Devin pressed his face to the warm rock wall, peering out of the fist sized opening cut into it to allow a small window. Outside of the small building they were kept in were many just like it. They were small, box-like buildings with tiny windows cut into the front. No doors were on the front of any of them, Devin assumed they would open like all the other walls did here.

The other orcs, there were perhaps ten in all, had walked away to the right of the building, disappearing from view quickly. Devin tried to look up, but all he could see was a deep gray above him. Whether this was more rock or just the general gloom of being underground he could not tell.

He sighed and stepped back from the window. Murton rushed past him and stood on the tips of his toes to peer through.

“Nothing out there, just more prison cells like this one and gray everywhere,” Devin said.

“Think these are prison cells?” Murton asked, twisting around to try to get a better angle out of the window.

“What else would they be?” Devin shrugged. “We are being held here against our will, so they are prison cells.”

“They could just be a holding cell for the time until they decide if we are dangerous,” Teryn said from the back of the empty room. “Or they could be decontamination chambers. From what I have seen the Orc’s magic and skills are most impressive, rivaling that of even the elves.”

“Decontamination? Why would they need that?” Shia asked, sitting next to Teryn.

“We are foreign objects, new into their world. Who knows what kind of things our bodies could be harboring. They could just be unsure of what we could do to them and keep us here for safekeeping until they can decide.”

The thought did not help to ease Devin. They were still prisoners, no matter what way they looked at it. On the bright side, they were not prisoners of Bronn. Daisy had talked as if orcs were better than humans, so maybe they would not resort to the same tactics humans did to their prisoners. Or, if they thought humans were lesser beings, they would treat them even worse.

He slid down the wall, letting his head roll back and rest against it when he came to a stop on the floor. Holding his hand up, Devin saw Teryn's rope was still holding back whatever infection was trying to spread through him. Below the rope though, the infection was crisscrossing around his hand. It had not spread to other parts of his body, but was spreading within the hand. With a sigh, he dropped his hand down and closed his eyes.

A snapping sound awoke Devin with a start. He did not realize he had fallen asleep. How much time had gone by? Teryn and Shia were both standing up, watching the wall with the window. Another snap sounded and the wall split open, revealing a doorway. Devin scrambled to his feet as an orc stepped through the wall.

The scarred orc stood in the room, slowly gazing around all of them. He took in each of them, his working eye aflame. Whether it was anger or something else Devin could not tell. Everyone in the room stared back defiantly when the eye landed on them, no one flinching or shrinking away. Finally, the orc gave a small nod.

“You all can come with me,” his deep voice rumbled in the small room.

“Where are you taking us, and what do you intend to do with us? I think we deserve to know what is happening at the very least,” Devin said, getting nods from his group.

The orc frowned at Devin, but did not chastise him. “I am taking you to the Regents where you will learn your fate.”

Devin stared back at the orc but did not feel any malevolence in the frown. It seemed the orc just had a naturally upset face.

“Fine, we will come with you to meet the Regents.” Devin said. The orc turned on his heel and left the room, leaving the doorway open for them to file through. Griff stepped through first, followed quickly by the others with Devin bringing up the rear. As soon as they stepped out Devin looked around to try to see anything.

They were on a road filled with small, square buildings, exactly like the one they had just left. Above them was a perpetual dark gray, the same color of the rocks around them. Squinting, he still could not tell if it was a roof to the cavern or just the natural color afforded by the flameless lights that lit the street they were on, the same as it looked from inside. Beyond that he could not see anything, the building blocked his view from anywhere except up and down the street.

“You will be blindfolded for now, but we will not tie any of you up if you promise to behave and let us guide you,” the Orc said.

Several guards held up thick, black blindfolds. The group looked to Devin and he gave a small nod. The guards stepped behind each of them, and pulled the blindfolds on. They were snug, but not uncomfortably tight. They were efficient though, Devin could not even see a sliver of light through any of the blindfold.

