1

While Dorsea and Lou worked away, Crest and Alabaster bumped mugs. It had been a while since the two friends had seen each other, and when they got together the room was sure to get livelier.

“So,” Crest said. “You’ve finally completed your world trip, huh?”

“More or less,” Alabaster’s head bobbed left and right. “I’m finally back to stay this time. Thinking about getting a house and home and taking it easy for once. I’ve had enough adventures for a lifetime and then some.”

Curious as to the whereabouts of his cohort’s buddies, Crest asked about Alabaster’s crew. “Where are the guys by the way?”

“Back at the ship. They’re watching over her for the night. We brought back quite a haul.”

“Good.” Crest held his chin, stroking it as if he were almost in a contemplative mood. He pointed at Alabaster. “So, you’ve come back with a lot of treasure then, huh?”

“Interested?” Alabaster raised his eyebrow with a smirk. “Can’t promise you anything as unique as last time, but I still have plenty to pass around.”

Crest shook his head while wafting. “No, not this time. I already got the two best treasures in the world. Not only did I get powers from our last meeting, but you gave me Dog Killer as well. That’s enough for me. Besides, I hate begging other men for stuff.”

Narrowing his eyes, Alabaster looked confused. “So you prefer to bef women for stuff? Poor Borka. You know that’s not very manly Crest.”

Crest slammed his mug of beer so hard the drink shot up from it. He had a cartoonishly angry face. “NO YOU IDIOT! I DON’T BEG WOMEN EITHER!”

Patting Crest’s shoulder to put him at ease, Alabaster took note of just how menacing Crest could be in his beast form. “My, my what a scary look. But I only kid my friend.” Unbothered by his appearance, Alabaster laughed in his face anyway. “By the way,” he went on, wiping a tear from his eye. “Where is Borka anyway?”

Scrunching his face, Crest scratched the back of his head like a monkey with fleas. “Yeah, she’s taking care of some things upstairs right now.”

“Oh,” Alabaster’s face became humorless. Borka was busy attending to something more important than the customers during open hours? That struck him as a little odd. “What would that be?”

Crest’s eyes met the ceiling. “Well, you see….”

2

The darkness she stumbled through was a sign it was getting late.

Borka lit a couple of candles to bring light into the guest room she was occupying. She blew out the match, then stepped to the sink. Pulling out a bucket from underneath the cabinet she ran some water in it. While the water was running, she grabbed a face towel too and dropped it in the pail as it began to fill.

After a minute or two the bucket was filled to the point of spilling over.

Borka was always a bit careless in that way.

Making her way across the room, she sat in a wooden chair adjacent to the bed she had prepared for the ‘mystery girl’. Once she was comfortable, Borka took a deep breath. She looked on the girl with heavy eyes. Borka had made sure the girl was dressed and was resting snug as a bug. The clothes she had given the girl were nothing special, they were meager sackcloths, but they at least kept her from being naked.

Digging her hand in the bucket, Borka grabbed the towel from the water. The mysterious girl had been abnormally warm all day, so at intervals, Borka would cool her face. Crest had entrusted her to do it, because he said she was the most ‘motherly’ of them all. But each time she had to do it she felt a twinge of envy well up in her bones. The girl, despite her grievous blemish, was beautiful. Almost nauseatingly so. Borka huffed. Her beauty is…. intoxicating. I wonder, she thought, is there room for me in Crest’s world with girls like this?

Borka squeezed the excess water from the towel into the bucket, and then placed it on the girl’s forehead. Groaning in her sleep, the girl fidgeted as the towel touched her head. She turned over on her side causing it to roll off. Borka got up puffing. What a hassle. Taking the towel in hand she pulled back the covers to adjust the girl’s body. She couldn’t quite get a grip on her though, the lovely brown beauty just kept turning.

Pausing, Borka gave herself a wakeup slap. This couldn’t be that hard. Gearing to grapple the girl once more, Borka made methodical movements to tackle her prey. Unfortunately, as she moved in her face felt a fatal blow. With the force of a hammer in mid swing, the mysterious guest landed a punch on Borka strong enough to break teeth.

With strength like that, she was no ordinary girl. Borka could tell.

