Chapter 22

The Return – Part 2

A frown stayed on Lyrika’s face as they continued to walk, much slower than before, her enthusiasm having dropped drastically.

‘She would have remembered eventually. Or she would have tried to enter and been turned away. It was better that she knew now…I think.’

Olivia wasn’t really sure what to say now though. It was as if all her hopes and dreams had been shattered with a single sentence. How do you console someone after that?

“What can we do then? I want to see my father. He needs to know about what the new chief did” She said with a croak in her throat. “I also want to sleep in a real bed.”

Olivia scratched her head as she tried to figure this out when she realised there was a simple solution. She wasn’t sure about the whole bed thing, but while she may not be able to talk to her father, that doesn’t mean there is no way to tell him what happened. Informing her father was more important than sleeping on the bed. Right?

“Is there anyone you know who would help you that leaves the village? If so all we need to do is talk to them and they can help.”

“Err…I’m not sure.” She stopped in her stride and wandered around, probably going through faces and names to figure out who there was. “Ah, yes. Tarquin. Tarquin can help. He is an old friend. Err, well more like an old… partner. But he should help us, we are still on good terms. Mostly.”

“Should I ask?”

.....

“Well, he is a hunter and has to leave the village often with another hunter. The previous hunter that joined him was injured and could no longer go with him, so after a while he ended up with a new trainee, Cecelia. They were very close, always together, even when not hunting and I thought he was cheating on me with her. I confronted him and he said no, that they were just friends and hunting partners, but I didn’t believe it. I was sure he was lying to me. So, I may have followed them on a hunt, scared off a kill, got caught and had an argument where he then ended our relationship.”

Olivia watched Lyrika as she spoke and aside from a slight sad look she didn’t seem too troubled by what happened.

“After I cooled down, I tried to make things right a few days later, but in perfect fashion, I found him kissing Cecelia. He was adamant that they only started their relationship after ours ended, but who knows? It has been quite a while since all that happened. I moved on and started dating some guy, which didn’t last, but we eventually reconciled and went back to being friends.”

“…I see. Well, it’s good that you were able to move on, and we now have someone to help.”

Olivia wasn’t sure what else she should say to that, so she decided to go with a safe option.

What was odd to Olivia though was how what she said made her feel. It annoyed her for some reason. She figured it was the fact that this Tarquin actually did something like that to Lyrika, but mixed in there was something else.

While she couldn’t give it a name, it’s not like it was a mysterious feeling or anything. She had felt something similar to it before whenever she felt attracted to someone or during the few dates she had been on. The issue again though was whether these were her own feeling or related to her being an Orc Goblin hybrid. It also didn’t help that she now knew from the goddesses that they have a genetic urge to aggressively take women. Which is probably what she has as well. While it hasn’t manifested itself yet, it could just be a matter of time.

She shook her head getting rid of her thoughts. They were on a mission to save the girls in a horrible situation. Thoughts of high school romance and the possible criminal assault charges she may incur in the future could wait.

“I think he should still be out hunting. We can try and catch him as he returns.”

“While I would love to go with you to meet your ex-boyfriend, I don’t see this guy reacting well if he sees me with you.”

“Oh…yeah good point. Ok, I shall talk to him and explain the situation both with the chief and with you. Hopefully, I can convince him you’re no threat and then you can join us. ”

“Sounds good. But if experience has told me anything it won’t be that simple. Now, do you know where he is going to come from?”

The reply of yes was followed by the two of the heading to the right of the village, aiming for a patch of denser forest, which was separated from the rest by the plains.

The trek wasn’t far, and they mainly had to keep out of sight of anyone wandering around outside of the village.

As they got close to the area, Lyrika said that she could see him walking by in the distance. With a bit of squinting, Olivia managed the same feat.

‘I guess better eyesight didn’t come with the rest of the package.’

As she watched him walking, she also, through gritted teeth said that Cecelia was there as well. It wasn’t like she was surprised since they hunted together to keep each other safe, but it was clear to see she still had some grievances with the whole situation.

She looked around to check for anyone else and then told Olivia to stay where she was, keep low and watch for her signal.

‘Let’s hope this goes well.’ Was Olivia’s final thought as Lyrika took off.

…

She watched Lyrika head off in the direction of the two hunters in the forest.

She wasn’t close enough to see many details of what they looked like, but as far as she could see, Tarquin had ears similar to Lyrika’s, although they looked fluffier and larger.

‘Could he be a wolf-kin? May even be fox-kin’

Cecilia on the other hand had what Olivia thought looked like a dog’s ears. They were floppy and drooping over the side of her head atop brunette hair. It sort of worked and made her look quite adorable.

Halfway towards them, Lyrika looked around, then stood out in the open and called out his name. It was better that they knew she was there rather than shooting her because they heard someone sneaking up on them.

Now knowing she was there they met up and exchanged a few words. Tarquin looked worried, possibly for Lyrika given that she had been exiled, or just for her in general. The crossed arms from Cecelia showed she wasn’t too happy about him acting like that.

After a while, they were both engrossed in what Lyrika was saying. Which like the rest, Olivia couldn’t hear.

