Storms & Sacrifice Ch. 01

"You look good."

"You look better."

"...Sorry." Adam's words make me grimace. Knew I shoulda dressed down more for this.

"Come on, you know I didn't mean it like that," he huffs from his spot across the table and smiles. "I'm glad you're doing good. We've heard some rumors and I've been worried."

"Yeah. Like is it true that after you lost the fight to that big guy he fu--oww!" Nate rubs his side where Adam's elbow hit him.

Adam glares at the mage to his right before turning back to me. "Seriously though, David. Is he hurting you?"

"No, really. I'm fine. Better than fine, all things considered." I smile back, trying to hide any discomfort over the topic. I can only imagine what they've heard--and how much of it is true. "I'm more worried about you guys in here."

It's Astraday, which is visiting day at the Yash'ak Cr'hol Labor Camp. This is my second time here, my first being last weekend when I saw Liss and Corrine. Thanks to Khazak pulling some strings, I'm able to sit with two of my friends at a time. After I get patted down by one of the guards, I'm brought to a large room filled with tables where they're already seated. They've got the prisoners split by gender, and since Adam insisted the girls go first--which is a very Adam thing to do--this week I get to see him and Nate.

"We're alright. It's not as rough in here as you'd think." Adam gives me a small smile. "The food's not that bad, and the beds still beat sleeping on the ground outside. They say we're earning some money while we're in here, too. They've got me and Liss working construction, so far just helping to build homes in the poorer parts of the city. It's mostly moving materials around and holding them in place while the mages do their thing."

"What about you?" I ask Nate, more out of politeness than actual interest. When I was here last week no one had been assigned a "job" yet.

"Corrine and I have been hard at work transcribing books." He flexes his hand like it hurts. "If they'd just let me use my magic, I could have the whole thing done in a few hours but nooooo..." On both of his wrists are small metal bracelets, the same as I saw on Corrine last week. They're long-term versions of the city's anti-magic bracers, lighter and unconnected to make it easier to move around and work while still cutting off the wearer from their magical abilities.

"What about you?" Adam ignores Nates whining. "What does... Ironstorm, is that his name?" Yep. I nod. "What does he have you doing?"

"Actually, I'm kinda...working with him and the people who arrested us." I scratch my head, feeling bashful that I'm basically working with the enemy. "It's not all that different from what we did back at the academy."

It's been about two weeks since I started my "job" with the V'rok'sh Tah'lj rangers as Captain Khazak Ironstorm's assistant. I wish I could say it's been an interesting two weeks, but sadly after the investigation we had my first two days, it has been incredibly boring. Khazak -- or Sir, as I sometimes know him -- wasn't kidding when he said most of his job was filling out paperwork; he spends most of his time in his office doing that.

"Isn't that kind of weird?" Adam sounds surprised. Understandable, given one of the main reasons we left home was questioning our entire system of law enforcement on top our own morality.

"It's a lot more boring than it sounds. The most exciting thing that happened last week was helping an old lady find her dog." She was thankful, at least. "Check it out though." I bring up one of my arms and flex. "They've got a gym."

Just because Khazak has to do a lot of paperwork doesn't mean I do, unless you count the whole 'trying to learn a new language' thing. When he's not making me work through my 'Learning Atasi' book (which is going...alright), we manage to break up the boring downtime with some fun activities. Not like that. (Well, except this one time we were stuck there kinda late...) I just mean there's been plenty to keep me busy.

Not only do I have a gym to workout in now, but a few days after I started, they tore down the old cells in the yard and converted the space into an outdoor training area. When I can convince Khazak or one of the other rangers to join me, we'll spar back there. It's mostly hand-to-hand stuff, which isn't really my forte against a bunch of muscled up orcs, but there's been a few times where I've gotten to wield a sword again. I even got my own work-issued shortsword! I know it's only been two weeks but it already feels like I'm starting to bulk back up.

"You'll be back to your old self in no time." Adam grins.

"Working out won't make you taller, David," Nate snarks.

"So anyways," I push past him, "if you see the girls can you let them know I won't be able to make visiting day next weekend?"

"Why, everything alright?" Adam tilts his head.

