The Prison Realm

Chapter 9: Trust and Trampling

Rosa:

We raced over the sands, our bodies rocking with each of Rinir's footfalls. Garin'thar, still behind me, leaned over me, pushing me into the terran's neck. His chest was, and as much as he was bending over me, blood from his arrow wound spilled over my shoulder.

Shit. Was he okay?

"Garin'thar? Garin?"

"Trust me."

I tried to twist to look at him, which was difficult to do when riding a spooked mount while pinned under a huge bleeding man.

"What?

His arms wrapped around my waist, surprising me with how strong his grip was when the rest of him seemed to be getting weaker. Then he began tilted to the left, dragging the both of us right out of the saddle. My gasp was cut short when he suddenly twisted in midair, taking the brunt of the impact when we both hit sand.

I scrambled to my feet before I even thought to take stock of any potential injuries for myself. Garin'thar had hit the ground with a grunt of pain. I turned to see that his taking the impact had bent the arrow right in half, snapping it like a twig. The rest of the arrow's shaft seemed to have been moved as well, and the movement had and had ripped his pectoral further.

Fuck.

Our pursuers, I suspected they had to to bandits, came to a halt, spraying sand and dust at us. The bandits, all orcs, arrived laughing and whooping at their own victory. Unsure of what else to do, I stood in front of Garin'thar like the world's most pathetic guardian and made sure to keep my chin raised.

"You were right, Toglo. He was riding with a human," said one of the orcs with a spear as he dismounted. The others followed.

The largest one nodded, a smirk on his face as he looked me up and down.

"As I said."

The one with the bow and arrow relaxed the shot he never got a chance to take to stand with the other two. I could hear Garin'thar getting to his feet and knew that he must be moving with a lot of pain.

Time to stall.

"Who the hell are you three?" I demanded as if the answer to my question even mattered.

They all laughed harder. Now these orcs were the ones that I was used to running into, the ones that sometimes managed to talk their way into the slave tents under the guise of considering buying a slave, when really all they wanted to do was gawk and scare the human women. Cruel, for the sake of cruelty, and generally just assholes.

I peeked over my shoulder to make sure Garin'thar was getting up, and noticed that he still had a sword holstered at his back.

At least we weren't completely unarmed.

"Introductions?" said Toglo.

I held my ground.

"Seems only polite," I said.

The three of them started to move toward me. That was when I felt Garin'thar's hand on my shoulder.

"You're wasting your time. My wife and I have nothing to give," Garin'thar said. His words were stilted, and I imagined he was trying to keep himself from hissing with pain.

The one with the bow smiled at me.

"I disagree," he said. "She doesn't look like your wife to me. Where is your claim?"

I straightened my posture.

"Well, I am," I assured the stranger, stepping closer to Garin'thar to prove my point.