AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shakes take hold of me until I feel like I’m being rocked by a storm. Penny, who stands beside me, grasps my hand. Now, upon reflection, I realize how foolish it was for me to run away. If the bears hadn’t captured me, I too would have been rounded up like this, and it would be my blood spilling over the ground.
Except Doug came for me. Doug saved me.
“Ah, lass,” Penny says. “You will be okay. They like to make an example, but it is done now.” Her hand squeezes over mine, and I take some small comfort in it as we watch the orcs cart the bodies off.
* * *
Doug
Tulwin makes an example of the deserters. It is a reminder to all of us, orc and human alike, that we are part of the Blighten; nothing but tools. I see Jasmine only from a distance as the recaptured human bondservants are killed and their bodies carried away. Afterward, the two orcs that fled are dealt with on the other side of the camp. They do not get off so lightly as to have their throats slit, and greater creativity is applied in delivering them to their end. First, they are tossed among the senior orc warriors, where they are beaten to the point of exhaustion before they are strung up and disemboweled. Orcs are hardy. They will swing from the thick tree limb for many hours, watching birds feast on their innards before passing into death.
It is the way of the Blighten, and a warning we all must heed.
Fear is not an emotion I experience often, but I suffer great fear for what Jasmine did. If I hadn’t found her, she would have been taken by the bears. If the bears hadn’t found her, then she would have suffered the same fate as the other bondservants who fled.
Penny is one of the good ones. She warned me that Jasmine had left. Now my only worry is that someone else saw her leaving.
They could go to Tulwin, seeking to curry favor, or for other reasons of mischief.
I will keep a careful watch. She is mine now, and I protect what is mine.
We don’t move out today, and I spend the rest of the day helping clear up the mess left in the wake of the attack. But as daylight wanes, I gather rations and return to the bondservant part of the camp.
My eyes search out the small crowd until I find Jasmine standing, talking to Penny. A flutter kicks off in my belly and, lower, my cock stiffens. Panic assaults me and I instantly soften. I cannot allow her to see that part of me ever. She is sweet and pretty and will not let me tend her pussy again should she realize the magnitude of the monster that I am.
Her head turns at my approach, and her face breaks into a smile that lights the cold, unworthy places inside me with conflicting emotions. I am not good enough, but I am better than the rest of the bastards in this camp, and I vow I will keep her safe.
I have never spoken in my life. For the most part, I do not mind it, save for the odd occasion. With Jasmine, though, I wish I could give her comfort through words, could explain that I will care for her without obligation, and that I will ensure no other male bothers her.
That I expect nothing in return, save being near her and touching her, should she permit.
I hope she permits.
I cannot tell her these things.
But I can show her.
As I hold out my rough hand, she does not hesitate to place her small, delicate hand, along with her trust, within mine.
* * *
Jasmine
As Doug holds his hand out to me, I suddenly feel shy. Bondservants watch me accept his silent offer. My heart quickens as my smaller hand is engulfed by his huge, gnarled white one. Eyes follow us as he guides me away, stopping at the same empty food wagon he commandeered last night. I stand and fidget while he undoes the flap and motions me closer, my mind crowded with all the things that happened here last time.
Will he do that again?
Do I want him to?
I do not yet know my place, but I am reassured that he has come for me.
He lifts me up into the wagon, his capable hands leaving an impression on my waist that makes me feel a little tingly. Climbing up beside me, he turns to secure the flap.
Butterflies take flight in my belly as my eyes follow his movements, watching the play of muscles in his broad back.
Then I frown as memories surface from when I fled to the forest. Doug is monstrous, for sure, but he is not as big as a bear. So, how did he overcome it? In my mind, I see blood spraying and a bear falling limp to the forest floor... I shake my head. The memories are all jumbled, and I can’t rightly remember what happened until that moment when Doug leaned over me.
I am here, lass. I am here.
