Chapter 7
In which Narlafayn finds herself trapped overnight in Elmore and gets a taste of Orcish "hospitality"
Several hours later, Narlafayn followed behind Damascus though mountainous paths, hugging herself. It was cold; the grass was stiff from a thick frost. Snow covered the ground in patches, and the wind blowing against her legs stung, as if it were riddled with splinters of ice. She shivered, wondering how Damascus could walk so comfortably, as he wore less armor than her.
"Why are we out in the cold again?" she asked through chattering teeth. Damascus turned enough to grin at her over his shoulder.
"Don't worry; we'll be in a warm place soon." He assured her, before turning back to watch the path ahead of him. Narlafayn sighed and scrunched her shoulders in attempts to retain body heat.
Damascus had given her a quick tour of the Village, and then convinced the Gatekeeper to cast them a spell that seemed to put them in the middle of nowhere. He hadn't said a word about their destination, and just commanded her to stay close as they trekked across steep inclines and thin paths. Right now they were walking through a wide valley, strange monsters that looked like floating eyeballs and beings made from rock watching them as they passed. Every now and again she could smell and hear a Werewolf as it passed by, but none made an attempt to attack them.
The Orc walking ahead of her was different than the ones that wandered the Elven Forest. Damascus was taller than any Kaboo Orc, and sported larger muscles. His manner of dress was similar, but he spoke intelligently. Her eyes bugged out as she noticed the various weapons strapped to his body, wondering how he moved with so much metal attached to his skin. Upon his back was a spear and a large sword she could only assume was meant to be wielded with both hands. At his waist was strapped a short axe on one side, and a smaller sword on the other. Hooked to his belt also were two fisticuffs that looked as if they'd seen use recently as they were speckled in what she hoped was just clotted blood.
"Doing ok back there?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts. Narlafayn answered by nodding vigorously. "Good." He said, as if he could hear her brain rattling in her head. "You're obviously really young in your life as a fighter, with how quickly you trusted me and all. Most people would question my intentions of bringing you all the way out here without a word." He stated without expression, moving a low branch aside as he passed under it. Narlafayn stopped walking and stared at his muscular back with large eyes. "You know it's odd, isn't it? An Orc like me being so nice to you, an Elf of Light, sworn enemy of my race."
A feeling colder than the air around her settled into Narlafayn's limbs, and she swallowed, trying to get her voice to work. "Are you…going to kill me?" she asked in a hushed voice. It slowly began to dawn on her how stupid she was to get taken in by a friendly smile and a few kind words. Was she that starved for kindness? Damascus stopped walking to turn and stare at her seriously. He took a few steps towards her until he was in front of her, and stared down at her.
"Nah." He said after a tense moment, causing her legs to almost give out beneath her. He grinned and helped her to stand before turning and continuing his trek down the path towards the still unknown destination. "I only kill that which I don't like looking at. You're pretty cute for an Elf, plus you don't have that pompous air they all seem to have, so we're good. I like the smell you've got too." He said in a light voice, causing her to stare at him blankly. He paused in front of the mouth of a cave and stretched. "Here we are. Now let's see if they're where they're supposed to be." He entered the cave and began descending down a long ramp without looking to make sure she was behind him.
Narlafayn backed up on the path a bit to glance up at the mountain over the cave. The rock was strange, and shaped like a boar's head. She idly wondered if it were a natural formation, or if the Orcs had carved it themselves. Curiosity firing to life inside of her and washing away the previous fear she had felt, Narlafayn entered the cave behind Damascus.
The ramp ended in a large cavern with a large altar set in the middle of it, which was surrounded by lit fire wells. Along the wall were rock pillars decorated in tribal symbols that almost appeared to have been painted in blood. A fire well sat in front of each rock pillar, filling the cavern with bright firelight and warming the air. Damascus led Narlafayn through the first cave and over a short bridge erected over a shallow stream that flowed through the cavern, dividing the first from the next.
