The Orc #5
That was the best ride of my life. My heart feels like it's going to burst out of my chest. Ulack's soft, almost shy smile makes me want to cry.
Then he says quite bluntly, "I think you can take more fingers."
I cough in response, but before I can come up with anything to say, he leans down and kisses my forehead, tusks scratching my skin. "Come, I'll take you to the waterfall below and clean you properly. Then we can play some more."
I laugh in Ulack's arms while he easily drops down the cliff, dipping us into the water below. We swim, and I get lost in him. We talk and play, and when the sun eventually lowers in the sky, I finally allow myself to think about what I've been ignoring all afternoon.
"Ulack?" I call out. He perched me on a tree branch hanging over the water, jutting out of the cliff. He looks like he's having fun swimming and playing in the water.
He's nothing like the orcs we learned about growing up. There isn't a hint of violence, of blood and gore. He's gentle with me. Thoughtful. Are they all like this? Or is he different, like me?
"Ulack?" I call again. His ear twitches, and he disappears beneath the water before emerging from beneath me.
"Yes, Eden?"
"I need to head back to my village soon." I don't want to go, but contemplating staying here with him isn't possible. All of this… It's pretend.
Ulack stares at me for a long moment. His shoulders drop. Every slight movement he makes is exaggerated because of his size. It's so obvious how he's feeling. I think this orc actually likes me.
"I will bring you home to your people," he sighs.
"No," I rush. "No, they won't understand. I should go back alone."
"Are you safe with them?"
"Of course. Why would you ask that?"
Ulack hums before climbing out of the water.
He grabs hold of the tree I'm perched in, swiping me up with one hand, then traverses the cliff, grabbing onto branches before pulling us back up over the cliff, to the same rock we met at.
It's so fun being plucked and lifted, carried like a rag doll.
Being in his arms feels like I'm flying.
He stands there, water dripping down his massive form, and I can't help but watch the droplets fall from the now soft, pendulous tree trunk hanging between his thighs.
He doesn't notice my perusal, though, and responds to my earlier question. "Humans seem to be violent creatures," he explains.
Humans? Violent?
"Orcs steer clear of the humans; they're small, but there are many. Together, they kill an orc, like bugs consuming a carcass. With their pointy sticks, fires and angry faces. So we avoid humans whenever possible."
I almost laugh at the sheer absurdity. Orcs steer clear of humans?
"There are not as many orcs as there are humans. We are a somewhat peaceful group. But humans seem violent. Are you safe with them?"
When I met Ulack, and with barely a few words exchanged, I was dropping my shift and letting him fuck me with his fingers. I always knew I was a freak, and I'd been dreaming of fucking an orc for ages, so my behavior didn't surprise me.
But now? In these last couple of hours together, noticing the way he acts, not just with me, but his general awareness and respect for nature, a gentleness in the way he moves, I'm suspecting the things we'd always been told about orcs maybe aren't true.
Orcs think humans are the violent ones?
Slowly, I reply, "Yes… I'm safe with them."
Ulack nods, but doesn't look happy. He picks me up and cuddles me in his arms, seated by the boulder.
We're silent for a while, long enough to let the sun set a little lower in the sky, drying our skin and hair.
The rush of the waterfall is soothing, but I don't fall asleep.
Ulack reaches out and picks up my basket of berries, holding it out to me.
I take a few and eat them. He tilts the basket and swallows the rest in one full gulp. I laugh, and he smiles down at me.
"I understand if you must go home," he eventually says.
Where else would I go? I want to ask. I've never felt like I belonged in my village, but I couldn't go live with the orcs, either. "What are your people like?" I ask.
"They are fierce warriors. They hunt humans and eat them like snacks, using their bones to pick their teeth." I tense in his arms before a deep rumble comes from his chest, shaking me in his arms.
I slap his pecs. "You're not funny."
Ulack's laugh turns to a heavy sigh. "The forest is unforgiving.
Every animal has its predators. We have ours; you have yours.
The humans fear what is bigger and stronger than they are.
This is understandable. I will not say that humans need not fear the orcs.
Humans have done a lot of damage to our people.
They are annoying little gnats that don't leave us alone when we simply want to walk through the woods in search of our own game.
