Malefactor Redux

[Gildarts]

Epilogue.

Whompt grunted as he made his way through a path that parted through the forest. It was partly a disbelieving scoff to himself, and another part a relief as he looked down at his once-deep wounds and his still-moving body, which told the orc that he was alive.

As far as the mercenary was concerned, the chapter in his life involving the Malefactor had closed in that hospital room, it’s newest host, Gildarts. Whompt saw the way Gildarts fought, honorably, with power, and even the orc could not doubt that Gildarts had something that could not be taken away easily. Still, Whompt had wanted the Malefactor for himself. As soon as his ears had heard the first leak of its emancipation, he could not help but to go after it. To have more power as a mercenary might just guarantee a better pay, and more nameship throughout the verses. It was only a matter of luck that the orc had been hired along the way, while he was investigating the Malefactor, that he encountered an elf.

This elf’s village had been destroyed, so Whompt, passing through and gathering intel on the creature, had conveniently pronounced his profession when the elf had said the ringing phrase, “I wish I could find someone to go after it.” Even the orc found himself grinning at that point, for it was all just too easy.

Now, however, Whompt had to deliver the news, however, he could assure to the elf, what was his name... Richard? That it was at least in the hands of someone who might hold it with better, more sparing care. As far as Whompt knew, Gildarts was across the verses by now, one traveler to another, the orc knew how a single mission could take a man far away from his home. In some respects, the merc’s mission was completed, since the Malefactor would do no immediate harm. Whompt reflected on Gildarts, who sat relaxed, but restlessly in the hospital bed. Then, the orc thought about their journey across the ‘Greens together, and found himself smiling under his ivory tusks.

The wizard, he thought, was a good man. There was however, a bitterness on his mind and licking at the orc’s gut when he thought about how Gildarts had retained the treasure he had so diligently worked for. Finally, the orc sourly concluded that if he could not have it, (after too, reflecting on the near-immediate rampage where the orc had no control over his body), Whompt was glad Gildarts did, for he was, indeed, worthy.

How had the orc come to this conclusion? There was still a pang of defeat when he thought of the rival Prime’s name, yet, Whompt knew how to judge a warrior as well as any, and in a battle of life and death, he would take no other Prime for his partner.

The face of the cat flashed into his mind, and he was reminded that Gildarts already had a partner, no matter how small. A strange thought, that such a mighty warrior would choose such a small... Creature, to accompany him on his travels. Whompt preferred the sound of solitude, which rattled and buzzed with the call of the forest, much more than he liked a companion’s nagging voice telling him which road to take, which food to eat today, and which job that he would be best suited for. The orc grunted and blew air through his bulging nostrils passionately. Gildarts, had been an amusing partner, for the short duration he had had him. Somehow, Whompt could not keep the idle thought from his mind, that those were the days...

The orc trudged on, and as he did, his wounds shimmered like fairy dust, and dissipated in the wind. Whompt knew the many avenues of the Tangled Green, very well, made it back to the elven village before the sun dipped below the horizon, and the stars had yet to be covered in a blanket of black.

Sparingly, the nomad summoned some water, and guzzled as he drank gallons from the leather canteen. Ahhhhhhh. It was refreshing, however, when the orc opened his mouth to breathe a sigh of release, and thought that he would be glad to be done with this entire ordeal, it came out more like an angry howl and silenced all of the nearby nightbirds, “ARGGGHHHH!”

This call, alerted the guards outside of their makeshift gate, for the Malefactor had used someone’s body as a host, to destroy his home’s village. It was a sad thing, the tragic stories, the creature’s own existence, for he could never ascend to what power he wanted most. The power of man.

“W-WHO GOES THERE?!” the elvish guard readied an arrow on the brow of his bow.

“It’s jus’ me. I’m here returning from the quest you hired me fer.” Whompt wasn’t going to reveal all his cards, out in the open, that wasn’t how good business was done.

“H-have you brought it?” there was sudden fear sparking in his eyes, he lowered his bow slightly, but not all the way, it was still trained on the orc’s shoes when Whompt growled.

“Yeh gonn’ let me in or wot?” the orc’s face looked mighty terrifying in the shadows of the dark, flickering flames of nearby torches cast some dramatic pools of darkness in the hollows of Whompt’s beady eyes, making them more strikingly carnivorous than normal.

