by Xander Jade
The chief spoke then, “Thank you for that, but why would you help us? No doubt you know we have been helping with capturing others.”
“Yes, we do. Matter of fact, that’s how we knew you were in need of help.”
He nodded and said, “Again, why help?”
I scanned the faces in front of me. “Because one of your kin advised me that his clan were prisoners as well.”
“Who is this kin you speak of?” the chief asked with a raised brow.
“His name is Gurak.”
Gasps were heard all over the area. A female pushed through the crowd and fell to her knees. She asked, “Is he okay? Where did you see him?”
“He is fine and at my place.”
There were murmurs now. My crew was beside me, waiting.
The chief asked with confusion, “What do you mean, at your place? Is he held as a prisoner?”
That set off shouts and hissing.
“No, he is part of my team of security. I made an alliance with him and part of his horde that survived the battle we were in.”
The orcs were completely silent, except for the sound of some females crying. The chief spoke out after a few moments. “We figured they had to prisoners or dead since we haven’t heard from them. The overlords were pissed off a few weeks back about something but wouldn’t let us know what was wrong …How many survived?”
I took a moment or two to answer, “Only around two hundred.”
The crying and whimpering were more prominent now.
I went on, “They would’ve been destroyed too if his group joined in with the wens. At that point, I gave him a choice. He took the deal to make an alliance instead of coming back home to face the evil ones here.”
The group of orcs in front of me nodded and the woman that I thought was his mate spoke, “So, he is unharmed and healthy?”
“Yes. Are you his mate?”
She nodded and I continued, “The reason we are here is because we heard of the prison that holds hundreds of people and are going to free them. We stopped here to help you and ask if any volunteers would help us.”
They glanced at each other, but none responded.
‘Pussies!’ Nespea hissed.
“Okay, that is fine, but we need to rest before leaving tomorrow. Can we use a couple of your huts?”
The chief nodded and asked one of his people to show us the way. I shifted back and Nespea and Sig went back into their tattoos. When that was done, I went into one of the huts to rest. Herc and Reap plopped down just outside.
‘They’re afraid.’
‘Yes, probably scared of both sides. They don’t want it to blow up in their faces,’ Sig advised us.
I grunted and fell asleep.
Chapter 11
I opened my eyes to rain leaking through the hut and hitting my face. Stretching out, I got my body going and wiped the wetness off my face. It was cold. I was cranky and hungry. Not a good start to the day. Grabbing some jerky and bread out of my pack, I packed up my equipment and we set off towards the next village. Hopefully it would be overcast as it was now.
When we arrived, I pulled off into the foliage to check what was holding them hostage. I counted eight trolls and five wens. The village itself was around the same size as the last one we liberated.
‘I don’t see any overlords.’
‘Agreed,’ Herc said.
The others hadn’t seen any either, so I suggested, ‘Let’s wait for an hour to see if any show up.’
We sat there, watching the day go by as the village went through its daily routine. My team patiently waited. An hour passed and I watched the children playing off to the side away from the evil ones. Well, they weren’t all children. There were also many teens. They weren’t fully developed but definitely bigger than the rest. The kids were playing with some kind of ball, kicking it around. One of the trolls went over and stomped on it, bursting it.
The two teens got angry and confronted the troll. The instigator laughed and pushed both of them, sending them tumbling to the ground. That got shit going. The orcs started bellowing, challenging the troll, but his kin came over and stood, waiting for them to do something. The wens just stood there, watching the spectacle.
‘It’s time. Let’s make this easy. Nespea, encase the legs of the trolls and wens within the earth, two feet deep.’
She chuckled and did it. The evil ones were shocked at first when they fell down into the holes that Nespea made and bellowed out in anger when no one could move, wanting to know who was doing magic. The orcs looked around as well.
I chuckled at the idiots. ‘All right, let’s take out the wens. We’ll leave the trolls to the village.’
They agreed and we just strolled slowly down the hill towards the village. When we came out of the foliage, the whole area gasped at our group. We didn’t let it deter us at all and kept going. After a couple minutes of walking, we came to our prey. They hissed and taunted us, which was stupid since they were held by the earth and couldn’t move their legs. The trolls didn’t have any weapons to use against us either.
‘Kill em.’
We didn’t take our time at all, just slaughtered them.
‘Sig, burn em.’
He did as commanded. I walked towards the orcs who were backing up in fear.
“We have come to clear this place out of vermin. Now, I know what you’re going to say, so let’s start with that. Yes, we know you’ve been involved in capturing people of all races for the demons. No, we don’t blame the village because you were prisoners yourselves. My team and I have spared your kin in a battle. Tavoria and Racar advised me that you were being held captive. So, here we are. We took the wens out and I’m sure your village wants revenge, so,” I gestured to the trolls and continued, “the trolls are yours.”
At first the orcs were baffled by my rant, but soon they picked up any weapon available and went to work, even the teens. It was brutal. I didn’t watch much of that.
I was about to call it a day and leave when the chief bellowed out, “Stranger! Will you speak to us?”
Turning to him, I nodded.
He spoke normally, “You said something about Tavoria and Racar. Where are they?”
