Chapter 26

Chapter

Twenty-Six

MIRANDA

T he squealing roar punctured through the air and rattled in Miranda's skull. Her mind went blank, breathing stopped. Her muscles bunched with panic.

The screaming beast twice Govek's height charged toward them. A massive, disgusting pig with black fur and a humped back. Foaming mouth. Beady red eyes. The stench of rot burned her nose. Its hide was covered in swollen, oozing welts.

"Miranda!"

The terrified screams brought her back to her senses, and she plunged to the left, bolting for cover with Roenia's babe still in her arms.

"Oh Fades! Miranda!"

She whirled toward the voice and found Roenia and Savili scrambling toward her with terror-stricken faces. Roenia got to Miranda first and snatched her baby back .

"Here!" Aralie yelled from behind an oak trunk. The other women bolted for it, but Miranda turned, stupidly, helplessly.

Where was Govek?

The beast was right there. So big, Miranda couldn't comprehend it. Its head towered over her. Its mouth was gaped, drooling, with jagged yellow teeth.

Govek made it to the beach first and scrambled toward Miranda. Eyes wild.

The pig turned away from her and charged for him.

Miranda's throat burst with a scream as Govek caught the creatures' tusks in his hands. They were longer than his whole torso and sharp enough to skewer him. Water sprayed in arches around the pig's sides as it pushed Govek deeper into the spring.

Govek roared. Somehow, he leveraged himself against a boulder and hurtled the beast onto its side. Water splashed so high she lost sight of him. Her heart exploded in panic.

The beast snarled and flailed its legs in the air. Spraying water. She couldn't see Govek. Was his head under? Was the pig on top of him? Was he going to drown? She couldn't see?—

There he was! He was trying to leap around the creature, to get behind its head. But then the pig got back onto its feet. Its head plunged forward, yellow tusks skewering the air toward Govek. He barely managed to dodge.

There were black spikes near the base of the tusks, thick cords of rope had them tied on securely.

Just like the one that had skewered Govek the day they met.

Her stomach dropped .

"Govek! Get back!"

Miranda couldn't tell which of the orc males had yelled. She couldn't see anything but Govek as the beast was on its feet again. It swung its deadly tusks, ready to skewer him.

Govek dodged again but slipped on the rocks. He couldn't get traction. Oh god, oh god!

"Govek!" Miranda wailed helplessly. Govek's eyes snapped to hers for a split second. Long enough that the pig caught him with the end of his tusk.

She heard the crack. Felt it in her own chest.

She'd killed him! Oh god, she was so?—

If Govek felt pain, he didn't acknowledge it. He dove into the waist deep water, scrambling back as the beast swung his head. It charged. Sliced its deadly tusks through the air again. She could barely see past the waves, could barely make out Govek's green blur.

"Help him!" she screamed at the other males. Karthoc sprinted in. The others had already gathered up their children, and were dragging them deeper into the safety of the woods.

Miranda started into the icy water, eyes back on Govek. She couldn't look away again, but she was so terrified of what she might find.

"Here!" Karthoc raged at the beast. His voice ricocheted off the trees and coiled in Miranda's gut. "Come for me!"

It was like the pig didn't even hear him. It was so blind in its pursuit of Govek. Its eyes bulged and its screaming squeals raged, and Miranda slipped on the rocks, fell to her knees in the icy water. But she got back up and kept trying.

She could not let him die.

The cold barely registered as she went deeper. Her lungs burned, her muscles quaked as she tried to keep her balance. She slipped on the rocks again. Almost there.

Miranda lunged forward and snagged the beast's tail. She fell, splashing into the spring as she went under. The pig's back leg whizzed through the water right next to her head.

She burst back to the surface and scrambled away from the deadly hooves. Blood pounded in her ears. Her hold on its tail tightened like a vice, and she yanked hard.

The beast screamed.

It turned toward her.

"Miranda!" It was a woman's scream, but she didn't know who. She couldn't bring herself to look. She let go of the pig's tail and struggled away, slipped again, unable to get traction. Her knees gave out.

"Miranda!"

Govek's roar punctuated through her soul, and she turned.

The pig was right behind her, its red eyes fixed. Drool and pus and rot sprayed from its screaming mouth.

Govek slammed into its side and it fell.

Water exploded in front of her. Govek and Karthoc both straddled it. Their claws dug into its hide. The pig wailed and the unholy sound caused Miranda's ears to ring.

