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It is Hetta, a young wolf not even a year old. There is urgency in her eyes.
She growls at me under her breath. I understand her right away.
They are close. Are you coming ‘Mara?
I look at Kian and this time I pull myself away from him.
“I can’t leave,” I tell him. “This is my home, and the pack is my family. I’d never ask you to leave your family. In fact, I am asking you to leave so that you can be with your family!”
Kian gives two measured nods.
“Then I am staying to fight,” he tells me decisively. I want to argue with him, but there is no time.
I freeze, my heart thudding unevenly when I hear the shrill yelping of a wolf in pain. The rest of the pack howls with anger and shared pain as someone blunders through the trees.
At first, the large, dark shape coming through the forest is a shapeless mass. At first, I think that the trees and spirits of the forest have finally come alive to help us in this fight.
But it is an orc.
An orc that must be about seven feet tall, with dark, gray-green skin, and long black hair.
The orc is half-naked, wearing only a short pair of trousers and a belt that is heavy with weapons.
Scars cross the orc’s body and when he grins evilly, I see that he is missing several teeth.
He knows Kian,I realize as cold fear ripples across my skin.
“Kian!” the orc cries in a gravelly, rumbling voice. “Kian the Undefeated Gladiator!”
I grab Kian’s spear from his hands without thinking, and I lunge toward the orc. I slice the spear through the air, bringing it down in a sweeping arc.
The orc’s knees give way so quickly that I am quite sure that he doesn’t even know how it happened.
All I know is that I have never missed something I’m aiming at, and in that moment, I was aiming directly for the back of his knees.
The orc is on his knees, and blood hangs from the sharp edge of Kian's spear. Kian doesn’t waste any time but grabs the spear and hacks the orc’s head off.
I don’t want to look at Kian as he wipes the blood off the spear as easily as if he is helping me clean the dishes.
Instead, I load the slingshot, just for something to do while I think through what I have just witnessed.
Kian, the Undefeated Gladiator?
Kian starts to walk wordlessly further into the woods, and I follow him. We stick to the darkest parts of the forest and listen for any more of the enemy orcs.
He turns to me when we reach a small grove of trees.
“Look what we did, Amara.” His voice is triumphant. “We’re stronger together. We can protect this place.”
“Aren’t you even a little curious about your identity?” I ask him, and even I am surprised by the ferocity in my voice.
“The first thing we need to do is fight off the enemies. We can do this by using the wolves as our first line of defense, and then we’ll surprise them while they’re fighting off the wolves.”
He speaks with a matter-of-fact tone of voice. His eyes are bright and focused, and somehow, I think he has done this a thousand times before.
Kian, the Undefeated Gladiator? Amara, girl, it’s in the name! The orcs clearly know who he is! And he is being who he really is, even if he doesn’t realize it.
“Kian.” I tug on his arm urgently. “That orc clearly knew you. You need to think about this!”
