CHAPTER TWO: ORCS
The forest inside the Gorge of Pirzadeh was more tangled and dense than any natural woodland should have been. The undergrowth was full of thorny green vines which tangled the feet, and the shadowy light beneath the canopy of dark trees shrouded the entire vale in an eerie twilight. The steep sides of the ravine rose jagged and rocky like walls on either side, closing in and giving the adventurers a feeling of claustrophobia. Mialee had the easiest time navigating the uneven, rocky ground, but clad only in a short tunic and fitted skirt, she had little to protect her from the thorn-laden bushes. The others, clad in armor, were immune to the briars, but were more in danger of twisting an ankle on an unseen rock, or tripping over the hidden vines which seemed to move to hinder their progress. After a short time, Tordek, who was having an especially hard time with the undergrowth, resorted to hacking away a path with his axe.
"So much for silence," Regdar muttered.
"Easy for you to say," Tordek countered, breaking off a thick stalk that had somehow gotten wrapped around his forearm. "You just go on plowing a way through, I'll do it my own way."
Still, the five companions made their way as best they could up the narrow vale, following (they hoped) in the footsteps of Soveliss and Lidda. Suddenly, Mialee cried out in pain and fell to the ground. She almost disappeared beneath the undergrowth.
"Mialee!" Jozan turned around in alarm- the elf had been right behind him. He knelt down in the thrashing brush, searching for the wizardess.
Regdar turned and came rushing back towards them. "Jozan, what happened?"
"She fell down and disappeared," the cleric called back. Then he breathed a sigh of relief as he clasped a hand on Mialee's arm and hauled her to her feet. She was bleeding from a number of long scratches. "What happened?"
"I could have sworn one of the vines grabbed me around the ankle, and pulled me under those bushes," she said, a little unsteady. She leaned against Jozan's armored chest. "But I think I'm all right, I just need to catch my breath."
Jozan nodded, quickly assessing her injuries. "Your wounds are minor," he said. "You probably just tripped. Easy enough to do in this terrain."
Mialee nodded. "You're probably right."
"You dropped this," Jozan said, handing Mialee her wizard's staff.
The elf snatched the arcane thing back quickly. For a moment, Jozan saw gratitude in her eyes, but the look was soon replaced by her typical aloofness.
"Is everything all right?" Regdar asked.
Jozan and Mialee both nodded.
"Well, let's get moving. Alhandra and Tordek are starting to get ahead of us. I want us to be together when we come upon the orcs."
"We're right behind you," Jozan said, staying close to Mialee. "It should be easier going, now that you three have cut a path of sorts."
They caught up with Alhandra and Tordek, who had stopped and were kneeling behind a large tree. "I can see two of the orc sentries," Alhandra said, pointing ahead. The others looked, and could clearly see a pair of dark-skinned orcs, partway up the right side of the Gorge, not far from where they knelt.
"There's probably a similar pair on the left side of the canyon," Regdar guessed, though he couldn't see them. "That would be how orcs operate. I don't know how Soveliss and Lidda managed to miss them."
"Probably snuck right past 'em," Tordek said.
"Tordek, you and me will go after those two. Alhandra, you take Jozan and Mialee a little further up and see if you can find any more orcs on the left. Once we've taken out their guards, we'll march up the Gorge and hit the main camp from both sides, with Sove and Lid behind."
Alhandra nodded and snapped down the visor on her helm. "Trithereon guard you," she said. With a nod from Mialee and Jozan, the three set out up the Gorge.
Regdar turned to his dwarven friend. "Should be easy," he said.
"Just like old times," Tordek answered. "I hope they don't have bows. I hate bows." Then, the two warriors hefted their weapons, and charged up hill at the two orc sentries.
The orcs did have bows, and rocks, too, but their weapons were of little use against the two armored foes who came bursting out of the woods. What the orcs did have was the steep sides of the Gorge, which quickly became nearly steep enough to hinder a frontal assault. But Regdar managed to climb and crawl his way up to their camouflaged ledge. Though he had dents in his helm and breastplate from rocks, and two arrows sticking out of his mail, none of the orcish missiles had done him any harm.
