by Logan Jacobs
The master retreated back into his hut as the two orcs grabbed Fand and shoved him roughly to the ground. The fat warg wriggled and squirmed and begged for his life, but it did him absolutely no good.
I watched, horrified, as the two orcs pinned him down and then cut him apart bit by bit with their long-curved knives. It started with an arm, and then a leg, and then a chunk of flesh from his midsection. The whole way, Fand was alive. He shrieked and screamed, pleading for his life, but the orcs paid him no mind.
The entire thing had turned into a game for them as they entertained the rest of the wargs, and grotesque smiles were planted firmly on both of the orcs’ faces.
I wasn’t sure how long it took for Fand to stop, but eventually, he was motionless. There wasn’t much left of him to be motionless, though. He was little more than a blood and tissue splatter on the ground.
I glanced at the women beside me. Mira’s face was stone-hard and unforgiving as she looked on at the scene before her, but Ainsley and Jemma both had tears on their faces. It was dark by this point, almost totally night, but I didn’t miss the quiver in Jemma’s lip as she looked on at the scene.
“They are monstrous,” she finally whispered.
I wrapped an arm around her tiny shoulders and pulled her to me. Then I pressed my lips against her warm temple, where I could feel the pound of her heart and her pulse point.
“We’ll take them down,” I promised, but my attention was pulled back to the orcs when they suddenly bellowed out an order to the wargs.
“Go to bed!” they yelled.
Instantly, like petrified dogs, the wargs all retreated from the clearing and piled into the small huts around it. Those huts were made of dirt and clay, unlike the house the master had come out of, which was made out of wood.
I made a mental note to myself to figure out how these bastards managed to tame the wood. From the craftsmanship of the house, it looked like they had a hell of a lot more than the primitive tools I had to work with.
Within seconds of the orcs’ orders, the clearing was completely empty, save for the massive carcass that used to be Fand in the center.
This was our time to shine.
I motioned for the women to be quiet with my finger to my lips, and then I slowly crept from the cover of the bushes and out into the open.
The sounds of night were upon us, but the cooing of the birds and the chirping of the bugs allowed for good cover as I walked through the clearing, with my eyes focused on the house the orcs had come out of. Unlike the huts the wargs lived in, this house had open windows where I could see the flickering yellow light of fire.
As I got closer, with the women right behind me, I heard guffaws echo out of the house. So, I carefully crept up just below the open, uncovered window and listened as they spoke.
“Those idiots don’t know what’s coming for ‘em,” an orc grumbled.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” the slithery soft voice of the master replied.
“Should we be worried?” a third orc asked.
“Not worried,” the master replied, “but we must proceed with caution. I will send Orkin out tomorrow to comb the forest once more. Now, enough with this talk. Let’s discuss what we’re going to do to these women once we capture them, eh?”
That was enough of that. I didn’t want to hear them talk about the rape plans I’d make sure they never got the chance to carry out, so I spun around on my heels and pointed back toward the trees.
The women followed, and we crept back across the clearing and climbed a tree just a few feet into the forest.
“What is the plan now, Ben?” Jemma asked.
“We get some sleep,” I said, and I gave her a soft smile to ease some of the worry I’d heard in her tone. “I want to stay near the camp until dawn and see if we can learn anything else from these bastards before we head home.”
“Good idea.” Ainsley nodded. “We ought to find more meyr berries and mask our scent again.”
So, we found a patch of the nasty smelling berries about a hundred feet away and covered ourselves once more. At that point, I was pretty sure I stank enough to scare off a skunk.
When we were done, we climbed back up the tree and beyond the layers of branches that served as our cover.
“Let’s rip some vines off the tree trunks and tie ourselves to it so we don’t fall off while we sleep,” I instructed. “I’ll take the first watch.”
Ainsley and Jemma got busy immediately, and within minutes, they had tied themselves to the trunk and started to nod off to sleep.
Mira, though, wasn’t nearly as quick to slumber as the deer women.
“That was … grotesque,” Mira muttered, and I could tell the scene had bothered her almost as much as it had bothered Ainsley and Jemma.
“Just try to sleep,” I whispered. “We’ll journey back to the village in the morning and start some serious training. Somehow, we’ve got to get these women ready for a massive battle before the orcs can call in reinforcements.”
And now that they knew I was here, I figured the reinforcements would be called in soon. I didn’t want to say that out loud just yet, though, even if it was only to Mira.
The gold eyed warrior nodded and heeded my request, but her soft, almond shaped eyes watched me until sleep overtook her.
“Wake me when it’s time for my watch,” she mumbled before she went silent.
I didn’t do that, though. I didn’t need to, because I didn’t sleep a wink that night. Instead, I toyed with the blade Nerissa had given me to see me off on the journey and watched the camp below.
I so wished I had an army at my disposal. We could sneak in and slit all of their throats in their sleep, one by one, until there were none left.
But I knew right now, that would never work. It carried far too many risks.
So, I needed to come up with a different plan. Some way to destroy the orcs and wargs without putting the women at risk. Any battle right now would almost certainly end in the deaths of nearly all of the native inhabitants of this island.
