Captive of the Horde King by Zoey Draven

Chapter Thirty-Three

When I woke next, I smelled smoke.

My head was throbbing but I tried to keep still, to assess the situation first.

I was lying on my side in a clearing. Still in the black vine forest, I realized, when I saw the jutting rocks, but I knew the forest was large. We could be anywhere inside.

My hands were tied in front of me with a rope, so tight that I couldn’t move my wrists. My feet were bound in the same way, but I noticed that the rope was thin. It wouldn’t take too much effort to cut, if only I could get a blade.

Behind me, I heard them. The Ghertun. I’d counted five before they’d knocked me out. Were there more now?

I heard one speak in their own tongue and I suppressed the shiver of revolt that went through me.

Suddenly, I was flipped over to my other side so that I was facing the small fire pit they’d constructed.

They must’ve guessed I’d woken, I thought, eyeing them with a glare, my jaw set, my head pounding.

There were still five Ghertun. Five Ghertun that had plotted with Hukan to take me away.

I was a fool.

I remembered how Hukan’s attitude towards me seemed to flip so suddenly, how she’d greeted me and offered to make me sweet bread after coming out of the black vine forest. Had she met with the leader then? Had she begun to think of a way to lead me into the forest without rousing my suspicion?

She made me think that there was hope for us. She asked for my help—how that must have grated on her, I realized—in order to lead me into a trap. Now, my guards were dead, only because they were doing their duty. They’d never seen their deaths coming.

The leader of the group—a Ghertun with a deep, ugly scar across his jaw—crouched in front of me. His legs were like a pyrokis, bent heavily at the knee joint and his feet were clawed, the bones heavily raised. I heard those claws digging into the earth next to me as he balanced himself.

“You wake,” he noted, cocking his head to the side. I smelled fermented brew on his breath and I saw metal jugs being passed between the other Ghertun. “How fortunate.”

They had traveling sacks and rations, which told me they’d prepared for this journey From the Dead Lands? I remembered the leader had mentioned a king. A Ghertun king.

“You will all die for this,” I told him, my voice surprisingly calm. “The Vorakkar will—”

His hand flashed out again and light burst in my eye. He’d slapped me this time. Hard enough for my flesh to throb, but not a punch that rendered me unconscious.

“Your horde king will never find us, human,” the leader rasped. Then he let out that awful laughing sound as he said, “Besides, you were betrayed. It seems someone wanted rid of you. Why would you want to go back?”

The thought of Hukan’s betrayal enraged me. “Why did you take me then if someone wanted rid of me? Maybe there was good reason for that.”

His expression sobered. “Because that Dakkari filth killed the king’s son. One of them at least. As penance, our king wants you.”

My brow furrowed.

The scout. The Ghertun scout that Arokan had executed had been the king’s son? Why had the king’s son been a lowly scout?

“Oh yes,” the leader said. “We have been watching you for a long time. Waiting. First, the king will take you. Then, he will take the horde king’s head.”

“You can’t fight the horde,” I scowled. “You would never make a dent. They are skilled fighters and the Vorakkar is the best of them all.”

The leader laughed again. “We have great numbers now. An army. We have waited to strike and soon, we will not only destroy your horde. We will be able to take all of Dakkar for our own.”

“You lie,” I rasped.

“Never,” the leader purred. His expression quieted and he cocked his head to the side, studying me. “We were very surprised to learn a horde king had taken a human as his queen.”

I glared up at him, my jaw clenching.

“Then again, human cunt is…divine,” the leader said softly, leaning towards me, his breath and words making my stomach turn. “Soft and warm and so tight. No wonder the Dakkari wanted you warming his furs.”

I spit in his face, rage and disgust making my body tremble. Arokan had told me that he’d witnessed Ghertun attacking settlements, both human and nonhuman settlements alike. He’d told me that the Ghertun only killed and pillaged and raped.

“If you touch me, your death will be slow,” I promised.

The Ghertun wiped his face with his hand and then, to my disgust, licked his palm. He grinned, his slitted, dark eyes, shining from the fire burning the earth, where a skewer of roasting meat turned.

“Delicious,” he purred, making my belly drop in dread. Then his shoulders dropped and he leaned back. “Unfortunately, human, you are meant for our king. He would know if we had…sampled.”

