Aurora Magazine 2019

The woman, filled with obvious rage, flew out of her chair and charged him, knocking the surprised goliath prone. Then she started wailing on him, blow after blow until he fell unconscious. Then she got up, grabbed another tankard of ale, and calmly sat back down as if she didn’t just beat a goliath half to death. I looked to my friends, holding back a laugh, as I set down my own tankard of ale. “I’ll be right back.” Before any of them could respond, I found myself walking over to the human woman. I stuck my hand out in a greeting. “Hello, I’m Torgga of the Battleforger clan, and I couldn’t help but respect the way you stood up for yourself even if you kicked the shit out of this guy,” I say, nudging the unconscious goliath with my foot. “Where did you learn to throw a punch like that, cause I’ve got to be honest, you don’t look much like a close-combat kind of fighter.” She laughed as she shook my hand. “I mean you’re not wrong,” she said gesturing to the twin pistols, holstered on each hip. “But you’d be surprised on how many idiots I’ve had to deal with, especially those who think I can’t fight because I’m a fe - male, or because I’m not always the tallest in the room. Oh, and I’mMab, by the way. Mab Stormwind.” “I completely understand that. People are always under - estimating me because I’m a dwarf and they’ve convinced them - selves that being short, and a female, means that I can’t wield my sword as well as any man, if not better,” I say as I pull out my weapon to show her. I glanced over at my friends, a few tables over, and remembered why I came over here to begin with. “My friends and I couldn’t help but hear that you’re on your way to de - stroy some powerful weapon. Does that weapon go by the name ‘Godsbane’ by any chance?” “Yeah, how did you know that,” Mab asked, glancing over in the direction of my group of friends in curiosity. I hesitated before answering, and looked to Tiberius, who’d been watching our conversation play out. He gave me the smallest of nods and I knew he trusted Mab – at least enough to determine what she 75