Govek unhinged his jaw, stretched his mouth impossibly wide, and dug his massive fangs deep into the creature's neck.

Blood sprayed from the artery, flooding the air with its metallic odor, turning the water red. Govek slashed again with his hands, slicing deeper through the vein in its neck.

Fuck, he was covered in blood. From head to toe. What of it was his? She couldn't tell .

He and Karthoc held the creature down as it fought to its last. Iytier and Estoc rushed in to help even as the pig's twitches stilled. Its eyes clouded. Its nose bled.

Govek slid down from the creature's back, shaken and wobbly. He loped toward Miranda with murder in his eyes and yanked her arm, dragging her through the icy water and back to the bank. She followed blindly, trying to catch up so she could get her hands on him. See his side where the tusk got him.

He stopped only when they reached the center of the bank. He rounded on her, ran his hands over her arms. Her sides. Through her hair. Eyes searching.

"I'm okay." Her voice came out choked. She gripped his shirt and tried to pull it up. To check where he'd been hit. "A-are you? Govek, are you?—"

A deadly growl left his lips. His eyes spat venom. "Never again. Don't ever do that again."

"But you almost... you were..." Tears coursed down her cheeks. Govek's thumbs came down to wipe them away.

The sticky feel of the boar's blood on her face barely registered as Govek's eyes widened and he snapped away from her, backed up. She felt his warmth leave her like an eclipse. Her body shook almost violently.

He was completely covered in blood—chest and face coated, arms bright red all the way to his biceps. His fangs dripped, sharp rows of points disappearing into his still gaping maw.

"Oh god, fuck, Govek, are you okay? I mean... I mean—holy shit." Miranda staggered toward him, but he backed up again. "Is... is your mouth...? Oh god your teeth...?" He'd just torn out the creature's throat with his fangs. That couldn't have been good for them. And the damn pig was rotting . Had he been poisoned? Would he get sick?

His eyes widened, and he spun around. He shuddered and curled in on himself slightly. He tried to wipe at the blood as if it mattered.

"Govek, look at me. Are you okay? It got you in the side. Let me see!" She rushed around to face him and thankfully—for his sake—he didn't try to hide again. "Let me see your side. Is your mouth okay? Your jaw?"

She pulled up his drenched shirt and looked at the dark mark on his green hide. There was no break in the skin, barely the start of a bruise. She wanted to collapse with relief, but instead turned to his mouth. "Open up. Let me see."

His eyes widened, but she pinched his chin until his skin went almost white under the pressure and he helplessly obeyed. None of his teeth appeared to be missing, and he was able to open it just fine.

"Okay," she breathed, panic coming down. Her body shuddered and her eyes flooded, and her throat choked up. "You're okay. You're okay. Right? Nothing hurts?"

He remained frozen.

"Govek, talk to me. You're covered in blood and I can't tell if any of it is yours. " She scrambled her hands back over his chest. "Is it? It's not, right?"

"I'm... fine," he said slowly. "It's the Fades Spring."

"What? It's the..." Oh fuck, she was so stupid. She forgot the spring healed orcs. Relief made tears sting her eyes.

He stepped back.

"Don't you dare!" She closed the gap again.

She started to tremble as the adrenaline faded. God, that boar had been so close to skewering him through the stomach, and even if the spring could heal, there would be no coming back from that. He'd have been dead instantly .

"W-we should go to the doctor anyway." Her eyes burned. She wanted to hold him, to wrap him up, to run her hands over his chest and prove it really was undamaged. "M-make sure-sure you're all right?—"

"I'm all right, Miranda." She was sobbing now and couldn't hear him very well.

She ripped at the tie of her cloak, fumbling with the stupid knots like she always did.It was soaking wet, only making the task more difficult.

"What are you doing?" His tone was tinged with bafflement.

She couldn't get the words out. She ripped off her cloak, turned the leather side toward him and pressed tight into his chest, covering up the blood. Like not seeing it would help calm her down. What the fuck was wrong with her?

"Miranda." He watched her struggle. She couldn't get the damn cloak to stay up and stopped trying. Just let it fall to the rocky ground.

"N-no more fishing."

He was silent a long moment and it let her gather herself before he muttered, "What?"

"You aren't allowed to go fishing ever again!" She wailed, far too loud. Her voice echoed in the woods. "Or hunting! Do you hear me?"

