Meeting with the orc was a huge gamble. If she couldn’t leave the forest, Parker would have a good chance of talking his way out of this. If not, well, he didn’t want to think about it. But this was better than sitting around and doing nothing. As Parker approached the treeline, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up as the orc stared him down. The head of her axe was stuck in the ground, and she rested her hands atop its hilt. As he approached, she pulled her axe out of the earth and entered a fighting stance. He stopped well before he reached the treeline.

“I’m not here to fight you. I’m here to talk.” Parker said.

Sweat beaded down his forehead. Negotiating was not his strong suit. But who knows, maybe he’d get beginners luck. He had a few friends back at the academy, but he mostly focused on his studies. He was never the most sociable person, and now he needed to sweet talk an orc into not killing him.

“Why shouldn’t I kill you where you stand?” The orc growled out.

“Well, why didn’t you kill me at the camp? You could’ve just chopped my head off right there instead of talking first.” Parker furrowed his brow in an attempt to look serious, but his hand fidgeting showed otherwise.

The orc growled. “I’m not here to kill you; I’m here for that dragon. If you give it to me, you don’t have to die.”

“Well, you haven’t killed me yet, and I have him right here. Why don’t you just take him from me?”

The orc yelled out in anger and threw its axe at Parker. He had plenty of time to duck, and the axe flew harmlessly over his head.

“What was that for?!” Parker yelled.

“You were taunting me!” The orc replied, equally as upset.

“And your first thought is to hurl your axe at me? You don’t even have a weapon anymore!”

The orc crossed her arms and turned to the side. “As if I’d even need one to deal with you. Now, this is your last chance. Give me the dragon, or I’ll go over there and beat you down.”

“Ok. Come here. Come take him. I submit.” Parker stuttered.

The orc stood behind the treeline, unmoving.

“Bring it over here.”

Parker took a deep breath and stood his ground. “Well? Are you gonna come get him?”

“I… I can’t.” The orc replied with a sunken voice.

Parker could finally release the tension all across his body. He was right! The orc couldn’t enter the clearing!

“Why not?”

The orc glared at Parker. “You humans have no idea how good you have it.”

“What do you mean? Are you worried you’ll get killed or something?”

The orc searched the ground for another object to throw at Parker. After wasting a few pebbles and a broken tree branch, she gave up.

“If I leave the forest, I will suffocate. There’s no magic in that clearing.”

This was new. In all his years at school, Parker had never heard that before. The reason monsters could only be found in magically-saturated places was just one of those mysteries no one bothered solving.

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“Wait, so you breathe magic? Is that what that gas in your veins is made from? That’s fascinating! So your body must use magic as a catalyst for energy production rather than oxygen! That would explain why you don’t have blood! This makes so much more sense now! This will-”

“Could you just SHUT UP? Now give me that dragon so I can get out of this dull forest!”

“What does that have to do with him?” Parker motioned to the dragon, who looked back at him, confused. It must have no clue what is going on right now.

“Dragons radiate magic. If I have one, I can go wherever I want. I wouldn’t even need it if my clan’s ring wasn’t stolen, but now the dragon is my last chance to be free of this place.”

Parker scoffed. “Well, it’s pretty hypocritical of you to free yourself by capturing another creature.”

The orc smirked. “Well, what are you doing then?”

Parker was taken aback. “W-well, that’s different! He chose to stay with me! You just want to take him! Besides, Why don’t you just find the thief, or make a new ring?”

The orc narrowed her eyes. “You think I did not try? By the time I made it to the thief’s camp, it was ransacked! He was dead, and someone had already pilfered his corpse. All that was left was their shoddy weapons and a group of directionless goblins. And making another ring is ridiculous! They are infused with the souls of our finest warriors. Making another would require a powerful orc to die, and I will not kill one of my own for such selfish reasons.”

Parker’s face lit up. “Actually, I know who it was that cleared out that camp! Maybe we can team up and get yours back! Then you wouldn’t need the dragon, and you wouldn’t have to chase us anymore! That was Alex!”

When Parker mentioned Alex, the dragon froze up. It was terrified after their meetup. Parker felt horrible watching him shake like that. Not to mention the waterworks. Parker thought only humanoids produced emotional tears, but the dragon proved him wrong.

The orc turned her chin. “How do you expect to get the ring back from him? I don’t imagine he will simply hand it to you when you ask.”

Parker shrugged and furrowed his brow. “Well, I-... I’m sure we’ll find a way. But wouldn’t that be better? Your clan would get their magical ring back, and I would get to leave with the dragon. It’s a win-win!”

“I don’t care about that ring. All I want is to leave this forest as soon as I can.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Alex will head back for the guildhall to log his quest, so we’d be leaving anyway. If we team up, you’ll still get out of the forest; it’ll just be a little bit longer until you can go off and do whatever you were planning on doing otherwise.”

The orc pressed her lips into a frown. “Why should I even humor you?”

Parker smiled and tilted his head. “Well, that town is pretty nice. I’m sure the guards wouldn’t mind helping me through the forest.”

He rested everything on this bluff. Just as he turned to walk back to the town, he heard the orc call out for him.

“Wait! All right! You have a deal.”

Yes! Parker could hardly believe it. He had almost thought of just giving her the dragon. And to think, everyone told him learning orcish was a waste of time. He kneeled down to tell the dragon the plan. He wasn’t sure if it understood English, but judging from the look of confusion on its face, it definitely didn’t speak orcish.

“All right, we’re gonna team up with this orc until we can get her magical ring back. When we leave the forest, don’t get too far from her, or she’ll suffocate from lack of magic. I know you don’t like him, but we’re gonna have to find Alex again. He has all the magical rings, and without them, you’ll be stuck with her forever.”

The dragon snorted and stood up. When Parker walked to the treeline, it followed. He took that as it agreeing to the plan. Once he reached the treeline, he got a closer look at the orc. She towered over him, standing over 7 feet tall. She had short, reddish-black hair, and wore a simple leather tunic covering her full torso, but leaving her forearms exposed. She wore a furred loincloth that loosely draped down to her knees, held up with a dark brown belt, and short cloth pants underneath. Her boots were hardened leather, with metal-toed soles. She had two fangs shooting up from her bottom jaw, passing over her upper lip by an inch.

When Parker reached forward to shake the orc’s hand, she pulled back for just a moment.

“On one condition.”

“What? What is it?” Parker replied, frantic to make the deal.

“I get to hold the dragon.”