Lily keeps her knife angled down as she runs, just like Papa had shown her.
“Your weapon is your ally, but misuse will make it your enemy.”
He’d said it so many times the words were ingrained in Lily’s memory. Yet now, as she runs through the shadowed forest, fleeing the attack on her village, her weapon feels too small, too flimsy in her inexperienced hands.
Tears stream down her cheeks. Papa told her to run, but he stayed to fight, to protect.
She didn’t even have the strength to protect herself.
An inhuman roar sounds behind her, and Lily’s hair stands on end. She looks over her shoulder, bursts into a clearing, doesn’t see where she’s going—
She collides with something big and falls backwards into the grass. Coughing and wincing from the impact, Lily looks up to see two human soldiers standing before her, one tall, the other shorter, both wearing armor finer than Lily has ever seen before. They also carry swords larger than her entire body.
Recovering quickly, the tall man sheaths his weapon and drops to one knee. “What’s a little girl like you doing all the way out here?” he asks.
Lily scrambles up to her feet, clutching her knife between both hands. “Th-The—”
She closes her eye and forces herself to breathe. “M-My village was attacked! Can you help us?”
The two men look at each other, then the tall man places a hand on Lily’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, kid. We’re here to take care of those big scary monsters.”
“M-Monsters?” Lily repeats. “What monsters?”
The man takes Lily’s wrist and easily pries the knife from her fingers.
“Hey!” Lily cries, reaching for it. “Give it back!”
“We’ll protect you,” says the taller man, sliding Lily’s knife into his belt. “Just stick with us.”
“Besides, a little girl like you shouldn’t be playing with weapons!” says the shorter man. He crosses his arms, and on his sleeve, Lily sees an etched bird.
The same bird on the flags of her village’s attackers.
Lily gasps and tries to back away, but the man grabs her arm and jerks her forward.
She stumbles. “Let me go!”
“Calm down!” The man snarls. “We’re taking you back to your people, where you belong!”
“Stop! Let me go!” More tears spill from Lily’s eyes.
She can’t even defend herself!
Another roar sounds close behind them and the two men freeze.
“Oh gods above—” the shorter man gasps. “One of those monsters here?”
“Come on!” The taller man shouts, runs, dragging Lily behind him.
Lily screams, but the noise is lost in the loud crash behind her. Craning around, she sees as he bursts into the clearing.
An orc with green skin and enormous tusks, body as large and eyes as mean as the black bear etched into his breastplate.
The giant orc takes one look at them, then opens his mouth and roars. The ground trembles as he bounds toward them, battle axe raised high above his head.
Lily screams as the tall man jerks her in a new direction. Her tiny legs can’t match his stride and her feet drag and scrape in the dirt.
She sees her knife dangling precariously from the man’s belt, just out of her reach.
It’s right there!
I have to be brave. Strong, like Papa!
With a loud cry, Lily kicks her feet until they connect with the ground, then jumps forward and slams into the man. She grabs her knife from his belt and, with all the strength she can muster, brings the blade down on the exposed skin of his wrist.
The man yells in pain and releases Lily’s arm. She falls into the grass, then rolls away from the danger. She lands on her face and wraps her arms over her head, blocking out the clangs of metal, cries of fear, shouts of rage, gurgles of pain.
And then, finally, blessed silence, broken only by the beating of her own heart.
The next thing she knows, enormous hands lift Lily off the ground, pulling her into strong, familiar arms.
“Papa!” she cries.
“My little Lily!” the orc whispers softly, hugging her close. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”
“N-No I’m fine—” But she can’t stop the tears from spilling out, fear draining away as she leans into his embrace. “I was just s-so s-scared—”
“Hey now.” Papa strokes Lily’s hair. “There’s no shame in being afraid. What matters is that you didn’t let it control you.”
When she’s calm, Papa sets her back on her feet and wipes her eyes. Then he retrieves Lily’s knife from where it’s fallen and places it gently back in her hands. “For such a little Lily, you are as brave and as fierce as a lioness.”
Lily smiles, sniffling as she tries to stand a little taller.
Papa smiles and puts a hand on her head, then he stands. “Come, we have a village to repair and wounds to bandage.”
The orc village—her village, where the people had given her a home when she’d had none. Now she has a chance to help them in return.
“Can you walk?” Papa asks.
Lily nods quickly. “Yes!”
“Then let’s be on our way.”
He takes Lily’s small hand in his large one and together they walk towards home.
Lily smiles again, fingers tightening around the hilt of her knife.
She protected herself!
And someday, she’ll protect everyone in her village, just like her Papa.