Page 49 of Orc's Possession
Evve points west. “Avi naka. Avi naka.”
She knows the area. I don’t. I run where she indicates.
Trees and boulders, but no river!
Plan B. Find a small crevice for Evve to squeeze between the boulders. Then, pray yengas aren’t like mountain goats as I climb the jagged rocks.
While looking for a deep crevice for her to squeeze into, I spot the most glorious sight. A lake with crystal blue water waiting to save us.
“Lo!” Evve shouts as she squirms to escape my arms.
“It’s okay, sweetie. I’m a good swimmer. I won’t let you drown.”
As we reach the water’s edge, the snort of a yenga makes me turn.
Not one. Five.
Five sets of horns lower.
The yengas charge and I toss Evve into the water and dive in after her, quickly grabbing her arm and pulling her up with me as I surface.
“Racanna, racanna, Paloma! Nay yar ok tam,” she cries out the moment she spits out water.
“You’re fine, sweetie.” I try to catch my breath all while wading water and keeping an eye on the yengas that stopped at the shore.
The beasts snort and paw at the ground. One dips its head and points his very long horn at us. As agitated as the beasts are, they don’t venture into the water.
I take a deep breath, relieved. More yengas arrive by theshore. Several drink at the water’s edge as I bob in the water with a squirming Evve in my arms.
Evve tears free of my grip and bobs in front of me. She can swim! Then she starts swimming toward the shore. Toward the yengas!
“No, Evve!”
That’s when something grabs my leg and pulls me under the water…
CHAPTER TWENTY
ATOX IM GRAK
“Faster,” I shout as I press my knees into my gorja’s ribs.
The screaming in the distance makes me push my Caju harder than he can handle. By sending two groups of warriors to guard the human colony, I left my people vulnerable to attack.
You’ll never be grak. You’re weak, like your mother.
Never have my father’s words haunted me as much as now, when I can do nothing but listen to the screams of my people as I spur my gorja to run faster.
It’s like being on Orcos again. During The Undoing. An unprecedented fear sweeping through the populace as they tried to escape.
I roar at the top of my lungs, warning whoever’s attacking my people that they’ll die at the end of my sword. Caju rears on his hind legs and we break through the woods, my sword already drawn.
My brain shift gears swiftly. I expected to find bantarans orvints attacking, but instead a herd of yengas is ripping through the settlement.
Caju tramples a yenga with his front hooves, narrowly avoiding the beast’s deadly horn. I slide off my mount, my sword swinging at the stampeding yengas.
Yengas.
This far from the plains…