Scanning the crowd behind him, I looked for any trouble, but didn’t find any. “They’re waiting at the Tetrand Crossing.”
He asked warily, “How many? We sent a hundred.”
The ones behind him were concerned. I answered truthfully, “Half.”
He looked down in sadness, some started to sob. I continued, “They brawled with centaurs, barbarians, and werelions. We came and took out the wens, letting the others take care of the rest, except the orcs. I questioned them, advised them to wait for my return, and here we are.”
The chief stated nervously, “We thank you for not killing them. What are your plans for them?”
“I don’t have any. They were staying away because the wens would’ve killed them if they showed up empty handed or fled.”
I didn’t want them to know about the ones at my settlement, not yet at least.
He responded with a smile, “We can go and retrieve them?”
I hesitated and carefully replied, “Yes, but they are under the care of centaurs. I’m not sure what will happen if I’m not there to release them.”
The orcs behind him didn’t know what to say to that. The chief asked, “Would you accompany our group to free them?”
“I will, but you’ll have to wait. We’re on our way to liberate that prison in your backyard. After that, we’ll come back through here and pick you up.”
No one spoke. They all seemed stunned.
“Be ready when I return.”
I walked off, not caring for any response. My crew followed. When we got further out, Nespea and Sig went back into their tattoos. I mounted Zeus and we left.
***
A few hours later, we came upon the mountain range that supposedly held the prison. Scanning for any trouble, my eyes didn’t pick up any
thing, so we kept going. As silently as we could, we followed a trail that would hopefully allow us access in. It was another thirty minutes before we found a cave. We knew we were on the right track because of the gnoll guards out front.
‘All right, it would seem we’re here. I’ll take out the four sentries, then we’ll see what’s going on inside.’
Dismounting, I pulled out my bow and quiver, which I’d attached to Zeus, then moved to a spot that was hidden from the front of the cave. Taking out four arrows, I nocked the first one and let loose, then pulled the second one and did the same. Both idiots went down. The last two came over to inspect their downed kin. I didn’t hesitate and let the other two arrows loose. They hit their targets, and both dropped to the ground, dead.
I turned to Zeus. “Hey bud, we’ll be back soon, okay? Stay here and out of sight.”
He snorted, not liking that he couldn’t go with, but moved into the foliage. I took off my tunic and both elementals came out. A minute later, we made our way through the cave to a tunnel within the mountain. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness. Nespea took the lead and we slowly walked further into the mountain, killing anything we came across. There were numerous patrols in our way, so we dismantled them. Wens and gnolls, mostly.
The tunnel broke off in three directions. We chose the path on the left and went down as silently as we could, coming across rails that led up a mine shaft. We decided to follow them. We passed rail cars every so often. Curious, I walked over to one and looked. It was full of metal and I picked up a piece. It was a silvery-white color, and I knew from my pops what this was. I tried to bend it and, sure enough, it bent. I felt goosebumps come up on my body.
I whispered in awe, ‘Holy shit. This is platinum.’
The others came over and looked. Sig and Nespea went over to the other railcar facing the opposite direction.
Herc whistled. ‘Damn, sure is.’
Sig called out to me, ‘Max, come over here.’
I walked towards the railcar the two elementals were looking inside. The metal was of the same color scheme, so I did the same test. It didn’t budge.
‘Is this what I fuckin think it is?’
The fire elemental sighed. ‘Yes. It’s rhodium.’
‘How the hell did we end up in a mountain range full of rare metals? Huh? This is… I… I don’t know what to say.’
Nespea suggested, ‘Let’s get the other shit done and come back to this. One thing at a time, gentlemen.’
I grunted and Nespea moved to head down the tunnel, the rest of us following. Before long, we came to the end and saw a cavern that had another tunnel leading out. In the cavern we spied four wens and quickly took them out. There were a few railcars strewn about, so we took a gander and saw iron, copper, and even silver.
Sig and Nespea went first through the tunnel entrance. We followed them and ended up in another tunnel that had empty railcars. I heard noise from the southern side of the tunnel.
‘Voices up ahead, let’s see what we’re dealing with,’ Nespea suggested as we continued on our way.
Shapes came into view, different from the others. They were tall and seemed to be swaying side to side. What made me freeze were the serpent tails that formed the lower half of the creatures’ bodies. Nagas.
‘It seems we’ve come upon a couple of nagas. Keep still till we have them preoccupied and when I catch them, Max, you will cut them in half with your blade. Get the torsos away from the bottom half so I can completely engulf them in stone. Otherwise, they will regenerate,” Nespea advised.
‘What about a disintegrate spell? I’ve heard that takes care of that problem, or so I’ve read.’
She looked at me with a mixture of anger and anguish. It caught me off guard for a moment.
‘He doesn’t know about your past, Nespea, but he is right. If you don’t want to do it, then teach him how.’
Sig came over and looked at the yikarian. I had no idea what was going on.
She took a couple breaths and nodded. ‘You’re right. This is different. We’re saving people. Let’s go and complete my plan, but I will use the spell on them instead.’