That was a risk I just couldn’t take. So, for now, it seemed hiding and training was our best bet.
It felt like only an hour had passed when the sun peeked up over the horizon. My thoughts had run around my head so fast they seemed to collapse time. Mira, Ainsley, and Jemma woke as the first rays of the sun hit their skin, and Mira glared at me.
“What happened to my watch?” she demanded in a playfully angry tone.
“I didn’t need to sleep.” I shrugged with a grin.
The warrior clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t comment any further.
Now that we were all awake, we all pulled meat and fruit from our packs and munched on them for breakfast. We finished quickly and were about ready to head back to the camp, but then, all of a sudden, the wargs swarmed out of the huts.
The wolf monsters moved lightning fast and dispersed into the forest silently, like a robotic army.
And I knew they were searching for our camp and women to capture.
Suddenly, Ainsley gasped beside me, and before I could even register the sound, the deer woman had climbed gracefully down the tree and dropped onto the forest floor.
“What the fuck?” I demanded. “Ainsley!”
But if the blonde woman had heard, she ignored me.
I glanced to Jemma, but the auburn-haired woman could only shrug and shake her head.
“We should follow her,” Mira said.
The three of us quickly climbed down to the forest floor, where Ainsley was crouched in the brush and hidden from view of the clearing.
“What are you doing?” I hissed in her ear. Now that we’d gotten some good intel on the way the orcs worked, I wanted to get out of there. The longer we stayed, the more dangerous it was for us.
“Listen,” she replied softly.
I listened for a moment, and I heard nothing but the sounds of birds and the gentle lap of the ocean waves against the shore. I was about r
eady to throw Ainsley over my shoulder and force her to leave with me, but then I finally heard it.
The sound was soft, so quiet it was easily overtaken by the surrounding noise of nature, but now that I’d opened my ears to it, I could hear.
Singing.
A soft, melodic tune floated through the air, in a language I recognized as the one the women spoke in their own songs.
The voice was beautiful and enchanting, like a siren’s, and I could tell from the tearful expression on Ainsley’s face that she knew who the voice belonged to.
“Who is that?” I asked.
“My sister,” she whimpered. “She was taken four moon cycles ago.”
“Four moon cycles,” I murmured. “That’s four months!”
The shock very quickly turned into disgust and rage when I realized why her sister would still be here.
She was a toy for them.
“We have to find her.” Ainsley turned pleading and watery eyes to me.
There was absolutely no question. No way would I leave one of the women here to suffer further at the hands of these monsters.
“Let’s go,” I whispered. “Mira, Jemma, stay here. The fewer, the better.”
I could tell Jemma wanted to protest, but Mira nodded in understanding and wrapped a hand around the young woman’s wrist.
Ainsley and I crept off along the outskirts of the camp, but we were still hidden in the depths of the forest in case the orcs came out. We followed the melody around the camp and into the forest along the edge of the beach.
The voice grew louder and louder until finally, we came upon her.
A metal cage had been erected on the edge of the forest, right where the sand met the dirt. A few trees had been felled in the surrounding area, and the woman was seated on one of the stumps in the middle of the cage. She twisted flowers in her hand to make a daisy chain as she sang that soft tune.
She looked just like Ainsley, only a little older and with black hair instead of strawberry blonde hair. Her face was a bit squarer, and her body even thinner from lack of nutrition, but I could clearly see the family resemblance.
The clothes she wore were dirty and torn, barely enough to cover more than the necessary parts. What probably used to be a creamy white tunic was now a cropped tank top, ragged along all of the edges, and her pants had become tiny, torn up, and dirty little shorts.
“Kella,” Ainsley breathed.
She was about to dash toward her sister when I caught sight of the sleeping orc guard next to the cage.
I quickly grabbed Ainsley’s bicep and forced her to stay, and I indicated the orc with my eyes.
She focused on him, nodded, and sank back onto her heels.
I put my finger to my lips, pulled the dagger Nerissa had given me from my waistband, and crept toward the guard.
He snored. Loudly. He was a fat, grotesque orc with dull skin and a spear at his side, and he sat on a tree stump with his back against the cage as he got his ugly sleep.
I slowly crept around the trees, careful to step only on places with clear dirt, where leaves and sticks wouldn’t crunch under my feet and give me away.
Kella sang away, completely unaware of my presence.
That needed to change. If I slashed the orc’s throat and she screamed, we could have a problem on our hands when the other orcs heard.
“Kella,” I whispered.
The woman’s head snapped up, and her melody ceased.
Then her blue eyes focused right behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder and bit back a curse.
Ainsley. The stubborn woman had crept along right behind me. She put a finger to her lips, and Kella nodded once in understanding.
I had no time to lose, so I crept up right next to the orc and quickly and quietly slashed my blade right across his meaty throat.
Inky black blood spurted from him, and his beady eyes flew open for the last two seconds of his life. Then he let out a weak, gurgled whimper before his body keeled over. I caught his massive form in my arms, very gently laid him down on the forest floor, and covered him with leaves and other debris so he wouldn’t be found for quite some time.
“Kella, you’re alive!” Ainsley flew up to the cage, and her voice was thick with tears.
