Takarn inhaled deeply, taking in the rich forest air, it smelled of dirt, animals, and nature. But most of all, most of all it smelt of freedom. Not since his days in the orcish army had he truly been free from bondage. Now, with the boundless forest ahead of him, cold, fresh Autumn air in his lungs could he wholeheartedly say he was a free man, orc, whatever.

He was not wandering through the forest aimlessly taking in the sites, however, although he may have wanted to. No, he was currently looking for a good place to set camp and then extract some much-needed information from his still unconscious captive.

He walked for a few more minutes before he found an idyllic, secluded glade, bordered on three sides by the woods and then on the third by a slight stream, it was perfect.

The grass was sweet smelling and covered with a light layer of dew, suggesting that this area had seen rain recently.

Takarn dropped his captive unceremoniously to the ground before heading off to gather firewood and build a shelter for himself, the captive wouldn't need one, she wasn't going to live through tonight.

After a few hours he sat down in his newly made lean-to shelter and began to weave the local grass into a crude basket to pass the time, a habit he had picked up in his time in the wilds, you never know when you will need a basket. He stood up after about an hour to check on his captive, still asleep. What the actual fuck, he thought angrily, how could someone possibly stay unconscious for this long, I didn't even hit her that hard. It seemed he would indeed have a use for the previously made basket after all.

Takarn rose to his full height from where he had been squatting down next to the captive, the action eliciting several satisfying pops from his knees.

He went to pick up his woven basket and then filled it up with the crystal clear, fresh water of the river.

Here comes the fun part, he thought in anticipation as he walked back from the mountain stream to his camp to find his captive woman still sleeping peacefully on the floor. This better work, he thought as he tossed the water onto her prone form.

She rose with a start, spluttering and flailing her arms around wildly, at least she tried to, Takarn had bound her arms previously with some rope he had crafted from the glade's grass.

The girl looked around with frantic, terrified eyes before settling her eyes on Takarn as a look of horror and pure un-adulterated terror passed over them.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

They sat that way for several tense seconds in silence, Takarn's piercing yellow eyes boring a hole into her very being, the silence was finally broken when the girl audibly gulped and then spoke.

"Please don't hurt me." She said in a near whisper, her voice quivering, forcing words out through sheer force of will. Takarn didn't respond for a while, just stared back at her for a few moments before deciding that he had watched her squirm under his gaze for long enough, he needed answers.

"Calm child, I will not hurt you if you answer my questions." He spoke in a deep rumbling throaty voice, it came out more croaky than Takarn would have liked, makes sense, he hadn't spoken in a while.

"What is it you want to know." The girl said with slightly more resolve this time, resolved fueled by the hope that she would leave this forest alive, oh what a poor misguided girl.

"I wish to know where we are, no more," Takarn spoke as non-threateningly as he could manage, putting on a fake smile. She whimpered when she saw it, as it had the opposite effect, displaying his menacing teeth and leaving his cold, predatory gaze unchanged.

The girl took a few minutes to compose herself after that, sobbing quietly into the soft, fragrant bosom of the earth.

"I don't know where we are now sir, but the camp we were at before was situated on the south side of the Thorn Woods." Her voice choked out when she spoke about the camp and her previous home, and it took her a little while before she could finish the sentence, but when she did Takarn was not disappointed.

The Thorn Woods was located on the south-east side of the kingdom of Belandier and running parallel to them on the west side was the night road, a pre-imperial collapse highway which ran all the way from drow lands to the great northern citadels of the Norsica, or the Half-Giants as the humans called them.

Anyway, with that crucial piece of information this girl had finally outlived her usefulness, Takarn lunged toward her taking her head in his hands intent on breaking her neck but hesitated when she cried out, eager to see what she had to say, humans were so much fun when they were terrified.

"Please god no!" She wailed loudly and Takarn, more annoyed by this than he should have been lost his temper at her, roaring in primal rage right into her face causing her to go silent in fear before he spoke once more.

"Please god no?! That is the best you can do?! Girl, if I have not made the situation clear to you, you are about to die here, painfully! and the best you can do to beg for your life is please god no?!" He said the last words scathingly and then waited for her reply.

"Please, I will do anything you say." She finally said weakly.

Takarn then looked at her not with rage, but with hunger.

"Anything." He said provocatively. She gulped before looking Takarn in the eye and then nodded almost imperceptively. he spent the rest of the night raping the poor girl nearly non-stop before drowning her in the river at dawn, then as the sun cast its first rays over the trees Takarn set out toward the east at a good pace. It is a wonder what rape and murder can do for an orc's morale, at this pace he would reach the night road in a matter of days.