The Prison Realm

Chapter 7: Broken Roots

Rosa:

I'd done it.

I was free now. I'd lost the orc and was heading across the sands. I had no idea how long it had been since I'd left camp, but it felt like it was at least a few hours. I started running to distance myself from Garin'thar's camp, but I needed a break pretty quickly.

Running uphill in the sand?

It sucks about as much as you'd think it does. I was still malnourished and out of shape from my captivity. My body had no idea what it was doing, but I pushed it out of sheer force of will.

My plan was working, and now I felt stupid for waiting so long to do something like this.

Do you think that you would have been so successful with any other buyer? This was only so simple because Garin'thar took a genuine liking to you. And look at how you've thanked him.

I gave myself a mental shake and trudged one more foot in front of the other as I huffed along in the sand. My thighs were screaming at me to stop, and when I finally did, my knees wobbled in exhaustion. Was it nice to use a man for my machinations?

No.

Did that matter?

No.

Amelia, Ericka, and Willow needed me. They were always under threat of getting bought up by a strange man. Now they had the added threat of getting sick and executed by the slavers. I had to do this. It didn't matter if the guy I was using turned out to be really nice and understanding. It didn't matter that he had an amazing tongue and a dick piercing I hadn't had time to explore. It didn't matter that he was the first person outside a cage to treat me like a human.

My eyes pricked with sudden tears.

I swiped at them, angry at myself.

"I just met him today!" I screamed at the sky. I had absolutely zero logical reason to be upset. This world was fucked, and I was doing what I had to do. I forced myself to take another lumbering step in the sand and wished I'd been heartless enough to take the orc's dino-horse thing along with all the rations and the waterskin I'd taken from Garin'thar's belongings.

The moon was full and the stars were plenty, but the darkness still obscured everything. I wasn't sure which way I was going. I crested another sand dune and glared at what was on the other side of it.

Was that a... forest?

A very dead forest. The wood was black and charred. The wind blew a scent in my direction, and I gagged on what had to be the smell of rotten flesh. I gagged, but the playful breeze changed directions just as quickly, making me wonder if I'd imagined it.

Well, this wasn't good. I didn't remember seeing a forest on our way to the camp. I was supposed to follow the path we'd come from exactly. Had I gotten turned around somewhere?

Panic was settling in. I had no idea how to traverse this place.

It hadn't been more than an hour and I was already lost.

My heart rate quickened.

I'd bet my life on this stupid plan. What had I done?

I was about to give in to a panic attack when I heard something bellow in the distance. I whipped around, the dune tall enough that I had a decent view of my progress so far. Instead of seeing my footsteps in the sand, my eyes found a huge green orc on his galloping reptile steed riding toward me at full speed in the moonlight.

And he looked furious.

Fuck!

I ran down the other side of the dune as quickly as possible, using the last of my strength and adrenaline to propel me forward. It was no use. I couldn't outrun that lizard thing. When I felt the creature gaining on me, I dove to the side and looked up just in time to see Garin'thar leaning from his saddle, his outstretched hand barely missing catching my arm as he sped past me.