The other Ghertun grumbled and laughed a bit, telling me they all spoke the universal tongue. That surprised me. I thought Ghertun nothing more than barbaric, savage beasts. How was it that so many knew a second language?

I swallowed. There was no way in hell I’d let them take me to their king.

Arokan will come before that ever happens, I thought, that knowledge sinking in. He would come for me. He wouldn’t rest until he found me.

I almost felt sorry for these Ghertun. Almost.

“However,” the leader continued, “it seems you need to be taught a lesson, human.”

He said something in the Ghertun tongue over his shoulder and my eyes flickered to one rummaging through his travel sack, only to pull out a short metal poker.

My breathing went shallow when he placed the end into the fire, letting it sit, turning it until the end was red hot.

“You will be marked anyway,” the Ghertun leader said, seeing where my eyes turned. “We will save our king the hassle.”

Eyes widening, I squirmed in my bonds as the leader retrieved the poker and approached me. My heartbeat revved in my chest, adrenaline rushing through my system.

“Don’t touch me,” I yelled, trying to wiggle away. But the bonds were too tight. I struggled harder when two Ghertun approached and held me down, pushing me flat onto my back, tearing my tunic until my shoulder was exposed.

Panic lit my veins as I eyed the hot poker. There was a symbol at the end. Three, horizontal stacked lines.

The leader got closer and I kicked out my feet, connecting solidly with his groin.

The leader cursed, hissing, and rage flashed in his gaze when he dropped to the ground, the poker falling from his hand. In the Ghertun tongue, he yelled at the two holding me down and one grabbed my legs roughly, though I thrashed.

Then the leader picked up the poker. “Human bitch,” he hissed. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

I screamed as the searing pain registered. He pushed the symbol deep into my flesh and nausea churned in my belly when I smelled my own skin burn.

It only lasted a handful of seconds, but the moment the poker left my skin, despite the chilling pain that numbed me, I struggled again, desperate to break out of their grasp. Inhuman sounds rose from my throat as I thrashed.

Satisfaction went through me when I once again managed to kick the leader, this time right in the jaw.

His face snapped to the side but when he turned it to look at me, I saw his nostrils flare. My breath hitched when I saw his own leg reared back.

I only had a moment to shield myself, to shield my exposed belly, before he launched a powerful kick into my side, shaking my body, my breath whooshing out of my lungs until I gasped and choked for air.

He crouched low over me again as I lay there, struggling to breathe.

I looked up at him, eyes wide, frightened for the first time because I wondered if I’d been able to protect the baby enough.

“Test me again,” the leader growled, “and I’ll do a lot more than mark you, human.”

That was the last thing I heard before his fist flashed out again, knocking me unconscious once more.

The next time I woke,the pain registered almost immediately. My side ached, my face throbbed, and my shoulder radiated icy heat from my burn.

Over head, I saw the sliver of the moon. From its position, I knew it was in the dead of night and time was slowly creeping into the early hours of morning.

Realization hit me. I’d been gone for hours.

Arokan would know by then I was gone. In my gut, I knew he was already searching for me, but if he hadn’t found me by now, if he hadn’t been able to track the Ghertun that had taken me, would he find me?

They must’ve covered the tracks well. They must’ve taken me deep into the black vine forest and I wondered if Arokan would find me in time. They must feel secure in the knowledge that the horde wouldn’t find me, especially if they were eating and drinking and laughing at their leisure.

My eyes sought out the group of Ghertun. The fire had died to embers, but I could still see the glow of their eyes in the darkness.

They were still drinking. I watched them, trying to lay as still as possible, knowing that the darkness would shield me at least a little.

They were growing sloppy as the hours drew by. They were laughing, speaking in the Ghertun tongue, lounging about. Every now and again, one’s eyes would flicker to me, but I closed mine quickly, feigning sleep.

I watched them for a long time, however. With every sip of brew they drank, a plan formed in my mind. I realized I didn’t need to wait for Arokan. I could handle this myself. My husband had given me the knowledge to handle this myself. We’d trained for hours and hours together, for weeks. I just needed to time everything right.

