Darius floated down to everyone with a solemn look on his face. He landed and was greeted by a concerned Alice. "Is he....?"
"He's fine. Just unconscious."
Alice breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "I'll examine him once we find a safe place to rest. The village on the other side of the mountain pass should do."
"Good. I could use some food and something to drink. How's Fen?"
Faelar, who now had a sleeping Fenris draped over his back, walked over to them. "He's fine. Alice healed him. We really need to get out of here though. That arrow had to have come from another orc. It could still be around here."
Darius scanned their wrecked surroundings, but didn't sense anything. "Hopefully we scared them off, but you're right. We gotta get outta here. Alice, you think that village will give us a place to sleep for the night?"
She nodded. "I haven't personally been to it before, but I'm sure we can work something out if need be. But before we go, I need to find something."
She raced towards the largest yurt and disappeared inside. Darius and Faelar exchanged confused looks, before Darius walked over and laid Grol down on the log. "What're are you doing?"
Darius started towards the large pile of the bodies of orcs and men. "They deserve some sort of funeral rite." He began carrying the broken bodies of the men to an open area of the encampment.
Faelar laid his brother back on the log beside Grol. "Here. Lemme help."
Darius watched as he began opening portals and positioning the fallen soldiers beside one another. Once he'd finished, he and Darius sat now looking at a 10 rows of dead mercenaries. "What now?", asked Faelar after seeing Alice come out of the yurt wearing a brown leather satchel and holding a strange spiked totem.
"We burn them. It's the best we can do. Hopefully it'll give them peace, and keep them from being reduced to food for the birds."
Darius grabbed two of the soldier's axes, broke the heads off, and lit the hafts using small sparks from his fingers. He handed one of the makeshift torches to Faelar and they both went down the rows lighting the bodies on fire. Alice watched with curiosity and confusion.
Once they finished, Darius spoke the only words that made sense in the moment. "I don't know what strife you knew in life, but may you find peace and rest in death."
Alice had never seen anyone do anything for dead they didn't know. She found herself with a strange new respect for her rescuers. With the moment gone, Darius and Faelar turned their attention to her. They both looked from her to the totem and back before Darius said what was on both of their minds. "Yeah um what the hell is that?"
"It's a black tusk orc totem. They're at the heart of every orc settlement. It's not made with anything valuable, but it's a marker for every orc in the settlement. It's shown by the amount of tusks in the totem. Getting this is proof that you destroyed the settlement."
"That's um..... great. Right?"
"The more you kill, the more you'll get paid at an adventurers guild."
"Oh", They said in unison.
She gave them a dumbfounded look. "You can't be serious right? There's no way both of you have never heard of orc totems. Are there no orcs in Saharia, and where ever you and your brother come from?"
"For the last time I'm not Saharian."
"Sure you aren't. And I'm a storm giant."
"And I'm from Nellenor. We try to avoid the orcs at all cost. I'm only aware of their location and habits. I know nothing of whatever that is."
Alice's eyes got big again. "What? Nellenor? You're from the elven village? How is that possible?"
"I'm half elf."
Alice froze with her mouth ajar. She then began muttering quietly to herself and pacing back and forth. "Half elf half demon? That's not possible. Is it? I mean maybe, that would explain the rather odd clothes. And there's also the Saharian that uses magic. Neither one of those things should exist, yet they are standing in front of me. Am I hallucinating?"
Faelar gave Darius a worried look. "I think I broke her."
Darius sighed and patted his shoulder. "No worries. I'll handle it."
He walked over to the pacing Alice, grabbed both of her shoulders, and spun her to face him. "Hey look. You're probably very confused. It's understandable, but right now we need to find someplace safe to rest and get food. Emphasis on the food part. How about we head to the village before deciding anything else."
"That's..... that's fine. I think the walk will help me process all of this anyways."
She put the totem into her satchel and it seemed to vanish like it wasn't actually in the bag. Darius and Faelar grabbed Grol and Fenris, and followed Alice as she started walking towards the village. She walked silently and completely lost in thought until they made it to the newly formed clearing in front of the mountain pass. The sight of the destruction caused by Grol and Darius shook her from her thoughts.
