Blood of the Orc Prince by Lionel Hart
8
Chapter Eight
It was in his best interest to keep a low profile, so Taegan did not go out much for the next few days. The three of them soon settled into some semblance of a routine; they would typically have breakfast together, then Zorvut and Tomlin would go out to the small backyard to train, leaving Taegan to his own devices for the rest of the day until they reconvened for supper. He tried to sit and watch the way he had the first day, but while Zorvut seemed quite pleased with the progress he was making, to Taegan it all seemed excruciatingly dull. To his untrained eye, they spent most of the day simply making the same movements over and over again, and talking in strange abstractions like “seizing power from within” or twisting flame into thunder or squeezing it into ice. It all may as well have been another language entirely for how little he understood it.
Watching Zorvut train made him miss his own archery practice, but there wasn’t anywhere in town he could safely use his bow, and he was not confident enough in their safety to go far from their home base, where their bond would not extend to. So he organized and tidied their belongings, re-read the two books he had brought with him, and puttered about the house reading whatever else he could find on the shelves. It had been a long time since he had been so well and truly bored.
By then it had been two days since he had sent off his letter and had his unsettling encounter with Miss Jade, and it seemed to him it was safe enough that he could walk along the beach. So he poked his head through the backdoor to tell Zorvut where he was going and set out.
It was a pleasant, breezy day as every day in Naimere had been so far. A few streaky clouds dotted the sky, but it was mostly an unbroken, pristine blue, and as he approached the harbor the line of the ocean on the horizon was a similar, darker shade of cerulean. It was picturesque—he tried to commit the image to his memory, knowing he was unlikely to see anything quite like it elsewhere. Aefraya had only a small border with the ocean, far to the north where the land dropped off suddenly in sharp craggy cliffs with the ocean crashing below. It was nothing like the calm wind and sand of the coastal town here, and elven kings were not exactly known for being world travelers.
This time he moved a little further away from the noise and commotion of the docks, toward the quieter part of the beach where a few people were relaxing and swimming, though still a slight, safe distance away. Carefully, he removed his shoes and took a few steps toward the waves. When the water lapped up to his ankles, it sent a cold shiver up the backs of his legs, but it was bracing—refreshing, even. Glancing over toward the more populated part of the beach he could see a child leaping into the waves, while his mother looked on in amusement and occasionally called out encouragingly. If it was suitable for a child to swim in, surely he too could give it a try.
The men he could see in the water were shirtless, so he returned to the sand, meticulously removed and folded his light linen tunic, and placed it gingerly atop his shoes. Then he turned back to the water and took a few more steps into it, until the water came up to his knees.
“Ah!” he exclaimed as a wave came up all the way to his waist, smacking his bare skin with a cold shock. It left his breeches wet and clinging to his frame, making the cool breeze even colder on his damp skin, so he took a few more steps in, sucking in a sharp breath as the water came up first to his groin, then his hips, then his abs and finally his chest. Though the water felt icy upon the first contact, it quickly faded as his body acclimated to the cool temperature, and when he could see a wave taller than his head surging upward he closed his eyes and let it fold over him.
Even though it had not been a particularly large wave, it still sent him stumbling backwards, wiping the cold saltwater off his face and pushing back his drenched hair. But in spite of himself, he was laughing as he opened his eyes and started to swim out a bit further, finally getting deep enough that he could not feel the sand with his feet.
Though he had learned to swim as a child, it had only been in calm lakes for recreation, or wading through rivers that were never higher than waist-deep. The sensation of being tossed about by the waves as he swam was new and unusual; the movement was relatively calm but still had enough force to move him with the whims of the ocean, pushing him back toward the shore despite his efforts to swim further from it.
The physical exertion was exactly what he needed, he thought when he finally relented to the force of nature and allowed himself to be carried back to shore. Even with his efforts to swim against the tide it had carried him much closer to the craggy rocks near the harbor, so when he emerged cold and dripping from the surf, his belongings were a dark dot amidst the pale sand in the distance.
He walked slowly along the beach, tramping through the sand, and by the time he reached his folded-up shirt he was mostly dry save for his dripping hair and damp trousers. But rather than get dressed he sat down in the sand and looked out at the waves for a while, trying not to think about anything, instead focusing only on the rhythmic movement of the waves and the constant, meditative sound.
Eventually he started making his way back toward the street, buttoning his tunic as he went and walking barefoot along the street with his shoes in one hand. The sand that still stuck to his feet and legs dusted off with the movement, though he still certainly looked fresh from the beach by the time he arrived back at Tomlin’s home, smacking his shoes against the facade to shake off the last of the sand clinging to them before entering.
