The Great Orc - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"No." Heldrin said.

Garah pleaded, "We want to help."

"I understand." Heldrin shook his head. "But still, no."

"You can't keep paying them off. At some point everyone is going to have to move, or starve."

"I know that!" He grit his teeth and turned his back on Garah. "I'm not happy about it either, but what can I do?"

"Let us help." Jhase took a step forward. "We're very capable fighters."

Heldrin whirled on them. "I saw that monster kill ten of my men. Ten! I don't care how good you think you are. No one can fight that!" He pointed into the distance.

"With all due respect." Iyana interrupted, "The three of us are worth more in a fight than a handful of small-town guards."

"And what do I do if you fail?!" Hedlrin ran his good hand through his hair. "If you fight them and lose, they take it out on us? I'm doing everything I can to keep this together, and you're asking me to gamble it all on three travelers I just met?"

"You said it yourself. You're on borrowed time either way. Why not take a chance?" Garah responded.

Heldrin met Garah's stare for a solid minute... then wilted. "Fine!" He rubbed his brow. "I must be going dull in my old age. I'll give you your chance." He padded over to the wall and looked off into the twilight sky. "I have to light a signal to tell them we're ready. Get down to the gates." He turned back to them. "These people put their lives in my hands, and I'm trusting them to you. I promised I'd protect them." He pointed at Garah. "Don't make a liar out of me."

The trio nodded solemnly and walked down the steps along the wall. When they reached the bottom they positioned themselves in front of the gate, with Garah and Jhase at the front, and Iyana several steps behind.

Minutes passed. The tension mounted. All three of them stared intently at the large wooden gates.

"Here they come!" Heldrin called down from the wall. "Open the gates!"

The huge wooden doors slid open. An orc raiding party marched through, five heads strong, mounted on riding wolves. The three at the back were exactly as they might have guessed from Dorian's description, short and slender, toned but no more muscular than a well-built human. To one side was an ancient orcish woman with whispy white hair. At the front, was a whole different class of orc.

He was huge, a giant knot of green muscle, and so tall and wide that he would challenge conventional doorframes. Bare chested, and wearing nothing but a fur waistcloth, and poorly cobbled boots, his giant green chest heaved as he sucked in breath. He was so ludicrously muscled, his torso almost looked like a range of fleshy green mountains.

Garah raied his eyebrows at the sight of the orc leader. In the back of his mind, he wished that Kiros and Riddel were here to back them up.

Iyana gagged. "Ugh. Those scars..."

It was true. If his giant frame and thick muscles weren't intimidating enough, the face of the orc would give the most hardened warrior pause. To call the orc scarred, would be an understatement. This beast did not so much have a face as he did a mask of scar tissue. In fact, his whole body looked like it had been subject to every cut and burn imaginable. His eyes were little beady round orbs of burning hatred, surrounded by marred puffy skin that formed a permanent scowl. His cheeks were covered in the kind of scars only bone grazing cuts could leave. And what skin he had that wasn't marked by battle, was lumpy and imperfect, as if all the flesh on his body had been melted off and poured back on, in an imperfect mold. His left ear was nearly completely gone, with just a tiny nub remaining. His right ear had so many notches taken out, that it looked more like a clumsy piece of clay. His nose was short and piggy, and two nasty fangs poked up from between his mangled lips, the right fang tip cracked off with a jagged edge.

"Who are you?" He boomed in a thunderous voice.

Garah was caught off-guard by the look and sound of this orc, who was like nothing he had ever faced before. But it was too late to back down. "I am Garah." He pounded his chest, trying to sound as intimidating as the green monster had. "We are here to make sure you never bother this town again!"

The three smaller orcs laughed. "Puny humans." One of them cackled. "We crush them."

"No." The huge orc boomed, instantly silencing their laughter. "I will face them." He slid off his mount and landed on the ground with a resounding thud. "Humans," He stepped forward, "and Elf." His eyes looked past Garah and Jhase, to rest on Iyana. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're the orc that has been extorting these villagers." Jhase said calmly.

