The Orc #7
It doesn't matter, though. Nothing has changed, and no orcs are coming.
So, I forage. I pick berries and herbs and other vegetables and mushrooms that grow in the wild.
I behave, following the new trail south.
I sleep alone at the edge of the woods, and each day that passes like this chips away at my soul.
Until one day, on our way back from picking, we reach the village and there's a commotion right at the guard's entrance.
And that's where I see him.
He's not ugly at all. He's perfect. Hideously monstrous, beautifully warm and kind. And… bleeding?
I scream and race forward, and without thinking, I toss my full basket of berries onto the ground, then jump and tackle the first person I see. Ulack, his voice a deep octave below the rest, calls out my name.
"What are you doing to him?!" I screech, pounding my fists on the next guard. They surround Ulack with spears. He's bleeding near his ribcage, where they already stabbed him once.
Annoying little gnats indeed.
"Eden, I came to see you," Ulack explains in a hurry. Then he looks down at the humans, with some fear in his eyes. Alone, they are no match for him. But together…
One guard tries to pull me back by the waist, but I kick and flail until he lets me go, and I land by Ulack's feet.
"What is the meaning of this!" Devis shouts, his voice ringing out, making all the patrol guards stand at attention.
I look over and watch Devis with the other elders trailing behind him, thunderous steps and rageful sneers.
Skyler comes up behind us from the trail, with Tika in tow.
Even Ergo is here to watch, picking up a spare stick and joining the guardsmen.
"Well, what are you all doing just standing around? Kill the orc!" Devis demands. I scream and jump in front of Ulack.
Ulack picks me up, so I'm seated in the crook of his elbow. I point at Devis. "Don't you dare hurt him!"
"My god, girl. I knew you were stupid, but this?" He's incredulous, but doesn't pause for long. "Then I guess you've made your bed, haven't you? Kill them both!"
Ulack roars, but fortunately, the guards don't attack just yet. It's Ergo that calls out. "Wait, Elder Devis, perhaps we should—"
"Do you not understand orders, boy? I said kill them!"
Ulack hugs me tighter. I can feel his fear. My poor gentle giant. I turn in his arms, but he doesn't loosen his grip. I say to the guards, "He isn't here to hurt you. He's here for me. Just let us go. We won't bother you again."
"Eden!" Skyler shouts from the trail. "What are you doing? Don't do this!"
I point to Devis. "He'll have me killed if I stay. It isn't safe for me. Besides, why would I stay? There's nothing here for me. There never was."
I can see my words hurt her, and she flinches. Perhaps feeling bad for the way she's treated me the last few days. But can't she see I was right? Ulack isn't here to attack.
"It's a trick!" Devis shouts. "He's brought a horde with him. Our village is under attack. We must fight back!" He sounds frantic, flailing about, and for the first time, I think everyone sees what I've always seen when I look at the old man.
A power-hungry storyteller.
"There is no horde. No attack," Ulack says calmly. "I will take my Eden and we will leave." His voice doesn't shake, but I can tell he's nervous they won't let us go. He could probably take them, even without a weapon, if he's forced to fight back.
But we both know I would be collateral damage, now that I'm in his arms.
I think that's all I've ever been to my villagers.
"Let us leave," I say again, more firmly. The guards look from me and Ulack, standing here, calmly asking to leave peacefully, then to Devis, who is still flailing about and shouting exaggerations about orc attacks, and violence and blood and gore.
Ulack is the only one bleeding.
"It was his tracks we saw a few weeks ago," I tell them, then pointedly look at Skyler. She was there with me. She started this, in a way, going on about orc tracks and how close they were to our camp. She began this hysteria.
We trade places for once, and I see a little shame in her eyes too. "Eden is right. All I saw were a couple of simple tracks. Nothing close to camp. And I've been casing the forest all week. There are no other tracks, even from the north. We are safe. We should let them leave."
Devis snarls, "The stupidity must be contagious.
You've been spending too much time with her!
" He points a crooked, bony finger at me.
Ergo moves to stand beside Skyler, and I wonder if they've become more than bedmates.
Perhaps time alone with me out of the tent has given their relationship space to bloom.
Look at me. I fall for an orc, and suddenly, I'm a romantic.
Orah stands beside the old man and waves a hand. "Be quiet, Devis. That's enough. We will let the girl go." She pins me with a glare. "You've got the clothes on your back. You may leave, girl, but do not return. You are no longer welcome in our village if this is the path you choose."
