by Tom Burton
“What happened?” he asks, standing up.
“A military compound,” Jaylen responds. “No sign of Mutaro or Luke anywhere.”
“Military?” Sam asks.
“Thousands of orcs,” Daniel says, “growing at an accelerated rate. Given the amount they are at now, they will be ready to strike soon.”
“We need to move; King Edmund needs to be told about this,” Aaron suggests.
Aaron, Jaylen, and Daniel begin to move straight away. However, Sam lingers behind, seemingly in shock.
“War is coming…” he says.
The others stop and look back at him.
“War is coming for all of us…” Sam continues.
Aaron approaches Sam. “If we tell the king as much, and we all prepare, we can win, but we must make haste.”
After a moment of scared silence, Sam agrees. He begins to walk with the others, heading back to Dellmoor.
The next morning, back in Dellmoor, the rain continues to pour down on the capital. King Edmund lies awake in his bed, with his wife, Queen Kendra, lying next to him, half asleep.
She opens her eyes and sees King Edmund is already awake.
“Are you still troubled, my king?” Queen Kendra asks slowly.
“Aaron hasn’t returned…,” the king replies, sighing. He proceeds to sit up, pressing his back against the bed’s wooden headboard.
“If the stories are true, I fear the worst for them—and everyone in this city,” King Edmund whispers, looking straight ahead of him.
Queen Kendra lays her hand on the king’s bare chest. “Sometimes we shouldn’t worry about what we cannot control, especially about someone who is many miles away. Instead, look to what is in front of you.” Queen Kendra points at Prince Andrew’s crib on the other side of the room. The king turns his head to look into the queen’s eyes then puts his arm around her neck and leans his head in.
“Your future lies here,” the queen continues. “Once all this is over, we can reunite our ties with Greyshore in the West, and we can live in peace and prosperity.”
The king responds with silence, his arms further embracing his queen.
Back at Redlock, Luke appears within the entrance hall, transporting himself there. He presses his hand against the scar he got from Aaron and then storms toward the gates to the throne room. Two orcs standing guard immediately open the door for him. Luke charges straight through. His master awaits, sitting on the throne, his hood still covering his head.
“Where are they?” Luke shouts at his master.
“Where are whom?” his master asks.
“The humans… I intercepted some who were traveling North.”
“And what happened to them?” the master asks.
Luke looks to the floor.
“They escaped….”
The master growls loudly. “They may not have arrived yet. Send a search party for these humans—surround the perimeter and set a fixed guard for the abandoned section of Redlock.”
Before Luke can carry out these orders, the throne room door opens behind him. A few orcs fearfully walk through the doorway, carrying a dead orc in their arms.
“My lords.”
One of the orc trembles, but is met with silence. The orcs throw their dead companion on the floor.
“We found him in one of the abandoned parts of the fortress, no witnesses,” one of the other orcs says.
The master stands up.
“They’ve already been here, watching everything they need to unite humanity!”
Luke becomes confused.
“Why would an entire country believe four people?”
“I sensed something,” Mutaro explains: “Something I have not felt since the days of the wizards’ rule over Neroman. A Pioneer has risen….”
“The cold visions haven’t been spoken of for generations!”
“The feeling became stronger and stronger over the last few days…one of those humans has the cold visions!” Mutaro tells Luke.
Luke turns to one of the orcs.
“Send for the wolves, hunt them down, and do not stop until they are found!”
The orcs run out of the throne room. As Luke begins to leave the throne room too, his master starts to walk toward him.
“Snow!” Mutaro shouts.
Luke stops and turns slowly toward him.
“If they get back to the capital, we lose out advantage…and if that happens, you’ll lose your head.”
“I will not fail,” Luke replies.
His master continues to walk down the throne steps. “We shall see…. I’m giving you half of our forces. I want you to storm the western regions, burn the villages, destroy the farms, and set the entire land on fire. And make sure word does not escape the West, and away from your grasp.”
