The Unbreakable Bow

Aefrine went quickly looking for any sight for Larry when he heard the voice in a distance:

"Over 'ere master !"

He sprinted after the voice and used his arrows as always to swing from tree to tree until he found him . The small skeleton was holding the princesse above his head and running like she was just a pillow . Aefrine landed next to him and continued running. He knew that from a certain distance, his arrow would eventually fade out . In the meantime, he asked :

"What did you do to Fred?"

"Oh t'at blond man ? Well , 'e didn't let me take t'e girl like you ordered so I punc'ed 'im away."

Just like that ? With one punch?

"Are you strong?"

"I suppose I am...?"

Aefrine was impressed. He didn't really expect a 4.8 skeleton to wield such strength. Who would have?

His focus shifted to the princesse. He wanted to know if she was in a dangerous condition. He remembered the pink dust and how some of it almost made him go to bed . But he will quickly forget about that as he examined the girl's face . She had green skin . In addition, her ears were quite pointy like a triangle. Aefrine was just surprised by this . He did have a bad feeling about this .

"Are there people who have green skin ?"

"Well , orcs normally 'ave green skin and tall p'ysique . T'ey are like 'umans but bigger and stronger. T'ey live in t'e North. "

The orc's eyes started to open . She hastily shredded the scarf covering her mouth with her teeth and moved her body in all directions, trying to free herself from the chain . All whilst shouting weird words that neither Larry nor Aefrine could understand.

"Don't worry, we are trying to help ." Aefrine tried to explain. She spitted in his eye, almost blinding him .

" 'ey don't disrespect my master like t'at !'

Larry was about to throw the girl away when his master raised his hand to signal that he was okay . Aefrine was thinking of resting for a moment and freeing the girl, and explaining everything to her . But he doubted her ability to understand him . In the end , he decided to continue forward until he found someone who could help . She is a princess. After all, there must be someone looking for here.

And that's when he spotted a column of lights in the distance. It must be a caravan. Aefrine knew from his years of stealing from such people that there was always a guard or more that protected the travellers. He could ask for their help .

But as he approached more, he felt that coming out of nowhere with a moving skeleton and a tidied orc princess felt pretty suspicious. Despite that ,he had no better options .

However, he didn't need to worry about anything. For he felt a huge solid surface hit the back of his head that sent him flying. The next thing he knew, he was unconscious.

As the boy opened his eyes , the memories of the night poured into his head like a tea pot . He rised, searching for Larry, the girl, and whatever hit his head . Yet, all he could find was a brick wall from three sides and iron bars from the fourth. The cell was barely visible as some hanging torchs in the outside corridor were only the thing, keeping the whole place from turning into an abyss .

Aefrine hastily went to the iron door and yelled with all his might to the only person he knew.

"LARRY !"

Only then he realised that right next to his cell was a guard wielding a long spear . As the guard went to silence the boy , Aefrine took himself away from the bars . The guard yelled at him, probably telling the boy to shut up . Aefrine didn't understand him, for he also had the same features of the princesse: green skin , pointed ears . Aefrine concluded that he also was an orc . He was larger than a normal human . He was almost the size of the iron door, which was definitely not built for humans .

Even though Aefrine knew that this was some kind of prison , he was glad . When he first woke up and saw nothing but dark bricks , he thought that his curse finally had punished him for abandoning his lifeless village. He had never seen a prison before . But he was smart enough to understand that the ogre girl's people have found her. And that he will suspect for her abduction. He decided that since he hadn't done anything wrong, then he had nothing to worry about. He just wondered where Larry was.

Suddenly, the terrible thought shaked his mind. What if Larry continued running endlessly with the girl like he ordered, and the orcs only caught him . This will be hard to explain , not to mention that he couldn't understand them . He started to worry .

Wait, where are the keys?!

He didn't find them anywhere in his cell . He was in so much trouble . He didn't know from where to start.

Maybe indeed he was cursed ?

Just then an another orc appeared in front of the cell . He was tall yet skinny even compared to the guard. He wore fancy clothes; a nice brown hose with a red diamond point bow tie crafted from wool. His tusks, though formidable, were polished to a gleaming sheen, and his piercing gaze held the wisdom of centuries past. He was dressed in a luxurious tunic of deep burgundy velvet, adorned with intricate gold embroidery that traced delicate patterns along the hem and cuffs. The fabric draped gracefully over his tall frame, tailored to perfection to accentuate his noble bearing. And he had a very long hulihee beard.

