Page 5

Chapter Five

Susara

O h, I was in huge trouble.

Or maybe it was that my trouble was huge .

My heart hammered as I hurried up the darkened streets to my home.

The looming wall of oaks that surrounded our town and gave our village its name felt both comforting and suffocating.

The branches twined together tightly to make an impenetrable barrier that no predators could break through.

The foliage had turned red and yellow and was quite beautiful against the dark evening sky.

I wondered if Caivid was still right outside those walls or if he’d already made it back to Rove Wood Clan.

He wasn’t at all like what I’d been told about the warrior orcs. My fellow villagers would have me believe they were angry, dangerous beasts, dead set on taking the vulnerable women of Oakwall as conquests and siring sons on us, whether we agreed or not.

Instead, he’d come to my rescue so fast I hadn’t even thought to be afraid of him. The memory of his arms around me, so strong and warm, made my muscles relax. It had felt so incredible to be wrapped up, like nothing could ever hurt me again. . .

The way he’d exhaled on my neck had lit up my body like an inferno. My stomach still felt all fluttery, and my steps quickened as my mind raced.

Maybe. . . being a conquest wouldn’t be so bad?

I smacked the thought away before even considering it. Women in my village played conquest to an orc in exchange for boons, and I had everything I needed already. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to continue my duties as a shepherdess while heavily pregnant.

And I would not give up the duty to someone else. I would never allow myself to be trapped within the walls of my overcrowded village. The woods were where my heart and soul belonged and I’d rather the Fades strike me down than give it up.

“Susara! I cannot believe you were out so late.”

The heaviness of exhaustion pitted in my stomach as I morosely watched Waston flounce over to me. Her graying hair was done up just so, and her shirt looked freshly mended.

“A girl like you ought to be settled down in her husband’s home.” Waston clicked her tongue. “Not out in the woods every day.”

I barely withheld a sigh of frustration. Oakwall Village was a peaceful place, set in its traditional ways. Fighting against them was often a headache.

Before she asked anything, I said, “Is that a new blouse? It’s lovely.”

“Oh, well, thank you, dear. But no, it’s the same one as always. I’m not fond of the hem work Nalina did to fix it up this time. It looks crooked to you, doesn’t it? I hope she doesn’t do as shoddy a job on the things I left with her today.”

“It looks perfect to me, Waston.” I wondered just how tired poor Nalina must be from repairing the same shirt over and over again. I noted to pay her a visit once I was done checking in with my father.

“Well, it’s not like you have a fashionable eye.

” She looked down her narrow nose at my mud-covered gown and I rolled my eyes so hard it nearly sparked a headache.

“What happened to you? Don’t tell me those orc brutes got you?

Did you see them today? I’ve been told they’ve started patrolling the woods! ”

“No, Waston,” I said dryly, feeling absolutely no remorse about lying. “Just like yesterday and the day before that, and for the last half-moon, none of the warrior orcs have bothered me.”

“Well, you tell me if they do, and I’ll report it right to Headman Gerald. Honestly, those menaces have some nerve attending our trades already. If they start terrorizing our walking trails, I’ll stop at nothing to get them banished from our beautiful forest.”

My brow pinched as I tried to remember the last time Waston had taken a stroll outside the village walls.

“I bet you they’re going to start sniffing around here. Our walls are high, but not so high they cannot climb them. I guarantee it’s only a matter of time before one of our poor girls is stolen away.”

I jolted with shock and glanced about, making sure this heinous rumor hadn’t been heard by anyone. “Waston, how can you say something so horrible? Where is this lunacy even coming from?”

“Lunacy? How dare you!” Her eyes flashed with anger, and in that moment, I realized she was serious , and my skin went cold.

“Those all-male brutes are drooling for our women! Especially since so many of us have finally seen reason and stopped attending the trades. Mark my words, they are going to become desperate and start snatching.”

“No orc of Rove Wood has ever forced a woman to bear their child. Ever ,” I said firmly. “And speaking this way is only going to cause strife between our communities.”

“As it should! We should be causing strife after they forced us to accept these awful warriors at our trades.”

“We allow them to come because they bring us food .” I thought back to the elk meat the warrior orcs had provided at their first trade.

A whole bull to every family. Many were still raving about it.

