Horde Kings Bride

Chapter 2

I have only recently begun to wake up. I start to jerk awake in a panic, convinced that I have overslept, and wince as a shooting pain travels through my back. As soon as I got home yesterday, I realized that it was about to start raining and that my tent had a few holes that needed to be patched before it could be used again.

The last time it rained, everything inside of my tent got soaked, and I ended up having to dry out an old fur blanket that I was given once its old owner had gotten a new one.

It took several days to dry out and it now stinks to high hell.

I slowly got up off the ground, and as I did so, I could feel my body screaming in protest. At the same time, I started looking around for an old piece of clothing that I could just use to patch the holes on my little tent.

Slaves are obviously paid very little, and I do not have sufficient funds to be able to squander on new material in order to mend the holes in my tent.

The light from the sun is just now making its way through the lining of my tent flaps, and I can see that daytime has arrived. I have a few spare minutes in which I can put the finishing touches on my little tent.

When the members of the Horde get new tents, they give the slaves the older one as a gift even though it is not much.

I actually find that very nice of them to dot that, they obviously do not have to.

The only Horde members that have actual wooden homes are the Kings and the Captains.

At the very edge of the territory is where you'll find the hidden tents housing the slaves. In addition to this, we are only permitted to eat three meals per day and are not permitted to snack on anything else.

If any of us are caught attempting to steal food, we will have one of our hands severed as a form of punishment.

When I was younger, I only had one male friend, and his name was Justin. Because his grandfather was in such bad shape, Justin's only concern was to make him feel better as soon as possible. One night, he had broken into the kitchen tent under the cover of darkness and secretly taken a few fresh vegetables.

Because he had been caught by a captain while he was walking out of the tent, his hand was severed as punishment. The Horde men could not allow something like that. They are rough and tough men and do not like to be disobeyed.

The infection ultimately proved fatal for him.

It was terrible.

After assuring my friend that I would look after his grandfather, I had to watch him pass away slowly while I kept my promise. I kept my end of the bargain up until the point where his grandfather's illness finally overtook him and he passed away.

It is the dry part of the season, which makes the already hot desert much hotter for us humans, and I often have to sit down or I risk having a heat stroke.

The desert is already hot for us humans.

The members of the Horde are not affected by the heat in the same way that we humans are; they do not even become ill.

It was a rare occurrence that the females to become ill, and I believe their numbers to be somewhere around one hundred at most. They are all dispersed across the various kingdoms ruled by the Horde across the planet.

In fact, this was the cause of the death of both of my parents. I have no idea why, but the rogue Horde that showed up with the intention of kidnapping a few of the women.

Those that were able to survive the illness were rendered sterile as a result. They are unable to have children, which will eventually lead to the extinction of their race.