"Miranda—"

"You almost died." She sobbed harder, tucking her face into his chest, uncaring that she was now getting covered in sticky blood. "Don't ever, ever do that again, Govek."

"Okay," he whispered. Still hovering around her when she wanted him to hold her, squeeze her tight. "Okay, Miranda."

She reached up around his neck and pulled him down, forced him to rest his head against hers. He muttered something about getting her bloody and she snapped. "I don't fucking care. You better hug me right now or I'm gonna turn myself into a backpack and force you to carry me around everywhere for the next month." She might do that anyway.

He huffed out a sound she couldn't place. Something like a laugh or maybe a whimper. His weight curled around her, settling heavily on her head and around her back. She felt his palms on her shoulders and against the back of her head.

"Fingers too, Govek," she demanded, harshly. "Claws and all." He hesitated but did. Very lightly. "I'm never going to forgive you for this. When we're old and gray and on our deathbed, I'm still going to remind you of how bad you scared me just now."

"Yes, my love," he whispered into the top of her head. His weight crushed her a little and she relished it. "I will not fish in the afterlife either, if it will appease you."

"Damn straight you won't," she said, uncertain if she was laughing or crying. "Why'd I have to fall in love with a fucking orc! Why couldn't you just use guns like normal people!"

"I don't know what a gun is, Miranda." His voice warbled with humor.

"Bows and arrows then. Keep yourself at a nice safe distance and shoot things from really, really far away." She moved back a little, rubbing the tears from her eyes. "Goddamn it, Govek. "

"Is everyone all right?"

Miranda was jarred out of her haze.

Dang, she was surrounded by people right now. Most of them were only twenty or so feet away. They came out from behind a huge tree. The adults had their full attention on their families as the boar tainted the water red. The children were mostly distracted too. Either crying in their mothers' skirts or looking to their fathers for support.

Estoc's eldest, however, burst in excitedly, "Father, I want to touch it! Let me touch it!"

"For the will of Fades, Vaiteg, if you ask to touch it one more time."

"Look, father!" the boy pleaded. His exuberance got a few of the younger kids to look up, releasing a little fear. "It's amazing . And did you see Govek? He was like—rawh!" The boy exuberantly acted out Govek ripping out the boar's throat, tiny fangs and all.

Miranda smiled. She couldn't help it.

"I wanna do that when I come of age! I want to hunt a boar."

Estoc glowered at Govek as he said to his son, "No."

"Aw, father, please !"

"Are you all right, Miranda?" Savili approached, her hands trembled around her whimpering babe. "You aren't hurt?"

"I can't believe you ran in there, Miranda!" Roenia said. "That was so foolish."

"Yes."

Govek's single word spiked a torrent of shivers down Miranda's spine. Oh shit, he was big mad. She would have to make this up to him majorly.

"I'm sorry," she said, mostly to the women because saying sorry would not put much of a dent in Govek. "I just... got caught up."

"I'd do the same for Iytier," Savili said.

"The fuck you would!" Iytier raged from where he stood in the water next to the boar as he examined its tusks. "If I ever catch you running after a boar, you'll have the Fades to answer to."

Savili ignored him. "I have an extra dress, Miranda. Come on."

"This is the same as you saw, right, Govek?" Karthoc pointed to the spikes tied to the animal's tusks. "When you were in the outer woods?"

"Yes." Govek let Miranda go and waded back into the water to examine the boar. Savili pulled her behind a nearby rock and helped pull her gown off. Roenia brought the new one.

Fuck, it was cold. So damn fricking icy cold!

"Look at this. It's like the rope is fused to the tusks," Iytier said.

"It smells odd," Karthoc muttered. "What is that? It's not blight."

"It's... familiar," Govek said quietly. "The last had it too. This odd stench. Is it goblin poison?"

Miranda finished dressing and came around the bolder just in time to see Govek's expression go slack.

"Iytier . . . scent here. That's . . . it can't be."

The male leaned close to the boar's tusk and his brow furrowed. Then he shot back with wide eyes.

" Fades be fucked! "

"What?" Karthoc said. "What is it?"

"Magic," Iytier said. " Orc magic. "

"Who?" Karthoc asked just as Govek had made it back to the bank.

He swung Miranda up into his arms. Held her tight. A chill sliced at her scalp as he barreled through the woods. But not before he raged over his shoulder to answer Karthoc's question.

"Ergoth!"