Luke nods in agreement and then storms out of the throne room. The two orcs standing guard close the door behind him.
A few miles out of Redlock, on a small footpath through an open field, Aaron, Daniel, Jaylen, and Sam continue to walk in silence, clearly in shock at what they have discovered. Sam leads the way, with Aaron and Daniel following as a pair. Jaylen falls behind for a moment, watching for anyone who might be following them.
“There were thousands of them,” Daniel observes.
“How can we possibly beat them?” Sam asks.
Jaylen joins up with the rest of them.
“We need to give ourselves a fighting chance. Wars have been won against greater odds.”
Daniel scoffs at this.
“Disagree, Daniel?” Jaylen asks sarcastically.
The company immediately stops in the middle of the path.
“You just saw thousands of orcs being made, weapons of the sharpest steel being forged and a roar that is still causing my ears to bleed—so you can’t tell me we stand a chance against them!”
Daniel draws closer to Jaylen. Aaron steps between them.
“We need to get back, inform the king before we do anything else.”
Suddenly, the four hear a great horn behind them. They turn as one to see very small figures in the distance, across the open field. They also see the smoke from Redlock, seeming to intensify: the billows of smoke thicken at a rapid rate. Jaylen watches the small figures get bigger.
“We need to move….”
The group continues its journey across the field. They soon see the path turn around a small woodland. The four men hear some form of howling behind. Turning, they see figures riding some sort of wolves—only these animals could be larger and faster than any normal wolf.
“Into the woods!” Jaylen barks.
The other three men follow Jaylen into the woodland. Aaron, Sam, and Daniel run straight into the woods; Jaylen then stops on the forest line and turns to see how far away the orcs are. He counts about twelve of them then draws his sword and sprints into the woods.
Once in the woods, the four men quickly disperse. Jaylen then catches up with Sam, whereas Aaron and Daniel split off, running through the woods to the left of them. As the orcs enter the woodland, they also realize the four have dispersed. They choose to disperse with them.
Three orcs follow Daniel, but he runs quickly: there’s soon a large distance between him and the orcs. Seeing the gap he has made for himself, he stops and turns very suddenly, and draws his bow and arrow. Despite the orcs quickly approaching him, he draws his bow back and releasing three arrows in quick succession, kills the three unnaturally large wolves the orcs ride on. As the orcs fall, Daniel draws his sword and battles the orcs one at a time. He manages to slash two across the chest, and stabs one through the stomach, eventually killing all three of them. He then hears screams in the distance; immediately, he runs toward them.
Three orcs are racing toward Jaylen and Sam. Because Sam is slow, the orcs easily catch up to them. Jaylen
drops his bag and pushes Sam aside. Sam’s momentum throws him over a large bush, shielding him from the orcs. Then Jaylen turns and draws a spear in one hand and his unsheathed sword in the other. As one of the wolves’ charges straight at him, Jaylen shoves his spear through the wolves’ jaw, thrusting the spear upward, into the orc’s chest. He lets go of the spear and allows both the orc and the wolf to fall. Then he fights the other two orcs…but the wolves begin to overpower him: one of the animals opens its jaws, bares its teeth, and charges at Jaylen. The wolf catches Jaylen between its jaws and wraps his teeth around the commander’s stomach, then continues charging until he smashes Jaylen into a tree. The creature continues to dig its teeth in. Jaylen’s pain-ridden scream sounds long and loud.
Suddenly, Sam appears from behind the bush. He sees the wolf digging into Jaylen; another orc and wolf are watching the battle unfold. Sam creeps toward Jaylen’s bag and takes out a small dagger. Then he moves slowly toward the wolf that is looking on. His hand shaking as he raises the dagger, he stabs the wolf from below. The wolf falls to the ground, throwing the orc to the forest floor as well. Sam immediately jumps on the orc and stabs it in the chest. The biting wolf lets go of Jaylen. The commander slides down the tree, all the way to the roots. He continues to scream in pain.
