by John Evans
It was small with only ten to twelve buildings visible. Per also noticed several burned-out ruins. Peering closely, he saw some burrows on the opposite ridge. Not animal burrows, but homes dug into the ridge. A few people were moving around the village, but Per could see no orcs.
He headed towards the village, keeping under cover as much as possible. When he was about a hundred yards from the village, Per realized something strange: the houses were all very small. Not small, he thought, short. Looking round, he realized the villagers themselves were only about three feet tall. A group of them had gathered at the town square and seemed to be arguing. The argument centered on a young girl dressed in leather armor and an elderly gentleman. Per shrugged and walked casually towards them.
As they caught sight of the towering Per, each person stopped arguing and turned to stare. The silence was deafening. Per stopped ten feet away from them and felt the villagers move closer around him.
“Is there anything we can do for you, giant?” asked the girl.
Per looked down at her. Dressed in leather pants and tunic, she had a short sword and dagger strapped around her waist. Of all the villagers, she was the only one who was armed. Perhaps three feet, three inches tall, she had short brown hair and matching brown eyes.
“I was wondering if I could get some supplies,” said Per.
The man sighed. “I’m afraid we have no supplies to spare.”
“I can pay,” replied Per.
“I’m afraid it’s still impossible,” said the man.
“Would you mind if I spent the night?” asked Per. “I’ve spent too many nights under the open sky.”
“I’m sorry. We don’t have any beds big enough for you. It might be best if you left. I’m not trying to be rude, but we are in dire straights here.”
“I guess the four orcs I ran into were wrong about this being a kind, hospitable village,” retorted Per.
“Four orcs! Does he mean? Were they? Is he with them?” The villagers all started babbling and talking at once. The noise grew until Per could not understand a word that was being said.
“Quiet! Quiet!” yelled the elderly man and the noise reduced to a dull roar.
The group Per had originally seen retreated back several feet and huddled together, talking in whispers.
The young girl walkedtowards him. “Come,” she said. “We need to talk.”
As Per was led away, he heard the elderly man tell the villagers to go home and that he would talk to them all in the morning. The girl took Per to a large oak tree beside a tavern. Telling him to sit outside, she went in and soon returned with two tankards of ale.
“Now, tell me about the orcs,” she commanded as she handed the mug to Per.
“First, who you are people and why should I tell you about the orcs?” asked Per.
The girl looked intently at her ale as if it had an answer for her. “We are called halflings in this language. Five days ago, about forty orcs attacked the village. Half the men were killed and fifteen women were taken as slaves. I’ve been away from the village and only learnt of the attack when I returned yesterday.
"The orcs left the remainder of the villagers here to tend to the crops and the animals. They've have been forcing the villagers to supply them with food and other equipment. Every other day, a patrol comes by to check on the village and pick up those supplies. I’ve been trying to convince the villagers to leave. My name is Alana and the man I was arguing with is my father, the mayor.”
“I’m Per. I’m going to remove my helmet. Don’t scream because I have green hair.”
“Green hair? I thought you were just a large human.”
“I’m half-ogre, but I’m not with the orcs,” said Per, as he removed his helmet. “The four orcs I spoke of attacked me and I killed them. One of them told me that they were scouts for the Stahpel Lon Tribe. I was backtracking them when I found your village.”
“The tribe is the one that attacked our village,” said Alana. “You killed all four?”
“Go check my pack mule. Under the covering, you’ll find their shields, armor and weapons.”
“Per, don’t tell anyone you killed the orcs. It’ll panic them. Right now, my father and the other villagers are convinced that they can live with the orcs’ demands and that the captives will be returned to them. They are fools; the orcs will kill them all.”
“When is the patrol due and how many will there be?” asked Per.
“It will be here tomorrow afternoon. I’ve been told that there are usually ten orcs in the patrol.”
“Let’s talk to your father,” said Per, and Alana led him to a well-tended burrow with a flagstone path leading up to the round door. He waited outside as she went inside to get her father. She came back out with her father and two other halflings.
“I am Harlo,” said Alana’s father. “I'm the mayor here, and Cesup and Fanko are members of the village council. Alana told us that you killed four orcs, tell us what happened.”
Per told them of his fight with the four orcs and what the last orc had said.
“Unfortunate,” said Harlo. “Hopefully they won’t be missed until Per has had a chance to get away.”
“Father, the orcs want you as slaves! That is what the one told Per,” exclaimed Alana. “You can’t stay here.”
Harlo held up his hand to silence her. “Alana, the orcs will move on and we will rebuild. We can manage for awhile.”
“Are they taking the same amount of food each time?” asked Per.
The three men looked at each other grimly.
“No,” replied Fanko. “They’re taking more each time they come.”
“So they are removing food from your storage and putting it into their own,” said Per. “Soon you will dependent on the orcs for your food and will be their slaves. Smart.”
All the halflings looked at each in shock as comprehension dawned upon them.
“Father, listen to him,” pleaded Alana. “We either have to flee or fight.”