In the next cavern, there were strange reptilian beasts that Damascus called salamanders. The beasts ignored them as they trekked through, but in the next room a skeleton suddenly dropped down from the ceiling and swung a sword out at them. Damascus grabbed his short axe and smashed it upon the skeleton's head, and its entire body crumbled into dust from the impact. "This way." He directed, taking her down a side path that led into a long hallway. "You should hunt here before you leave," Damascus suggested lightly, hooking the axe back into its loop on his belt. "Its great training for someone as young as you." Narlafayn's temper flared a bit and she folded her arms over her chest and frowned.
"Do I have 'novice' tattooed to my forehead now or something?" she grumbled, pouting. "This is the third time someone's called me weak." She kicked a rock at her feet, sending it bouncing down the tunnel in front of them.
"Something like that…" Damascus said, slowing down. He held an arm out to halt her, and walked on ahead into the next cavern. Narlafayn lingered in the hallway behind him, staring at the room with large eyes.
In the center of the cavern was a torture device of a sort, and a muscle-bound Orc wearing a bone helmet stood in front of it. An Orc woman stood next to the Guard, pleading with him about something Narlafayn couldn't pick up. She wore an opaque gray veil over the lower half of her face, hiding it from view. Her brown hair was done into tight braids and wrapped into a ponytail at the top of her head. She wore exotic gold and rust-colored armor that seemed like a bikini with a decorated loincloth, giving her a less barbaric appearance than the other Orc she had seen in town.
The woman stopped pleading with the guard as Damascus approached, and the two turned to glance at him as he gave them a slight bow. He spoke with the woman for a moment, and motioned to Narlafayn. Following his movement, the woman looked at her. She stared at Narlafayn for a moment before looking down and nodding. Damascus grinned at her and rubbed her head as if she were a child, then turned and made his way back towards Narlafayn.
"Great! Sprissa said she'd take you in for the night. You're in luck!" Damascus announced as he came in earshot. "She's got a few things to finish up in here so it'll be a bit, but I don't think it's a problem if you wait around." As he moved aside, Narlafayn looked over his shoulder at the torture device and gasped. The Guard blocking it from view had moved, and strapped to it was what appeared to be a blonde, shorthaired human woman. Blood poured from two wounds in her sides and dripped into channels that directed the fluid down to the floor, where it ran in a chiseled out rut towards the wall. She took a step forward, instinct to protect the weak overriding her better judgment. Damascus put a restraining hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention away from the horror before her. "Don't get involved in Orcish affairs. You're an elf; it would only put you on that torture block, even if they were the ones in the wrong." He said in a low voice. "That woman is not what she appears. Trust me when I say that punishment isn't even close enough to what she really deserves." He patted her shoulder before moving away and plodding back down the hallway. Narlafayn watched him retreat for a moment before taking a breath and walking towards the Orc he had called "Sprissa".
"Enough of this, please! You've been doing this for days; I think she's had enough!" Sprissa pleaded, holding a hand up to her chest. "Please, she doesn't know anything; she would've said something by now!" As always, the guard ignored her and continued to slowly inflict another deep wound to the woman's torso. Bound and gagged, the woman groaned a bit and strained against her bonds, but she could not move more than a slight twitch. "You're going to kill her!" Sprissa finally exclaimed, taking a step forward.
"Yeah, I think that's enough." Narlafayn stated, putting a hand on the strange object the guard was using to inflict the wound. "Deserving or not, that's too much." Sprissa lifted a hand to cover her mouth, shocked at Narlafayn's boldness. The Orc snarled and whipped his hand out to smack Narlafayn across the face, but the Elf smoothly ducked it, the Orc's hand sailing over her head. She chuckled lightly and gave him an amused look as she crouched, and the Orc snarled again, this time swinging at her with the still bloody torture device. This caught Narlafayn across the chest, but her hardened leather armor dulled the blow to no more than a scrape. The strength of the Orc still knocked her off of her feet and she fell to the stone ground.
"How dare a filthy Elf lay hands upon me!" the Orc roared, raising the weapon to stab her. Narlafayn's breath caught in her throat and she raised a hand in a feeble attempt to block her impending doom.
