by Edward Brody
Jenzyn crossed her arms and huffed. “It was the elder elves, not the orcs. Orcs have never possessed such magic.”
“Lies!” the orc snapped. “The elves simply subdued Gilgaroth! The orcs did the rest!”
Jenzyn snorted and waved her paw. “Okay. Believe what you wish… It doesn’t surprise me to hear orcs have come up with their own alternative version of history.”
The orc shifted in her chair and fully exposed her teeth and two sharp mandible fangs. “If it weren’t for the peace agreement, your kind would already be extinct.”
“Is that what you think?” Jenzyn questioned. She held up one of her paws and threateningly extended her claws.
“Settle down, guys,” Sung said. “We’re just having a talk.”
Jenzyn took a deep breath and lowered her arm back to her waist.
“Is Gilgaroth a dragon?” I questioned.
The orc shook her head. “I’ve never seen it myself, of course, but they say it’s thrice the size of the largest dragon with a stinger as deadly as a manticore’s tail.”
I had heard mention of other ancient beasts, but that was the first I was hearing about this Gilgaroth—whatever it was. But if it was an ancient beast, I had a good idea why it might be stirring as she mentioned. The last two Old Ones in the Eternal Ravine were struggling to suppress all ancient beasts, so if dragons were already stirring, any other Ancient Beasts must have been too.
“And what about the reapers you mentioned?” I asked.
The orc shook her head. “None of us really know. They were you, and then they were us. They seem to be anyone. Possessed. When a reaper took my husband’s brother, someone claimed he became a reaper himself.”
I squinted and darted my eyes, not fully sure I understood what she had just said. Her explanation raised more questions than answers.
The child whined again, and the mother glanced down. When she looked back up, she simply said, “Food. You promised food.”
I turned to Jenzyn. “Do you have anything here? I’ll pay you out of the—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jenzyn interrupted and started walking toward a cupboard on the wall. She reached inside and pulled out a food ration. When she sat it on the table near the orc, I could smell that it was starting to foul. “That should do ya.”
“One for me!” Trynzen suddenly yelled and jumped to his feet excitedly. “One for Trynzen! Two for Trynzen!” He scurried towards the table and his eyes darted between Jenzyn and me, desperate to put something in his mouth. “One and then two!”
“Ummm…” Jenzyn reached her paw behind her head and started to scratch. “That’s my last one, but—“
“He told me!” Trynzen cried. He looked toward me. “Right, Gunnar? Right, friend? One and then two?”
I chuckled. “Well, Trynzen maybe you can share if—“
“Yes! I’ll do it!” Trynzen blurted, turning his attention back to Jenzyn. He tapped the side of his own arm. “Trynzen take the medicine! Put inside for try! One and then two!”
Jenzyn tensed up and glanced to me and Sung out of the corner of her eye. I didn’t understand what Trynzen was talking about, but Jenzyn’s body language signaled that it wasn’t something I was supposed to know.
Jenzyn reached a calming paw out to the other Barbaros, but Trynzen scuttled over towards the large rug covering the center of the space.
“Can do now! Hurt, but Trynzen not cry!” He yanked up the rug, revealing part of a large trap door leading somewhere under the house. “Really, really hurt but not cry! Trynzen take for one and then two!”
The room suddenly went silent as Jenzyn swallowed and seemed frozen in place. Trynzen’s words were mildly suspicious, but Jenzyn’s awkwardness amplified the idea that something sinister or weird was going on.
“What’s Trynzen talking about?” I asked.
Jenzyn shook her head and hurried over to where Trynzen was standing. “It’s nothing… He imagines things sometimes.” She threw us a fake smile. “Getting worked up over nothing, the guy.”
“No!” Trynzen said, stepping away from Jenzyn, pulling back more of the rug in the process. As he held the rug with one paw, he extended a single claw with the other and motioned as if he were about to pierce his arm. “Put inside for take care! Oils! Waters! Trynzen can do all! Drink hot! Drink cold! Barbaros strong! Trynzen will not cry!”
Jenzyn took a deep breath and slapped Trynzen’s paw from the rug. “Trynzen stop!”
Trynzen cowered and scampered back from Jenzyn.
