SafeHaven

by Xander Jade

  They pondered that question, and all agreed with a yes vote.

  ‘Okay, I'll jump down, and we’ll carefully make our way over.’ I dropped down and grabbed Zeus by the muzzle and looked him straight in the eye. ‘No noise or I’ll pop you in the head myself.’

  He snorted and head butted me in the chest. I laughed softly and we went around the battle slowly, making sure no stragglers or sentries were about. Twenty minutes later, we came out a little to the left of the cages. Eight of them to be exact, holding at least twenty people each. Huh, that would give the defenders more of an advantage if even half were able to fight.

  ‘Zeus, stay here and make sure none of those evil dicks get past us. We will direct the prisoners past you to safety.’

  The big bastard nodded, so we made our way over to the cages. A couple of the captives saw us, and I made hand gestures for them to keep quiet. Coming up to the cages, I looked over to make sure those fuckin wens couldn’t see us. Suddenly the wens went into action and took off straight for the battle. Glancing over, it seemed the defenders were winning so the fucks decided to play.

  ‘Let’s make this quick, those abominations are joining the fight.’

  They grunted, the people in the cages were already screaming because of the wens, and when they saw my duo, they kept at it. They went around and swiped the locks with their paws to break them. I got the captives out and advised them to head in an orderly fashion towards Zeus. Some of them had collars on them, some even tried to argue about where they should go but Reap growled and they took off. When they were out of harm's way, the three of us watched as the wens took over the battle. They were tearing everyone apart they could.

  ‘Sig, you want to join in on this?’

  ‘Abso-fuckin-lutely.’

  I pulled off my tunic and let him do his thing. Half a minute later, the fire elemental split into two. Screams and roars were rampant. I undressed quickly and told my beast it was time to party. I could feel the smile on his face as the bloodlust took over and my body shifted. Moments later, my big ass stood up and took in the scene. The wens were demolishing the defenders. The weres, centaurs, and barbarians were trying to fend them off and retreat, but the redhats, trolls, and orcs wouldn’t let them.

  I looked down at my crew and asked, ‘You guys ready?’

  ‘HELL YEAH!’

  ‘All right, let’s introduce ourselves.’

  We roared and sprinted towards the evil ones. The battle stopped, as they turned to get a good view of what beasts were challenging them. The wens screeched when they saw us. Five on five, baby. I went straight for the biggest threat and we met head on. My juggernaut ass plowed through the fuck and I ended up with a bloodied head in my arms. Dropping the head down, I crushed it under my foot and glanced back to the body lying there. It was fifty feet away. Leaving it for the time being I looked over at the others and saw Herc in trouble. Striding over, my timing was just right. I plunged my fist through its back and pulled the heart out, but before dropping it, my fire took control and burned it to ash. Still holding the smelly asshole, I thrust my fist back through and pulled the fuck apart. Blood and guts flowed over me, I roared and threw the two parts down.

  Getting my head back into the game, I saw Sig keeping his two busy with fire. Reap and Herc were dancing with the other. Telling my beast what I wanted, he made our claws longer and stronger. Walking over to get behind the wen, I swung my arm and swiped the fuck’s head off like it was nothing.

  Turning to my duo, ‘Go help Sig.’

  They nodded and went over to help the elemental, though I wasn’t sure he really needed it. Turning my head back to the battle, the orcs were retreating back to Azgrag while the redhats and trolls were getting slaughtered. The Amazons hadn’t moved yet, so I tried to persuade them.

  I yelled out, “Ladies! Stop the orcs from reaching the border. I want to speak to them. Nobody kill them, yet.”

  At first, they didn’t move. The leader of the amazons looked at me defiantly, so I walked towards them and roared, bringing up some fire. That put them into motion. Some of the centaurs were also trying to corral them, the females. I guess the males were uppity about doing stuff like that. It took a few minutes, but they surrounded the invading orcs. I turned my concentration back to the wens, but my crew had them taken care of and the defenders had taken care of the trolls and redhats. It looked like there were a few stragglers that escaped, but not many. Taking a breath, I went back to work and grabbed the body parts of the dead wens and placed them into a pile. I burned the ripped-out hearts to ash and went over to my pile to turn it to a blazing fire as well. Minutes later, it too became ash.

