by Alex Aguilar
Groaning from the pain, she crawled forward frenetically.
Stupid, Robyn, she told herself. Pull yourself together…
Her bow had slipped from her hands at some point, and she couldn’t spot it anywhere nearby. She was weaponless, save for her mother’s kitchen knife. And as she searched desperately for a place to hide, a hot puff of air blew suddenly from above.
No… Shit…
The ogre was standing over her. She had escaped tree nymphs and the Rogue Brotherhood only to be killed by a damn ogre… She was almost angry with herself for not being careful enough. Too horrified to look up, she kept crawling, but it was far too late… She could see the ogre’s shadow, and his fist was already in the air, ready to slam down against her spine.
It’s over… Damn it all to hells, it’s over…
She wrapped her arms around her head, closed her eyes, and prepared herself for the pain...
But before the ogre could strike her, a sharp stone smashed against his jaw, causing him to spit out blood and broken bits of teeth. Robyn was stunned for a moment; there was no way Nyx could have lifted such a heavy stone, much less thrown it at the ogre with such strength…
She glanced to her left and felt her eyes were deceiving her.
The orc known as the Beast was out of the quicksand and was charging at the ogre, roaring ferociously with his arms at his sides, like a warrior charging into battle. He hopped on top of the boulder that Robyn had stumbled over and used it to boost himself into the air.
Robyn’s jaw dropped. Beast…?!
When the orc came down, he landed a heavy blow to the ogre’s jaw, stunning him instantly. The ogre was thrown off balance and fell back over a puddle of mud, and then the Beast climbed on top and began slamming his fists down viciously like an animal. Robyn leapt to her feet and backed away, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“Get out o’ here!” the Beast shouted.
She obeyed at first, running back towards Nyx, and she found her bow hidden among the shrubs along the way. But she looked back again, unwilling to flee while others protected her. She was growing sick and tired of everyone telling her to run.
“L-Lady Robyn,” Nyx approached her with a limp.
She fell to her knees and embraced him. “Oh Nyx! Are you okay?”
They watched as the orc wrestled the ogre, pinned him down, landed punch after punch. But the ogre was more resilient than all of them combined. There was no defeating him unless it was with something sharp.
“We have to help!” Robyn said.
“Stay back, Lady Robyn! I demand it!”
But she couldn’t do that, not again… Her eyes moved left and right, looking for any form of leverage. Perhaps if she climbed a tree, she could use the height to her advantage and shoot arrows down. But they were moving too fast and she feared she would strike the Beast by accident. Perhaps if she lured the ogre away… but to where?
She searched hesitantly until something caught her attention, something shiny standing out amidst all the filth… There on the dirt, next to a broken down cart, was the Beast’s beloved axe… The sharp steel edge glistened from yards away, the black leather was tightly wrapped around the long silver handle, and the pommel at the tip was sharp and diamond shaped… She would have recognized the axe anywhere.
“Stay here!” she said to Nyx.
“W-Wait! Where do you think you’re…”
She ran dangerously near the fight, ducked and rolled on the dirt to dodge the ogre’s frantic swinging arms, and reached the broken cart within seconds. And at that very moment, upon gazing at the girl from the corner of his eyes, the orc was thrown off his guard. The ogre was weak and bloody but his strike was still powerful, and he sent the Beast flying with a punch.
“Damn it,” Nyx muttered, stepping closer, ready to jump in if necessary.
The orc had fallen face down on the mud. He grunted, panting heavily with rage, feeling every bone in his body cracking as he lifted himself back up.
“Hey! Beast!”
The orc glanced to his right. Robyn stood just four feet away, holding the heavy axe in her hands. She tossed it to him, and the orc caught it with a fierce determined glower, giving it a good swing to warm up. “Back off,” he growled at Robyn, and this time she did it without a fuss, holding an arrow ready between her fingers just in case.
