Lorik The Protector (Lorik Trilogy) Read Free Page B

from leaving. He stood aside and watched as Lorik left with Selber and Jons. Then Stone turned to Vera and saw tears streaking down her face.

Chapter 3
    Everything had changed, Lorik thought. He had always heard that you can’t go back to the way things were, and he was finding it to be true. His heart ached as he thought of Vera, her words echoing in his mind as he walked. He could feel his muscles starting to stiffen, but he welcomed the physical pain. He felt like he deserved it. He had honestly thought that he would be a burden to Vera and Stone when they left the Marshlands. They were newly in love and he didn’t want to crowd their relationship, but he had never thought about how his decision might affect them.
    His lack of direction in life had become clear to him when Vera decided to leave Hassell Point, but, despite the time that had passed since she left, he still had found no real sense of purpose. He had joined the crew sailing north simply to have something to do, for a change of scenery. Hassell Point and even his own house seemed dead to him. He still had friends in the Marshlands, but the place seemed stagnant and lifeless to Lorik. It was as if he had stepped into the past and his life was moving on without him. So he had taken the first chance he got to leave the Point. Fighting for his countrymen seemed like a good idea, even noble, but he couldn’t shake the fact that he was rushing into someone else’s fight rather than doing what it took to discover his own purpose in life.
    Vera was worried; that much was clear. But what exactly she was worried about he didn’t know. It could be that she was unhappy with life outside the Marshlands. Hassell Point was a pirate’s haven and home to outlaws, but it was also a small community where she knew the locals almost like family. With the king’s soldiers marching south, Ortis was quickly becoming a cold and unfriendly place. The people Lorik had met were bracing for hard times and trust was rare. Everyone he saw carried weapons, and the small fishing villages they had passed as they sailed north were either locked up or abandoned.
    Still, Lorik doubted that the current state of events in Ortis was really bothering Vera. She had dealt with hardship in her life before. Her parents had died when she was just a teenager. She had come to love Lorik’s parents dearly, but they had passed away, too. Through it all he had never seen her lose her jovial disposition or her indomitable spirit. Now she seemed defeated, almost like she was on the verge of desperation. He wondered if Vera’s greatest concern was that Stone would want to follow Lorik. That made sense to the big teamster. Stone was a highly trained fighter. Lorik had seen Stone in action, taking on groups of pirates and raiders single-handedly. In fact, when Stone had wanted to partner with Lorik and learn to move cargo through the Marshlands, Lorik had trouble believing Stone was being honest with him.
    The thing Lorik didn’t understand was why Vera worried that Stone would want to go north in the first place. It made sense that Stone would want to go, but he wouldn’t leave Vera behind. Stone might be killed fighting the Norsik, but as she herself had said, it wasn’t safe anywhere in Ortis at the moment. There had to be more to the fact that Stone might want to go north than Vera was letting on, but he had no way of discovering what it might be. His only choice was to honor her wishes.
    “I know a little place,” Selber was saying to Lorik, although the big man hadn’t been listening very closely. “The wenches are clean and friendly. The ale is good, too. We’ve still got half a day before Yulver will want to weigh anchor. We should avail ourselves of our good fortune,” he added, holding up a fat purse.
    “You were betting on the fights?” Lorik asked.
    “Of course, my friend. I had no doubts in your abilities.”
    “Did you bet against Stone? He almost beat me. In fact, he would have,