I nodded, still unsure what just happened, and we got in our spots, waiting for Nespea to start. She dropped the nagas down about a foot into the earth and encased them in it. Both of them squawked and tried to get out, I pulled my sword out and took care of the second part. The bodies were already regenerating, but Nespea began saying words of power for her spell and half a minute later, the bodies just fell apart in a million pieces, ending in a puddle of goo. She then opened the mountain up and swallowed the evidence. I shuddered, that was fucking awesome, yet nasty at the same time.
She must’ve seen my reaction and stated, ‘I’m glad to see that affected you, young one. It tells me that you would only use that spell when you have to. As you can see, the aftermath is quite repulsive. I will teach you the spell another time.’
I nodded and just walked on, not wanting to speak about that right now. In no time we came to a series of holes in the walls every few hundred feet or so. Peaking through the first one, I saw the cages. Then the smell hit me. It was a mixture of feces, urine, and death. There were no guards. We checked the other holes, but still no guards. Hoping no one would see us, we ventured forward and eventually into a cavern, cages lined the walls. Same fuckin smell. Checking the area, I could only see six evil ones.
‘I only see six, anyone else see any others?’
‘Ten, two are in each of the tunnels on the far side,’ Nespea advised.
I looked over and she shrugged before continuing, ‘I can feel them, earth sense.’
That’s coooool. I raised my brow. Why she hadn’t shown me that?
The yikarian huffed, ‘I can’t teach you everything in a few weeks. You’ll have to be patient, ungrateful one.’
The others snickered and I chuckled as well, shaking my head, realizing that’s how she knew where to go through the tunnels.
‘Okay, easily offended one. What are we facing then?’
They lost it then, all the guys laughing in my mind. Nespea tried to glare at me but failed and laughed as well.
‘There are just gnolls in the tunnel, but two nagas and four wens are guarding the cages.’
‘Okay, we can’t really pinpoint the assholes to drop into the mountain unless they keep still, which for some reason they haven’t since we came upon them.’
‘Agreed, they must sense something is wrong,’ Sig said.
‘Let’s do this. Reap, Sig, and I will handle the wens, Nespea and Herc, the nagas. When the gnolls join, we’ll cut them down too. After that, we’ll all assist against the nagas if Nespea and Herc need it.’
They grunted and I stripped to shift, taking another minute for my beast to get his head straight. We marched into the cavern at a jog. When the wens saw us they screeched, and that was our signal to kick ass.
My group broke off and sprinted towards the abominations, the other group went towards the nagas. The bloodlust built and I lengthened my claws. The first two wens were upon us and my arms shot out as we ran by, clotheslining the fucks. I kept going and tackled the other duo, getting up quickly as did the wen closest to me. I swiped my claws across its neck, black blood was gushing out of the top as the head came off and the body plummeted. Wasting no time, I turned just in time to catch the other one in mid-swing trying to gut me with its claws. Smiling, I wrenched his arm swiftly, breaking it off completely, then went straight for the head again. The head rolled on the ground. Throwing the arm down I cut the hearts out and lit them on fire, then stomped on the heads lying next to me, crushing them to paste. I had mastered this routine.
Getting back to the battle, I scanned the area and saw some gnolls were still about so I went over to take care of those pipsqueaks. In no time they were dead too. Reap and Sig were taking care of the last wen, so I looked over to Nespea and Herc. They had cut one of the nagas down, but the bastard looked to be almost regenerated. I sprin
ted over and punched through the regenerating naga. Blood and guts spurted all over my arm and the ground. Pulling my arm out, I took hold of the hole with both claws and pulled horizontally. My beast ripped him in half, literally. The serpent-man was in two pieces from the top down. I threw the body in separate directions and roared. It echoed off the cavern and everyone turned to look at me. The other naga looked over to see what had happened to his compadre and went wide-eyed. He tried to back up, but I caught him by the tail and yanked him back. He gasped as my claw caught him by the throat and squeezed.
Not paying attention to the others, I glared at the asswipe in front of me, “Let’s talk, shall we? Hope you can speak common.”
I walked over to the closest rock formation and said the word of power for the earth to create a six-foot deep hole for my friend to sit in. Slamming the naga into his home for the moment, I whispered for the hole to close around him. When I let the puke go, he tried to move and get out, but stopped when he realized his predicament. His shoulders slumped.
I grinned at him when he finally looked up at me. He shuddered. Guess he didn’t like my smile.
“Can you speak common?”
He didn’t answer at first but relented when Reap came up beside me.
“Yes.”
“I want to know if any other places like this exist in Azgrag, and if you don’t answer my questions then I will cut off a limb each time. Now, I know you can regenerate, which is fine. I’ve got all day to play and it’s gotta hurt every time you use that magic.”
He grimaced and knew that I was right on that point.
“Is this the only one?”
“Fuck you! I’m not telling you anything!” the bastard shouted, and the beast instinct took over. He didn’t just cut a limb; he ripped the right arm off. Cartilage, muscle, and tissue went everywhere. Blood was spurting out for a little bit but stopped as the regeneration kicked in.
The naga screamed out and looked at me in terror, knowing I wasn’t playing around. I threw the arm behind me. Somebody gasped and started talking, but it didn’t matter to me what they were saying because all of my concentration was on the serpent-man.