But humans are not game to us. Occasionally, we will snarl and stomp our feet, sending the humans running, but generally, we leave them be. "
He adds cautiously, "And I can assure you, my people would leave you be. You would be safe if you wanted to come home with me."
I don't dare answer. I'm barely breathing, tense again in his arms. He doesn't force me to talk, and after a few more minutes, I force myself to crawl out of his lap. I use his knee as leverage and swing down, my bare feet landing on the dirt.
He looks sad as he watches me walk over to my shift. I shake the dirt off it before pulling it on.
Ulack says nothing; he doesn't move. I don't know how to tell him goodbye. I don't want this to be goodbye. But what am I to do? Leave the village, on a whim, for a monstrous green giant I've been taught my whole life would kill me in an instant?
He hasn't. In fact, aside from the scratches on my back from the tree bark, he's been incredibly gentle.
The longer I stand here and watch the emotions pass over his face, the more I know, deep down, that everything I've ever been told about orcs is a lie.
But it doesn't change the fact that I'm human. How could I possibly go live with him?
I choke on the words—to tell him I'll never forget him, that I don't want to leave, that he's the best thing that's ever happened to me. That after a few short hours, I know I'll never be the same again.
Instead, he offers a small, sad smile and nods his head once.
"Goodbye, Eden."
Cruelly, he doesn't get up to leave. He just sits there, leaning against the boulder, forcing me to do the hard thing. To walk away.
The water down below soothed the sore ache between my legs. The feeling returns—a phantom ache, now, of missing him—as I turn and walk away. I quickly swipe the tear from under my eye and keep walking. Each step takes effort.
Once I break past the clearing, into the woods, beneath the canopy of trees, I rush down the trail and head south toward my village.
Rushing, almost as if my legs might turn back if I let them.
I practically ran the first few miles. Then, when the terrain becomes more familiar, the earth and leaves more patted down from the guard's patrol, my steps slow.
It's close to dark now. I've been swallowing down the tears for the last hour, and my heart yanks north, back to Ulack. I barely know him. And he's an orc.
But I feel like I've lost something important. Someone. My heart hurts.
Eventually, I reach the edge of our village. The guards on patrol ignore me as I wander into camp. Skyler spots me first. She waves and rushes over.
"Oh my god, I was so worried! Kella and Tika were supposed to cross paths with you on the new trail. They got back hours ago and said they never saw you. Are you okay? You didn't run into any trouble, did you?"
Skyler looks me over, hands patting my arms, checking to be sure I'm in one piece. I shake my head, unable to respond.
A moment later, Devis joins us, a sneer of disgust on his face. "Where is your basket? You've been gone all day, so where is all the food?"
Shame colors my cheeks. I look down at the ground because I have no good excuse. I was selfish today. Deeply selfish.
Devis scoffs. "Useless girl. No food. And did you lose the basket, too?"
"I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation," Skyler intercedes. But I don't deserve her kindness. I failed today.
I did something I shouldn't have. I sought the forbidden, and the only thing I have to show for it is a broken heart. Broken for Ulack, and for me. I left a piece of me behind at that waterfall. Something I'll never get back. And now I'm here, in this place, where I've never felt at home.
Devis berates me, but I shrug him off and walk away. Past the roaring fire, where people are gathering for evening meals. I walk into my tent, crawl under my furs, and cry.
Skyler checks on me before dinnertime, and again later. She returns alone, just as the sky darkens completely. Nudging my leg with her foot, she says, "Come on. Tell me what's wrong. Ergo will be here soon, and I'll be too distracted by your misery to enjoy myself."
That makes me laugh, and she joins in. "I'm kidding. Sort of. Now, tell me what happened today."
I turn in my bed and sit up. "I don't even know where to begin."
"Were you hurt?"
I shake my head.
"Were you lost?"
Another shake.
She huffs and throws her hands in the air. "Well, what happ—"
"I found an orc."
Skyler gasps, slapping a hand over her mouth. "What! Oh my goodness! I can't believe this! And you let Devis just hound you for screwing up! You should have said something; he wouldn't have been so harsh with you."
I roll my eyes. "We both know that's not true. Besides, I don't want Devis to know. And you can't tell anyone, especially not him!"
"Eden, we need to know if orcs are moving into our territory. We need to be prepared to move; the guards need to be ready for attack—"