"I Order you to STOP!" Sprissa shouted, hands tightly clenched into fists at her sides. The Orc paused and glanced over his shoulder at her for a moment before lowering the torture device and slowly plodding over to the trembling Orcish woman.
"You order me?" the Orc mocked, his voice a low growl. With the point of the device, he snagged her veil and pulled it from her face. He then placed the bloody point against her cheek and rolled it, leaving a dark smear of blood there. "You, a half bred whelp, order ME?" He ran the point down, turning the smear into a line.
"Yes." Sprissa said, taking on a brave air despite the tremble in her voice. "I order you to stop and leave us be. Your work is done." The Orc chuckled and dropped the device to roughly grab Sprissa's breast. Sprissa's eyes twitched slightly in a wince, but she kept her expression placid. Disappointed that she did not react the way he had hoped, the guard released her breast and leaned in close, his unwashed breath blowing into her nose as he spoke. "You may be the adopted daughter of the Gandi chief, but you are still 100 years too inexperienced to be challenging me, bitch." He growled. With that he turned and released the human woman's restraints and roughly jerked her from the torture platform. He dragged her across the polished stone floor, her limbs flopping limply like a rag dolls, and shoved her into a jail cell burrowed out of the cave wall. After shutting the iron gate and locking it, he stalked out of the cavern, leaving the women alone.
Sprissa let out a breath she'd been holding and sunk to her knees, as if relieved. Narlafayn stood and rubbed her chest where the point of the guard's weapon had touched her, glaring towards the hall where the guard had disappeared. "That wasn't very nice." She muttered, wandering over to Sprissa. "Are you ok? That was really disgusting of him, grabbing you like that." She said, holding a hand out to her. "I've heard your name is Sprissa, mine's Narlafayn." She introduced, smiling.
"That was incredibly brainless of you." Sprissa said coldly, looking up at her. Narlafayn's smile dropped and she stood, pursing her lips. Half of her reaction was caused by Sprissa's comment, but the other half was caused by Sprissa's appearance. She had the green skin of the Orc, but her build and face were similar to that of a Dark Elf. Noticing her stare, Sprissa reached down and grabbed the veil from where it had dropped and secured it to her face. Narlafayn blinked as she realized that Sprissa wore the veil to hide her elfin appearance. With the lower part of her face covered by the gauzy opaque fabric, she looked like nothing more than a slender Orc. "It would benefit you to not meddle in Orcish affairs again, or you might die next time." Sprissa scolded, adjusting the top of her armor.
"Hey, I got him to stop, didn't I? That was more than what you were doing." Narlafayn retorted in an equally cold voice. When Sprissa raised her head to stare at her in surprise once more, Narlafayn flashed a grin to convey that there were no hard feelings.
"You're…odd…for an elf…" Sprissa said slowly, turning her head to give Narlafayn a sidelong glance.
"I'm getting that a lot, I'm noticing." She mumbled, looking away from Sprissa.
"Ah~h, the fun is over already?" a rough voice said from the jail cell. Both Narlafayn and Sprissa turned to see the human woman who had sat up, fingers touching her wounds curiously.
"Emixia! Are you ok?' Sprissa exclaimed, rushing over to the cell. Emixia looked at Sprissa for a moment, her eyes working to focus after being unconscious. "I'm so sorry, I tried so hard to stop him again, but he just won't give up…"
"Oh man, not you again." Emixia groaned, flopping down to her back. "Why do you always do that, huh? I was enjoying myself you know." She ran a hand through her short-cropped blonde hair, leaving a streak of blood in it.
"How can you enjoy something like that? Are you missing something in your head?" Narlafayn asked skeptically, standing next to Sprissa. Emixia raised her head slightly to look at her.