The ogre was on his feet now, taking slow limps towards them…
“Come ‘ere, ye bastard,” the Beast muttered under his breath. “Give my regards to the gods…” The ogre stumbled forward, bruised and bloody, attempting to put up one last good fight. But the orc was faster and much more agile, and within seconds the sharp axe took one of the ogre’s feet, and there was a rumbling in the earth as the ogre fell on his belly. The Beast darted forward fearlessly and swung his axe down. And then the ogre closed his eyes, never to open them again.
One strike and it was all over. The axe had broken through the skull.
Nyx and Robyn felt the tension diminish, like an overwhelming boulder being lifted from their shoulders. They were safe at last…
There was a sudden silence in the air. Nobody said a word, they were all far too busy catching their breaths and wiping off the dirt and sweat from themselves. The fox was panting; his paw was hurt but there was no blood on him. And yet Robyn bent down to embrace him as if he were dying all over again.
“N-Nyx… You must sit, have a rest…”
But the old fox did not look the least bit pleased.
“Damn it all to hells, girl! Have you lost your bloody mind?!” he barked at her, with a tone that could have been friendlier. He was chiding her the same way her mother and Old Man Beckwit would often do. And she felt strange suddenly, betrayed almost, as if being scolded by a close friend, as if being scolded by John.
“I told you to run,” he said. “W-Why… Why on earth did you not run?!”
She gave him space, a sudden look of guilt and shame in her eyes.
“I-I’m sorry… I was just… I was scared for you!”
“I’m 278 years old, girl!” he shouted angrily. “How many bloody times must I say it?! I’ll be fine…”
She looked down, a sudden knot building in her throat. When Nyx properly caught his breath and the silence lingered between them, he felt it again, that tug in his chest… He was not used to people caring for him, and it baffled him every time that Robyn did.
“Thank you,” he said abruptly, though it was no more than a croaky whisper.
She didn’t smile, not this time. But, at the very least, the knot began to subside.
Suddenly, behind her, she heard a grunt. She was so overwhelmed, she had almost forgotten the Beast was standing there. At first she was unsure how to react, her mind hardly able to adjust to the sudden shift of atmosphere. The Beast had saved her, that much was true. But his demeanor was as rough and hostile as always, and he towered over them like a bear. And before Robyn could conjure up any words, the Beast surprised her by speaking first.
“What the fuck are ye?” he asked, his eyes wide with bewilderment as he looked up and down at the fox. Robyn and Nyx glanced at each other briefly.
“It’s uh… It’s quite a long story,” Nyx chuckled slightly.
The Beast grunted. It wasn’t a grunt of disapproval or liking, just a grunt…
There was a brief moment in which the Beast and Robyn locked eyes with one another; the subtle discomfort in both their expressions was obvious. Somehow the orc’s face never seemed to change from its austere humorless form and the girl wondered if it was willingly or if the orc had had the same expression since birth. Surely, the sharp fangs on his bottom lip didn’t help it.
Robyn knew she had to say something…
She wanted to; if only a simple ‘thanks’ for having saved them…
But before she could even open her lips, the orc started walking away, without so much as a ‘farewell’, yanking his axe out of the dead ogre’s head along the way.
“Um… L-Lady Rob
yn?” Nyx tried to protest, but the girl had already darted ahead, following the orc’s footsteps. He felt a dash of shame at having lectured her, particularly because the girl looked at him as a friend and not as a mentor. And he realized then that his cold remarks had not had the best timing, or the best tone. “Damn it,” he hissed disappointedly at himself, before he limped after the girl and the orc.
“Wait!” Robyn was shouting, running and hopping over piles of mud to catch up.
The Beast kept on, his scowl fixed in place as he wiped the ogre’s blood from the edge of his axe. His entire body was filthy and smeared with mud but he hardly paid it any mind, focusing instead on keeping his axe clean and shiny.
“You there!” Robyn said as she caught up to him. “Wait!”
“Piss off,” the Beast grunted, taking a moment to spit out some of the dirt still left in his mouth.
“Where are you off to?” she asked inquiringly, walking briskly at his side.
“Ain’t yer business,” said the Beast.
