Below the rocky red mountains and just on the edge of the vast golden desert, there was a small village. It was built around a mining operation, far away from any other town, let alone a city. Humans didn’t usually like to settle too close to the desert - it was orc territory. But the ores here were worth the risk.

The young man wiped the sweat off his brow as he hammered the last nail into the roof of the well. Crawling off of the ladder he had been standing on, he slipped into the shade. After a day of working under the baking hot sun, it felt like heaven. Cool, refreshing heaven.

His name was Evan Slater, and as of three months ago, he was nineteen years old. That meant a few things: first, he could finally drink at the bar with his dad when he came back from the mine. Second, it meant he had to get a job, and he ended up becoming the local handyman. And third, it meant he had to start thinking about his future - which meant thinking about taking a wife and making the next generation of Slaters.

Obviously, that last thing was the most important. And of course, it was the hardest. Pickings were slim in this dusty little town, with only about six other girls his age. None of them appealed to him much, but that didn’t stop his mother from constantly trying to sell him on one or the other.

“Oh, Evan!“

By now he had slumped against the side of the well, and when he looked up, he was surprised to see his mother rushing towards him with a bucket and ladle.

“Mom...“ Evan groaned under his breath. He rose up to his feet just as the woman got to him. “If I want water, I can just get it myself, y’know.”

“Oh, you shut it! You just looked so thirsty! Drink, drink!“ she shoved the pail towards him.

Evan rolled his eyes at her, but took the ladle eagerly. A second later and he had already downed half the bucket. Two more and he forgot the ladle, pulling the pail from his mother’s hands and gulping from it like it was a big cup.

“Now, Evan, I know you hate it when I bring this up...“ she began. Evan rolled his eyes again, knowing exactly what was coming. “But I want to know just what the issue is with Elena.“

Evan took a break from drinking to answer, water dribbling down his chin. “I dunno, too skinny.“

“Too skinny?“ his mother shook her head, laughing incredulously. “Too skinny. Are you serious?“

By now, Evan had emptied the pail. He nodded his head at her.

“Okay. What about Hallie Garrett?“

“The bartender’s daughter?“ Evan asked. His mom nodded. “Too skinny, too. And I heard she’s a bit of a whore...“

The woman very nearly slapped him. “Language, young man! That’s a terrible thing to call a girl!“

“Well, she is...“

His mom just sighed. “Evan, just how long am I going to have to wait until I can have grandbabies?”

Evan shifted in place. “I dunno, mom. I just don’t.”

Arms crossed, she walked away without a word. Evan frowned for a second... he didn't like making the woman unhappy... but got over it quick. Back to work he was.

Unbeknownst to him, two predatory eyes watched from afar.

---

“Patch up that hole in the well?”

“Yep.“

“Roland got way too drunk. I told him not to climb on the fuckin’ thing!“

Together, father and son laughed.

At night, the noisiest place in town was always the bar. That was when the miners got off work, and before they went home they always wanted a drink. Evan usually waited outside for his dad, if he was done with his own work that was. Sat next to the man, he looked almost like a copy - same blue eyes, same light skin, same long blond hair kept in a ponytail. Just a lot less wrinked and gray, of course.

“Hi, Evan.“

Evan looked from his drink to the girl who had spoken to him. Behind the counter tonight was Hallie Garrett, who usually helped her dad out on particularly busy nights. She was smiling at him for some reason.

“Uh, hi.“ Evan replied. He could feel his dad’s eyes on him.

“Want me to top you off?“ she asked, pointing to his glass - it was nearly empty. “It’s on me.“

“Oh. Um... sure.“

Her smile not faltering even as Evan mumbled and stuttered, she took his glass. Flashing him a wink, she left for the tap. Evan couldn’t help but notice her hips wiggle as she walked. The other men in the bar were staring, but he... he didn’t get the appeal. She didn’t have a whole lot there.

“Here you go!“ in short order, she was back with his drink, then back to serving other patrons. Evan sipped the beer, finally turning to see his dad grinning wide.