He first said some words to him that Aefrine, as always, didn't understand. His confused face made the orc say some others

words that were clearly a different language or that what Aefrine thought. So he replied a soft:

"Sorry?"

"Oh, Nabilean, Ok then ... ahem . Do you know why you are here?"

Aefrine relieved to finally understand answered straight away :

"No , sir. Not really ?"

"You are accused of abducting the princesse of Tabollba. Please understand the enormity of your situation. "

"But I didn't -"

"Wait . Take this . "

He handed an ancient silver ring with a bright red gem on it.

Aefrine took the ring

"Wear it."

The ring was quite large for a human because it was obviously not for humans . So he put two fingers for it to fit in. The gem started to shine a blue light.

"This an enchanted lie-tracking device that will turn red if you lie and green if you tell the truth that you know . Now answer my questions."

Aefrine gulped. The pressure was enough for him to sweat. He hasn't done anything, but if for whatever reason the ring shined red, he would be a goner.

"Did you abduct the princesse of Tabollba?"

"No."

The ring shined green for a moment before returning blue. Aefrine was relieved.

"Do you plot her abduction?"

"No."

The ring like before went green.

"Why were you with the princesse then ?"

"I was trying to save her,"

He was truthful.

"Do you know who kidnapped her ?"

On this matter , Aefrine thought for a moment. Despite their attempt to murder him and their other wrongdoing, Aefrine still didn't want to sell them in . Even though he would never attempt to threaten one's life ,he too was forced to do acts that he would always regret. He knows that circumstances can force people to do the unthinkable or simply when they don't understand the severity of their actions. That why he decided to give them a second chance if they were caught like him right now, they will appreciate his cover and be grateful. To which end , they will never return to their sins . Or that what Aefrine thought.

"They were humans ."

With that , he covered them without lying despite it being a bizarre answer. The orc noticed that and asked :

"Do you know these humans?"

"No , not really."

"Do you have any information about them that might be helpful?"

"Er-r , no." The boy thought that their numbers , names, and weapons do not count as 'helpful information '. The ring turned red. Aefrine felt his sweat doubling in quantity. The questioner didn't seem to react.

"Why do you cover these criminals if you are not related to them , you know that itself is crime punishable by law?"

"I-i.." Aefrine struggled to find a convincing answer."I thought that they would learn from their mistake and wouldn't do it again."

That line sounded stupid even for Aefrine. But the ring returned green so it didn't matter much. The orc raised one of his eyebrows. Yet, continued questioning:

"What is your name and origin ?"

Aefrine was stunned by the change in subject, but he replied anyway:

"Aefrine from Nadhour"

"Where is this Nadhour ?"

"Near the Druim Éadarglas Road"

"So, the city-state of Zaghouin."

"Eh,...yes?"

"Do you have any family members?" Assumed the orc since the boy didn't give a family name.

"No . I don't have a family. "

"So,how does the skeleton relate to you ?"

"Oh, you mean Larry? He 's like er-r, my friend."

He didn't want to say master-servant relationship. It didn't sound good.So, Larry is here.

Finally, some good news...

"Your friend took out three of our warriors if you didn't know ."

"What ? They .. they 're not dead, right?"

"Severely injured at worst , don't worry. It didn't stop fighting until it fell in a muddy spring. Tell me what that thing is and explain why it is your friend. "

Aefrine told him about his village and Ryuji and his encounter with a dinosaur and the well and everything else that happened to this point, but he didn't bother to bring up the keys of Fate

He feared that they might steal it from him, and it wasn't relevant .

All that matters was the ring stayed green the whole time .

"Is this ..Larry , ..dangerous?"

"What ,no! He was just trying to protect me . He will never harm anybody without a good reason."

"And what is that good reason ?"

"Well....unless I ask him to do so."

"Do you plan to use him in any hostile way to the crown of Tabollba ?"

"What ?! Never!"

The ring was still green. He doesn't even know the crown of Tabollba. And he would never do anything that would be considered hostile .

"Very well . Is there anything else that you might want to tell me ? "

"No..?"

"Then I will come back after we discuss your sentence. " Reaching out a hand to retrieve the ring.

After returning the ring, Aefrine sat there hoping his answers didn't just make his situation worse.