Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 107(@300wpm)
“Okay, then let me do it. We need to get out of here.”
I shake my head. “I am Gathred.”
“I know your name, I’m just saying—”
“I will do this.” I grin with self confidence as the engine roars to life. “Is a simple machine. This lever, then this pedal.”
“Yes, but you need to—”
The truck lurches forward as I put my foot down, and she cries out as we speed toward the security wall. She covers her eyes but there is no need. I’m getting it. Turning sharply right, the truck spins and I point it at the exit, laughing. “Simple machine. Gart didn’t make them go this fast.”
“Ease off!” Aleena screams. “Basic physics. At this speed you’ll never make the turn.”
“Never make the turn? I am Gathred.” I yank the wheel to the left, and the truck skids in the day-old mud, sliding in a sharp turn that makes me chuckle as my stomach lurches in the opposite direction. “Easy turn.”
“Please ease off. Please!”
I turn to see Aleena gripping the dashboard with white fingers as the dirt of the compound turns to an unkept road strewn with leaves and debris.
I twist my lips to the side, then pull my foot off the pedal. The truck slows and she breathes a sigh of relief.
When she speaks, Katya’s voice is soft, dazed. “Our family is being ripped apart. Where are we going?”
We’ve stopped by the side of the road. Aleena was feeling dizzy, and she needed food. Luckily, there were crates filled with all kinds of fresh things in the back of the truck. Aleena said they must not have gotten around to unloading it yet.
“There’s a highway up ahead…” I begin, and then it hits me like a freight train.
I cry out as pain rips through my head, falling to one knee, unable to stand. My vision darkens, then tunnels as I stare ahead, trying to focus on something, anything, to keep from losing consciousness. There’s a tree about thirty yards away with a symbol roughly carved into the trunk, looks like it’s been there years by the way the moss has grown over it. A circle with a wavy line through the center, like the sea or…
Teeth. Sharp teeth. Yes, and tusks on either side. I trace it with my aching eyes, using it to focus. Like a crude picture of an orc’s face.
Katya’s voice comes to me distantly. “What’s happening to him?”
“He gets headaches,” Aleena explains, sounding like she’s underwater. “I haven’t seen it like this though. Gathred, do you need me to do anything? Talk to me…”
But it’s no use. No matter what I try, the pain is too acute, too sharp.
And before I know it, I’m out.
“I think he’s coming back.” Aleena’s voice is concerned, her hand on my cheek giving me life, centring me. “Gathred?”
I nod, drawing a deep breath. “How…long was I out?”
“A few minutes. Five or ten. What was it? Do we need to know about a trigger?”
Her hand moves to the back of my head, helping me into a sitting position, gentle and tender. I should be taking care of her, not the other way around, but still…it feels good to know she cares. I let her help me up, then shake my head.
“It’s been happening for a while.” My eyes find the symbol on the tree again, and I frown. There’s something about it. Now that I’m no longer falling into unconsciousness, I’m sure it’s familiar to me.
“What is it?” Aleena asks, staring into my face, and I answer without thinking.
“That symbol, I’ve seen it before.”
She follows my eyes and nods. “One of the other clans. I was thinking about them before, when I met you…”
“When you met me you thought about another orc clan?”
“Yes, because of your eyes. There was a clan around here, years ago. Lappa?”
I toss the word around in my head. Something is there, bubbling up to the surface. “Lakktra?” I suggest.
“Yes, that’s it! Lakktra clan. You know them?”
“No. This name seems familiar to me though.”
“My dad had a ledger of all the orc clans, which ones would buy our drugs and which ones were likely to tear us apart just for going near their territory. He made me memorize it. Lakktra were in the latter column, but the thing I really remember is the white eyes. It’s a trait of theirs, first son to first son. But you’re Hzarka, right?”
“Clan Lakktra…” I say the words as I nod. Again there’s that pang of familiarity. Why? I’ve never heard of them before. “Why don’t I know of them?”
“They don’t live here anymore. They used to have an encampment near the compound when we first came here, I guess we must be on that land. But they moved on a long time ago.”
“You know where they are now?”
She hesitates, scrunching up her nose. “Sure… Let me think… Glenrose. Eighty miles north if you follow the old highway. Why do you ask?”