The First Era

by Andrew Bardsley

  Halfway between the guardians and the army, Ahava met the small group of orcs. The only orc he recognized was the princess Olga. She still had the ax he had made her in her hands. She was holding it like it was an extension of her body. She had grown a bit but was still smaller.

  As he walked up to her Ahava said in a polite voice, “Princess Olga, you wanted to meet!”

  Stopping a few meters away with a determined look, she said, “Princess no more. It is Queen Olga of the Blood River tribe and yes, I did want a meeting. You seem to be stronger than when I last saw you?”

  “Yes,” Ahava said with a smile, “I have gained some strength and extra power since we last were together. I am positive that you did not arrange all this just to check on my health.”

  “No,” Queen Olga said, “I was just trying to be—what do you humans call it? —polite. I need you to produce more weapon for my tribe.”

  Ahava said, “Why should I do that?”

  The queen was about to answer when one of the larger and older orcs interrupted her and said, “As I advised you, queen, he will not obey your rightful order. You should have listened to the council of elders in this matter and not led us on this foolish errand. We have much to do in our lands.”

  Olga replied, without looking away from Ahava, ”You talk too much, Grek. If you were not on the council of elders that are my guardians until I come of age, I would kill you now.”

  Grek replied in an even manner, “Good words, my queen. But I am here to guide you until you are of age. Then I am sure you will kill me, but I will have served my purpose for a stronger tribe and will be happy in that knowledge."

  “I challenge you, human, to blood combat to the death,” Grek spat the words out at Ahava, looking like Ahava was a piece of dirt underfoot.

  “Well,” said Ahava, “I don’t know what blood combat is but I will defend myself if you attack me.”

  “That is enough for me; let us begin the combat,” said Grek while stripping off his armor and giving his weapons to another orc. He walked into a clear section of land and stood to wait for Ahava.

  Ahava stripped off his armor and put it into his bag with his weapons. As he was doing this the queen walked up to him and said, “You better not get yourself killed, as I need your weapons making skills.”

  Ahava replied with a smile, “Thanks for your concern. I will try for your sake.”

  With that comment, he walked to stand opposite the large orc. The drums from the army started to beat in a slow rhythm. Grek roared a formal challenge toward Ahava, while Ahava just stood there waiting for the attacks to begin. The orc rushed forward at an amazing speed for something so large. When Grek was in striking distance a flurry of fists hit out toward the human. Ahava managed to block all of them but all of the fists were just a distraction for a head-butt from Grek. The head connected with Ahava’s nose and smashed him backward. As he moved backward, he smashed his foot into the side of the orc’s knee, but no breaking sound was heard. Ahava followed with an uppercut to the chin of the large orc, which managed to connect. Then he hit with an elbow to the face but was blocked by Grek.

  This close quarter exchange of hits and blocks continued for long minutes, with neither landing any killing blows. The orc started to move slightly slower, while Ahava was as fast as when he started the fight. This was due to an increase in stats over the last few months. He had not used any of his elemental power up to this moment. As the orc started to move slower, he started to make mistakes and finally Ahava managed to get a combination of hits to the head that knocked the orc to the ground.

  As the orc was on the ground dazed, Ahava stood. He spoke up in a shout, with its power increased by the elemental air, so all the army could hear, and said, “Just know that I can kill with only a thought.”

  With this statement, he covered an area twenty meters around him with walls of fire flowing in waves emanating from him. The fire engulfed where the orc lay. When the fire cleared Ahava was standing there with the orc still lying on the ground. He had a look of fear on his face. Ahava had covered them both with an elemental power force field so as not to burn the orc to death.

  Using the same voice, Ahava said, “But I choose not to.”

  Walking over to the orc, he extended his hand and said to Grek, “Was that enough or you want to continue?”

  Grek just shook his head and said, “There is peace between us now.”

  Ahava walked back to queen Olga and said, “Before we were interrupted, we were talking about weapons. Now explain to me why I should make weapons for you.”

  Olga replied in her usual commanding tone, “My tribe is about to be attacked by a large horde of creatures from the southeast of the tribal area. Our scouts have been tracking their movement toward us and they will be in a position to attack with about a month. We have at the moment stone and some copper weapons but with your steel weapons, my warriors will have an advantage. If we don’t stop the horde it will wipe us off the world’s surface. I also think it will carry on to invade the human lands.”

  Ahava asked, “Do you know why they are attacking you?”

  Olga said in a distasteful voice, “I am not on talking terms with such filthy scum. We do not know, but ever since I was abducted there has been an increase in activity of dark and evil creatures. The source seems to be a ziggurat located to the southeast. We orcs are honorable and will pay for the weapons you provide. But we must have them.”

  Ahava said with a look of determination on his face, “How do I know you will not attack the humans in the upper plains?”

  Olga replied with a look of distaste, “We orcs have no interest in the humans but I will give you a blood oath that no one from the Blood River tribe will attack the humans in the upper plains.”

