"I think so. He did not say it."
"How long is it that this Surt was here and the Orcs attacked your village?"
"That was about three months ago."
Agnar began to understand the happenings in this country. This Surt seemed to be the reason for all the suffering and misery in this world. He was the cause of the Orc attacks and he was definitely the one, who was behind the wolf raids in his homeland.
Uller's and Geirröd's disappearance also seemed to hang with him.
At that moment the earth began to tremble again and a cry came through the thick rock walls. It was not one of these dull Orc cries, but something much clearer.
"The children!", said Agnar.
"That came from the summit!", said Gymir.
"How do I get there?"
"You do not mean that seriously?", Gymir replied, looking at him in astonishment. But Agnar was it more than serious. His gaze bristled with strength.
Gymir saw his determination and realized that he was wrong with him. "Come with me, I'll show you the way!"
Then he led Agnar to a stone column, not far from his tent and knocked three times against it. A slit passed through the stone and opened like a wing door.
Inside, there was a narrow ladder that led to the surface through an equally narrow shaft.
"This is the fastest way to the summit!", said Gymir. "Good luck and take good care of yourself."
Agnar said goodbye and began the ascent.
The shaft was so tight that he was shaking his shoulders against the walls all the time. From above a warm stream of air flowed, which produced such a strong negative pressure that he almost had fallen into the depths several times.
The distance to the exit was getting smaller and soon a blue sky could be seen. Then it was done.
At the top, Agnar saw the flat, oblong hills in the valley, lit by the midday sun. Borea was a little further behind to see. From up there everything looked so small and sleepy.
On the summit it was very hot and a smell of sulfur was omnipresent. Agnar discovered a wide path behind him and followed him up the Firemountain. He went very carefully, trying not to make a noise. The fear of this burning hell-beast was great, but the concern for the children drove him evermore forward.
At this place there was a terrifying calm which was almost worse than the roar of the Orcs.
Behind a gentle slope Agnar finally found the ancient home of the rock-golems. Everything resembled the village, in the cave, with the many lovingly built stone buildings.
Agnar was surprised at the first moment, because he had expected a village that had been severely destroyed, but instead everything was safe and looked quite clean. There were no signs of an attack of the Orcs. If they went away?
At that moment, a chorus of cries and groans sounds and Agnar went into cover behind a stone chunk.
There they were. From the houses came Orcs out and ran westwards, through a wide tunneling, into the Firemountain. A few of them stayed behind and guarded the streets, with huge two-edged axes in their hands. From the children was nothing to see. They were probably trapped in one of the many houses.
Cautiously, Agnar crept down into the village and came to the east side, where there was a stable without a roof. There he stopped and went back to cover.
Immediately afterwards an Orc came stamping, which stopped in the middle of the stable gate. He was heavily armored and had long, greasy hair that lay on his armored shoulders.
Just as fast as he came, he went again and disappeared grunting in one of the many alleys.
Agnar continued quickly, keeping close to the houses. In between, he stopped for a moment to listen for sounds. The search promised to be long and exhausting.
On his way he looked into each house, but without finding anything. Most of them seemed to be uninhabited, for a thin layer of dust had already spread over the furniture like a blanket.
Almost an hour Agnar passed through the village until he arrived in front of a house where something happened. A whine, like that of a tortured dog, went to the outside and the rattling of pots and plates were to hear.
Cautiously, Agnar saw through one of the four windows and saw two Orcs, who were looking through cabinets and boxes. Behind them hung a sack from the ceiling, where something seemed to move. There were the children.
At last he had found them again. Now Agnar had to come up with a plan to free the children without attracting the attention of the Orcs.
Just at this moment, one of the Orcs seemed to have found something interesting among one of the wooden boards and began to tear the floor with his fellow-mate.
While the two were distracted, Agnar took the opportunity and crept cautiously into the house. Undetected, he pushed forward as far as the wriggling sack and began carefully to release the holding rope.
The knot was very thick and just could not be opened. No matter what he did, the sack did not sink a millimeter and slowly the Orcs began to get restless.
In the end Agnar had no other choice as to cut the rope and bring the bag to the ground with his hands.
The children noticed that something happened with them and began to cry again. They thought it was the Orcs who wanted to kill them and could not guess that in real it was Agnar, who tried to free them.
The two Orcs remained unaffected by the noise of the children and continued to tear the floor.
With his left hand, Agnar held the hold, while with his sword in his right hand he carefully began to cut the knot. Slowly tore one strand after another and lowered the bag to the ground. At first everything seemed good, but then something unexpected happened.
By an unfortunate coincidence suddenly a vase fell from the shelf behind him and burst with a loud bang on the ground.
The Orcs turned around and saw with their white, pupilless eyes in Agnar's direction. Growling and teeth showing they drew their weapons and went to him.
Agnar turned away from the sack, with the children, holding the handle of his sword with both hands, while the Orcs approached him from two sides, pushing him ever further into the corner.
