The Emerald King

Donald furrowed his brow, trying his best to remember the words his granddaughter had taught him. She always had an affinity for languages and this one was no exception. Even still it amazed him how quickly she picked it up. For three weeks now they had been traveling on foot to gods knows where with the orc Gala at the lead.

They had stopped at one village, where he and Nara were forced to wait far away from to avoid conflict. According to her they were deep within the Zruhk plains and heading toward a large city where they could seek refuge.

“Mûr… Dorrak… tuur?” Don mouthed the words slowly, struggling to remember them.

“We’re going to a great city,” Nara answered in common tongue. “She wouldn’t say the name though”

“That bloody well doesn’t help, Nara.”

“I know, but it’s all she’ll say,” his granddaughter replied haughtily.

Don wasn’t happy one bit with the answer, he didn’t fully trust the orc. He stubbornly resigned and settled with the answer as they continued to walk. He felt grumpier than usual due to not having had a drink since the ambush in the woods. He missed the taste of ale along with the satisfaction of wiping froth from his beard.

“Why don’t you trust her?” Nara asked suddenly.

Don looked down at his granddaughter walking beside him for a moment, thinking on how to respond. As old and jaded as he was, he didn’t want Nara to turn out the same.

“It’s not that,” he said, carefully choosing his words. “It’s just that we are invaders, we killed her kind. I’m just not sure why she would help us. Granted she is keeping much to herself, so I suppose she’s being careful. At the very least she’s smart.”

“She’s my friend,” Nara said, clearly upset.

“Well let’s hope she feels the same when this is all over.”

Nara made no reply, he could see it plain on her pouting face. He could see a lot more in general not having had a drink in so long. He trudged on as Nara ran ahead to walk beside the orc. They spoke for a time but Don could understand none of it, save for a word here or there. The pair laughed and the orc picked up his granddaughter and let her sit on her shoulders. Upon seeing this Don felt a slight pain in his chest, remembering when he used to carry Nara like that as a toddler.

He knew he shouldn’t be so hard on her, having lost her parents at such a young age was more than any child should have to deal with. Yet she was always able to see a brighter side to life. Perhaps that would change as she got older and matured, but Don hopes that part of her would always remain. All he could do now was his best for her. Damn shame he was forced into this damn expedition.

If his wife were still alive he could have kept her home and not have to worry, but seeing as the only other living relative was a drunk habitual gambler that abused his wife, Don settled on bringing her with him. At the very least he was just a drunk and nothing more. All things considered, he was probably keeping the bastard safe more than Nara, what with her learning fire magic.

As their walk continued Don looked around pointlessly at their surroundings. There wasn’t much to look at save for some hills and occasional stones, maybe even a tree from time to time. There was one day where he had seen what Don had assumed was the Orcish equivalent of a ranch, with groups of this land’s extremely large horses roaming about. That for him was about the only thing worthy of note.

Don looked back to the orc and his granddaughter, the world around him more peaceful after indulging in his thoughts. He noticed the way the orc walked was rather strange. It was very unlike the women of his own kind. She seemed to always walk as if going to battle, not wasting time with pretty little sways with her hips. Even stranger is he hadn’t noticed this until just now, days after they had began traveling. This made Don uncomfortable. Were they going somewhere unsafe, or something else?

Don didn’t like the feeling he had and did his best to catch up to them with his old stiff legs.

“Nara!” he called out hurriedly. “Nara, I need to speak with the orc.”

“Her name is Gala,” she replied defiantly.

“Alright, I need to speak with Gala then,” he said, his tone more serious now.

“What about?”

“Just ask her why she’s so tense.”

Nara looked at him for a moment puzzled, before asking the question. Gala reacted immediately but subtly, whispering her words back to Nara. This made Don feel even more uncomfortable.

“She says were being followed,” Nara said in a whisper. “We need to pretend we don’t know.”

Gala looked down at Don, giving him a slight nod before looking forward again. This was strange, if they were being followed then why couldn’t he see anyone. There was nothing notable to hide behind. Even if there were, cover was so far between nobody could pass by unnoticed.

I suppose our followers aren’t unnoticed though. Don thought. Seeing as this orc found them out, somehow.

Awhile longer they walked, acting ignorant to the unseen threat. If he had been forty years younger Don would have felt nervous, perhaps even panic a little. Now, however, he had seen many battles over two wars and this was no different. It was a waiting game, all his assailants needed to do now was make their move, but he would make sure they had a surprise or two waiting for them.

Let’s see how they like a little fire, Don thought as he put his hand over his mouth, pretending to yawn.

When he removed his hand a small orange and yellow orb had filled the empty space within it. He pretended to yawn again, this time with the opposite hand, filling it with another orb of equal size. He noticed Gala glancing over at him, curious. He glanced back at her and gave a quick wink. They might not have spoken the same language, but she seemed to understand his intentions well enough.

Focusing on the orbs Don had them roll up his sleeves and down his robes, slipping out and into the grass at his feet as they walked. He repeated the process making two more orbs, but this time he stopped and knelt down, pretending to fix the lacing on one of his boots. He could see Gala waiting while he acted out his little show, giving a look of clear amusement on her face. He stood back up and they continued walking, making the orbs circle around them, hidden in the tall grass surrounding them.

“Gala wants to know what you did,” Nara said.

He looked up at each of them and gave a little wink, “you’ll see.”

For a time their journey continued uninterrupted, both Gala and Don staying alert in case of an attack. Things had become rather dull as the excitement of a potential battle begin to wear off. Don looked around still, almost hoping someone would arrive and try to pick a fight. Luckily (or unluckily depending on your point of view) his hopes were soon answered.

