Page 11 of Orc Savage

Ineed to do something! And I need to do it now!

Something is missing. Something important. Something big. But I cannot remember a thing.

I close my eyes, looking away from the inquisitive face that is staring at me unabashedly, and try to remember what I need to do.

Maybe you’d remember what you need to do if you remembered anything else at all!

Because the truth is, I don’t remember anything.

I woke up in a strange place. It is small and warm and smells good. Like cooked food and herbs.

My stomach growled as I lay on the floor and stared up at the ceiling, trying to get a grip on where I was.

But I don’t know where I am, and I don’t know how I got here, and most alarming of all, I cannot remember anything that has happened up until the moment I opened my eyes.

“I need to do something. Something important,” I mumble to myself as I open my eyes, looking around wildly. The inquisitive face jumps backward when I speak.

There is a growl, a growl that doesn’t come from me or my stomach. When I look past the face, I see a large, dark creature with shaggy brown fur and a muzzle filled with razor-sharp, yellowed teeth.

“Something important. But what is it?” My desperation is obvious in my voice, and for the first time since waking up, I decide to rely on something other than myself.

I look past the face of the creature and into the face of a human. A female.

At least I remember that much. I remember that there are humans. I know that I am an orc.

“Do I…” My voice is doubtful. “Do I live here?” The room I am in is very small. I lay back down on the floor as a wave of exhaustion washes over me.

But I continue talking. I need to know who I am and what I’m supposed to be doing.

“Who are you? How do I know you? Do we live together?” The questions fall from my tongue in a stream, and I barely take a breath between each question.

“Who are you?” the human woman counters. When I turn my head to look at her, she has her arms crossed over her chest and is arching an eyebrow.

“Me?” I frown as I struggle to answer her question. I know who I am. I know who I am!

I just can’t find myself in the blank space that is my brain.

But eventually, a name comes out of the deep darkness of my brain.

“I am Kian,” I tell her, almost triumphantly even though the experience has exhausted me.

“Where did you come from?” she continues to interrogate me.

Interrogate. That’s a nice word. How do I know it?

“And why are you, an orc, so close to the lakes? And who hurt you?”

This time when I frown, it is not because I am confused.

“You should answer my questions first,” I tell her, and I try to sit up again.

When I look around properly this time, I see that we are in something akin to a shack. There is very little furniture in it, aside from a table, two chairs, and a massive hearth.

A black pot sits in the center of the hearth, and a merry fire spits and sings beneath the pot.

I look past the human woman at the creature behind her.

More words come at me, although they still do not answer my questions.