Chapter II
Rescue
Lia Amakir awoke from her light sleep to the voices of the orc caravan marching on one of the many forest paths. She quietly snuck to the bushes beside the path and watched as several wagons passed her position carrying prisoners of the raid. Lia thought hard about the incident of the previous day when she saw an unusual amount of smoke coming from the direction of Verenst, and she assumed that the orcs had raided the village. Lia snuck back to her camp and quietly began to gather all of her belongings when two bickering orc voices cut through the air. Lia's first thoughts were that she had been discovered, and quickly raised her crossbow towards the sound. Surprised to find no one there, Lia creeped to the path and saw two orcs carrying a pole with a young Elven child on it. The two orcs never saw what came next.
Lia placed her crossbow against a nearby branch and steadied her aim. A bolt flew free from the crossbow and flew into the throat of the leading orc, who grasped his throat and the dark blood that quickly oozed out of his fatal wound. The boy grunted with pain as the dead orc dropped the pole in his spasms. The second orc pulled out his great axe and with a howl of rage stomped towards Lia's position. Lia frantically reloaded her crossbow and let a bolt loose into the right shoulder of the steadily advancing orc. The orc growled with fury and pulled the bloody arrow out of his shoulder and threw it to the ground. Lia dropped her crossbow and pulled her scimitar out of the scabbard she wore around her waist. With a wild battle cry, Lia jumped from her hiding place and charged towards the surprised orc. A slash across the neck lopped the head off of the orc, sending a gout of blood onto the ground and Lia. Lia sheathed her sword, and pulled the dagger out of her belt and cut boy's bonds. Lia heard the clamor of armor and knew that she had accidentally alerted the other orcs to her presence. Lia grabbed the boy and ran off into the woods.