“I never thought I’d see you again, my dear sister.” Kella cupped Ainsley’s face softly, and then looked at me. Fear entered her expression as she took in my appearance, and then the knife in my hands.
“He is on our side,” Ainsley replied in answer to Kella’s look. “Do not be afraid. This is Ben.”
“Hi.” I smiled softly at her. “How does this thing open?”
“Over there.” Kella pointed to where the cage was padlocked with a crude metal lock.
Crude, but pretty damn advanced compared to what the other societies I’d met in this world had.
I pressed the blade against the metal, unsure if it could cut through this the way it cut through rock.
I wasn’t disappointed, though, and the metal came apart like it was made out of wax.
I yanked the lock away and pulled open the cage door for Kella to walk through.
Instantly, she and Ainsley were in each other’s arms, but both women had the self-awareness to keep their tears silent.
I let them hug it out for a few moments as I kept watch, but after a minute, I didn’t want to risk it anymore.
“We should get out of here,” I told them. “I don’t want the orcs to--”
I didn’t even get to finish my sentence when I heard the voice of the master come out of the clearing, just a few feet away from us.
“Where is that bitch?” he demanded. “I’m in need of a good screw.”
“Trees,” I hissed as the thumping footsteps of the orc echoed through the forest.
Ainsley and I helped Kella climb up into the lowest branches of the trees as the orcs grew closer. The older woman’s face was pinched in fear, and her body was so weak and near starvation she could barely hold herself up straight, but Ainsley and I managed to shoulder her weight and boost her up into the second layer of branches, just above the forest floor and out of sight of the short, squat orcs.
The master and two of his cronies came into the clearing not ten seconds after we settled into our canopy perch, and Ainsley, Kella, and I were flat against the branches of the trees as we watched.
Kella’s entire body shook with fear, and Ainsley pulled her close, both to comfort her and hold her still.
It only took the orcs two seconds to see their dead comrade and register the open cage.
“Where is she?” the orc master bellowed.
The three of them spun around in front of the cage, in search of Kella and whoever had set her free.
A smirk twisted my lips, and I relished in their anger and surprise. This was exactly what I’d wanted to see. A tiny taste of what it would feel like when I did these bastards in and showed them it was absolutely fucking wrong to take over these islands like they were some sort of gods.
“I want her found!” the master screamed. “Now!”
The orcs instantly scattered. I heard a commotion in the large clearing, and the orcs shouted and ran in all directions into the forest in search of Kella.
And they’d never fucking find her. I’d make sure of that.
When the angry commotion died down, I turned to look at Ainsley.
“Let’s go,” I whispered. “Stay up in the trees.”
She nodded and stood carefully to help her sister up.
Kella turned to me with tearful blue eyes.
“Thank you,” she murmured. “Thank you for saving me.”
“You can thank me later,” I said, but I cast the emaciated woman a small smile. “For now, let’s get the hell out of here.”
We rounded the clearing up in the trees and started toward where Mira and Jemma undoubtedly were. I assumed they’d probably fled up into the trees, too, when the commotion had started.
The master orc stood seething righ
t at the edge of the clearing, with the orc I assumed must be his second in command.
A rowboat washed up on shore then, and both orcs turned as another, younger and less pudgy orc rushed up to them.
I paused, so I could listen in.
“Sir!” The orc gave a quick bow to the leader, then popped right back up. “The king sends his regards. He said the ship will be here soon. Is the oil prepared?”
“The barrels are in that hut.” The master orc indicated one of the clay huts. “We’ll have the wargs spread them out, and they’ll be ready to light soon after. We’ll set this damn island ablaze and smoke the women out. They’ll run straight to this beach and into our waiting hands.”
“The ship will be ready,” the new orc promised. “May I see the oil?”
The master orc and his right-hand man led the way into the hut he’d indicated, and I nodded for Ainsley and Kella to continue onward.
Sure enough, Mira and Jemma were up in the same tree we’d slept in.
Jemma’s eyes grew as round as coconuts when she saw Kella, but Ainsley quickly indicated Jemma needed to be quiet. It was a smart choice, since I just knew the younger woman was gearing up for an excited scream.
Jemma nodded vigorously, and huge, shiny tears plopped out of her eyes as she silently embraced Kella.
Mira glanced at me, and I could tell from the inquiring look in her gold eyes that she knew there was more to the story.
I pressed a finger to my lips and jerked my head in the direction we needed to go.
Quickly and quietly, we set off through the branches. Kella was slow and uneven as she climbed, though, so I made sure to stay right behind her in case she fell.
I looked at her frail body as we traveled. She was even worse off than the rest of the deer women had been when I first met them. I could see every bone in her arms and shoulders, and her hair was thin and dull from lack of nutrition. The poor woman looked like a walking corpse. The bastards hadn’t even bothered to fucking feed her while they used and abused her like she was absolutely nothing.
I couldn’t wait to wrap my hands around their throats. Every single second, that need grew stronger.
After only ten minutes, Kella all but collapsed against the trunk of one of the trees. The poor woman was so malnourished she could barely hold herself up.