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Authors: Arielle Archer
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was who he said he was, and I wasn’t just getting catfished.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, put my fingers down on my keyboard, and when I opened them I was my character. I was Maia the high priestess of the Hokuten Order. I was a gorgeous high elf priestess going to meet a human adventurer in a forbidden rendezvous in a less than savory part of the world.
I eyed the human barbarian warily as I stepped into the cave leading to the pirate’s cove. I called him a barbarian, though to be perfectly honest that wasn’t an entirely accurate description of what he was. That assessment was a product of one of the unfortunate attitudes towards the lower races I’d picked up. I tried to be careful about those assumptions, but it was difficult after so many years of seeing humans prove themselves time and again as worthy of the barbarian name.
Though this human probably wouldn’t have considered himself a barbarian. Not in the way they reckoned it. Muscular men in loincloths wielding giant swords and attacking one another with no care in the world aside from where their next meal or their next mating would come from.
This one, at least, had once fine boots and wore a tattered shirt and pants that looked like they were well cared for but a far cry from the finery they’d started as. He also wore a belt with a buckle on it that bore some house sigil. Not that I could determine which house it was just from looking at that sigil. There were so many minor human noble houses scattered by the sundering that nobody could keep track of all of them. Not even the humans.
I could guess his story from a simple look. He was the son of a minor noble house. The sundering had hit him hard, had separated him from everything he once knew, and so now he wandered the world selling his sword for his next meal and probably holding himself to some outdated moral code that didn’t apply in the new realities of the world after the sundering.
But still, it also meant I could probably trust him. To a point.
Still, trust could be dangerous and I wouldn’t throw caution completely out. I was well aware it was a dangerous place I was going. I was well aware that the world wasn’t the perfect place that the Order would like to believe, to be cataloged according to their view of things.
I was aware of all of those things, and so that’s why I was keenly aware of the incredible danger I could find myself in if this strange human I’d only met once in a tavern was hostile. If he decided to cause trouble.
I prepared several nasty magic spells that would catch him by surprise if he should choose to try and take a high priestess. If he tried anything then I would at least make him very sorry that he tried, if not kill him out right. Assuming he didn’t have that little toy that negated my magic spells.
“My lady elf,” he said, sketching a quick bow.
My eyes narrowed. There was a rakish grin that crossed his face as he made that bow that told me his supposed show of respect was anything but.
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that mockery?”
He moved up from his bow and that rakish grin was still on his face. I had to steel myself. Had to suddenly concentrate on my breathing so that it didn’t start coming in quick gasps. This man was beautiful, there was no denying it, even if he was just a lowly human from what looked to be a noble house fallen on hard times.
“Merely showing my lady elf the respect she deserves,” he said.
His voice was deep, hypnotic. It had me swaying and I had to blink. I had to shake my head and concentrate on the business at hand. I was here on the Order’s business, and I definitely didn’t have time to indulge in impossible fantasies about lowly human nobles.
I sniffed and turned to enter the caves that led to the hidden cove. “Very well human, we must be about our business.”
“Are you sure you want to do this? I wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” Conlan growled.
I turned and looked at him, once
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, put my fingers down on my keyboard, and when I opened them I was my character. I was Maia the high priestess of the Hokuten Order. I was a gorgeous high elf priestess going to meet a human adventurer in a forbidden rendezvous in a less than savory part of the world.
I eyed the human barbarian warily as I stepped into the cave leading to the pirate’s cove. I called him a barbarian, though to be perfectly honest that wasn’t an entirely accurate description of what he was. That assessment was a product of one of the unfortunate attitudes towards the lower races I’d picked up. I tried to be careful about those assumptions, but it was difficult after so many years of seeing humans prove themselves time and again as worthy of the barbarian name.
Though this human probably wouldn’t have considered himself a barbarian. Not in the way they reckoned it. Muscular men in loincloths wielding giant swords and attacking one another with no care in the world aside from where their next meal or their next mating would come from.
This one, at least, had once fine boots and wore a tattered shirt and pants that looked like they were well cared for but a far cry from the finery they’d started as. He also wore a belt with a buckle on it that bore some house sigil. Not that I could determine which house it was just from looking at that sigil. There were so many minor human noble houses scattered by the sundering that nobody could keep track of all of them. Not even the humans.
I could guess his story from a simple look. He was the son of a minor noble house. The sundering had hit him hard, had separated him from everything he once knew, and so now he wandered the world selling his sword for his next meal and probably holding himself to some outdated moral code that didn’t apply in the new realities of the world after the sundering.
But still, it also meant I could probably trust him. To a point.
Still, trust could be dangerous and I wouldn’t throw caution completely out. I was well aware it was a dangerous place I was going. I was well aware that the world wasn’t the perfect place that the Order would like to believe, to be cataloged according to their view of things.
I was aware of all of those things, and so that’s why I was keenly aware of the incredible danger I could find myself in if this strange human I’d only met once in a tavern was hostile. If he decided to cause trouble.
I prepared several nasty magic spells that would catch him by surprise if he should choose to try and take a high priestess. If he tried anything then I would at least make him very sorry that he tried, if not kill him out right. Assuming he didn’t have that little toy that negated my magic spells.
“My lady elf,” he said, sketching a quick bow.
My eyes narrowed. There was a rakish grin that crossed his face as he made that bow that told me his supposed show of respect was anything but.
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that mockery?”
He moved up from his bow and that rakish grin was still on his face. I had to steel myself. Had to suddenly concentrate on my breathing so that it didn’t start coming in quick gasps. This man was beautiful, there was no denying it, even if he was just a lowly human from what looked to be a noble house fallen on hard times.
“Merely showing my lady elf the respect she deserves,” he said.
His voice was deep, hypnotic. It had me swaying and I had to blink. I had to shake my head and concentrate on the business at hand. I was here on the Order’s business, and I definitely didn’t have time to indulge in impossible fantasies about lowly human nobles.
I sniffed and turned to enter the caves that led to the hidden cove. “Very well human, we must be about our business.”
“Are you sure you want to do this? I wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” Conlan growled.
I turned and looked at him, once
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