“Beach day, eh?” Tom called to him when he stepped through the door. The pair were sitting in the kitchen, Zorvut peering over his shoulder to look at him. “What did you think? Lovely, isn’t it?”
“Very pleasant,” Taegan agreed, chuckling. “Though I may have gotten a bit too much sun. Zorvut, perhaps you’d like to join me next time? It could be a pleasant break.”
Zorvut smiled faintly as he approached. “Perhaps, later some time. We’ve been busy. We were just taking a break. I’ve almost got a new skill down, but it’s proving trickier than the lightning bolt.”
Taegan’s smile faltered slightly at that. “Well, good. Some other time then.”
“Maybe I can show you once I get it down. Getting lightning from fire has been fairly simple, but creating cold—ice, that’s been much more difficult.”
“And you think this is the practical application you were hoping for? To be able to fight with it?” Taegan asked quickly, looking down at the shoes in his hands. He could feel Zorvut hesitate through the bond for a long moment.
“I think so, yes,” he replied slowly. “And maybe some other things as well.”
“Most of the magic I know is more practical, myself,” Tom added quickly, glancing between them. “But there are definite applications to combat, too. I’ve been showing Zorvut everything I know about combat magic, but he’s making good progress figuring things out on his own.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Taegan replied, looking toward the stairs. “I think I’ll go wash, get some of the salt out of my hair.”
He started heading up the stairs without waiting for a reply. He should have known better than to try and pull Zorvut from his studies, but the rejection still stung.
* * *“What did you mean by that?” Zorvut asked him later that night. He had just arrived in their room, closing the door behind him but still standing just inside the door. “What you said earlier.”
“You’ll have to be more specific,” Taegan replied, glancing up from where he was sitting at the desk, rereading one of his books once again.
“You asked if it was the practical application of magic that I had wanted,” he replied. “And you felt… I don’t know. Strange.”
“Truthfully,” Taegan replied slowly, leaning back to look over at him. “I’m hoping you’ve learned everything you wanted to learn, so we can go home sooner.”
“Home? Is that what this was about?” he asked, frowning. There was a flash of frustration that was quickly pulled away. “I have learned a lot, Taegan, but I still have much further to go. We’ve been here less than a week. We can’t go home yet.”
“Then when?”
His frustration seemed to take Zorvut by surprise, and he considered for a long moment before answering. “I don’t know. Once I feel like I don’t have anything else I could learn from him.”
“And when do you think that might be?” he pressed. Now that he had spoken it aloud, there was an urgency in his voice—like when he had first realized how homesick he was, it felt like a floodgate opening where he had not even known there was one.
“I don’t know, Taegan,” Zorvut repeated, and he looked away. “I’m doing this for both of us. To protect us. You know that.”
“Yes,” he sighed, the words sticking him with guilt. “I know.”
“I know you want to go home,” Zorvut said, stepping closer to him. “But I can’t promise when that will be.”
He looked away, back down at his book, and kept the mounting frustration contained firmly in the center of his chest, pulling it away from the bond. “Okay.”
Zorvut waited for a moment as if expecting more, then sighed and wordlessly moved to the wardrobe where he pulled off his shirt and hung it up. He blew out the candle next to the bed and laid down, his feet sticking out from underneath the blanket and hanging over the edge of the bed. Taegan stayed up reading for a while longer, but eventually silently went to bed as well.
* * *The next few days were much of the same. There was some distance between them—Taegan could clearly feel Zorvut’s frustration, but it did little to assuage his own. Tom seemed to sense their conflict as well, his smile in the morning a little more forced and plastered on than it had been in the previous days, though he didn’t pry.
He ended up leaving the house shortly after breakfast most days, and not returning until supper. Mostly he walked around town, though he did like to go down to the beach in the heat of the afternoon to swim. There were only a few taverns in town; the largest was certainly Miss Jade’s, but there was a smaller tavern near the docks that was only a pub, without an inn. It was mostly frequented by sailors and dock workers who didn’t want to walk further into town for food and drink on their breaks. He did not particularly like this tavern, but the patrons were always interested in talking with him to share stories about their travels and he rarely saw the same person twice, which was a relief. The proprietor of the tavern was a quiet, older human man with a bald head and a short gray beard who watched the goings-on in the bar with an intensity not unlike a bird of prey. Taegan was not even sure what his name was, but the man did not ask questions and the wine was decent, and for now that was good enough.
