Page 34 of Orri

Fight or flight kicks in. My grip tightens on the branch. I have one shot to make this count. I don't want to hurt him, but I don't have a choice. Just as I'm winding up, about to take the swing of my life, one lands right in front of me, rearing up on its back legs with a scream. It's not attacking me. In fact, quite the opposite.

Is it...protecting me?

I don't have time to think. Only to act. With the dactyl between us as a distraction, I bolt out of the way, past Adik and toward the trees. For a moment, I can hardly believe myself. Only a few short months ago I would have never even dreamed of doing something like this. I was far too timid. Far too naive and hooked on my own powerlessness.

Now, I have the strength to choose my own fate.

"Good riddance," I mutter under my breath, as I turn and run for the bike. More dactyls pour out from the trees. The whole herd's approaching now, riled up by the violence. I had no idea there were so many of them. Their cries echo in my ears. Their thundering footsteps shake the already uneven ground. The world spins but still I stumble forward, tripping over what feels like every root and rock. I pick myself up and keep running. I can't look back.

To look back is death. To look back is to leave that chapter — that part of myself and my life — wide open. No. I'm closing that book. I'm moving forward.

The bike comes into view at last, but the dactyls are coming in all directions. They're screeching and tearing at the ground and oh god, there's so many of them. I can't get through! Razor-sharp talons lash out as one takes a giant leap, and I throw my hands up instinctively to defend myself, sure that this is the end...

And then I hear the loudest, most startling, and most welcome sound I've ever heard in my life.

It's Orri, barreling toward us with a war-cry that makes even me quiver in sheer intimidation and awe. It drowns out the roar of the creatures closing in around me, and only one thought remains.

He's here. He came.

I am full of warmth. Maybe he hasn't given up on me after all.

TERRITORIAL CREATURES

ORRI

The roar of the approaching dactyls fills my ears. Dread, then realization, then even more dread washes over me as I push my mount faster, faster than I've ever gone before.

She'd been listening to me, after all.

The dactyl migrations were still in progress close to the border, and they were very territorial creatures. Which meant that if Isabella and her captor were to run across them...

They wouldn't go after her. She wasn't a threat. If they did, it would go against everything we knew about them. But hey, I've been surprised before. So I clench my jaw, let out a shout of determination, and tear into the forest.

My heart pounds with every gallop of the beast beneath me. It swells with something I've never felt before, a kind of internal connection that leads me, largely by instinct, toward my missing mate.

The smell of her drifts on the air. It's her all right, there's something different about it. I can't put my finger on what, so I push it away. Keep riding. Keep moving forward.

Orri... I hear her voice in the back of my mind, plain as day. She's nowhere to be seen and yet I heard her as clearly as if she were standing next to me.

Was this what Soren and Rathgar were talking about? Was this the true heart-mate connection so fabled and rare among our peoples?

Maybe this was what I'd been looking for all this time. What I'd been too afraid to let myself have until now. Love. Companionship. A beautiful, wonderful woman that means the world to me.

I realize now that it doesn't undo the memories I have with Zannah to move on with my life. I will forever miss her, but living my life to the fullest and grabbing onto whatever happiness I can is what she would have wanted.

At last, I realize, that's the true way to honor her memory. Not by living in shame, but by living without reservations. By putting my heart and soul into everything I do, just like Zannah did. It's probably just the rush of emotions or the heat of the moment, but I can almost hear her voice too, whispering to me that it will be alright. That she's proud of me.

And maybe that's just the closure I needed.

Isabella!I call out in my mind. I have no idea if she can hear me, but I just hope she knows I'm on my way...

And I hope I won't be too late.

* * *

I burstinto the clearing when I see the herd stampeding into a frenzy. I pull my mount to a skidding stop and try to survey the situation, but there's just so many of them. I could take down a few, maybe even a dozen if I was lucky, but this many? I'd be overwhelmed in no time. I'm not wearing any armor, and not only do they have numbers on their side, they have razor-sharp talons that can cut through a man's skin like butter.

I'm standing there, trying to calculate my options, when I see a small figure fleeing just in front of them. I hadn't noticed it before when I was trying to count the number of dactyls in the stampede, but I would know that scent — that gait — those flowing locks of hair anywhere.

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