“Well, well, well. She seems to like you.“

“Yeah.“ said Evan.

His dad leaned in, which usually meant that he wanted to talk about something serious. Evan steeled himself for the lecture.

“So, I stopped home for a sec before coming here.” he said. “And your mom wouldn’t stop talking about how you haven’t been chasing girls or anything.“

Silent, Evan nodded.

“Well? Why haven’t you?“

“Just... none of them here are pretty. I don’t know.“ he said, avoiding his father’s gaze.

“Well, I have a few friends back in Galria. Some of them have daughters. If you want, I could try to get you in contact with some of them.“

“I’m... I’m alright.“ Evan sighed. “Why can’t I just handle this at my own pace? What’s so wrong with that?“

“Well.“ his dad paused to think, scratching his chin. “Well, the thing is, you have to get married. Have to. And the sooner the better.“

“But why?“

“Mining work doesn’t last forever, son.“ he started, taking a drink from his glass. “We’ve got some good savings, and you’ve been making some alright money for us too with your job, but we need more if we want to move somewhere nice. If you married, say, Hallie over there, then Mr. Garrett would probably give you guys some money, y’know, to help out. And if you made some babies with her, then bam - more money from pops-in-law. Later on, when we’ve moved to someplace better, and you’re a little older, and your kids are old enough to have jobs, we’ll all be making enough money to be set for life.“

“Did you marry mom for money?“ Evan asked. “Did you have me for money?“

His dad finished off his drink. “No, no... of course not!“

Evan shook his head.

---

Later that night, Evan sat slumped against the back wall of the bar, a bottle of some kind of alcohol in his hand - he had snatched it without bothering to look at the label. On his way out earlier, Mr. Garrett had stopped him. One of the doors to the bar was loose, and he needed it fixed. Evan had wanted to tell him that his daughter was loose too, but he didn’t think he’d appreciate his sense of humor.

Evan had finished the job about an hour ago. It would’ve been easy to get to it in the morning, but he decided to just get it done early. Of course, it ended up taking longer than he expected. He thought taking a little refreshment from the bar for his troubles wouldn’t be so bad.

He took another swig of the dark amber drink and stared out at the horizon. The orcish desert spread out before him, vast dunes of golden sand that seemed to stretch all the way to infinity. They shone with reflected moonlight, giving off a pale yellow glow.

Evan tried to think of what was beyond the desert, picturing a map in his head. There was the ocean, which he had heard much of but never seen, and then the big forest island that the elves called home. People knew there was more after that, but it had never been charted.

“What time is it?“

He looked to the moon. From where it was in the sky, there were only a few more hours until dawn. What was he thinking, staying up so late? He’d never wake up on time now... The young man shut his eyes to rub them a little, but when he opened them up, he saw something.

A figure was approaching. From a distance, it looked like a black blob, but as it got closer and closer, Evan could see that it really was someone riding on the back of some kind of lizard beast. From their size, they definitely weren’t human.

No, this had to be an orc. And whatever that mount was, it was fast.

Dropping the bottle in fear, Evan took off for the town square. He had to ring the warning bell, wake up everyone in town - it might’ve been a bit extreme, but orcs were bad news, even a single one. It could be a scout! And that meant in a few hours there could be a whole horde of them marching on the town.

The orc took chase, the lizard it rode silently gliding across the ground like a phantom. They were lightning quick, and before Evan knew it they were right on his tail. He pushed hard to keep ahead of them, the pounding of his heart matched only by the pounding of his feet against the ground.

From the mixture of booze and exhaustion that was swirling in his head, Evan collapsed before he reached the bell. He scrambled to get up, but right as he did, he felt a strong hand on his shoulder. Panting hard, he looked over to see that the orc was right behind him.

“Can’t have you doing that now, can we?“ they growled. Their voice was gruff and deep, but to Evan’s shock, distinctly feminine.

She brought a heavy fist down on his head, knocking him out instantly. Hauling the unconscious body over her shoulder, the orc strolled back to her mount. Without a single person hearing her, she rode off.