Though Hugh didn't know it, Rhunal approached the gate for the second time that day. He marched at the front of their little party. The guards lowered their spears towards them.
“The gate is closed,” the guard said wearily. It was a phrase he had uttered a hundred times that day.
“I’ve got permission to leave,” Hugh asserted.
The guard frowned, “It was closed by the king’s order.”
He held up the quest scroll, “And this here contains his official seal.”
He walked towards the guard, who was still looking at him dubiously, and handed it over.
An enormous shadow passed over Hugh as the guard was reading the quest scroll. Hugh felt a rather forceful tap on his shoulder from a broad hand. He turned to see a man, so pale he almost glowed in the sun, with a short black beard, high cheekbones, and steel-grey eyes. The man was covered head to hip in a thick mail hauberk and a mail coif draped around his head and shoulders. He was also about seven feet tall and almost half as broad.
“I am here to join your quest,” the giant man said, with the kind of tone that someone who has been invited uses.
“I’m not hiring,” he suspiciously answered. “The guild is back there,” he gestured with his thumb back down the street into town. “Besides, how did you know we were on a quest?”
“I just came from the guild. The gate won’t be open again for another few days. No new quests will be available until then. Your party was the only group leaving town, and I will not take no for an answer.”
Hugh frowned and tightened his hands into fists, “Well, I guess I’m gonna have to change your mind. I’m not in the habit of being pushed around.”
“I can push pretty well,” the big guy boasted.
Hugh stepped forward with his fists raised, “Try me”.
“Hugh!” Rhunal grabbed his wrist before he could throw the punch.
He glared back at her. But the terror in her face was obvious, and he felt it in the painful strength of her grip. 'Was she afraid of a fight with the big man?' Spotting the spears the guards had leveled towards him, he realized the danger.
“The big man is a noble.” she stammered nervously, “I saw him fighting a duel in the arena today.”
Only those of noble blood or serious connections were allowed to take part in official tournament duels. People who weren’t of noble blood could only take part in the mass brawl events.
He lowered his hands and his head with a sigh, “We don’t have time for this.”
He looked back towards the giant noble, who had not reacted to his aggression. “Why would someone of your standing even want to involve himself in this? This quest will take several days and will be very dangerous. Our targets will not fight fair. This is not some arena bout with rules and judges.”
“My name is Brondulf and I am an experienced fighter. I can not tell you my exact reasons. The simplest answer is that I need out of this town, today.”
Hugh looked to the guard, who had the quest scroll. The guard, leaning casually against the gatehouse wall, gave him a little smirk and didn’t seem to be in a hurry to give it back.
He knew that he was being played.
“Sometimes it’s best to recognize when you only have one choice,” he muttered, so quietly only Rhunal heard it. He looked over to Brondulf, masking his fury. “Are you ready to leave?”
“I am.”
“Well, I guess I can’t say no, anyway. So shit, let’s go. This quest needs to be settled quickly.”
The guard, with a smirk on his face, walked over to Hugh and returned the scroll without another word.
He gestured to the two men standing by the big wooden wheel on top of the gatehouse. “Open the gate!”
With great effort, the men rotated the wheel. One man pulled the spokes of the wheel downward while the other pushed. It was a testament to the relative poor defenses of the town that the wheel was on top of the gatehouse and not protected in an enclosed gatehouse tower.
Unlike most gatehouses, rather than lifting a portcullis, the wheel pulled two separate chains. These chains pulled the two large doors back into two separate recesses in the wall. The steel-reinforced doors hung from wheels in a large steel rail at the top, letting out an earsplitting grinding as they ran along the rail at the top.
To Hugh's surprise, Rhunal stared up at the wheel with shining eyes, like she had never heard a sound so beautiful in all her life.
*
A feeling of elation overtook Rhunal. Once out of sight of the guards, she couldn’t help but jog through the gate. When the sun hit her, she finally threw off the hood, shook her hair free, and met the great plains with a big grin. As she smiled, her tusks poked up proudly beside her lower lip.
The land outside the city was some of the best farmland anywhere in the continent. Harvest was approaching, and fields of grain stretched as far as the eye could see only ended by a large hill some distance to the north.
