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Clarissa Ramsey glanced down. It was about twenty feet of thin branches to the base of the tree. Then another hundred and a half to the base of the cliff. People milled about down there in a little camp. It was mostly tents and fire pits, but the thick mud suggested that it had been there a while, and the thick poles stuck into the mud in places seemed to be the start of more permanent buildings. If she fell, it would be only a few seconds before she saw them close up and could see for sure. Well, if she survived. And for a few seconds, before the green-skinned people decided that one of the pink-skinned people who wasn't naked but was nursing two broken legs needed to be dead or collared like the rest. Anyone would have to be foolhardy to climb this tree. A human would have to be crazy.
The other human sitting out on one of the limbs, drinking tea and carelessly swinging his legs back and forth wasn't much of a counterargument. He was wearing a purple silken shirt, and had a cane tucked under one arm. Presently, he took one last noisy sip of his tea, smacked his lips, and threw cup and saucer out into the open air above the camp. One turned into a dove, the other a hawk, and a chase began immediately. Suddenly he turned to face the girl. "Ah! Clara! What a surprise to find you here!"
He spoke too quickly for the damaged girl to respond, jumping quickly between topics. "Well, not a surprise as such, but certainly a pleasant state of affairs nevertheless. The Orcs here are such a fascinating people. Well, to me they are. The local humans are mainly just terrified of them, what with nearly crushing all of Crolia, and brutally enslaving every human and elf they could find. But if they weren't terrified, they would find them just as interesting as I do. If they were me. Which they aren't."
"A sad state of affairs! I want you to fix it. Well not so much 'fix it' as 'break it'. In a way. I'm certain that if the humans down in Lockacre were to attack the orcs, they'd not be so terrified of them. Well, as long as they attacked alone. Last time they fought the orcs, it was with a bunch of other humans, elves, and who knows what else. They won, or at least didn't lose, but it took so many allies that they still fear the orcs and can't be properly fascinated by them. But a victory, alone, against the terrifying numbers, ruthlessness, and organization of the combined orc tribes? Well, they wouldn't be so terrifying, would they? And if they were defeated... well, they'd still probably be terrified of the orcs, but as slaves at least they would get to see the Orcs up close, and that's what it's all about really."
"I would offer you some cheese, lass, but I'm afraid that this branch is not very stable. If you were to join me on it, we would both fall down and be enslaved by the orcs. Well, I would turn into a dove and fly away. And maybe you would be fighting them off. No, that's not the word. Yes, 'dead'. You would die an excruciating but mercifully short death upon hitting the ground."
"Anyway, yes. Diligently spreading my word is all well and good and proper, but I really want Lockacre to attack the orcs. Without their allies in Crolia. Soon. Just a pity I don't have any mortal pawns in the area to listen to my ramblings and act - oh! Now I remember why I told you to come here! So much warmer than the last frozen wasteland I visited, but now you can enact my clever plans! I'm sure there are simpler ways to educate humans about the orcs, but none quite so satisfying. Don't you agree?"
He got to his feet on the branch, leaning precariously against his cane and smiling at Clara. As he spoke, his balance began to fail, and he started rocking back and forth waving his hands wildly. "Do as I say and I will see that you get what you deserve. Fail to do as I say, and I will... Let me try again. Do what I want, or I will fill your skull with sweetr-"
The strange man finally slipped, and turned into a one-eyed crow. It looked at Clara, cawwed, and turned away, looking down the gentle slope that led up to the cliff, towards the Pass of Ghosts and the human lands under the control of the city of Lockacre.
The other human sitting out on one of the limbs, drinking tea and carelessly swinging his legs back and forth wasn't much of a counterargument. He was wearing a purple silken shirt, and had a cane tucked under one arm. Presently, he took one last noisy sip of his tea, smacked his lips, and threw cup and saucer out into the open air above the camp. One turned into a dove, the other a hawk, and a chase began immediately. Suddenly he turned to face the girl. "Ah! Clara! What a surprise to find you here!"
He spoke too quickly for the damaged girl to respond, jumping quickly between topics. "Well, not a surprise as such, but certainly a pleasant state of affairs nevertheless. The Orcs here are such a fascinating people. Well, to me they are. The local humans are mainly just terrified of them, what with nearly crushing all of Crolia, and brutally enslaving every human and elf they could find. But if they weren't terrified, they would find them just as interesting as I do. If they were me. Which they aren't."
"A sad state of affairs! I want you to fix it. Well not so much 'fix it' as 'break it'. In a way. I'm certain that if the humans down in Lockacre were to attack the orcs, they'd not be so terrified of them. Well, as long as they attacked alone. Last time they fought the orcs, it was with a bunch of other humans, elves, and who knows what else. They won, or at least didn't lose, but it took so many allies that they still fear the orcs and can't be properly fascinated by them. But a victory, alone, against the terrifying numbers, ruthlessness, and organization of the combined orc tribes? Well, they wouldn't be so terrifying, would they? And if they were defeated... well, they'd still probably be terrified of the orcs, but as slaves at least they would get to see the Orcs up close, and that's what it's all about really."
"I would offer you some cheese, lass, but I'm afraid that this branch is not very stable. If you were to join me on it, we would both fall down and be enslaved by the orcs. Well, I would turn into a dove and fly away. And maybe you would be fighting them off. No, that's not the word. Yes, 'dead'. You would die an excruciating but mercifully short death upon hitting the ground."
"Anyway, yes. Diligently spreading my word is all well and good and proper, but I really want Lockacre to attack the orcs. Without their allies in Crolia. Soon. Just a pity I don't have any mortal pawns in the area to listen to my ramblings and act - oh! Now I remember why I told you to come here! So much warmer than the last frozen wasteland I visited, but now you can enact my clever plans! I'm sure there are simpler ways to educate humans about the orcs, but none quite so satisfying. Don't you agree?"
He got to his feet on the branch, leaning precariously against his cane and smiling at Clara. As he spoke, his balance began to fail, and he started rocking back and forth waving his hands wildly. "Do as I say and I will see that you get what you deserve. Fail to do as I say, and I will... Let me try again. Do what I want, or I will fill your skull with sweetr-"
The strange man finally slipped, and turned into a one-eyed crow. It looked at Clara, cawwed, and turned away, looking down the gentle slope that led up to the cliff, towards the Pass of Ghosts and the human lands under the control of the city of Lockacre.