A new routine developed; he would eat breakfast quietly, listening to conversation between Zorvut and Tom with rare interruptions, then go for his first walk, making a long circuit around the perimeter of the town. Then it would be getting toward the middle of the day, and he would swim in the ocean to cool off and exercise. Once he was sufficiently dry, he would walk to the tavern on the docks and have a drink and a light lunch. Sometimes he would leave soon after but other times he would linger for a while, chatting with other tavern patrons or just sitting and watching idly as workers filtered in and out of the bar throughout the afternoon. Eventually he would leave to take another walk, this one shorter as he circled through the town square, sometimes doing some shopping before heading back to the house. Luckily, there was a bookshop in the town square, so even though the selection was not as expansive as he would have liked, he still had something new to read.
At the end of the week he finally ventured back to Miss Jade’s to pay for another week of boarding the horses.
“Pay for two if you can,” Zorvut said before he left. “Or more if they’ll let you.”
He was already in the doorframe, so Zorvut did not see his sour expression at the words. “I will,” he called out behind him, but heard no response before the door closed.
He kept his usual routine of walking and swimming, but this time he walked to the center of town to find the inn afterward. The stable was behind the inn, facing away from the town square; there was a girl he did not recognize on duty, and she jumped up as he approached. She looked just as young as the other stable boys they’d encountered, though, with the awkwardness of a teen as she moved so he guessed she was thirteen or fourteen at the most. She was wearing a pair of breeches that she had clearly outgrown, an inch of her bare ankle showing between where the pants ended and her shoes began. Her hair, a reddish brown, was tied in two long pigtails.
“Retrievin’ your horses, sir?” she asked, seemingly recognizing him—he supposed the stable workers had probably talked about the massive horse belonging to the unlikely pair of an elf and a half-orc visiting town.
“No,” he replied, holding up a hand before she could dart inside. “I’d like to pay for another week of boarding.”
“Oh, sure,” she said, sounding a little relieved. “Just one week?”
He hesitated. “Yes, just a week,” he said with a nod.
“That’s five silver pieces each, so one gold total,” she said, and he tossed her a coin. “Thank you, sir.”
“I would like to see my horse, if that’s alright,” he said, and she nodded, gesturing for him to enter as she moved back to the small table where she had been sitting and dropping the coin in a small lockbox.
The door swung open easily, and he stepped inside, quickly recognizing Graksh’t at the end of the stable. It was not especially large, with five stalls on each side so room enough for ten horses, maybe more if some could be doubled up. But it seemed that there were not many horses boarded at the time with only half the stalls occupied. He stepped toward Graksh’t and found Ember in the stall across from him.
When she saw him, she started whickering, tossing her head eagerly as he approached. He did not realize how hard he was grinning until he was up next to her, patting her nose as she tried to nuzzle his face.
“Sorry, girl,” he said quietly, running his fingers through her mane. It had not been braided, though it looked like it had been brushed and cleaned recently. “It’ll be a little while yet.”
He could hear her stamping her hooves from the other side of the wooden door, and for a moment he considered taking her out of the stall and just… leaving. If he really wanted to go home, he could—he didn’t need a chaperone, he was not a child. He could just go. The urge to leave was almost overwhelming.
He caught himself as his fingers toyed with the latch on the stall door. What was he thinking? Zorvut was his husband. They had made the decision to come here together. How cruel it would be to up and leave! He didn’t deserve to be abandoned without a word, no matter how irritating Taegan found his single-minded focus. He would not be any less lonely on the road by himself. That he even had the thought was a weakness that sent a spark of shame burning in his cheeks, though he pulled it away quickly from the bond, not wanting Zorvut to feel his selfishness.
He would have to satisfy himself with patting Ember’s face for now. After a few minutes of giving her attention he heard Graksh’t grumbling and stamping from behind him, so with a chagrined laugh he turned and scratched the black horse’s face as well. The massive beast peered down at him with obvious recognition and allowed himself to be scratched along his neck before tossing his head and turning away, seemingly just as fickle as Taegan’s own thoughts. He deserved that, he supposed.
As he left the stable, he slowed his pace, glancing at the wall of the tavern as he walked back out to the front of the building. It had been almost a week since he had last visited the Snoring Seagull, and he did like it better than the tavern on the dock despite his uncomfortable encounter with Miss Jade. An occasional visit would be fine, he thought, and besides, if she was going to do anything with the information she had it was already too late, so what difference would it make if he visited or not?
With a resigned sigh, he stepped toward the doors and walked inside. It was a bit busy, being the middle of the day, so even though Miss Jade was behind the bar she did not seem to notice him at first, and one of the other barmaids came and took his order instead.