"Oh hello, did you come to play with me too?" Emixia asked, her voice as sincere and curious as a child's. She scrambled to her knees and clutched the bars of the cell gate, grinning brightly at Narlafayn. "Oh I do hope you will, I do so love the smell of destruction you carry! We could be great friends!" She reached a bloodstained hand towards Narlafayn as if reaching for candy. Horrified, Narlafayn took a step backwards, looking at the woman's hand as if it would poison her. Emixia let her arm drop limply and frowned at Narlafayn's reaction for a moment before retracting the appendage and looking at it. "Oh my, so that's why you look disgusted. Silly me, I forgot to wash up." With that she began licking herself, starting with the blood on her hand. "Mmm.." came the noise from her throat.
"Emixia, I'll get you out of here soon, I promise." Sprissa said, reaching a hand out to touch her in a comforting manner. Emixia paused in cleaning herself, her tongue still pressed against her skin, to stare at Sprissa with wide eyes.
"Excuse me; I'm trying to take a bath here. Don't you know that a person generally wants privacy when they bathe? It's only common courtesy, geez!" she scolded, frowning. "Get out of here already!" Emixia shouted in response to Sprissa's hurt expression. Standing quickly, Sprissa retreated down the hallway as fast as she could, Narlafayn jogging to keep up behind her.
"What's her issue?" she asked, jerking her thumb in Emixia's direction. "I've never seen anyone that crazy bef—" she paused as a memory of the Gladiator from the night she got left in Gludio flashing through her mind. "…I've never seen any women that crazy before." She corrected.
Sprissa walked in silence for a moment as she led the way back to the entrance of the cave. "Orcs are generally not meant to cross-breed with any other race. The Orcish temper is fiery, and most other races are not built with the proper means to control it without driving themselves insane. Emixia is a case of this." She said in a low voice. "Her father was a human, her mother the Orc. She came back here seeking solace from her temper, but found only prejudice. She finally lost control over it and killed my adopted father's true daughter, Telnaki, in a blind rage."
Wondering why Sprissa was sharing this information with her, but not voicing it, Narlafayn walked beside her in silence for a bit, trying to think of something comforting to say. "But I thought that guard said you were a half-breed yourself?" she found herself asking, and then kicked herself for asking such a personal question. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to ask that." She apologized, rubbing the back of her head.
"No, it's fine." Sprissa said, waving her hand to brush it off. "Yes, I am a half-breed. My mother was a Dark Elf." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as they emerged from the cave into the twilight air. "I don't remember her, I was really young when she died, and my great-grandmother did not know her well either. Grandmother always told me my father was calm of spirit though, so perhaps my lack of temper comes from him." She smiled at the pitying look Narlafayn gave in reaction to the sadness in her voice, even though the smile could not be seen beneath her veil. "It is alright, grandmother has returned to the great fire from which things are created, she lived a good life and I am not hurt by her passing. I have a wonderful father now as well, so I am satisfied."
"Why were you helping that psycho down there then? Didn't you say she killed your father's true daughter?" Narlafayn asked, looking over her shoulder at the mouth of the cave. Sprissa sighed and stopped walking, looking up to the sky.
"Yes, she did wrong, but I don't think she truly understands that which she's done. The Orc inside her yearns to be satisfied in battle while the human tries to find reason to draw blood. Telnaki picked a fight with her in the first place, knowing fully that she was not stable enough to challenge." Sprissa stated sadly, looking down. "I know how Emixia feels, not fitting in with either race you descend from. It's an awful, lonely feeling."
"So the reason why you go in there, despite the fact that she murdered your sister, is because you're both half-breeds?" Narlafayn concluded, scratching her cheek.
"Perhaps." Sprissa smiled. "In any case, it's freezing out here; let's get back to town quickly." With that, Sprissa reached into a pack and removed two scrolls, handing one to Narlafayn and then opening her own, the teleportation magic flaring to life and taking them back to the Orc Village.
Narlafayn was set up for the night on a large pile of straw in the corner of the stone home that Sprissa lived in with her 'father'. Much to Narlafayn's shock, she found that the Gandi chief treated Sprissa as more of a concubine than a daughter. He seemed distraught by Telnaki's death, and highly dominating of Sprissa. He was rough and cruel with her, and felt no shame in stripping the poor girl naked in front of a guest to have his way with her. As much pity as Narlafayn felt for Sprissa's situation, she knew that she was no match for an aged, battle-hardened Orc, and stayed silent, praying that he would not turn to her once he grew bored with Sprissa. She slept with her sword nearby, determined that if the worst should happen, she wouldn't go down without a fight beforehand.
