6. Inside the Merchant District.
1634 Words
"Welcome, to the city of Eliós, my home."
The very front of the city was busy with people, elves, and other creatures going to and from their daily lives.
Minto began walking forward with his mouth agape. "look at the buildings over there, look how tall they are, what kind of giant lives here?" He shouted lifting Miriá's hand and pointing at a statue. "A stone giant, was he petrified?" He turned his head again before anyone could answer him. "Lady-Shaél, are all cities like this?" He was brimming with excitement, but never once did he actually smile.
Shaél clapped her hand over his mouth to shut him up. "Be quiet, you are making a scene."
Minto hummed against her palm before his attention was caught by another statue this one was of a Hero standing fifty feet tall and made of platinum.
He dragged Miriá along like an excited child completely deaf to Shaél and Astrá's call.
He was about to enter a busy crossway when Astrá grabbed his hand and pulled him back. "Savior, that is not a good idea, you do not like being touched in certain places so I suggest you keep calm and watch where you go."
He looked at her, then at the other two ladies before regaining some composure.
"Let us leave here." Astrá suggested while walking toward a district lined with armored Trolls at every door. "My home lies on the other side of this place, we can have something to eat as soon as we reach."
"Why is such a high-classed district so close to the gates?" Shaél asked Astrá, unable to ignore the gold trims on every door, the fine marble plated steps and the extravagant colours that adorned each building, not to mention the expensive looking armors worn by the Trolls.
"This?" Astrá asked, gesturing to the whole district with her hands. "The was once a merchant market, what you see before you now is the least extravagant section in all of Eliós." She smiled back at the three who now had their mouths opened wide from the ridiculous statement.
"Maybe you were not informed because of your isolation in the Sacred Forest, but as Eliós expands, it is scheduled to become the replacement Beast capital city in a year or two."
"Surely you jest." Shaél shook her head. "In all my time..."
"It is the truth, Drofox the beast capital was attacked by a dragon they call Kavák, the beast kingdom was ruined."
Minto received this news bitterly before recoiling in anger squeezing Miriá's hand until she yelled and dragged her hand free of his increasing grip. "Another." He began seething, he stopped at the fork road they were crossing and shook with rage. "Why have the kingdoms not assembled an army and stormed Néthark?"
"Minto calm down, I can feel your magic pulsing around us." Shaél took his cheeks and stared him in his eyes as she had done on the road. "Still your heart child, if you create a mess..."
"It's worse than what happened to us Lady Shaél! First Wolfberry... now the entire beast kingdom, and all in search of some treasure that nobody can find, I'll kill them!" Minto snapped dragging himself away from her.
As he was backing away, he crashed into a large horse dragging a cage on wheels.
Before Minto could stand properly a deep voice from behind him grunted. "Watch where you walk you peasant, do you want to be trampled afoot?!" Followed by the person grabbing him by his hair in a fist-full and raising him off his feet.
Everyone fell speechless, even Minto himself was quiet for a second, but then for the first time in his life his eyes coated over completely with bloodlust.
"Minto!" Shaél called as his face grew demoniacally dark, but to no avail.
"My Savior, wait!" Astrá tried calling but became dumbfounded when the bulking figure behind Minto went into the air.
"Argh, was he always this dense?" Miriá slapped her forehead.
Minto grabbed the hand holding him above ground, and with a single swing he raised the person off their horse and slammed them into the ground before his own feet landed back with a loud slap.
In front of him was a high Orc with a slim muscular build adorning light armor and a large sword similar to the one Astrá carried with her.
"You dare!" The Orc began standing, but was shocked as Minto grabbed one of the tusks that protruded from his lower jaw and forcefully leaned his head with a loud growl.
"No, you dare." Minto hissed lowly.
The Orc, being almost three times Minto's size stood and grabbed him by his arm before tossing him through the glass window of the closest merchant store, causing the fine goods on display to break along with the shelves that supported them.
"Lord Wolfsword!" Astrá ran up to his side frowning. "He is an ally!"
"That lad is in your company Astrá?" The blue skinned warrior turned to her with a huff.
Before Astrá could reply Minto stood from the rubble, he rocked his shoulder back and forth several times before raising his head.
A passing gust took the form of a whirlwind and slammed into the middle of the street blowing away everything and everyone in the immediate vicinity, except Shaél who kept her feet planted firmly on the ground by some unknown magic, and Wolfsword who had the weight to hold his footing.
