Chapter 7 Orcs
I noticed that the roads were in
good shape, even better than the Inner River road. The villagers told me that the Baron
Olivestone, makes sure that the roads are in good repair. “He says merchants judge people by the places
by the small things and the large, if our roads are good, they will want to
travel here more.” The road looked good,
and I was told the next village was a day’s easy travel and they also told me
that the Troupe had come this way a month ago, but there had not been any
raiders. There were some missing farmers
near abouts the next village, Olivepress, but would say that the roads are
dangerous as of late as if this was explanation enough.
A few hours later as the day was
more than two thirds over, I saw a peculiarity off the road. It looked like a cart that had careened of the
path and into the woods. The roads were
well maintained and for the most part raised above the terrain, and it was no
different here. Somehow the cart was no
longer on the road. The cart was half in
and half out of a small copse of trees, they looked like overgrown and poorly
maintained olive trees with rhododendron understory cover. It the right time of year this would be a
pretty distraction, but in the moment, I thought that there might be someone in
distress. I stopped the cart and
dismounted bringing only my shield and my rapier to investigate the
wreckage. The wheel tracks looked fresh;
the grass was crushed where the wheels had gone. It was a small papyrus type grass that when
broken did not bounce back, so it could have happened a few days ago. As I neared the cart, I heard a sound of
trampling from the woods like some beast was disturbed like a large boar. I tensed, but I was not prepared for the
three Orcs that charged me.
The emergence of the three foes
clearly distracted me and I did not notice that there was another concealed
with a bow. The arrow they fired would
have killed me dead if I had not been so bull headed, my thick skull deflected
it. The orcs attacked with co-ordinated
blows, the two smaller ones slashing from the left and the right, while the
bigger one attacking right up the middle.
All three of them were using big heavy primitive looking axes. I knew that though they looked primitive that
they could cut the head off a cow with a single blow, and I was not as big as
that! I stepped back from the two
shorter blows and raised my shield
against the bigger orc, the blow nearly knocked me on to my back and he
followed that attack with a kick from his mailed foot, I had to make my attacks
mean something or I would be dead soon.
I struck the middle Orc, stabbing at his side I channelled the power of
Cyr Astra through the blade and the sound of a single note from a harp traveled
the wood, but the orc was still up. the
two smaller orcs moved around me to my back to out flank me, their attacks were
more of a distraction than a true threat, the bigger Orc’s swing sank deep into
my shield, and he twisted his axe wrenching my arm and sending the shield into
the underbrush. He grinned thinking that
he was going to kill me next, but he stopped when my blade sank into his heart
and the wrath of Cyr Astra blasted him back, the low rumble of an accompanying
drum. I turned to face the two smaller
orcs and drew my small stiletto to fight them with two weapons. I realized my mistake as a second arrow
struck my leg, grazing my calf, the pain dropped me to my knee. The two others rushed me the one on the right
grazed my shoulder, and ran past me, but the one on the left I sliced with my
knife and pinned him through its eye.
Getting to my feet stung; a third arrow sliced only at the air beside my
face and the holy light of my god filled me and my wounds, sealing them
shut. I charged the fleeing Orc.
I slipped between the trunks
without thinking what I would find, it could have been a whole encampment of
Orcs, but the fury of vengeance was upon me.
My luck held though, there was only the Orc I followed and one on a
small platform in a tree, not too high that I would not be able tor reach. I had scooped up my shield as I ran and
slowed to make sure my arm was in the buckle.
I circled to keep both orcs in a line and advanced on the one on the
ground. The dim light of the understory
of the woods showed the light of my holy strike much better, the resounding
note of music perfect counterpoint to my attack and then there was one left. I closed make a bow shot difficult and he
leapt from his perch and tried to flee.
My rapier is not very effective as a slashing weapon, but it was good
enough to cut his achilleas tendon; the flash of light was the last of my holy
powers. It turned on to its back and
raised a dagger to fend off my killing blow.
I wiped off my blade on its
clothes.
Hestium looked across to Drogath
who raised an eyebrow, that wasn’t murder.
The battle was hard on me and
although my magical healing worked well, I needed to rest before I could
continue. The camp was mostly
disorganized. There was the bones of a
what looked like a human tibia in the fire, there was a half-eaten horse
butchered off to the side and there was a small line of human skulls that had
the look of burning in the fire. There
was a pit nearby that was filled with the remains of past meals and other
victims. I spent the rest of the day
cleaning the site up, throwing the orcs in the pit along with the skulls and
the horse. The flesh would just attract
pests to the scene. They might stay and
pose a threat to any villages nearby. I
searched the dead and found a tidy pile of silver and copper with some
bits. There were some bright gems and a
few earrings that might be worth something if cleaned. Her little pile of coins were getting substantial,
but they fit snuggly in her magical pouch.
The cart was damaged, its axel was broken and would not move, but it
would serve as a good marker if someone were to come looking. The last thing that she found was a paper was
marked and stamped Letter of Marquis issued by the Earl of East Thyme. It was interesting. It meant that these orc raiders would be free
to wander East Thyme and rest there and raid here in West Thyme. She did not think that relations between the
two nations had slipped that much yet, even though she had heard things were
quite grim.
It was starting to darken into
night, but she did not want to spend another night outside a civilized place,
though she suspected there would be no good places to sleep besides the
underside of her cart. She walked to the
front of her horse and hummed a little ditty, a snippet from a song with a
stanza about moonlight and the piece of the tack of the horse at chest level
glowed with the light of the moon, but only out 20 feet. It was not a lot, but it would keep the horse
on the road until they could get to that next village. It was not until four or five hours after
sunset that they pulled into the village.
Drogath was just past half waned
and Hestium had just started to wane past full.
The light shone upon the biggest cathedral she had ever seen outside of
a major city. it was set back from the
village on a bit of a rise that the natives probable mistook for a hill. The gold leaf rooftop spoke to it being a
cathedral to Auristra, Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity. Auristra is rarely ever worshipped outside of
the big cities and this temple here spoke of a story to tell or be told.
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