Page 75 of The Savage Vow
I will come for you.
Tears streamed down her face. Yambul manhandled her farther into the darkness. She didn’t know what was going to happen next.
She did not know how this would end.
Could she forgive the lies? One truth burned brighter than anything else. Nargol had not abandoned her. She had come for her, just as she had promised.
And Orlena knew that her orc would not stop, nor give up.
Not until she had Orlena back.
The forest went stillafter the last arrow flew. Nargol remained crouched high in the branches of the tree she’d hidden in. Her breathing was steady, and her pulse was controlled. The night air carried the scent of the damp earth and blood.
Below her, two orc bodies lay crumpled on the forest floor. They had never seen her.
She had tracked them the moment they’d broken from the camp perimeter and entered the woods. The first one had been muttering something about ale and having to relieve himself. These orcs had not posted guards. They had not been watching their backs. They had believed themselves untouchable.
Nargol had proved them wrong.
They had been arrogant.
Fools.
She had dropped silently from her hiding space when the first one had got near her. He had found a tree to take a piss. Just as he’d lowered his trousers, she’d slid in behind him without him knowing. Her blade had silenced him before he’d had the chance to warn the others.
The second one she’d dismantled before he’d even known what hit him. These orcs were weak. They were no true warriors. If they had been, she wouldn’t have been able to sneak up on them. Even new recruits who she and her sister trained were more aware of their surroundings than this idiot.
Both of the kills had been quick and clean.
The others had been easy shots with her arrows.
A scream pierced the air.
Orlena.
The sound ripped through her like a blade slicing a piece of her heart. Nargol’s control shattered. She slung her bow across her back and slid down the tree. Her boots hit the forest floor without a sound. She withdrew her dagger from its sheath, prepared to engage with the remaining orcs.
She had already taken out half of their numbers.
But it wasn’t enough.
She moved like a shadow. Her training was ingrained into her. She weaved between the trunks of the trees, stepping where moss would muffle her footsteps. From her vantage point, she saw the havoc she had caused in the camp. Orcs scrambledover their dead comrades who had arrows protruding from their bodies.
It was then she saw something that sent chills down her spine.
The women.
They were huddled together in a shallow cave. Rage, unlike anything she’d ever known, clawed its way through her. They had not only taken Orlena but others.
This was the bargaining stock the orcs had boasted about when sitting around a fire. Earlier, while hidden close enough where she could hear, but still remain unseen, she’d listened to their conversations.
Grat had bragged about the new position he would have. Hagu had laughed at him and encouraged him to talk about what he would do when he was promoted to a high-ranking position.
Yambul had mentioned a “new world order” and how he was going to gain great favor with Rujin.
Little did they know that trolls did not care for alliances. They cared for leverage, and apparently, these orcs were going to use the human women for that leverage.
The one orc whose throat she’d slit had mentioned having a great breeding stock to offer.
