Page 67 of Orc's Claim
A challenge. One I may not survive.
“Step out and claim a place among our people. Without your female. Or remain inside and your life will be your own until you can prove your worth to me. But you will not touch that female or any other human or I will hunt you down myself, Warrior.”
My grak does not make empty threats. He is a relentless male, which is in part how he earned his position as grak. While I could evade him to weeks, even months, eventually he would find me. And I refuse to put Lily in danger like that.
“I accept exile. But I will take my female.”
A chuckle. A dark, foreboding chuckle.
Burning fire crawls up my spine, but I dare not speak, not with how he’s fingering his drawn sword.
“You make decisions as if you are grak. Now you will bear the consequences. You are hereby exiled, Ryko, and your female is mine to do with as I please.”
When I open my mouth to object, the tip of his swords bites my throat. “Say even one word, and it will be your last. You will guard the northern border until I send for you. And if you disobey me again, Warrior, I will not only rip your tusks from your jaw, I will take what you care about most.”
Take… as in kill, not mate.
There can be no greater punishment than losing her.
I glance at the road back to Pen’Kesh. Hours to walk there. By the time I reach the market, Lily would have returned with her people to New Earth. I’d have to infiltrate an entire colony, not merely steal Lily away from the woods of Pen’Kesh. No gorja beneath, no warriors at my back, no proper plan to infiltrate.
Such a mission would fail. Or worse, endanger Lily.
Mount Lisk lies in the opposite direction, but it’s closer than Pen’Kesh. Once I have my gorja, nothing and no one can stop me from retrieving my female. Even my grak.
“Go, Warrior. Before I change my mind.” My grak swings hisleg atop his gorja, his sword once again sheathed. “I have a female to claim, and you have a border to guard.”
Without another word, my grak leaves me and heads toward Pen’Kesh.
Vekk, he’s not bluffing. He plans to claim my Lily!
Physically intact, but emotionally broken, I run toward the falls, pouring every ounce of strength and then some I do not possess into running. I’ve lost too much time. I must reach Pen’Kesh before Atox claims Lily for himself.
CHAPTER THIRTY
RYKO
By the time I reach the falls of Mount Lisk, exhaustion overwhelms me. Not even the beauty of the water cascading over the thousand-foot drop, plunging into the crystal blue pool below, can soothe me. I’m near-defeated, physically and emotionally.
The beating I took today, being knocked out, and then my grak ordering me to the northern border of our territory where I will live in isolation until he decides I’ve earned the right to return to our people, has drained me. Only the fear of losing Lily keeps me from collapsing.
And if he does not take her for his own? What will happen to her? Especially if he tells the humans of my mating her.
No, he would not do that. He wants this treaty to last until he has what he needs. Enough females to sustain our people.
My mind spins with all the possible scenarios. I must determine which direction to head. Pen’Kesh? New Earth? Or… home, where I’ll be killed for returning. But I do not know where Lily will be and time… There is no time for error.
What if her people overheard the vints slurs about me and Lily? I do not know what they will do to her.
“Sojek?” I call out but he doesn’t reply. I must find my gorja and stop Atox from taking Lily. After I have her safely at my side, I will rest. Not before.
“Here.” Sojek emerges from the bushes, leading two gorjas, mine and the one that pulls the cart. “The gorjas needed water. There are supplies for you in the back of the cart.”
The cart sits unhitched beside the trail. A few sacks lay in the cart bed. Dried meats and tools for fashioning weapons. It’s enough to support me while I hunt and build whatever I need during my exile.
I run my hands over my gorja, relieved to see he’s well. I’ll need a fast gorja to escape any number of dangers, including my grak.
Sojek has already balanced five sacks on my gorja’s rump, with a thick leather pad to protect him.
