Free Twisted Fate (Orc Destiny Volume I) (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) by Jeremy Laszlo Page B

see her. Their only protection from view was the tall grass around
them, and as such he needed to express to her the circumstances of his
companionship.
    “You hear talk. Take rope mouth. You no yell. Yes yell, me kill.
You eat. You drink. I rope back. Yes?” He questioned her understanding. She
nodded her agreement.
    Reaching out, he grasped the rope in both hands and loosened
the knots that held it in place. Once loose, he allowed her to remove it with
her still bound hands. She stared at him a moment and he held the bag full of
supplies out to her. She took it easily, if not a bit reluctantly, and pulled
the straps open to reveal its contents. The thirty seconds of silence was then
apparently too much for her.
    “You can talk?” she asked entirely too loudly.
    Baring his teeth at her, he squinted menacingly and she took
well his meaning.
    “I mean, I was told Orcs and goblins and trolls and giants
couldn’t talk. Can all of you talk?”
    “Humans talk much. Very much,” Gnak replied, still scowling
at the girl.
    She reached inside the bag and pulled out one of the long
brown objects, breaking herself off a hunk. The inside, it seemed, was soft and
fluffy. Tearing the piece she had collected in half, she placed one half on
each of her knees. Reaching in again, she tore free a chunk of the hard orange
substance, and sat it atop one of the halves of fluffy stuff. Then she again
reached in the bag and extracted a small piece of the dried meat. This she put
atop the orange stuff, and then she placed the second piece of fluffy stuff
from her opposite knee on top of the small pile of human food. Grasping it from
each side with her bound hands, she smashed it down and crammed the first bite
in her mouth, chewing with her mouth open like the large animals the humans
kept and fed. Disgusting!
    After the second bite, with her mouth still full of half
chewed food, her eyes looked up to his once again and she talked through the
disgusting mass of gelatinous gunk in her mouth.
    “Are we going to where you live?”
    Gnak did not bother to answer.
    “Why did you take me?”
    He ignored her again.
    “Are you going to eat me?”
    Maybe this would shut her up… “Maybe yes. Maybe no. Me think
yes,” he replied.
    “So why not just kill me now and not have to feed me on the
journey?”
    She had called his bluff. Eat a human? Yuck!
    “Maybe kill. Maybe no.”
    “Maybe blah, maybe blah,” she recited through another half
chewed bite.
    “Are you smart enough to answer a single question?”
    Gnak was tired of her already.
    “Are you smart enough to no ask more?” He half repeated her
own words back to her, showing his understanding.
    Her eyes widened. She had obviously underestimated his
intelligence. He could only imagine what she would ask next.
    “I’m Jen, and I am eleven. What’s your name?” she asked.
    He was at a loss with the tiny girl. Perhaps if he gave her
one answer, her simple mind would be satisfied and she would shut up after all.
    “Gnak,” he replied.
    “Gnak…” She tested the word. “Is that really your name?
Gnak? Kinda… um… silly. Isn’t it?
    This time she had him at a loss. He knew none of her words. Kinda?
Um? Silly? Orcs had no such words so instead of listening further, he reached
across as she pulled the watering skin from her lips and picked up the leather,
stuffing it back in her mouth. She did not resist. He was more than a little
disappointed by the fact. He had thought her strong of heart.
    Securing the rope back in place around her mouth, he used
the remaining length of it to tie around his own wrist. If she moved, he would
awake. The dizziness was becoming more and more an issue. He needed rest. But
first, before he tried to get some sleep he ate a quick meal of dried meat as
her eyes watched his every move. Then, looking to her, he spoke once again with
his finger in her face.
    “You run. You die. You yell. You die. You piss. You die. Yes?”
    She nodded her agreement and he