The wolf and the orc riding the wolf then slowly come toward Sam. He starts to shake intensely. As the wolf opens its jaws and charges, an arrow suddenly shoots through its skull, followed quickly by another arrow, which goes through the orc’s neck.
Daniel appears. He rushes to Jaylen and Sam. “Are you both okay?” he asks. But Sam, continuing to tremble, clearly in a state of shock, points toward Jaylen. Daniel rushes over to pick him up.
“Where’s Aaron?” Jaylen asks.
Daniel simply shakes his head.
The three men take several minutes to recover from the attack and tend their wound. Then, they venture off to find Aaron.
Aaron is running. Running away from six orcs riding six wolves. The orcs begin to flank him, three on each side. Eventually they surround him, forcing Aaron to stop. With no escape route, he quickly climbs a large tree. He climbs fast, and gets high off the ground long before any of the wolves can get within his reach. He finds a strong enough branch to settle on, but the orcs below have him surrounded.
“What’s next, boy?”
One of the orcs laughs, and the other orcs join in. Suddenly, arrows start flying at the wolves. Aaron looks down to see Daniel and Jaylen shooting at the wolves. All six were swiftly killed, the orcs being thrown onto the forest floor as the creatures fall.
Daniel approaches Aaron’s tree. Meanwhile, Sam stays back to protect Jaylen. Aaron then jumps down from the tree to join Daniel. Together, they draw their swords to fight the orcs. Jaylen continues to shoot arrows at the orcs, killing two. Daniel and Aaron easily finish off the remaining four wounded orcs.
All but one orc are dead. Crippled by Aaron, it tries to crawl away, seemingly having lost the use of its legs. Aaron walks toward it, with his Neroman sword still tightly gripped in his right hand. As he approaches the orc, he turns the orc onto its back and immediately stabs it in the stomach.
“The war has begun…at the sound of the horn,” the orc whispers.
The next moment, the same Redlock horn that the company had heard earlier blows again—but this time even louder. The four men turn to look toward the sound of the horn. Once the horn ceased, Aaron turns to see the orc, dead.
Aaron then walks toward the other three men.
“Is everyone okay?”
Jaylen suddenly falls to his knees and screams in pain. The other three run to surround him.
“What’s wrong?” Aaron asks.
Sam lifts Jaylen’s shirt to reveal the wounds. The wolf’s bite has dug right into Jaylen’s stomach, which now is bleeding at an alarming rate. Aaron and Daniel gasp.
“One of the wolves got him,” Sam tells Aaron.
Aaron and Daniel then proceed to pick Jaylen up slowly. As Jaylen stands, both of his arms wrap around Aaron’s and Daniel’s shoulders.
“Lead the way, Sam,” Aaron instructs, “we need to get back to Dellmoor as fast as possible!”
The four men begin to find their way out of the woodland.
Back in Dellmoor, Lord Commander Laura Hutton patrols the streets. Three guards wearing armor from head to toe follow behind her. As the commander’s party passes, the city dwellers disperse around them, allowing them through while looking at them aggressively in the process.
Nice to see you doing something!” one of the dispersing men shouts sarcastically. Other men laugh at them.
Laura holds the hilt of her sword and continues forward.
They begin to walk through the backstreets. Suddenly, they hear screaming in the distance. Laura begins to run; the three guards quickly follow. They turn a corner, where they find a few men and women in a brawl with Royal guards. Laura sees that one of the guards is badly injured in the head. She points toward her guards. “Two of you, take him back to the castle!” The guards rush over to help their injured colleague. Laura then points to her third guard. “You, with me!”
Laura and the guard join in the brawl, she and the guards help defray the brawl by helping the other guards fend off the protestors.
