Page 36 of Orc’s Promise (Knotty Monsters #3)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

TANSEY

V erig shoves me behind him, and I push Ethan behind me. That’s when I spot two humans with the vints. Men with blasters.

“Hand over the woman and child,” Joe Foster says.

The sound of steel sliding from a sheath echoes through the room as Verig draws his sword. “Leave or die. Your choice.” Then he points to one of the vints. “This time I will take more than your hand.”

The one-handed vint points his blaster at Verig.

“Stop,” I shout. “This is crazy. I can leave if I want to, Joe. I’m not a captive.”

“You and your son were kidnapped.”

“Yes, but a lot has changed. We could leave if we want.”

“Show me. Walk out that door.” Joe and Caleb step to the side, creating a path for Ethan and me.

With the door shut, I can’t see who might be waiting outside. There might be no one there, or more of my people. Or vints.

Joe and Caleb stand shoulder-to-shoulder, best buddies, with several vints, the people who have been attacking New Earth along our borders .

I don’t trust any of them. Only Verig, but we need to avoid a fight. I won’t risk Ethan. Or Verig. He’s a mighty warrior, but he’s vastly outnumbered, and with more than knives and sticks this time.

“Stay behind me,” Verig warns. He doesn’t trust them either.

“Why are you with a bunch of vints, Joe?” I ask, trying to find a peaceful way out of this situation.

“We needed backup. To get you and Ethan.” He holds his hand out to me. “Just walk over slowly, Tansey. Caleb and I will get you out of here.” He means it. I see it in his eyes. He’s trying to rescue us. They don’t understand we’re in no danger from Verig.

But Verig is in danger from them. I have to stop a fight before it starts.

“If we go with you, then no one will get hurt?”

“He fucking gutted Matt and Ezekial,” Caleb says. “They might not survive.”

I suck in air. They’re out for blood. Verig’s.

I take Ethan’s hand in mine and step forward.

“Tansey.” Verig’s voice comes across as a growl. Caleb raises his blaster.

“Holster the blaster, Caleb,” I demand. “If you shoot that in here, the entire place will collapse on us.”

“Vekk,” Verig swears behind me, realizing the truth of what I said.

To my surprise, Caleb holsters his blaster. “Keep walking to us, Tansey. You and your kid. Let’s get you safe and let the others take care of things here.”

“There’s nothing to take care of in here.

Verig hasn’t done anything. He was protecting us earlier, that’s all.

” Their faces remain implacable. If I don’t leave with them, Joe, Caleb, and the vints will try to take us by force.

It will be a bloodbath. And if we leave, they’ll still attack Verig. I have to end this .

I turn to Verig. “Please don’t stop me,” I say softly.

He doesn’t take his eyes off the vints and human men, but I see the tension in his muscles, the tight grip on his sword, and his tusks on full display.

“You are not my prisoner, Tansey. You can leave, but not with them. Not with the vints.”

“You’d let me go? Really? Just like that?”

“Yes.”

That’s not the answer I expected or truly want, though it’s the only way to keep everyone safe.

I face Joe again. “We’ll go with you if you promise not to hurt Verig.”

“Wait outside with Joe,” Caleb orders, his eyes locked on Verig.

I shake my head. “ You wait outside. All of you. There’s been enough killing. This is the orc’s shelter. Leave him here, unharmed.”

“I do not need you defending me, female,” Verig says, his voice harsh. “Take the youngling to safety. I will take care of these sartogs.”

Caleb pushes forward. “Why you fucking?—”

I kick him in the shin to stop him from advancing. “I said get out!”

Caleb stumbles backward, and his foot catches on a loose floorboard, sending him crashing to the floor. The man is quick to recover, though, scrambling to his feet, his blaster pointed between Verig and me. “Are you crazy?—”

“You’re going to get everyone killed. Let me speak to him for a minute. Then I’ll come out.”

“You can’t trust the orc, Tansey,” Joe says.

“Yeah, I can.”

“Hey, kid, is this yours?” Caleb waves Brownie around. He must have grabbed it when he fell .

“Brownie!” Ethan runs past me. I try to grab him, but he’s too fast. Caleb grabs hold of him by his shirt and pulls him behind the vints.

“Ethan!” I shout as a blue spiked tail wraps around Ethan’s waist.

“Return my son,” Verig demands.

“He’s not yours. He’s one of us. Human.” Joe’s expression sours as he realizes I’m still standing near Verig, even though nothing is keeping me from running to Joe.

