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“I know you don’t have any real concerns about me joining the clan. Or the rest of the pack at that. But personally, I feel like there is no telling how the other orcs will react. How will they feel about you bringing an interloper – an entire pack of interlopers – into the clan? I wouldn’t react well if one of the wolves brought a coyote into the pack with no warning.”
“You took me in without any problem,” I say in a measured tone of voice.
She smiles wryly at me.
“There were problems. Trust me,” she says and then laughs. She moves to rub her tired eyes but then remembers the blood and wrinkles her nose.
“Listen.” I take her hands and clean them off with a piece of cotton gauze. I have taken to keeping swathes of the gauze on me at all times, and now I use one to wipe the last of the blood off her hands.
“Uli, my brother, is the most understanding and compassionate orc you will ever meet. He is more welcoming than I could ever hope to be. I used to think it was a weakness, a failing, but now I realize that it is his greatest strength.”
“Do you want to be chieftain one day?” she asks me, and there is genuine curiosity in her voice, though I think she only asks me to change the subject.
“No,” I say decisively. “And I don’t want to be a warrior, either. My only goal is to make you happy.”
She laughs brightly and I can tell she is feeling slightly better.
The rest of the night is peaceful, and eventually, Amara calms down enough to fall asleep while the wolves keep watch.
The next day marks the fifth day of our journey before we finally come to the crest of the hill.
I can see the outline of the camp from where we stand on top of the hill, and I can tell immediately that the camp has been cleaned up some.
I feel a sense of relief. That means that my brother is there, safe and unharmed.
He was always a stickler for cleanliness,I think wryly to myself.
We have to stop for one more night before we reach the camp. We walk until dusk and then set up camp.
The wolves, especially Fever, have refused to allow Amara to do any hunting. They have brought back a deer or small moose almost every night. We have had feasts every night.
Tonight, they brought back the backside of a deer. I start skinning and cutting it up while Amara brings out some vegetables she has been saving in her bag.
We couldn’t bring much from her home, mostly because almost everything was destroyed. But the bag has the most important things in it. Several books with her herbal recipes in them and multiple bags of seeds, roots, and bulbs that she’ll be able to plant in the camp.
I hate that she’ll have to start over completely, but there is no better place than the Risen Ash camp.
The moon is high in the sky when we hear voices and heavy footsteps.
We also hear the howling and whining of the wolves who have jumped up and are alert.
I stand up and keep Amara behind me as the bushes around us rustle.
But instead of an enemy walking through the bushes, ready to attack, I see several familiar faces.
“Kian!” Several voices shout my name in unison. “Kian the Undefeated Gladiator! You’re alive! We’ve been looking for you, you bastard!”
I am pulled into a rough hug, and the pack around us starts to howl as they see that enemies have not come to our door.
“And who is this?” Ezren pulls away from me and looks to Amara who is standing shyly with her arms crossed over her chest.
“This is Amara,” I tell him proudly. Ezren and the rest of the orcs, all from the Risen Ash clan, look at one another.
“And this is her pack. Her family.” I gesture at the wolves around us, who are still on alert.
“Yes, we’ve met this pack.” Ezren’s smile is slightly grim. “They tried to take my damned head off.”
Amara laughs and her laughter is bright and bell-like, and I cannot help but join her. Soon, all the other orcs are laughing too, while the wolves howl around us.
