Chapter 1
There was a raid going on. For the girls that Larry had hidden in this room with herself, it wouldn’t mean much. Just an uncomfortable trip and then trading one breeding house for another. It was all part of the grim reality of being a breeding slave in a border territory.
Larry’s lips flattened around her tusks as she looked over from her hiding place near the door, to the small group of women that she’d placed at the back of the room. The problem was, if the soldiers and guards could be believed, that this group of raiders were very hard on their breeders and they didn’t tend to last even a year.
Her eyes narrowed as they fell on the petite woman hiding at the back of the group, who was even more of a problem. The Lord was conspiring against The War Boss, and this woman was part of the conspiracy.
Theoretically The Lord and The Big War Boss were equals. But that theory only held up when both were of the same clot, or sometimes when they were siblings. In practice, The Big War Boss was strong enough to replace a lord they did not get along with. While The Lord tended to be jealous of the control war bosses had over their army. Especially if they were not doing things with their army that The Lord wanted them to.
This lord was not the worst that Larry had encountered, but he was up there, and as much as Larry hated the breeding houses that were the only place that would hire “him” most of the time, she hated letting lords like that win even more. If this group of raiders got this particular girl, he would win, and Larry would not allow that. She would just have to find a way to save the little goblin later.
Larry shifted her attention back to the door as she heard a pair of heavy boots treading closer. Most likely they would pass on by, as Larry had had the women cover themselves in the same foul smelling grease that she favored as a disguise. But just in case they did not, Larry was crouched at the ready with her forearm length knife held in a hammer grip.
Larry tensed as they stopped outside the door. She didn’t know what exactly was there, but she knew that they would most likely be at least twice her size, and so she would have to take them down quick once they broke down the door.
But then, something unexpected happened, a voice spoke up nervously, and awkwardly, “Larry, can you open this door?”
It’d been nearly twenty years since she’d heard that voice, and she’d never expected to hear it again. It had grown deeper and rougher in that time, but she still recognized it and its odd lack of profanities instantly as a startled, “Harry?” slipped out.
Harry let out a sigh of relief before speaking with more confidence, “Yeah, it’s me. Can you open the door so we can finish rescuing the breeders?”
Larry started to lower her knife but her eyes flickered to the girls in various stages of pregnancy huddled at the back of the room and the knife flicked back up as she fought every instinct she had to suspiciously ask, “What fucker are ya workin fer?”
She could hear the pain that her suspicious tone had caused in Harry’s voice as he answered, and it hurt to hear it, “Hemlock and Damien are the Big War Bosses, though me and my partner be the war bosses of this branch. We left the old lord in place though, cause none of us are good for the job. Maybe you want it?” he ended on a hopeful note.
Finally Larry lowered her knife and reached out with her free hand to unlock the door. As the door swung open Larry stared at her oldest friend. They’d been little more than children the last time they’d seen each other, he’d gained several new scars and grown a lot since then, he was well over seven feet tall now and wide as befit a bulky orc.
Her breath caught in her throat as she felt a growing urge to wrestle with him and do something that she’d never properly allowed herself to think about. She could tell from the look in his eyes that he wanted the same, only he having more experience with reunions probably knew full well what that something was. However it was neither the time nor the place for such activities. Not to mention, everyone knew that all orcs are boys. So that could get awkward rather quickly if she didn’t spill her secret or keep a tight leash on the situation.
Just as Larry was gathering herself and getting her emotions under control Harry pulled her into a sudden tight hug. As she was pulled, Larry released a strangled cry and twisted the knife to keep from cutting him. When she was released almost as suddenly she kicked his shin and snarled at him, “You fucking idiot! Are you trying to get gutted?”
“I’m fine,” he said with a smirk.
She could tell though that he was very likely about to try and kiss her, so narrowing her eyes once again she grabbed him by a tusk and yanked his head to an uncomfortable angle as she hissed out threateningly, “I will break your nose.”
She couldn’t help breaking eye contact to watch his tongue move over his lips before he softly spoke, “Later then.”
Yanking her eyes back to his she glared and told him firmly, “Keep yer damn hands to yaself ’til then.”
At his grunt of agreement she released his tusk and turned to the confused women. Gentling her voice Larry still managed a wry tone as she spoke to them, “Surprise surprise, the guards lied. So how about we follow this big oaf and see what he means by rescuing you girls.” After receiving a few cautious nods she gestured with her knife hand for Harry to lead the way.
After he gave Larry one last puppy-like grin, Harry scooped up his axe from beside the door and turned to lead them out. As the women nervously followed him, Larry herself fell in behind them to take a rear guard position. While they walked she turned her mind to finding a new way to keep this lord from winning, mostly to keep her thoughts off of how broad Harry’s shoulders had gotten, and how good his ass looked in those leather britches, which since she was at least a head taller than even the tallest woman in the huddle she could easily see whenever she let her eyes linger in that direction.
