Loving an Orc (A new beginning series)

Chapter eight

        He was selfish, a horrible and selfish oaf. Elis was seething and it took a lot for her not to scream in Zorg's face, he was avoiding her practically tripping over himself as he fled in the opposite direction whenever she tried to speak to him until they set off to his home. She had hoped that being in the same wagon would offer him no means of escape until she watched him make himself comfortable in the wagon behind her. She was probably not as shocked as the other orcs who wondered if Zorg had taken leave of his senses.

        Ellis settled to casting him scorching looks and he simply twisted himself away refusing to look at her until she finally decided that if he wasn't going to talk to her, she wasn't going to try either. Some of the others had tried to speak to her perhaps hoping to take her mind off their kinsman but Ellis wasn't much of a talker even in the best of times and now with her mood in the gutter, she could only offer back grunts and everyone was giving up left and right. Everyone but Arga, Ellis hoped she'd heard his name right. He was the only other orc who hadn't stopped talking, he was going a mile a minute and it didn't seem to matter to him that she wasn't answering. It was such a relief for her that he didn't expect her to say anything and soon she was beginning to respond to him with a smile and a nod here and there. Behind them, Zorg was getting his ears chewed off.

        "What is wrong with you?" Uram asked

         Zorg did not answer, too engrossed in Ellis. She'd begun to look animated at whatever Arga was saying, and when she chuckled shyly at something he said, Zorg cursed under his breath.

        "You should be over there not here, you lumbering fool" Uram wasn't letting up.

        "I know," Zorg snapped back at him. "You think I want to be here?"

         "Then enlighten us on why exactly you seem intent on ruining this with her before it has even begun?"

        Zorg turned to find the other orcs staring at him with expectation. He muttered something under his breath about how it was none of their business. This was unusual, an orc finding his mate was a rare and amazing miracle and normally nothing should be able to peel him away from her.

        They don't understand.

        "You're my brother," Uram sighed rubbing his forehead "but sometimes you act like you've been dropped on your head."

        "I was, and might I remind you that it was your mother who did the dropping"

         "Only because you were a big wriggly thing who couldn't sit still" Uram and the others burst out laughing and Zorg couldn't help but smile at the running joke they had ever since his father had poked fun at Uram's mother for being clumsy enough to drop a baby. It scared the crap out of them enough when it happened that she'd refused to hold another baby for a while. He'd been fine, save for a few bumps here and there.

        "You're going to have to talk to her sooner or later, sooner if you ask me though" Uram interjected after the laughing had died down. 

        "I know." Zorg sighed. He should have spoken to her at her compound, asked her what she wanted and gone along with it but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was so afraid that she'd want to stay back and like the coward he was, he'd refused to confront that reality.

        Better that than have her be unhappy with me.

        "Curses." He glanced back at her to find she was dozing, her nodding forward toward her chest before she jerked awake again. She looked around and caught his eyes and his heart lifted only to crash when she snapped her head away from him giving him a taste of his own medicine, and it was a bitter ugly drink.

        The rest of the ride was silent save for chatter here and there but most spent it dozing until voices and flurry of activity ahead had everyone alert. They were in the orc village now and most of its inhabitants out and about stopped to stare at the human on the cart, the children ran alongside it, yelling excitedly and asking for treats.

           Elise was surprised, it hadn't occurred to her that orcs were once children. The stories she'd overheard painted all orcs as savage beasts and she'd never imagined the bright-eyed, green skinned children running around with their smiles and missing teeth would grow up big and bulky like Zorg.

          Sara had packed quite a lot of sweet treats, small pouches of cookies, sweet bread and doughnuts for Elis to snack on but she as she didn't,she began to hand them to the children who screamed with delight and rushed away to show off their rewards. Elise chuckled, they were so bright and bubbly and it made her happy.

         Some of the women began to wave at her and she heard them say to each other that she was Zorg's wife, her heart skipped and she glanced at him as she tried to imagine him as a child, what had he been like, was he as stubborn and annoying as he was now? Or bright and cheerful? She smiled until sadness tugged at her heart.

         I'll  probably never know.

        She'd had so much hope for them, he seemed good and kind and she had imagined that they would work through all the usual kinks that came with arranged marriages and they would be happy together but that dream seemed so distant now. He didn't like her and that meant that their marriage wouldn't go anywhere. He would tell her soon what he expected of her and build an invisible and unbreakable wall between them. She slumped back in the carriage, wishing she was back home, back in her room, in that very moment with Zorg when it seemed like a most wonderful joy was going to hers'.

          Tears filled her eyes threatening to spill over and she tried to keep it in, Elis bent over hugging her knees hoping she could swallow her pain. She did not hear Arga call out to her in concern or hear him move out of way before strong hands came around her lifting her into the warmth of a hug.

         "It's alright," A voice said. "It's going to be alright"

         "I...I can't..." She tried to get words out but they lodged in her throat refusing to get past the lump that was already there. She could hear voices asking if she was okay but she didn't want to raise her head to see even as she felt herself being carried away.

         "You can let it out". He said again so she did, she let the tears come, she cried harder than she ever did and she would remember later, in utter dismay that it hadn't been the quiet or silent choking kind.

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Happy boxing Day everyone.