At The Edge Of Avalon

“… is that… you Sir…”

“… Johston,” Felix the Thief lied with as much gusto as Sir Johston boasted to last night’s packed inn. He wasn’t proud of the impersonation, but if the knight was true this Lord’s quest came with a hefty sum of gold attached.

“So it… is,” Lord Cansterbury wheezed, gesturing toward his drawing room. The old man’s tenuous grasp on existence slipped with each word. Within was a warm fire and, much to Felix’s pleasure, a ready flagon of wine. “Thank you… for answering… my summons…my son… comes… in a… month…to settle my…affairs… wish this… quest… finished,” Lord Cansterbury said, having already sunk into his armchair.

“Of course, I’m an honorable knight, bound by oath to fulfill your quest,” Felix said, drinking greedily, and glad for the old man’s blindness. There was no chance his tattered leathers passed for adventurer’s armor.

“It is… a simple ask… but… important. Do you… see that… there…”

Lord Cansterbury pointed with a shaking finger toward the mantle. At its apex rested a skull. In size and composition, it was indistinguishable from any other skull, with the exception of two great tusks jutting up from the lower jaw.

Interesting. Felix set down his wine.

“Take it… to their… mountain… home… the orcs… I am… sorry… tell… tell them…”

“Mind if I…”

Lord Cansterbury’s snores interrupted the question. Figuring that constituted consent, Felix examined the skull. He’d never seen an orc. Hells, Felix had never left Avalon. Unlike the candlestick beside it, the skull had no golden adornment, no diamond teeth. Besides its tusks, it was entirely unremarkable.

Felix picked up one of the golden candlesticks, weighing it carefully. This candlestick alone would fetch a fortune, more than enough to see off his debts.

He returned it.

Eventually, Sir Johston would awake from his drunken stupor and come calling. Awkward questions may follow. If Felix answered this quest, Lord Cansterbury would assume Felix was the true knight, and chase Sir Johston away as the impersonator.

Thinking, Felix examined a desk upon which was a map of Avalon and the Orc mountains, certainly a gift of guidance to the arriving adventurer. The map indicated it was a week’s walk to the Orc Mountain. Before Lord Cansterbury’s son, and more questions arrived, Felix would be back home, purse in hand… plus perhaps a few candlesticks.

One adventure didn’t make him any less of a thief.

***

Without delay, Felix adventured off. Orchards lined the trail through Avalon, long branches stretching bountifully overhead. Never before had Felix seen orchards so lush and well worked. Back in his little hamlet, he sometimes needed to scrape troughs for a meal, yet that was but a two day walk from these orchards.

Avalon fell away into a world of legend as he journeyed. In the stories sung by bards around the inn fire, the gray mountains in the north were a place where nothing but savages dwelt and flowers died when they touched its black sands. Felix stood, one toe still on the trail that led back home, and wondered how many others from his small little hamlet ever beheld their true majesty. He decided, in that moment, that he was Felix who journeyed to Avalon’s edge first and foremost.

The Orc Mountain stood out like an evergreen amongst oaks. Felix expected poisoned arrows to rain down as he approached the cave entrance, the darkened maw anything but welcoming. The bards all sang about how dangerous these lands, these… things, were.

He paused.

Death may lay within. The bards sang that orcs boiled the bones of trespassers, such was their absurd hatred of Avalon, but they, like everything, was so very far away.

No arrows fell as Felix stepped into the cave. He’d already come this far. What were a few more steps, even if they were into deepest darkness?

***

He passed through glistening, veiny caves, lined by torches of bone, until he came upon the gates of the great orc stronghold.

“I was told to offer apologies…” Felix said, reverently setting down the skull.

It flew out of the darkness, and Felix jumped backwards as the dagger pierced in the dirt before him. He grabbed it, and as he did, the gates began to lumber open.

Fear finally overcame him. Felix grabbed the dagger, and ran. Visions of flaying knives and broken limbs flew through his mind.

In his distracted haste, he tripped over a rock and Felix tumbled to the dirt.

No footsteps followed, and the moment of peril passed. Breathing heavily in the torchlight, Felix realized what he took for stone veins were actually carvings, all telling a story darker than what any bard dared utter; lines of orcs chained together headed by knights, all pointing swords back toward Avalon.

And Felix understood the true perils of his path.

***

“Buggar father. Buggar his will. He’s dead. His estate is mine.”

Felix sat removed, listening to the egg-shaped son—Felix already forgot his decidedly forgettable name—babble to his complacent barristers. The dagger lay before him, a memento of his journey to Avalon’s edge, if nothing else.

Finally they rose, forgetting about Felix. He cleared his throat, “and my reward?”

“Your reward is your life, peasant,” The egg-shaped one said, standing in the doorway, before disappearing into the old Lord Cansterbury’s halls.

And as Felix sat there, dagger laying before him, he decided, despite everything, maybe he wasn’t Felix who journeyed to Avalon’s edge.

At least not entirely.

***

“Come papa, it’s a miracle!”

Goodbak the Orc King awoke to his son’s shouts, fighting the urge to roll over and ignore today’s demands. The kingdom was poor. The tunnels crumbled. Debts mounted. They might have won their freedom, but keeping it… that seemed impossible.

Goodbak rubbed his eyes and gazed at his father’s skull, returned to its place of honor on Goodbak’s clan altar, his reminder that miracles, however small, happened.

And today, Goodbak’s son spoke the truth.

Outside the gate sat a large sack of golden candlesticks, and a small dagger.

———————————————————————————————————————

A/N:

This was my entry for the Wonder Writing Battle, my first foray into the professionally judged battles. Survived one cut which was a nice surprise. I knew when I hit submit on this one it didn’t have a certain… Je ne sais quoi that the WB judges look for. I was rather happy with the feedback I received though—debating doing critique piece so won’t share it all here, but it was very helpful and positive. Anywho, enjoy! I have a feeling Felix may make an appearance in the future in another ongoing project…

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