Chapter 22: A Safe Haven

Elara—the princess's name was Elara—clung to Valkar's back like a frightened limpet, her face buried against the nape of his neck to block out the sight of the carnage they left behind.

Sylvana, cradled in his arms, remained rigid and defiant, her body a board of coiled tension. She refused to look at him, her gaze fixed on the dark ceiling of the tunnel as if she could find an escape there.

Valkar, on the other hand, didn't care in the slightest about what was going on inside their pretty little heads; his main goal was to get the hell out of the goblin-infested tunnels and find safety inside the cave that his mother told him about.

'I need to hurry; it will be dark soon.'

The moment Valkar stepped out of the tunnel system, he immediately noticed that the sun had already begun its descent, painting the sky in strokes of orange and purple.

He didn't waste a second and began sprinting across the rocky terrain, his powerful legs eating up the distance, and with the fresh air, the princess finally got the chance to relax and even enjoy the ride a little.

This, however, was not the case for Sylvana. The world was a blur of jarring motion. The wind whipped her dark hair across her face, stinging her eyes. Each thunderous footfall sent a shockwave of agony through her wounded leg, a fresh hell with every step he took. 

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to retreat into herself, but the hard planes of his chest against her side, the faint, guttural rhythm of his breathing, the sheer, overwhelming presence of him—it was inescapable.

The journey was surprisingly quiet.

No monsters. No beasts.

The Forgotten Lands seemed to be holding its breath. Or perhaps the slaughter in the goblin warren had sent a message, a scent of death that warned everything else to stay hidden.

But Valkar was sure that the reason for this silence was the death of that bat-like succubus. After all, she was the apex predator of this region, and with her gone, he believed that a massive power vacuum must have been created.

Most creatures will not act right away; they will wait and watch until someone makes a move, so at least Valkar has a day or two before the real chaos begins.

The sun bled its last colors across the horizon as Valkar reached a narrow ravine. A small waterfall cascaded down its far side, disappearing into a curtain of ivy. The air here was different, cleaner, filled with the scent of wet stone and the sharp, green smell of crushed herbs.

He stopped before the curtain of ivy, shifting the women in his arms.

It took him almost two hours of non-stop running to reach this place, and even for him, it was a bit taxing.

However, Valkar didn't immediately enter the cave. He circled around the waterfall three times before he finally approached the ivy curtain. He didn't want to take chances that some monsters were tracking them through the scent of blood coming from him and the injured elf. 

"We're here." 

He pushed it aside, revealing a massive stone disk, the door to the cave Zura had told him about. It took her months of grinding this stone disk with her own hands. 

Valkar then gently placed Sylvana down on her good leg, making sure her wounded one didn't touch the ground. She immediately recoiled, stumbling back a step, her purple eyes flaring with a mixture of pain and defiance. The princess, Elara, slid from his back, her legs so wobbly she nearly collapsed, catching herself on the damp rock of the ravine wall. 

Valkar paid them no mind. He placed a massive, calloused hand on the center of the stone disk and pushed. With a low, grinding groan, the rock slid away, revealing a dark opening that smelled of dry earth and old stone. 

The opening was large enough for Valkar to walk through without having to duck.

He stepped inside first, his amber eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness.

The cave was much larger than he had expected.

The entrance opened into a wide chamber, the ceiling rising nearly twenty meters above them. On the right side, Valkar spotted a stack of firewood neatly piled next to a simple, circle-of-stones fireplace. On the left side was a makeshift bed made from a pile of dry leaves and animal hides.

In the back of the chamber, sitting calmly on top of a flat rock were two items.

A long spear and an axe. The ones that his mother crafted from the bones of that exotic creature that she refused to tell him about.

There were several smaller passages leading deeper into the mountain, but Valkar remembered his mother telling him about a storage room full of herbs that she gathered during her time here. She also told him that down the hallways there was a hot spring, a true blessing in this land.

It's been a long time—twenty years—since his mother left this cave. Valkar didn't expect to find anything usable. Nonetheless, a safe cave is a hundred times better than sleeping outside where monsters could lurk around.

"Come inside," he said without turning around.

Elara hesitated. She peeked inside, and the cave looked like the mouth of some enormous beast waiting to swallow them. 

"Is it safe?" she asked, her voice trembling. 

Valkar looked back at her, studying her pale face and wide eyes. He remembered that in this world, nothing is safe; safety is only an illusion that the weak use to comfort themselves. 

"My mother made it," he rumbled. The statement, simple and without context, somehow made Elara feel slightly better. 

"Let me help you inside, Sylvana," she said softly, rushing to the dark-haired elf. 

Sylvana was about to refuse, but seeing how the princess was forcing herself to be calm for her, Sylvana nodded. 

Elara wrapped her arm around Sylvana's waist, taking as much of the other elf's weight as her frail body could manage. Together, they hobbled through the stone doorway and into the dim sanctuary of the cave. 

Meanwhile, Valkar immediately went to the stockpile of firewood.

He selected a few dry pieces and arranged them in the stone circle. Then he used a trick that his mother showed him.

He placed both palms near the wood and focused, channeling the mana inside him into a single point.

Spark!

A small spark ignited in the dry tinder. He blew on it gently, coaxing it into a flame, and within moments, a warm, crackling fire cast flickering orange light across the chamber, pushing back the oppressive darkness.

The sight of the fire did more to soothe the princess's frayed nerves than any words could have.

It was a symbol of civilization, of warmth, of safety. A welcome change from what they suffered in the past two days.

"Use this."

From his inventory, Valkar took out the bear hide that his system harvested from the slain bear.

"T-Thank you," Elara whispered, her eyes wide as she accepted the surprisingly soft, thick fur. She spread it on the floor near the fire, and helped Sylvana ease herself onto it. The dark-haired elf sat stiffly, her wounded leg extended, her face a pale mask of pain.

As the women settled, Valkar walked back to the entrance and sealed it with the stone disk. The deep grinding noise that followed, though it locked them in, gave both elven women an unspoken sense of relief. They were trapped, but so was anything that might wish them harm.

The funny thing was that neither of them considered Valkar, who was a massive green orc, a threat; rather, they had accepted him as a threat that they had to bear with. The real fear was for the unknown monsters that lurked in the dark forest.

The firelight danced across the walls of the cave, making the shadows of the stacked firewood and simple bed look like silent, sleeping giants.

Valkar sat next to the fire, opposite them. He took out a few pieces of bear meat and placed them on a flat stone, letting the heat cook them slowly. The aroma of roasting meat, rich and primal, filled the cave, causing both women to realize how ravenous they were. They hadn't eaten a proper meal since they were teleported to this forsaken place.

'Where did he get the meat?' Sylvana watched him from under lowered lashes, her mind racing. No matter how much thinking she did, she could only come up with one good reason that explained why this orc was different from the rest of his kind. 

'At least he can speak, protect, and now... feed? This is madness.' 

She wanted to remain defiant, to cling to her hatred and disgust, but her body betrayed her. Her stomach growled, a loud, undignified sound that made the princess beside her flinch. 

"When it's ready, eat," Valkar said, suddenly standing up and walking away toward the back of the cave. 

"Where are you going?" Sylvana asked before she could stop herself, her voice sharper than she intended. 

'Why do I care?!'

Valkar paused at the entrance to one of the dark passages and looked back, his amber eyes glowing in the firelight.

"To get herbs and clean water for your wound."

"..."

That silenced her. He wasn't just feeding them; he was tending to her injury.

"Be right back."