  I wasn’t paying any attention to my surroundings, but my crew had protected me while I was taking care of business, not letting anyone near me.

  ‘Status.’

  Herc responded, ‘The invading army has been taken care of and the orcs have been detained.’

  Reap chuckled and said, ‘The defenders are watching us, waiting, and they are wary for some reason.’

  Sig laughed, ‘We are sort of frightening.’

  ‘Well, let’s not keep them waiting.’

  We walked over to them. There was a group in front waiting, but I veered off to the detained orcs. I could tell the amazons and centaurs were antsy, fearful of us. Not caring at that moment, I walked straight up to the green warriors as the ladies parted for me to get through, stopping a few feet away.

  “Who is your lead and second in command?”

  They didn’t say anything or move. I repeated myself, still no movement or response.

  “You have till the count of three to show yourselves or I’m going to start killing. One… Two… Three.”

  No response. Grabbing the nearest warrior by the throat, I twisted his neck and slammed him into my knee, almost breaking the orc in half. He wasn’t moving. However, the others were, except they were trying to move backwards. The amazons and centaurs cut them off. A female orc made her way to me, the males were adamant about her staying still, but she shoved them off. I didn’t know the females got involved. Gurak acted like it was just the males. Scanning the horde in front of me, numerous females were present. Interesting. She stopped three feet away and dropped to one knee, then spoke in her native language.

  Everyone was stunned by the female orc’s actions. Sig came up on my left and sat down, Reap and Herc on my right. The elemental must’ve pulled his second body back into him. Glancing over to him to ask what she said, movement caught my eye and I turned to see every orc go to one knee and speak the same phrase as the female orc.

  ‘Ooooookay. Anybody know what they just said?’

  Sig replied, ‘They just said “Great One”.’

  Sig started to speak to them in their language and the female orc responded. They carried on a conversation for a minute or so before the elemental looked up at me.

  ‘So, what did she say?’

  ‘They are bowing to you and calling you ‘Great One’ because of a prophecy they have. Evidently the female is somewhat high in their hierarchy because of her knowledge of this. Anyway, she says her ancestors proclaimed a shifter mage would come that has powerful creatures in his following. This shifter mage and his cronies will provide a way for their people to survive the demon apocalypse that has been foretold.’

  ‘Huh? And what am I supposed to say to that?’

  Sig chuckled. ‘It would seem they are referring to you as their chief now.’

  Groaning, I responded, ‘This is getting complicated, Sig, can they speak the common language?’

  He spouted off some words and she nodded.

  “Miss, you can get up. Tell your people to get up too.’

  She bellowed out a command and the orcs rose. The amazons and centaurs were glancing at each other, not knowing how to proceed.

  “What’s your name?”

  "Tavoria, daughter of Vidarok."

  “Okay, Tavoria, daughter of Vidarok. I’m only going to say this one time.
Leader and second, out front.”

  She barked something in her language and a big muscular orc came out from the back to stop in front of me. He eyed me up and down, trying not to show fear but I could smell it. Everyone around us smelled of fear, good thing I wasn’t in bloodlust at that moment.

  Tavoria spoke, “I am the lead, and this is my second, Racar.”

  Hmm… didn’t expect that.

  “Very well. I have a couple questions for you. Please don’t lie to me or you will end up like your kin here on the ground.”

  They shuddered and nodded.

  “Where were you taking these people?”

  “Into Azgrag, mountains to the east,” she answered quickly.

  “How many prisoners are there?

  Racar grumbled, “Not sure, probably close to eight hundred.”

  Gasps and shouts were heard from all over, including my crew. That was not what I expected.

  Clearing my throat, “All races?”

