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Cedar

S he would have to talk to him about this business of keeping her trapped inside. After days of riding on Liga, Cedar had a deep need to stretch her legs. And even though this tent was much larger than Kargorr’s last one, her body craved walking, at least for a little while. And her mind needed to talk to someone else, just for a moment.

Cedar wanted to remember what it was like to be human.

She poked her head out of the tent in the afternoon, when Kargorr had been gone for most of the day already. Usually he visited her around lunchtime to bring her food—and do other things—but today it had been an orc woman she’d never met before, with a mostly shaved head and a pile of braids at the base of her skull. The orc had deposited the food and then left before Cedar could even ask her a question.

There was no one immediately standing outside the tent, not like there had been at the previous camp. Something had changed—perhaps Kargorr trusted her more now.

For a moment, the allure of escape was strong. The camp was chaotic as the orcs set up their new village, and there was a good chance no one would notice her slip away. The perimeter of the camp, marked with heavy wooden posts, wasn’t complete yet. She could cross easily without being seen.

Cedar’s heart sped up as she stepped out onto the muddy path. Straw was being laid down on it, and someone was spreading a clay-like mixture over the top. A few young orcs ran through it, and the woman paving it yelled at them. Something about it was so normal that Cedar paused, hesitating right at the entrance to the tent.

If Lord Kargorr caught her, what would be her punishment? It would be public. Certainly it would involve the whip. Were her chances of escaping successfully high enough to take the risk?

She stood there for a long time, weighing it in her mind. She ate better among the orcs than she ever had with Lissa, who only spared Cedar what she needed for the barest survival. Here Cedar slept in a bed of lush furs, and she was warm every night. Bread Pudding was being fed and cared for, much to her surprise.

Why had he done it, when he could have spared himself the trouble of moving the pig and had the sow butchered like the other livestock? Cedar had puzzled over this for their whole journey, but now she wondered if the answer was simple.

Perhaps he wanted her to want to stay. And that meant he thought she could run.

Cedar’s head was whirling when she heard Kargorr’s snarl. He appeared around the corner of the tent and quickly stormed over to her, and she considered running back into the tent at the look on his face.

But she had some demands to make.

Cedar kept her chin high as the massive orc dwarfed her in his shadow. He grabbed her by the elbow and leaned down close.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked in a dangerous tone.

All she’d done was step outside, and here he was, behaving like a cretin.

“I’m getting fresh air!” She yanked her elbow away, and his eyebrows lowered even further. “You can’t keep me cooped up in there all the time. I’m going out of my mind.”

His frown was deep and dark with disapproval, but she knew now that somewhere in there, he wanted her to be happy enough that she wouldn’t try to escape. She could leverage that.

“You can’t leave without my permission.” He glowered at her, trying to cow her, but Cedar stood firm.

“Then give me permission!” She was ready to stomp her foot to get what she wanted. “I have to stretch out my legs. I need to breathe fresh air. It’s always smoky in there, and?—”

This time he was firm when he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the tent. Once inside, though, he released her, and she crossed her arms over her chest to fully express her displeasure.

“You want freedom?” Lord Kargorr asked, turning his back to her while he began to undress.

“Just enough to go outside and go on the occasional walk. I need to see the sky sometimes.”

He grunted to let her know he heard her, but that he was still thinking over the answer. When he had stripped down to only the sling that kept his cock in place, he swiveled back toward her.

“Fine.” He advanced a step closer, and all it took was seeing his huge, naked body, with those bulbous pectorals and the powerful belly, to ignite a spark inside her. He was already growing thick against his sling. “But you will not go alone. I will assign you a caretaker who will watch over you when you are not in my tent.”

For a moment, Cedar thought he might say our tent, but that was expecting too much. Still, Cedar accepted the small victory for what it was.

“Thank you,” she said, and found the laces of her tunic on her own. The faintest smirk appeared on Kargorr’s face as she took it off, letting her breasts fall free.

“If this is how gifts are appreciated,” he said in a low voice, crowding her against the bed, “I may have to give you more of them.”

Kargorr

He had been remiss in not posting a guard while he worked today, he knew that now. But perhaps she was telling the truth in simply needing to be outside, and he had been treating her like a piece of livestock that would be happy living in a pen.

That night, after Kargorr had rutted Cedar until she screamed—not once, but twice, because his cock was angry it had been left to fend for itself all day—he left to find Orgha.

His right hand was bent over the great stew pot, giving the cook his personal feedback. Lord Kargorr shoved him out of the way to get two bowls of soup for himself and Cedar.