“What about the women they are holding as captives?” asked Cesup. “We can’t leave them behind.”
“Then you are going to have to fight,” said Per. “We can lower the odds by ambushing the patrol tomorrow, but we have to prepare tonight. Will you fight or become slaves? If you fight, I’m with you.”
“Alana, please go gather everyone in the square,” said Harlo. “Per, I have to abide by the wishes of my people.”
At the square, Harlo climbed up the town hall steps to address the crowd. “People, the orcs plan to make slaves of us. They have been stealing our food to starve us into submission. They are holding some of our women as captives. The women could be dead for all we know. We have to decide now whether to fight or leave our village. If we fight, we may be killed, but we will have a chance to get rid of the orcs. If we run, we could be recaptured and be at the mercy of the orcs. Do we fight or run?”
“I say fight!” yelled one man from the crowd.
“Aye, fight!” yelled several others.
“Go to your homes,” ordered Harlo. “Find any weapons you have and return here. We will stop this oppression.”
The crowd broke apart as Harlo came down the steps to Per and Alana. “I need a plan – fast,” he said to them.
“We can’t fight them hand to hand,” stated Per. “They are too well equipped. Can your people use bows and slings?”
Harlo smiled. “Our main sport is competing with slings. The few bows we possessed were taken by the orcs.”
“Have your people make slings and sharpen stakes. Fanko, Alana and I will look for an ambush site.”
Per left with the other two as Harlo and Cesup set about organizing the villagers. Up the valley in the direction the orcs had come from, Per found the spot he was searching for. Two ridges come together on a narrow pass with heavy vegetation on one side.
“Perfect,” said Per. “We can put our people on this slope to ambush the orcs. The sharpened stakes will go in the vegetation and at the beg
inning of the pass to prevent their escape. Alana will take charge of the people on the slope. I’ll be at the end of the pass with another person to prevent them from coming back this way.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” said Alana, grinning.
They returned to the village to find everyone either practicing with a sling or sharpening stakes. With Harlo’s help, Per gathered a crew and took the stakes out to the ambush site to begin emplacing them. The work went on until it was too dark to see.
The next morning, Harlo led his people out to the site. The final stakes were placed in the ground and everyone was assigned to their position. Per, Fanko, and another halfling had gone well up the path to watch for the orc patrol. Time dragged and Per remembered how much he hated waiting for anything. Soon, doubts began to form in his mind.
“What if the orcs don’t come today?” he thought. “What if they take a different route? Suppose there are more than ten?”
He shook his head to clear it of these thoughts and resigned himself to waiting. Suddenly, he heard the tramp of feet and the clink of armor. Looking down the trail, he saw ten orcs appear. Each had a shield slung on his back and was carrying an axe and a spear. Per retreated quietly and sent the halfling back to warn the others before moving into his position with Fanko.
The pair watched the orcs march by and then moved out to block any retreat. Unawares, the orcs continued on right into the ambush. The first hail of sling stones killed four orcs and wounded two others. The four left unwounded, they stood still, stunned, until the second hail of stones killed them. One of the wounded orcs dropped his spear and took off running away from the slingers. A stake pierced his leg causing him to fall forward onto three more stakes. The last orc turned and fled back up the path right into the spear point of Per’s halberd.
Everyone was staring amazed at the dead orcs. The action had happened so fast that it had immobilized the ambushers.
“Harlo,” said Per, gently shaking the mayor. “You have to get them to work. Get the site cleaned up and collect the orcs’ weapons.”
“What? Oh, yes. Yes!” replied Harlo. “Everyone! Get the bodies out of there and clean up everything. Let’s go.”
“What now?” asked Alana as she walked over to Per.
“I’m going to backtrack this patrol to find out where they came from.”
“I’m going with you,” stated Alana.
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am,” retorted Alana. “I can move quieter than you and I can hide easier. There are advantages to being small.”
“I was taught woodcraft by a ranger. I don’t think there is anything you can do that I can’t do just as well.”
“Listen, I left home to find excitement and adventure. When I found myself starving, I became a thief and I’m good at it. I think my father suspects what I have become, but isn’t certain yet. I can help you if you’ll let me.”
Per blew out a breath. “You’d follow me anyway, wouldn’t you?”
The light twinkled in Alana’s eyes as she smiled. “In a heartbeat,” she replied.
Per snorted and stomped away with Alana following. After telling Harlo their plan, they returned to the village and prepared for their journey. They each packed a week’s worth of food and their weapons and then set out to find where the orcs were coming from.
The trail was easy to follow, as the orcs had made no attempt to hide their path. At the end of the second day of following the trail, they were walking down a hill through a pine forest when an area opened up several hundred yards before them. The area was rocky, devoid of trees, and sloped upward to a rock wall. The wall extended for hundreds of yards to the left and right. In front of them was a large cave opening with a wooden palisade forming a semi-circle in front. Two wooden towers straddled the large gate and each tower was manned by two orcs.
Outside the walls were large cultivated fields outside the walls and Per saw about twenty naked people working in the fields. They were human and halfling, mostly female, all overseen by three orcs carrying whips.
