Page 57 of Mountain Orc Daddy

My tribe starts murmuring again. Maybe this was a bad call. They’ve all lived their whole lives up here in the mountains. It’s silly to think they’d want to leave to live in the unknown.

“Ahem,” Mara steps forward towards the tribe. “If I may, in our time with Uzul and since meeting and fighting alongside all of you. We’ve come to have a great level of respect for orcs, and the Broken Maws Tribe.”

“Yes,” Phineas continues. "A lot of respect.”

“We also hold a lot of sway in the supernatural community. Should you all decide to join us in the city, we will be with you every step of the way, to help you integrate and adjust. We will do everything in our power to help all of you live full and successful lives.”

“Uzul,” Rogar looks back up at Uzul. “Is this truly what you think is best?”

“Yes, Rogar. It is. We can no longer survive this way. The time of the Broken Maws Tribe’s isolation is over.”

“Okay.” Rogar nods. “What should we bring?”

The next few hours are spent packing up everything from our tribe. Generations of the Broken maws Tribe gone so quickly. But it’s for much better reasons than what the rogue coven was trying to do.

Orcs and the Morgan family work together, almost as well as they did on the battlefield, to remove all trace that we were ever here. Rogar and Remus lead team to take down tents, Phineas shows others on a map how to get down the mountain and to the city, Mara does magic to impress and distract the children while the adult work, and Jade uses her magic to do some last-minute healing on my tribe mates before we head off.

Blair and I watch it all from a distance. We just stand in silence, her leaning against me. It’s hard to believe it’s actually happening. This new chapter in the Broken Maws Tribe will be scary at first, but it’s for the best.

It’s going to be a lot of work, but right now I’m just grateful to be spending this time alone with Blair. We don’t even need to say anything, simply listening to her breath is enough for me.

From our vantage point, we can see the finishing touches being completed. It’s almost time to go. It’s too bad, everything is about to get so busy, I don’t know when we’ll be alone again.

Blair steps away from me towards her family and my tribe. She looks back with a smile. “Ready to go?”

35

UZUL

“Mara, I can’t thank you enough for all your help,” I say.

She waves me off. “It’s the least we can do to repay you all.”

I look at the giant mess of their home. “Yes but, don’t you think we could’ve done this at the campsite?”

“Then how would we teach your tribe properly?”

She has a point there. However, I didn’t have the foresight to know that other orcs would be clumsier than me. A few windows have broken along with the furniture. That’s only because they still don’t know how to measure their strength.

I have to say that it’s quite a sight to see. Orcs being excited to learn about the modern. The first thing they want to learn is about the “pocket box” each Morgan has. They take them out and light up the cell phones.

The phones make a ringing sound, to what Blair describes as the phone starting or ‘waking up.’ There’s a chorus of ooh’s and aah’s. Blair giggles and places her phone on an orc’s large hand.

Orcs huddle around her to get a better look. She holds down his fingers so he wouldn’t crush it by accident and guides him with one finger. She allows him to touch the screen and navigate through its properties. Just as she did with me.

Blair looks up at my right hand man.

“Rogar, wanna try?” she asks him.

“Sure.”

As she did with the other member, Blair takes Rogar’s hand gently to place the phone on it. The latter clumsily presses too hard on the screen and it cracks. The orcs gasp and turn to Blair. Rogar turns a bright shade of red.

“Blair, I didn’t mean—”

She raises her hand. “It’s okay, you guys are learning. My family can fix this with no problem.”

They all breathe out in relief. I wanted to laugh in Rogar’s face but I’m sure that’s the jealousy speaking. Instead, I offer him an encouraging pat on the back. Although a little too hard.

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