  All of the orcs around Olga looked shocked but said nothing.

  Ahava said, “That will be fine but I will also take all the weapons back when the horde is destroyed.”

  Olga’s eyes from the deep sockets flashed with anger. “I will accept that but I keep my weapon.”

  Ahava said with a smile that just seemed to anger Olga more, “We have a deal then.”

  Olga said, “We will travel back to the tribal grounds then, where I will make the blood oath in front of my people and bind them to the promise.”

  Queen Olga then turned toward the orcs standing around and said, “Commanders, order the army to start toward home at a fast pace. We have no time to spare.”

  All the commanders hit their right feet on the ground in acknowledgment and ran off. When each of them reached part of the army they started shouting orders. Some of the troops set off at a sprint as a scout for the army, but the rest quickly formed up into a rank of five soldiers in width. Queen Olga and Ahava moved to the front of the column with some older orcs. The drums started to beat in regular rhythm and all the orc soldiers picked up the beat with a melodic chant. Ahava felt an elemental air power infuse the group. This filled his body with speed, willing his body to move faster. Then, at a signal from the commander, the column moved forward at a ground-eating pace. Ahava noticed that as the column moved forward small groups of soldiers would break off to run a distance beside the column as an external outer guard. The discipline and order of the army was high as they moved quickly through the plains with the chanting and drums moving them onward.

  Ahava talked to Olga as they ran. “I need material to make the weapons. I will scan the surrounding areas as we run through the wilderness. But if I find anything I will need to go to the area for collection.”

  Olga nodded in reply. “I will send you a company of soldiers for protection for the task.”

  As the day progressed the chanting and drums continued, with the fast pace eating up miles as the scenery flew by for Ahava. As he ran, he continuously scanned the surrounding ground with the elemental powers of ether and earth. It was early afternoon before he found a large gathering of rocks with iron ore in abundance.

  Ahava said to Olga, “I must be
off and collect the materials. I've found a large collection of rocks close by that contains the iron ore I need. It may take me a few hours but I should be able to catch up.”

  Olga signaled one of the captains and instructed him to accompany Ahava with a group of soldiers. The captain shouted to his men as they started to fall out of the main army and form up into a small squad.

  The captain introduced himself to Ahava and said with a grin, “My name is Korpar. Lead the way, sir, and we will follow.”

  Ahava nodded his head in acknowledgment and started running toward the direction of the iron ore, about three kilometers’ distance. The pace Ahava set was faster than the orc army but the squad of troops managed to keep up, even though they were giving him looks of surprise. They passed quickly, running over the ground and rocks with the bushes and green flowers on either side. The beauty of the landscape had a harsh quality to it rather than the more well-refined landscape of the upper plain. The orc soldiers seemed to tackle the tough terrain with ease and even smiled and joked with each other as they ran. Every now and again the orc captain would send out different patrols to check what was in the area ahead. The patrols would come back and sometimes reported wild animals in the way. The fast-moving group would avoid the animals if they could, to save time. If they could not avoid the wild animals, orc soldiers would rush forward and attack them with such a force as to overrun them quickly. They would often use their spears in quick, powerful throws to attack the animals, with a large number hitting and killing instantly. Ahava found himself respecting the orc discipline more and more, and their skill with their weapons.

  Faster than Ahava thought possible they made their way to the rocky outcrop with the iron ore in it. Using his ether scan ability, he was able to tell that there was an abundance of ore available at this location. There would be plenty to supply the whole army with weapons. Ahava asked the captain if he could set up a defensive perimeter and send his men out patrolling, so that he could start his work without any interruption by animals or monsters. The captain nodded his head in agreement and set to work, ordering the soldiers to the task. Ahava walked over to the largest concentration of iron ore that he could feel with his scan and sat down. Using his elemental powers, he started to scan the area around him. Ahava formed a detailed image of the areas of ore concentration within the local area. Using the earth elemental power, he started to crush the rock surrounding the ore. Feeling significantly more power than before, he started to extract the ore out of the broken rock and pull it toward him. Streams of metal shot out of the ground and started swirling around his head. The orc soldiers around him had looks of astonishment on their faces but no fear. As more streams of metal continued, to shoot out of the ground into the swirling mass over Ahava, he started to heat it up with the fire elemental power. The swirling metal was now was glowing white in color and radiating large amounts of heat the surroundings. Ahava surrounded the white swirling metal with a force shield to stop it affecting people and plants in the surrounding area. Off to the side was a small grove of trees. He sent his fire elemental power to burn them into ashes. Moving the ashes to the swirling mass of molten metal with the air elemental power, Ahava mixed it together to produce steel. From his bag, he took out some other materials to add to the swirling mass of molten steel. This mixture of materials gave the fine steel that had been previously produced in the experiment work completed in the human city. With the steel produced, he opened his bag and force the stream of steel to flow inside. This had the appearance of a hot glowing stream of metal passing within hands’ width of his face. The metal lit up his excited face with a glow. The orc soldiers had more than a look of astonishment now; they had a look of pure amazement in their eyes.