“You bimbo!” She shouted to no one. “I wish you would be still and take—”

Yawning, the mysterious girl began to awake. She opened her eye. Standing there in her sights was Borka.

Borka paused. Sweat poured down her forehead. Hesitating, she babbled something almost inaudible. “Uh….h….hello?”

The mysterious girl’s eye widened to the size of a pancake, her yellow iris becoming as big as a moon. Seconds later her screams filled the room. Fumbling back, Borka began to scream as well. It was a cluster of confusion and the orc was unequipped to handle it. The mysterious girl looked towards the exit. Tossing the covers off her, she ran past Borka, who had pinned herself against the wall, and out into the hallway.

3

“You’re kidding,” Alabaster’s mouth went agape.

Crest shook his head. “Nope.”

Facepalming, Alabaster hung his head low. “You would think that magic would make the world a better place. Seems that in some respects it has only made it darker. Poor girl. What do you plan on doing now?”

Cutting in Lou added his snide two cents. “Yes Crest. What are you, the one taking advantage of my goodwill, planning on doing?”

Ignoring him, Crest continued as if he hadn’t heard what he said. “Lou is going to let her live here rent-free. Right, Lou?” He looked at him with the dumbest smile.

Withholding the desire to strangle Crest, Lou sighed, moved on, and poured himself a drink for once.

Alabaster twisted his lips humorously. “A new face around here just might be what you need to perk your sour mug up for once Crest. In you guys’ care I’m sure she’ll recover.”

“Welllll,” he started. “She might not be here to stay. But that doesn’t matter. So long as we do our jobs as samaritans, I’ll feel right and bright again. Although I wouldn’t call myself ‘sour’. What brought that on?”

Pulling on his mug, Alabaster raised an eyebrow. “Come on Crest. You don’t think I know you’d be much happier following in after your father and brother? Every man desires to see the world, this being the era that we live in. You’re no different my friend.”

Crest cringed. “The only reason you did any traveling at all was to get laid a bunch of times you old coot.”

Alabaster laughed through his teeth. “I am, who I am.”

“Good grief.” Crest held his hand to his head. The second-hand embarrassment he felt was unreal. But that felt nowhere near as bad as his ears, which were ringing.

All of a sudden Crest could hear a loud, ear piercing scream coming from somewhere. Irritated, he grinded his teeth. “Do you guys hear that?”

Customers started to raise a fuss. Mutters filled the room. Exactly what was going on? Whatever, or whoever was screaming, had the tavern in a state of unrest.

Plugging her ears with an empty platter under her arm, Dorsea frowned as she walked back towards the bar where Crest and the gang were. “If I had to guess. The baboon’s new toy just woke up……joy.”

Footsteps shot off. Something was coming down the stairs at a rapid pace. Huffing and puffing could be heard clearly as well. Everyone looked up, as a shadow descended. Appearing at the end of the stairs stood the mysterious girl. Looking around, her breath became heavy. People surrounded her. Panting. Claustrophobia. Mixed emotions all came over her at once. Where was she and who had brought her here? She gripped the banister as she looked out onto the dining room floor. People stared and whispered. Her heart felt like it was stopping. The feeling inside her breast was so tight, she grabbed herself in a panic.

“Hey!” A voice came from her left. Her eye widened. It didn’t look like a man, it looked like a monster. Yellow eyes, red pupils, dark skin and horns? Definitely a nightmare. He came at her with his hands out, slow and methodical. “We don’t want to hurt you.” He said. But she didn’t believe it.

“Stay away from me.” The girl pointed. “Stay the hell away!”

“Listen,” the unacquainted Crest said as he approached. “I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot, my name is Crest and I’m the b—” Suddenly, he was off balance. Unforeseen by him was a misalignment in the floorboards. Tripping he went falling face first into something that felt soft and cushiony.

The mysterious girl grew bright red, her face flush. Crest was faceplanted in her boobs. The girl’s eye twitched. Fury came over her. Suddenly her hand went swinging. “YOU PERVERT!” There was a deadly smack, and Crest went careening into the floor. So powerful was the slap, he couldn’t even find it in him to maintain his creature form anymore.

The girl had swatted him like a fly on the wall.

Seeing what she had done, the best the girl could muster was a “whoops.”