‘I wonder if I can get a little closer to try and listen in.’

Staying crouched she started to move forward until she could actually hear what they were saying. But this ended up being interrupted by a couple of sounds.

*crunch*

*thunk*

As Olivia got into position, she stepped on a large branch snapping it in half. The noise however rang through the forest, alerting the group to her presence. This was then followed by an arrow sinking into the tree next to her.

Olivia was startled at the shot and gave a short cry when her brain caught up that it nearly hit her. As she looked up she saw the two hunters running over to her with their bows raised.

“No, no, stop.” Lyrika ran after them and dddddd in front to halt their execution of Olivia. “She is a friend. Put your bows down.”

“What. What are you talking about? Get out of the way before this thing attacks us!”

“Hey. That’s just insulting calling me a thing.” Olivia said to the hunters. She then turned to Lyrika, “I guess you didn’t get to telling them about me yet.”

“No. I didn’t. Just don’t say anything, so I can sort this out.”

Olivia ran her finger across her lips, zipping them and let Lyrika diffuse the situation. She could have tried herself, but she could see no outcome that didn’t involve an arrow in her chest.

“Look, just step back. Lower your weapons and I will explain.” Lyrika asked as the two hunters tried to get around her to shoot.

Cecelia was looking over at Tarquin as if waiting for his guidance, but he was solely focused on getting a clear shot.

“Just move out of the way Lyrika and I shall take it down. Quickly, before it hurts you.”

Lyrika kept stepping back in order to keep herself in front of Olivia, who had to follow her steps as well. The two hunters continued moving forward while slowly spreading outwards, trying to line up a shot around Lyrika.

‘So I’m an ‘it’ now. That’s just great.’

Lyrika’s expression very quickly turned to annoyance as Tarquin just ignored her again. So, she decided to up her game and just go for it.

“Stop what you are doing you stupid idiot. Olivia has done nothing to you and all you’ve done is threaten her. I know she looks like a monster, but just listen to what I’m saying you numbskull!”

The dumbfounded look on Tarquin’s face told everyone that he had not been expecting Lyrika’s outcry and he really didn’t know what to do about it. He was still holding his bow, but he was frozen in indecision.

“I think we should listen to what she has to say Tarquin. Please?” Was the quiet sentence that came from Cecelia. Lyrika looked at her and smiled having found the voice of reason between the two, but that didn’t last long as she remembered who she was smiling at.

Tarquin finally put down his bow but stood well back, bringing Cecelia with him. It was enough distance that if Olivia did try to make a move, he could easily get a couple of shots in and probably take her down.

“I-Ok. I shall listen. But, if…she, does anything I will not hesitate to fight back and kill her. Now, why are you with that thing? Orcs are dangerous, you know that.”

‘Now I’m back to being a thing again, great. Also does he not know what listening means.’

“I thought you said you were going to listen to me!”

“Err, ok. I…I’ll listen.” Tarquin managed to squeak out as he lowered his bow. Cecelia stood by him and rubbed his shoulder to try and console him, given that he must have thought he was doing the right thing.

“Good. Now, this is Olivia, the…friend, I mentioned. It’s unfortunate that things got a little out of hand there, but before they did, I was going to tell you about her. Olivia has been very good to me and helped me during my exile. She is not a bad person and is very different compared to… well monsters. Also, she is half-orc half-goblin.”

Both Tarquin and Cecelia peered at Olivia as they were told this. They probably wondered how it was possible, but Lyrika jumped ahead before they could ask.

“Olivia has helped me a lot, and she helped me figure out how to solve my exile problem and deal with the new chief. I already told you about why I was exiled and what that chief did with all the wives he gained from the other tribes. I need your help to stop him.”

“Wait, wait… what. Look, what you said may be true, but as far as I can see you’re the only one who’s seen this. How do we know you’re not lying. You could have said that in order to get out of the marriage with the chief.”

“What? How does that explain why I’m here now? If I wanted to get away from the marriage, why would I come back here where I’m likely to be found? I could have just continued running if that was the case.”

“She has a point Tarquin,” Cecelia very slyly brought up.

“Ok, but what about her?” Tarquin pointed at Olivia as he practically spat this. “While you say you are ‘friends’ how do we know she is not controlling you somehow, making you say all this,” Tarquin said, air-quoting friends. He then stood tall and crossed his arms as if he was completely right. “She could be using you to get to the rest of our village, her tribe hidden away somewhere waiting to pounce.”

“So, you’re saying a race that is known for kidnapping women and having their way with them, decided and managed to instead control me somehow, without a slave collar” Lyrika countered as she pulled her collar down slightly to show it was bare. “She then forced me to take her to my village, find you, almost get shot and tell you a fake story. Even if her tribe was waiting, how would this help take the village? It’s not like we can go to the village anyway without either being captured or her being killed.”

“She could…err. Well, she might…she…” he trailed off as he couldn’t think of a comeback. Now it was Lyrika who had the smug look on her face as he hung his head in defeat while trying to think of a retort.

‘These two are just like children,’ was Olivia’s thought as she watched these two try to beat each other with words, trying to get the last word in.

It was at this point that something occurred to her.

‘When will I be able to speak again.’