Mermaids are Menacing (Book 2) Complete

16.) For the Hoard

I froze. Every muscle in my neck and shoulders tensed with their arrival. I could smell sea water on them. No doubt they tried to erase the evidence of their affair but they didn't wash their clothes. The scent of their bodies  were still all over eachother, it was obvious to my nose.

Gorza got to her feet and went to the door with stomping purpose. Oh shes gonna hit him or Ortha or maybe both. I scrambled back to the farthest wall, I seen Gorza fight and space was going to be needed. She stopped right in front of the man, both hands came up to the front of his neck but instead of strangling him, she untied the strings to the fur that covered his back and shoulders.

She handed the large fur to Ortha and began removing more items from him. The water pouch he carried, the leather wrist and ankle coverings. Each time handing the removed item to Ortha. When she was done removing all the items he wore only patched pants. Several dark pieces colored of varying sized cloth stitched together neatly to make pants.

Ortha took the items outside quickly. I sat with my back leaned against the wall very confused by their behavior. The one armed man walked through the house before sitting on the end of the bed. Gorza brought him water from the canteen I had given her.

He received it with his left hand. His only hand. Turning the container over. He then looked at me. Deeply inset yellow eyes. Why does everyone here have yellow eyes? Unlike Gorzas with her short ruddy brown hair, this mans hair was black and long like Orthas. Long strands of matted hair styled in rowes at his forehead and then going straight back. They looked to be grown out and messy. Two thick tusked teeth protruded from his lower lip giving him a permanent scowl.

He took a drink from the canteen Nd then returned it to Gorza. Ortha returned with empty arms and found me sitting against the wall. With big steps she rushed to me, picking me up by my under arms and holding me to her chest. She brought me infront of this one armed man.

"Thrack." Gorza said. "Our Bait." She said as Ortha held me out at arms length infront of him. My legs and tail dangled uselessly beneath me and I kept my hands clenched by my chest to prevent myself from accidentally scratching Ortha. Under his gaze I hunched my shoulders and tucked my chin inwards. 

"Our Bait!" Ortha agreed.

A moment of silence became full and drawn out. I shifted my gaze to Gorza but she was staring at the man intently, squeezing the canteen in booth hands. I looked back at the man, he rubbed his scruffy beard with thick green fingers. He then licked his fingers and wiped them down my face.

My mouth dropped wide with the action but I didn't have time to be stunned because Gorza and Ortha trapped me in a tight hug. The air left my body and I choked under the pressure.

"Bait accepted." Gorza announced.

"To.. tight." I gasped and wriggled.

The pressure ended with me being placed gently on the floor. I rubbed my face although I only succeeded in rubbing the saliva in.

The two women walked back to the fire, and I not wanting to be left with the Orc man followed them like a duckling. Gorza sat back in her original place by the fire and Ortha next to her. Ortha was close enough that she was nearly in Gorzas lap while I sat a legs length in front of them. Gorza took the bowl of tea from the fires edge and handed it to Ortha.

Ortha took the bowl in both hands before drinking the still steaming liquid. After two gulps she passed the bowl back to Gorza who finished it off and placed the empty dish on the floor.

I cleared my throat and peeked at the bed with my peripheral vision.
"Gorza...who's that?" I nodded towards the bed.

"Thrack." She replied scratching her face.

"And Thrack lives here?" I asked.

"Thrack pods leader." Ortha asserted.

"I thought Gorza was the pods leader?" My eyebrows scrunched together.

"Gorzas wife with highest place, lead pod when Thracks out." Ortha clarified. Thrack who did not care for our conversation climbed further into bed the middle of the bed and sprawled out.

"Bait accepted, can still live here." Gorza nodded.

The wife with the highest status. Meaning both were wives of Thrack. I swallowed. The world is different everywhere. I wouldn't have been happy to share but Ortha and Gorza seemed fine with the arrangement. Laying on his back, Thrack began to snore loudly.

"We go out now." Gorza said in a low voice. I nodded in agreement.

In the fields arena I grappled with Ortha, having eaten my fill the night before I was faster and stronger. The foggy feeling in my head was gone. I was able to pick Ortha up by the leg and throw her to the ground on more than one occasion. When it was time to return for dinner I was starving again but not completely covered in red dirt. Dinner was different today because Thrack was with us.

When he had stood in line he was very much in the middle. I began to look at the groups eating together with more care. What I had thought to be were siblings and spouses eating together with kids was in actuality a man with a couple wives and their children. A group that I originally thought was a father his wife and their teenaged daughter might actually be an older man with his older wife and younger wife. It didn't help that I never actually talked to the other Orcs.

"Bait not watch other pods eating", Ortha chided.

"Orc think Bait wanna challenge." Gorza agreed.

We sat in a circle on the ground. Huts surrounded this open space where we ate each day. Thrack doesn't really talk or maybe he doesn't really need to. In the distance I heard the sound of a horn. It resounded three times. HaWoo!

HaWoo! HaWoo!

Everyone immediatly jumped to their feet. Women grabbed up babies, food was cast aside and dropped without care. I got to my feet to, as not to be crushed in the flurry. Women with children ran to the big gathering building while the rest of the green crowd grabbed up weapons and ran towards the sound of the bugle.