Hugh and the others caught up to her as she stood taking in the land outside the city, for the first time in years. If he was caught off-guard by her giddiness, he didn't bring it up.
“Master was very strict with my studies. I didn’t get out of town much,” she explained.
“Most of the orcs I’ve met are more stoic, but I’d never criticize someone for a little joy.” he smirked. “But I need to go over this quest, now that we are finally out of town.”
“Yeah lets do it,” she agreed.
“The reward for this quest is astronomical. We are being paid eight thousand silver pieces.”
“I’m not good with numbers,” she admitted.
“It’s enough to buy a large house in Greihold.”
“Wow! Why so much?”
“According to our source, the thieves who did the break-in have a base that is two days away on foot.”
“What did they steal? It must have been something remarkable for such a high reward.”
“You would think so. But in fact the only item mentioned by name in the quest scroll is a rare Alfar poleaxe. We have instructions to return any other possessions found at their camp, or people that the thieves may have brought with them.”
Her blood went cold. 'The Alfar poleaxe could only be master Carinus’. She felt immediately annoyed. 'How many high profile break-ins could have occurred in the past week. Of course the quest was posted by Carinus.'
She snapped out of her thoughts to respond to Hugh, “Which people is the quest looking for?”
“The quest makes mention that our client had a few slaves in the manor. Apparently some of them are missing. But it does also say that they are assumed dead.”
It surprised her that Carinus had written it that way. She was the only person who had escaped the manor alive. 'Perhaps he didn’t want to divulge his ownership of an orc slave to a random party of adventurers?'
Slaves were rare in the city of Greihold. Slavery was looked down on, though not illegal. Because of the tumultuous nature of the continent, it was easier to get the constant influx of refugees to the town to perform tasks for cheap.
“Half the value of these possessions or people will be added to the reward,” Hugh continued. “We will split it four ways. But the primary reward for the quest is elimination. The client wants all parties involved in this break-in brought to justice.”
She did not respond, as the realization that she was now hunting those that had killed her friends dawned on her. She hadn’t expected the opportunity. She still had doubts she had the skills necessary for a battle, but given the circumstances, she had to try.
“Alive or dead?” Lovell stepped in, as she had been silent for a while.
“Just dead,” Hugh clarified.
“Oh good. That is so much easier.”
“I do not need part of the reward,” interrupted Bron.
Hugh looked up at him suspiciously, “Are you serious! Why did you bribe a guard to force me to let you join?”
“I can not tell you the exact reason.”
“Why not?”
“It is not money I needed, I needed a way out of town, and a purpose. And all I am good at is fighting.”
Hugh gave an exaggerated shrug, “Well, if that is your decision, I guess I shouldn’t complain. In all honesty, I’d rather you wanted a cut of the profits. Pure self-interest keeps people honest.”
Brondulf shrugged at that.
“I have no reason to be dishonest. It was just time I got out of town.”
*
Rhunal had recognized Brondulf as the fighter in the arena the moment she saw him. She had to know if he had recognized her as the one looking down at him from the rooftop. She delayed asking him about it for some time before finally taking the direct approach.
She marched right up to him and stopped beside him. It was the first time in her life, that she had to crane her neck to look up to someone, since she hit adulthood. Brondulf was a head taller than her.
“I saw your fight. You are incredibly tough!”
“I lost that fight,” Bron said unhappily. “How did you manage to see it? I would think I would remember you. Oh. You were watching me from on top of that house. I did not get a good look at you. My ears were ringing and my vision was blurred, I remember seeing green, but thought it was the flail talking.”
“Well, he brained you good. I didn’t think you’d get right up after a blow like that.”
“I have been told that I have a thick skull.”
“Not as tough as mine probably, I’ve been slammed into all kinds of stuff. I always win that exchange.”
“Ha!” Nearby Hugh laughed, “You aren’t wrong. Going for the head against an orc, in a fight, isn’t usually the best choice.”
'Hmm. It worked well enough for Carinus.' She thought to herself.
But she wasn't about to tell Hugh about that incident. “I guess? I admit I’ve never seen another orc fight. There weren’t any others living in Greihold as far as I know.”
