Page 43 of Orc's Desire

“Are you okay?”

“No,” I say then the tears break loose.

“I understand,” the voice says, speaking softly. “What is your name?”

“Gweneth,” I answer.

“Hmm,” she muses. “That is not a Zmaj name, nor an Urr’ki.”

“No,” I say, making the mistake of shaking my head which causes the pain to explode. I whimper and squeeze the sides of my head in an attempt to keep it from exploding.

“Tell me, are you one of the Star People that joined the Zmaj?”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” I say. “You know about us? How long have you been here?”

“I do,” she says, and I hear her moving. Her voice gets a little louder. “As for how long, I am not sure. Time is hard to measure here.”

“I bet,” I sigh. “What’s your name?”

“You can call me Rani,” she says.

“Rani, that’s a pretty name,” I say.

“Thank you,” she says. “It was my grandmothers.”

“What can you tell me of what is happening outside? How are my—the people? The quake, did it cause much damage? Do you know how many people were hurt?”

“I don’t know much,” I say, but something tugs at me making me feel suspicious. I try to think what it is that is bothering me, but my head hurts too much to focus on it. “The Maulavi have kept me with a guard, and I’ve barely been outside his house.”

“Who?”

“Huh?”

“Who was your guard?”

“Oh, uhm, Khiara, but his brother Dilacs was helping him out. But the quake did do a lot of damage. I did go out after it and there was a, well a lot.”

“Oh,” she says and the sadness in her voice is palpable.

We sit in silence for a moment and I’m pretty sure I hear her sob. It’s quiet, suppressed, but I think that’s what it is.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“I am far from okay,” she says. “But tell me more. I only know what they feed to me and that is only done to torture.”

“Torture?” I ask, my voice cracking.

Why? It’s not like I should expect anything less. The Shaman is as evil as they come. Gershom, that poor bastard, couldn’t hold a candle to this guy.

“Let us speak of happier things,” she says.

“Yeah,” I say, choking the word out.

“Tell me of these brothers,” she says. “Their names sound familiar.”

I clear my throat, wipe my tears, and tell her about them. It passes the time here in the dark and takes my mind off every other terrible thing. When something shuffles across the floor I yell and leap to my feet then I yelp because of the pain in my head.

“What the?—”

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