Six Warriors

A Warrior From A Far - (Arthur)

He woke up with a cow moo. Arthur got up and all he saw around were cows. He got up and saw that it was dirty. The sky was dark, it was night. Where were the others? He saw nothing but cows!

"Hey, that one was sleeping with the cows!" Said a young man who was passing by, beside another. They wore simple peasant clothes. "Moooo!" He mooed in imitation of horns with his index fingers. After that, they left there laughing.

"Wait!" Arthur asked, going after the men. "Where am I?"

"I think this one drank too much, Croy." He mocked and the other laughed. "I'll tell you where you are…"

"Where? Tell me!"

"In the land of the ox men. You started well, you were already sleeping with some cows." They then laughed more.

"You bastard!" Arthur grabbed the young man by the collar.

"Hey, hey, calm down buddy, I was just having fun."

"Have fun with someone else. Where am I?"

"Just an unimportant village in the middle of nowhere, I don't know how you ended up here, but…"

"Lightland, do you know what it is?"

"Are you from Lightland? Look, I've only heard of this place, I've never come close, leave me alone please!" The young man broke free and left with his friend whispering that Arthur was a strange fellow. The boy decided to follow them and saw that the information was correct, it was just a simple peasant village, wooden houses, corrals, animals in the street and the clay floor. People were looking at Arthur, they had never seen him before and his clothes stood out from the rest. Nearby, he saw a wooden sign that read “The Song and the Mug” and the picture of a musical note inside a mug.

"Must be a tavern." Arthur said to himself. "Hm, in RPGs there is always some information in a tavern." The boy then decided to enter. The place was rustic, lit by torches. There were a few people drinking inside, but nobody cared about the boy's arrival. A hooded figure played a lute in the corner and there was a smell of something baking in the air, something good, and Arthur realized he was hungry. He went to the counter where the tavern keeper was. "Excuse me, can I have something to eat?" He took some money bills from his world. The innkeeper, a middle-aged man, bald and with one eye bigger than the other one said, 'huh?' when Arthur spoke to him. The innkeeper took the notes and looked at them closely, as if analyzing them. "They are not fake, I guarantee that." Arthur said.

"Pieces of Scrolls? Are you a wizard?" The innkeeper growled at him. "You doesn't look like a wizard."

"I'm not a wizard and this isn't scrolls, it's money, dough, to pay for the meal I'm ordering."

"This here doesn't pay for a meal."

"Really? Hm, if it's not enough for dinner, how about a snack? A chips, or whatever… a bag of peanuts? A portion of fries?"

"Boy, here I only accept the coins of the realm. Where you come from, maybe you can buy something with these scrolls, but it doesn't do any good to me." The innkeeper aggressively returned the notes.

"That's okay, Clement, I'll pay for the young traveler." Said a young man approaching. He appeared to be in his early twenties, thin, with slicked-back brown hair and sideburns. He had a mug of beer in his hand, wearing a dark green doublet, beige pants, and brown leather boots. He tossed a silver coin to the innkeeper, who took it greedily and quickly. The young man approached Arthur. "Come, come friend, let's sit at a table." Arthur accompanied him to one of the unoccupied tables. "What strange clothes, traveler. Tell me, what land do you come from? From the far lands of Grieken? Or perhaps the sinister Prawfair?"

"Neither one nor the other. I came from lands too far away to be named."

"Amazing, a traveler who comes from lands beyond the domains of Moryak! What is your name, noble adventurer?"

"Arthur Coast." The boy squinted his eyes. That guy was being too nice...

"I'm Glastro, a simple resident of this small and quiet village, but I also love to travel. Maybe we can do it together one day. There are still many places I would like to see."

At that moment, the tavern keeper brought the food to Arthur, some kind of well-done meat that smelled good. Arthur didn't wait any longer and began to eat, even though he was still pipping hot.

"This looks great!" exclaimed Glastro.

"Why did you do this for me? Why did you pay for my food?"

"Because I'm interested in travellers' stories, especially ones who comes from such distant lands. Now tell me; what kind of scrolls are these you showed Clement? Is there any magic in them?"

"Magic?" Arthur laughed. "Not exactly."

Glastro looked disappointed.

"Too bad. You know… I've always been interested in the use of magic, but I don't understand much about it. My father never wanted me to get involved with these techniques, but after a lot of insistence, he let me practice with an old magician who lived nearby since I continue in the family job." Glastro sighed. "Unfortunately, he died soon after. But I learned how to do that." He created a small sphere of light in his palm, then the sphere took the silhouette of a beautiful woman who began to dance. "Ha, ha, ha, if my old dad saw this, I doubt he wouldn't want me to become an archmage!"