"This level of destruction rivals that of the top hunters in the corp. I'd heard Saharians were incredible warriors but this is beyond what I expected. Just who are you?"
Darius smirked. "I'm out of this world!"
Alice looked at the now chuckling Darius trying to find the humor in his words. She then looked to Faelar who definitely got the joke, but seemed disappointed that it was made.
"Am I missing something here?"
"No. I'm being straightforward. I'm not from your world."
Understanding appeared on her face as all the pieces of the puzzle that was Darius came together in her head. "You're a traveler. That explains everything, especially your youness."
"Yup. Wait what do you mean my youness?"
She didn't hear his question as she had already moved on to another thing that was bothering her. "It doesn't explain your abilities though."
"How so?"
"Your magic, or whatever it is, it doesn't consume mana. Usually there's a clearly visible residue of mana use at the site it was performed, but with you there's no trace of it. It's like the spells you used were simply forced into existence using your will."
"Um. I didn't use any spells."
"What?"
"I don't know magic."
"If you don't know magic then what the hell was that back there?"
"It's a long story."
"We have about 20 minutes before we get to the village. That's plenty of time for this story of yours."
**********
Alice was giving Darius strange looks. She wasn't alone as Faelar, who had been listening to Darius's story intently, also looked at him with disbelief.
"So let me get this right. You were summoned with the ability to wield lightning like a weapon, control storms, enhanced strength, and you have a dragon companion that's now living inside you right now?"
"Pretty much."
She burst into a fit of laughter that echoed along the walls of the mountain pass. "If you didn't want to tell me, all you had to do was say so." Faelar tried being the voice of reason.
"Darius you have to admit, that's a little far fetched. The lightning part is obvious, but the dragon? That's a bit much don't you think?"
He sighed and waited for Alice's laughter to die down. While waiting, he noticed a voice stirring within his mind. Raiga seemed annoyed by the laughing.
Who the hell is this woman? She woke me from my nap.
You're telling me you slept through everything that's happened in the past few hours, but someone's laughter woke you up?
Oh? I missed something?
You're insufferable, you know that?
No, I'm a dragon. We do as we please.
Well you're coming out to meet our new friends once we find somewhere to sleep in this village.
I will not. They should beg to have the honor of simply being in my presence.
There'll be meat.
Silenced filled Darius's mind as he let Raiga think.
You drive a hard bargain. Fine. We have a deal. Wake me once the meat has arrived. Also bring booze, a big barrel. A strong drink goes great with meat.
That's something we can actually agree on.
They reached the village as the sun began to set. The village sat at the bottom of a hill that turned into an expansive plain at the base of the mountain. They could make out small forest patches and rolling hills for miles in all directions.
Seeing as Darius and Alice would draw the least amount of attention, and considering Alice was the only one with any money, they decided to search for the village chief while Faelar stayed with Grol and Fenris.
They talked to several people and got directions to the chief's house along with information about a vacant house near the edge of town. They didn't draw much attention accept from children who gave Darius wide eyed looks. He waved awkwardly and avoided eye contact. Alice took notice and teased him.
"Oh. The great an powerful dragon man will fight a orc horde, but quivers at the sight of children."
"I fear nothing!"
"Sure you don't dragon man."
He rolled his eyes as they continued to the chief's house. The chief, a friendly older man, and his wife welcomed them into their home with open arms. Alice seemingly turned into a completely different person when speaking to them. She was polite and spoke in a manner that didn't fit her personality at all. Now it was Darius's mouth that hung ajar. She explained their situation, leaving out that their friends consisted of two half demons and a cursed orc.
"So you're not with that strange hooded man's army?"
Darius noticed a slight change in Alice's expression when the chief mentioned this new stranger, it was similar to when they first met. It was a distinct look of fear on her face as she almost whispered her next words. "Can you describe this man to me?"
"Well I would if I could, but I never saw his face. The only thing I remember is his voice and the strange medallion he wore on his neck."
At the mention of the medallion, Alice grew pale. She hesitated before speaking again. "Did it look like this?" Her finger began to emit a faint white light. She drew a symbol that solidified itself in the air, and the chief lit up. "Yes that was it. Such a strange symbol. I've never seen anything like it."