Sung and I exchanged glances, and I could tell he was sensing the same thing that I was. He placed his hand close to the dagger on his side. Had I been given some sort of bizarre deceptive quest where Jenzyn had fed me lies? Was Jenzyn actually a villain and the cause of Trynzen’s pitiful state of being?
“What did you do to Trynzen?” I asked coldly.
Jenzyn waved her paw towards me. “Nothing, of course. It’s nothing.”
“I’m not sure I believe that,” I said. I pointed towards the trap door. “What’s down there?”
Thump, thump, thump.
Everyone turned towards the loud sound coming from the door.
Jenzyn pursed her lips and turned to me. “Are you traveling with someone else?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. I instinctively reached for the gold she had sat on the table and slid it into my bag.
You’ve received: 20,000 Gold Pieces
A smile crept over my face when I saw the notification of the gold amount, but there was no opportunity to celebrate the win. When Jenzyn stepped to the door and cracked it open, it nearly flew off the hinges as it was shoved from the outside. A tall, thin Barbaros with both a sword and dagger draped at his sides stepped through the entrance. He looked and dressed like any other Barbaros would, but his lips were set in an evil grin, constantly exposing his one abnormally long, sharp fang.
“Trynzen, where are you?!” the Barbaros blurted as soon as he entered. He turned, and as soon as he eyed Trynzen hunkering in the corner, his smile grew wider.
“Wynnizen, what are you doing here?” Jenzyn asked.
Wynnizen turned to Jenzyn and smirked but didn’t say a word. Instead, he started marching towards Trynzen with extreme intent. “How are you, brother?!”
Trynzen scurried behind me as Wynnizen approached, but quickly scuttled back until he was in the furthest corner of the room.
“Come on, buddy!” Wynnizen hissed. “Where have you been all these years?!
“T-t-t-t-t-t-Trynnnn….” Trynzen was shaking, and it seemed like he couldn’t form words.
“Don’t scare him,” Jenzyn said. “He’s just returned.”
“Oh, shut up,” Wynnizen barked. “He’s my kin, not yours.”
“He’s my cousin and a Barbaros!” Jenzyn yelled. “He’s kin to us all!”
Wynnizen ignored Jenzyn’s comments as he continued storming towards the corner. Trynzen continued to cower, and I hadn’t seen him looking so weak and frail since the day I first saw him in his prison cell.
“You’ve missed a lot of work, Trynzen,” Wynnizen said as he leaned over his terrified brother. He grabbed him by the arm and yanked him up with ease. “And you look like shit...” Wynnizen’s eyes scanned over Trynzen’s body, but as soon as he saw the necklace around his neck, his eyes lit up. “But I’ll be damned, you still have it! Ha, ha!”
Wynnizen grabbed the necklace and yanked it off of Trynzen’s neck. “And it still has charges!”
Trynzen tensed and cried out in pain, but it wasn’t clear if he was suffering from the pain of having a necklace torn from his neck or if he just didn’t want to lose his prized item.
“No!” Trynzen wailed. He swung his arms out frantically as his brother held him at bay, reaching for the necklace in his brother’s hand. “It’s Trynzen’s! It’s mine!”
“Stop it!” Jenzyn yelled as she rushed to help Trynzen. “You’re hurting him.”
I glanced at the orc who was focusing
on feeding her baby little bits of the food ration while cautiously watching the scene unfold. I looked to Sung who had his hand on the hilt of his dagger, ready to pull it out at any moment.
Sora, who had been sitting calmly on the other side of the room, rose to her feet. Should I get involved? she questioned.
Part of me wanted to intervene, but another part of me wasn’t sure if I should. I had just gotten paid to bring Trynzen back to Jenzyn, and I remembered her saying when we first met that surely Trynzen’s brothers had changed since he had been away. The evidence was pointing toward the opposite, but thus far Wynnizen was just being a little rough, and Barbaros were a bit unrefined when it came to certain things. Perhaps it was just their way.
Just wait for now… I projected back.
Jenzyn grabbed Wynnizen by the arm in an effort to pull him away, but Trynzen’s brother was strong. He gave her a hard shove, which knocked her down and across the floor.