It was tight in the house and no one wanted to attack first. Then Aganr swung his sword first and crossed the swords with the two monsters. Again and again he pushed against the wall, the table and other furniture and lost almost the balance.
His boggest goal was to bring the fightings as far away as possible from the children. With a daring roll under the table, he managed to get out of the corner and move toward the door. There he had more space and could fight unhindered.
In furious rage, the Orcs rushed toward him and swing their rusty swords. Faster than she could look, Agnar swung his sword first and decapitated both at the same time; whereby their heads fall to the ground like coconuts and roll in one of the front corners due to a slight unevenness of the room.
Before Agnar took the time to take a breath, he went back to the children and finally broke the hold. From a low height, the sack fell to the ground and opened itself.
Completely frightened, the children saw out of the opening and wondered what had just happened. They had heard the fighting sounds, but could not see anything.
The joy was great when they saw Agnar while he helped them to get out of the sack. Thirteen children had kidnapped the Orcs, who were now standing in front of Agnar and knocking the dirt off the clothes.
The relief was visible to all, but it was not over yet. First they had to get down from the volcano and still roam Orcs through the village.
In a row, the children left with Agnar at the top the house and sneaked through the wide alleyways. Dense clouds lay before the sun and darkened the earth. On the way, they often had to stop and hide, because guards always crossed their path.
It was difficult, but somehow the group managed to get to the stable without a roof. From there, it was only a few meters to the entrance of the cave and they could already smell the fresh scent of freedom.
"Come on, fast!", Agnar said to the children.
They left the village and just ran up to a small hill, when suddenly a growling and cracking sounded behind them. The sound was as when teeth break in the jaw.
Although he did not want to do it, Agnar turned around and saw an Orc coming to him.
"Run on!", Agnar shouted to the children, while he himself preferred to go with the Orc into the duel.
For no apparent reason, the Orc walked back a few steps and made an unprecedented scream. This was so loud and penetrating that it sounds like an echo and thundered through the entire Firemountain.
Shortly after the sound, the ground began to shake slightly and a noise of trampling and grunt was to hear. It came from the direction in which the children were running and grew louder.
Suddenly, dozens of pig riders came behind the small hill to the fore and catches the children.
"NO!", shoutet Agnar and ran up to the monster's with his raised blade; but even before he came within range, two Orcs emerged from the side as if out of nowhere, striking at him with one-edged axes.
He could parry the attackes until a third Orc approached him and hurt him with a curved dagger on his shoulder. The wound was fortunately not deep and therefore also not particularly important.
Then the pig riders rode back with the children to the village and left Agnar and his attackers behind. Agnar was fighting against five Orcs at the same time and was not able to help the children.
Just as the pigs disappeared in the corners of the alleys, Agnar made an all-round turn and all his enemies lay down all at once. Like trees they fell and landed cursing in the dirt. Although a few of them still lived, Agnar ran back to the village and started the persecution.
It was not difficult to find their tracks, because hoof prints were everywhere in the dusty ground and objects trampled on the way.
Suddenly rumbling and rattling noises approached from all sides. The guards, who had strolled through the streets, just a short time before, had locked themselves together and stopped him from continuing. These Orcs were much larger than him and armored with thick, black armor, which seemed impenetrable. Never before was Agnar so tense as at this moment; nevertheless, he took a deep breath and remained focused.
The Orcs came so quickly to him, that in a hurry he had no better plan than to go into one of the houses and lock the doors from the inside. This was not the salvation, but it gave him time to think for a moment.
Outside, it croaked loudly and again and again, the door were hit with kicks. First, it remained at the senseless shouting and banging, but suddenly hit an ax through the wooden door and pulled into a narrow hole. The decision to go into the house quickly turned out to be a big mistake.
Apart from the entrance door, there was only one window on the back, through which the Orcs also tried to get into the house. Agnar sat in the trap.
He wondered what to do, but there was no way out and he began to despair. Again and again the Orcs hit the entrance door and soon the hole was so big that they could push their heads through.
"Think!", Agnar said to himself, looking around the room.
Quickly, his gaze fell on the fireplace and he wondered if he could climb up to the roof.
At that moment, the door broke out and the Orcs stumbled into the house. As fast as he could, Agnar climbed into the fireplace and climbed up the shaft. Surprisingly, this proceeded relatively untroubled, since there was no soot and there was no lack of space.
On the roof, it was not long before the Orcs noticed him there and climbed up on the walls. They came up from all sides and even through the fireplace they came. There was no more curse.
Agnar drew his sword again and resisted as best he could. Up there he had a tactical advantage, because the Orcs could not fight so well.
The first of them came through the fireplace and was beheaded in the second as he stuck his head out of the chimney.
The next one came from the side and was about to get up when Agnar kicked him off the rooftop.
"Come on, come on!", he shouted and laughed scornfully over his opponents.
Then came two more, but this time from the other side and went with a roar upon him. Instead of crossing swords with them, Agnar went a piece to the side and let them stumble off the roof.