As they moved through a passage where the fighting had been rather fierce, one of the girls broke off with an almost orcish growl. When Harry turned in alarm, Larry just shook her head firmly at him as they all mutely watched the girl race over to kick the corpse of their erstwhile head guard. He had been a hypocritical bastard that made sure that any girl he got his hands on became unwilling if she hadn’t been before. Also, he was the only one that the treacherous lord knew, knew of his plan.
After a moment though, Harry started fidgeting nervously in place and so Larry touched the elbow of what she thought of as the group mother and whispered, “We gotta go.” Nodding in agreement the woman strode over and wrapped a comforting arm about the now sobbing woman and led her back to the group.
As they got moving again, Larry couldn’t help but think of Heather, the dryad who for a few short years had been like a mother to her. Larry sighed, wishing that she could’ve gotten her out when she ran but even more so she wished that it hadn’t been necessary to run in the first place, and didn’t know how her clot could’ve ever forgiven her. Maybe Harry was the only one who had and the others would be upset when he brought her back. Or maybe that pain that she’d heard in his voice earlier had a different source than she’d initially thought, maybe her leaving had caused the clot to break up.
By the time they got out of the building to where the women and orphaned orc lads were being loaded onto wagons, Larry had slipped into a very morose mood. And so she barely grunted an acknowledgement when she was given a horse to ride, nor did she look around as she broodingly rode with the group.
After they’d gotten underway and were hurrying back to their territory, Sonny looked around to try and spot his fellow warboss. Harry wasn’t hard to spot, as he was keeping a worried, distracted eye upon Larry who was riding with the younger recruits.
It had been at Harry’s suggestion that Hemlock brought Sonny into their group, a few years after Larry had vanished. Thus, he’d never actually met the smallest member of their clot. He still hadn’t, in fact, as Sonny had been busy organizing other things when Harry had finally emerged from the building with Larry and the last group of women.
Dropping into step beside Harry, Sonny took a moment to study the scrawny man. Larry was smaller than the lads he was riding with, and although it was hard to tell with his bulky clothes and saggy hat Sonny suspected that he was more slender than would be typical for a lad of his size. If he didn’t know any better, especially with the way Larry kept tilting his head so you couldn’t properly see the length of his tusks, then he would’ve guessed that he was a particularly malnourished lad of about twelve to fourteen.
Sonny looked between the withdrawn rider, and his worried partner before grunting to get Harry’s attention and gruffly asking, “That the bastard you guys’ve been tellin’ me ’bout?”
A half smile lifted up one corner of Harry’s lips as he let out a happy, “Yeah,” before his face fell back into a worried frown as he continued with, “But he’s acting off.”
Sonny jabbed him playfully in the ribs and let out a theatrical sigh as he said, “Yeah, I’d noticed the stink.”
Harry snorted out a laugh and briefly tried to pull Sonny into a headlock, but since they were both jogging it was fairly easy to avoid. Shaking his head he settled for shoving the lanky orc in the shoulder as he gruffly explained, “Nah that’s just the funk Larry’s been coating himself in since he was twelve. Always claimed he liked the smell but not even a dumb-dumb would believe that.”
“Why the fuck he wearin’ it then?” Sonny asked incredulously.
Harry shrugged one shoulder and continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “There’s something bugging him. And I dunno how to get him to talk about it.” He was silent for a moment, perhaps waiting for Sonny to speak, but it didn’t take him long to grumble out, “Hemlock was always the one good at that.”
They continued to jog in silence for a while leaving unsaid that last time Larry had acted off even Hemlock hadn’t been able to get him to talk, and then he’d vanished. It would be a couple of months before either of them saw Hemlock, although if Larry were to stay in town without them then it’d only be about a month before he got to see him.
After mulling it over for a while Sonny spoke up again, “We could be the ones ta take the untouched to the border town, and get yer boy a session with the courtesions.”
“Our boy, and courtesans,” Harry corrected him absently before asking curiously, “You think he needs to get laid?”
Sonny snorted and shook his head, “If he simply needed a good fuck I’d hire ’im a good whore. Nah, we’ll hire ‘im a day o’ pampering with some smart trollops who know ’ow ta listen.”
“Good,” Harry muttered without elaboration. Although Sonny was sure from the suddenly hungry way he was staring after Larry just who he wanted laying with him next.
Thoughtfully Sonny turned his eyes back to the small boar riding nearby, and privately he had to admit that if he let you get a look at his face it did not at all look childlike, although it also didn’t look very masculine. Frowning he shook his head as he split from Harry so they could make sure everyone was staying alert for the pursuit that they fully expected, and had not come yet.
