The Beginnings Omnibus: Beginnings 1, 2, 3 & Legend of Ashenclaw novella (Realm of Ashenclaw Beginnings Saga) (62 page)

The four of them continued their pursuit of the unknown voice. They were so focused on following the source of that scream that they ran down the corridor, passing any and all unexplored areas, heading straight toward the area from where they believed it originated.

Rose and Elec both slowly entered a room that appeared to be an ancient library of some kind. Shelves lined the walls in such a way as to have fashioned aisles. Scrolls, manuscripts and parchments copiously adorned the shelves.

“Blood,” Elec pointed out to Rose, nodding at a small crimson stain on the ground. He scooped a droplet up with his gloved finger.

“
Fresh
blood,” she corrected, as Garius and Saeunn followed behind them. Rose showed them, emphasizing this to Garius, who nodded a concerned expression her way.

Together they continued through the library and out into another stretch of passages. There, in the hallway stood a rather hulking form, partially hidden by the darkness and the flickering torchlight.

“Ogre,”
Elec whispered and withdrew both
Daegnar Giruth
and
Wyrm’s Fang
in anticipation of a fight.

Before Orngoth could near the door, he heard more footsteps approaching to his right where he had just come from. Perhaps another group of orcs or another goblinoid patrol was coming, he guessed. It was too late to hide anywhere and he was tired of trying to conceal his presence anyway. It was time to fight, he decided.

A figure from the shadows with blades in hand approached him cautiously. He recognized that there were two more figures behind the first. He recognized the first as an elf as the sporadic torchlight revealed his features. He gave thought as to why an elf might be here.

Suddenly, he felt something behind him and instinctively reached out on his left flank. To his surprise, he was clutching someone by the throat. He heard a muffled cry of pain and held the figure out before him for a closer look. He was again surprised to see it was a human…a woman.

A pair of ornately crafted daggers dropped from her suddenly limp hands. She instinctively grabbed Orngoth’s fist with both of her hands in a feeble attempt to escape his grip.

Where did she come from?
Orngoth thought, as he held the woman out before the elf and the others he could not identify yet. He believed that there were only orcs and goblins amongst the soldiers here, so it was a strange thing, indeed, for him to see anyone other than goblinoids in these tunnels.

Orngoth watched the elf stop upon hearing a command given from behind him in the tone of a deep, gravelly voice. The elf turned to regard the person who had given that order and saw it to be a man in very unique set of plate armor resembling the color of blood. He also noted that the man’s chest was radiating some kind of dull light. Following behind him was a broad-shouldered woman, with arms covered in similar markings to his own.

A barbarian,
Orngoth confirmed.
Here?

“Stop...please!” the elf entreated him. “Let her go!”

He watched as the group remained still and the man in the red armor approached. He dropped his weapon. It was a huge two-handed hammer with runes adorning its head, which looked too massive for the man to even lift let alone wield, and held his hands out in a very submissive way.

They do not want to fight!?
Orngoth thought, confused at this latest turn of events. He was surprised by their suddenly non-threatening behavior and so he loosened the grip on the female’s throat, allowing her to breathe, but ready to crush her windpipe if a threat arose.

He listened curiously as the man in the red armor spoke to him.

 “He is not evil,” Garius informed Elec and Saeunn. “There is something benevolent about this creature.” Inquisitors were gifted with an innate ability to distinctly identify evil in a person, and this creature radiated none whatsoever.

“Stop…please,” Garius heard Elec say to the ogre-like creature that held Rose by the throat. He dropped
The Repentant
and held his hands out to show that he posed no threat.

Garius calmly and slowly walked past Elec and approached to within earshot of the creature, recognizing him as a half-ogre under the newly present light, and spoke to him, removing his helmet.

“We mean you no ill will,” Garius began. “Please let our friend go, we will not harm you.” He was ready to proceed with an attack if he had to, but wanted to discover the purpose of what this half-ogre meant to do here. His motivations were confusing at best. “Perhaps we can help you in some manner? Do you understand Wothlondian? Trade-speak?”

“I don’t
need
help,” replied the half-ogre, emphasizing the word strongly. “I only want my gem back! And if I bash a few orc skulls to get it…,” he let the inference dangle. Elec and Saeunn looked to one another realizing that this creature could quite possibly assist them.

“We can help each other then,” Garius instructed, also picking up on the insinuation. “I do not want to fight you, but I insist that you release my friend. I—
we
—care for her deeply.”

The half-ogre looked to the woman in his grip and back to the man again. For whatever reason, he dropped Rose abruptly to the ground, where she lay prone, immediately gasping for air. She looked up at the behemoth, relieved that she was no longer in his iron grip, as she continued to draw in deep breaths over and over. The others approached apprehensively and the half ogre stepped aside so they could go freely to aid her.

Elec and Garius moved to her side and The Inquisitor quickly assessed that the damage was minor. He waved his hand over her, releasing a short burst of regenerative energy into her and the imprints from the behemoth’s hands that had turned her neck a bright shade of red, disappeared under that glow. Rose got to her knees, stood slowly, pushing aside help from Elec, and retrieved her fallen weapons.

“I am looking for a group of priests. Three humans…like me…and an elf with them to total four,” the Inquisitor explained. “I am Garius, an officer of the Inquisition and an emissary of the Faceless Knights of Order,” he continued, hoping that the brute would be able to see and recognize the icons of the gods and other seals of valor on his armor.

“Orngoth,” the half-ogre said, tapping his chest as he spoke.
“
There is a human there,” he stated, gesturing to an adjacent door. “He tried to run from me…like all men do…they think I will hurt them. But he hurt his head trying to run from me,” Orngoth explained. “He hit his head hard. And he had a mark of a god…I remember…around his neck. Like that,” the half-ogre said, gesturing to the symbol of The Shimmering One on Garius’s pauldrons.

The Inquisitor was exhilarated at hearing the news and rushed past him toward the room. Elec moved forward now to speak with the half-ogre.

“I am Elec. What is this gem you seek?” asked the elf.

 “It is a magical gem…a gift from my mother.” Orngoth noticeably relaxed at the mention of his mother and his eyes softened. It seemed as if that memory provided him a sense of peace, Elec supposed.

“Lynnai gave it to me,” he continued, not really making much sense to the elf. “And I want it back!”

“We will help you get your gem, Orngoth,” Elec nodded, trying to stem the creature’s growing agitation.

 “It is Thaurion!” Garius exclaimed, rushing out of the room and pointing back. “He lives!”

Elec nodded subtly to Garius, and then quickly returned his attention to Orngoth as he wanted to stay on topic and not have the creature lose his train of thought, or get any more irritated until he discovered more about the missing gem. Elec watched as Saeunn moved to confer with Garius.

“Who has your gem now?” Elec asked, ignoring everything else.

“The one they call Grubb,” Orngoth explained. “He is a strong and terrible orc that wears the symbol of the orc clan on his chest. Bonemasher mark.”

Elec saw the Inquisitor and Saeunn huddled together. Rose had also regained her balance, as well as her weapons, and stood with arms crossed, impatiently waiting for the conversation to end.

 “We will help you find your gem,” Elec said, truly intending to help this creature recover its obviously sentimental item. “I swear it.”