Robyn had to walk at twice her usual pace just to stay a stride behind, like a mouse attempting to keep up with a hound. And Nyx dragged along at the back, moving as fast as his numb paw would allow him. “You’re heading west?” Robyn asked.
“North,” the Beast said, though it was hardly more than a grumble.
“North?” Robyn raised a brow. “What’s up north?”
“Bauqora.”
She scoffed under her breath; very few things irked her more than brief responses.
“What’s Bauqora?” she asked.
“Will ye just piss off, already?!”
“I’m only trying t-”
“Did that ogre bite yer damn ears off?!” the Beast snapped at her as he came to a halt. He wasn’t exactly angry. More like irritated, if anything. Still, it was fascinating to Robyn to see an orc behaving in such a way.
Humanlike, was all she could think to describe him. Heated and vicious, perhaps, but plenty of humans act the same way...
“Listen ‘ere, scrap,” said the Beast, breathing infuriatingly through his sharp green nose. “Don’t get any funny ideas… Ye saved me, I saved ye… Debt’s been paid. Now for the last time… Piss. Off.”
The orc walked away, and Robyn and Nyx locked eyes for a brief moment. But before Nyx could say anything, she grew a look of wonder on her face. The raised brow, the widening of the eyes, the hint of a smirk… An idea had crawled into her mind and before she knew it, she was running again.
“Hey! Beast!” she shouted. From where she ran, she couldn’t see the Beast rolling his eyes nor could she hear him cursing under his breath. “Have you heard of Grymsbi?” she asked when she was at his side again.
“I don’t care…”
“Well, you should!” she said. “They’re allowing orcs there now, y’know?”
“Lady Robyn…” Nyx called, as if warning her to be cautious, but she ignored him entirely.
“I-I’m not saying it’s perfectly safe, but… but it’s something,” she said. “You could come with us! You could… I don’t know, find a caravan heading north, perhaps? It beats traveling through the Woodlands alone.”
The Beast came to a halt again. His brow, however, had arched in such a way that suggested he was at the very least mildly intrigued. “What the fuck’s Grymsbi?” he asked.
She hesitated; she hadn’t exactly thought the most persuasive argument through.
But she had his attention, if only for the moment…
“I-It’s a village in Halghard,” she said, and then the Beast exhaled sharply.
“A village?” he asked. “A village of human filth?”
“Well… Yes, it’s in Halghard… But there’s no ban there, not anymore!”
“Horse shit,” he said doubtfully. “Humans nev’r change… If I set one foot there, they’ll shoot me down at first sight.”
“They won’t,” she assured him. “I promise you. Times are changing. They’re welcomi-”
“Ye think I’m stupid?”
She stopped speaking for a moment… She knew from experience that the best way to persuade someone into following her plan was to challenge them…
“You saw them… didn’t you?” she glared at him. “The elves and the gnomes? The ones at the Wyrmwood camp, the camp you raided? You saw the knights, you saw the banners… They were recruiting nonhumans to take back to Halghard… Do you refuse to believe your own eyes, then?”
She stopped there, trying hard to maintain her stance.
She could feel Nyx’s presence at the height of her knees and even then, she was nervous. As much as she tried to hide it, the orc was among the most intimidating beings she had ever encountered. She was hardly over five feet and he towered a good foot and a half over her, if not more, so much so that she felt her neck would start to ache if she bent it in that upward angle any longer.
The Beast sighed, but it was a sigh that gave Robyn hope. Little to her knowledge, the first image that crawled into his mind was the minotauro he’d faced in combat… He’d faced enemies of other races in the past, but never any that rode with a human troop… That much was unspoken of, at least with any troop from the human realms…
“If I go with ye ‘n’ it turns out ye were playin’ tricks… I will gut yer littl’ friend ‘ere. And you after.”
“I’m no liar,” Robyn said, her jaw clenched and her eyes narrowing with anger.