She woke abruptly in the middle of the night, to the loud shouts of the Orc guards outside of the house. Narlafayn sat up and stared towards the pelt-covered door with large eyes, her heart thudding in her chest. It sounded as if something were happening outside. Across the room, Sprissa sat up with a similar expression. Next to her, the Gandi chief continued to sleep, snoring loudly.
"Great Chief!" a warrior shouted, bursting into the home. The chief roared as he sat up, hurling a sword from beside his bed, which sliced the warrior through the neck. The Orc fell over backwards with a heavy thud, unmoving as blood pooled around him, staining the bear pelts on the floor a deep crimson. Behind him a smaller figure entered, grinning from ear to ear like a satisfied she-wolf, blood covering her from head to toe.
"I brought you a gift for so generously letting me enter your home." Emixia stated, throwing two heads at the Gandi Chief as he scrambled from his bed. The head of the guard from the Cave and the head of the Gandi chief's nephew that Narlafayn had met briefly earlier, rolled across the dirt floor, Sprissa gasping as if she wished to scream. Narlafayn jumped to her feet and drew her sword, the noise of metal scraping out of its sheath catching Emixia's attention. She glanced at her without turning her head, her eyes visibly trying to remember whom she was. Shutting them in satisfaction, she let out a grunt of a chuckle, and the pelt door flew open as a black blur passed through it. Narlafayn's back hit the straw as she was bowled over by something heavy, and found herself staring into the mouth of an angry panther.
"You maggot-ridden half breed dare to stain my honorable home with your filth?" the chief roared, grabbing a ball mace covered in spikes from the wall. Emixia held up a hand and waved her finger back and forth, tsking.
"Such naughty words I hear coming from you. Isn't it a half breed in which you use as a seed receptacle every day? I would think your parts are filthier than your floor, shouldn't you be worrying about those instead?" she asked in a light tone, her eyes shut. The chief swung the mace at her with a snarl, its spikes aiming for the center of her head. She raised a hand and caught it smoothly, both Sprissa and Narlafayn wincing and gasping as a few of the spikes impaled through her and burst out the other side in a mini spray of blood. "I hear it'll hurt awfully bad if they rot up from the dirt." Emixia stated, her voice taking on a rough, barbaric tone. Her calm expression instantly evaporated in the next second to be replaced with a wild grin that chilled Narlafayn to the core. Emixia drew her hand that held the mace ball back, then released, throwing the ball back at chief in a quick motion. It struck him in the genitalia, and he howled a sound that Narlafayn had never heard before.
"Stop it!" Sprissa shouted, standing. Emixia ignored her and calmly picked up Narlafayn's sword from where it had dropped when her panther tackled the elf. The chief laid on the floor, doubled over, whimpering in pain. Emixia approached him slowly, still smiling as she hefted the sword in her hand.
"A bit light, but I think it'll still do the trick. Be pleased, Elf. The first real blood your sword will taste is that of an Orc chief." She said in a commanding voice. Narlafayn attempted to sit, but the panther snarled and leaned in closer to her face, baring its teeth. Claws barely unsheathed from the cat's massive paws, warning her to stay put with just a prick. Sprissa dashed from her place next to the bed, holding her arms out and blocking Emixia from advancing onto the wounded chief. Without a word, Emixia placed a hand on Sprissa's shoulder and flung her aside as if she weighed no more than a child's toy. Sprissa crashed into the far wall, the shelf above her that held crude plates collapsing upon her and showering her with broken clay.
