Sword in the stone.

Chapter eight: Familiarity

I wake up to the early Dawn. As per usual, Prissy is already awake. I walk downstairs to see her drugged(?) with a sleeping poison. I go to confirm it and see how long it'll last only to have her grab my arm. Huff, I guess I'm not leaving yet. I smile. Suddenly I feel something. I look to my left to see Dracula. He just chuckles.
"What do you want?" I interrogate snarling.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" He says smiling and wiggling his finger.
"What?"
I feel a sharp jab of a needle piercing my skin. Through heavy sways and blinks I hear, "let's see how you react to Nightmare Juice."

Dream

I watch Princess Alexandria fall into the river. She starts fighting against the current as I start shedding my armor to dive in after her. A strange man with elf ears but grey skin and huge fangs that cause an underbite beats me to to it. He jumps in before getting the princess to land. He tries to use a nearby tree branch to climb up but it breaks sweeping him back under the current.
"Shit!" He cries. I use my magic to make a geyser that shoots him onto land. He gasps and coughs before going unconscious. Helios emerges.
"What happened?"
"I think we just found our second guard."
"Really? Where?"
I point to the unconscious man. He nods, "he saved her."
"Okay," he says before waking up the unconscious man. I notice the strange tattoos adorning his body.
"Wha—what?" The strange man tiredly inquires.
"Hi," Helios says gently. The man looks over.
"Wait a second! Sir Helios and Sir Maltorn?!" He asks. I nod
"Yes."
"So the princesses—?"
"Sir Helios! Sir Helios!" Princess Alexandria cries running over.
"Yes, dear princess?" He asks turning to her. She smiles and throws her arms up.
"Pick me up!" She declares. He smiles and picks her up. She notices the strange man and says, "hey you're the guy who saved me! Thank you!"
He smiles rather cutely then says, "you're welcome, your highness."
"I've never seen anything like you before what are you?" Helios asks.
"To be honest I don't know."
"Really?"
"Yeah I call myself an orc because it's the closest fit. But from all my research male orcs can't speak logically. They're lucky if they can even speak in broken common... people laugh at me for being weird."
"I completely understand," I say.
"Huh?"

Dream ends.

I remember... wait that—that wasn't a nightmare! I look around trying to locate Dracula but realize I'm tied up. I finally spot him.
"Huh that's strange."

Jay's POV

I hear Prissy crying. I run downstairs. I see Maltorn's scepter but no Maltorn. Also it's glowing. Prissy meanwhile is curled up and looks terrified.
"Hey! Hey!" I shout. She looks at me. I ask, "what's wrong? What happened?"
She starts crying loudly... loudly enough to wake the others.
"What's wrong?" Alucard asks as he takes her hands.
"M—Maltorn," she sputters between sobs. 
"Huh?"
"Some weirdo named Dracula kidnapped him after sticking him with a strange drug."
"Oh... Oh no!" Alucard says. She starts crying harder. Okay then to call in the comedy squad. I get my orb and find Josh's contact.
"Josh... Prissy is tore up and needs some love—."
"Dude can we use the thing?" Alex'a voice interrupts.
"No... it takes five hours to recharge," Josh says softly.
"How do you know that?"
"I've looked at the code."
"Damn and you've only had it for eight hours."
"Well I mean knowing the creator and having a way to talk to him helps."
"Fair."
"Anyways hand the orb to Prissy and I'll make her feel better."
"Kk."
I hand the orb to Prissy. She clutches it and to spill everything.

Connak's POV

"I don't know how much more fighting I can handle... plus Maltorn, he—he cared for me! And now he got taken."
"Priss, it's okay I get it... hey guess what?"
"What?"
"In five hours we'll be able to help if you still need it."
"What? How?" She asks getting excited. I kinda feel a bit guilty but like I've been saying I don't trust orcs. Like the only one I know we can trust is Sir Tirarnois.
"You'll see!"
"Okay!"
She gets up and grabs the scepter.
"Listen, you feeling better?" Josh asks.
"Yeah."
"Alrighty, go kick some ass."
"Language."
"Sorry."
"It's okay... we need to get moving."
"Right."