Page 1 of Lonely Orcish Girl

CHAPTER ONE

It didn't take long for Reed to realize that leaving the road wasn't the best decision. With each step, the forest grew thicker, and it became increasingly challenging to keep an eye on the banks of the Silver Spring River. Still, he knew it was wise to follow its course. All he needed was a safe place to wade, or at least a fallen tree he could use to get to the other side.

That shouldn't be too hard, he thought.

The water in this area was calm and, at most, waist-deep. So, he kept his nerves under control because, despite the lost time, he could still reach his destination before nightfall if he stayed focused.

Earlier, Reed had managed to avoid a much larger threat—or at least, that's what he had thought at the time. He had spotted some suspicious-looking men from a distance, standing near the bridge. It was the only official way to cross the river on the road to Larrant, a small town Reed had visited many times, though never alone. He had always traveled there with his mother and other people from their village, Stagmoor, to sell their crops at the market.

The men blocking the bridge were acting loudly, laughing, and cursing, and Reed suspected they were thugs. He was glad none of them noticed him and, without giving it much thought, he walked off the road.

Maybe they were lumberjacks on a break, he had tried to reason with himself at first, but he still didn’t want to take any chances.Opportunity makes thieves, his mother had once told him, and Reed wasn’t eager to test the truth of that saying on his own skin.

He didn't consider himself a coward, but neither was he a fool. A nineteen-year-old boy against four men—that wouldn’t have been fair under any circumstances. Besides, he couldn’t risk being robbed, not when he carried a pouch with all his money—every single coin he and his late mother had managed to collect over the years.

Reed decided it would be better to push through the wild brush for a while, hoping to find a safe passage to the other side of the river and, in the process, avoid the bridge, just in case the men had bad intentions.

But it was only a seemingly easy task.

The deeper he ventured into the woods, the more he regretted his decision. The bank grew higher, steeper, and rockier in this part of the forest, and after countless twists and turns, Reed lost his sense of direction, especially since the river occasionally split into two channels, and at times, smaller streams blocked his path. He could no longer tell exactly where the road was.

Reed knew that it would have been wisest to return to Stagmoor the moment he discovered those alleged bandits, but he pushed that thought aside. He couldn't go back—not empty-handed. Not after the bold promises he had made. He had to reach Larrant.

Gritting his teeth, he continued to fight his way through the dense undergrowth. His frustration was about to peak when he unexpectedly found what he needed—a thick tree lying across the river. Encouraged by the discovery, he jogged to the tree andbegan to examine it closely. It was very solid and didn't budge even when Reed kicked it.

But in his excitement, the young man didn't notice that it was getting much darker; the sun had disappeared behind the line of bushes.

It also started to drizzle lightly. Reed began to make his way across the river, using the tree, hoping the wood was still dry enough for him to walk on safely. He moved very slowly, and that was his mistake. Out of nowhere, the rain picked up and went from a light shower to a full-on downpour in no time. He was only a few feet from the opposite bank when he realized that he could barely see the other side through the gray wall of water pouring down. In a matter of seconds, Reed's clothes were soaked, and the previously solid and safe tree trunk now looked treacherous and slippery.

"Gods! Why now?!" he cried out helplessly.

Cautiously, he inched toward the end of the tree trunk. He was perhaps a yard from the other side when a tremendous, deafening thunderclap ruptured nearby, shattering a tree. Startled, Reed flinched and… slipped.

The dark water swallowed him up. Overwhelmed and shocked by the sudden cold, Reed plunged to the sandy bottom. Only then did he begin to kick and flail his arms in an attempt to resurface. Here, the river was neck-deep, and he had to swim to the nearest place where he could climb back to shore.

Coughing and sputtering, Reed got back to his feet. He glanced around—the dark forest now looked even eerier and more hostile.

The rain was relentless, and even the canopy of leaves offered no protection. Reed's clothes were thoroughly soaked. Although it was the end of summer, the water was freezing, and Reed shivered.

He knew he had lost a lot of time, so he started walking in the direction he thought the road was. His clothes were heavy and uncomfortably chilled his skin.

Toiling away, stumbling constantly, he pushed through bushes along the riverbank. All he wanted to do before nightfall was find the track again.

Unfortunately, this faint hope was shattered when he came upon a steep rock wall that stretched from the shore deep into the forest—he couldn't even see where it ended.

Reed felt as if someone had kicked him in the gut. His shoulders slumped. He wanted to howl in despair, but the truth was he didn't have the strength. The cold was taking its toll on him. He felt very weak and tired.

"I'm lost…" he whispered to himself, barely hearing his own voice in the roaring wind.

Staggering, he wandered into an unknown part of the forest, inwardly cursing himself.I'll die here! Jolene will marry Petyr, and I won't be able to do anything about it. And I'll die a virgin! What was I thinking?! What got into my head?! That I'd show them? That if I came back with a gift, Jolene would be mine? Stupid, stupid, so damn stupid!

He thought of his farm, his only inheritance. It would be ruined and wasted. He had asked his neighbor Joseph to take care of his chickens during his absence, but the old man wouldn't do it forever. Everything was turning into a disaster.

After a while, Reed realized he was dizzy, breathing heavily, and feeling exhausted—oddly enough, too exhausted, even considering the distance he had traveled. He knew he had good endurance. Working on the farm his whole life had hardened him, but now he felt as weak as a baby.

The forest grew dimmer and more unsettling, and the rain didn't let up.

Reed was about to give up, shivering from the cold, when he spotted something in the distance in the near-pitch darkness.

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