An Orc's Journey

10. Glasgow. Life in the city

Hotels are nice at first. Feeling free and comfy. Not having to worry about washing clothes or dishes. That is until you spend 3 months in one. As Krista had been experiencing. It was up to her and Rodney to do things that Dehaka and Dits didn't have the time to do. Whilst they were out working or looking for a new adventure, she was in the hotel or waiting for their laundry. And she was so tired of having takeaway food. Fuck Chinese food. She needed an escape. And she found one.

She was coming back from washing Dehaka's clothes when it happened. She bumped into a Halfling running down the street terrified, at first he fell. Until Rodney caught him and slung him onto his back and continued walking home.
"I guess we're taking him with us?"
Rodney nodded.
"You know he's not unconscious right?"
Rodney didn't stop. Just continued home.
"I guess you're deaf then."

Upon reaching the hotel room Krista made the Halfling some tea and put him on the sofa bed.
"T-Th-Thank you s-so much."
"No problem. What's your name?"
"Rory"
"Nice to meet you Rory. I'm Krista and this is Rodney. Where are you from?"
"I used to live on the North plate of the Ivory Dominion. But we were driven out by war."
"War between who?"
"The elves."
"Against?"
"I don't know. we never saw them. But in the night the battles would start and we would wake to devastation. And some odd magical traces"
"What kind of Magic?"
"We could never tell. But it looked like a mix of life, death and space in an unholy blend."
"Could it be a new kind of Magic? Or race?"
"I doubt that. We'd know about them if they had. The portal matrix would have destabilised and everyone would have felt it."
"Sooooo. What is it?"
"A group of powerful mages who got to confident if I had to guess."
"Alright. Well until the boys get home, relax and enjoy yourself. Okay?"
"O-Okay"
Dehaka had spent his day the same way he'd spent the last 10, carrying heavy shit into houses for people. Whilst it would take 2 humans to carry 1 sofa, Dehaka can carry 2 at once. Which meant that he'd get more money for an easy job, since he couldn't carry more than one sofa at once because of company policy.

Dehaka walked to his normal spot just outside a bar to meet up with Dits. Somehow the bastard had gotten a job at an office further into town. He bought a suit for the interview, and nothing is weirder than seeing a St Bernard in a suit.

"Well you're early." Dits approached from down the pathway. In his normal attire.
"Finished early. They only wanted the fridge in today." Dehaka's eyes showed how thrilled he was. "How was your day?"
"I HATE computers, nobody in this place designs them for paws."
"Why would they? The only races we've seen here that aren't humans are tourists."
"You'd think they would at least consider it being possible for another race to work here."
"You'd think that we would have left by now."
"We have no reason to."
"We have no reason to stay."
"Where will we go? What about Krista? She's probably homesick and I can't blame her."
"Fuck meeee. Look at us! We're becoming like these people. We shouldn't have to worry about that! We just think as we go and go as we please. "
"And then what?"
"Did you not hear me say we think as we go?"
"Because that's a good idea."
"It worked before."
"We didn't have a child with us before."
"She's not a child anymore and she can hold her own. Even better than us sometimes."
"THAT'S" Dits cleared his throat "That's not the point."
"We can talk about this later. For now we need to get home." Dehaka looked as the sun was starting to set.
The two men walked to the hotel in silence.

At the hotel, something felt off in the lobby. It was cold, empty. Like something was missing from the place.
"There's no magic here." Dits held his hand out. "Seriously there's nothing. Not even the normal background magic."
"Background magic?"
"There's always magic in a location." Dits looked up. "Its getting stronger upstairs."

The 2 charged up the stairs to their floor. "Fuck me there's less than nothing up here."
"How is that possible? If there's less up here then there was some downstairs."
"Look, I've never seen this happen before, so just bare with me jackass."
"Seriously?!" Dehaka stopped moving "Then why are you talking about it? Just wait until you've seen it all then tell me about it rather than blind guessing."
"It doesn't matter now. There's something around the corner."
As the 2 rounded the corner Dehaka pulled Dits back.
"What's up?" Dits looked at him with confusion.
"Someone is outside our room, Human by the looks."
"Our room?" Dits rolled his eyes. "Of course it's our bloody room."
"Anyway, I can't see any weapons on her."
"So? What's the plan?"
"You're going to fight her whilst I go into our room and fight whatever else is in there."
"Right, I'll distract her."
"Well it would be weird if I did it now wouldn't it?"
"Shut up Dehaka, go rescue the bear and Krista."