“Waston, have you forgotten that we depend on the orcs for survival as much as they depend on us? They may need us to bear their sons, but they also grow all our produce and supply most of the meat in return.”

“We can survive without them just fine.” She sniffed. “We’ve got mutton and beef and all the fish we could ever want from the streams. ”

“Our village is almost a thousand strong.” She really had gone raving mad. “Our flocks and herds could never sustain everyone long term.”

“We’ll get more.” There was something in her eyes, some odd gleam of triumph that made my chest tighten.

“ How ?” I searched her face to find the truth. “How do you plan to do that when our village has been isolated from everyone outside the Rove Woods for centuries? It’s not like we can go to the next town to get more sheep. There literally aren’t any more in the Rove Woods.”

Waston crossed her arms and pursed her lips and wouldn’t meet my eyes as she said quietly. “Perhaps it’s time for us to stop being isolated.”

I was momentarily speechless. My mind could hardly fathom it. We were safe here. At peace. And we had been for hundreds of years. Outside these woods, the world was at brutal, bloody war .

And she wanted to let that in?

“Does Headman Gerald know what you’re planning?”

For the first time, I saw a flash of alarm cross her features and wanted to collapse with relief. “It has nothing to do with him and you need not go blabbing your mouth to him either.”

I would blab the moment I saw him. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but I suggest you stop before our peace in these woods is broken.”

“Our peace is already broken, Susara,” Waston said with a sniff as she turned away. “And all will see that by the time I’m done.”

My stomach twisted with worry, but there was nothing I could do about the woman’s ominous words now. I hurried to put the sheep in their paddock out the back of our house. The oak wall loomed above me, almost oppressively, as I got the flock bedded down for the night.

But as oppressive as it was, it was still better than being outside these woods. In a land of constant strife and bloody war, I was certain everyone would agree that being friendly with our orc neighbors and occasionally carrying sons for them was far better than that.

Right?

I wrung my hands with worry but could waste no more time dwelling on it.

“Father, I’m home.” I tried to sound casual as I entered the small cabin house that I’d lived in all my life. Inside, there was a crackling fire, sturdy walls, warm-looking cushioned furniture. . .

And my father, whose cheeks were red with fury.

“ Where have you been?” His bushy gray brow was set so tight his eyes were almost hidden as he struggled to get out of his rocking chair.

My father had always been strong, but in the last few years, his yellow hair had all gone white, the wrinkles on his brow had become more pronounced, and age had stolen his ability to move well.

“Oh, don’t get up.” I stopped untying my boots and hurried to his side. He let me help him back into the chair, which told me how much pain he was in. “Where is that orc medicine we traded for?”

“I already took it,” he muttered, making my chest squeeze with dismay. If magical healing tonics weren’t working, then— “Don’t look at me like that—I’m fine. ”

My throat tightened as I tried to swallow down my worry.

“And this isn’t about me,” he insisted. “I’ve been worried sick about you. The moon is high! Why were you gone so long? What happened?”

“Nothing happened.” I lied, going to the pot on our small cast-iron stove where soup was bubbling. I grabbed two dishes from the shelves above. “I’m perfectly fine. We just got caught up, is all.”

“Caught up with what?”

I tried again to change the subject. “Waston caught me outside. Has she told you about all her ludicrous ideas? About leaving the Rove Woods and trying to drive a wedge in the peace between us and the orcs of Rove Wood Clan?”

My father let out a long, frustrated sigh. “Yes. She has. She’s been getting into the minds of many folks.”

“Not you, I hope!” I exclaimed as I ladled the soup into our bowls.

“Of course not. But many others. With those warrior types coming here to stay, folks have been afraid. But I know Waston isn’t what kept you, so spit it out. Where have you been?”

I made the quick decision not to tell him about Midnight and the warrior orc. “The main grazing patch was flooded, so we had to go to the eastern one.”

“Did you say flooded? But it’s never flooded before. And the winter rains haven’t even started yet.”

“I know.” I carried the bowl to him. The sweet smell of barley and carrots was comforting. “It’s odd. I’ll go to Headman Gerald tomorrow morning and let him know.”

As I passed the bowl into my father’s hands there was a sharp knock at the door, and it swung open before either my father or I could respond.