The store Minto was standing in shook and then snapped open like a cracked nut as he began walking out the window he had been thrown through.
"Minto, calm yourself!" Shaél shouted above the winds, but still the halfling heeded nothing she said, instead Minto's wings exploded from his back, ripping away his shirt as he began a ground-shaking sprint toward the Orc.
From the winds that pushed his massive body, Wolfsword was left with no choice other than getting hit or drawing his sword, so he did the latter and swung the weapon aiming for Minto's neck with all his strength, Minto grabbed the coming blade with his bare hand and propelled his fist into the Orc's exposed stomach causing him to weightlessly trundle across the road and crash into another merchant store destroying it.
A crowd was gathered, and for several long silent breaths, Minto's wings kept him afloat before he landed with a thump and looked their way causing many to avert their eyes and disperse.
His hair floated enchantingly in the wind and his wings jittered as he looked on every expression, ranging from fear to hate before his eyes met three pairs of concerned gazes.
"Minto, that is enough." Shaél calmly spoke, walking up to him and taking his hand. "I understand your anger, believe me, I know what you are feeling, but that gives you no right to lash out at the world around you."
He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes trying to see her words calmly, but it only made him angrier.
Angry though he was, he did release his control of the elements causing the winds and tremors to stop.
"Aside from my parents, I haven't ever spoken to anyone else in all my life." His wings closed on his back and he looked at her. "You don't understand, you can only partially relate, just look at their stares, there's only fear or intent to kill." Minto stared her down as though trying to allow a pathway to his soul.
"You have me now, you also have Miriá as well as Astrá, who has been nothing but good to you these past few days, you are no longer alone."
As she said this, Minto's wings began to jitter again.
The store which Wolfsword had epically crashed into suddenly had a bit of a rumbling, then out charged the Orc enraged with his large sword ablaze with blue flames.
Shaél grabbed Minto by his hands as he attempted to start another round with the high Orc, and Astrá swiftly unsheathed her sword and clashed it against Wolfsword's.
"Move Colvin!" The Orc roared in rage, clutching his stomach with one hand and pressuring Astrá with the other.
"Please calm down, we cannot fight as we please here!" She stood her ground before the blade of her sword ignited with a bright yellow flame. "Please."
"I will crush you too then!" Wolfsword was about to grab her when Miriá from out of nowhere appeared behind him and punched him in the back of his head sending his face smashing into the brick road and rendering him unconscious instantly.
Astrá sighed and sheathed her sword. "Can the owners of these stores please step forward." She called into the crowds, moments later three merchants stepped forward timidly. "I will compensate in full for one of these stores, the other donation will come from Lord-Wolfsword here, so someone take him back to the Thunderscar Guild and see to it that his horse and cargo are attended to.
She then turned to her guests. "Let us not dally any further, I am famished."
As they left the scene Miriá quickly took Minto's luggage and held his hand again. "This time I won't let go." She stared at him, but he was completely unresponsive with his eyes glued to his feet as they pressed and raised off the ground.
"Lady-Shaél.." Minto mumbled.
"No need to apologize, you need only be careful, you have a scary power right beneath the surface of your anger, so when we begin your training tonight, I will be sure to address that." Shaél replied, causing his head to snap up.
"Thank you." He gave her a complicated smile.
"My Savior, have you had your magic amplified by that item bedded into your flesh?" Astrá asked Minto while looking at the broach on his forearm.
"No, this thing has nothing to do with my own power, my mother seeded it into my skin before she died." Minto replied absentmindedly while looking at it.
They walked in silence after that, crossing another district and over a small brick bridge above a canal before Astrá stopped at a large iron gate joining walls that had no house on the other side. "Here." She said taking a step toward the gate and placing her hand on the lock.
"There is nothing on the other side." Miriá said confused.
"I am an adventurer, and as the Mascot and a valued member of my guild I was granted special protection from the start." Astrá smiled back at the halfling before pouring raw magic into the lock which instantly opened up.
The moment she touched the iron gate a small house appeared on the empty property ahead of them, and once they all entered, and she closed the gates the lock vanished from her hand before appearing on the inside of the gate, suddenly the small yard shimmered away to reveal a hilariously large property, completed with a small river a pond and what looked like a training ground in the distant.
"This is my actual property."
- Writer
