Page 24 of Orc's Pride

One of the dark elves screams as his finger is cut clean off from the knuckle. It falls to the ground at his feet, his body undulating in the chair he’d been tied into. Next to him, the other dark elf watches in horror.

“What encampment are you from?” The butcher demands, holding up the bloody end of the knife to the dark elf.

“I’m rogue!”

“Liar.” There goes another finger.

Next to me, Gor crosses his arms over his chest. “It’s been like this all morning. They’re tougher to crack than we thought.”

“Hm,” That’s… unfortunate. I’d been hoping for a quick turnaround on them.

It isn’t often that dark elves are so steadfast in protecting their higher-ups. In fact, usually they were of the mindset to sell each other out if it meant saving their own skin. However, these two apparently are different.

I wonder if they worked under some kind of master. Perhaps they’d be sunk if word were to get back to the other dark elves that they’d been sold out. Maybe they were afraid of being hunted down after this.

Though, it’s a bit funny that these dark elves think they’re going to be making it out of this prison alive in the first place.

Behind me, I hear a small whimper.

Turning, I spot Dana visibly shaking.

“Dana?”

Her eyes are wide and unfocused, staring ahead at the scene in front of her with hardly any color to her face. I let go of her arm, turning her toward me.

“Dana.”

Her entire body is practically vibrating.

“What’s wrong with her?” Gor steps away from us, clearly uncomfortable.

The dark elf screams again, a sound that causes Dana to quickly curl her arms over her head and sink down to the floor.

“No… no no no…” She mumbles.

Shit.

I scoop her up immediately, holding her in my arms while I address Gor again.

“Give me an update when something is found.”

He nods at me, wary. “Of… course.”

I don’t have time to reassure him that I’ve got everything under control, because really, I don’t. Regardless, I head over to the door and wait for Gor to swing it back open for us to leave. Dana shudders again when one of the dark elves lets out a pained moan.

My walk back up to the surface is quick, hurried in the worst way. I’ve never seen her like this. Granted, I’ve barely known her long, but this seems way too out of character. She’d yelled and screamed at us orcs when she’d been dragged into our base,barely batting an eye at any of the threats that had been thrown her way.

But suddenly the sight of a group of dark elves getting tortured has her practically fainting? This isn’t normal.

I set her down the moment I get back out into the sunshine. The two guards give her wary looks as she sinks to her knees and dry heaves into the dirt.

“Dana,” I crouch down next to her, putting a hand on her back. “What happened?”

She drags in ragged breaths, shaking her head at me. Her skin is so pale that it’s almost as if her soul’s been sucked out of her body.

“I’m… I’m not a spy…”

Her voice breaks my heart. Is that what this is about?