I look around at all the familiar faces. These people I've known my entire life, have grown up with. Skyler's eyes water. She presses her lips together, but makes no move to convince me to stay.
I feel like I don't know them at all.
And this hurts. It really hurts to be cast out so easily.
But Ulack, bracing me, protecting me, offers more comfort than anyone else has, my whole life.
"Goodbye, Skyler," I say. "Ergo. Tika."
They both nod. A tear spills from Skyler's eyes, but she says nothing. Ulack takes a step backward, then another, afraid to give them his back. He's right not to trust them.
The spears don't lower. But eventually, he turns his back on my people, and carries me away into the forest.
Eden
We're quiet. I don't know where he's taking me, but he doesn't put me down. That's okay with me. It feels good to be in his arms. Safe. Cared for.
Ulack cradles me, and the rhythmic steps as he strides through the forest lull me to sleep.
When I wake, we're in a part of the woods I've never seen before.
With his steps so big, we moved at greater speed than I would have alone; it feels as if we've traveled a hundred miles, though don't think we've moved that far.
Even the air feels different here, a little cooler, fresher.
The trees are darker, denser, especially now, as the sun sets.
Ulack blends more easily into his environment.
We hear lumbering steps. Leaves on a nearby tree shake, birds caw and scatter. And then three orcs step out from around a dense brush.
My hand tightens into a claw on Ulack's arm, but he doesn't flinch. Instead, he nods his head. "Uska, Ulee, Utaya, meet my human. Eden."
Ulack lifts me, like he's showing off a toy. I feel ridiculous, and a lot intimidated, but the three orcs, two women and one man, all nod respectfully. The female says, "We are glad to have you, small human. Ulack missed you."
"I do not see the appeal," the man, Ulee, states. "But we are glad you are home safe and happy."
Ulack shrugs, making me bounce in his arms. Then they say their goodbyes. The three amble deeper into the woods, in the direction we just came from, while Ulack walks us toward the bottom of a cliff. I look up and can see shapes cut out of the rock that form steps, which rise hundreds of feet up.
I barely have time to protest before Ulack simply climbs. My stomach dips as we ascend, so I squeeze my eyes shut until we're at the top. My ears pop, but the air is so clean, I've never taken such a sweet breath.
"Look," Ulack urges, once he's stopped climbing. So, I open my eyes and look. Then gasp.
We can see the entire forest from here. We're above it all. It stretches on as far as the eye can see. There's a mountain far in the distance, one I didn't know existed. The clouds are beautiful, dusting across the sky, lit by the bright moonlight.
It's breathtaking.
I turn my head and find Ulack smiling at me, with a soft, reverent look in his eyes. "I will bring you back in the morning. It's even more beautiful at dawn."
There's a deeper unspoken promise in those words. I nod, unable to speak, my throat thick with all the things I feel, want to say. Thank you for saving me in more ways than one. Thank you for your kindness, your generosity.
But I say nothing. Because, even though I have no idea what comes next, I feel relief in my soul, as if I have all the time in the world to tell him what he's done for me. And that means I have all the time in the world to find ways to say thank you.
The air is cleaner up here, crisper. I look up at the moon, now shining high in the sky, feeling utterly, completely at peace.
Ulack
She is even more beautiful than I remembered. Her blonde hair blows in the wind, the open air at the mountaintop flowing the strands in wild abandon.
"Let's get you home." I keep expecting some level of reluctance, some hesitancy. I've just selfishly taken her from everything and everyone she knows and loves. Her people may not appreciate her, but coming here with me, being banished from her village, is no small thing.
But she offers a quiet smile and asks, with a hopeful lilt in her voice, "Home?"
"My home."
"Do you have bunkmates?" Her tiny nose screws up in distaste.
"No. Orcs… we live together, but alone. When an orc comes of age, they find their own cave until they find their mate. We are territorial, even though we stick close together. Other orcs live nearby, but not so close we can hear or see them."
Rarely will another orc visit my dwelling. We have communal spaces we share, waterfalls and mouths of caves large enough to fit many of us at once. But the thought of living with another, until now, did not appeal to me.
Nerves swell in my belly. The orcs do not have many natural predators. And yet, this teeny human makes me feel more unease than if I were to face a herd of wild cats.
What if she does not like it here? What if she finds it lacking?