  They nodded and I took a moment before asking any more questions. “Okay, thank you for that answer. Now, are there overlords watching over them or wens?”

  They were surprised to hear that question.

  Tavoria responded, “Wens and gnolls. How do you know of the overlords?”

  Chuckling in a dark manner, I answered, “Let’s just say that we’ve run across them before, but they didn’t make it out alive in the end.”

  I didn’t know for sure, but I would bet that the mages in Whitehurst didn’t let them live.

  The big fella hesitantly questioned, “What did you mean by run across them? You faced their army?”

  I nodded and Tavoria was quick in asking her question, “Did you fight orcs?” I nodded and she was ready with another question, “How many perished?”

  “Over three hundred.” She started misting up. “And did the others escape?”

  “Sort of.”

  Racar asked, “Sort of?”

  “Yep. I’m not going to answer that question totally until I have some information from you. Is your clan being held captive?”

  She replied in a whisper, “Yes, by warlocks and wens.”

  Closing my eyes for a few moments, I took a deep breath before continuing, “How many did you lose today?”

  “Too many. Total is around fifty. We came with a hundred,” the female orc answered, her voice tinged with sadness.

  “And how many are at your village? Can you free them?”

  “No, they would annihilate us. We left over two hundred there but we have no mages and the wens would tear us apart.”

  “Are you allowed back now, since this happened?”

  Racar grumbled his reply, “No, we failed to bring those captives to their destination.”

  Sighing, “I figured that would be the answer. Well, I will give you the same option I gave your kin when he was in this situation.”

  She asked hurriedly, “You’ve talked to our kin?”

  “Yes. You have three choices. Go home and die, stay here and perish, or come with me to my settlement. That’s where your kin are, and they work for me.”

  That brought out all kinds of shouts and demands. Some of them yelled at me for suggesting such a thing.

  Racar asked in a low rumble, “Why would you do that for us?”

  “Because you’re prisoners of war. A war that most people don’t know about but soon will. Now, these people around me seem to be in a different mindset and I could care less about them. We saved their asses, so we get to do what we want with the prisoners. Not that you will be prisoners for long.”

  At that an arrogant voice spoke up behind me, “Who the hell do you think you are? Those are our prisoners.”

  Looking over my shoulder, I saw six individuals glaring at me: two centaurs, two barbarians, and the last two were in human form. I assumed they were weres. They all had a couple things in common; they were all male, muscular of course and looked to be the snooty pricks of their society.

  “Does it really matter who I am? No, it doesn’t, because you don’t need to know.”

  None of them liked my rebuttal. The huge, dark haired, muscled centaur said, “My name is Thadoneus, leader of this herd of mighty centaur. This is my son Elonis, heir of my herd and my niece, Melia, is to your right.”

  I looked over and found a gorgeous brunette centaur with muscles everywhere and firm tits. She had a huge bow in her arms and my beast was purring. What the hell? That bastard beast spoke to me in my mind, ‘It doesn’t matter what breed a female is, if they are worthy of us then take and breed her.’

  ‘She’s half horse.’

  He laughed and replied, ‘So what, she’s gotta have a pussy since she has nice tits.’

  I closed my eyes and sent my beast to the background. He chuckled while I was getting myself under control. I nodded to the centaur. A barbarian spoke when the centaur was done.

  “My name is Greinn, chief of the Blue Mountain Clan. My second is Dhorn and he is my son.”

  Nodding to them, the weres introduced themselves. “My name is Ulrich Axwell and standing beside me is my second, Gerard Almcottes. I am the Alpha of the Axwell Pride.”

  That brought my attention span way up. I wondered if this was Val’s brother or father. He was more likely her brother but didn’t know for sure. Also, they said their last names like I gave a shit. Arrogant fucks.

  The pretentious bastard went on, “Now, since we said our names and all, answer my questions.”

  “Do I have to repeat myself?”

  Both weres growled at my retort. I was smiling inside.

  Ulrich mouthed off, “You dare speak to us like that? Do you not know who I am?”

