Page 4 of Sohut's Protection

Cleo, you have to learn.

You have to adapt.

Then you will survive.

Cleo cast her eyes in the direction of the orcs driving the cart.

They were still nattering about something, but their voices were so low, she couldn’t hear what they were saying.

The fact they weren’t concerned about the cargo they were transporting was probably a good thing.

With their lack of care, she could plan an escape.

Because she was escaping.

There was no way she was going to be sold like a box of stew…

Stew? … She’d fix her analogies later.

Glancing down at the road, Cleo gulped.

The plan that was hatching in her mind was going to hurt like a bitch. But, if this was how the orcs treated their “wares” before they got to their destination, she didn’t have high hopes about things getting better when they actually arrived.

What’s worse, she wasn’t becoming anyone’s pleasure pet.

So, pain it was.

She could deal with pain.

She couldn’t deal with death.

As awkward as it was to move in the cage, she tried to see over the aliens’ shoulders.

She couldn’t see very far ahead, but she could tell the air was getting more humid.

Possibly, they were approaching a change in the terrain.

…somewhere with vegetation, maybe.

Somewhere heavily wooded, hopefully?

She could only hope they didn’t turn off the road before they got there.

Glancing down to her bare feet, she swallowed hard and moved her toes a little, feeling for the item she’d found and hidden.

When her toes moved over the piece of metal, she released a breath of relief she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

She’d found the sharp piece of shrapnel behind the cage not long after the orcs had loaded her into the cart.

She’d acted quickly, taking the metal and hiding it underneath her foot, not daring to move her leg should her captors notice what she was hiding. It’s not like the simple brown dress she was wearing had any pockets she could hide the weapon in.

It was almost the length of her foot, but thin. She didn’t know how she was going to use it yet, but having it was better than having nothing.

As the conversation of the two aliens kept droning on in the background of her mind, she focused on the mermaid in front of her once more.

She hadn’t realized it before, but the scales of the creature looked considerably lighter in color than they’d done earlier.

It was almost as if the blue within the scales was fading. What’s worse, the thing still hadn’t moved.

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