Orvos Keep (Part Two)

Amaya

“Buzz off little girl!” The towering half-orc sneered, his spit spraying all over my face. “We don’t want to join your little animal club!” The two other half-orcs beside him, presumably his brothers, guffawed at the joke. It took every ounce of self-control I possessed to keep myself from starting a fight right then and there.

“I’m not a little girl,” I replied calmly, despite the anger bubbling inside me. I grabbed a napkin off of his table and wiped my face clean before balling it up and flinging it at his face. He was obviously unharmed, but he flinched as it hit him directly between the eyes. The half-orc opened his mouth, probably to make another half-witted insult about my height, but I cut him off.

“You’d do well not to judge others’ by their race. You never know who you’re dealing with.” I spun around on my heel and walked away, barely hiding how fed up I was with these small-minded townspeople. I’d been walking around this bar for an hour, pushing through the swarms of drunken travellers of every race. In fact, I was pretty sure I’d talked to every single person in here, trying to convince just one of them to join my cause, but most interactions went similarly to the one I’d just had.

Of course, these rowdy drunks were not interested in a peaceful animal rights protest. They didn’t care that the upper class were keeping animals, including magic ones, in horrible conditions. Even worse, the nobles were profiting off of their suffering, selling them, their pelts, and their young. The only thing that made the townspeople’s ears perk up was the promise of getting revenge on the rich, but when I explained that the protest was to be peaceful, they quickly lost interest.

I sighed, then scanned the crowded bar for someone I hadn’t spoken to yet. I was just about to give up when the bell on the door tinkled and a hooded figure walked in. Most people didn’t pay much attention, since he looked like most travellers that came into this bar, but he was a little too unnoticeable for my liking.

Every inch of his skin was covered, from his leather-gloved hands to his unnecessarily long cloak to his hood, pulled down way too low to be unintentional. He was hiding something for sure. I darted behind a barstool and watched him carefully as he approached the bar, trying my best to see under his hood. No luck, but I did catch his voice over the hubbub of the bar.

“A pint of your finest and a raw steak.” The gravelly voice said impatiently. For a moment I thought I’d misheard, but no, he had just asked for a raw steak. What kind of creature was this? It wasn’t like he would get his request anyway. This barkeeper was far from the friendliest. The burly half-elf bartender, as I’d expected, leaned in and sneered at the hooded figure.

“We don’t take your kind here.” He said dismissively, then went back to wiping a disgustingly filthy glass with an even filthier cloth. The figure bristled, and although I couldn’t see his face I saw his shoulders tense. He tried to hide it with a laugh, but I could tell it was forced.

“What exactly do you mean by my kind?”

“Out-of-towners.” The half-elf said simply. He seemed to think that would be enough to make the newcomer leave, but of course, it wasn’t. Instead, the figure straightened and pushed aside his cloak to reveal a shortsword hanging from his belt, along with a multitude of daggers.

“Give me my food. I’m not going to ask again.” I backed up when I saw the weapons, not wanting to be caught in their fight. With a gap-toothed grin, the barkeeper leaned forward and stood up, revealing that he had been sitting down all along. He’s at least twice as tall as me! The bartender just stood there for a moment, towering over the newcomer, his head scraping the ceiling, before pointing to a table in the back.

My heart was pounding so loudly that I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I did hear the cloaked figure growl and abruptly turn in the direction the barkeeper had pointed. He stopped briefly and faced me, probably noticing that I was staring. I couldn’t see his face, but I could see red eyes glowing beneath his hood. I quickly looked away. I stood there for a moment, my heart racing. He had so many weapons! I almost wanted to leave and have someone else deal with whatever he was, but what if he was an ally? I had to keep following him and figure out whether he was dangerous.

I shoved through the crowd of drunken travellers in the direction the figure had gone. I had to pull out a dagger of my own and give multiple people a poke to get through, even having to leap over one man who’d blacked out on the floor. I managed to burst out into the clearing around the table just in time to hear the end of an argument about an ancient curse. Then, the rasping voice of the cloaked figure cut through the noise.

“Yes, Toby. Let’s step outside.” I found him staring down a large bald human who was barely shorter than the barkeeper. The figure then grabbed his hood, and as if in slow motion, pulled it back. I, along with everyone else at the table, let out a gasp as I took in his appearance.

He had a face like a dragon, covered in faded silver scales that were cracked and broken in places. His eyes were blood red and glowed faintly. I’d only ever seen eyes like those on truly evil monsters, and I instantly tensed. To top it all off, he had two horns protruding from his head. He paused for a moment as if to let everyone take in his appearance before turning abruptly and heading towards the door. I was between him and the door, and as he approached me I moved in front of him, refusing to let him pass.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, trying to sound menacing. His appearance had shaken me though, and my voice trembled. A sick grin formed on the dragon-man’s face.

“I’m getting my food.” I had to do yet another double-take at that bizarre response.

“I’m sorry, what?”

He smirked. “You’ll understand soon enough.” He pushed past me and left the bar. I was jostled around as I tried to get out the doors after him, and by the time I stepped out into the misty night air, he was already mid-fight with ‘Toby’. Even more surprising, he was flying. From his back protruded a pair of leathery bat wings with which he was hovering out of his opponent's reach, periodically flinging daggers at him. It was clear he was fighting to kill, as two of the daggers had already lodged into Toby’s chest. In an effort to stop the fight, I jumped in between them, brandishing my sword.

“Stop fighting! You’re going to kill him!” I yelled desperately.

“That’s the point.” The dragon-man said dryly. As I glowered at him, I saw his eyes widen. There was a whoosh of air and I spun around just in time to see Toby swing his mace. I tried to dodge, but the mace made contact with my arm and my mind exploded with pain. I quickly dodged out of the way of further attacks, leaning weakly against the tavern wall. Toby didn’t seem to be bothered with finishing the job, though, since he was still focused on his original opponent. It was pretty dumb of me to jump into the middle of a fight and I almost feel ashamed for not thinking. I can’t just let them keep fighting though. Maybe if I could knock out Toby then the dragon-man would stop fighting. With that thought in mind, I drew my shortsword. I was holding it with only one hand, though, since my injured one was hanging limply at my side. With all the force I could muster, I crept up behind Toby and swung my arm like a flail, whacking him in the back of the head with the side of the blade. He went down hard and I had to jump back to avoid being crushed beneath him. I should have been able to relax, but I still had to stop the other guy from killing him. Luckily, Toby’s boss took care of it.

“You two fought well,” he mused, craftily stepping between Toby and the dragon-man, “How would you like to come work for me? I’m Altrix, and you are?” I paused before answering. Can I really trust this guy? I don’t even know him! Then I remembered the stories of riches that surrounded those ruins. With that sort of money, people would have to listen to me.

“I am Norrun of House Ravenstone,” the dragon-man said. “I don’t like you or your minion, but as long as I’m getting paid, I’ll be happy to work for you. Or at least act like it.”

“I’m Amaya, and I’d love to work for you,” I say, glaring at Norrun. This will be a great opportunity... As long as I can put up with that piece of work.

This is an excerpt of a coillabrative story between Tate Makechnie and Emily O'Reilly, two sophomores at the American School of Dhahran. More of the story can be found here. Emily O'Reilly is a sophomore at the American School of Dhahran. She enjoys making music, crocheting, reading, and writing. Tate Makechnie is a sophomore at ASD. He enjoys slinging spells, pulling swords from stones, and reading.