Orc Of Mine - Book One - A Breeding Monster Fantasy Romance

Six - Inside the mountain

She shrugged. "Not really. I'm not that scared. I've seen orcs before. I guess you haven't."

"Y-you have?" I asked. "Where? How?"

"Wait. Let's do this first," Amira answered as we stood in front of a steep, rocky stretch. We had to climb up, but it was nothing I couldn't do.

"Okay," I replied. "Be careful."

Amira went first and I followed. A minute later, we had successfully climbed up the hardest part.

I brushed my hands against my skirt, patting away the sand and dirt that were left after crawling up.

"Now tell me about where you've seen them," I asked, not yet forgotten what she'd promised me.

"I told you I'm from the poor side of town," Amira started, brushing off her dress as I was doing. "It's closer to the border and orcs sometimes cross, to do business with my mom. You see, she's a medicine woman, so the orcs sometimes trade stuff of their own in exchange for mom's ointments and remedies and all that."

"They do that?" I asked curiously as we walked the narrow path, up the mountain.

"Yeah. Especially for their little ones, as they get sick more often. It's cold in the mountains, you know? And baby orcs aren't as strong as their fathers. They say my mother's stuff helps."

"Really? Wow..." I answered, quite impressed. "I've never heard anything about that." I held on to the rocky gray wall with my right hand as I avoided looking down at my left. "I always thought that humans and orcs don't mingle, except for that one day a year."

And I never thought about their kids. I mean, I knew that orc sons would return to their fathers and brothers, as they couldn't stay with us. But I never thought about orcs being responsible parents. Come to think of it, it was strange I hadn't given that any thought before. Maybe it was because people always spoke about them as if they were aggressive, brute, and dumb creatures.

"Oh, I'm sure they don't come everywhere," Amira continued. "And it's not like they're visiting us to talk about the glorious weather or anything. It's purely a business deal. We live close to their border. They want something we have. We want things they have. That's it. And I mean, why not? They get medicine and my mom gets meat and fur in return. They're very skilled hunters, so it's a win-win."

I agreed. "Tell me more!" I enthusiastically cried out, so fully emerged in Amira's story, that I was careless and slipped when my foot stepped on a loose rock. I let out a high-pitched cry as I barely kept my balance.

Amira reacted fast, turning around, and grabbing my arm. "My gosh! Be careful, will you!" she yelled, squeezing at my arm and pulling me back to balance again.

"Hahh...s-shit," I breathlessly replied, sweat gushing off my forehead in just mere seconds. "I- I will."

"Maybe we need to stop talking because you should focus on walking, miss curiously," Amira said sternly. "It won't take long before it's dark too."

"M-maybe we should." I smiled with trembling lips.

~

The dark, cold cave was lit up with torches that hung on the walls every few meters.

"I can hear other people," Amira whispered as we and a few girls walked inside. "Deep voices. And music."

"Me too," I replied, ears wide open.

The sound came from further inside. It was music, but the kind I'd never heard before. Deep drums getting mixed with low guttural chants. These weren't the voices of women, so it had to be them.

"Come!" Amira grabbed my arm and pulled me with her. We hastily passed the women that walked ahead of us.

"Hey!" one of them called out when I accidentally bumped against her shoulder.

"Sorry," I apologized, looking over my shoulder.

They all had such pretty hair and I felt a sting thinking about my own pathetic hairdo.

"You're eager," I said breathlessly as we speed-walked through the narrow, stone mountain hallway with long strides.

I have to say that I didn't expect the mountains to look like this from the inside. Didn't expect the candle and torch-lit hallways. Some walls were even decorated with paint and showed all kinds of curly shapes. I couldn't recognize anything in the art, though.

It was fairly clean too. And I wondered how long it had taken to create all these tunnels. It must have been such hard labor.

"I'm sorry but I can't stand walking behind snails," Amira whispered, harshly.

"They're nervous, Amira. And to be honest, so am I. You may have seen orcs before, but the rest of us haven't. At least not from up close. And...didn't you see the size of that guy? I felt so small compared to him. I think I barely reached his navel."

And that while I was the tallest in my family.

"And his neck was almost as thick as my waist!" I added.

"Do you think I'm not nervous?" Amira asked. "I am nervous!" She let out a nervous giggle while continuing to pull me along with her. I guess she'd been keeping it in all this time.

The deeper we went into the mountain, the louder the music became. The beat of the drums vibrated through my body, almost in sync with my too fast-paced heartbeat.

Amira suddenly halted her steps, stopping me as well. "I think we're at the end," she said before inhaling a deep breath.

"I think so too..." I replied, looking at a dark-brown cloth that blocked the narrow hallway. It was made of fur and leather that was sewn together to form one big curtain.

They were there. Behind that curtain, we were about to enter.

Their domain.

Question: do you get notifications for this book? Cause I have it in my library to test it, and I never get any notifs 😑