  When all the metal was in his bag, he walked over to the captain said, “I'm finished; let's get back to the army.”

  The captain nodded in reply and called back the soldiers. He formed the soldiers for the run back to the army. The group made quick time and reached the army just before sunset. As the soldiers ran back they just kept looking at Ahava with wonder.

  The orc army was starting to set up defensive parameters. This included ditches with small stakes in them and earthen walls. In the center, there were several large tents set –up, with cooking fires spotted around the campsite.

  The orc captain said, “I will take you to the Queen’s tent and report what happened.”

  Passing through the camp, Ahava saw orcs busy with all manner of activities. Some were preparing and cooking food, while others were cleaning armor or setting up more tents. This was a highly organized army and not some unskilled group. Ahava soon came to what he thought was the queen's tent. There were two guards dressed in armor, with massive muscles even for orcs, at the door of the tent. The captain had a word with them and they were allowed into the tent. Inside the tent were the queen and her orc elder advisers around a small table, looking at documents and maps written on skins. The captain walked up to the queen and stamped his right foot as if it were a salute. The queen looked up from the skins and ordered him to report. The orc captain gave a report of the afternoon’s activities as a group of elders looked at him with amazement, sometimes stealing a glance at Ahava.

  The queen said in a flat voice to Ahava, “You have increased in power. You may now be some use to us, as well as making a weapon for the army. If you are willing, you can fight with the army to help overcome the horde.”

  Ahava answered the Queen by saying, “We will discuss that closer to the time.”

  The queen said, “Yes. There is a tent provided for you, and a meal. Go to it if you want.

  He walked out of the queen’s tent with a guard showing the way to a tent that had been set up for him. The tent had a small fire outside and some fur pelts inside to sleep on. His tent was a small distance from any other tents, giving him to room work. Ahava wanted to start forming the weapons now to give the orcs a chance to train in them. Ahava had enough steel and wood in his bag to make the weapons. He had the different templates in his mind for each weapon, from the design work the artisans had worked on in the city. Using these templates, Ahava would be able to make the weapons to a high quality.

  From his bag, he pulled out a small amount of molten ore and started to form it into the different forms for the weapons. He formed vast numbers of ax heads, spearheads, daggers and shields for the orc army. It was like a vast production line with him at the center, producing items quickly, then heat treating them and cooling in quick succession. This action took all his concentration and he wished at some point that he could think faster to keep up with what he had to do.

  At some point, Ahava started using the ether elemental power to scan the process to increase the speed. Then it occurred to him that maybe the ether elemental power could be used to control the flow or perception of time. He imagined time slowing down and being able to sort through things more quickly. Looking around, he could see the normal aspects of life moving at a slower speed. He looked at an orc soldier, close by, walking across the ground. His legs were hardly moving and feet were frozen in the air. There was a bird in mid-flight with its wings flapping slowly. This was like watching a slow-motion video of a film. As he increased the ether elemental power to the maximum the bird’s wings stopped flapping. The bird was as if it had frozen in midair with nothing holding it up. Ahava got up from his sitting position and walked over the bird and touched it. He moved the bird around, putting it in a different orientation than had been flying, and then lowering the use of elemental power, allowing time to start up again. The bird dodged and swerved, trying to getting used to the new direction it was going. It narrowly avoided crashing into the ground. Ahava felt a little bit guilty for this, but the feeling of being able to stop time and work outside of time was great. In a matter of hours, there was a stack of weapons that could supply the army of orc warriors surrounding him.

  In the morning he went to the Queen and told her what he had done that night. It was not a surprise to her,
a report of the weapons and how Ahava had produced them had been sent through the night. Very soon the weapons were distributed to all of the soldiers. The orc captains gave some thought into how to use the weapons with their tactics. But they admitted that they would have to train in the weapons for a while to get their full utilization. When the warriors were holding their weapons, they looked at them with the same look of longing that queen Oga had for the ax he had made for her.

  The camp was dismantled quickly as the orcs got ready to march. The order and discipline of the orcs still amazed Ahava so much. Soon the orcs were ready for the march. The captains gave the order and the drums started the beat with a strange chant waving through the air. Ahava felt the beating of the drums, pounding of the all the army’s feet and the rhythmic chant moving him onward with great speed. With the army full of energy, they moved forward at a faster speed than yesterday.

  Ahava addressed the queen. “Is there some kind of magical power within the drums and the chant?”

  Olga answered politely for once and said, “It is part of our magical nature. It is how the power of the tribe is manifested in their actions and spirit. With this power, an orc arm could increase its power in attack and defense as well as a speeding a march. Each warrior was taught different chants by a parent as part of its upbringing. When an orc tribe is together with a shaman who could guide them, the tribe could produce magical with great power. When you see the Blood Oath ritual, you will have a greater understanding of the power of their magic.”