She stood up. Her legs felt unsteady under her.
A commotion erupted outside. Raised voices, the sound of boots on packed earth, orcs calling out to each other. She walked into the living room and looked out the window.
Morgath was rushing down the street toward the community center. He wasn’t coming home. Other orcs were rushing too, dozens of them converging from different directions. She heard them shouting to each other, though she couldn’t make out the words.
A feeling of apprehension assaulted her. Something bad was about to happen. She could feel it in the air.
She made a split decision. If Morgath was in town, then there was no one in the hut. This was her chance. She ran to her bedroom.
Audrey didn’t know why she was doing it, but she pulled on her hunter gear. She strapped two daggers to her thighs, and another one went into her boot, the handle pressing against her calf. She grabbed her gun and tucked it into the waistband of her pants at her lower back.
Bullets didn’t do much when it came to orcs. Their thick skin and dense muscle made them hard to kill with human weapons. But it was better than nothing. At least, she’d feel protected, feel like herself again.
She slipped out the back door and took the long way to the hut, avoiding the main paths and sticking to the shadows.
Night had fallen almost completely. The sky above was deep black, scattered with stars that gave almost no light. Her eyes adjusted, and she could make out the shapes of trees and the outlines of buildings.
She moved fast. She didn’t know how much time she had before Morgath returned, didn’t know how long whatever crisis had pulled him away would keep him occupied.
The hut appeared through the trees, dark and silent. She watched from the shadows for a minute, scanning the windows for any sign of light, or indication that the new apprentice might be inside. There was nothing.
She moved to the door. Morgath trusted his orcs so much that he never locked it. But then, why did he keep the storage room locked? She’d find out soon enough.
She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. The darkness was complete, thick enough that she could barely see her own hands. She fumbled for a candle on the workbench and lit it. The flame flickered to life, casting dancing shadows across the walls.
First, she grabbed the midnight blue vial from the shelf. It wasn’t exactly poisonous, but it was better than nothing. A paralyzing potion might help. She tucked it into the pocket of her vest. Then she pulled out the skeleton key and approached her target. She’d wondered about this room since the first time she’d been here, wondered what Morgath kept hidden behind a lock when everything else was left open and accessible.
She slid the key into the lock and turned it. The mechanism clicked, and the door swung open.
Audrey gasped.
Weapons filled the room, shimmering with magic that made the air itself seem alive. They were on shelves, hung from the walls, laid out in careful rows. Daggers of all sizes lined one shelf, some curved and wicked-looking, others straight and simple. Arrowheads sat in neat rows beside them, their tips gleaming. Swords hung on the walls, both long and short, their blades catching the candlelight and throwing it back in strange patterns.
The metal gleamed with more than reflected light. There was a magical shimmer that surrounded each sharp blade. She could feel the power radiating from them, a low hum that seemed to vibrate in her bones.
She had found the treasure trove.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Audrey walked into the storage room and stopped just past the threshold. The space was larger than she’d expected, extending deeper into the back of the hut than the exterior walls suggested.
She didn’t need the candle anymore. The shimmering magic surrounding the weapons gave plenty of light. She blew out the flame and set the candle on a table next to the door. The room glowed with a faint shimmer, the light shifting between shades of blue, green, and gold.
Audrey moved toward the nearest shelf and studied the blades, picking them up to weigh them and check their balance. She was looking for one that felt right, something balanced and deadly that would fit her grip perfectly. Most of the daggers were too heavy or too long, designed for orc hands rather than human ones. She worked her way along the wall, testing blade after blade, until she found one that fit her palm.
Her fingers shimmered as she held the hilt firmly, and she felt a tingling in her hand. The sensation spread up her arm. She didn’t know whether it was normal or not. She’d never wielded an orc weapon before. But it seemed natural for her to feel the magic in the dagger.
She had to be careful with the blade. If she cut herself by accident, the magic in it was pure poison. It could infect orcs and spread through their bodies like a disease, but when it came to humans, it could kill them almost instantly.
She turned the blade and watched the metal gleam with a shifting rainbow of colors. She found a leather sheath and attached the dagger to her waist.
Audrey walked out of the storage room and locked the door. She’d found what she needed, and there was no point in lingering here. She slipped the midnight blue vial out of her vestand squeezed it in her hand. For some reason, she felt better holding it.
She walked back to town with her senses alert, scanning the dark forest for any sign of movement. The air felt different, but she couldn’t pinpoint why.
The roads were empty when she emerged from the tree line, not a single orc in sight. As she approached the community center, she heard clamor inside, voices raised in what sounded like argument or alarm. She didn’t want to go in until she understood what had gotten everyone so riled up, so she tried to round the building, moving along the side wall to look through a window.
Morgath burst through the front door before she could make it halfway around. He was wearing his skull helmet, the massive horned bone covering his entire head. That took Audrey aback. If he was wearing it again, it confirmed that something was seriously wrong.