“Hey,” I finally said and stood from my chair. While I was unsure how rough Barbaros generally were with each other, pushing someone around in their house like that seemed like crossing the line for any race. “What are you trying to do?”
The Barbaros looked to me, and his brow creased in confusion. “What’s it look like I’m doing, human? I’m reuniting with my good old brother!” His attention turned back to Trynzen, and he cranked his arm a little as he started pulling him towards the door. “Let’s get out of here, little guy. You miss your brothers, right? Glenetzyn is dying to see you again.”
“Noooo!” Trynzen cried as he struggled to pull away. “Don’t take Trynzen from friend!”
“Friend?” Wynnizen snorted and shook his head.
“Stop!” Jenzyn yelled, scrambled up, and rushed to grab Trynzen by his other arm.
Jenzyn’s extra weight stopped Wynnizen in his tracks and made his eyes grow wide with anger. He let go of Trynzen’s arm and reached both hands down, grabbing both his dagger and his sword. Without warning, he swung the sword down at Jenzyn.
Jenzyn pushed Trynzen away and dodged the swing. When Wynnizen followed up with a thrust of the dagger, she hopped backwards and out of the way.
Wynnizen pointed the dagger at her. “Bitch cousin, leave Trynzen to me! He’s my brother! You won’t be doing any more of your—”
Jenzyn growled loudly and charged at Wynnizen, cutting him off.
When Jenzyn closed in, Wynnizen swung his sword sloppily, and Jenzyn jumped and rotated her body mid-air, narrowly avoiding the attack. As she landed and straightened herself with catlike reflexes, one of her paws grabbed the wrist of his sword-swinging hand and the other paw grabbed his dagger wrist. Her weight caused Wynnizen to tumble back, and they both fell to the ground.
For a moment, it looked like Jenzyn might be able to handle Wynnizen herself as they struggled on the floor, but Wynnizen thrust his head forward, hard, giving her a headbutt that thumped so loud, I think the whole room felt it.
Jenzyn rolled over, released her grip and started groaning like she was drunk.
“Noo…” Trynzen whined. He looked back and forth to both of the Barbaros but seemed totally confused as to what he should do. He scuttled away until he was once again huddled in the corner.
Wynnizen shuffled back to his feet with his weapons still in his hands and spit on the ground near Jenzyn. “Stop interfering, or I’ll really hurt you! Got it?!”
I glanced to Sung, and even without words, it seemed we both knew what the other was thinking; it was time for us to get involved.
I reached for the staff on my back as Sung pulled out his dagger.
Wynnizen noticed the gestures right away and looked over to us. “Oh, you have a problem too, eh? Stupid humans.” It was only at that moment that Wynnizen seemed to notice that there was also an orc present in the room, and he paused as his forehead wrinkled with confusion.
Behind me, the baby had finally become startled enough that it started wailing loudly. The orc mother made a few clicking noises with her tongue before standing and shouting, “Please stop this!”
“What the hell was going on in here?” Wynnizen muttered.
Sora was creeping ever closer to the enraged Barbaros, looking like she was ready to pounce.
Jenzyn, finding her way out of the daze, conjured enough energy to swipe her claw at Wynnizen’s leg, scraping him deeply across the calf.
Wynnizen roared and stumbled backwards until his back hit the wall, knocking one of Jenzyn’s trophies to the ground.
Now! I projected to Sora.
Sora sprang into action, but the Barbaros noticed her quick approach right away. He yanked a small bottle of something fastened to his hip and threw it at her as she jumped towards him.
The bottle shattered when it struck Sora’s face, releasing a milky white liquid all over her. Sora fell to the ground like a paperweight and slid across the floor. She lay there, looking like a fresh corpse.
Holy shit… I thought, and my heart began to thump. Had he killed Sora with a simple potion or was she merely knocked out?
My instinct was to use magic to subdue the Barbaros, but since I was in Jenzyn’s house, I didn’t want to use spells that would destroy her belongings or light the place on fire. Instead, I focused on casting a Clumsy spell, heard the twang in my ears, and rushed forward with my staff in my hands. Sung followed right beside me with his dagger ready to attack.
I swung my staff at the Barbaros, connecting with his hip, then pulled up the other side of the staff, aiming for his face.
