Kaius the Fierce by Cara Wylde

Chapter Twenty-Three

“What’s this?” Sasha asked.

Something clanged, and it sounded metallic.

“I don’t know... Give it to me.” She ran her fingers over the slender object her daughter placed in her hand. Her frown turned into a smile. “Are you kidding me? They gave us a fork?”

“Two forks. There’s another one.”

She hadn’t actually looked at the plate when the female orc had brought it in, and then they’d been plunged into darkness again.

“We probably can’t use them, though,” Sasha sighed. “As weapons, I mean.”

“That’s exactly what we’re going to do if the chance arises.”

“But Mom, we won’t even be able to pierce their skin! They gave us forks because they know we can’t do anything with them.”

“Hey. We have to be resourceful. Hide your fork, and if you have to defend yourself, aim for the eyes. Got it? Always aim for the eyes. They might be big, and strong, and they might have enchanted weapons that poison the blood, but I promise you no orc will feel too happy with a fork stuck in his eye.”

Sasha giggled.

Grace bit her tongue. She hid the fork inside her sleeve. Her appetite was gone. Not that she wasn’t happy Sasha wasn’t crying anymore, but she hated the fact that she’d just taught her how to defend herself by sticking a fork into someone’s eye, and her daughter had been amused. This was not the life she wanted for Sasha. This was not the life she wanted for her unborn baby, either. And she didn’t care that he was a baby orc and probably had war and violence in his blood even as he grew inside her belly.

“I hope we don’t need to use them, though,” she said in a whisper. “But we have to be prepared. Just in case. Kaius and his orcs will save us, and we have to help them, if we can. We can’t just be... damsels.”

“What’s a damsel?”

She smiled and proceeded to explain the concept to her by referring to some of her favorite fairy tales. But they soon came to the conclusion that neither Cinderella, nor the Little Mermaid were damsels. Sasha went through all the fairy tales she could remember and identified the traits that made the female protagonists strong and resilient. In the end, Grace had a feeling Sasha still wasn’t clear on what a damsel was.

“A girl who needs saving.”

“We need saving,” she said, “But that doesn’t mean we’re weak.”

“No, you’re right. Well, I might be weak.” Grace laughed, trying to cheer her up. “You’re not.”

A commotion in the distance made them freeze in place, staring at each other with wide eyes. More sounds. There was shouting, and then the metallic clang of weapons. Grace and Sasha rose to their feet, took out their forks, and pressed their backs to the wall. Grace took her daughter’s hand in hers and squeezed it tightly. No matter what happened next, it was important they weren’t separated.

There were voices rising and falling, orders being given in the rough language of the orcs. Grace knew Kaius had attacked, but she couldn’t tell who was shouting, who was giving orders, who was winning, who was losing. All she could do was wait.

After what felt like forever, there were steps rushing down the tunnel, towards their cage. A torch lit the walls, making the shadows dance eerily.

“Grace! Sasha!”

They both let out a breath of relief.

“In here! We’re in here!” Then, to Sasha, “I told you he’d come. He made a promise to us.”

Kaius appeared on the other side of the bars. He dropped the torch and curled his big, rough hands around the sturdy metal.

“There’s a key,” Grace said.

“Stay back. I’m getting you out of here.”

“Kaius, you need to find the key...”

But Kaius the Fierce didn’t need a key. With a forceful grunt, he pulled at the bars. There was a screeching sound, and the whole gate moved slightly. He was going to simply take it out of its hinges. Grace listened to him and stepped back, watching in pure wonder how the muscles in his arms, shoulders, and chest flexed, and he pushed and pulled again, until the door rattled. A vein throbbed on his temple, and the third time he tried, the barred door gave way, and he simply threw it to the side with a huff.

Grace ran straight into his arms. She dropped the fork and released Sasha’s hand, knowing they were both safe now. If Kaius was here, then it meant Goroth was defeated, and they had nothing more to fear.

“I knew you’d come!”

He wrapped her in a tight embrace, lifting her off the ground. He sank his face into her rich hair and inhaled greedily, like a man who’d been deprived of air, a man who’d been on the brink of death and had fought with all his might to save himself.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured in her hair. “I made a mistake. I put you two at risk. You could’ve been hurt. I could’ve lost you.”

“We’re okay. No one hurt us.”

He squeezed her harder.

