[hr][hr][h2]Auguz the Manslayer[/h2][hr][hr]
The orc raised a white eyebrow as the dwarven crone began weaving her rhymes. It took him a moment to parse her meaning, though perhaps not as long as one might expect of his race. The name she mentioned matched what the Warden had said---Malasta. It was not a city he was familiar with---but how different could one be from another, especially where humans were concerned? There would be buildings, and roads, and fools packed tighter than in any orcish fortress. They needed to find an inn called the Golden Chalice. He couldn't imagine such a place [i]not[/i] standing out like a sore thumb. He rolled his brawny shoulders and neck, relishing the crack and crinkle of joints now that he was free once more. Had his beard and hair grown longer while he had been imprisoned? He stroked it curiously...but, without a mirror, he could not be sure. 

The blue woman's voice drew his narrowed gaze. He didn't much care for all her clinky, gaudy jewels... nor for the spark of magic that ran along her slender arm. She was tall for a female of most any race, but far skinnier than a proper orc lass would be. He couldn't believe she was human, or at least not in whole, but he couldn't recall seeing many races of that skin hue in his travels. He growled as she released a bird from a cloud of smoke, and made a protective sigil with his index and middle fingers on his right hand---a folk belief of his clan, originally used for meditation to guard the mind.

A pity such a thing could never have worked on that thrice-damned Warden.

When the woman cast the bird off, she turned to him and smiled. How did these creatures tear their meat, with no tusks in their pitiful mouths? He grunted at her attempt to reassure him. Did these people think him simple? The swordsmaster crossed his burly arms and wrinkled his nose. Then the old human---[i]not[/i] the one who was [i]too[/i] old---called him a "dear little beast."

"If you---or [i]any[/i] of you---" he announced loudly as he looked around the circle of criminals, "Think of me as a [i]mere beast[/i], then at least have the good sense to [i]treat me as one[/i]." A growl built in his throat as he pushed three inches of gleaming steel out of the scabbard with his thumb. "Fools who try to pet wolves will not keep their hands for long."

The [i]stupid[/i] human had proclaimed he knew which way was east and which west, but the sun could be red at morning as well as it could be at evening. With no way of knowing how long they had been trapped in the Maw, until he either saw stars coming out or light growing brighter, Auguz wouldn't make any assumptions. The younger human male spoke up next, voicing his own opinion that they should wait on the blue woman's bird. Auguz, however, did not trust it solely for the fact that it was [i]magic[/i], just like their mutual enemy. For all they knew it wasn't even a real bird, just lies and trickery wearing feathers. The old dwarf responded to him again in rhyme---this time, Auguz made a "hmph" sound through his nose that could have been amusement. 

"If you were as quick with a sword as you are with your strings of words, elder, our duel would be magnificent." he said, before taking a few slow steps around the edge of the group. He was examining their surroundings---and also watching the other members of their party who had already begun walking off, especially those who drew the furthest distance away. "But your final line is all that concerns me. 'Death, if we elope.' If the Witch of the Maw indeed placed some binding on us, how can we be sure? What stops us from exclaiming, to hell with her plots, and going our own way?" He looked up at the sky, to observe if the stars had indeed begun to appear yet. "And better yet, what means might there be to break such a thing?"