Chapter Twenty-One
Audrey crossed the town as quickly as she could without drawing attention. She kept her head low and forced herself to walk at a normal pace.
As she neared the house, she spotted a group of orcs ahead on the street.
Her stomach dropped when she recognized them.
Brakus the Immovable and Raknar the Steadfast were moving down the road, talking loudly with Jorrad the Brutal.
They were walking toward her, and there was no way to avoid the encounter without looking suspicious.
Brakus was telling Jorrad that the krags were fine, just tired after the long trip. He said he was feeding them well and brushing them daily, making sure they recovered their strength. Audrey stopped dead in her tracks.
This was him. The orc who’d killed her family fifteen years ago. The orc whose face had haunted her nightmares and fueled her every waking moment since she was ten years old. He was right there, walking toward her.
She felt sick to her stomach. Her hands started trembling, and she clenched them into fists at her sides. Her vision blurred at the edges. Cold sweat broke out on her skin, and her mouth went dry. But she forced herself to stay still and keep breathing.
The orcs spotted her and their conversation died. To her despair, Raknar stepped forward with a smile, clearly intending to make introductions.
“Audrey, this is Jorrad the Brutal, one of our finest warriors who just returned from an important mission. Jorrad, this is Audrey, the captain’s mate.”
Jorrad leered at her, his dark eyes traveling slowly down her body and back up again. He bowed his head in what looked like forced respect.
“So, this is the human who made Morgath the Skullreaper change his mind?”
Audrey tried to smile. She felt her lips pull into something that probably looked more like a grimace.
“I don’t know about that,” she said.
“Interesting choice of hairstyle,” Jorrad said, his tone openly mocking.
His body language told her everything she needed to know about what he thought of her.
He stood tall and confident, radiating the self-assurance of someone who dismissed anyone he deemed beneath him.
Then he moved past her as if she wasn’t interesting enough to warrant more of his attention, brushing her shoulder without a second glance.
Audrey squeezed her fists tighter. Her nails dug into her palms hard enough to leave marks. She was trying desperately not to shake, not to let them see how close she was to falling apart.
Brakus hurried after Jorrad, which made Audrey think that Jorrad had earned the respect of the horde despite not being a raider. He held some kind of status among the warriors. Raknar threw her an apologetic look and nodded before following the others. She nodded back, trying to act natural.
Once the orcs were gone and had turned a corner out of sight, she rushed into the house. She ran to the bathroom and barely made it to the toilet before throwing up everything she’d eaten earlier. She flushed and started crying over the toilet bowl.
She allowed herself five minutes to break down. She couldn’t stop the tears even if she tried. Fifteen years of rage and grief poured out of her in those five minutes, and she let it happen because she needed to get it out of her system.
After, she brushed her teeth and rinsed her mouth. She grabbed the radio from her bedroom and locked herself in the bathroom again. She sat down in the bathtub with her knees drawn up to her chest and called the Tusk Hunters.
Natalie answered after a few seconds. She seemed to be the only one available, and she explained that the team was translating the pictures Audrey had sent in the next room, all of them on their laptops working together. Owen was out on patrol around the perimeter of their base.
“We’re making good progress,” she said. “We’ve translated a few of the names on the vials.
” Natalie paused, and Audrey heard papers rustling.
“The midnight blue vial with spots that look like oil rings inside? It’s something close to a poison.
Actually, a paralyzer, usually used as anesthesia.
We’ll keep translating, and we’ll surely find something better. More lethal.”
“Okay… That’s okay.”
“I can tell your voice is shaking. Are you all right?”
The question nearly broke Audrey’s composure, but she held herself together.
“I saw him. The killer came back with the group today. His name is Jorrad the Brutal.”
Natalie was quiet for a moment.
“I’m sorry, Audrey. I’m so sorry. It must be terrible. But it’s also a good thing. Now you can make him pay.”
“I’m not sure how I’ll do that yet,” Audrey said.
“I need to know if any of Morgath’s potions are even remotely poisonous enough to kill an orc.
Even if you guys give me good news and find something that’ll work, I still don’t know how I’ll sneak it into Jorrad’s drink or food without being seen.
There are too many orcs around all the time. ”
“Take it one step at a time,” Natalie said. “There’s no need to rush into anything. Do you want us to help? Maybe create a distraction or provide backup when the moment comes?”
“I can do it alone,” Audrey said. “I need to do it alone.”
There was a sudden commotion on Natalie’s end. Audrey heard yelling and what sounded like something heavy crashing to the floor.
“Fuck, what’s going on?” Natalie shouted. “Shauna? Tyler? Cole, what’s going on?”
More shouting in the background, along with the sound of footsteps running and doors slamming.
Audrey sat up straight in the tub.
“Natalie? What’s wrong?”
Natalie was cursing now, her voice rising in pitch.
“No, what the fuck? Fuck, fuck!”
More crashes, and the sound of something breaking, glass maybe, and then what might have been a door being kicked in.
Audrey started to shout into the radio.
“Natalie, talk to me! Natalie!” She gripped the radio so hard her knuckles went white.
Natalie’s voice came through one more time, breathless and terrified.
“They’re here!”
Then the connection cut off, leaving nothing but static.
Audrey kept shouting into the radio for several more minutes. She called for Natalie, Shauna, Owen. She must have shouted at least a dozen times, trying different frequencies, but no one picked up.
She jumped out of the tub and unlocked the bathroom door, ran through the house and burst outside onto the porch, the radio still clutched in her hand.
She stopped there and stared down the road toward the forest, as if she could see all the way to where her team had been attacked.
A few orcs passing by sent her odd looks, clearly confused by her panicked expression.
She hid the radio behind her back and forced a smile onto her face. She waved at them, trying to act like everything was fine. They nodded back uncertainly and continued on their way, though one of them kept glancing back at her with a puzzled expression.
Audrey went back into the house. She leaned against the closed door and slid down to the floor.
“What the hell happened?” she whispered to herself.
She didn’t know what to do. It seemed like the Tusk Hunters had just been attacked, but by whom?
Had the orcs somehow discovered their base?
Had another horde stumbled across them? She tried to reassure herself that they were going to be fine.
They were hardened hunters who knew what they were doing, they’d survived countless dangerous situations before, and they’d survive this one too.
She felt the urge to go help them. Every instinct told her to grab her weapons and go, but she forced herself to stay put.
Her mission was here, where Jorrad the Brutal walked around free and unpunished.
If she could take care of herself in enemy territory surrounded by over a hundred orcs, then her team could take care of themselves as well.
But even as she tried to convince herself of that, her hands wouldn’t stop shaking.