Page 31 of Orc’s Promise (Knotty Monsters #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

VERIG

M y sixth straight day going to Pen-Kesh as the sole escort for Sojek and the cart.

Most days, the cart leaves our camp and returns empty.

Always with another excuse from those we trade with.

I’m starting to think Atox has manipulated the circumstances, but it’s not like him to squander resources, and we are short on warriors now that he’s assigned several squads to watch our southern and eastern borders, the ones most vulnerable to invasion from the humans and vints.

I’m already in a foul mood, and not from the task ahead of me, but because this is the first day that I haven’t snuck into the women’s quarters to see my female and her youngling before I leave.

They never wake when I enter, but that young female who fears all orcs is always awake, watching me and every step I take.

I keep expecting her to alert the others to my presence, all while wondering why she hasn’t already.

“Sojek, where are you?” I call as I exit the mountain. Usually, the young male is quite punctual, but today he’s not waiting for me, as he should be.

I’m about to march to the gorja pen and lay into him for keeping me waiting, but the clomping of hooves and the squeak of the cart’s wheels stop me.

I see why he’s late. He has a passenger aboard his cart.

Tansey. And she’s standing in the cart with the four tumek our hunters captured this week.

She’ll get herself killed if she doesn’t sit down.

It appears Atox has arranged a trade with the moxxels.

We’d do better to eat the creatures than trade them for the moxxels to shear for their wool.

But I know how Atox thinks. The moxxels have plenty of females, and he wishes to remain on good terms with them in case we can no longer take females from the humans.

The smell of the tumek makes my nose wrinkle. I’m surprised Tansey isn’t complaining about it. Then again, humans don’t have our sense of smell.

The cart comes to a stop before me. I don’t meet Tansey’s eyes. Not yet.

“Vekk, Sojek, what is she doing here?”

“By order of our grak, she is to ride with us to Pen’Kesh.”

My gut tightens…Tansey’s returning to her people. I move my gorja close and realize Ethan isn’t with her. “What of the youngling?”

“Our grak would not allow him to leave camp.”

To ensure she’d return. Smart. I’m relieved to know she’s not leaving me. Or rather, my people. But why is Atox allowing her to leave our settlement at all?

“Why are you going to Pen’Kesh?” I ask as Tansey flails her arms to ward off the tumek who have her cornered. They won’t harm her. Sojek would never put her back there if there were even the slightest chance of that happening.

“I’m going shopping.”

“You need tools? Needles and thread for sewing?”

“I need…stuff.”

My female is not a convincing liar. But that is fine. If our grak has given her permission, then I will not interfere .

“You will be under my command during the entire journey to Pen’Kesh, the time we spend there, and the duration of our return here,” I say as I remount. “Move out, Sojek.”

The cart lurches and Tansey screams as she nearly falls over the side.

“Sit, female, before you break your neck!”

“I’m not sitting with those animals. They bite.”

“All creatures bite.” I flash my tusks and vekk me if I don’t remember how her face shone when I dragged my tusks over her hard nipples.

“That’s why I’m not sitting! I don’t want to get bitten.”

“Their bite is harmless. Tumek have no teeth.”

“Unless you can say you’ve been bitten by one and it didn’t do any damage, I’d rather avoid their mouths altogether.”

Even in this, she does not trust me. I inhale a deep breath, demanding patience of myself, and point to the pile of blankets stored in the rear of the cart beneath the hay. “Place one over your head to protect yourself.”

“I’m not trusting my life to a blanket.”

I position my gorja near her. “I have a job to do here, Tansey. Either sit down or return to the tunnels.”

“I wasn’t prepared before. Now I am.” The stubborn female grips the iron frame so hard that her knuckles turn white. “I’m going to Pen’Kesh.”

I don’t care how strong or determined she is. The first rut the cart hits, she’ll fly off and get hurt.

“Then sit up front with Sojek.” I suggest, hating the idea of her sitting on another male’s lap, even though Sojek’s barely an adult and still has the innocence of a youngling.

“I will not sit on a child’s lap.”

“I’m not a youngling,” Sojek says, flashing his tusks at what he’s taking as an insult.

No wonder Atox gave me the supply run. I can’t even effectively command a youngling and a female .

“The driver’s bench is only wide enough for one, which means you either sit on Sojek’s lap or sit in the cart. If you do not decide quickly, I will leave you here. You’ve already made us late with your arguing.”

“I already tried convincing her of this, Warrior,” Sojek speaks up. “That’s when a tumek broke loose and I had to chase it down.”

“This is why you were late?”

Sojek nods. “As soon as I caught the tumek, I tossed it and the female into the cart.”

An interesting solution. “Tumeks are not hard to catch, Sojek.” I stare at Tansey, fairly certain she’d been arguing with him as she’s arguing with me now.

“It’s not her fault,” Sojek speaks up quickly, a hint of fear in his eyes. He likely knows of my displeasure with Tansey. The whole camp does, except they do not understand it’s not my female’s behavior that angers me, but my own.

“The tumek chewed through its line before I loaded him onto the cart,” Sojek adds rather quickly, as if he fears he may get Tansey in trouble by telling me the truth. “She helped me chase and catch the tumek.” Sojek’s always a little nervous around me and Atox, but he’s not a liar.

“If she’s so good at chasing the tumek, then maybe we should put her in charge of herding the animals in Pen’Kesh all the way to the moxxel quarter.”

Her face pales.

I reach down, pluck her out of the cart, and set her on my gorja in front of me. “Sojek will take care of the tumek, Tansey. I have a better idea how to use you.”

“God, I hope so,” she says, breathing a sigh of relief as she settles in against me.

My arm circles around her waist, locking her to me. Gods, the feel of her against me…I’ve missed this. It’s been too long. We ha ve one day together, and then…Vekk, I don’t know what to do to make her respect me again, enough to perform risha with me.

Sojek snaps the reins, getting the gorjas pulling the cart moving again, and we head toward Pen’Kesh, the only market on Kovos where all five species meet, trade, and try not to kill one another.