"Nice," said Arthur, without taking too much attention from the food.

The door to the tavern opened. Bad-looking guys entered. Greenish skin, snouts for noses. They had battered half helmets on their heads and wore a long traveling cloak that covered them all the way to their calves. Orcs. Arthur growled towards them.

"Orcs," Glastro whispered. "They like trouble and offer cheap service, they're good for foremen."

"Hey innkeeper, I want a beer!" He growled the request like an irritatingly intimidating barking dog. He glanced around the establishment and took aim at Arthur, smiling a cynical half-smile. With heavy steps, the two ugly ones approached.

The chosen one from the land was already preparing his fists, but it wasn't necessary… for now. "Look who's here, if it isn't Glastro Waste-All." He laughed and touched the young man's shoulder. "Eating and drinking with a friend? So you mean you got the coins?"

"Gentlemen…" Glastro smiled embarrassed, "the young traveler was kind enough to pay for me, a poor soul who was hungry and thirsty, in exchange for information about our feud."

"Is that so, Glastro?" growled the orc, intimidating but still smiling. He put more pressure on Glastro's shoulder. "And what did you say? I'm sure you praised our good and noble burgomaster."

"I haven't had a chance yet, but give me a second and I'll tell Arthur here about what a mangy noble dog he is."

"You scoundrel!" The orc prepared to strike Glastro.

"Let's calm down, gentlemen." Glastro thrust a dagger into the wooden table. "We don't want our noble travelers to think badly of our loved feud."

For a moment, the orcs looked intimidated, but then they began to laugh. They pulled back their cloaks and showed battle axes attached to their belts. In addition, they wore armor, a battered steel breastplate, and gauntlets of the same material. Glastro's eyes widened. The innkeeper yelled for a fight outside.

"I want my coins, Glastro!" The orc growled. "The lord burgomaster is being generous to you. How long has it been since you paid his taxes?"

"The lord burgomaster is a usurper mangy dog who does not deserve a penny from our people."

"You could lose your head because of this!" The orc snarled, pulling the ax from his belt.

"Or rather," smirked the other, bringing his ugly face close to Glastro's face, "seventy lashes on the back of that little sister of yours. In the public square. That's what we give to our boss's debtors."

"Never dare touch her!" Glastro got up trying to hit the orc, but the monster had the advantage of better positioning and hit the young man with a heavy punch to the temple, knocking him down onto the table that fell with everything; beer, meat and young man. The orcs laughed.

"My food…" Arthur stammered.

"What are you whispering in there, you plump?"

"Plump?…" Arthur slowly said the words, as if savoring the insult. He frowned at the monsters. The mysterious troubadour began to play a more agitated song on his lute.

The chosen one rose slowly from his chair.

"You hit my colleague, knocked over my food and still call me… plump?" Arthur growled. "Can't you see that I'm just stout?!" He roared aggressively, slashing at his opponent with a well-placed punch to the face, making the orc fall to the ground like a… like a Jack would if Arthur had the opportunity to punch him. The fallen orc's companion didn't wait for Arthur to prepare, just lashed out with his battle ax in a nimble blow. The boy protected himself by putting his bare arm in the course of the onslaught.

"Ga, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Laughed the orc proudly. "i***t, your arm is gone!" The attack hit Arthur's arm and the boy thought the monster expected the blood to spurt all over the side and an arm went flying to the ground, but he didn't expect that now a scab of pure rock was enveloping the young man's arm , who smirked at the foreman. "W… what the hell?"

"Aaaah!" shouted Arthur as he swung the ax away and then struck the orc in the middle of the chest, making the armor crumple and with the force of the impact, the foreman was thrown against the door of the tavern, crashing through it and falling outside.

"Who are you?" snarled the other orc who was now upright. "It doesn't matter, you'll know my ax blade!"

In his left hand, Arthur created a rocky crust that covered up to his forearm. He then lunged forward with a powerful punch against the horrendous orc.

"STONE PUNCH!" He growled as the stone ball slammed into the orc, hitting him right in the middle of the muzzle and knocking him against the tables in the corner of the establishment. With that, the two orcs were defeated, while everyone in the tavern looked at Arthur in awe.

"Yes, I really am phenomenal!" The boy thought to himself.