Before he knew it their followers revealed themselves, green blobs emerging from the grass in front of them and forming into the shape of two male orcs. Don and Gala stopped in their tracks, staring down the pair. Slowly Don willed two of the orbs toward them, doing his best not to rustle the grass and give them notice. Once they were sat at each of their feet they waited for the pair to make the first move.

Instead of attacking, however, the lanky one on the left with a long black ponytail and beady eyes spoke up. Don obviously couldn’t understand him, but whatever he was saying, it didn’t sound anything like a hearty hello. Looking over at Gala it was made even clearer, as her face was formed into a scowl, giving a deathly glare to the lanky orc. When he looked back toward their pursuers the fat one on the right spoke, his chins jiggling with every word and his voice half a wheeze as he spoke.

They each drew daggers from their waists as he continued on about whatever nonsense he spoke. Don wasn’t going to give them a chance to get near them, and as they took a step forward the orbs were set off. A small geyser of flame engulfed each of them, covering their bodies from head to toe with wails of pain soon following. The fat one fell as soon as the initial blast faded, revealing his naked hide cooked like a pig on a spit. The lanky one did not follow suit, instead managing to roll on the ground to put out the flames.

Gala was quick to act, dropping Nara into Don’s arms and leaping forward while drawing her sword. She landed, impaling the orc through his neck. He struggled briefly as he choked on his own blood, horrendous gargling noises coming through the wound as she removed the sword. He went limp, unmoving and very much dead. Gala turned back to look Don dead in the eyes, shouting to him.

“Dûr roke!” the words came out of her mouth fiercely.

Don didn’t need to speak Orcish to understand, there were more assailants. He hastily put his granddaughter down and spun around as quickly as his old body would allow. In his sights, three more orcs were charging towards him. At first, he thought to use the orbs but instead decided to save them in case more came to attack. Don took a deep breath getting every last bit of air he could to fill his lungs, then exhaled a wave of flames in the shape of thousands of snakes slithering towards his foes.

The orcs were startled by this and attempted to turn and flee, but the snakes were far faster. They slithered nimbly, surrounding them on all ends, burning the grass around them to ash and wrapping around their bodies in a tight embrace. The orcs burned and screamed and soon their screams were muted as the flaming vipers slithered down their throats and into their lungs. The trio dropped dead and the snakes vanished, leaving ash where there was once grass and smoldering corpses where there once stood living creatures.

Don looked around him to see if any more had come to make an attempt for their lives. He saw no one and yet Gala was clearly still on guard, sword at the ready. This time a large burly orc with an eye patch appeared from the ground behind her, a large axe at the ready to swing down onto Gala. Not having enough time to use one of the two remaining orbs and unable to prepare a larger spell, he shot out a small flame from his finger-tips, smacking the orc square in the chest. It wasn’t much, but it bought Gala enough time to gain some distance from their final foe.

The large orc quickly recovered, as he stared down both his opponents. He did not attack, only looking them over as he spat a few Orcish words. He reached a meaty hand into the neck of his tunic and pulled out a small emerald attached to a silver chain necklace. The gem shuttered and glowed a bright blue and then went dark. Soon after the burn on the orc’s chest began to heal until no trace of it remained, not even a scar.

What in all hell was that emerald? Don thought, never having seen such a power from a mere stone. You can imbue magic into items, but even if healing magic was involved there would at least still be a scar. Yet this bastard just erased the damage done to him entirely?

Gala was now at his side, clearly as worried and confused as himself by what had just transpired.

“Nara,” Don said sternly to his granddaughter, not daring to look her way and let his guard down. “Tell the orc woman to stand back, and you best stay with her.”

A moment’s pause came before she could muster a response.

“Y-yes,” she said meekly.

She translated Don’s words to the orc, and while it was clear she had some objections, she kept them to herself. After sheathing her weapon, she picked up Nara and ran back in the direction they had come from. The one-eyed orc was clearly displeased and charged for them, but Don would not let him pass.

Raising his arms, Don brought up a wall of flame that blocked his path. The orc, clearly displeased turned his head to face him, enraged.

“What’s the matter, brute?” Don chided coolly. “Afraid of an old drunk? Perhaps a bit more of that magic before I roast you.”

The one-eyed orc was breathing heavily and once again pulled out the emerald wrapped around his neck. He tossed the axe to the ground, sticking it blade first.

“That’s more like it.”

He ripped the necklace away and pointed the emerald at Don, seeing the rage in his eye change into malice. The gem shuttered and glowed as it had before and from it, an essence of blue poured out onto the ground in front of him. From it came the form of a large horse that was native to these lands, eyes hauntingly white.

It charged towards Don at an alarming speed, but this time he was ready. The remaining two orbs were in place and just before the specter passed over it he set it off. For a mere moment, Don thought he had succeeded, until the horse came bursting out of the flames unabated. He had hoped at the very least it would have been slowed, giving him more time to set the remaining orb under the one-eyed orc. Yet sadly that would have to wait, as he needed to now focus on escaping the horse’s wrath.

As quick as he could Don held out his hands, palms spread open, releasing a volley fiery arrows. As the flames came down the horse apparition stumbled and fell, sliding to his feet as the flames continued to impale it. Don jumped back in shock at how close he had come to being tripped by its body and impaling himself on his own flames. However, the horse would not burn, instead engulfing the fire within its body and slowly standing up to regain composure. He wanted to panic, but years of war had taught him panicking meant near-certain death.

With everything he had Don rolled that last remaining orb over to where the orc was standing, doing his best to look preoccupied with the apparition in front of him. Once it was in place it was clear he had slipped up and tapped the one-eyed orcs foot with the orb. The orc looked down but Don refused to allow this error to end him. Before the orc could understand what he was looking at, Don ignited the orb, causing it to explode and engulf the brute in its scalding tendrils.