Page 15 of The Orc's Bride

It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway. It was then that I realized that through the entire event, he must have been hyperaware of me. He had faced the beast and fought it with his bare hands because it had been a threat to me.

And now, after that fast but still frightening fight, he hadn’t come rushing to my side to check if I was fine. He didn’t have to. He knew because he had been monitoring me.

Or was I imagining it?

“What was that… thing?” I asked.

“I’ll tell you on the way,” Urgan said, putting his foot in the stirrup. He raised his body and sat down in the saddle behind me, and the tension trickled out of me. The wall of heavy orc muscle behind me was protection. I sagged into him.

But Urgan remained tense. This time, no erection pressed into my back, although I could still feel the substantial bulge behind me. But it seemed this wasn’t a time for arousal.

“That was a ragghit,” said Urgan.

“I don’t know what it means,” I confessed.

“A ragghit is a sick creature. It’s an empty shell. It doesn’t have any thoughts, any feelings.”

“So…” I switched to human, hoping he could understand me, “…a husk?”

“Yes. Ragghit. A husk. The sickness spreads through saliva. If a ragghit bites you, you will become just like it. Another husk. Your mind will become empty of thought, and your skin will fall off in stripes. The only thing you’ll know will be pain. You will attack anything and everything. Violence dulls the pain.”

“Why have I never heard of them?” I asked, uneasy. Those things sounded dangerous. Humans should be aware of them.

“They came from our world. Just a few of them, so they are rare. We keep the sickness in check. If there ever is news of a ragghit, we kill it. They are too dangerous. The only ones we allowed to live are locked up in the Imperator’s dungeons. His beast lore masters study them.”

“So… You expect there are more around?” I guessed. “Because the illness can spread so easily?”

“Yes. If there are more, they may be hunting us. But after we killed that one, they’ll be cautious. Waiting until we’re tired and weak.”

We were riding now, not too fast but not at a leisurely pace, either. One orc was jogging behind us, his eyes scanning the undergrowth on each side of the path.

“And why did he kill his horse?” I asked again. “Because it would turn into… that thing?”

“Yes,” Urgan said. “A ragghit is as powerful as the body it has. An orc horse ragghit would be very strong.”

“Can a human become a ragghit?”

“Yes,” Urgan said again, patiently. I thought he would tire of my questions soon, but he didn’t seem to mind answering them. “Although not a very strong one. Cunning, maybe. Ragghits retain some intelligence from the higher beasts.”

“The higher beasts…?”

“Orcs and humans,” he said with a shrug that made his chest move behind me. “Those who can speak and count.”

“Were you…” I chewed on my lip, thinking how to phrase the question. “Were you surprised it was there? Was it not usual?”

We rode in silence for a moment. I tried to turn my head to look at his face, but he was sitting so close behind me it was impossible. If I looked up, I would see the underside of his chin.

My ear pressed into his massive ribcage. I listened to the strong heart beating inside his chest. It was comforting.

“Not many things surprise me,” Urgan said finally, his voice thoughtful. “But today, I was surprised twice. The ragghit surprised me.”

“And what else?” I asked, frowning.

“You did.”

An electric tingle ran over my skin. I was thrilled, and there was a sort of empty, sucking feeling in my stomach. I felt like I was falling, falling, falling. I was suddenly anxious that whatever surprised him had been a bad thing. At the same time, I was thrilled to think it had been something good.

That I had made a good impression on him.

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