"NO!" Narlafayn shouted as Emixia drove the point of her blade through the Orc's side. He howled in pain again, the wound not enough to kill him. Again and again she stabbed him, blood pouring from his wounds and pooling on the floor. She began to laugh in glee as she stabbed, as if torturing the Orc chief was the best fun she'd had in years. Tears stung Narlafayn's eyes and she shut them, trying to drown out the sounds in the house by focusing on the growling noise coming from the cat. Why was this world so cruel? Was the only way to atone for sins through death? Where were the guards? Why weren't they helping?
"There is a reason for everything"
Narlafayn opened her eyes quickly to find the hooded man standing near Emixia. It appeared that she was the only one who could see him, as no one else made any motion of surprise at his sudden presence. The world seemed to slow down as if moving through honey, except for the hooded man who moved easily as if there were no restraints upon him. He crouched beside her and brought his face close, the cold shadows that surrounded him seemed to slide into her mouth and nose, choking her with its iciness.
"Everything must be destroyed in the end. Even death has its own justice." He said in a low voice. Narlafayn drew in a ragged gasp as he lowered his head over hers, covering her face with his hood and blocking out the light.
Inside the darkness of his hood she saw a lithe figure rampaging through the Orc Village wearing black armor and carrying a large, blood streaked sword. Villagers were cut down right and left, and everywhere that the black-armored person stepped, ice would form. It expanded and covered everything, dousing light and life where it touched. Not even the elderly, women or children were spared from this chaotic person. Ahead, surrounded by the burning city, a tall, muscular man that looked to be an Orc yet was somehow too beautiful to be one stood in heavy armor, wielding a large two-handed sword, ready for battle. The smaller figure glanced up at him as they withdrew their sword from the body of a choking woman, waving the sword to remove the gore from the metal. The larger man took a breath and let out a loud battle shout as the smaller figure held their blade out and began running towards him. His sword swung in a mighty arc, but it missed the smaller figure completely, and their blade sliced the man through the midsection. Her hair streaked with blood, Narlafayn grinned darkly as his arms flew outwards from the force of the blow, his sword falling uselessly to the ground.
Still in the hut, pinned under Emixia's panther, Narlafayn drew in a gasping breath just as the pelt door flew off of the bar holding it up. The hooded man had disappeared, leaving in his wake the angry form of Damascus, who slammed a large club into the side of the panther. With a yowl the beast flew through the air and slammed into the stone wall of the hut. It disappeared into a dark swirl as it crumpled to the ground, returning to the spirit world from where Emixia had summoned it from. Without pausing, Damascus grabbed Emixia around the throat and slammed her into the wall opposite of where her panther had fallen. He drew up the corner of his mouth in a snarl, staring directly into her eyes. Behind him, Sprissa dashed around the bed to kneel at her father's side.
"You set me free, and yet this is how you treat me?" Emixia asked in a strained voice, gripping his arm with her hands. Narlafayn pushed herself to her feet, staring at them with large eyes. Sprissa seemed to not have heard her growl, and stared mournfully at the Chief who did not move. The group did not notice as an elderly Orc peered into the house.
"Great Paagrio!" the Orc exclaimed, stumbling backwards. "I knew you would kill our chief the moment that half-human stepped foot into our Village!" He turned and raced towards the Council of Chiefs, shouting in Orcish at the top of his lungs. Sprissa stood, her face pale, staring at the door in shock. Damascus dropped Emixia and pulled Narlafayn by the arm just as she had retrieved her sword and secured her shield to her arm.
"We have to get out of here, NOW!" Damascus stated urgently, grabbing Sprissa around the waist and hefting her over his broad shoulder. "They've always been wary of Sprissa; this is just giving them fuel to convict her for something she hasn't even done." He thundered out of the house as fast as he could go, Narlafayn close behind. She cast one last glance over her shoulder to where Emixia was slumped against the wall. She had a maniacal grin on her face, but to Narlafayn's surprise, tears streamed from her eyes.
After rousing the Gatekeeper up from her slumber, Damascus forced her to teleport the three of them to Gludin without asking any questions. Seemingly frightened of the mighty Orc, the Gatekeeper obliged, and Narlafayn found herself standing, once again, in the marketplace square of Gludin.