Page 14 of Grounded By Love
She tried to push any negative feelings away, but eventually her hatred for the villagers started to show through the cracks. She’d done her best to make a life here. It was just denied to her at every turn. She couldn’t help, but be resentful.
Kaeldar was draped over the horse's neck, as it galloped through the forest. His wound was killing him with the throbbing pain. Every time the horse took a step, it jarred his injury, but he had to get farther away.
He had a head start on any human search party, but he didn't know how determined they’d be. A rock giant as a prisoner would probably thrill them to no limit, but he had no intention of being captured.
As the day waned into late afternoon, he wondered about his savior. Surely, the villagers had come to her cottage and found him missing.
What would they do to one of their own? The humans called the giants savages, yet he had seen more brutality from them than any other species. He hoped she wasn't about to suffer some sort of ill fate because of him.
Kaeldar pulled up on the reins and faced the horse in the direction he’d just come from. He ignored his wound, as he straightened up. He’d been trained to endure.
Guilt ate at him. She might need his help.
He was a rock giant. He had no need to feel this way about some human female, but it didn't sit right with him, that his life should be spared just so another could take his place.
They would consider her a traitor, and the sentence would most likely be death. There was the probability, if he went back, he would find her dead already, but he might still find her alive. He should at least go back to know for sure. He held himself to standards. If he dropped those standards just because she was a human female, he wouldn't be able to call himself an honorable and just man.
He had a debt he needed to repay.
Chapter 6
When he got back to the human female’s cottage, night had already fallen. Everything seemed hushed and shadows danced around under the moonlight. He approached slowly, to make sure there were no humans wandering around the area.
There were no lights shining through the cracks of her shutters, but she could be asleep. There was still the possibility her people had spared her from any punishment.
As he drew closer to the cottage, he couldn't help but notice the silence surrounding him. There were no bugs and no sounds coming from her cottage.
Dismounting he made his way over to the cottage with hurried steps. As he opened the door of her cottage, he knew he wasn't going to find her inside. Peering around the cottage, that was draped in darkness, Kaeldar didn't find her within.
That had to mean the villagers had taken her away already. In all probability, they had taken her back to the human village.
He lifted his armor to look down at his wound. It still looked rancid, and he hated to reopen it, but if he saved the human female, he could take her with him, and she could continue to heal him.
Not only could he keep his honor, but he would also have a personal healer. He had come this far to save her. He would go the extra little bit to see her safely away, if he could.
Mounting up he cringed as his butt met the saddle. If it came to him battling some human males, he was unsure whether or not he would be the one to come out as the winner.
This wound was a handicap he wished he didn't have to deal with, but he might be able to startle them. Then he might have time to rescue her. He spurred the horse toward the village.
The sun was rising, when he made his way to the edge of the forest surrounding the human village.
Was the human female still alive? Was she inside one of those many buildings? How was he to find her? This rescue plan could end before it had begun.
As the sun rose, his eyes zeroed in on a metal cage in the middle of the town. They put one of their own in a cage, without any protection from the environment? He could see the small frame of the human female. This village was lucky he was injured, or he would’ve ransacked the whole town.
He marveled at how the humans thought the rock giants were ruthless barbarians. The humans seemed just as willing to dish out cruel punishments on their own.
Kaeldar was close enough to catch people casting her glares and even flinging curses her way. Though he was too far away to hear anything they said, he could tell by their body language that they found her to be abhorrent.
He knew he was the reason she was in such a situation. For taking pity on an injured giant, she was being treated horrendously by her people.
The afternoon came, and still Kaeldar remained patient, as he watched the villagers. Perhaps caging her was their way of punishment and afterwards she’d go free. Then Kaeldar could return to his people, his conscious free of any guilt or burden of a debt unpaid.
But then some of the village men started to put kindling below a platform that had a wooden stake sticking out from it. Kaeldar's stomach dropped. They were going to burn her to death! His eyes couldn't believe what he was seeing. Wasn’t she allowed a second chance?
“Unbelievable. And we’re the uncivilized people? I’ve never seen a burning in my entire life.”
Once done, they dragged her from the cage, but she did put up quite a fight. It was good to see she hadn't given up hope.
