The Juras Complex (Book 1 of the Darkfell Chronicles) #wattys2019

III

Vola heard the explosion before she saw it. The faint smell of blood and burnt flesh was the first thing that hit her before seeing a billowing pillar of smoke from the clearing she and Seb had set up camp in. The thunderstorm that had appeared earlier had vanished, leaving only the dark purple haze of the evening sky behind.

"What do you think that was?" She asked. Seb looked up from the pot of stew he was making, sniffed the air and frowned.

"Smells like an overloaded Aetherium reactor. Possibly from Thalos by the sound of the explosion."

"You think it's a royal airship? The folks in town said that the Saerunes were transporting something over to Arkos."

Seb scratched the top of his bald green head. "Maybe. You could go and check it out if you want. See if there's anything valuable worth taking from the wreck. Dinner will be waiting for ya when you get back."

"What if there's survivors?"

Seb snorted. "Doubt it. I'd be surprised if you even find burnt corpses judging by how big that explosion was."

Vola nodded and stood, picking up her warhammer and propped it over her shoulder, giving her goblin companion a wave before trekking into the dense forest.

"I'll be back."

~

It took Vola a good few minutes to get to the shipwreck, tripping over tree roots and getting her dark hair tangled in low hanging branches. At one point her warhammer got caught in said tree branches, snagging her backwards until she managed to wriggle herself free. When she did eventually make it to the crash site, she paused behind some trees. The ship - or what was left of it - had split into pieces of timber and metal around the newly created clearing. There weren't any bodies from what she could see in her spot behind the trees and she couldn't hear any movement. She went silent for a moment. Seb was right, there were no survivors. Then there was sudden movement near a pile of charred timbers and Vola drew her hammer, quietly sneaking up to the pile. As she got closer, a dark shadow disappeared behind the rubble and Vola lifted her hammer to strike. She let out a war cry and a young girl screamed at the same time. Vola glanced down, also letting out a scream before dropping her hammer with a loud THUD.

The girl scrambled back against a tree, picking up a charred piece of wood and pointing it at Vola. "S-S-Stay back! I'm not afraid to use this!"

Vola scratched the side of her good tusk, picking up her hammer and putting it back on her back. "You... do realise that's a charred bit of wood and that I have a giant warhammer, right?"

The girl paused, looking at her bit of wood, then back at Vola and then she narrowed her eyes. "I am aware."

"Then you also realise you're at a complete disadvantage against me, right?"

"I realise that, yes."

"Good! Now that that's cleared up..." Vola proceeded to sit cross-legged in front of the girl, sticking a large hand out in greeting. "Name's Vola, nice to meet ya!"

The girl stared at the hand, then back up at Vola. "Why aren't you attacking me or kidnapping me or something? You're an orc, right? I mean, you look like one but have smaller tusks and more human features, though you're around the same height..."

Vola tilted her head in confusion, then started laughing. "Well, duh! What rock have you been living under? I'm a half-orc, I'm a lot more civil than my full orc brethren."

The girl blinked a couple of times before resting a hand on her chin as if deep in thought. "I've... never heard of half-orcs before..."

Vola shrugged. "We're pretty rare. Tend to stay away from the heavily populated kingdoms and stay down in the Wildlands. What about you? Why were you flying over Halfmoon Forest?"