“Yes sir, I’ll get Richard.” Humph, an elf named ‘Richard.’ The gate made of... huh, vines and brambles, however very sharp with intertwined thorns, rose above the orc’s head.

The orc’s tongue had gone dry, despite all the water he had just swallowed. It had been a long, long time since he had so drastically failed a mission. He would deliver the news, straight and outright, and hopefully be on his way, he did not want to be in the Tangled Green, for it reminded him of his arduous journey, that had reaped no results.

Soon the orc was brought to a small meeting room, and Richard, a shorter elf with long, well-kept, silver hair was gazing back at him from a chair, across a too-small table for the orc. Whompt shifted uncomfortably in the seat that did not fit his ass. Then, responding to the patient yet eager look on Richard’s stony face, Whompt delivered the news in the most straightforward manner he could, “I didn’ get the job done.”

Richard narrowed his eyes analytically, as though hundreds of calculations were going through his mind at once, it gave him a very powerful presence, suspicions rose to his face, but he voiced them in a most stoic way, “And yet you are here, does that mean you encountered the creature?”

Whompt explained what had happened in a few sentences or less, yet, surprisingly, grew a bit more detailed when he explained he had been possessed by the monster itself, and had to be defeated by Gildarts to regain control. He described it clearly, how what Whompt had felt during the Malefactor’s takeover and how very cognizant he was throughout his battle. After a while, the story hung on the elf’s spiked ears as he computed in silence.

“And this... Gil...Darts you say he was perfectly normal when it was in him, for an entire day in the hospital as he recovered?” The elf was smart, and could infer the details from Whompt’s journey though the effects that his action had caused.

“Tha’s right,” though Whompt did not say it, (it was not his information to tell, and the mercenary did not deal in information, nor trade another man’s secrets without a good price) he himself reflected on the his companion, a little cat named Piqui, who seemed to have the ability to calm him. Richard’s sharp, grey eyes speared into the orc’s flesh. It was almost as though the elf had read Whompt’s mind, but if he had, no one would have known it.

“... I see.” Richard concluded finally, “It seems, that though you were unsuccessful in bringing back the orgosynth here to us, you have caged it for a good time, within a man who may not be so easily shaken by the madness that it causes to stir. We, as a community, commend your efforts.”

A pouch of gold was set on the table. Followed by a heavy “Clunk!”

The orc’s eyes bulged with anger. It was almost a dishonor to see the money offered to him for a job that had not been completed to the orc’s satisfaction. Still, Richard seemed to expect this result, it had obviously streamed through his head that though the orc may not take the reward they had to offer, it would be, to them, disrespectful not to offer it. Not to mention, dangerous.

Whompt was an orc, and a very strong prime mercenary. Recently, he’d been thrown off a cliff on his journey, and on the mission they had sent him out to do, the prime had nearly died. It was only fair to compensate, but no... There was something more hiding behind the shield that Richard had for eyes. Whompt could not see it, for his own were clouded by anger of the highest dishonor, but surely, had someone with a clear mind been peering at the room, the scene would have been very easy to read.

Whompt’s chair had crashed into the ground, nearly breaking the shambles of wood it was crafted with. The elf started, yet remained in place, with his eyes trained on the angry orc, with careful precision to watch the Prime’s axe over his shoulder, and the power that came with a single movement of the beast’s hands. Yes, behind the veil of Richard’s eyes, it was not hard to tell, that the elf had offered this gold not simply out of obligation, but of fear.

Richard said nothing, quivering in place, yet with the spasms to his elven muscles undetectable to the eye. The enraged orc looked down at the gold, then to Richard, and spat in disgust. Yes, he was a mercenary, but even mercenaries only got paid when they were due. This was not due. The orc knew that much, there was an aggressive look in his beastly eye, and Whompt surmised how he was feeling in a single sentence, for it seemed now, that even through the orc’s thick green head, he knew why the money had been offered. Whompt spoke with his words littered in accented anger.

“Tell anyone tha’ passes t’rough tha’ I’m look’n for a job.”

It was a fitting, and almost just notion, for Whompt had, in way of his own services, advertised his need for a new job, and should the elves do that, collected his payment in a form that was not money. In a way, each benefited from the transaction, yet the money was left on the table.

Whompt had stomped out, leaving Richard and two other onlooking elves in silence, each who’s shoulders fell as the orc left the hollow, wooden room. Whompt, left this village as another chapter closed. Whompt left this village, with no where to go but the road.