Page 16 of Orc's Forbidden Claim

I grit my teeth when I pull it wrong, keeping myself from making a sound as the pain stabs into my belly. Another quick look to make sure no one noticed. Wren is looking at me side-eyed, but the Urr’ki are not. I take two deep breaths trying to calm myself then slip my second hand under my shirt too.

One of the Urr’ki behind us says something and I stumble as fear washes over. I’m caught, I’m sure of it. I look around as the one next to him laughs. It wasn’t me he was barking at. Or at least not what I’m doing.

Okay. Okay. Calm. Be calm.

The hoop comes undone easily enough when using two hands. I palm it in my left hand and then drop both to my sides. I walk along for a while until I’m sure none of our captors noticed anything. I dart a glance at Wren. She gives me a fleeting smile and the slightest of nods. Fearing they may have seen that, I wait a little longer before slowing my steps.

When one of the guards grunts and shoves me, I open my left hand and drop the hoop. My heart is racing as I’m pushed into faster motion. I keep my eyes fixed ahead, listening for one of the guards to notice what I did.

When nothing happens, I close my eyes and offer a prayer to whatever gods might be listening.

Khiara, please be as good a tracker as I think you are. As good as the stories the Zmaj tell about Urr’ki.

And on we march. One foot in front of the other. One step further from home, from Khiara.

10

KHIARA

“Quiet,” I hiss.

Stupid lizard is so loud we might as well be sounding alarm bells to announce our approach. He growls and grunts as he crawls his way through the tight tunnel. It was made for Urr’ki, not lizards. He scrapes with every bit of forward motion we make.

“I am,” he growls.

“Heh,” I grunt, crawling ahead.

I wish I could move faster. They have a long lead on us. The only hope I have to hold to is that this tunnel has not crossed with any others. They dug straight to where they wanted. Which raises a different question. How did they know?

Are there spies in the lizard compound? The lizards would never work with an Urr’ki. Look how much trouble we are having negotiating a truce with them. Every one of them I see looks at me and my brother with derision on their faces and in their voices.

How then? The Shaman has magic. Everyone knows this. Does he have some way of far-seeing? If he can pinpoint specific areas to such a degree that his adherents can tunnel directly to them, we have even bigger problems than I could have ever conceived. Which begs the question. Did he target Saylor? Did he somehow know that she was my dragoste? And knowing that, did he target her to lure me into a trap?

The Queen says his magic is illusions and deception. But if that is so, how did they dig this tunnel? Right to an empty room that just happened to have Wren and Saylor in it? Was all of this some fortuitous accident working in favor of the Shaman? I have never believed in coincidences.

“Ach!” Sek’su cries out right after I hear him smack his head for the dozenth time.

“Quiet!” I say. “Can you not be careful? They will know we are coming, and I have no doubt they outnumber us.”

“Bah,” he grunts. “I will kill them all. You will be lucky if I don’t kill you too. On principal.”

I suppress the rage that surges at his arrogance. This is what I mean. How could any of them be working with the Shaman’s minions? I can’t even get this one to work with me and we’re both trying to save the ones we love.

“Could you be any more of a boor?”

“Heh?” he grunts, writhing his way closer through the tight tunnel.

“Nothing,” I snap. “Be quiet. Sound will carry down this tunnel and we do not know how far ahead of us they are.”

He emits a low growl but keeps his mouth shut. I crawl ahead enjoying the silence. We carry no lights with us and in this tight tunnel, there is no ambient light from cave lichen or any other source. I cannot see my hand in front of my face making the journey even more treacherous.

I keep my focus on the next motion. If I let my attention wander, even for a second, the rage is there. My thoughts will instantly fill with what terrible things they might be doing to Saylor. The instant those thoughts come, my blood boils. I know that whoever took her must be loyal to the Shaman. Still held under his sway because they do not know the truth. The Shaman is a liar. He kept the Queen hostage and all he has done was for power, not to save my people.

He capitalized on our despair, using it for his benefit. A growl slips out before I can stop it. I was a believer. Now, seeing how wrong I was about all of it only adds to my anger and frustration. I never should have believed him.

The floor of the tight tunnel is gone. I fall through the hole with a growl and land hard. I grunt at the impact, unsure if I might not have cracked a rib. Before I get back to my feet I hear the stupid lizard.

“No—”

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