Page 49 of Orc's Pride
We weren’t dangerous in the slightest comparatively. We could be cruel to each other, sure, but that paled in the face of the dark elf’s reign.
My hands finally brushed over the cool metal of Pitha’s axe, a grin splitting across my face as I uncovered it. Finding the handle, I grabbed and lifted it while standing.
A groan escaped me. Holy fuck was thisheavy.
“I’ll have you strung up in front of every orc on my base!” The sound of a fist connecting with skin had me wincing. “They’ll know what kind of a traitor you are!”
Ishta’s cold laugh sends dread down my spine.
While I had no doubt that Pitha would do anything to protect his people, whatever Ishta was planning was big. If the list could give me any indication on how far this went, it ran deep. There were many, many dark elf soldiers on his side.
We were all screwed if this problem didn’t get squashed.
Heading out from the cover of the trees, I dragged Pitha’s axe next to me, leaving a nice dirt trail behind. The minute the dark elf spotted me, he was already training his bow at me and locking his arrow once more.
There was a split second in between him firing the arrow and me lifting the axe up to cover me. The metal tipped arrow clinks against the bulk of the axe, ricocheting off of it and landing somewhere next to my feet.
In the moment of confusion, I race forward, throwing my entire body weight’s worth of muscle into hurling the axe at the dark elf. He screeches at me, dropping low to the ground as I get a clean slice through the air—though not close enough to actually hit him.
“Dana!” Pitha’s voice shocks me into jumping back. “Go! Now!”
I ignore him. I’m not letting him fight against Ishta while also trying to fend off this dark elf, especially with the way his aim is almost entirely too good to not hit him. If I leave now, Pitha’s back will be littered with arrows.
I’m not about to abandon him like this.
Not after everything…
Not after I finally want to admit to myself that I love him.
The dark elf pushed up from the ground with his free hand, using his other to strike at me with the hard end of his bow. I avoid it, even if I know it won’t cause any major damage. I can’t let him get any edge over me. A split second could mean life or death.
My shoulders burn as I bring the axe back up to slice at him again.
The tip is sharp enough to cleanly cut through the dark elf’s face, blood splattering everywhere in a wide arch that coats both me and the ground under me.
I choke out a surprised gasp, one that has Pitha yelling again.
“Fuck! Dana!”
The worry in his tone warms my chest, even through the adrenaline coursing through me.
A dark hand grabs blindly at my ankle, causing me to arch the axe over me and swing it down execution style. It thumps hollowly into the dark elf’s shoulder, angling in a way that I hadn’t meant for it to but ultimately ends up in practically severing his head from his body.
Blood pours from the wound, his body going eerily still within a few seconds.
I’m panting without even realizing, the weight of Pitha’s weapon completely draining me of any strength I had left from running earlier. How in the gods does he manage to carry this thing so easily?
If I hadn’t known any better, I would think that it weighed as much as a toy prop.
A pained grunt pulls my attention away from the corpse at my feet and back to where Pitha and Ishta are. To my absolute horror, there is an arrow stuck in the side of Pitha’s neck. Blood pours from the wound, his body swaying as his knees hit the ground.
Ishta kicks him directly in the face, throwing him backward as his body collapses.
“No!” I scream, dragging my axe with me.
In the trees, I spot more dark elves hiding just out of view, another arrow coming to fly past me. My arms scream when Iraise the axe, fending the metal tipped weapon off with only a split second of it hitting me right in the chest.
“Dana…!” Pitha claws at the ground, rolling onto his side while he slaps a hand over the arrow. “Please… go!”