A scream from inside the palisade tore Per and Alana’s gaze away from the fields, but the wooden walls were too high to see over. Another scream erupted and Per motioned Alana to move back deeper into the woods.
“I recognized the halflings in the fields,” said Alana, after they had moved back. “They’re from the village. We have to save them.”
“We can’t attack just yet,” said Per. “The orcs are still too strong. We need to know how many of them there are.”
“If I climb one of these pines, I think I’ll be able to see into the fort,” said Alana, shrugging off her pack and taking off her sword.
She walked among the trees, judging which one would give her the best view. Once she'd chosen one, she climbed up quickly and was lost from sight in the upper branches. Per looked around and found a place to camp that was hidden from view on all sides. He put their packs there and sat down to wait for Alana to descend.
After a long wait, Alana she came down, her cheeks blood-red and her eyes full of hatred.
“What is it?” he asked. “What did you see?”
“The orcs are having a party,” Alana spat out vehemently. “There are about one hundred orcs there. I counted about fifty males, thirty females and twenty or so young ones. Young ones,” she repeated, shuddering. “One was being taught how to spank a prisoner with a paddle. Another was pinching the breasts of a captive while she was being gangbanged. The older male children were being taught how to use a sword or axe on a human whose foot was tethered to a stake. He must have had a half-dozen cuts on him. All the other adults were keeping themselves amused.”
“What were they doing?” asked Per. Alana shot him a disgusted look in reply.
“It may be important,” he urged.
“Well,” she said. “The ones that weren’t fucking the female orcs or raping the prisoners were drinking themselves insensible.”
“All of them?” asked Per.
“No, the guards in the towers were sober and there was a group of ten or twelve who weren’t participating. They were laughing and joking, but not drinking or molesting anyone.”
“Sober guards,” said Per. “My guess is that at the next party, they will have first pick of everything while another group remains on guard. We’re dealing with a smart leader. Did anyone stand out or look like a chieftain?”
“There was a raised platform beside the cave. One big orc was raping Tristiana, a girl from our village, and a female orc was helping him.”
“Do you think you think you would recognize him again?”
“I’m not sure,” said Alana. “I think so.”
“Let’s watch them for a day or two. The patrol should have returned tomorrow. Maybe, with the loss of the patrol, they’ll leave the village alone,” said Per.
“Do you think they will?” asked Alana.
“No. They’ll probably send out a stronger force to see what has happened. If they run into a superior force, they’ll retreat back here. If they don’t, they’ll wipe out the village and enslave everyone. Get some sleep, I’ll take the first watch.”
The night passed uneventfully. Alana climbed up to her observation post in the morning, but soon came down when she realized that most of the orcs were sleeping off the binge they had last night. Three overseers had pushed the field slaves out the gate at daybreak to work in the fields but it was not until mid-afternoon that the rest of the orcs began to stir. Small patrols were sent out, increasing Per’s anxiety, but they soon returned to the fort. Alana climbed back up her tree to see what was going on.
“Something is up, Per,” said Alana, after she came down a second time. “The female orc I saw on the platform yesterday is there again talking to the chieftain. All the other orcs have quieted down.
"I’ll be back soon," she added, disappearing back up the tree. It was a half hour before she climbed back down.
“Per, the chieftain and thirty-five orcs have put on their ar
mor and are carrying their weapons. I think this is the force you spoke of. We have to get back to tell the others.”
“Alana, you go and warn the others. I’m going to follow the orcs and slow them down.”
“Alright, but don’t make them bypass the ambush just to get away from you. Also, don’t get yourself killed.”
“I’ll try not to,” he said, sarcastically.
Alana snatched up her pack and took off back towards the village asPer moved to a place where he could see the gate of the palisade. He waited patiently until the gates opened and the orcs trooped out. Fifteen of the orcs carried spears and axes, another fifteen carried swords and spears and the last five orcs carried composite bows. The chieftain himself carried a morning star with a hand ax shoved into his belt. As the orcs marched within range, Per sighted his crossbow carefully and let fly.
Per did not see his bolt pierce the side of the archer he had been aiming at or see the orc fall to the ground coughing up blood. As soon as he had shot the bolt, he had dashed to his next spot. As he ran, he heard the orcs yell and start thrashing towardsthe spot he had just left. Per was now up a rocky spur, settled down behind some boulders where he had a good view of both valleys. He re-cocked his crossbow and waited. Per heard an orc horn blow in the distance but it was almost an hour before he saw movement in the trees.
The chieftain had deployed two forward scouts who moved from tree to tree providing security. They were starting up the left valley when the chieftain stopped them and pointed to the valley on the right. The scouts moved over to the other valley and started up it with the main body following behind. Per counted the orcs: thirty six, including the chieftain.
“He must have picked up another orc from the cave,” thought Per as he sighted on another archer.
Per let fly and took off down the left valley. His bolt missed the archer he had been aiming at, but hit the orc standing beside him. The rest of the orcs dove for cover as the chieftain yelled to regain order.
