3. Theo
Chapter three
Theo
V aelin’s faster than I gave him credit for as he leads me through the alleys of Hearthwynd, quiet on his feet. I lumber along behind him, feeling clumsy in comparison, my breath too loud and my footsteps too heavy.
I’m not sure if trusting him was a mistake yet, but I don’t exactly have better options. Hearthwynd seems enormous, its twisting streets making me lose track of where we started. The only landmarks are the lanterns overhead, glowing in the falling snow.
“Are we already going to meet your contact?” I ask, suddenly nervous. I’ve never actually met another orc before–there aren’t too many of them in the region, mostly confined to their fortresses in the mountains.
“There’s a corner around here where he hangs out sometimes,” Vaelin says–which makes it sound like this guy isn’t sketchy at all . “If we can’t find him there, I’ll have to get someone to deliver him a message.”
I frown. “This…feels like a lot of trouble given you’re doing it for free.”
“Hey, you’re going to owe me a favor, remember?” He throws a smile over his shoulder. “Now…let’s see…”
We pop out of an alley and into a crowded intersection, people moving into and out of buildings, down other alleys. This isn’t like the Market Square, where everything was festive for Yuletide; here, I’m able to see the squalor my father always warned me about. I’m starting to get a little nervous when Vaelin vanishes into the crowd and I stop dead in my tracks.
“Vaelin?” I call.
Then a sharp shout cuts through the air, followed by the sound of something breaking.
My eyes find the source in seconds: a woman and a young boy standing outside a shop, their arms full of firewood. It looks like the boy has dropped some of his wood and broken something outside the shop. A man–broad-shouldered, red-faced, and angry–looms over them.
“You little shit!” he shouts. “You’ll pay for that…”
I move toward them instinctively, only to find Vaelin grasping my forearm. “Don’t,” Vaelin said. “It’s not our problem.”
“But they look like they need help.”
“They look like trouble ,” Vaelin mutters. “Trust me, you don’t want to get involved.”
I shake him off, my jaw tightening. “I can’t just walk away.”
“You really can,” he starts. “Theo, you need to–”
But he trails off as I pull my arm away to walk toward the shop.
The shopkeeper’s glare drifts over to me as I approach, people scrambling out of my way. Now that I’m moving with purpose, I’m too big to be ignored–and the shopkeeper’s eyes go wide as he takes in the sight of me, seven feet of green muscle and wild red hair. His jaw drops, his head shaking like he can’t believe it. “What do you want?”
I can hear the disdain in his voice; he looks at me and all he sees is an orc, a monster. I stifle the sting of that look, push it aside. “Is there a problem here?” I ask, keeping my voice steady.
He frowns–clearly having expected me to get aggressive–and gestures at the woman and her son. “These two broke some of my merchandise on their way through,” he says, jabbing a finger at them. “They owe me for what they destroyed.”
The woman steps up, her face pale, voice trembling. “Please, it was an accident,” she says. “We spent the last of our money on wood for the fire, but I swear I’ll pay you…”
“Quiet!” the shopkeeper snaps.
The boy hides behind his mother, starting to cry. My chest tightens, and before I can think better of it, I step between them and the shopkeeper.
“Whatever they owe, I’ll cover it,” I say. “How much?”
The woman tentatively touches my hand and I look back at her, finding her eyes wide with surprise. “You don’t have to–”
“It’s fine,” I say, then I look back at the shopkeeper. “So–how much?”
He sizes me up.
“Five gold,” he says.
I blink. Five gold is steep–more than I can afford, if Vaelin is taking me to an information broker. This could mean not getting the info I need…
…but I can’t bring myself to back down. Not with the kid looking at me like that.
Reaching into my pouch, I pull out the coins and press them into the shopkeeper’s outstretched hand.
“There you go,” I mutter. “Five gold.”
He counts the money slowly, savoring it like he’s won a fight. “That will do,” he says. “Thank you for your business.”
I watch him walk away, ensuring that the woman and her son are safe from him and he’s inside–but when I turn around, they’re gone, firewood and all. I blink, looking around for them as Vaelin steps up beside me.
“You know that was probably a scam, right?”
My chest tightens, but I don’t let it get to me. “Maybe,” I admit. “But they needed help. I wasn’t going to not help them.”
His lips press into a thin line, and for a moment, I think he’s going to scold me again. Instead, he just lets out a quiet sigh.
“You’re really something, big guy,” he mutters.
I shrug. “It’s what my father would’ve done.”
“The orc one or the human one?”
“Cedric,” I say. “He always said helping someone in need was never a waste. Even if it costs you more than you think.”
He scoffs. “You’re unbelievable, you know that?”
And yeah, his words aren’t very kind…but his eyes say otherwise. Because he’s smiling at me, appraising me.
“Well, anyway–now that that’s over,” he says. “We should get going. My friend wasn’t there anyway.”
“So where to now?” I ask.
“There’s a wizard on the other side of the market who’ll send a message for me at a discount,” he says. “So…through the market, I guess. You ready for a walk through the snow?”
I shrug. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Vaelin looks at me, his smile dropping. He looks really sad for a second, even guilty–not sure why.
“Gotcha,” he says. “Well…let’s go.”