“Just a glass of wine, please. Whatever’s your best,” he said to the barmaid. Buxom and young, she seemed like the exact archetype of a human barmaid with light hair pulled back in a bun and a crisp white tunic with simple lace along the edges, the first few buttons undone. She grinned at him, and he glanced away nervously.
“Coming right up,” she said, and went to take more orders from the other tables.
Miss Jade had been chatting with another patron at the other end of the bar, but when she finally pulled away she seemed to notice Taegan for the first time, a wide grin spreading across her face as their eyes met. But she said nothing, instead reaching below the bar to pour some drinks.
Eventually, she made her way over to him, bottle of wine in hand.
“I thought I was never going to see you again,” she said in a teasing tone, and Taegan pressed his lips into a tight smile.
“It’s been a busy week,” he said simply, and she snorted.
“Sure, sure,” she said as she poured him a goblet of wine. “No, I’m sorry I spooked you. I meant what I said, though. I’m good at keeping secrets.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” he replied, taking a long sip of the wine. It was much better than the wine at the other tavern. “Well, frankly, yes, I did want to stay away for a bit after our last conversation. But then I had the thought, what’s the point? You already know, and staying away isn’t going to keep you from telling someone else if you really wanted to. And the wine’s much better here anyway, so maybe it’s best to come back more often and buy your silence instead.”
She laughed aloud at that, throwing her head back. “Ha! And they say elves don’t have a sense of humor. Well, my fine friend, if you’ve got coin to spare I’m happy to get you as much of your fancy elven wine as you can drink. How about something to eat? Today’s special is the steamed bass, if that sounds appealing to you.”
He grimaced. “I think I’ll just have the vegetable platter, please.”
Maybe it was the wine, but he had a surprisingly easy conversation with her as he ate, and her more friendly demeanor this time assuaged whatever lingering concerns were still in the back of his head. With the lunch rush, they spoke only sporadically at first, but he had nowhere to be so he lingered at the bar for a while and when the rush died down, she came to stand near him, chatting as she cleaned.
“So how are you liking Naimere? I don’t think you have any beaches like this where you’re from,” she asked with a wink, and he nodded.
“True,” he said. “I am enjoying the ocean. It’s quite… novel.”
“Nothing like it in the world,” she agreed. “I mean, I’m sure there are port cities like this all over the world, and I’ve seen quite a few of ‘em, but Naimere is something special. I think because it still has a small town feel. It’s not dirty and smoggy the way a big port city is. There’s enough trade for people to live comfortably, but not so much that it’s strangled out the life of the town, if that makes sense.”
“I understand,” Taegan said. “Elven cities typically disturb as little of the natural topography and flora as possible, so I know what you mean. There is something that happens when a city becomes so large that you can’t see the traces of nature still in it. We strive to never let that happen to our own civilizations.”
“That’s admirable,” Miss Jade sighed, leaning back with a faraway glance. “I’m happy to live out the rest of my days here, but sometimes I think there’s still so much of the world I’ve never seen, and what a waste to never see it!”
“I don’t think that’s a waste. There’s only so much that can be accomplished in one lifetime,” Taegan said with a wry grin. “But I can tell you a bit about some of the elven tree-cities if you’d like. Those tend to be the places tourists love to go, partly because they are so unique but because they are very beautiful, too.”
“I’d love to hear it,” she said, and leaned closer to him, propping her head up with her elbows on the bar. He stifled a laugh at the girlish pose, but she grinned, knowing full well the juxtaposition of the youthful body language and her world-weary face.
He spent longer than he realized telling her about the ancient elven tree-cities in the southwest of Aefraya, eventually shifting to stories about the capital, the temple-tree, the ancient customs of elves that had led them from their treetop dwellings to the castle built of stone and wood. For all his hesitance about speaking with her, now that the floodgates were opened his desperate longing to go home sent a deluge of words from his mouth. He hardly stopped talking about his home save for a few interjections and questions on her part, until he realized the first of the dinner guests were starting to trickle in and jumped up with a start.
“Goodness, it’s much later than I thought,” he stammered, setting a handful of coins on the bar—he’d lost count of how many drinks he’d been served at this point. “I should be going.”
“Come back soon, dear,” Miss Jade replied with another wink. “It’s been so nice talking with you. You’ll have to tell me more about all these elven cities next time you come by, maybe you’ll just convince me to go on one last trip to see them for myself.”
Taegan hesitated as he stood up from the bar, partly for the wine hitting him all at once as he stood, and partly to consider her words. Despite himself, a slight smile spread across his face, and he nodded.
“I’ll have to come back to tell you more, then,” he agreed with a grin. She laughed and waved him away, and he stepped out into the town square and onto the main street with the smile still lingering on his lips.