Page 3 of The Orc's Rage

There. That smell. The moment it filled his nostrils, Kargorr’s groin ached. It was a bolt of lightning through him, and he knew then that she was his.

He straightened and lifted the frail old woman into the air between them. Then he snapped her neck.

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Cedar

The orc stared right at Cedar as the crunch of bone breaking filled the air between them. Lissa’s head fell to one side and hung limply there, then he tossed her body away like it was little more than a used toy.

Cedar was next. Surely this monster with the dark eyes that glowed red around the edges would do something even worse to her, something more painful and brutal. She could almost taste the blood on her tongue.

That was when Cedar spotted the other orcs headed toward the barn.

“No!” she called out, thinking of Bread Pudding and the new piglets. Cedar tried to pull away from her captor, the one who had chased her into the woods, but his grip was like iron. “Don’t kill them! They’re just babies.”

The orcs ignored her. But this one towering over her, with the scar that ran from his temple on one side of his face to his jaw on the other, where his tusk had clearly stopped a massive blow... he turned to them and shouted something in his deep, growling language. They halted.

“What is in there?” the monster asked Cedar, and she was surprised to hear familiar words fall from his lips. His pronunciation was poor and his accent was thick, but she understood him.

“Pigs,” she said, trying to still her quivering voice. “Just born. Piglets.”

She didn’t think it would work, telling them to stop, but he seemed to be considering it. Then he called something else in his tongue, and the other orcs resumed their march into the barn.

That was it. Now it was Cedar’s turn to meet her end. But the big orc with the long scar didn’t raise his axe to behead her. Instead, the red faded from his eyes until they were pure black again, and he tucked the axe into his waistband before grabbing her by the wrists from the bastard who had caught her. Cedar couldn’t help the scream that came out when he hoisted her up over his shoulder like she was a bag of goods.

Then he turned to the others and called out something in his own tongue. Cedar watched as Bread Pudding was led out of the barn, and two big orcs hefted her up into a cart, followed by her suckling piglets. Cedar tried to free herself as the horses were rounded up and cinched to the cart, but the scarred orc’s grip was like iron.

Then he turned and headed back toward town. Cedar kicked and shouted and clawed, but it was like she wasn’t even there. He was an unforgiving pile of bricks.

All along the road were bodies, people that Cedar had known for the last four or five years. She realized she’d lost track of how long she’d lived with Lissa.

Lissa, who was now dead.

Most unexpectedly, a thrill surged through her. Cedar was finally free of that old tyrant. She wasdead. Perhaps she should have felt some kind of sadness, some kind of regret at seeing Lissa’s body broken and limp on the ground, but she didn’t. No, but now she was a prisoner of another kind, with a different pair of shackles.

“Where are you taking me?” Cedar asked, grunting as the big orc’s shoulder dug into her belly.

“You will find out,” was all he said in return.

As they passed down the main road, other orcs began to emerge from the houses loaded up with bags full of goods. They had pillaged for everything they could get their hands on.

Cedar should have mourned these innocent people. They didn’t deserve this, after all. But each of them had looked away as Lissa tormented and beat Cedar day after day, right in the main square, and so for a moment, she let the guilt roll off her and decided she would much rather focus on how she was going to escape her new captor. Who knew what he wanted her for? She needed to get away before she could find out.

But this orc was powerful, as tall as a mountain and hard as a rock, and carried her like she was nothing. She feared that she was now in a far worse prison.

More wagons were hitched to horses and loaded up with goods and livestock, which, besides Bread Pudding, had all been butchered and now lay in piles. This was everything the village had.

Just how many orcs were out there, after all? And what had this one chosen her for?

Kargorr

He rather enjoyed the way the human woman’s warm little body rubbed against him as she struggled and squirmed. Her energy didn’t wane nearly as soon as he had expected. She had a lot of fight in her.

His warriors led horses pulling carts full of goods, both of which they’d taken from the village. When they reached the most difficult part of the climb up into the mountains, though, they’d have to abandon them, because the carts couldn’t handle the terrain. Once they released the horses, he would call the rest of theparogto come help transport what remained.

It would be two days before they got that far, which made Lord Kargorr ponder whether it was time to move theparogto somewhere easier to reach, less walled off from the human lands, if he wanted to achieve his mission.

The pig and its piglets would prove complicated to get home, but the human woman had wanted them, and theparogcould use the live offspring in the future. A pig roasted over the fire was the perfect thing for a celebration, and he imagined there would be a few of those to come.

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