"HA!" The orc's laugh shook the air. "I. Am. GUNAG!" He roared, and pounded his chest with a cannonball sized fist. "Gunag the Blood-Drinker! The first true warrior!"

Garah frowned in confusion. "First true warrior? What does that mean?"

"It means that!" Gunag snarled. "Warriors live. Warriors fight! Weaklings die. A warrior never dies. A warrior never loses!" He pounded his chest again. "There has never been a true warrior. They always die. They were all weaklings! I will be the first! Never losing! Never to be killed!" He reached behind his back and drew two vicious hand axes with blades that hooked over the handles. "If you think you are warriors, then fight me!" He bared his uneven fangs and held his weapons at his sides.

Garah squeezed the grip of his sword a little tighter, holding the blade up and took a step forward. "Come on then."

In a blur of motion that didn't seem possible for a hulking beast, the orc shot forward with a bloodcurdling roar. He closed the gap between himself and Garah in seconds, bringing his right axe down at the man's head with killing force. Garah raised his blade to counter, and deflected the blow. But the force still carried through, sending shockwaves through his body.

Without giving Garah a second to recover, Gunag brought his other axe down against the sword as well. Then again, again and again, his arms a deadly windmill of blows crashing down against the blade.

Garah used every ounce of his strength to keep his sword raised. The shockwaves continued to rock his body. With his arms began to numb, Garah tried to sidestep. But the orc was merciless with his berserk assault, and brought both axes around simultaneously, knocking the sword out of Garah's hands and sending it clattering to the dirt.

The adventurer staggered backwards, his arms weakened at his sides after the onslaught. He tried to grab for one of his other weapons, but Gunag planted a booted foot in the middle of his chest and sent him tumbling backward to land in a heap.

"Garah!" Jhase lunged forward to assist, stabbing his sword forward at the orc's meaty throat.

There was a clang of metal as Gunag lifted one of his axes and used the hooked shape to snag the blade and twist it off course. Jhase tried to pull it free, but was shocked to find his opponent anticipate the move and twist it again, changing the angle needed to unlock the weapons. He looked up in surprise, just in time to see the orc's other huge hand swing and collide with his stomach.

All the wind flew out of the monk in a painful burst, his feet leaving the ground with the impact. He hardly had time to touch the ground before he was backhanded to land in a pile next to Garah, who hadn't even had time to pick himself up.

Iyana raised her hands, muttering and incantation, when suddenly one of the orc's axes whistled past her head. The words caught in her mouth and she hesitated, not but a second, though it was all Gunag needed.

He was within arm's reach in an instant, grabbing her by the blue hair, and lifted her off her feet. "Pathetic." He spat, tossing the half elf aside, to land painfully near the other orcs. "You weren't even good for sport."

"Raaah!" Garah had gotten back to his feet and retrieved his sword. He charged the orc a yell of protective rage.

Gunag's arm shot up to block, but he had thrown the axe he meant to raise and the blade buried itself in his muscular forearm, stabbing all the way through and poking out the other side. The orc shook his arm, as if flicking off an insect, and sent Garah stumbling back to the ground.

Gunag pulled out the sword, now dripping with his blood, and threw it to the side of its owner. "Try again." He growled in amusement.

Garah grabbed his weapon, and rushed once more. Swinging high, and feinting at the last moment, he cut a wicked gash across the orc's bare chest.

"Ke-ya!" Jhase yelled, swooping in from behind, and sliced another deep wound across Gunag's bare back.

The two fighters stepped back and regrouped. Standing side by side, they blocked the orc from reaching Iyana, who seemed to have been knocked unconscious. They waited to see how their foe would react to the crippling injuries he had been dealt, but Gunag seemed utterly unaffected.

Not the slightest shadow of a pain crossed his face, as the orc charged.

