Page 51 of Agor

“What for?” He fished his mace out of the pile of dead bodies.

“Are you seriously planning to keep on fighting like that?” I gestured at his injuries.

Cupping the back of my head with one hand, he pulled me in for a quick kiss.

“Just a scratch or two, sweetheart.” He beamed, letting me go. “I’ve had worse.”

I opened a mouth to reply, but an orc slammed into me from behind while retreating from another orc.

Agor crushed the head of the one with the red snakeskin on his arm.

“There you go, Karut,” he said to the other orc.

“Thanks, chief!” The orc moved on, charging another one of Farod’s thugs.

Everywhere I looked now, orcs were fighting orcs alongside humans.

Agor’s people had come to our aid. Why or how, I didn’t know. But hope bloomed in my heart.

All was not lost yet.

“Stick with me.” I winked at Agor, echoing Nacy’s words to Ilya. “We make a great team.”

Grabbing someone’s dropped sword from the ground, I stabbed one of the Farod’s orcs in his belly.

“That we do.” Agor grinned, smashing another one’s head with his mace.

I wanted to hold and kiss him until we both ran out of breath. But two more orcs appeared in front of us with their weapons raised over their heads.

“Mine is on the right,” I called quickly, gripping my sword tightly as Agor pivoted to face the one on the left.

Together, we were stronger than just two people. Together, we were a team.

Chapter 12

Agor

The last of Farod's men dropped dead from Grat’s axe, and I turned around, making sure it was indeed the last one. We didn’t take prisoners. There was no use for that. Every one of the rebels had to die.

The only orcs still standing were all from my keep. I gave a signal, and Nacy brought a horn to her lips, sounding our victory loud and clear across the wetlands.

Humans eyed us with suspicion, however, not lowering their weapons.

Becca threw her arms around me, clearly not concerned about what everyone else thought.

“We made it,” she panted.

Her face was flushed. With her skin, hair, and tunic smeared with blood, she looked more beautiful than ever. But she shivered in the cold.

I wrapped her in my arms tightly. “Come closer, my fearless fire newt. I’ll keep you warm.”

She leaned into me with no hesitation, but then pulled back, a wrinkle of worry crossing her brow.

“You’re hurt.” Her fingers hovered over the rip from a mace—a ragged wound that stretched from my shoulder to my collarbone.

“It’s not so bad.” I broke off the shaft of the arrow in my thigh and tossed it aside. The healer would cut the arrowhead out at some point.

Becca didn’t look any less concerned.

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