2. Guruk

2

Guruk

The day had started well enough. A smattering of sunshine peeked through the clouds, accompanied by a cool autumn breeze. It had allowed me to tackle the chores I'd been putting off all summer, when the worst of the season's blistering heat bore down on the village. I'd been happy with my progress, but now as evening descended, a patch of ominous clouds rolled in with it.

"Best we get you comfortable, Inara," I called to the alicorn opposite her pen. Since I'd spotted the gray sky in the middle of filling up her exterior trough, the task was rendered useless. "Looks like a storm is coming."

Inara's back was to me, but she raised her good wing in a silent wave of assent. As one of the sacred beasts of Havenlore, she had the respect of our entire village. After her accident in a scuffle with a rogue griffin, I'd been tasked by the high council with caring for her as she recovered—and guarding her against would-be villains. Alicorns were a rare magical breed, their horns able to grant a possessor's most fervent desires. Thus, they were sought after by hunters, thieves, and foul scum alike.

As an orc, my kind were often charged with duties requiring strength and prowess. Living off my farmlands and the surrounding woods, I concentrated on providing the village with produce and lumber. So, the chance to work with this magnificent alicorn was a true honor. Truth be told, my secret passion resided in helping wild creatures; however, animals and beasts of the realm feared my size and tended to avoid my presence. So, I had settled on farming and lumbering instead. Inara, thankfully, had no such hesitations, welcoming my help and protection from the start of our acquaintance only a week ago.

I entered the stable where Inara slept to straighten her bedding and ensure her interior water and food was stocked. It took mere seconds, but in that time, a cry rang out from across the pen.

"Inara!" I leapt through the front double doors, knocking them aside with my bulk.

Standing in the pen with her left wing out-stretched and her injured right wing drooping low, the alicorn dipped her head and readied her horn. The pink and purple glow shone off her all-white form, casting her in shades of neon. The piercing warble echoed from her mouth.

I ran faster than I ever had in my life.

When I arrived at Inara's side, I stared in disbelief at the scene. A hooded figure in a long brown cloak laid in the dirt outside the pen. Next to the creature, a skul-gargoyle with mulberry skin and black eyes held a hammer between its claw. The alicorn had her horn pointed, not at the downed hooded stranger, but at the skul-gargoyle who served as the sheriff's sentinel.

Eying the law enforcement officer warily, I rested a gentling hand on Inara's side. I'd never seen her so worked up before, her front hooves stomping the dirt and her back ones bucking the air. I clenched my jaw at the situation. The skul-gargoyle might be half the size of its gargoyle cousin, coming up to my sternum, but they were fast and agile. One could take down an opponent before the enemy even knew it was in the path of danger.

"Deputy," I said, stroking Inara's mane and silently willing her to calm. "What seems to be the problem here?"

"You tell me." He turned and pointed the head of his hammer toward the figure on the ground. "I was flying overhead when I spotted this being appear from thin air."

I spared a glance at the cloaked creature. It was small, not much bigger than the sheriff's male here. I rubbed at my chin, my beard hairs tickling my hand. "Thin air, you say?"

"Yes, orc. Do your ears need cleaning?" His beady eyes bore into me.

Ordinarily, I'd let a comment like that slide. I wasn't a stranger to micro-aggressions, especially from the surly skul-gargoyles, who were by far meaner and more bitter than their larger gargoyles cousins. But something in the way he held the hammer over that helpless creature on the ground, and then pointed it at me, had my hackles raising.

"Now see here, deputy, this is my land and my business." I grabbed the railing of the pen and hopped the fence. The motion placed me between the deputy and the hooded figure. "I'll deal with anyone who crosses me."

"Oh, will you?" The officer unfurled his leathery wings, the span more than doubling his size. "And if I told you that thing," he poked his hammer at the air beside me, indicating the creature behind me, "was reaching for the sacred alicorn?"

I bristled. Was that true? I wanted to get a closer look at this stranger before I made any rash decisions. First, I had to handle this deputy…diplomatically. "I see. Even so, Inara is under my protection, a task charged to me by the council."

At the mention of the council, the skul-gargoyle's demeanor shifted. His wings curled—albeit slowly—back toward his spine. His eyes, which had been hard and narrowed, sprung wider. He crossed his arm over his chest, and plopped his his hand with the hammer under his chin. "Yes, quite true."