Sasha hesitated for a moment. She’d seen too many horrible orcs in the past few hours, and for a second, she didn’t recognize Kaius. The way he’d broken the barred gate and thrown it aside like it was nothing had scared her more, and even though her mother had run to him, she needed a minute to recover from the shock of it all.

Kaius was different. She knew that, so why was she holding back? Tears started running down her face, and they were tears of happiness. She dropped the fork, too, relieved that in the end, she hadn’t had to use it. Earlier, she’d refrained from telling her mother there was no way she could stick it into an orc’s eye, seeing how short she was compared to them. They were as tall as mountains. Once, she’d felt brave enough to step closer to Dharg the Giant and noted with much dismay that she barely reached his knee.

Finally, Sasha let out a sigh and ran to them. Her mother felt her and made room for her. Now they were both hugging Kaius, and he was holding on to them for dear life. He couldn’t let go. Not yet. Even though he knew they had all the time in the world, and that he was given a second chance, he needed them now. He needed one more minute with them, inhaling his human mate’s unique scent, and feeling the human child’s plump hands squeeze his arm, asking for a promise of protection.

“I will never let you out of my sight.”

Grace whispered something he couldn’t hear because he was literally suffocating her.

“I love you both so much. You’re everything I have.”

No one heard the sound of steps approaching in the dark. Or maybe Kaius had noticed someone was coming, but thought it was one of his orcs. It was too hard for him to let go of Grace and Sasha when he’d just gotten them back.

There was a sharp sound, like a metallic whoosh, and the tunnel lit up. Bright blue light, as cold as steel, blinded them for a second, and then Grace felt hot blood on her hands. She stepped back, pushing Sasha away. She stared up into her mate’s eyes, and she saw surprise there. Pure surprise that changed to pain in a split second.

“Kaius... what...”

There was blood everywhere. On the walls, on the ground, on the front of her shirt. There was blood in Sasha’s hair. It had splashed all over, and she couldn’t understand whose blood it was.

“Kaius...”

He fell to his knees, and she tried to catch him. All she managed to do was fall with him and allow him to lean against her when he swayed like someone who’d drunk too much.

That was when she saw the one who’d stabbed him from behind. It was the mage from before, Goroth’s mage. But he held no weapon. He was staring at his hands in wonder, a smile playing on his lips, as if he himself wasn’t sure how he’d managed the extraordinary feat of almost cutting someone in half with the use of simple energy, energy that was everywhere in the universe, fully available to those who knew how to wield it.

“You...” Grace couldn’t find her voice.

Kaius slumped against her, and she saw that the cut started from his left shoulder blade and ran to his right hip. The back of his leather shirt had been cut in two. He was bleeding profusely. The shock was so great that Grace didn’t know what to do aside from holding him up and patting his cheeks, begging him to stay with her.

“Mom?”

“Sasha, I need... something to...” She didn’t know what she needed.

The mage was still there, hovering too close. She looked up, and their gazes met. She opened her mouth to say something, to curse him or beg him. He raised his hands once more, and Grace felt like she was falling. Like the ground had been swept from under her, and an abyss was reaching out to swallow her whole.

“Mom!”

Sasha ran to her side, and Grace wanted to push her away, but she didn’t have the strength. It was like her brain couldn’t command her limbs anymore, because instead of shoving her daughter out of harm’s way, she clung to Kaius desperately, her hands slick with his dark red blood.

“Orcs bleed the same as humans,”the thought crossed her mind. A useless thought.

“Mom...”

The mage raised his hands above his head. Between his palms, a blade of bright blue energy formed, taking shape as he focused and murmured something under his breath.

Grace wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. All she could do was stare at the blade of energy that was going to fall upon her and her daughter.

There was a snap.

And with the snap, the mage’s neck turned sharply to the right, so hard and so sudden that his chin almost got aligned with his spine. The blade of energy faded, and his body crumbled to the floor.

Behind him, Ulgan the Delirious stood, breathing heavily, covered in blood, his long, black hair mated to his sweaty forehead.

“Oh my God,” Grace whispered.

“Ulgan the Blade I am no more,” he struggled to put the words together. He looked down at Grace and Sasha. “But I can still do magic. Powerful magic.”

Grace started crying. In her arms, Kaius was shaking like he was having a seizure. He was so heavy that he was nearly crushing her.

“Help me. He’s dying.”