Suddenly, all irritation evaporated into relief, and she hastily pushed her skirts back up around her thighs. There was nothing she could do to cover her butt, but that didn’t matter because she was about to befree. Finally!
Free to go back to work baking rosemary loaves in her mother’s bakery.
She sighed heavily before calling out. “Here! I’m over here!”
There was no verbal response, but the cracking of twigs continued to her left, getting closer. She tried to swing herself in that direction so she could see who was coming. Would it be Willford or Victir? Fades, she hoped it wouldn’t be one of their kids. They both had teenage sons, and she wouldneverlive this down if one of them saw her like this.
And then her savior burst through the tree line.
But it wasn’t a savior at all.
Her skin broke into goosebumps and her hair stood on end. Her gaze narrowed on the animal at the edge of the tree line as her limbs began to shiver with electric energy. Matted fur. Yellow eyes. Long dripping teeth. A sour rotting stench that could only be caused by one thing.
Blight.
The saber cat skewered her right through with too-wide eyes. It wavered slightly as it advanced on her, stalking its prey. Lips pulled back to display its rotten teeth and drooling pus hung from its mouth. The low growl rumbled right through her gut.
How had a blighted saber cat even come to be in the Rove Woods? This place was supposed to be safe from such travesties!
It took a step forward, and she jerked her leg hard, desperate to flee as terror poured shivering heat down her spine. The knot held her tight. She couldn’t run. Couldn’t fight!
“Y-you don’t want me,” she said stupidly as her eyes fixed on the creature’s huge claws. They were longer than her hand! “You don’t want to eat me! I’m far more fat than meat!”
The cat leaped toward her, swiping with one of its massive claws.
Trinia shrieked and yanked her body away. She felt the swish of the blighted predator hit her skirts as they fell back down. Terror seized her as the fabric cut out her vision, but she could hear the cat scrambling to turn around, snarling and hissing and furious it had missed.
She managed to get her skirt back up when she saw the cat leap toward her again. Claws out. Teeth bared.
Her life flashed before her eyes in a quick, shuddering burst. Fighting with Yerina, even though it was pointless. Lecturing her father before he’d drunk himself into an early grave.
Her mother’s smile as she taught her endless recipes. How to knead bread, how to stoke the fire, how to properly haggle an honest trade.
She had that same smile the night she died. Even after being sick for three seasons, she still smiled.
Trinia was going to join her now.
A green blur shot out of the woods and slammed into the saber cat while it was in midair.
Her heart jumped up into her throat and choked her. Her whole body froze in realization.
A whole new kind of predator had arrived—the deadliest predator of all.
An orc.
The snarling of the huge green male cut through her like a hook blade through overproofed dough.
The orc was enormous, and he only wore a tattered pair of leather shorts and some roughly made shoes. Muscles rippled across his back. His dark green skin was riddled with jagged scars. His nearly black hair was cropped short in blunt chunks.
She didn’t recognize him.
The cat had recovered from the blow. Its matted tan hide was coated with muck from the ground and the pupils within its yellow eyes were tiny pricks. It snarled at the orc and took a step forward, preparing to pounce again.
The orc let out another harsh snarl, so electrifying that all the hair on her body stood up and the blood in her veins went cold.
Oh Fades, she could hardly move.
The saber cat froze too. Its pupils rapidly dilated. She could see something flicker in its eyes. Some kind of recognition that was usually lost on blighted creatures.
