Chapter 3

Raz'jin

N o one knows it was me who freed her last night. The town simply wakes up the next morning to find the ropes cut, and the human gone.

There's a little melancholy around the assembled orcs—they were looking forward to letting her rot up there, probably until she died—but they quickly forget about it and move on.

I, on the other hand, am nursing a fierce hangover. I haven't forgotten what I did.

Why I did it... I still can't quite guess. I want to claim it was the alcohol. She tried to kill me first. She tricked me to get away. I should have wanted her dead, too.

But part of me admires her fearlessness, her quick thinking, even the little scar on the side of her face from some battle she barely won. Not to mention that one tantalizing breast hanging out for everyone to see. I wanted to put my hand on it. I should have, last night, when I cut her down from the post. Maybe I helped her because I couldn't imagine anyone else seeing it but me.

After watching her sprint away into the night, I'd gone back to my room with a huge boner and spent the next thirty minutes dragging my hand from the base to the tip of my cock and back, picturing that perfectly round, petite, pale breast with the pink nipple. In my drunken haze, I wondered what it would taste like. What would she smell like? A pretty thing like that, a human, no less... She'd taste like fruit. She'd smell like flowers and perfume.

I wanted to know the answer, but I know I never will. So I fantasized and fantasized until I ejaculated all over my hand.

If I could have her, would I come all over her belly like I do with the trollesses I've fucked? Or would I jam it deep inside her instead and fill up her tiny little hole? My cock was already hard again, so I brought my hand back down to it, and went for round two.

That morning, Blizzek is waiting impatiently for me as I finally make my way to the gate on the edge of town. His eyes are narrow and suspicious.

"Somebody let the little human go," he says. "Ropes were sliced clean off. She couldn't have done that herself."

"How do you know? She was a pretty clever thing."

But my friend isn't that big of an idiot. He just nods and says, "Uh huh."

Despite my raging headache, I suggest we head somewhere new, and see what else we can find. There might be a vein closer to the surface. There's still a chance for us to strike it rich in the Sandteeth.

I wonder if that little human is still around somewhere, or if she's run back home yet. The way she wrapped her hand around my tusk and looked right into my eyes...

If I see her again, I don't think I could control myself.

Telise

I barely made it out alive, and it's only thanks to him.

I wonder what his name was. At the very least I should have asked that when he cut me down, but I wanted to escape before he changed his mind about helping me—and before something else happened that I can't quite bring myself to imagine.

When he looked at me like that, eating up my half-naked body, I'd felt something new. I wanted him to keep looking. When he cut me down, I expected him to pick me up and drag me away to some cave to take the rest of my clothes off. What would I have done then? Would I have screamed for help, or let him do it?

I'm bruised and cut open in a few places, so after I've sprinted through the darkness for a good few miles to put some distance between myself and the orc town, I have to stop to rest. It's going to be a long trek back to the city, where I hadn't planned on returning so soon. It's a good thirty miles through hotly contested territory, and I have to hope I don't run into any more trollkin on the way. They won't be so merciful when they see an injured, half-naked human on the road, I know that much. I got lucky that the big blue troll took mercy on me, even after I'd nearly knocked him out cold with my foot.

After bandaging up my wounds as best I can at my tiny camp and getting some troubled sleep, I'm ready to continue on. I keep to the brush, hoping that none of these cuts get infected in the meantime.

My leopard got away this time, but I'll try again like I always do. A girl's got to eat after all .

When I finally drag myself into the high walls of the city, I feel like I've had the tar beaten out of me. I see a healer right away, who tsks over my stained, dirty bandages and fixes me up with some salve. Once I'm freshly cleaned up and bandaged again, I visit the tailor, where buying a new shirt and pair of pants wipes out what coin I have left.

I have one penny left, just enough to send a letter to Deleran. I'm going to need help getting home and he's the only one I can trust to loan me a little money.

This time, when I go on the hunt, I head to the south instead of the north. I don't want to risk seeing the troll again just in case he's decided he wants a rematch.

Raz'jin

After a few weeks, I try to forget about my little run-in with the human. Somehow that disgusting, backward race produced this pretty little creature with eyes like jade fire, and though she doesn't cross my thoughts much during the day, the nighttime is a different story.

That's when I imagine how she might feel, with that perfectly soft skin underneath my rough hands. I'd grab that nipple with all four of my fingers and manhandle it, then maybe I'd suckle her like a just-born whelp, too.

But that's not the best part of the fantasy. The best part is when I pull out my drooling cock and start to push it inside her. That's when my hand starts to move faster, my seed already dribbling down the front and lubricating my fingers. I imagine that instead of my hand, it's her tiny little hole squeezing me tight as I thrust in and out. What would she sound like as I pounded her into the ground? I remember the way she shouted at me when she had her knife pointed at my throat and try to bring that noise to the forefront again.

