“I heard them spinning out their vile plan,” Gargle insisted.“The new shaman and his pet human, planning to take over the clan.The poison isinsidethe grub.”
All eyes locked on Fattie.Ul-Rott motioned one of his guards with a simple jerk of his chin, and the soldier pulled a skin from his belt and doused the grub with water.It flopped wetly in Gorgul’s hand…with the dark line just showing through the translucent body.
“See?”Gorgul crowed triumphantly.“Its gullet is filled with—”
“Culinary herbs,” I called out.“What, haven’t you ever had a chicken stuffed with sage?Same thing!”
“Do you take the word of ahuman?”Gorgul snarled.“The shaman is clearly under his sway—they reek of each other!”
And then all eyes turned to me—and the pointy ends of all the weapons, too—just as the spasming grub leapt out of Gorgul’s hand and landed with a splat directly between my feet.
Calm as you please, I picked up Fattie—stars above, he waspulsating—and looked Ul-Rott in the eye.“Culinary herbs, chieftain.Nothing more.”
Then I popped the fat, wriggling creature into my mouth.
Let’s just say it’s a good thing I have no gag reflex whatsoever.
The grub had been daunting enough on the plate.Inside my mouth, it felt even bigger, the size of a soft-boiled quail egg.Same consistency too…if boiled eggs could freakingmove.And, I realized, as Ul-Rott’s shrewd gaze bore into me, that I’d never get away with swallowing the thing whole.
So…I bit.
It took every scrap of my self-control not to spew all over the row of hobnailed boots that had closed in all around me.As to the taste, I had no idea.Couldn’t get past the texture.And themovement.But one thing was for sure.The herbs I’d fed the grub before I plated him provided a most unwelcome grit.
I swallowed.Convulsively.And swallowed again.And only once I was positive I wouldn’t hurl did I manage to say, “Delicious.An offering fit for a chieftain.”
Ul-Rott waved for one of his trusted men to take up the plate.“You have the best nose—what do you make of this so-called poison?”
Gorgul shoved forward as the guard whuffed over the plate, but a sword leveled at his throat stopped him from interfering.The guard thumped his chest and said, “Nothing here but rubyseed powder, Ul-Rott the Spinecrusher.”
Desperately, Gorgul said, “They fed the poison to a single grub…the one they knew you would take.”Though it was obvious he could tell just how ridiculous he sounded as he said it.
A fact that the chieftain didn’t overlook, either.“The one they just happened to know I would choose.The one the human himself just ate.”He turned to Droko and said, “I’d keep an eye on your man.He’s not in his right mind.”
“The honor guard grieves for their fallen shaman,” Droko said.I hadn’t realized an orc could be diplomatic.“As do we all.”
21
DROKO
“Making Gargle look unhinged was a stroke of utter genius.”Archie rushed into the meditation room, grabbed the flask of wine he’d brought for me, and methodically downed the entire thing.He dried his lips with a swipe of his hand and said, “Er…which of us came up with the plan, anyway?Eh, doesn’t matter.Not only did it put that bully in his place—it sent a clear message to his buddy-boys not to mess with the new shaman.”
The grub trick sent a message, all right.But not the one Archie thought.A soldier is trained to spot his enemy’s weakness.And by publicly proclaiming that Archie and I bore each other’s scents, Gorgul had assured that whoever still wanted to strike at me could do so through my human.
“Archie…it’s too dangerous for you to stay here.”I did my best to keep my voice even and strong.“You have to leave.”
He’d been beaming with excitement moments before, but now his face drained of color.“Wait…what?”
“You heard me.You can’t stay.It’s too risky.If one of Gorgul’s followers decides to challenge me, he’ll do it by hurting you.”
“Hold on—you’re saying I’m avulnerability?”
Well…unfortunately, yes.
Archie squared his shoulders.“Who was the one who suggested using Gorgul’s spy-hole against him, anyway?Oh yeah, now I remember.It was me.”
I sighed.
“Who stood up to a bunch of musclebound brutes wielding pointy objects—armed with nothing but his good looks, I might add—to get said bully off your back?Also me.”