"I'll see to this creature." I motioned toward the figure behind me without taking my eyes off the deputy.

"Hmm," he hummed, non-committed to the plan.

Yet, sensing the change in his mood, I pressed on. "I'll be sure to call the sheriff's office should the need arise." I waved off the idea of any true danger. "But I can handle one little prankster." My accompanying snort, emphasized my point. "He's probably trying to impress a girl or something like that."

"Ah," the deputy scanned the scene once more, "you're likely right given the craven's already been punished by the alicorn."

"Indeed," I patted Inara's neck. I doubted she'd hurt the stranger, but better not to dissuade the deputy of the notion. "Don't think we'll have much trouble."

He huffed but it was a sound with no bite. "All right, guardian. I'll leave it to you." At least, he'd added a respectful title for me instead of simply orc . His wings spread wide once more as he lifted off the ground. When a short distance away, he yelled over his shoulder, "But be sure to keep us informed."

I nodded and waved at his retreating form. When he was gone from sight, the beating of his wings an echo in the distance, I spun on my heel. "Now to find out what you're doing here."

As I approached the hooded figure, more details about them emerged—a glint of gold on the clasp of the cloak, a faint glimpse of hunter green fabric beneath the dirt and dust. Crouching low, I examined the creature's face, obscured by shadows. A tangle of dark strands peeked from beneath the hood, and as I reached out, a gasp escaped me. The figure stirred, revealing a delicate visage framed by a halo of thick brown hair.

"A human female." My large hand eclipsed her face, blocking the moonlight that had risen while I'd argued with the deputy. I slowly lowered it to brush back her hood.

"No," she moaned against my touch.

I snatched back my hand and swallowed at the swarm of feelings rising inside me. The most urgent, worry, arose to the forefront. A human was fragile compared to the other beings of our world. What was one doing alone on my land? Questions whirled in my mind. A slight cry from the female narrowed my focus to…her.

"Are you hurt?" I knelt in the dirt, determined to uncover the mystery of the human before me.

Another moan broke from her lips and her hands swatted at something unseen. "Storm…can't…be."

At her words, I eyed the sky. The darkened clouds had rolled closer, threatening to cover the moon and unleash their wrath. "You're right," I said, speaking like I would to a wounded animal. "We need to get inside. Can you walk?"

The human didn't seem to hear me, caught in some personal nightmare. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and her cloak tangled around her.

"Well, then." I sighed, fighting the inevitable. "Inara, you head into the barn. We need to shelter from this coming storm."

Inara motioned toward the human with her hoof, a question in her crystalline eyes.

"Don't worry." Sliding my arms as best as I could beneath the human's back and knees without jostling her, I lifted her with ease. She thrashed for a moment before sighing in her sleep and snuggling against my chest. A heavy emotion stirred inside me at her movements, a feeling I dared not examine further. I turned to the alicorn. "I'll get this little one settled in the house, then come and secure you."

She whinnied her agreement, heading toward the barn doors, while I carried my charge toward the porch.

As I bounded up the steps and kicked open the door, thunder crackled. The little human in my arms cried at the sound, her eyes springing open but unseeing.

"Shh," I rocked her as I headed for my bedroom. With only me on the farm, I'd built the house simple and compact. I had planned to expand it after finding a mate, but…that hadn't happened. "No time for thoughts like that," I muttered under my breath.

The female had quieted once more, but I wanted her to rest comfortably before attending to Inara. I didn't bother pulling at the comforter my grandmother had quilted for me, its patterns of forest animals and mountain creatures a reminder of her love. I placed the tiny human atop it. I had a time of removing her soiled cloak and tight boots; however, once complete, the female appeared visibly more relaxed. The tightness around her closed eyes softened, her face relaxing into silent repose. Her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm beneath the hunter green tunic she wore.

"Beautiful," I murmured, half drunk on the sight of the sleeping stranger. When I realized I was gawking at the human's curvy form while she slept, I shook myself from the stupor.

My mother would be appalled at my behavior. I could practically hear her chiding voice in my head. "Guruk, you need to stop this foolishness and attend your duty."

I groaned, echoing the sentiment aloud. "Get it together, you fool."

Dragging my gaze away from the lovely stranger, I staggered outside as the first of the heavy rain began to fall. The torrents battered the house and soaked through my clothes in seconds as I headed toward the barn. My feet squished through the water sloshing in my boots.

I sighed and grumbled at the sky. "Perfect."