“As soon as you get on the other side of the table and cook the stew yourself, you can talk,” Kargorr said. “Until then, keep your mouth shut.”

Orgha laughed a belly laugh as they both walked away from the serving tent. He glanced down at the two bowls.

“When are you going to let your concubine show her face?”

At least Kargorr didn’t have to open the door himself. All he had to do was ask for the key to what he needed.

“When I feel it’s safe for her,” he said.

Orgha thoughtfully bobbed his head. “Do you truly think someone would try to take her from you? From the kazek ?”

It was an improbability, but Kargorr still hated the idea of her walking around alone, of anyone else so much as looking at her the way he did.

“She needs a caretaker,” Kargorr said, in the easy, gentle way one might try to talk to an animal prone to running. Orgha hummed to let him know he was listening, so Kargorr went on. “Someone who is mated. Older, who can give her some wisdom. Someone who speaks the human tongue and can take her on little walks.”

Finally Orgha came to a halt, and his eyes glinted like a pair of sharp arrows. “You mean my yapira , don’t you?”

“Yes.”

Orgha rolled his shoulders. “You know I can’t refuse you,” he said, not looking at Kargorr, likely because he was too irritated and didn’t want to be accused of obstinance. “But she will not be pleased.” And a displeased yapira was a displeased male, generally speaking.

Kargorr didn’t have to go home to her, though, so he simply strode on, and Orgha grumbled behind him.

“Fine. She will be there in the morning to take on these...” Orgha rolled his eyes. “...caretaking duties.”

“Good.”

Cedar was asleep when Kargorr returned, and he liked that he could fuck her into a stupor. She’d taken to him well, he thought. When he was sunk up to the hilt in her, his sarga begging to take her, he was sure she had conformed to his shape. It was like she had been crafted in the image of his perfect bedwarmer.

He set down the stew and ate it while watching her sleep. But she was still only human, he reminded himself. A toy for his pleasure, a nest for his orclings. He gazed around the tent, which now had two central posts instead of one to make room for his future concubines. There was still more seed to sow.

Looking down at the other bowl, he thought he should rouse her to eat, but decided he liked the plane of her face while relaxed this way and let her sleep.

Cedar

When she awoke the next morning, Lord Kargorr was gone again, and she guessed that he would be busy while the camp was being re-assembled.

Still, it gave her a little chill. She was about to curl up again in the blankets, knowing she had nowhere to be but wishing she did, when someone tapped on the post that held up the entryway. Cedar sprung out of bed, carrying the top fur around herself.

“Hello?” she called out. No one ever came and knocked.

A head of dark hair, streaked with gray, ducked in. The visitor was an orc woman, not nearly as tall as Kargorr but still impressive, with slender but deadly tusks. An elegance followed her movement as she neatly closed the door behind her.

The orc didn’t look at Cedar, though, as she set down her things.

“I’m Rathka,” she said by way of greeting, her voice thick and her accent heavy. After leaving her bag on the floor, she set a tray of steaming food on the table and then backed away.

Still she didn’t raise her eyes to Cedar’s. Why would no one but Kargorr look her in the eye?

“Rathka,” Cedar repeated. Then the orc chanced a glance at her, but when she saw Cedar was still watching, she looked away. “I’m Cedar.”

“I know.” The words hung in the air when none followed them.

Finally, Cedar grew tired of waiting and sat down at the table, assuming the food was for her. The orc woman sat there in silence while Cedar ate, and it was disconcerting to say the least to have a silent companion who wasn’t eating alongside you.

“Rathka,” Cedar finally ventured. “Why are you here?”

“I’m your new caretaker. I’ll be with you at all times during the day from now on.”

Cedar stared at her.

“All day?” She’d expected a guard, not a nursemaid. “Why?”

At this, Rathka’s head snapped up, and she looked Cedar in the eyes. She was bristling. “Because for some reason, Lord Kargorr has decided you’re important.” Her tusks curled with her lower lip. “You said you wanted to go on ‘little walks.’ So here I am, to take you on little walks.”

Oh. Cedar’s jaw closed so hard her teeth clicked together. So this was how her request had been interpreted: someone to hound her at all times. Now she could go out as long as her warden came along.

Rathka’s eyes fell once more, but it was as clear as day that the orc woman wanted to be there even less than Cedar wanted her there.

Cedar wondered if she should apologize, but then a part of her thought that perhaps she shouldn’t. Lord Kargorr had talked about orcs respecting a healthy amount of fear.

“Well, then,” Cedar said, standing up. She had polished off her breakfast and was ready to walk it off. “Let us go on a ‘little walk.’”