"Yeah, just gonna be spending the week in the woods." That's what Khazak told me a few days ago.

"You're just...going camping?" Nate squints his eyes.

"No, it's this ranger thing. Every week a different group goes out and patrols." One of those patrols is what got us caught. "At the end of the week a new group comes in and takes the old one's place. They rotate every four weeks or so and we leave tomorrow for our turn."

"Huh. Yeah I'll let 'em know. Have fun." I cringe inwardly at Adam's use of the word 'fun,' realizing that I basically just bragged about going on a camping trip for a week while they sit in jail. "If there's one thing we actually got good at in the last couple of months, it's sleeping outside."

"Did you have a nice visit?" Khazak asks when I return from the visitation room now that the hour is over. He's been kind enough to give me privacy when I meet with my friends.

"Yeah, it was good to see Adam." It has sucked to not have my best friend around to talk to about...any of the stuff that's been going on. "He's in good spirits, but he's always been pretty good at hiding when he's unhappy about something."

"What about your other friend?" He's still learning their names.

"Nate? He's fine. And I told you, he's not my friend." I refuse to acknowledge that dick as anything more than an acquaintance. "Thank you for bringing me."

"Of course." He reaches over and squeezes my shoulder gently as we walk.

Unlike work, things between Khazak and I have been anything but boring. Not that the excitement has reached anywhere near the levels of crazy drama that first week held. Would you believe I only managed to get spanked once last week? It was my own fault, I let Ragnar talk me into pranking Khazak by swapping his regular ink for some that turns invisible fifteen minutes after being put on paper. He didn't notice until he was writing a particularly-long report and the top started to vanish before he had reached the bottom. He said he spanked me once for each field he had to re-fill out on each form. I didn't keep count, but it felt like it.

Outside of that, things have been great. You'd think after almost three weeks of waking up next to and spending the entire day with someone, I'd be sick of him, but we've been getting along swimmingly. There's not a whole lot to do around here aside from eating, reading, and exercising, but he always manages to find something to keep us occupied. Which is sometimes me. Safe to say I think I'm getting kind of good at that kind of stuff.

"Ready to pack for tomorrow?" Khazak asks when we arrive back at the house.

"Yep. Do you have a bag I can use?" I'm gonna need a lot of clothes for a whole week. "And do you have an extra bedroll?"

"Mine should be big enough for the both of us." Khazak walks down the hall, turning into the spare room with me following.

"Your bag or your bedroll?" One of those makes more sense than the other.

"Both." He opens the closet and pulls out a large bedroll attached to a sturdy looking leather backpack.

"My clothes are gonna fit in there?" It's sizable but so is he--as are his clothes.

"No, this is filled with tools and supplies." He slings it over one shoulder. "I meant my other bag."

I look at him skeptically, assuming he's talking about the pouch he carries around when we go out. He snorts at the face I'm making, bringing his camping supplies into the bedroom and motioning for me to follow.

"This bag is much larger than it appears," he tells me after placing the bedroll on the floor and grabbing his other bag. He turns to one of his clothing chests and grabs a large stack of shirts and pants, a pile larger than the bag itself. I then watch as he proceeds to put all of them into the bag, which bulges out a little, maybe. Not nearly as much as it should; it should have burst by now.

"I knew it," I whisper to myself. Magic bag. I've seen them before. Well, I've seen one before, once. "Where did you get that?"

"A port city in the north." He motions me over, holding the bag open so I can peer inside. "My sister and I made the journey there together. I've had it over a decade."

Looking in the top of the bag is weird. It's pitch black, like a void. I'm almost scared to put my hand in. "How does it work?"

"After you have put something inside the bag, you simply need to picture it in your mind as you reach in to retrieve it," he explains.

I give it a shot, picture one of the shirts I just saw him put inside. The inside of the bag feels cool as I insert my hand, and suddenly my hand feels full. Pulling it out, I can see that I'm now holding the shirt in question. I repeat this with another shirt, and then a pair of pants. Then I try inserting my entire arm, touching the bottom of the outside of the bag with my other hand at the same time and ignoring the smirk I receive for my antics.

