Page 3 of My Orc Has Big Tusks
Warm light spilled from a window, outlining an orc standing out front, watching the road.
The headlights hit him full-on, and I got my first real look.
Seven feet tall. Maybe more. Medium green skin, dark hair plastered to his skull. Shoulders broad enough he’d find it a challenge to fit through a human-sized doorway. Thumb-sized tusks jutted up from his lower jaw. His face held a worried look.
I parked Bertha to his right and shut off the engine. With my bag in hand, I opened the door and slid to the ground, skipping my stool. My boots hit the mud with a splash.
He stepped forward. “Thank you for coming.”
I looked up while he looked down, both of us noticing how small I was compared to him.
Rain made the fabric of his shirt cling to his shoulders and chest, and I had to tilt my head back to see his face. His tusks were smaller than I’d expected, barely reaching past his upper lip, but his hands were huge, his fingers thick as broom handles.
The small creature on his left shoulder snagged my attention. Round-bodied, bright orange, and not much bigger than a kitten, it had tucked its small, bat-style wings against its sides. It had a wide face, stubby limbs, and big eyes that studied me as intently as I was studying it. It looked like a tiny dragon crossed with something almost amphibian in its roundness.
Smiling, I lifted my hand. “Does your friend mind being touched?”
The orc froze, but he shook his head, his shoulders loosening. “Sofia likes people well enough, but let’s get you inside first. It’s wet out here. She’s an emberkit, by the way.”
Sofia peeped and tucked herself tighter against his neck.
“I saw creatures on the road,” I told him as he opened the front door and gestured for me to step inside.
“What did they look like?”
I stepped inside the warm building, and Brovish shut the door behind us.
“One ran across the road in front of me. It was fast. Big. Dark fur, maybe spiked? A thick tail. And the other creature was smaller. It stayed near the trees but kept pace with my truck for a bit.”
He nodded. “The first one was a hearthmaw. They’re territorial, but they won’t approach a vehicle or hurt you unless you corner one in a den during nesting season.”
“And if I do?”
“Don’t.”
Right.
“The second was probably a thornsprig. As long as you stay on the road, they won’t bother you.”
I’d read about the tiny plant sprites with twig limbs and thorn crowns. The one I’d seen had been bigger than the field guide description, but maybe I’d misjudged the size in the dark.
The low lighting gave the open entry area a soft glow and outlined the ceiling. Hallways stretched off to both my left and right, and a counter had been built into the far side where a receptionist might sit.
“This way,” he said, pointing to the right corridor.
Sofia watched me as we walked through the room, peeping again when I stopped to check out a board on the right wall where someone had pinned photos and added names underneath. The images showed orc kingdom creatures of all sizes with their adoptive families. Sweet.
The Creature Rescue League brought them to the surface, rehabilitated those with injuries, and adopted them out to eager humans.
A whirring sound rang out behind me, and as I followed Brovish down the hall, I peered back, catching a glimpse of a black-feathered creature with a silver tail.
About the size of a dragonfly, it hovered in the hallway, its wings fluttering like a hummingbird, watching me.
“What’s that?” I asked.
Brovish stopped and turned. “Driftwhisp. They seek emotional energy. Because I’m worried about the clatterwing, that one’s been trailing me all evening.”
The driftwhisp tilted its head and dipped up and down in the air, its wispy silver tail bobbing along with it.