“So you’ve lived in this town all your life?” Hugh asked.
“Yeah. Well, as long as I can remember. Master had said the same thing you did about orcs not knowing how to use magic once. I wasn’t really surprised when you didn’t believe me. That’s why I had to risk the spell inside. I expected they’d kicked us all out.” she admitted with a grin.
“Well, that was bold of you. I believe those that prove themselves trustworthy. I’ve had too many people lie to me over the years to act otherwise. It probably took Lovell here a month before I felt I trusted him enough to watch my back.”
Lovell heard his name and perked up, “Didn’t I save your life during the first quest we ever went on?”
“Well yes, but if you had let me get killed, then you would have been next. Unless you wanted to fight that entire pack of wolves alone. And I doubt they would have given you enough space to use your bow.”
Lovell tapped the hilt of his sword, “I’ve still got my shortsword. It may not be my preference, but I know how to use it.”
“The crossbow is definitely my preference, but I’ve had to resort to the arming sword far more often than not. I wish you would practice more with that sword, Lovell.”
He turned to her and Bron. “Just so you both know, Lovell has been on quests with me for a year. Many adventurer’s careers don’t last even that long. I wouldn’t normally take a quest this dangerous with a party full of rookies.”
“So why did you?” Bron asked pointedly.
“The payout was too good to pass up.” he said shortly.
It was a reasonable answer, but she got a sense that it wasn’t the full one. Still, she didn’t press the issue.
*
A few hours later, the party had gone past the last farmland and around the big hill north of Greihold. They were greeted by the sight of a massive mountain, split neatly in two all the way to the base. The gap between the two halves was filled by boulders ranging from human sized to building sized.
To traverse through the mountain would be an arduous affair. The road went around to the east of the mountain instead. Predictably, the landmark had been named ‘Shattered Mountain’, its old name lost to time.
She stopped to admire it. “Amazing! I’ve never been this close to Shattered Mountain. My teacher told me about the tale of the night it was broken and I never forgot it.”
“Well, it wasn’t destroyed in a single night.” Hugh said. “It is one of the founding tales of Greihold. Two hundred years ago, an incredible storm appeared in the center of the continent. It grew so big that they named it the Great Tempest. The storm ravaged the entire continent for months. Nothing it came against survived. It turned the capital of the human kingdom to rubble. And when it seemed like it was weakening, it approached Greihold, a smaller town in those times.
“It slammed right into the mountain range here.” Hugh pointed at the flattened and rounded off peaks of the smaller mountains of the range. “But on the last day, it ran into Shattered Mountain and stopped. Its last thrashes broke the mountain in two, but the town was saved. Still, I imagine you could be thankful for the storm, Rhunal.”
“Why?” she asked, confused.
“There were never any orcs before the Great Tempest came. There are lots of wild explanations, but it seems that storm dropped your people off here.”
“I doubt we’d make it in one piece traveling like that,” Rhun said.
Hugh laughed, “Well, I think you need to meet more orcs. Your people are unreasonably resilient.”
“Hmm,” she said, “you sure are a know-it-all about orcs.”
He laughed, “I’m a know-it-all about everything. I was much worse in my youth. I talked even more, but didn’t know anything at all. My hit rate is a little better these days.”
She was trying to think of a response and was interrupted by a groan from her stomach. Her hunger had been growing for the past hour. It was growling so loud she expected that Hugh could hear it. She couldn’t wait any longer. She was a trained mage and something needed to die.
“I’m going off the road and find some game,” she admitted.
“Oh? A little hungry, eh?”
“Yeah, I'm famished.”
“Well, don’t go too far. There should be lots of rabbits, game birds, and even small deer around here. When you are done, we’ll meet next to the road beside the base of the mountain. You’ve got a few hours before nightfall, so you have lots of time.”
She didn’t even answer, responding with a backward wave of her hand and already jogging into the sparse brush around the mountain.
Hugh watched her go. “She didn’t buy any food. Why didn’t she go to her master for enough money for the road?” There were a couple answers, but he didn’t like any of them. Still, with Rhunal temporarily gone, it would make dealing with Brondulf and his treachery simpler.
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