The orc sentries were defiant. Though the attacker had resisted their bows and rocks, each bow-legged orc held a curved sword. They were clad in the crude armor of heavy iron rings and hardened leather typical of orcs everywhere.
The warrior reached the sentries' outpost and drew himself up to his full height, brandishing his sword in both hands. His eyes were cold. "Die, orcs," he said. Then, he lunged at the pair. One came right at him, while the other hung back a little, moving around to the big man's left. Regdar's blade clashed with the orc-sword, knocking the humanoid back a step. Regdar had enough momentum from his blow to bring his sword around, directly into the path of the second orc who was charging. The tusked creature grunted in pain as the warrior's sword punched through its armor, completely skewering the orc.
Regdar would almost have been in trouble. His sword was momentarily useless, and the other orc was bringing his sword around for a fatal thrust. But rather than try to dodge or even free his own weapon, Regdar merely pivoted and leaned towards the onrushing orc. Ducking under the orc's curved blade, the warrior slammed his armored shoulder into his foe. The long spikes pierced the orc in three places, impaling the creature. Regdar disentangled his sword and his armor, and both orcs slumped lifeless to the ground.
"You could've saved one for me," Tordek said, finally managing to reach the ledge. "You know climbing's not one of my best skills."
"Yes, but I didn't want to give them a chance to use that," Regdar said, pointing with his sword. At the back side of the ledge, a wooden horn hung from a bit of root growing out of the wall of the Gorge. "The last thing we need is an alarm being sounded. And look, we didn't need to scale the cliff after all."
In the very back corner of the outpost, there was a narrow path leading further into the Gorge.
"Let's not waste time here, I want to join up with the others." They made a quick search of the orcs and their ledge. Finding nothing, they hurried down the path, back into the Gorge.
The path was narrow and winding, but the going was much easier than climbing the steep walls of the ravine had been. Not far along, Regdar and Tordek spied the main orc camp- a pair of ramshackle tents and a small campfire in a clearing. It was visible from the path, but would be hard to spot by anyone coming up the floor of the Gorge.
"Looks like the others got there ahead of us," Tordek said, pointing. Their three companions were clearly visible in the clearing, though Mialee stood back a bit from the heavily armored Alhandra and Jozan. Three orc fighters were visible, and more were spilling out from the tents.
"We'd better hurry," Regdar said, half-sprinting, half-falling down the rest of the path towards the battle.
"Wouldn't want to miss all the fun," Tordek said to his axe as he followed the human warrior into the fray.
Alhandra and Jozan braced themselves as the first three orcs charged. Their shields deflected every blow, then Alhandra's sword and Jozan's mace struck back in answer. The cleric's weapon struck one orc squarely in the head with a sickening thunk, while at exactly the same instant, the paladin's sword cleanly severed the other orc's neck. The third orc, its momentum carrying it on, had no time to stop, or even cry out in surprise. The next moment, it too was dead, with Alhandra's sword through its black heart.
But the fight was not over. Orcs were charging out of both tents, armed with swords and spears. The armored crusaders, cleric of Pelor and paladin of Trithereon, caught a glimpse in the distance of Tordek and Regdar charging down the hill beyond the orc camp.
"They're about to get hit from behind," Alhandra warned, eyeing the advancing orcs carefully.
"We'll catch them between us, just like we'd planned," Jozan said.
Regdar and Tordek hit the group of orcs from the rear like a wave of steel, bringing down four of the creatures before they could even turn to face them. Regdar's sword sliced cleanly through the neck of an orc, and his swing kept right on going, to imbed the point of his sword in the back of another spear-wielding orc. Tordek's initial assault resulted in similar success, felling one orc from behind with a swing of his two-headed axe, and killing another with the back-hand slash.
But there were more than a few orcs in the camp. Three who had planned to flank Alhandra instead turned to face Regdar and Tordek.
The largest of the orcs wielded not a spear or sword, but a giant, two-handed orcish battle-axe. More like a polearm than an axe, it had deadly-sharp axe-heads on both ends of a short staff. Apparently the leader of the camp, this orc wore a black cloak adorned with a skull-shaped brooch, and was clad in armor of dull-black scale mail rather than the motley assortment of leather and hide worn by the other orc guards. It advanced on Alhandra, baring its fangs in a vengeful snarl, and growling something in its own language.
