Trek For Survival

"I Jreg," he declared, pounding his chest.

"h.e.l.lo, Jreg," Gia said carefully, still looking for Vonn. He had only left a few moments ago to get some food with Tom from Sudar. "I am Gia."

"Jreg will join Gia clan and prove self as mate," said Jreg, looking pleased with himself.

Gia gasped in panic, stepping back away from the orc. Not that he wasn"t good looking, for an orc, but she wasn"t interested in him at all! Was this the drama that Sudar had warned them of the night before?

"You can"t be my mate," she said quickly. "My mate is Vonn!

"Jreg know of the mighty Vonn who is not scared of the sky terrors. Jreg would be happy to be Gia"s second mate. It would be good luck to join Gia"s clan."

"Why would it be good luck?" she asked, trying to see where her mother had gone with Mikey. She didn"t want to make him mad by refusing, but she knew nothing of their customs!

"First mate Vonn has not yet gotten Gia with child, so it would be good for Gia to have a second mate. Jreg is strong and good hunter. With two mates, Gia will be able to have lots of healthy babies and feed them all."

He seemed so sure that his logic was sound that Gia struggled not to laugh. Her having half-orc babies? No!

"I"m honored by your offer, but the reason I"m not with child yet is because I am choosing to wait," said Gia, trying to explain to him.

Jreg scrunched his brow, thinking about her words carefully.

"If I got pregnant, with child, while we traveled, it would be harder to travel for me. If I wait until we reach our new home, I won"t have to travel anymore, and there will be other women to help me if I have any problems."

"Orc woman not wait. Orc travel always. Gia stay with orc and have orc woman to help. Does Gia not have mother traveling with her?" He tilted his head to the side, honestly looking like he was trying to figure her out and understand the problem.

Her moment of mirth long gone; Gia realized this was going to be harder than she thought.

"Jreg, where I am going, where my family is going, is the human lands. Orcs are not welcome there. You would be seen as a monster to kill, not as a person," tried Gia again.

"Jreg will learn the human ways from Gia as we travel. Humans in Gia new home not think Jreg monster is Jreg act like human."

He shook his head at her as if she were being silly, grinning as his cleverness.

"Jreg, humans don"t take second mates," said Gia, shaking her head right back at him.

"Gia does not see how good Jreg is. Jreg must prove himself."

He pounded on his chest again and left in a hurry, jogging out of sight. Gia didn"t waste any time finishing the water and taking the bags back to where they were gathering their things. Her mother was there, finishing the last of the packing and helping Mikey get his bag on his back.

"We need to leave now!" Gia said softly, handing over the bags and grabbing up her pack.

"What? Why?" asked Carla, putting the bags of water into Vonn"s pack before picking up her own to put on.

"I just had an orc try to convince me to let him become my second mate. I tried to tell him no, but he"s rushed off to prove himself."

"Oh no!" gasped Carla, looking around. "I don"t know how long it will take Vonn and Tom to get back."

"We can"t leave without them!" cried Mikey with wide eyes.

"Don"t worry, we won"t," said Gia.

"What did he say? The orc?" asked Carla, finishing the rest quickly.

"He thought Vonn wasn"t a good enough mate because I wasn"t pregnant. I tried to explain to him that I was trying to wait for my own safety, but apparently the orcs are nomadic and travel all the time. He didn"t think there was a problem, especially since you were with me, to help when it came time to give birth," said Gia, looking around at the orc forms preparing for their day.

None of the other orcs paid them any attention, most seemed still half asleep after the long day with the storm. The longer it took the men to return, the more nervous Gia became.

"Let"s take everything to the men, so we can hurry them up," said Carla finally, and Gia nodded in relief.

They gathered up the last two packs and started looking for them. They were near the lions, talking after having traded the meat to the giant cats for their service. Gia and Carla hurried over to them with Mikey in tow.

"Vonn!" Gia cried. "We need to get going!"

"What"s wrong?" he asked, turning to take his bag from her in confusion.

Tom and Sudar turned as well, curious to see what was going on.

"One of the orcs proposed to Gia," said Carla, out of breath from carrying the extra bag.

"What?" Von asked in low tone.

"I tried to explain to him that I was already with you, and that human"s don"t have two mates, but he thought it was good luck to have a second mate since I wasn"t pregnant with you," explained Gia, glancing around to make sure Jreg wasn"t around.

"Sounds like drama," sighed Sudar. "He probably expected you to agree quickly, because he is a young strong hunter, then use the fact that you accepted him to cause jealousy with some of the other orc women, since you are the new woman in town."

"I don"t care what he"s trying to do, I"m not interested," said Gia with a frown.

"Telling him no, isn"t going to do it," said Sudar, "and if you guys leave now, he"s bound to follow you. You wouldn"t be the first woman who tried to avoid drama by running away. Several orc women have tried that and failed."

"Then what do we do?" asked Tom. "There"s no way we are taking an orc with us back to the human lands."

"Well, the rules are kind of fuzzy on this, because they can be so complicated. The easiest way to dissuade him, would be for Vonn to challenge him to combat, but seeing as how orcs are much stronger and faster than men, I wouldn"t recommend that. The next way would be to actually get pregnant. Orc woman go into heat once a month, like an animal, so the men can smell if they"re pregnant or not. You must be ready to get with child, or he wouldn"t be able to tell you weren"t pregnant, even though we don"t go into heat."

"Are there any other options?" asked Gia, uncomfortably. "I was trying to wait to get pregnant until we got back and had an actual home so I wouldn"t be traveling while pregnant. It"s been so dangerous so far; I would fear for the safety of the child."

"I understand your concerns," said Sudar, nodding his head and rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Why don"t you just kill the orc?" asked the lion standing next to them. "It would raise respect among the other orcs, and convince the others to leave you alone."

"What?" gasped Gia, her hands starting to shake in fear. "Me?"

"That is an option," said Sudar, nodding at the lion. "The orcs judge others by strength. I had thought of that, but wasn"t sure you would be willing to do it."

"We"ve seen these orcs fighting all the time. It"s actually the best time to hunt them, because they are so consumed with the fight. But you will need orc witnesses so they don"t just blame you for wrongfully killing him."

"I don"t… I don"t think he deserves that," said Gia finally, shaking her head. "He wasn"t trying to do anything wrong that would warrant me killing him! There must be another way."

"Sudar," said Vonn after a moment of silence, while they all tried to think of a solution. "You said the orcs had magic, right?"

"To some extent, yes," said Sudar, nodding.

"Can they heal?" asked Vonn.

Gia thought she knew where he was going with this, but kept her thoughts to herself. She needed to trust him to do what was right.

"Of course. That"s the main type of magic they do," said Sudar.

"Then I will challenge the orc to a fight for Gia"s mate. If I win, he has to stop trying to be her second, and if he wins, he can be her second," said Vonn. "Then after the fight, if either of us is harmed, the orcs have to heal us both."

"I"m not sure if they will accept that," said Sudar thoughtfully. "What was the name of the orc that approached you?"

"Jreg," said Gia uncertain she liked this idea.

"What?! That"s the prince of the clan!" exclaimed Sudar.

The lion just laughed, shaking its head in amus.e.m.e.nt.