-To Tom Valor and Andie Firehawk: The plot is pretty obvious huh? Yeah...hard to make it unpredictable...hope people still find my 'original' plot interesting
-To HelenOfTroy: glad u like Eldon
-Chapter Eleven:
Cleon leaned his back against the cave wall, right outside the orc prison cell. He listened to the voices that drifted through the cracks in the broken-down door as he rubbed a cleaning rag over Hrimfaxi's spear. His back still hurt from the previous battle and he wished that he were somewhere else...anywhere else.
Meanwhile:
Inside the prison cell Eldon was making the last adjustments on the locks that pinned Relcunalyn's wrists to the wall. Furrowing his brows together in that Hrimfaxi had never seen the easy-going halfling spend on anything else...he twisted his wire lock-pick skillfully. There was an audible 'click' as the clasp popped open and the chain running through it dropped to the ground, freeing the elf prisoner's hands.
"Thanks," Relcunalyn said. Moving his arms stiffly he bent them back and forth and wiggled his fingers.
"No prob...after eight years that must feel pretty good."
"Well, every week the orcs let me loose for a little while. Sometimes to do a menial chore or other times they had orders to question me."
"Orders?" Hrimfaxi asked. "From who?"
"Lord Swill," the elf said, standing up. "He was the one who put me here."
"Really?" Felosial asked, a worry crease appearing on her white brow.
"Yes."
"We really don't have time for this!" Hrimfaxi said. "And," she continued, lowering her voice, leaning down, and taking a step forward. "I don't want Cleon to overhear anything concerning him. This has been a traumatizing enough day already."
"Hrim...calm down!" Eldon said. "We have plenty of time and...personally Cleon is a good boy, but he's not the brightest, he won't suspect anything."
"But those guards are gonna get suspicious!"
"I think Hrimfaxi may be right," Relcunalyn broke in. "And...I was wondering. I have something to 'tell' Lord Swill. Could I come with you?"
"No offense," Rurik said, clearing his throat officiously. "But what we do requires plenty of training."
"Yes, you guys must be pretty well trained if you killed the whole orc tribe."
"Well, me and the elf are," broke in the centaur. "I don't know about the dwarf and thief."
"But...as I was saying. I've had quite a bit of combat training. I may be a little rusty but eight years hasn't taken away all my skill."
Rurik didn't look convinced.
'See this uniform!" Relucunalyn said, standing straight up and pointing at his torn and dirty clothes. "This is the uniform of the Captain of the Calvary. I used to be that for Lord Swill until he had me thrown in here. And believe me, I was well-respected."
"Why did he have you thrown in here?" Felosial's voice went up an octave out of concern.
'We don't have time for this!" Hrimfax broke in again, rearing up and flicking her tail so that it lashed Eldon in the face.
"I agree!" shouted Rurik rushing towards the door, nearly getting smashed by the centaur lowering her front legs.
The two hot-heads rushed out of the cell, Hrimfaxi having to jump over Cleon who was leaning against the door. Rurik, who couldn't jump over the boy, was forced to shove him out of the way.
"Foal!" Hrimfaxi ordered dancing on her hooves out of excitement. "Get a sword for Rel. We're gonna hunt orc-lovers!"
Cleon scrambled up and raced towards the room that was full of cast- off weaponry. He emerged later with a long-sword. The leather binding was peeling off from the handle...but it was one of the few swords that didn't have its blade bent or dented. Relcunalyn along with Felosial and Eldon came out and Cleon gave the sword to the elf.
"You have a good eye for weaponry," he commented to the boy, testing the balance. Now that the elf captain had come out into better light, you could see dirty badges and chipped metal medals still handing by threads from his uniform. And with a sword in his hand he looked more complete and much more like a captain.
Once again Hrimfaxi found Cleon looking at Relcunalyn with unabashed curiosity. Maybe the boy –an insecure orphan- was attracted to this confident leader? The elf was getting on in years...his hair was silvery wisps and there were lines on his slanted face...but he was definitely anyone could recognize as a leader.
"So what's our plan?" the elf captain.
"We're gonna find those guards and Eldon already promised that Hrim and I get to question them!" Rurik answered eagerly, loosing his hammer-arm in preparation.
"The letter says that the guards were supposed to wait out by a large oak for the orcs to bring our 'valuables'," here Eldon winked. "To them. Which in turn, I guess, would be brought to Lord Swill."
"So our long-term plan will be to somehow get revenge on King Swill," Felosial explained. "But for right now all we're going to do is ambush these guards, and let Hrim and Rurik have a fun time getting them to tell us why Swill sent us here and is bribing the orcs."
"Sounds like fun," Relcunalyn commented grimly.
"Do we know where the large oak is?" Felosial asked.
"I do," Eldon said, taking the letter out. "I guess Lord Swill knew about the mental capacity of an orc. He drew a map for the nimrods."
'Great!" said Hrimfaxi, and wheeling around she galloped off into the tunnel waving her spear wildly.
Rurik followed, waving his war hammer in similar style, but forced to go at a slower pace...his own dwarven shuffle.
"Could those two make anymore noise?" Eldon asked, shaking his head disappointedly, listening to Hrimfaxi's own personal war cry and the sound of Rurik's armor scraping against itself.
'It's possible," Felosial replied with an amused smile. "Come here Cleon," she said, taking the boy's hand. "We better hurry so that we can see Hrim scare the bad guys."
"Poor bad guys," Cleon said.
With that the remaining three hurried through the tunnel...soon coming out into the light of late afternoon. Eldon led them through a thick forest but the going was quick as a carpet of leaves lay on the floor, containing any undergrowth so that there was nothing to hamper them. It became obvious when they entered into a close radius of the Large Oak, by a lack of sunlight. Looking up a huge network of branches overlapped a large area...all belonging to one tall tree.
"Are you sure you don't want me to go first? You guys make so much noise," Eldon remarked to Rurik and the centaur.
"You promised," Hrimfaxi reminded the halfling irritably.
'Fine...fine."
As they drew nearer they could see the shapes of two humans, leaning against the broad trunk of the oak, their backs to them. They seemed to be talking to each other, their weapons placed on the leafy ground.