“Lies!” I blurted out. Both men turned to me as though they hadn’t even realized I’d been standing there. “Even if the humancouldturn food to dust, what reason would he have? He would only starve too.”
“Who kens what witches eat?” Trawg replied.
“You just admitted this witch business was nonsense!” I shouted. “And now it’s the human’s fault you’ve let our food dwindle?”
“Enough,” Ul-Rott said calmly. “Kof, do you vouch for this human?”
Every instinct was pleading for me to be cautious. Stick to the straight and narrow. And not make any rash decisions.
But there was the smart choice…and then there was the right one. “I stand behind what I say, Spinecrusher. Eli is no witch.”
“Then he’s your responsibility. I’m calling for a grand hunt to fill up the larder, and it had better not be touched by any illluck. Starting now, the human is with you. And if he gets into any trouble, you’ll be the one to answer for it. My guard will drop him off at the caves where you can keep an eye on him.” Ul-Rott glanced at the scar of my empty socket with a grim smirk. “I hope, for your sake, you’re right.”
13
Eli
I was half-dozing in my box when a bang sounded on the door of the hut, and a gruff voice announced that Ul-Rott demanded “the human” brought to him immediately. Panic turned my guts to ice. I certainly hadn’t managed to charm the chieftain, so he didn’t want me for his bed. More likely he just wanted to make an example of me.
Now my head would be on a pike…and Pilgrim would win.
Bright light knifed my eyes as the box lid creaked open. Smeg’s bulk filled the gap. “Time to make nice with the chieftain,” he leered as he yanked me upright by the shoulder. I stumbled out of the box on pins and needles.
As I was dragged past Pilgrim, he leaned in and said, “Now’s your chance to finally pull your own weight. Don’t blow it.”
They thought this summons was a good thing? How was it possible we had such different ideas about what was happening?
I was glad for my rough orcish clothing when the guard herded me outside. The nip in the air was no worse than before, but the sky had taken a subtle turn I knew all too well. Not tonight, and maybe not even tomorrow…but soon, a storm would be on us. And it would be brutal.
The guard marched me not to the chieftain’s lodge, but the larders.
What if the chieftain wants me for…the menu?
A shove from the guard brought me back to the present. “Stop stalling. When Ul-Rott commands, you obey.”
A string of should-haves played through my mind. I should have resisted. I should have run. I should have made a grab for a sharp stick and taken out Pilgrim when I had the chance.
I should have let the river carry me away.
But before I could come up with more self-recrimination, I saw that not only was the chieftain himself waiting for me at the door of the larder….
With him was Kof.
“About time,” Ul-Rott said, as the guard smacked me to my knees and ordered me to bow. The chieftain hardly registered my presence at all. He turned to Kof and said, “I can see why you’re not afraid of it. The creature can hardly even stand up, let alone curse anything. Well, it’s your responsibility now. Just don’t let it interfere with the hunt. Otherwise, we’ll throw it to the clan to keep the peace.”
It, I belatedly realized…was me.
But what had he meant by,It’s your responsibility now?
Once the Chieftain and his guards stomped off, the quartermaster turned to Kof and said, “Ul-Rott should have picked someone with two good eyes. How can you keep one on the witch when you don’t have an eye to spare?”
“Now you suddenly believe the rumors—now that Ul-Rott has seen your failures and you’re scrambling to save your own hide?” There was an undercurrent of danger I’d never heard in Kof’s voice before—a restrained threat that hinted his patience was nearing its end. “You know as well as I do the accusations are nonsense.”
“No one talks to me like that in my own larder.” Trawg jabbed a finger at the door. “Go back to your caves—and take your witch with you.”
On our way through the streets, I naturally fell into step beside Kof on his sighted side, since the knot of scarring on the other was difficult to look at. With just the good eye showing, he looked…well, not handsome, obviously. He was an orc.
But he looked whole.