“You actually prefer an orc to us,” he spits out with clear disgust in his voice.

“You can whore yourself out to those monsters all you want, but the boy comes with us.”

“Give him back!”

With his sword extended in front of him, Verig pushes me behind him. “I will get our son back.”

Our son?

“He’s coming with us,” Caleb said, while Ethan struggles to escape the vint’s grip.

“The youngling is not of my flesh, but I’ve claimed him as mine. He’s under my protection. Release him and leave, or I will slice you in two, human.”

Under different circumstances, Verig’s proclamation would make me smile. It’s what I’ve longed to hear, though I’m only realizing it now.

“Ethan, come to me,” I say as calmly as I can so I don’t scare him any more than he already is. The vint’s tail is still wrapped around him, but not tightly enough to drive any of those spikes into him.

When Ethan pushes against the vint’s tail, the male releases him. I hold my breath with my arms outstretched as Ethan runs toward me, but then Caleb snatches him and hoists him up against his chest like a shield.

“Let me go,” Ethan demands, squirming against Caleb’s hold. With his small fingers, he claws at Caleb’s eyes .

Caleb jerks his head back and loses his grip on Ethan, who drops to the floor. Caleb immediately backhands Ethan across his face, knocking him down.

Verig leaps forward, and with one downward swing, severs the hand that struck Ethan. I run to Ethan, lift him into my arms, and race to the corner where I curl my body around him and pray we survive the ensuing massacre.

And it will be a massacre. I see it on Verig’s face as the vints surround him. The sound of clashing metal doesn’t drown out Caleb’s screams, even as Joe tries to stop the flow of blood.

Like horse whips, the vints’ tails snap outward, the thick spikes on the ends striking Verig’s sword over and over.

I’ve never seen a sword move so fast, slashing at tails, legs, arms…He can’t keep up that pace forever.

A spike embeds into Verig’s sword arm, pulling his arm and sword away from his chest, leaving his body undefended as the other two vints circle behind him. They’re surrounding him.

And there’s nothing I can do to help.

Joe uses his belt as a tourniquet on Caleb’s arm, not paying attention to the blaster holstered at his hip.

“Ethan, I have to help Verig. Stay here. Don’t look, don’t move, for any reason. Promise me.”

He doesn’t answer.

Another scream echoes through the room along with a steady stream of the vints’ language. Blood gushes down Verig’s left arm and left leg, but he hasn’t slowed his assault. Two vints lie on the floor, dead, blood pooling beneath them.

I catch sight of Verig. He’s grinning . My warrior’s got this. I don’t need to leave Ethan.

The door opens, and I pray it’s Sojek at last.

Four more vints enter!

Huge vints, with long, thick tails, surround Verig. I’ve never seen vints so large. Vint warriors …Fuck!

I squeeze Ethan tight and kiss the back of his head as he curls in a tight ball around Brownie. “You need to protect Brownie by staying here,” I tell him. “I will be right back. DO NOT move. Mommy loves you. Always.” I kiss his head, turn, and dart for Joe’s blaster.

VERIG

Out of the corner of my eyes, I see my female racing along the far wall toward the humans. No! my mind screams, but I dare not speak aloud and call attention to her. She would not leave her child unprotected without cause.

I shift my stance, drawing the vints—seven now—away from the corner where Ethan huddles. It would not take much for a vint to gouge him with one of their tails, even unintentionally.

The loss of blood starts affecting my performance. My sword feels heavier than usual, making each maneuver harder to complete. I cannot fail. Not again. I will protect Tansey and Ethan at any cost.

With seven vints, including four from their warrior class, surrounding me and tightening their circle, I need to do something bold to ensure none of them turns to Tansey.

“What the fuck, Tansey? Give that back!” the human male Joe yells at her.

That distracts the closest vint. I charge at him, slicing down his side. The body falls a second before blaster fire strikes a vint behind me.

Three vints turn on Tansey, who aims a blaster at them. I charge through the group, using my body to knock down three of the five remaining vints. As I slice through another vint, failing to kill him, Joe punches Tansey in the face and takes the blaster from her.

My knife sails through the melee, lodging itself in the human’s throat, but I don’t have time to see if he falls or if Tansey’s unharmed. Two vints pile on top of me, trying to bury their knives and spikes in my flesh.

With a roar, I hurl both off me, only to see three vint warriors holding swords out in front of them. And the fourth…Vekk. I turn too late as his sword comes down on me.