  “Yeah, you just said it. Are you okay? Maybe you need to take a breather or something to get your mind straight?”

  I heard snickering and laughing all around me, even the four who stood beside the two weres were smiling. Ulrich and Gerard were seething, their eyes even glowed yellow.

  Reap, Herc, and Sig were just watching the whole ordeal, not saying anything.

  Ulrich snarled something and spittle came out. Gross. A moment later, he shouted, “One more chance to talk or you will face me in combat.”

  Gasps were heard from his people, even some of the others that were present.

  Reap chuckled, ‘What an idiot.’

  Sig was on the point of falling over, he was laughing so hard. Herc snickered at the werelion.

  “Okay, if that is your wish. Did you not see what I did to save your asses from death?”

  “Does not matter, you will show me deference, or you will die,” Ulrich advised.

  “Let’s do it.”

  Everyone moved away from us, Ulrich shifted to his lion. He was big, muscular, but way smaller than I was. Something didn’t seem right with this; he was baiting me. I spoke out before he moved, “Dipshit, if your people join the brawl then my trio gets to join as well.”

  He didn’t even say anything except come at me. When he got close, the idiot jumped at me. Fuckin moron, I sidestepped his jump and threw a right cross at his maw and he went flying to land on his back, fifteen feet away from me. Growling, he got up and shook his head, then came at me again. He warily circled me, not really knowing what to do.

  “Okay Ulrich, I will shift to make it easy on you.”

  He was confused about that, as were some of the others. Taking a couple breaths, I asked my beast to change and he complied. Moments later, I felt myself getting smaller and when the transformation finished, I howled in my wolf form.

  “What the fuck!? You can change to other creatures?”

  I didn’t know who said that, but Ulrich had a smile on his face now, his eyes filled with hate and murder. He came at me quickly then and we brawled. The werelion got in some hits, but nothing that hindered me. I played defense for the most part, I didn’t really want to hurt the guy. It went on for a few minutes, but he didn’t get the message.

  “Come on! Fight! Or when I’m done with you, we will kill al
l those male orcs and I’ll take the females to bed and have my way with them, then let all the males in my pride have them before killing them.”

  The males in his pride laughed, the females looked appalled. I didn’t know if it was because they were shocked by his cruelty or disgusted at the idea that they would consider having orcs in their beds. The male orcs bellowed and were getting angry. Shit, he had to go and do that. Fine, if he wanted to die then I'd grant his wish.

  I sat down and waited for the bastard to come at me. It didn’t take him long. When he jumped, that was his last time to breathe efficiently. I met him in the air and drove him into the ground hard, the air left his body. At that time, my front paws changed to hands and punched him in the maw five or six times, stunning him. I then went over his body to break each and every bone I could find. His screams were loud, but my beast had taken over, so no mercy. We took him to pain levels that no one should be at, and at the very end, my beast tore his throat out.

  Spitting it on the ground, I howled my victory, but caught movement to my right. Gerard and some others had shifted, sprinting my way. All right, if that’s how they wanted to play then I could bring players into the game as well. My beast decided to shift on his own and I felt myself get bigger, but not by much.

  ‘Wow, a siba, nice touch Max,’ Sig chuckled.

  ‘Yeah, you guys ready to take out the trash?’

  They roared and we sprinted towards the ten werelions. Half broke off and vacated the area when they saw us coming at them. It didn’t matter to me, I was going at Gerard. The fucker was going to die. None of the five had a chance against us, we slammed into the idiots and clawed and bit them. Blood was everywhere, the lions actually tried to flee, but didn’t make it far before taking their last breaths. Gerard was panting and breathing hard, my paw was on his chest, about to tear out his throat, but I had some questions that needed answering.

  “I have to ask. Are you Valencia’s father or brother?”

  His eyes widened, before he choked out, “Her brother. Ulrich took us in when he killed my father. He also took mother for his wife. His teachings were to take what we wanted, and we did. He passed around mother and Valencia to all the males in the pride.”