For as long as he had been alive, Halgrin had been angry.
And when you’re a half-orc in Waterdeep, there was plenty to be angry about. First he was angry at this father for boarding a ship to Luskan one day, and never returning. Then he was angry at the gods for the fever that took his mother in the middle of the night.
Then there was the orphanage. The loneliness. The hunger. The sneering faces.
Lots of people would have lashed out. But those people weren’t Halgrin. So instead he held his anger in check. He might simmer, but he never exploded. Because at the end of the day sometimes the only thing you had any control over was yourself.
Instead he made it his life’s mission to prove other people wrong about him--usually by working twice as hard for half the gain. But no matter how angry and frustrated he got, he grit his teeth, and kept moving forward.
Eventually he joined the City Watch. But to his bitter disappointment he found it ineffective at best, and corrupt at its worst. Oh sure, a few shining beacons here and there who did what they could to help the city, but not enough to really make a dent. It was infuriating, but he never let it get to him--until today.
From his spot in an alleyway, Halgrim watched a half-elf laugh uproariously at something a dwarf was telling him. Those two were slavers. He couldn’t prove it. But he knew it. Just as he knew that there were at least half a dozen children stashed somewhere in the city, ready to be sold on the black market.
“Can’t let you do it, Hal.”
Halgrim turned to see a human woman in a hooded cloak, holding a hand crossbow leveled at his chest.
“I’m not going to let you throw away your career on those pathetic scum. You’re too good of an officer.”
“Wouldn’t be doing it for them, Zinna. And you know that.”
“Don’t give me that crap. We still have a couple days. Plenty of time to get more information, and do this by the book.”
“No. Time’s up.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do. Fits the pattern. Five days after the last abduction. You said so yourself.”
“I was wrong.” Halgrin gave Zinna a dour, disbelieving look. “Okay, fine. We’ll both go in and arrest him now. We can take him to the station and question him.”
“You know who his father is. He’ll get released, we’ll both lose our jobs, and those kids will be halfway to Thay by the time someone finally bothers to slit our throats.”
Zinna lowered her crossbow.
“Go home. Let me do this. You don’t want any part of what’s about to happen.”
“If you do this, they won’t be able to prove anything. But you’ll probably lose your job anyway.”
Halgrin shrugged. “Won’t matter. Already quit anyway. Now get out of her. And go somewhere public where you’ll be seen.”
Zinna nodded, then walked away without another word. Halgrin decided to ignore the tear going down her face.
He returned his attention to the two slavers. Tonight, everything would change.
Because tonight he was finally going to show the world just how angry he could be.