I was a queen of a Dakkari horde. Arokan saw a strength in me and over the weeks and weeks that I’d been with him, I’d begun to see that strength too.

While I was no horde warrior, I could escape a handful of drunk, stumbling Ghertun, couldn’t I?

I had to believe I could. There was no other option. I was running out of time before they took me further from the horde, into the Dead Lands.

Studying them, I saw three out of the five had a dagger on them. Good odds. I remembered the night Arokan had taken me into the forest, back at the old camp. I remembered what he’d said. That I had used his weakness to draw him close and that was when I’d struck.

I could do the same thing, I realized.

If I could taunt over a Ghertun with a dagger, I could grab it. They might be too drunk to realize otherwise. I had to hope they were.

So, I opened my eyes and didn’t close them whenever one happened to look my way. I stared at them and one nodded over to me, informing the leader that I was awake.

The leader glanced over at me and I held my breath, holding his glare. He ignored me, taking another swig out of the metal jug before passing it, saying something in Ghertun that made them all laugh.

I saw one get up from the fire and go off into the dark forest. It gave me an idea.

“I need to empty my bladder,” I called out.

“No,” the leader replied.

“It’s urgent,” I said, steeling my voice.

He ignored me.

I tried again. “You really want me smelling like piss for the entire journey? Because I will go in my pants if I have to. You’ll be the ones who’ll have to smell me.”

Even in the darkness, I saw his nostrils flare. He was quiet for a moment, making me think my idea failed, but then he nodded at the nearest Ghertun—one with a dagger—and jerked his head towards me.

The Ghertun huffed, but got to his feet, swaying over to me. Drunker than I thought, I realized.

Good.

Roughly, he pulled me to my feet but I stumbled from how tight the bonds were.

“Loosen them,” I said, “so I can walk.”

“You think me dumb, human?” the Ghertun slurred.

Yes.

I didn’t press my luck. I felt the leader’s eyes on me so I awkwardly shuffled, though I purposefully made it seem more difficult than it was. I stumbled more than I needed to. I didn’t want him to think I had any chance to escape and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the leader accept the jug when it passed back around, his attention already diverted towards the brew.

The Ghertun didn’t lead me far. Only far enough away where if I pissed, they probably wouldn’t be able to smell it at the camp. Still, it allowed me more privacy than I would’ve had.

The Ghertun pushed me against a rock and grunted, “Hurry.”

Heart racing, I debated what to do next. I didn’t think I would get another chance to be alone with one and I needed to draw him close enough to grab his dagger.

There was only one way I could think of and I pressed my lips together before saying, “I need help with my pants.”

His head jerked towards me. His drunken grin appeared, displaying sharpened, yellow teeth, and it revolted me.

Immediately, he came forward. I told myself to be still as his hands roamed down my body, as I felt his disgustingly cold flesh through my tunic. His clawed fingers came to the laces of my pants and he sliced through them with one flick. The waist loosened.

My breathing went shallow. Alarmed, I wondered if this had been a good idea, especially when he pressed his lower body into mine. My belly churned when he tilted his head and licked a line up my throat, over my cheek with his slimy tongue.

“I do not care about the king,” the Ghertun slurred. “I haven’t had a human cunt in a long—”

With a sudden jerk, I gripped the hilt of his dagger and pulled it free. Before the Ghertun even realized what was happening, I sank the blade deep into his belly—right where Arokan told me during our training sessions—feeling the hard scales give surprisingly easily.

His eyes flashed to me in shock and he stumbled back, but not before I twisted and pulled the dagger free.

For one stunned, silent moment, he looked down at his wound, one leg giving out underneath him.

My hands shook and I stared at him, feeling the heavy weight of the dagger in my palm.

He was the first being I’d ever wanted to kill. I didn’t know how I felt about that, not yet, but I would do whatever it took to survive, to get back to Arokan, the horde, and Kivan. I would do whatever it took to keep my growing baby safe.

The Ghertun fell with a loud thud, blood spilling from his wound. I saw his eyes roll back, but not before he let out an anguished, angry cry, alerting the leader and the other Ghertun at the clearing.

Then he was dead.

I heard the leader shout. Through the black vines, I saw him racing towards me…the other three Ghertun not far behind.