murmured. "That's it. Give us a squeeze; good, good."

Kash clumsily shuffled in, weighted down by a sloshing bucket of water. "Got a well outside," he explained. "Where yuh want it?"

"Just there," Kolfosh replied, nodding toward the floor at the head of the bed. "Now get busy with it." The pizurk gave her a blank look. Sighing with annoyance, the Orcess growled, "Get a rag and cool her face! Drip some in her mouth! Yuh never been at a whelpin', yuh stupid pushdug?"

"No, I ain't!" Kash snapped defensively. "Don't know why we're botherin' with this shit…"

"Just do it!"

"All right, all right." Muttering mutinously under his breath, the Orc slumped over to the bed and did as he was told.

"Now, my lass, let's get down tuh business."

Once the urge to push came back, the tark's labor progressed well. Kolfosh spoke calmly, encouraging the tark to focus on nothing but birthing that whelp. A dark-haired head crowned, then emerged. With a little maneuvering and pulling, the shoulders worked their way out, then the rest of the whelp slipped into her eager hands.

"There we are," Kolfosh crooned as she cradled the squalling newborn in her arms. "That's a good one." Rising from the bed, she took the whelp to Nokh.

"My… my baby," the tark breathed, reaching out. "Bring him to me."

"Right," Kolfosh grunted absently. Waving a negligent hand, she added, "All yours, lads." She met Nokh's gaze and smiled a little.

"Ah, yeah!" Skûmsat crowed, drawing his blade. Kash whooped loudly.

"What? No. No, please!"

Kolfosh didn't hear the triumphant cries, the tark's anguished screams, or the sounds of blades rending flesh. She only had eyes for Nokh.

Nokh looked over the whelp, its face screwed up angrily, waving its fists as if it meant to fight them all. He grunted with amusement.

"A bit scrawny, I know," Kolfosh allowed. "But I still got some milk. I can fatten'im up a bit, then you and me... Maybe with a full belly… we can try tuh make another, eh?"

Lightly pinching the whelp's thigh, Nokh nodded. He met his mate's eyes and finally smiled.