Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty-one

• Five years later...
• "Boox, put me down, please." A cheerful voice asked one of the orcs, her faithful friend. Metis had been born frail and sickly; as a baby, she'd had constant fevers and difficulty coordinating her movements. By the age of five, she was barely walking, and Boox had become her mainstay and support for long distances.
• Carefully, Boox lowered him off her sturdy back and gently settled him on a stone, from where he watched his two brothers at play.