An Unexpected Trip

Chapter 13

When I came to, everything was dark, but, I could still hear all that was going on around me.

I could hear the crackling of a fire and some sort of loud hissing sound. There was growling coming from somewhere off to my right, and my body tensed at the feeling of danger so close by.

I tried very hard to not wiggle around, not wanting to bring unwanted attention as my mind became aware of the bonds wrapped around my hands and calf's.

I felt a rough material over my eyelids and knew that I had been blindfolded when my eyes opened and I couldn't see anything.

I had to bite my tongue, hard, to keep from crying out at the pain in in my shoulder. Especially when I felt a strong hand grasp my injured shoulder, and in the next second, a searing pain as something liquid was poured over my probably bleeding wound.

I knew I was lying on leaves, whenever the person would shift and the leaves under their weight would crackle. 

Hopefully, we were still in the forest, but all my hopes were pushed aside when the smell of burning flesh filled my nostrils.

My stomach began to roll , and I couldn't hold back a groan as I suddenly felt queasy.

My bones felt so brittle, and my head was light as I shook it from side to side.

Why does it have to  hurt so much?

Abruptly, I heard a small yelp from above me and I dearly wished that I could see right now.

Robin was still alive.

A sigh of relief left me when I heard Robin bark again.

I opened my mouth and called out Robin's name.

There was a clang of metal on metal above me and I flinched when I heard Robin whine.

A cage.  Robin must be in a cage, hanging above my tied-up body on the ground.

But what was used to strike the cage? A sword? An ax?

I felt a sudden rush of anger rise up in me a the thought that Robin was being mistreated.

The hand that had been holding my injured shoulder let go and pulled off my blind-fold, allowing me to finally see my surroundings.

A part of me wished that the orc, now walking back to the camp-fire, would come back and put the blind-fold over my eyes;While the other part could only gasp in horror at the sight above me.

We were surrounded by large, monstrous-looking wolves, fighting over a flimsy piece of raw meat on my right side, and the other was filled with about twenty orcs, some sitting down, others, ripping into an unidentifiable animal as they all kept a hungry gaze on Robin and I.

Robin.

When I finally let my gaze go up, I screamed until my throat was sore.

Above me, Robin wasn't in a cage, at least not the metal kind.

He was wrapped up like a spider would a fly, and the thing that had made the 'clang' noise I had heard earlier, wasn't a sword tapping a metal cage, it was a sword hitting a spiders leg .

The giant golden-brown spider was hanging upside down as it fed from Robin, and I heard a faint whine leave his mouth when one of his beady eyes saw my wide ones staring at him.

"No!"

"Quiet, puny human. You can't save the animal, and so will watch it die in agony. Filth like you deserve as much." I glared with as much hatred as possible at the bald orc who was now walking around me with an obvious limp in his right leg.

His black, soulless eyes stared into mine as he took a step forward and pulled out a cloth-covered vial.

Robin's body went limp and the spider turned it's hungry eyes on me as I lay there with tears now streaming down my face.

Bending over me, I watched with one eye on Robin and the other on the orc, as he knelt by my head and used one hand to yank my jaw open and began to pour a foul-tasting, black, liquid down my throat.

My body jerked and I tried moving my head away, but  the orcs grip was like steel. Unbreakable.

My eyes began to roll into the back of my head as my body began to spasm.

What is that black stuff?

I smelt the orcs rancid breath as he whispered in my ear, "Master knows all, little human. I serve him, and soon, you will too."