A Grim Event

It was a grim morning at Benthez tower. Autumn had come to our land and the heavy rain was beating on the keep's wooden roof. My master was in a grim mood as well, you could see it in his orange - glowing eyes. My father always used to tell me: "Know a wizard by his eyes." It was evident in the master's eyes that he was a skilled practitioner of magic, especially within the branch involving fire and flame. As I said, he was in a grim mood and that occurred only when he anticipated a grim event. He had a limited sixth sense of sorts that worked best at predicting that kind of thing. I knew I had to put all of the servants and guards on alert because of his mood, but also because of the possibility that a grim event might be coming our way...

Just as the rain was beginning to cease, our watch tower guard sounded a warning. Unknown figures were approaching the keep. I went to see for myself before disturbing my master. There seemed to be seven or eight persons, unrecognisable at this distance. So, I waited a while, observing their approach. They were definitely headed towards us. After a few moments I concluded that at least four of them were orcs... too few to be a threat, but still potentially dangerous. It looked like they were leading a group of human prisoners. This was worth disturbing the master.

Master Nawor was in his chambers, as I had expected, alone and with his back to the door. He sat this way constantly, in spite of my frequent assertions against this habit of his. I possessed very limited influence over him although I was older and perhaps even wiser because he wasn't malleable at all and every time I tried to take on the role of a mentor, he became very taciturn. He would never agree to any of my suggestions and he seemed almost contemptuous when he called me a "whimsical old man". Never the less, I was very tenacious and sometimes even indomitable at such matters so I said it again this time, for the thousandth time: "I have to assert that your dissension with standard security measures is becoming somewhat frustrating, Master." I threw in a couple of my favourite hard words just to annoy him a little bit. He remained still for a moment there, his ginger tress hanging perfectly straight along his back. He inherited the ginger coloured hair from his paternal bloodline, as well as his intransigence. Though he was in his grim mood, he did not succumb to any grim influences that would make him pugnacious or belligerent but stayed amiable and affable... luckily for me, I must say. He slowly turned towards me, exposing his visage. It always made me uneasy when he did that the way he loves to do it, mostly because of the contrast on his face - his orange glowing eyes and his glacial facial expression. "Yes, I know." he said, "What is it?" He was being pretty inarticulate which surprised me, but I replied in a normal tone: "A group of credulous orcs is approaching the castle, my Lord. They seem to be leading some human prisoners. Those might be the "elite" spies that Count Evitagen sent out recently. - Ah, he is "notorious" for his highly skilled men, isn't he?" master Nawor smiled and made the smallest grimace. "I admire the orcs' fortitude", he said "let us greet them!"

We rode out with a ten horsemen escort followed by a melodramatic trumpet tune, which was supposed to repress the orcs' elation, if they had any. We stopped six paces in front of them and let our hubris shine on our faces. They were armed with a medley of blunt weapons and appeared to be rather diffident. Their leader approached us and spoke in the language of the Horde. I translated for my master this tongue that I learned the as a child, serving as a slave in one of the greenskins' camps? The orc leader said that he would trade these human prisoners, and he pointed to the five chained men who were in horrible condition and looked half dead, for food supplies. The orcs didn't' look hungry to me. Master Nawor answered repugnantly that the orcs would receive only exoneration if they set the prisoners free, right now. He used the word "exoneration" just to spite me and I had to struggle translating it back to the orc, very amusing... The orc only laughed in response and started to turn away but my master raised his hand and the entire group in front of us burst into flames, including the prisoners. Their bodies continued to burn for a couple more moments but then the sound of goblin war - drums deafened the soft crackling of the fire...