A pair of hands gripped him lightly on the shoulders and gave him a small nudge forward. They were moving again. He knew they were heading down the street, but did not know which way this would be taking them. Without any familiar landmarks or even the sun, he had no idea what direction they were going.

The road beneath him remained textured slightly, enough to prevent slipping but not enough to cause him to stumble over anything. They kept walking in a straight line for a while before taking a sudden left. Following that turn was a series of lefts and rights that Devin lost track of. Without anything to orient himself, even with vision, it would be useless to try to remember where they were and what direction they had taken. And what would be the point? Remembering would only bring him back to that cell.

Slowly, sound began to filter in Devin's ears. At first, it was the faint noises of a city in the distance. Raised voices, wheels rolling over stone, the clang of craftsmen throwing their strength and skill into whatever they were creating. The sound kept increasing until it was all around him.

The orc guards were taking them directly through the city itself! While Devin suspected they had been brought to the city, now he knew they must be in Grinnish. Voices called out all around him in language he could not understand. It was flowery, with no breaks to suggest different words, just airy and musical sounding noises in one continuous stream.

The fact that this caught him off guard caused him a moment of deep embarrassment. He had assumed they would all talk in New World Humish since all the orcs he had met so far spoke it so well. Teryn and Murton could each speak their respective languages, why wouldn't the orcs have one too?

He let the noises wash over him as they kept walking at a steady pace. They had not taken a turn in quite awhile, he had to assume they were walking down some main road for the city. Wheels clattered to his left and right, and Devin was glad the guards were keeping their walkway clear so they did not run into anything.

Several of the voices called out to the guard, who answered in their own flowery language. Devin was sure the voices were asking questions about him and his group and wished dearly he could know what they were saying. If they were allowed to stay, maybe he could work at learning the language? If this proved to be the start of greater relations between the orcs and Humans, translators would be a key role needing to be filled on many contracts.

His thoughts of expanding the Black Boar Band brought a small smile to his face. That all depended on too many variables to count, including getting out of here and even being allowed to speak to orcs after this debacle. His mind drifted to Daisy, wondering where she was and if she was all right. She had not seen or heard from her since they had arrived.

Devin twisted slightly and spoke to the guard guiding him by the shoulders, “What happened to Daisy?”

“Hmm?” the guard grunted.

“What happened to Daisy,” Devin repeated, “The orcish woman who was with us when we came in?”

The orc said something in his language, and another one to Devin's right responded. He frowned, they might not be able to understand him. Speaking Humish was probably not a required skill here.

“Orc girl fine,” the voice to his right managed to say. His accent was thick, giving the words a lilting quality. “You see soon, maybe.”

See soon maybe? That was not a comforting answer to his questions. At least she was all right. She had helped them enough through the journey and managed to bring them to Grinnish, exactly like she said she would do. What happened here was likely out of her hands now.

“Care, ground move,” the voice to his right said.

Devin's shoe caught the ground and he stumbled slightly as the floor started to slope upward. The strong hands on his shoulders held him though, preventing him from falling. Ground move indeed, he snorted to himself.

He kept walking, moving uphill now. The ground was not sloped terribly steeply, allowing him to manage the walk without his legs straining too much. It eventually leveled off and he was guided to the right.

He could hear the clanking of metal still around him, reassuring him that the guards had travelled together and the rest of the group should be here as well. The hand turned him left again, then another right, before coming to a stop. A snap sounded, a noise Devin could now recognize as a door opening or closing.

The hands nudged him forward and guided him a few steps in. The rest of the group shuffled in behind him. The hands left his shoulders. There was another snap. Devin reached up and untied his blindfold. He looked around and found they were in another gray chamber, this none without any windows. Small lights dotted the walls and kept it illuminated. A snap sounded beside him and he spun around to find a familiar figure standing in a new doorway.

“Nice to see you made it, Devin Tenfingers,” Dahlia said.