Page 33 of Orc's Forbidden Claim

That image of Khiara lying broken and bloody dances in my head. Now I can’t get it to go away. It overlays the darkness in front of my face. Dances and wavers when the dim light of the hooded lantern happens to toss a few beams of light in my direction.

“No,” she agrees. “It doesn’t, but if it’s true…”

“If?”

“It helps, doesn’t it? A bit?”

I smile at her optimism. It’s not a trait I would ever have associated with Wren before Sek’su. Not the Wren I knew in private. The real her, but she’s changed. Changed for the better and I think, at least I hope, that I’m changing too.

I want to change. I want to be better. I want to be worthy of him. I look at his shadowy shape in the lead and my heart swells. I’m the rich girl. The one born to high society and station. I’m the one who has it all and yet, no matter all that, I realize that the biggest problem I have and that most of my doubts are rooted in this one single idea.

I’m not worthy of him. Not yet.

I will be. No matter what it takes, I will be.

22

KHIARA

Ikeep my left hand on the wall, searching for the break. I gave the lantern to Sek’su so it would be closer to the females. They need the light more than I do. While my hand does its work, I keep my eyes on the floor and walls. We are getting close to home. There will be traps and I cannot miss one. The danger we are in is very real.

Saylor and Wren whisper back and forth. I resist the urge to hush them. They are keeping quiet enough and if anyone is close enough to hear them it is already too late to avoid detection. I can only hope that they are not. Also, I can hear the nervousness in Saylor’s voice. She hides it well, but I know her.

How is it I know her so well? There is nothing in the mudrosti or oral histories like this. A dragoste, of course, but how did the soul of my dragoste end up in a human body?

I am sure that Dilacs hasn’t thought about this. I love my brother, but he is not one for deep thinking. This is the kind of question that one would pose to the Shaman and the Maulavi. I snort. As if. That was before. Before the current Shaman, before his insanity.

My people have been lost for so long. Hope was something they abandoned long ago and so did I. Every day was only something to get through as we waited for the coming of the next world. A better world that was, hopefully, less terrible than the one we were in. Afterall, there is only so much pain and misery anyone can stand.

It wasn’t my suffering that killed my hope. My brother and I were doing well enough, all things considered. It was those less fortunate. Those who ended up on the outskirts where I would be on patrol. Seeing them living in hovels, their children with barely enough food to survive. Cold without enough resources for warmth.

We had been retreating before the encroaching lizards for generations until we were down to our last stronghold. A stronghold that was crumbling around us. The once-abundant resources of the mountain's blessings were under the control of the lizards. Secret raids into their territory to gather the supplies we needed to care for our people had become our only option.

Once we Urr’ki were numerous. Dozens of populous cities spread through the underground. That was long ago, though. Before the lizards followed us below the mountain. If only they had remained above. We had relinquished the surface, why could that not be enough for them? We are the First Born of Tajss! An involuntary growl escapes.

“Heh?” Sek’su questions.

I motion with a hand that it is nothing then return to my thoughts.

Where did the souls go?

The question forms itself and then it is like the reverberations of the bells that call the people to the city center. Echoing off the walls of my mind until it resounds so loudly it must make the universe itself pay attention.

The concept of dragoste, as I understand it in simplicity, is that Tajss created a whole and then split them into two. I am no Maulavi and though I do more thinking than my brother, I am also no philosopher. Why did Tajss split them in two? Because it wanted to, is the only answer I can think of.

But the two seek each other, over and over. Only feeling complete when they are together. Only whole when they are close. Urr’ki were numerous and now we are not. So where did the souls go?

The lizards once dominated the surface. Now they too are destroyed. I know they have their idea of a ‘treasure’. Such a stupid concept. As if your dragoste can be owned or is a thing. Yet the idea is similar enough, and shares enough bonds that there must be some connection. How else could two different species, ones who hate each other, have such a similar concept?

Something catches my attention, pulling me from my thoughts and I stop immediately. I stop so fast that Sek’su bumps into me. He grunts but I hold up my fist to keep him silent. Saylor and Wren are also silent.

Of course, she is. She’s as smart as she is beautiful.

I crouch and study the ground ahead. I’m not sure what I saw, only that something is off. I reach my hand back. When Sek’su doesn’t hand me the lantern I wiggle my fingers, and he finally figures it out. He’s slow but what do I expect from a lizard?

I move the lantern around trying to spot what is off. When I reach the right wall, I see it. A small crack in the wall but the shape of it makes it clear that this is not a natural crack. It was made. I know it because I’ve made hundreds like it myself.

Remaining in a squat, I move back. The others move with me. When I’m clear of the path of the trap I stand up and go to the right side. Somewhere along here, there will be a wire. It will be close to the wall. I need to find it and see how they rigged the trigger.

---