Page 14 of Garlands and Gauntlets

I glance over at him. “Are you nervous?”

He chews on his mustache, grunts in acknowledgement. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

He sighs. “Well…I've never met another orc. I don't know what to expect.”

“Gotcha,” I nod. “But don't worry–Garnok is good people.”

“How do you know each other?”

Hm…well, I guess now is as good a time as any to start being honest. “We were both scholarship students at the Arcane Academy.”

Theo stops in his tracks. “You’re a wizard?”

“No,” I laugh. “I dropped out. So did Garnok. Left me with a mountain of debt and a few fun party tricks.”

“Like what?”

I smirk, holding up my hand. Channeling some arcane energy, I snap my fingers and send up a plume of holiday-colored sparks.

Theo looks like I've just raised the dead. “Wow.”

“It's really not that impressive, but thanks,” I laugh. “Now…let's get inside. You ready?”

Theo frowns. “Yeah, but…will you hold my hand?”

I slip my hand into his. “Sure.”

I knock on the door, an oversized monolith that's more Theo-sized than my folks’ house. I can feel Theo trembling a little as we wait, then the door opens, revealing my orcish friend. Garnok is a little shorter than Theo, a little more slender, with dark hair more typical of orcs. The red hair must be Theo’s human side–because even Garnok seems surprised by Theo’s appearance. The scent of emberleaf rolls out around Garnok, and I wonder if he thinks he's hallucinating all this.

“Whoa,” he says. “Hey Vaelin–and you must be Theo? Come on in.”

We step through the door into the welcoming warmth of Garnok’s house, finding it littered with wood shavings, tools, and candles. There's a fire roaring in the hearth, sending out acomfortable wave of heat. We move toward it, Theo lingering at my side like he doesn't know what to do.

“Please, sit down,” Garnok says. “Feel free to hit the emberleaf, I've got plenty…”

I get the feeling Theo doesn't exactly know his way around a bong, so I shake my head. “I think we're good. Actually on the hunt for information.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that.” Garnok comes and sits down, picking up the bong now that he knows we don't want any. He hits it, the water inside bubbling, then he exhales a big puff that surrounds us with the earthy, spicy scent of emberleaf.

Theo coughs.

“Shit, sorry,” Garnok says. “I didn't even ask if you were okay with me doing this.”

“It's fine,” I tell him. “No…we're here because Theo is trying to reconnect with the orc side of his family. He's never met them.”

“Oh…dang, yeah,” Garnok nods along. “I've got some relatives that still live up in the Dragonsteel Mountains. Your family from there?”

“I don't actually know,” Theo says. “All I have is a name–Torin?”

Garnok frowns, screwing up his face. I can see the wheels turning–slowly, thanks to the emberleaf.

“Huh,” he says. “You know…I've heard the name, but only as like–a legend? There's a Torin who was a roving warlord about twenty-five years ago.”

Theo's eyes widen–and I know this is the information he was looking for. “Really? Can you tell me the story?”

“Definitely,” Garnok says. “Yeah…Torin the Terrible.Well, that's what the townspeople called him anyway, but orcs say it's because he was so charming that elven and human wives left their husbands for him. He came from way down south, near the Shadowlands. They say he swept into town, had this wild affair with a human noblewoman, then went right back.”

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