“We’ll see,” the Beast said with a nod. He then aimed her with the tip of his axe as if he was pointing his finger. “And I’ll make this clear, scrap… I ain’t lookin’ after youse…”
“And I’ll make this clear,” she said boldly. “We don’t need to be looked after…”
Robyn’s response alerted Nyx. Her tone should have been friendlier, not only if she wanted to make an ally of the orc, but if she wanted to avoid certain death by his fist. Robyn brushed the black curls away from her face and added, “We’ve made it this far on our own, haven’t we?”
“Aye, ye did,” the Beast scoffed. “And ye got snatched up by a couple o’ rogue swords.”
Robyn felt a sudden heat in her chest. “I’m not afraid of Malekai!” she felt the need to say.
“Good,” the Beast said. “Ye shouldn’t be… He’s a gutless littl’ shit that thinks with ‘is cock. But that’s what makes ‘im dangerous.”
There was a brief silence again. The tension had lessened, that much was certain.
But Robyn would have been lying if she told herself it wasn’t still there.
The Beast looked uncertain. Truthfully, he had never been fond of humans; in fact, there’d been some nights when he contemplated killing a man merely for snoring too loudly. But the girl that stood before him had a courage he hadn’t seen in a human before.
It intrigued him. It also scared him.
Robyn knew nothing of the Beast’s past but if she did, she would have known that she wouldn’t gain his trust so easily. Then again, she didn’t need to. She had his curiosity, and that was enough for the time being.
The Beast released one last groan of annoyance. “Fine!” he said, then rolled his eyes as if he was already regretting his decision. “Which way’s this Grymsbi?”
Robyn smiled; her eyes lit up with hope. “We must head west…”
And so she carried on with her journey, more sure of herself now, her party now made up of three… She looked down at poor old Nyx, still limping along with his injured paw; they hardly spoke to each other for the rest of the day, unless it was to make a decision. But at the very least they were still alive, still together, and she was thankful for that.
It will all be fine, Robyn… Just fine…
Every step she took from that moment on was a more careful one. Every few minutes, she would look over her shoulder to make sure they were all still safe. She had escaped death more times in the last week alone than she ever had in her entire life. She would be lying if she said the torment had gone away. But she would also be lying if she said she
wasn’t thrilled by it at the same time.
Perfectly fine, Robyn, just you wait and see… With an orc and an immortal fox by your side, what could possibly happen next that could surprise you?
* * *
Old Man Beckwit pressed the last bandage against Evellyn Amberhill’s face, carefully so as to prevent the adhesive from smearing over the cut. The blacksmith was unconscious, pallid and weak from the loss of blood, but she was alive, at least for the time being. Every minute or so, her body would shiver and spasm, and her dry purple lips would mumble faint gibberish.
“Stitches are done,” said Mister Beckwit. “She’ll live. But she’ll need more callis root and some mauve treacle if she’s to keep that wound from infecting. I haven’t got any, I’m afraid.”
Adelina stood over the old bed, her eyes unwilling to accept that this was in fact Evellyn Amberhill. She’d always been a charming and joyful young woman, strong and determined and full of life. And here she was now, ghostly pale and close to death, the entire left half of her face hidden underneath blood-soaked bandages.
“I’ll take care of her,” said Adelina. “What about Aevastra?”
The orcess sat on Mister Beckwit’s armchair, shivering like a newborn doe, the green skin on her shoulder bruising a dark purple around the rough bandage. The twins sat nearby, Melvyn quite perturbed and Margot preoccupied swaying the baby to sleep.
The look on Old Man Beckwit’s face wasn’t a pleasant one.
The orcess noticed it, and she knew before he spoke what was coming.
“The tip of the arrow was coated with poison…”
Adelina felt the air escape her chest. “What kind of poison?”
Mister Beckwit gave a sorrowful sigh. “I’ve seen bruises like that before,” he said. “That’s Aharian scorpion venom. If she doesn’t treat that wound immediately…”
Adelina began to panic, her head twitching left and right. She didn’t let him finish, for she knew what his next words would be. She inspected his table, sifted through his array of herbs and remedies. “There must be a way… There must be…”
“I have nothing for it, Adelina…”
