Chapter 439: The Original Owners?

"Ancestral Markings?" Belladonna asked, before looking down at the Glyphs carved into her fingertips. These had to be what he was talking about, it was where his attention had been focused after all.

Did that mean that she was not the first Glyphborne? At least, not the first on this world that is.

It wasn’t out of the question, using runic markings to enchant things was common, so it wasn’t completely unexpected that some other crazy idiot would do what she had. But of all people, these Orcs were not who she would have guessed were the original owners of the technique.

Especially since, despite recognising the Glyphs and claiming they were a sign of clan affiliation, Belladonna could sense no magic power at all from this, or any of the Orcs she had met.

"I don’t come from your clans. I learned the technique of these markings from a powerful Wizard, and have since advanced the technique to create my own markings."

There was no point in spinning a web of lies to get tangled in. If she was wanting to learn about this culture, then pretending to know about it already was something even she wasn’t stupid enough to try. Honesty was the best policy, at least here.

"Advanced..." The Elder muttered, "And this Wizard, is he also the one that taught you our language? It is rare that the small ones ever learn our tongue. Many consider us little more than savage beasts."

"No, that seems to be a blessing of the Gods." That was partly an excuse, and partly the truth.

Belladonna had not even realised that she was speaking another language until he had pointed it out, and it was only after that she had noticed the difference in the way her own mouth was moving.

It must have been a quirk of the system and the way it translated. In the same way that it translated the written languages of the world. In fact it was likely that the entire time they had been in this world, from the very first day, she had been speaking a different language and simply never registered it.

In her mind, she was speaking English. She just thought of the words she wanted to say, and she said them in a completely different tongue. Unless you really focused on the movements of your mouth, you wouldn’t notice the difference.

It was eerily seamless.

The Elder simply nodded, seemingly accepting her explanation at face value. That was the good thing about putting things like this up to the Gods. They were mysterious and they seemingly worked at random, so a lot could be put to them and it would be right.

It was easier just to not question it most of the time. Although he accepted it, he did not seem all that happy about the mention of the Gods. His brow sinking into a deep frown as he silently contemplated what little she had said.

His silence let Belladonna examine the ’camp’ that the Orcs were staying in, and the people populating it. From what she could see, the hunter that she had met really was the runt of whatever litter had spawned these Orcs, as the shortest person she could see - bar from the odd child here and there - was at least 7 foot tall. Even the women were tall, hulking behemoths, to the point that it looked like a convention for Steroid addicted Gorilla’s was in town.

If Lilith were here, she would fit right in.

Belladonna tried to see any of these ’Ancestral Markings’ that the Elder had mentioned, but none of the muscle-bound Orcs were showing any Glyph carvings at all, not that she could see at least.

It was possible the Elder was hiding his under his clothes, which he was actually wearing unlike many of the others. A full outfit, top and bottom, made of a mixture of hide and something akin to linen or hemp.

It was old, scuffed, and clearly passed down through the ages. He had long, bone white hair tied in a ponytail and a thick bushy beard that hid most of his face, other than his scowling eyes.

Not to mention he was decorated with many different charms made from bone and teeth, possibly signs of his achievements or stature.

They were living in houses, but they were not the elven houses. These homes were distinctly built by hand rather than by magic, although it was using similar materials as the Elven houses. Although Belladonna suspected that the Orcs had not built these either, and that was mainly because of the doors.

The door frames were too small, often showing damage from where the Orcs had hit their heads ducking through, or where they had simply broken them to spare themselves the headaches.

Many of the doors that had once blocked these door-frames were hanging off of their hinges or had been discarded to the side, replaced by pelt blankets to act as doors. One group of orcs was even using a very ornately carved door as their table, covering it in various juices and sauces as they savagely shovelled food into their mouth and chased it down with horns full of some kind of alcohol.

This area of the Elven city had been built by humans, or something alike humans. Why they had been living here and when, be it after the fall of the city or during, was unclear. But it was home to the Orcs now.

"We are here." The Elder grumbled, gesturing to a building ahead of Belladonna.

This one had rounded walls and, just like the others, was missing its original door. In its place it had a bright, silken sheet draped over the door way, and two totems standing either side of the door. The totems were made of beast parts; Skulls, Bones, Fangs, and even some muscle fibres to hold it together and make the jaws chatter their teeth in the wind.

A lot of effort had been put into them, but their purpose was unclear. Denoting Power? Authority? or perhaps to drive fear into those who approached or even to ward off evil.

If it was the last one, it didn’t work, as Belladonna simply glided passed the totems, pushed the sheet aside and slipped into the Witches home.

The familiar scent hit her immediately. Blood, Death and Decay, as Belladonna found a strange woman hunched over a body that was laying still on a stone slab table.