The men from the steel cities appeared indolent and reckless, but if she took a step in the wrong direction, one of them saw it. Returning her daring with a smirking mockery, letting her know she was seen. They let her eat and drink and made her use one of the buckets they'd lined up at the end of the lodge to make waste in. Then, because she wasn't one of the "pretty," they set her to work at one of the tables, sorting out edible food from things they had pulled from the houses.
Chapter 5
What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger
Entering the Gathering Lodge with the roasted meat, her arms shaking with the weight of the plate, Annabell did her best to dodge drunken men. They had been somewhere, had discovered a hard-fermented liquor that the town council in Righteous Way forbid its citizens.
"Intemperance leads to evil."Mama’s voice said.
"These men were evil before they got any alcohol. At least it has made them slow and dumb," Annabell whispered under her breath. The truth felt like a bit of rebellion, and about all she could manage.
They didn’t care that she could barely stand, that she’d was too ill with nerves to swallow much more than a few bites and drink what clean water she could get her hands on. They didn't care that she was running on her last reserve. It was one step after the other. Don't be noticed. Keep moving.
Setting her burden down, she tripped over an outstretched leg, purposely set to make her fall. The man who did it laughed, putting his hands on her waist to pull her to him. The more drunk they were, the funnier they thought this game. Before she could twist away, a sound pierced the room. A rising howl, cutting through drunken laugher and craven behavior.
Instantly recognizable.
Annabell felt it ring between her ears. A thinner, higher-pitched sound shrieked after it. The human reaction. An alarm. It lasted but a heartbeat before suddenly stopping. Silent.
Quiet descended, the startling noises affecting everyone. The cruel arrogance of the invaders drained out of their faces, replaced by caution. Annabell recognized that first howl, but the second must have been their sentry's sound. Did they know what was coming for them?
For the first time in days, Annabell felt a smile open on her lips, hurting her cheeks, her nose, shooting pain to the back of her head. Grinning wider, she embraced it. She was alive. Still alive.
Retribution was coming.
The people around her burst into action. Searched for their weapons. Shook their heads to clear them of the drunkenness.
"They will kill everyone," a woman said into the quiet.
They would save them, Annabell wanted to shout. The people of the village had done nothing but wake up alive to the discovery that their world had turned to blood and horror at the hands of strangers. None of them had trespassed on the treaty with the Orki Originals. Righteous was a good town that taught all the laws to their children. No one here dared break the law.
The penalty was too high.
Now these men from the Steel Cities, these murderers from the world, they would pay the price of their wrongdoing. The sound of their end was in the howling of the Orki beasts cutting through the night like a blade. These foolish men hadn't come to the valley through the mountains. They had come across land and broken Orki Peace law.
The call of the Orki war beasts was close. A back-and-forth communication surrounding the lodge. It sounded like a full hunting party.
Most of the men were in the hall. The celebration tables were filled with stinking raiders. All of them sitting up, sobering up quickly, the merriment draining from their faces.
The man who had touched her stood, weaving on his feet.
"Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary stupidity,"Mama said in his direction.
The one called Boss grabbed the closest woman, Lurann, shoving her hard in the direction of the door facing the town square. He glanced behind him at the other exit. But the sounds of war beasts besieged them from all directions.
"Open it, beg for mercy. Tell them we want to talk," Boss told Lurann.
Lurann visibly paled at the order. Annabell could hear the tearful anxiety in her voice. "Don't. I can't. They'll kill me. You broke the peace. They'll kill me."
"Stupid bitch. Orkis only kill women with their dicks. You'll be fine. Open it."
How had these men not known what breaking their law would mean? Had he not believed it? The man appeared as terrified as Lurann. Boss poked at her with his sharp tooth-like weapon until she cried out, cut, blood blooming on her clothing. "Open. It."
Forced to obey, Lurann threw open the big door. "Please. Please! They want to talk. They want to avolk! Avolk!" she shouted the Orkish into the night.
Like a giant moving into the room, a creature ducked through the doorway, every footstep a heavy noise on the wood flooring. There was an animal growling behind him. Annabell clearly saw the war beast, a big fierce female at his back.
Shirtless, wearing the common Orki layered fur and leather apron-sized loincloth, leather boots up to his knees, the Original entered the Gathering Lodge and took up all the space and air. An impressive creature by any estimation. This one carried a massive ax.