"That's awesome." I would love to get my hands on one of these myself. It would be so useful for traveling. Not only do they give you all that extra space, but anything inside is basically weightless. You could carry all sorts of equipment and loot in that thing.

"I trust this will suit our needs, then?" He hands me the bag so that I can start adding in my own stuff.

"Perfectly, Sir."

Khazak and I leave for the patrol the next day after lunch. He carries the bedroll and supplies while giving me the weightless bag holding our clothes and other items--I packed a couple of books in case it gets boring. He wasn't going to let me carry anything else until I convinced him to at least let me carry his bow for him, so I have that both strapped to my back with my shortsword scabbard.

The guards open the gates for us when we approach through some mechanism I don't see, but I'm willing to bet is magic. They both salute the captain as he passes through, closing the large doors behind us once we are on the other side. Immediately we are greeted by the sight of the forest. As we make our way forward, the trees around the city walls look larger than the rest, covering the wall hiding the city behind it. Their height seems to even out to normal levels fairly quickly as we move away, and you probably wouldn't even notice if you didn't know what you were looking for. More magic, or just good landscaping?

The forest is quiet aside from the occasional bird chirping or squirrel rustling the leaves. It's so peaceful and untouched, despite the fact that there's a city not even a mile away. There are no paths--that would probably defeat the purpose of the city being hidden--so it feels a little bit like we're just wandering randomly through the woods. Khazak seems like he knows where he's going though, so I don't question it.

"Do you know where we're going?" Okay, maybe I do. "I mean, are you doing this from memory or is there some kind of trail I'm not seeing?"

"Afraid you might get lost?" Khazak muses as he looks over to me.

"No... Maybe." The last time I was out here I ended up getting arrested so...

Khazak laughs and pulls me up to walk alongside him. "At this point I could probably get to the campsite blindfolded if needed, but there are landmarks. Remember that large tree we passed a short while ago?"

I nod. "It looked like some of the branches were bent strangely." Twisted together even.

"We left the city through the west gate, and walked two kilometers until we reached that tree." That's around one-and-a-quarter miles--my brother Mike would be proud at all the math I've been doing lately. "Then we turned northwest and have been walking another two kilometers looking for...that rock formation."

He points to a pile of mossy boulders coming up on our left. The smooth surfaces tell me they've been here a while. The largest of the boulders sticks up from the center, almost making the pile resemble some sort of throne.

"From here it is another kilometer north until we reach a stream with a fallen tree spanning it, and then after a short hike northwest from there we will be at the camp." Khazak marches forward confidently as he speaks.

I nod, glad for the instructions. I'm not actually worried, but if for some reason I do have to make it back to the city on my own, at least I know how. I try to pay attention to how long it takes us to cover a kilometer at our speed, it'll mean less math to try and do in my head later. I keep my eyes peeled for the stream in question, though I figure it will be pretty hard to miss. Unless the direction we're going is completely wrong, we'll have to cross it eventually.

I end up spotting the fallen tree before the stream. It would serve as a very useful bridge to cross, if the stream wasn't little more than a trickle. I barely have to jump to get to the other side. When we're both across, Khazak leans back against the fallen log with his hands clasped in front of him, waiting for me to tell him where we need to go next. Easy. We were already walking north, but I look up at the sun's position just to verify.

"Camp is that way." I point northwest from our position.

"Lead the way." He pushes himself up.

"Oh, is this my job now?" Despite my words, I start walking in the direction of the camp.

"Merely testing your skills," he defends as he follows.

"Uh-huh. You just wanna stare at my ass." I've gotten a lot more confident in the flirting area (at least with a guy).

I hear a thoughtful hum from behind me, but no denial. Yeah, he's totally looking at my ass right now.

We're only walking for a couple of minutes when I feel Khazak's hand on my shoulder. "Wait." He points ahead of us. In the distance I see a figure walking away from us, a person. An orc. Must be one of the other rangers headed to the campsite.

Suddenly, Khazak lets out a noise from my left, something between a growl and a bark. It's not loud, but it does make me jump. It also makes the orc ahead of pause and turn around, returning the noise and throwing an arm up to wave when they see us. They start walking back to meet us halfway.