"Cursing me won't help you," Alhandra said bravely, planting her legs and squaring off against the foe.
The orc chieftain rushed the paladin, bringing its axe in high. Alhandra was surprised by the strength and cunning of the orc, but she remained calm, blocking one axehead with her shield, and parrying the other with her sword. She quickly spun around, using one of the many sword-fighting techniques she'd learned long ago in the training yards of her order, and scored the first hit, drawing a wide slash across the orc's abdomen. It howled in frustration and returned the favor, powering past Alhandra's shield and striking a blow to her neck. Her metal armor saved her life, but the paladin's head rang from the force of the blow. It gave the orc the moment it needed to bring the other end of its axe up and around. Alhandra tried to parry the second attack, but only managed to deflect the blow. It was enough, but the move left her slightly off balance. The big orc brought up its knee into Alhandra's midsection. The dirty move did little more than knock the wind out of her, but the orc's greater mass knocked her to the ground. She barely managed to keep her hold on her sword.
With a howl of victory, the orc chieftain stepped forward, bearing down on Alhandra. He raised his double-headed axe for a powerful blow, but suddenly the big orc went rigid. The monster looked down at its chest, to see her sword had pierced its armor up to the hilts. The great axe slipped from the orc's dead claws as it fell over atop Alhandra.
Jozan was left fighting a pair of orcs on his own. Although the battle-priest was used to being in the forefront, his skill in battle was not on the same level as the other warriors of the company, and he was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed. His two opponents pressed towards him simultaneously, each trying to get a thrust in beneath his shield, or through the defenses of his mail. Jozan stepped back to avoid them, then stepped back again. But all his concentration was focused on the swords and eyes of the two orcs, and he failed to notice a tree root sticking out of the ground behind him. With a startled cry, the cleric tripped and fell over backward.
The two orcs yelped with vicious glee and leapt on the fallen cleric. Jozan only just managed to roll away from their swords, coming up with his back to the tree. One of the orcs managed to get in a hit, piercing Jozan's armor and drawing blood along his left side. The cleric grimaced in pain.
Mialee was not far away, and saw that Jozan was in some trouble. So far, the magic-user had not been engaged by any of the orcs, and she had tried for the most part to stay out of the way of the combat. The elf had not been terribly useful so far, having stayed out of combat as best she could, and she wanted to make some contribution to the battle. But she didn't want to waste any of her magical power against underlings when traditional steel would suffice. Fighting orcs was not particularly risky to her friends, especially orcs like these, which seemed to be untrained. But still, combat with edged weapons always held an element of danger, and Mialee hated to make her companions bear the whole brunt of it.
Seeing Jozan in trouble, the elven wizardess decided to take action. She raised her quarterstaff and rushed at the two orcs who were looming over Jozan, their swords poised to strike. She hit one of the unsuspecting orcs soundly at the base of the neck, cracking bones. The impact jarred her hands, and she nearly lost her grip on her staff. The orc turned to face her. She had hoped to bring down the orc with one blow, but now she found herself facing an angry, sword-wielding humanoid. For a moment, Mialee felt a panic- she wasn't confident she'd survive in a direct fight. But then the orc's eyes rolled back in its head, and her opponent slumped to the ground. Her blow had rendered the orc unconscious after all.
Mialee's intervention was just the distraction Jozan needed to regain the upper hand. "My thanks," he called out to Mialee, bringing his mace around in a horizontal swing that went under the other orc's shield. The impact crushed the monster's thigh, where its hide armor was relatively thin, and the orc fell to the ground, wounded now and scrambling to get away. "I hope the dark gods enjoy feasting on your soul," Jozan said to the orc as he finished it off. "If you even have one."
Mialee noticed that the orc she had stunned had gotten to its feet and retrieved its weapon. Rather than fight her, the creature turned and fled further into the Gorge. She turned to face the fleeing orc, and raised her hands in the beginnings of an arcane gesture. She spoke the ancient draconic words of power and extended her arms towards her target, palms outward. Six tiny bolts of pure magic materialized in her hands and streaked unerringly towards the orc, flying faster than arrows. The blue magic missiles hit the orc in the back an instant later, splashing soundlessly into its armor. The creature sprawled on the ground, dead.
