Isabel sat perched up against the cobblestone wall that surrounded her in every direction. A beautiful young lady in her mid 20’s with a fascinating bouquet of platinum blonde dreads peering down to the top of her shoulders. A fierce penetrating look in her deep hazel eyes peered around the room. She thought it was quite ridiculous that she had to be strapped down by these rustic chains, connected to a bolt planted deep into the dirt of a ground she was seated on. Normally she would have been able to escape, since dirt is quite easy to wiggle around with and break loose. But this time was different. They had firmly secured it at least 5 feet deep, a depth that was impossible to break.
It was just yesterday that the hideous Orc brought her here. One she hadn’t recognized, which was strange because she had been here most of her life and knew almost all of them, most of them not in a good way. A foreigner she thought as she carefully examined his build, searching for a moment of weakness to break free from his death grip. Mortuz was his name, she only knew that because she was eavesdropping in on his boss giving him orders. But something seemed different about this one. Despite his out of the norm, deep sapphire shade of blue color to his monstrous body, he just seemed…different. Something she found very intriguing to say the least. She knew she could use it to her advantage, if only she could figure out what that was.
Throughout all of this mess, she found it quite satisfying to cause a ruckus with the beautiful symphony of the chain orchestra. Making melodies out of swinging the chains almost in like a whipping style pattern with the occasional hi-hat moment when she would flick her wrist and they would echo off of the wall. Mortuz didn’t mind. He sat outside of her cell and was on watch duty until other others were given.
Isabel could feel his eyes staring at her, and every time she turned her head to look at him, he would quickly look the other way. She found it. His weakness. And it was her disturbing form of charm that was going to help her escape. But first she had to gain his trust.
“I hope you know I didn’t steal the Albus. They set me up. You see me? I’m a tiny women, how on Earth would I be able to carry a thousand of them? Surely I’m not that strong!” The Albus was the form of currency that only the kings had access to. A currency designed specifically for the noble, the kings, the rich, if you will. She heard a grunt as she looked at his one dagger style tooth that overlapped the outside of his upper lip. He began to shake his head, in what appeared to be an agreement with her previous statement.
Now that the ice was broken, she desperately fought for his attention even more. His FULL attention. “Mortuz? That’s your name right? I heard one of your buddies call you that. I’m Isabel.” She watched as he nervously glanced up at her but quickly look away. “Hey! Look at me please.” Once again he raised his head and their eyes locked. She could see the battle scars scattered throughout his facial complex. A 3 inch scar running from his right eyebrow down to the base of his nose stopping just inches from his lips. She saw other scars all over him. Some of the almost white like as whatever had cut him had peeled off layers of his sapphire scale mounted skin.
“Look at these chains. Look at my wrists. See that? Their starting to dig into my skin. It hurts. You know I’m a beautiful girl. I can see it in the way you look at me. But, I wouldn’t be so beautiful anymore if I stayed in these chains that are peeling off my beauty layer by layer now would I?” She watched as her lowered his head and buried them deep into his hands. ‘Hes a softy’ she thought. It was at that moment she knew she knew she had him.
Isabel could see that he wasn’t like the others. Eve though he appeared to have fought a lot of battles, she could tell he didn’t enjoy it. It was almost like he was a slave to the other Orcs. And that was something she could relate to. The feeling of not belonging. Or trapped in a position you absolutely hated, oh how she could relate.
She soon began to develop a heart for him. Not because her plan was to win him over and gain his trust just so she could be free, no, she genuinely began to care about him. And something deep down in her heart couldn’t just leave him here, probably to end up killed by the others after she were to break free. As she thought to herself, ‘ If I can get out, hes coming with me’, she began to develop a plan.
“I know you hate what you do for the others. I get it. I can see just by looking at you that you want to get away. I’m right, aren’t I?” She watched as his eyes slowly began to tear up as he grunted to acknowledge her. A grunt she understand simply as …’yes’.
“I see.” She said as she looked at him as he continued to wipe the tears away from his eyes. “You and me both. Two is always better than one right? If we work together we can get out of here once and for all. My father, bless his heart, has about 1000 acres of land, roughly 7 kilometers from here. There’s plenty of room for us to hide out. Is that something you’d be interested in?” His head immediately began to move up and down signaling a yes. It was then that she explained the plan to him.
Within a matter of minutes Mortuz stepped away from the door leading to her holding cell and returned with the keys to unlock the chains that so rudely had tied her down. As he unlocked the final one, she grabbed his monstrous hands that were 3 times the size of hers. “Thank you.” She said as she looked him in the eyes, and planted a kiss on what she figured was his cheek. And they began their escape.
As they reached the door to the outside world, they could hear the other Orcs yelling, well, more like heavily grunting at them as they sprinted towards them. Mortuz then set fire to the entryway with the fuses he had gathered together before they began their escape. As he watched the entryway erupt in flames, they both watched for just a few seconds, satisfied because they knew there was no way anyone was getting out of there. Would the whole castle erupt and then eventually collapse? That was the goal, but they definitely weren’t sticking around to find out.
As the flames increased they sprinted and ran as fast as they could. “No looking back.” Mortuz cried out, as Isabel’s jaw dropped in surprise. “You speak! How? Why?”. As they continued running, there was a few seconds before Mortuz had replied as they both began breathing heaving. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, but I’d like you to find out.” She smiled as she grabbed his hand and they drifted off into the land with one destination in mind. The city of Goffix was nothing but a rear view town etched in the back of their minds as they journeyed on towards a new life together.