Page 51 of Orc's Pride
Dana pulls herself up off me, craning her head back to look at what just happened.
“Pitha!” A familiar voice calls to me. “What, you need a human shield now? How far you’ve fallen, my friend!”
I blink in surprise, doubtful that I’ve heard right.
Dana’s hands come back up to put pressure on my neck, keeping me from going lightheaded and passing out from blood loss.
Above me, another figure appears, this one much more friendly.
“Gathal…” I mumble.
He grins with his hands on his hips, his eyes practically squeezing shut. “You look horrid.”
The scene is entirely too casual.
In the background, I catch the sounds of the dark elves that had been hiding in the trees being pulled down from the branches with short yelps that follow the distinct noises of their heads being cleaved off of their bodies.
“W-who are you?” Dna demands, as brave as ever.
Her eyes flit nervously between us both, not trusting Gathal to be a friendly ally or a hidden threat. She’s smart to do so, considering the state in which Ishta has left us all in.
Fucker.
“Ah, an old friend.” Gathal, offers her a hand to which she shakes her head at. “Wow! Pitha, you sure have quite a pretty shield to protect you from harm’s way. Tell me where to get one. I’m dying to know what village you plucked her from.”
I scoff at him. “Will you help me up? And send your medic over.”
If Gathal comes with his personal troop to rescue us—something that is almost unfathomable considering his clan is miles away east of the base—then I know he’s brought along his full arsenal.
He laughs heartily. “As demanding as ever.”
Dana’s much less willing to trust his intentions, even as the medic I requested comes over to kneel beside me and assess the wound left over from the arrow. Now that I’ve calmed down from the heated battle and trying to protect Dana, it’s hard not to focus on her bravery in trying to protect me.
As stupid as it was to do so.
She’s pulled away with a gentle hand on her back from Gathal when the medic replaces her bloodied hands. My eyes fixate on her, even as I’m being patched and stitched back together.
“It’s not like you to get an arrow to such a vulnerable place.” Gathal comments.
It has me grunting in annoyance, even though I know he’s right. “I was focused on other things and hadn’t been paying close attention to the trees.”
“Ah, what a rookie mistake. Though, I can imagine why…”
The comments are all said with good humor behind them, even if they’re meant to piss me off. As Chieftain of his own clan, Gathal’s never been one not to pass up an opportunity to hassle any other leader that crosses paths with him.
A part of his charm, as Gor would tell me.
I have yet to see it, however.
I’m righted up and brought back onto my feet soon after my neck is done being worked on. Spots cloud my vision, causing me to pitch forward and stumble slightly from the blood loss. Everyone tenses around me, ready to catch me but only Dana fits her body against mine.
It’s funny considering I doubt she’d be able to keep me off of the ground if my knees decided to buckle, but her strength at my side is welcomed all the more.
“Let’s get you home.” she murmurs quietly to me.
The base welcomes Gathal and the Redsmoke clan with a bit of a lackluster fanfare. After dealing with the aftermath of the fire from earlier, it’s been much more of an eventful day than my people have really bargained for.
Not only are we on high alert for the possibility of dark elves striking again, but now that there are orcs among the ranks willing to throw away all that we’ve ever known in order to join forces with the same beings who mean to destroy us is a whole other side to this war that I never saw coming.