"Don't waste your magic," Regdar called out, taking a moment before finishing what seemed to be the last of the orcs. "Soveliss and Lidda are out there. They'll take care of any stragglers."
Calmly, Mialee folded her arms across her chest. "I never waste magic," she said, under her breath.
Jozan and Tordek rushed over to the fallen paladin. "Alhandra, are you all right?"
"I will be fine," she said, lifting her visor and shoving the corpse of the dead orc chieftain away. Her armor was splattered with orc blood.
"Glad to hear it, lass," Tordek said, helping the woman to her feet. "I saw you fighting this big fellow. That was a duel worthy of a dwarf-lord."
"Heh, thank you, I guess," she replied, grimacing at the orc blood smeared across the front of her breastplate.
Jozan finished his quick examination of Alhandra's condition. "You'll be fine, my lady," he said, patting the armored woman on the shoulder.
"Perhaps now you should tend to your own wounds," she answered, pointing to the bloody slash along Jozan's side.
Regdar, too, had come over to see how she was. "Alhandra, what happened to the other orc outpost back there? You got here much quicker than we did. Did you walk right past them?" He glanced uneasily back the way they had come, searching for signs of any orcs they might have missed on their way into the Gorge.
"Relax, Regdar," the lady paladin said. "We found them alright- they were already dead, feathered with an arrow and a bolt."
Regdar nodded. "Soveliss and Lidda got them on their way in?"
Alhandra nodded. "I don't think any of the orcs managed to escape," she said, cleaning her sword on a tent flap. "We may still have the element of surprise on our side."
The fighter then turned and looked the other way, past the orc tents, deeper into the ravine. "I wonder where Soveliss and Lidda are, then?"
Next to their campfire, the orcs had pounded a tall stake into the ground. Some sort of grim tribal totem adorned the top, along with an unused horn. Tordek picked it up. "Not very good sentries, I'd say. Didn't even bother to sound an alarm."
"We should make a quick search of the camp before we move on," Jozan suggested. It was their common practice after battle. "There might be something here we could use, don't you agree, Regdar? Regdar?"
The warrior was looking up the Gorge with a puzzled look on his face. Not far beyond the orc camp, the wooded canyon turned towards the left. A dense mist hung there, covering the entire width of the Gorge like a wall. He peered intently at the strange mist, shading his eyes. The mist covered the trees, hiding everything from view in an impenetrable cloud. There was no sign of the ranger or the thief. "Where in the Nine Hells are Soveliss and Lidda?"
"Lidda, quiet!" Soveliss whispered. "I think I hear swordplay."
"Let me reload, would you?"
Soveliss already had an arrow on his bowstring. The two were hiding amongst the trees, in the Gorge beyond the orcs. They had a clear view of the camp, and no orcs were yet moving in the tents. But the strange mist that practically loomed over their hiding place was troubling them.
Lidda finished loading her crossbow and turned to look into the mist. She could almost reach out and touch it, and yet they couldn't see what lay inside it, or what caused it. She scowled. "I think I see shapes moving in thereā¦"
Soveliss took his eyes off the camp for a moment to glance uneasily towards the wall of mist. "Stop staring into it, Lidda," he said quietly. "Obviously, it's magical. Best we let Mialee and Jozan handle it later."
Lidda nodded, but continued looking into the mist. "Can't you hear it?"
"Hear what?"
The halfling turned her head and listened. "There's music."
"Music?" Soveliss said, but then he, too, noticed the sound. "You're right, I do hear something. Lidda, wait! Where are you going?" He tried to grab Lidda by the arm, but she slipped from his grasp.
Her comrades forgotten, the halfling walked slowly into the mist.
"Lidda!" Soveliss called out, but the little thief had disappeared. The elf hesitated a moment. He could clearly hear the sounds of battle back at the orc camp. He and Lidda were supposed to aid the attack on the orc camp with their arrows, but the halfling had wandered off into the mist. He cursed. With a worried glance at the misty wall, Soveliss left Lidda and went silently down into the camp to get the others.