As the two other guards take the injured soldier away from the brawl, the remaining guards simply leave their weapons sheathed and attempt to disarm the raging protesters, who are mostly carrying pitchforks and throwing stones at them. Laura and the guards grab the protestors’ pitchforks and break them; the other protestors give up throwing stones, as they soon realize their rocks do not damage the guards’ steel armor.
“You’ve doomed us all!” one of the men shouts, spitting in Laura’s face. She remains standing valiantly in front of the guards. Soon the protesters disperse, and Laura turns to her guards.
“Is everyone okay?”
“Yes, lord commander,” one of the guards answers, with the rest nodding in agreement.
“Keep to your patrols,” Laura orders, “we don’t know how long this could last.”
While the guards begin to walk down the streets, two follow Laura back the way they had come.
Up near the North, Aaron, Sam, Daniel, and Jaylen make their way out of the woodland. They rejoin the footpath they left during the chase. Sam leads the way; Aaron and Daniel carrying Jaylen. As Sam continues forward, he soon sees a small hut ahead of him. He stops for the others to catch up.
“Aaron?” Sam nervously asks. He points toward the hut. “That wasn’t there on our way up.”
“Maybe we’re on a different pathway?” Daniel suggests.
“No,” Sam asserts. “This is the same one.”
“Hold Jaylen, Sam,” Aaron orders.
Once Sam has taken Aaron’s place in holding Jaylen, Aaron draws his sword and, crouching down, makes his way over to the small hut.
“We need to head back…” Jaylen mutters to himself, struggling to speak.
Aaron turns to the group. “Keep away, we don’t know what lies inside!”
As the other three men keep their distance, Aaron approaches the hut. When he reaches it, he slowly looks inside through the open door. He sees two small featherbeds, both of which have clearly been used. He also sees open books and potion bottles on tables either side of the hut. He slowly walks in through the open door, with both hands tightly gripping the hilt of his Greyshore sword.
“Hello…?” he shouts, but is met with silence.
He soon realizes that no one is in the hut. Relaxing, he begins to look around the hut. One of the books on a shelf on the wall of the hut is open, and he tries to read it. But the writing on every page he turns to is in an unfamiliar language. He takes the strange words as a sign and storms out of the hut.
As he walks from the hut, he sees that Daniel and Sam have been taken hostage
by two hooded figures, holding small knives against their necks. Jaylen lies unconscious on the ground.
“Drop your sword!” one of the hooded figures shouts.
Aaron slowly places his sword on the ground. He holds his other hand in the air.
“What are you doing here?” the other hooded figure asks.
“We can’t say…” Aaron answers.
“If you are this far north, then you are enemies to the crown — the crown that we abide by.”
“Tell us,” the other figure warns, “or we cut their throats.”
Aaron answers nervously: “The king himself has sent us on a sensitive mission to the North to find and stop an imminent threat.”
“What threat?”
After a moment, Aaron responds, “We don’t know.”
He watches as the two figures begin to press their knives into Daniel and Sam’s necks.
“You have proof?” one of the figures asks.
Slowly, Aaron moves his hand into his pocket. He takes out the medicine he has been taking to stop his cold visions and lifts the medicine up for the hooded men to see.
“The king himself gave me that,” Aaron tells them, “you won’t find it anywhere else in the kingdom.”
The figure removes his hood and looks over to the other man. The other figure looks at the medicine too; then, he removes his hood. They both turn toward Aaron in shock. They drop their knives from Daniel’s and Sam’s throats.
“You’re Aaron Silver,” one of the men says. “A Pioneer….”
Back at Dellmoor, King Edmund sits on his throne. He leans forward, looking toward the floor in front of him. Two guards stand watch behind him.
A guard storms into the throne room.
“Your grace.”
The king stands.
“We report four fatal injuries from the protests…on both sides,” the guard informs the king. His words are met with a worried silence.
“We need more men,” the guard requests desperately.
The king then sits down again and looks away from the guard. Taking the king’s reticence as a sign to leave, the guard storms out of the throne room.