Page 12 of Halfling
They stopped at the edge of a steep hillside, and the orc turned his head this way and that, trying to catch what he could with his ears and nose.
The world beyond was a dark curtain of rock and forest. She could smell the sharp tang of pine and fir, dirt and decaying leaves, but beyond the first few trees at the bottom of the steep hill, nothing. Just night.
She instinctively didn’t want to go in there, not at night, but she wanted to go back even less.
After a moment, the orc squeezed her arm and slipped down the hillside. He didn’t follow a path or gingerly lead her down the slope; no, he set his boots downhill and in two great bounds, she was following him, sliding on the wet grass and fallen leaves into the dark forest beyond.
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Orek didn’t take a chance to catch his breath until dry river rocks crunched beneath their boots. He took her down the hill the fastest and quietest way he knew, sliding down into the dry creek bed where the great trees had their roots. They stood sentinel there, like an ominous gate into otherworlds.
The way had been clear and quiet; Merk had still been asleep at his post, making their escape simple and unseen.
It bought them time, but not much.
The woman followed him wordlessly, for which he was thankful—for the quiet and because he didn’t know what he’d say back.
He led her into the first vanguard of trees, the air thicker and the light dimmer inside the canopy of leaves and needles. Moonlight peeked through jagged gaps, offering fractals of light that were enough for him to see by. But Orek had been walking and hunting in these woods all his life, he didn’t need the moon to find the new stream cutting its way through the forest. The creek gurgled and caught gleams of moonlight as it slithered through the trees, gathering speed and size as it ran for the river just a few miles east.
They had to cross that river tonight to stand any chance.
The female let out a surprised gasp when he pulled them into the middle of the creek, but slapped her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. The cold water rushed around his boots, and he felt her whole body shiver at the sudden splash of it.
They followed the creek, the current pushing them along and making for a fairly easy walk. The river rocks here were a little newer, a little less rounded and slimy, giving his boots something to grip.
He led them as quickly as he could, still with a firm grip on the female’s hand. It’s what saved her from completely falling in when she lost her footing. She crashed onto her knees, letting out a groan through gritted teeth.
She cursed and used his arm to pull herself up.
“I’m fine, go, go.”
He took her at her word and continued down the creek, but after she’d fallen twice more and they had yet to make the first mile to the river, Orek realized his mistake.
He pulled her to her feet again and watched as she took a moment to examine a small cut on her hand she’d gotten catching herself. In the dark, her blood was nearly black, the smell heavy and metallic.
The beast in him stirred at the sight, dark and possessive andangry.He didn’t like the sight of her bleeding.
With a groan, she righted herself and gave him a stiff nod.
“Sorry. I can keep up.”
“I’ll carry you.”
She blinked in surprise and quickly backed away when he moved to heave her over his shoulder. The water sloshed around her calves, and he pulled her toward him when she listed backwards.
Now she frowned and shook her head vehemently, making those dark curls bounce.
“No. I can keep up.”
They stood staring at one another in the dark, the water babbling around them. He looked her over and realized she’d put a protective hand over her upper belly. Not low enough like the pregnant orcesses did, but instead like someone shielding a wound.
“Are you hurt?” he asked. Guilt gnawed at him; how could he not have noticed she was already wounded? And he’d been dragging her down a creek in the dark.
“I’ve been carried over a lot of shoulders the last fortnight,” she said through thinned lips. “I haven’t been able to check, but I think I’m bruised from chest to leg. So I’ll walk. I’ll keep up.”
She kept insisting that, but Orek, as he looked at her standing there in the middle of the creek, so defiant and scared and determined, wasn’t worried about her keeping up, or even them making good time to the river. He worried more now that she was hurt and that he could have gotten her more hurt.
He’d be no better than the ones who’d done it to her. A new kind of rage simmered low in his gut to think of this female being carried away from her home, passed from one shoulder to the next as if she was goods to trade. She’d come to no harm from him, and that rage inside had him vowing that she’d come to no harm at all if he could help it.