Again and again he managed to ward off the Orcs before they reached the roof, but for a long time this could not go on. From minute to minute, more of them came and pressed against each other. Almost a hundred Orcs lurked around the house and argued about who was to climb up to him next. Something had to happen, because Agnar could not stand the pressure any more.
Just as he was about to kill a monster again, the Orc cried out and fell down with unclear reasons. As he rolled from the roof, Agnar noticed an arrow in his back. Then screamed again an Orc who has just climbed up the wall and fell on three of his peers.
As Agnar turned to the west, he saw a bright shimmer coming from one of the alleyways. Immediately a smile came over his lips, because he had recognized what it was.
It was Hjalprek who had come to his rescue. Like lightning, his arrows came flying and thundered down on the Orcs. Abruptly the fighting shifted to the road and Agnar could enjoy a moment of peace.
Fiercely, the Orcs ran toward Hjalprek and tried to pull him down, but he was faster with his bow than they was walking. Their thick armor had no chance against the fast arrows and were pushed through like cheese.
Halfway they finally broke off their attack and escaped to the side streets, where they were partially hidden in the surrounding houses.
At that moment Agnar climbed from the roof and went to Hjalprek.
"Nice to see you!", Agnar said.
"Likewise!", replied Hjalprek.
Suddenly the screaming of the children sounded through the streets and lured the orcs out of their holes. Agnar and Hjalprek hurriedly ran after the noises and killed everyone on the way, who wanted to stop them.
The cries of the children led them to the entrance into the Firemountain, where pig riders already seemed to be waiting for them. The children had been locked in a large cage and were just brought with a wagon, inside the volcano.
Agnar and Hjalprek started running again, spurred on by the thought that this burning monster lived there somewhere inside.
At that moment, one of the pig rider's blew into a horn, whereupon the earth began to shake again. At first it was only a slight vibration of the ground, but then it became increasingly violent.
After a while it became so strong that Agnar and Hjalprek had to slow down, because the shake would otherwise have thrown them to the ground.
From the entrance of the Firemountain simultaneously came invaluable many grunts and howling sounds that could only came from an Orc army, who was on the rise. As expected, hundreds of Orcs came out of the wide tunnel and stopped directly toward them.
At the same moment, came from behind pig rider and blocked all escape routes. Great and what now?
Agnar and Hjalprek were enclosed and faced with an superior might. There was no escape and even to fight seemed senseless.
Suddenly a boulder came rolling from the side and crushed the front row of the Orcs. Completely shocked, the Orc's stopped and looked for the cause and found the answer on a high hill to their right.
There stood Gymir. He had thrown the boulder and was about to send a second. The Orcs were angry and forgot Agnar and Hjalprek for a moment.
When the second boulder came rolled up and a few of them were torn to death, there was no hold. The entire Orc army now concentrated on Gymir and attacked him. But he just seemed to wait for it and gave a trumpet-like scream, whereupon dozens of rock golems appeared behind him and how he began to throw boulders on the Orcs.
A broad stone avalanche rolled down from the high hill and buried numerous enemies among themselves. In spite of high losses, the Orcs remained far superior to the rock golems and continued their attack unscathed.
> Suddenly there were cries of war and behind Gymir came an army of rock golems, who ran down the hill and took up the fight with the Orcs.
"Get the Firemountain back!", Gymir shouted after them and strengthened at the same time their fighting spirit.
The stone structures had no weapons, but their bodies were as hard as steel and their fists as dangerous as the head of a hammer.
The Orcs, with all their axes and swords could not do anything against this wall of enemies and they broke all the bones. Even the strongest was afraid of the strength of the rock golems and did not dare to undertake another attack.
The orcs were forced to flee and ran back through the tunnel into the Firemountain.
At this moment, Agnar and Hjalprek set in motion again and ran to the side of the rock golems, behind the Orcs.
At the entrance of the tunnel, the orcs reformed and formed with spears a prickly barrier, which couldn't stop Gymir's men.
As with a battering ram, the Wall was broken and the stone beings, including Agnar and Hjalprek entered the Firemountain.
The tunnel was wide and had a high ceiling supported by many wooden pillars. There was enough space so that no one had to wait or push at the entrance.
They marched farther and farther into the volcano until, after a few hundred meters, a group of Orcs blocked their way, which straight arrows into their arches stretched.
Even before they were able to make a single shot, Hjalprek got ahead of them and shot them one by one out of the saddle. Then the way was free again and became already steeper and uneven after a short time. Agnar felt a dry heat coming towards him and with every meter became hotter.
Behind a sharp bend, the path led into a huge cave, where numerous thicker and thinner lava flows flowed. Over the lava flows, there were many stone bridges,which all led to the middle of the cave, where an old, dead tree stood on a rock.
It had been quiet and there was nothing to see from the Orcs anymore. The only way forward, led through a tunnel on the opposite side, which was right under a waterfall of lava. For a rock golem, it would not have been a big undertaking to go through a lava flow, but this would the death for a human being.
The Kingdoms of Wala: Agnar and the battle of the Firemountain (1) Page 10
