Trek For Survival

"There"s the orc camp!" cried Sudar, excitement and unease in his voice.

Gia could see a line of orcish warriors lined up with their weapons at the ready, when they seemed to suddenly see the storm behind them, and turned and ran.

"Why are they running? The storm is dying," said Gia in confusion.

"It"s not dying, it"s just slowed a bit because it"s not on sand anymore," said Sudar, shaking his head. "As soon as we land, we"re going to have to make a run for the tents. The orcish rule is that anyone may take refuge during a storm, so even the lions can enter."

"What do you mean?" asked Vonn, picking up on his unease.

"The lions hunt the orcs, so I knew they would be at odds with each other. I"m not entirely sure how this is going to work," admitted Sudar, giving him a worried look.

Gia saw a circle of four huge tents, partially buried in the ground, drawing closer. The orcs were darting inside of them as fast as they could.

As the lions landed, throwing up dirt and dust in their wake, Sudar tossed Vonn a knife.

"We don"t have time to undo the harnesses. They"ll need to be cut!" explained Sudar darting out of the elephant almost before it was on the ground.

Vonn paused long enough to say, "Get Mikey and our things into the nearest tent. I"ll be there as soon as I can!"

Gia slipped on her bag and grabbed two of the others, leaving one for Mikey to grab, with his already on his back. Sliding out of the elephant, who had basically laid down in the ground, they ran as fast as they could towards the nearest tent. Pausing at the door, Gia turned to watch her parents slip into another tent and the lions dancing as their tethers were cut, watching the approaching sand storm.

There were sounds inside the tent, behind her, but she refused to move and turn to see the orcs she knew were behind her until she saw each of the lions grab up the man who cut it loose in their mouths and run for the tents. The lions were too big to fit more than one in each tent, but they managed to slide in and get the flaps secured before the storm howled in.

The orcs had moved as far away from the lions as possible, but the sound of the storm outside terrified them more than the heavily panting lions.

Gia moved around the lion slowly, looking to see who was brought to her tent, and sighed in disappointment when she saw it was Sudar.

"Sudar," said one of the orcs, standing tall enough to brush the top of the tent normally. His black hair shined in the dim light, against his deep green skin.

"Xoruk, I greet you," said Sudar, turning to face the orc. "I request shelter from the storm, before I trade good things to your people."

"You bring enemy of orc people," growled Xoruk, not hiding his fear and anger.

The lion had laid down, with its two front legs crossed in front of it, and was watching the two in fascinated amus.e.m.e.nt.

"The lions saved us from death. We lost two elephants to the worms in the desert. Geth was taken by the madness and we tried to save him, but it was too late. I had no choice but to ask the lions for help," explained Sudar.

"What Sudar pay lions for this help?" asked Xoruk, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"Xoruk, you wound me," said Sudar. "I have never betrayed the orc people."

"What Sudar pay?" demanded Xoruk, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"I have good things to trade to orc people," said Sudar. "I want meat from orc to pay the lions with."

"Any meat?" asked Xoruk.

"The silly things think you are going to pay us with their nasty meat," chuckled the lion, unable to hold back any longer. "No, orc chieftain. The trader human is not going to give us orc meat. We are hoping you have plenty of elephant or desert worm to trade. I prefer the elephant, but my cubs don"t care."

Xoruk glared at the lion for a moment, mulling his words over.

"It"s true, Xoruk," said Mikey, poking his head around the other side of the lion. "Sudar would never trade a person to be eaten!"

"Sudar bring other humans. Are they clan?" asked the orc, studying Gia with new eyes that made her suddenly very uncomfortable.

"No, Xoruk. These humans are a family that traded pa.s.sage across the wastes. They are not of my clan," said Sudar, but Gia couldn"t help notice the slight tinge of regret in his words. Maybe Geth wasn"t the only one she needed to be wary of.

"You tell story," said Xoruk, stepping back and sitting on a carved rock.

As soon as he sat down, the rest of the orcs in the tent seemed to calm down and sit more comfortably as well. Maybe they were taking the cues from their leader before deciding if the lion really was safe for the moment.

"What does he mean by story?" asked Mikey.

"This storm is going to last a while," said Sudar, sitting between the lion and the orc chief. "To pa.s.s the time, the orc people usually tell stories."

"What do they do if a storm blows in and they aren"t near a tent?" asked Gia.

"Then they take a cloak and cover themselves as best they can with it. If they can burry themselves in the sand and dirt before the storm hits, then even better," explained Sudar.

"What story are you going to tell, human trader Sudar?" asked the lion.

"Well," started Sudar, rubbing his chin before he looked over at Gia and smiled. "I think it would be best if Gia tells the story. She"s a really good story teller."

"I am?" asked Gia, taken aback. When had she become a story teller? Surely the little stories she told Mikey during their travels didn"t count?

"Oh! Yes! Gia, tell everyone about our journey from our old home, all the way to here!" exclaimed Mikey, jumping from one foot to the other, holding his pouch with Sprout so it didn"t bounce too much. "That should take forever!"

"Well, um… okay," she said, feeling uncomfortable with all the eyes in the tent on her.

"Here, you sit," said a female orc, placing a leather covered stool beside her. The baby strapped to her side gurgled in h.e.l.lo, waving a rattle made from the small bones of some creature.

"Thank you," squeaked Gia, sitting on the stool quickly so as not to insult the orcs.

"Remember to talk loud, so everyone can hear you," said Sudar with a small smile.

"I had just laid down to sleep, when Vonn, my husband, err… mate, came to wake me. A huge army was coming to kill the whole city, uh… clan?" she glanced over at Sudar who nodded and waved for her to continue.

After a couple more fumbled words, Gia realized the orcs didn"t care if she used a word they didn"t know well. They still sat quietly and listened attentively as she retold the story, she had told so many times before. The lion yawn and lay its head down, as if to sleep when she got to the dwarves, but Gia could tell it was still listening because its ears would swivel at every noise.

The storm finally subsided as she came to the part where she was strapped to the back of a lizardman, and when she told the orcs of the way she had helped it win the race by grabbing a branch, they couldn"t hold back their grins.

"And that"s when you ran into us, right?" asked Sudar, signaling that she should end the story.

"Yes," she nodded, grateful for that to be over so she could get Vonn and her parents back with her.

They all made their ways out of the tent, to find the two elephants almost completely buried by the sand. The moon was high in the sky before they managed to get them unburied.

"If you continue south and east, you should run into the halflings," said Sudar as they all settled down to sleep. "There really isn"t a reason you should stay here with the orcs. In fact, I would be worried they would involve all of you in some of the clan drama. This is the meeting place between the four major clans and whenever I show up, something always brews for fighting to break out."

"Then we will probably plan on leaving first thing in the morning," said Tom. "Will we be able to get supplies?"

"I don"t think that will be a problem," chuckled Sudar, bidding them goodnight and leaving.