Wynnizen was fast, and though he reared back from the first strike, he held his arm out and blocked the second attack with his elbow. With the same arm, he backhanded me with a closed paw and the hard corner of his sword hilt.
I stumbled backwards as 10% of my health was knocked away, while Sung jumped in for an attack. This time, Wynnizen seemed to easily dodge and simultaneously countered, jamming his dagger into Sung’s shoulder.
Sung hissed in pain, jerked aside, and reached for the blade that was stuck in his flesh.
“No! No!” Trynzen yelled. “No hurt friend!” He skipped forward as if he was about to do something, but after moving just a few feet, he stooped low and shuffled back into the corner.
Jenzyn jumped up from the ground and snatched Wynnizen’s wrists again, digging her claws into his fur in an effort to disarm him. “Just… go damnit!” she groaned as she struggled with him.
“I’m not going anywhere without my brother!” Wynnizen hissed. He mustered a loud growl and overpowered Jenzyn, storming forward with heavy steps until Jenzyn’s back slammed against the table.
Jenzyn let out a mix between a weak growl and a whine as she let go of Wynnizen’s wrists.
The nearby orc slipped behind me and out of the way. “Please stop!” she yelled again.
As Wynnizen straightened himself out, I swung my staff against his forehead, and when his head jerked back, I held my hand out towards him. I made a momentary effort at casting a Fireblast, but only let the beginnings of magic manifest between my fingers so that Wynnizen could see it. “Don’t make me burn you…”
Wynnizen looked to my hand then back to my face. He snarled as he considered his options, but eventually yelled, “You fucking human!” and powered towards me.
He had called my bluff and won. It was just too dangerous for me to shoot Fireblasts in the wooden house at a fur-covered Barbaros with a fur-covered Sora on the ground. Even if I didn’t end up burning the whole house down, I had enough experience to know that fire could sometimes send fur up in flames. Even Arcane Missiles posed an excessive damage risk, and I just wanted to disable Trynzen’s brother rather than kill him.
The enraged Barbaros swung his sword in a circular motion, which I ducked, but as I rose, he sliced it down hard at my head. I lifted my staff and blocked the blow, but I felt the impact rattle my bones. The edge his sword struck deep into my wooden staff.
Wynnizen easily yanked the sword away, and as I straightened myself out to counter
attack, he thrust the sword tip at me and simultaneously lunged forward in a dangerous, tackle-like maneuver.
I barely evaded the tip of his sword, but his shoulder caught my gut and carried me back several feet. I heard a loud scream in my ear as the right side of my body smashed into something soft, and the other side hit the wall.
I winced from the impact, and when I glanced to my side, I saw the orc woman was partially pinned behind me and her eyes were wide as a ghost’s. She held her startled baby barely out of harm’s way, trying to prevent it from being smashed, but worse, Wynnizen’s sword was tucked under my armpit and rammed deep into the lower portion of the orc’s chest.
“Shit!” I grunted and pushed as hard as I could to get Wynnizen off me.
Wynnizen jerked his head up and took a step back from the force of my push. His paused and his eyes widened when he saw someone else was at the receiving end of his attack.
“Oh shit…” Sung muttered.
Wynnizen swatted me to the side and quickly yanked the sword out of the orc woman’s chest.
The orc coughed, fell to her knees, and blood poured from her mouth. She used one hand to pull the baby closer to her body and grabbed the point where the sword had entered her chest with the other. The blood spot around it was expanding rapidly. She leaned back against the wall and groaned, and the baby started crying with deafening intensity.
“No…” Trynzen whined, shaking his head as he took in the scene. “No…”
“Damnit,” Wynnizen cursed at me. “Look what you made me do!”
“It’s your fault!” Jenzyn yelled, pulling herself back to her feet.
Wynnizen turned to her. “No! It’s all your fault this happened. Let me leave with Trynzen, and this will all be over!”
I hadn’t noticed where Sung had repositioned himself, but when Trynzen’s brother turned towards Jenzyn, he seemed to jump out of nowhere and slammed his dagger deep into Wynnizen’s lower back.
The Barbaros bucked, roared in pain, and seizing the opportunity, I ran forward and smashed my staff against the back of Wynnizen’s skull.