"You didn't just say something, right? That wasn't a word?" Otherwise learning this language is going to be even more complicated than I thought.

"No," he chuckles, "Just a signal."

Once we get closer, I recognize the orc. Not just from the station, but...shit he's one of the orcs I fought in the ruins. The one who was slightly burned before I feinted his attack and uh, kicked him. He's a little shorter than Khazak, and a little chubbier, with medium length brown hair and a beard but no mustache. His left tusk is gold, either plated or replaced, and his arms are covered in tattoos, way more than the crest on Khazak's chest or the bands on his upper arms, probably more than I've seen on any other orc so far. Shit, what was his name? Ranger... Bighands. Nope, that's not it. Widefingers? No, wait it's-- "Deepfist!"

Both orcs turn to look at me for my sudden outburst.

"That is my name." The ranger in question leans in and leers at me, winking. "Maybe one day I can show you exactly why they call me that."

"I-- I--" I stammer, the implication of his words making my body flush immediately. Khazak had mentioned something about fists in passing the other day and my morbid curiosity made me press him for the details of what exactly 'fisting' was.

"Wow, Deputy Rockfang was not joking, it is easy to rile him up." Deepfist pulls back, a smirk on his face.

"If you are quite done," Khazak chides, but there's no irritation in his words. Probably just mad he didn't think of it himself first.

We resume walking towards the camp in silence. Comfortable for them, but awkward for me.

"I'm still really sorry about the day in the temple ruins!" I blurt out after another minute or two.

Deepfist tilts his head at my second outburst. "No need to worry, kid. You are practically one of us now." He smiles. "Besides, I was mostly over that once I saw you give the captain just as much trouble in the arena. Not bad for a human."

"You were at the arena too?" I really shouldn't be surprised by that anymore.

"Pretty much every ranger not on duty was there," he states like I should already know. "And the rest of the force was told the story in very graphic detail."

"...Great." You'd think after two weeks I wouldn't still get embarrassed learning someone was a witness to my very public fucking, but here I am suddenly feeling too warm in my clothes. Going forward, maybe I should just assume anyone new I meet has already seen or heard about me having sex.

"Hey, I said I was impressed. Most of us were." At least they're not dicks about it. "Call me Arik."

"...Thanks Arik." Khazak gives my shoulder a squeeze as we walk. I'm looking ahead for signs of the camp but all I see is more forest. Did I send us in the wrong direction? No, Deepfist was going this way too. Where the hell are we?

I jump back when a few yards ahead of us an orc just appears out of nowhere. Both orcs I'm walking with pause, but it's more because of my reaction than the orc who apparently knows how to teleport. She's dressed like a ranger, so I know she's no danger, but fuck. The new orc waves at us as she passes, giving me a funny look but walking past as if nothing strange has happened.

"I forgot to tell him the campsites are camouflaged." Khazak's voice is full of realization.

"That would do it," Deepfist chuckles.

"What the hell was that?" They must have pretty fucking good camo around here.

In response, after walking forward a little further, Khazak sticks his arm out ahead of him and everything up to his elbow disappears from sight. Oh, "camouflaged" with magic. It's not something Nate or Corrine are skilled in, but it's a pretty common practice to protect your campsite from wild animals--or other intruders--when traveling outside. It's mostly a natural caster thing. With another chuckle, Deepfist walks forward past Khazak and vanishes into thin air. Khazak tosses his head in the same direction, and as I walk past the threshold with him, a campsite suddenly appears where before there were only trees.

When me and my friends were first told there were 'orc camps' in the area, this is a little closer to what we pictured. Around a large central campfire are several tents, eight total with two on opposite sides that are much larger than the rest. One of those is open air, and I can see four orcs congregated at a table under it. Deepfist is over near one of the smaller tents, probably putting away his things, but Khazak leads us over to the group.

"Captain." A female orc dressed a little more officially than the rest--more like Khazak or his deputy, Ragnar--stands and salutes on our approach. Which around here is done by clasping your fist over your chest. As tall as the other orcs I've seen, with black hair and brown eyes. Her left tusk is shorter than her right, like it was damaged, and the top has been smoothed out. She's got a short, cropped haircut, honestly not that unlike Khazak. It suits her.