"Then I will leave you, hopefully, for the last time."
Our soldiers were exiting. A foolish bubble of panic rose in my chest to be left alone, as if they would have helped me. As if they weren't the ones trapping me here. The door closed, and I felt my knees go weak.
My groom was speaking to the orc with the bag, took a packet from him wrapped in oil cloth. "Are you hungry?"
It took me a moment to realize he was speaking to me. "What?"
"Are you hungry?"
I hadn't eaten since a breakfast stolen the day before, before they'd caught me again. My body had stopped asking. "...yes."
"You don't eat crickets?"
My brain stumbled.
He repeated. "Crickets. You're human. You don't eat crickets?"
Was this a test? Was this some kind of joke before other things happened? "I have…never eaten a cricket, no."
He unwrapped the packet and separated out a square of some speckled bread, held out a strip of dried meat. I took it.
It was heavily salted, and a little greasier than I expected. I fought not to gobble it down like a starved wolf.
"Careful," one of the orcs circled called out. "It's human."
I choked.
And then they were all yelling again, Khal was yelling, and I was doing my best to retch the meat back up.
"It's not human! It's not human." Khal had crouched in front of me. He put his hands on my shoulders, thought better of it and let go. "Krashal was joking. I wouldn't give you human."
"But you do eat human," I got out.
He hesitated, and my stomach rolled.
"Only when they deserve it!" a younger one called out. Someone laughed.
Khal snapped, "Tyralk, do you tire of living?"
The young one and the one with the bag and I think another started having some argument, heated. Khal turned back to me. "The Drashik do not eat humans. Not anymore. It has been…a long time."
What was a "long time?" A year? A few weeks?
"Our food will be safe for you. No one is going to harm you. I promise."
I looked at the meat where I'd dropped it. If I didn't touch it, would he grow angry again? I couldn't make myself pick it up.
He sighed and stood, retrieving the jerky. I steeled myself. The orcs were murmuring back and forth, their language like quiet growls. Would I live long enough to understand this? No. If I survived to get out of the keep, I'd find a way to run away. I'd find a city. I'd find a guild. As long as there wasn't a child-
I was retching again.No.No, I was not falling apart already; I was no wilting, nail-biting girl. The human body could survive more than a little cannibalism. I was going to-
He held out a flat piece of bread to me, the speckledpattern across the top. "It's made with cricket meal. For strength. But it doesn't look like a person." He broke off a corner, ate it, like he was trying to show a child. He held out the rest.
I'd need strength to get away, to survive this. I could be a little less human. I took it.
"Are you delaying something, Khal?" The one speaking had a dark, old scar across his forehead, towards a heavy brow. He smirked.
"Shut up, Vrathgar." Khal didn't smile. "I'm not playing today."
