“Warrior,” he calls out.
I barely spare him a glance as a large group of humans exits the human quarter. Eight males in total, two of whom were in the earlier group. Each holds a knife or plank of wood.
“Get behind me, Tansey,” I order as I draw my sword. The humans stop. If they thought they would intimidate me with their numbers, then they have not seen an orc warrior fight.
In my periphery, I see Sojek hand something small and brown to Tansey. “You left this in the cart with the tumek.”
“That’s Brownie. I didn’t bring him. Oh, my god…Ethan!”
I’m a warrior. I cannot allow anyone or anything to distract me, because that’s how people die. But the terror in her voice turns me.
And that’s when the humans rush us. I push Tansey towardSojek. “Take her. Go!” I order, only now catching sight of her youngling’s toy in her hands.
“Ethan!” she cries out.
“Go, Sojek. Find the youngling. Protect them both.”
He drops the rope lead of the tumeks, grabs Tansey by her arm, and runs, leaving me to handle the armed humans racing toward me with bloodlust in their eyes.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
TANSEY
Strong legs dig into the dirt for purchase as a group of settlers from New Earth, a few I know, most I don’t, raise their knives and wood clubs and yell at Verig. “Return our women!”
“Do not challenge me,” Verig warns as he draws his sword. He’s ready to take on eight men by himself.
“Tansey, no!” Sojek calls when I pull free of his grasp and race between him and the human men.
“Leave him alone!” I yell at the men threatening Verig. If I can end this quickly, then Verig can help us find Ethan.
Verig’s eyes meet mine briefly. “Go. Find your youngling.”
“Those men will rip you apart!”
He chuckles as a smile teases his lips. “I need a good workout. And you need to find Ethan. Go, I will join you shortly,” he says as he raises his sword high.
The eight men race at him at the same time.
“Go, Tansey. Now!”
Sojek tears me away. With the sounds of a sword slicing through flesh and men screaming in pain, I turn away from thebloodshed. Verig’s a warrior. He’ll be fine, and I have to find Ethan.
“Where do you think your youngling might be?” Sojek asks as we run from the blood-curdling shouts.
“I don’t know.” I can’t think straight. Between leaving Verig to fight off that angry mob of men and imagining all the horrible things that can happen to a child on this planet, I freeze with indecision.
Sojek pulls me deeper into the moxxel quarter, an area I’ve never seen. I’m thankful for his presence and decisiveness. He knows this market, and even though he’s eighteen or nineteen at most, he shows no fear as he leads me into dark and foreboding areas in our search for Ethan.
“We should split up. Cover more ground,” I suggest.
“Then you will disappear, too.”
He’s right. I’m no good to Ethan if someone takes me. There’ll be no one to fight for Ethan.
Verig would fight for him.
But then his focus would be split, looking for each of us. I better stay with Sojek.
