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“Over here,” she says to the darkness.
“Gathra?” a deep, rumbling voice replies, almost carried away by the wind. For a moment, my heart surges with hope, until Gathra replies.
“Oran. Come quickly. We need to get Raven somewhere warm.”
As soon as I see him step out of the shadows, I have to blink away the impression that he just appeared out of nowhere. How could I not see someone his size until he was literally right on us?
“Where’s Mol?” I ask as he knocks his forehead gently against Gathra’s.
Oran shakes his head. “He’s gone. Judicial Enforcement took him. We were already fighting the Neo-human coalition; we didn’t notice the JE arrive until it was too late. I’m… I’m sorry.” His shoulders drop. “This failure brings great shame on us.”
Gathra draws a deep breath, and I think I’m about to see an orc cry for the first time in my life, but then she growls and claps a hand on Oran’s shoulder. “Did you do all you could?”
“Of course, but it wasn’t enough—”
“Nobody can ask any more. We need to rebuild; we need to protect Raven. The mating already happened, you know what that means.”
Oran nods as I look from him to Gathra, then back. Both their eyes are turned down as Gathra puts her hand to my back, urging me towards the camp.
“Wait, what does it mean?” I ask, trying to stop myself from walking but having no effect on my direction of travel. “Gathra?”
“The mating happened. The future lies with you, child.”
“But what does thatmean?”
“Try not to worry. It will do you no good.”
I huff as I’m ushered along, trying to figure out why the future would lie with me. I’ve just lost everything, after I only just gained it, and—
Oh my God.
“My bus.”
It’s a wreck, flames dancing from the cracked and broken windows, paint peeling, thick black smoke rising into the air. One the side of the bus, they’ve spray painted in red over the name I put on the bus with my parents so many years ago.
Live and Let Live, now reads Live and Let Orc.
That was clearly the fire we could see from the woods, because the rest of the camp is in ruins but it’s broken, shot up and trampled, not burned.
“Mol wouldn’t let them take it,” Oran says. “Even when they started throwing flaming bottles at him, he fought them off. That was the last time I saw him before the JE arrived.”
My heart nearly breaks in two. “No.” I shake my head. “No, he didn’t have to do that. If he hadn’t he might not have been taken. It’s my fault.” I look up into Gathra’s eyes. “It’smyfault… And now he’s…he’s…”
“She’s right,” I hear from my left, somewhere near the bus. A low, grunting voice. “None of this would have happened if she wasn’t here.”
“None of this is Raven’s fault,” Gathra replies, stepping between me and the speaker. I haven’t even seen him. He was too close to the bus, the flames hiding him from me. I’m glad about that, I don’t think I could face their wrath, any of them.
I glance across at Oran, and he looks away. It is my fault. They all think it. “Gathra, I’ll go. I can look after myself.”
“Mol,” she says, turning and squinting towards the tree line.
For a moment, I’m confused, staring into her worn face. Has she gone mad? Is she going to just say his name randomly now, pining for the son she lost? The sonItook from her?
Then I follow her gaze and my breath stalls in my throat. A huge shadow staggers from the woods, blood staining his green flesh black in spots and ragged stripes. For a second, nobody moves, dumbfounded by the sight. Then he falls to his knees.
And my legs move on their own.
Within a heartbeat, I’m flinging myself into his waiting arm, kissing his face despite the mess. One eye is swollen almost completely shut, his thick nose sitting at the wrong angle, but he’s alive and that’s all that matters. It’s like I’ve just been given the world. My world. I thought it was gone but I’ve got it back and I’m never letting go ever again.
