Page 11 of Finding Her Luck
"Please. Don't." She heard another woman cry and looked up to see another girl in the same position.
"Has he hurt you? Are you okay?" Corrin called out. Stupid questions when the woman was begging for mercy, but she couldn't just shout across the cave and ask the woman if her captor had raped her.
A big hand came down on her bottom in a single, painful swat. "No, Corrin. Not for you." She was told. "Worry for self." He warned her.
Each Orki took care of their beast and their bed and, if they had one, their woman. Corrin heard other sounds in the cave that sounded like the three girls from the village.
Lighter colored, shorter males came to the dark one to speak with him. He answered, standing in front of Corrin, trapping her behind him.
The power structure was strange. She couldn't tell if the dark-skinned, scarred male she was with was in charge or not. He seemed to be, as he was the only one who got asked questions. But he also took care of his own beast, went and got food and drink, brought furs for her to sit on, in a self-efficient way that she had never seen from men in charge. She thought the whole point of being in charge was having other people serve you.
He pressed dried meat, a square, sticky biscuit wrapped in a crinkly, paper-like substance, and a water bladder into her hands before going to get more furs. Unsaddled, the war beast jumped up and shook itself hard before dashing out of the cave. Corrin looked at the food and looked at the way the animal had gone, longing for escape.
She was in Orki lands, surrounded by Orki.
Her grandmother said that one day, with her bad luck, she would have to choose. "It's not what any Nanny wants for her beloved."
Her face wrinkled, physical loveliness faded, Nanny glowed with an inner light that Corrin missed every day since her death. "Do not be a fool when trials come, dear girl. If you bash every bad thing that comes your way with that stick of yours, you will have no energy for the real battles, and you might get so busy fighting for your happiness, that you lose every hope of it."
She could run. She would be caught.
She could eat and sleep. She hadn't been raped yet.
When the dark Orki returned, she was eating the sticky square thing, chewing carefully around the seeds and thick chunks of dried fruit. Sweetened with honey, it wasn't bad tasting, yet its weighty consistency made it hard for her to chew. He patted her on the head, pleased to find her where he left her.
"Was that a test?"
"Test, Corrin?"
"Were you seeing if I would run?"
His eyes glinted. She knew he was grinning. "Corrin is a runner," he said.
She snorted. Looking at the cave entrance. With their saddles off, one by one, the war beasts had left the space. But they weren't gone long. Searnon, the first to return, brought a fat rabbit with her, dropping the wet and drooled on dead catch right in front of Corrin.
"Ha! What's this?" the Orki said, making a short barking noise that might or might not be a laugh. He picked up the rabbit and handed it back to the beast, who snapped it up in its huge jaws in a single bite.
Corrin ate everything he gave her and drank half the liquid. After, he asked her if she needed to relieve herself again and she shook her head, hiding her embarrassment, remembering being exposed on the river bank. He drank the rest of the water and handed her a red-dyed sheep's bladder.
"What's this? I'm not thirsty, thank you."
"Corrin, drink little." Crouching in front of her, he took off the top and pressed the spout to her mouth.
"Will help."
"Will help what? I'm full. Thank you. I don't want anything else." She leaned back against the cave wall, away from him. His face was right there.
Hairless, without any eyebrows or eyelashes. He blinked, and she saw for the first time that he had two eyelids. Then he blinked again, eyes glaring, and she wondered if he actually had three. His nose pointed down to his mouth like an arrow, an animal-like triangle lacking human nostrils, he had slits. His top lip was thin, the barest line, bottom lip fuller. Inside, were sharp predator teeth. One pointed ear moved forward, toward her, and Corrin felt an impulse to touch it.
Watching her, watching him, his free hand came up to touch her face. When she tried to evade the touch, that mouth of his frowned in displeasure. "Corrin, drink, now."
He had fed her, hadn't truly hurt her, but she didn't want to do it. Nobody made her do things she didn't want to.
Gritting her teeth, knowing this was another pointless battle, Corrin took it and drank.
And choked. It was not what she expected. Sour, slightly lumpy, milky, and fermented. She got a mouthful, forcing it down with tears in her eyes, gagging in disgust. "What is that? Ugh."
"One more."