The symbol, a circle with one half dark and the other half in flames, hung in the air before before disappearing. Alice's already pale face had gotten paler. Darius touched her shoulder, which seemed to bring her back to her senses and return her face back to normal. "Alice. You ok?"
"Yes I'm fine. I'm sorry, I got lost in thought."
The color having returned to her face, she returned her attention back to the chief and his wife. "We hate to impose, but do you have a place we can stay for the night?"
"You got rid of those orcs on the other side of the Spines, the least we can do is give you shelter for the night. There's a vacant house at the edge of the village. Feel free to stay there."
"Thank you. We greatly appreciate your courtesy."
Darius muttered under his breath. "What the hell is going on?"
He received a swift elbow in the ribs for his trouble. As they got up to leave, Alice smiled and turned to ask one last question. "Excuse me, but where might we find food at this hour?"
"Well the market is likely to be closed down by now, but I'll have food sent over for you and your friends. And don't worry about the cost. We aren't the wealthiest village, but we can spare plenty for heroes."
Before Alice could thank the man again, Darius chimed in as well. "Could we also get a barrel of ale? A big one?"
He received another elbow in the ribs as Alice tried to push him out the door. The chief simply laughed.
"Of course. As a Saharian I'm sure you did plenty of the heavy lifting in the fight against those monsters. I'll bring you a barrel of our spiced ale. It's the village's speciality. Also I'll apologize in advance for the children of the village. They've grown up hearing the exploits of your people, yet they've never actually seen one. They'd react the same if you were one of those northmen as well. If they stare, it's only curiosity."
"Thanks. Wait I'm not a—"
Alice pushed him out and shut the door before he could finish his sentence. "So am I suppose to ignore the personality switch?" "We got a place to stay did we not?" "Can't argue with that."
They started back to retrieve the others. On the way Alice was on edge. She seemed to be checking every corner and every shadow for something. "Stop."
She jumped at the sound of his voice. "You're on edge. This have something to do with that man the chief mentioned?"
"It's nothing."
"Really? Cause you seemed to know more than the chief did about the strange man you've never met. Look if you need....."
"No I don't, and I don't need anything from you. I only need to get to Ibesa. Then we can go our separate ways." Darius knew something was wrong. She was hiding something, but he couldn't figure out what. The look in her eyes said she wouldn't budge, so he decided not to pry, and focus on getting back to the others.
They arrived to see Fenris being brought up to speed by his brother. Alice seemed a bit confused by the fact that he was awake.
"Demon or not, you shouldn't be up so quickly."
Having noticed the dark cloud temporarily lift from her, Darius cut her off before she could go into full research mode. "We have a house, and food is on the way. Let's go."
The group needed no more encouragement. They both picked up Grol and followed Darius and a pouting Alice to the house. They walked around the village to the house to avoid a panic. The twins might cause confusion, but everyone would immediately recognize Grol as an orc.
They made it to the vacant house, more like a large shack, without being seen and got situated. Grol, still unconscious, was laid on the larger of the two beds in the one room house. Alice created an orb of light similar to those created by the elven council, and checked him for wounds. She didn't find anything, but doubled checked to be thorough. Fenris and Faelar sat down at the table in the corner of the room and rested their heads against the wall, and Darius sprawled out in the middle of the floor.
Once Alice had assured that Grol was fine, she plopped down on the other bed. Darius laid unmoving at her feet. "You're just going to lay on the floor?"
"Yep"
Alice motioned to the space beside her on the bed, "I don't mind if you want to sit on the bed."
"It's too late, I'm already comfortable."
She positioned herself so that she could see the door, and shivered. Looking at the cold fireplace, she raised a finger and cast ignite. The fireplace lit up, and illuminated the room. A second later something heavy hit her in the face. She removed it to see the coat Darius had been wearing. She looked at him and started to say something, but his relaxed demeanor seemed to convey that it wasn't a big deal. She wrapped herself up in it, and took the moment to relax. Everyone did the same as they all listened to the crackling fire, and waited with grumbling bellies for their dinner to arrive.