After all this time obsessing over her, imagining how fucking her would feel, I know that I wouldn't pull out at the end. No, I'd let myself release inside her, filling her to the brim until it's spilling out of her. It would coat her small, powerful thighs, dripping out of her as she manages to get back to her feet, and I crush her mouth against mine.

Damn, I guess I was lying. I've really let her into my brain and now she's trapped there, a torturous little thought banging against the walls holding it inside.

Blizzek gives me a puzzled look as we extract another penny-sized chunk of gold. We did hit it big, after all—big enough that I'll be able to take a few months off after this trip. I should be thrilled about it, but instead, I'm lost in my thoughts.

"I thought you'd be happier," he says, tossing another tiny nugget into our bag. We'll split the profit fifty-fifty after taxes. Fucking taxes, heading straight up the pole to our idiot Grand Chieftain, sitting atop his throne of hides and teeth. "We hit a good one."

"Yeah, it's great," I say absently, chiseling out another little piece. It's difficult work, though, and my hands are finally starting to get tired.

"Get your head in the game, Raz. I can't have my partner dozing off on the job."

With a sigh, I try to refocus. I've got to stop thinking about the human with the pale skin and perfect breasts. "Right."

"Thanks," Blizzek says. "You're never going to see her again, so stop thinking about it."

I know that he's right, and I don't think I like it. But this is the way it should be.

I'm a troll, and she's not. We can't even speak the same language. It could never happen the way it happens in my imagination, I know that for sure. So I try to push her out of my mind and get on with my work, pledging to find some good cunt next time I'm in the big city and finally forget about her.

Telise

"I'm sorry, you what? " Deleran tosses back some wine. He lent me some money to get back home after I finished up my hunt. "I can't believe you'd let your guard down long enough to get captured."

"I was a little distracted."

"Right, you tried to take out two trollkin alone and almost got your ass whooped." He narrows his eyes. "And then you, what, kissed him? On his big ugly mug?"

"It wasn't that ugly," I say reflexively. Deleran scowls even deeper. "It got me out of the situation intact, didn't it?"

"I'm sure there are other ways you could've gone about it."

But I don't care what he thinks. It worked. And I even liked it, just a little bit.

"You know," he says after another swig. "You've always been kind of a freak, Telise. So somehow shocked, but also not surprised."

"He's the only reason I'm not dead right now," I say. "I could be just a sack of bones hanging from a post."

Deleran doesn't respond right away. "Yeah," he finally says, staring down into his cup. "I am glad you're still alive, even if it's only because you kissed a damn trollkin right on the mouth. He must have a crush on you now."

Without my permission, my heart jumps a little. What if he does? While I've been revisiting the moment that I kissed him over and over, has he been thinking about me, too?

"You didn't realize?" Deleran asks, noting my surprise. "The troll only let you go because it has a thing for you now."

Huh. Why does that tickle me in a place deep down? I like the idea of him desiring me. I wonder if kissing him sent off a whole chain reaction of events in his mind.

"Guess it's a good thing I did what I did, isn't it?" I grin at him. "It was even a little hot."

Deleran's face turns red. "You have to be joking." He shakes his head in deep disapproval. "Telise, I can't wrap my mind around you."

"Guess I am a freak."

Deleran did help me and my leopard hide get home safely, so I owe it to him to be a little nice.

"Did you get some good ass while I was gone?" I ask.

"It was all right." But it doesn't look like his heart is in it.

"I made you something." I had the whole trip back on the ship to do some arts and crafts. I pull out a pair of boots, the ankles rimmed with generic rabbit fur, and set them on the table in front of him.

His eyes light up. He grabs the boots and holds them up, evaluating the shape of the foot, studying my stitch work. If I know anything about my best friend, it's that he appreciates fashion. And these boots are fashion.

"For me?" He immediately rips off his shoes and puts the new boots on. "Wow. Lined, too?"

"Can't have you freezing or anything." Winter is approaching soon, and I plan on staying on my feet. I hope that he'll come with me—I'm a little more wary of traveling alone now.

"Are you dragging me up north?" he asks, now obviously impatient with me. "Is this a bribe? "

"It's a gift!" I do my best to appear put out by his accusation. But Deleran simply doesn't speak, giving me a stop lying to my face look instead. "I want to get some bear, okay? People are all about bear right now. And beaver. There's only one place I can get that."

With a dramatic sigh, Deleran drops his head to the table. "I should never have left Great Oak with you."

"Didn't think you'd get dragged all over the world, huh?" I smile. "We'll go by train. I hear the trip is lovely."