Both Garah and Jhase raised their swords to defend, but the orc lurched forward and allowed their swords to burry themselves deep in his torso. He grabbed both men by the throats and slammed their heads together, before tossing them aside like dolls. "Weaklings!" He roared, pulling the two swords out of his flesh. The blood streaming out of the wounds seemed of no concern. "Stand and fight!"

Both men rose slowly on shaking legs, and grabbed the swords thrown back to them. They staggered towards the orc with the last energy they had left.

Gunag stepped backward, swinging one arm, and knocked their blades aside. His other fist punched Garah in the temple, knocking him out instantly. Pivoting, the orc thrust his fist at the monk.

Jhase managed to deflect the blow, and countered with a strike at one of the orc's pressure points. His hand bounced harmlessly off the taught muscular chest.

Gunag pushed Jhase backwards, to land in the dirt, gasping for breath. "I have finished with you." The orc spat distastefully. "You are weak, like all humans. Not fit to face a true warrior."

The orc walked to retrieve one of his axes, which had lodged itself in the wood of the Inn's front door. "I will leave." He strode back to the other orcs. "But I will take this." Gunag picked up Iyana's unconscious body and slung it over his wolf's back as he mounted.

"What about the food?" One of the other orcs asked.

He was silenced by a glare from the great orc. "They can keep it." He spat. "They eat it, and they are weak. We don't need food that keep weaklings weak."

"W-what about her?" The other orc asked timidly.

"Stupid. Don't you see? This is an elf. She is more valuable than a few sheep." Gunag looked down at the beaten bodies of Jhase and Garah. "They protect her. If we take her, they can bring others worth fighting!" The great orc roared.

The party of orcs turned about and rode through the gate and into the night.

Jhase crawled with difficulty, to where Garah had fallen. "Garah." Jhase shook his traveling partner weakly. "Wake up."

"Huh!" Garha jolted up, then winced and clutching his bruised chest. "Gah! Ow! What happened?"

"He's gone." Jhase said solemnly. "And they took Iyana."

"What!" Garah jumped to his feet. "Then we have to go after him!" He took a step forward and collapsed to one knee.

"Not now." The monk shook his head. "We're in no condition to fight."

Garah pointed at the gate, "We have to save her!"

"I agree, but we can't just run after them. Even if we could walk there without falling, we would just get killed. We need a strategy." He sighed.

Anna and Dorian rushed from the Inn. "Are you alright?" "We saw the whole thing through the window." Dorian huffed, the pudgy innkeeper clearly not taken to running even short distances. "Come here, we'll get you patched up. Anna, hurry and get some bandages and splints, they may have broken bones." He knelt down and slung both injured men's arms over his shoulders. "Easy now, just going to get you inside."

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"I knew this was a bad idea!" Heldrin grumbled to himself, pacing the floor of the inn. "Trusting our lives to these travelers, what was I thinking!?"

"Easy now, Heldrin." Dorian finished bandaging Garah's chest. "We took a chance and it didn't work out. It's better than continuing to pay the greenskins month after month. And it's not like these boys are out of the fight yet."

"We're going back out there." Garah agreed, wincing as Anna dabbed at a cut on his cheek.

Hldrin shook his head. "Why? I told you, you can't fight him! He's a bull, a demon! You saw what he did to you! That monster took your swords like they were feathers!"

"He's tough." Jhase nodded. "But I don't think he's invincible. We were able to cut him, and he bled."

"What does that mean?" Dorian furrowed his brow.

Jhase sighed, "I don't know yet. But I'm sure to figure it out."

"We'll have to." Garah pushed Anna's hand aside and stood up. "Blue is in trouble, and we're going after her."

"Of course." Jhase agreed. "Do you know where the orc camp is?"

"Yeah." Heldrin sighed. "Just west of here. Two hours trek."

Garah grabbed his sword off the table and shouldered it. "Then that's where we're going. Come on Jhase."

"Now hold on!" Heldrin stepped forward. "That thing is a demon! You've seen it! Just what do you think you're going to do!?"

"Well obviously..." Garah stopped and flashed a clever grin. "We're going demon hunting."

Continued in Chapter 3...

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