Darius and Faelar both landed easily. Faelar was amazed at his new body. "We just jumped from height of over 1000 feet, and I'm unhurt." Darius, who'd been forcibly put through this before, wasn't fazed and was looking around. "Where's Fenris?" He landed immediately after. "We just did that!" Darius took one last look up at the enormous treehouse before moving into action. Now that they were all here, it was time to go. "Faelar lead the way. Let's put some distance between us and Nellenor." "Right."
They all took off at a speed most normal people would consider an Olympic sprint. To them, it was a light jog. Faelar lead them straight for a while, until the trees began to shrink. No longer were they the massive skyscraper sized towers of the village. They had shrunk, and now grew closer together. They were still much taller than any trees Darius was used to, but nonetheless minute compared to those of Nellenor. Faelar began weaving through them. He seemed to know exactly where to go. He didn't stop until Darius shouted for him to.
Faelar did as instructed and they all gathered by a fallen log at their feet. "Now that we are on our own, let's get this out of the way. You two have mental barriers on your minds, meaning you're capable of telepathy right?" Both of them nodded. "Let's establish a link. It'll come in handy if we need to be quiet."
They reached for each other's minds, and felt the barriers on each fall. Can the both of you hear me.
Loud and clear
Is it me, or does it feel like there's two presences in your head? And the other one feels huge.
Faelar was definitely sensing Raiga, but now wasn't the time to make introductions. "Yeah. There's two minds in my head right now. The other is napping. I'll explain once we find a safe place to make camp." Faelar looked around for a bit and found what he was looking for. Two large jagged gashes had been carved into the tree he gestured at. "That safe place might have to wait, we're in orc territory now."
A strange feeling of excitement spread through Darius. He didn't want to necessarily fight the orcs, but the thought of it also made him a little giddy. "Well in that case we should eat something. If we have to fight orcs, I'd rather do it with food in my stomach." "I like the way you think" said Fenris.
Faelar looked at both of them like they were crazy. "How can you think of food at a time like this?" Darius gave him an insulted look. "Hey. This situation ain't special. I'm always thinking of food." Faelar was about to respond when his stomach rumbled. Fenris immediately took advantage. "Well well. Looks like someone else is hungry too. And since you're the one with the bow. You can do the hunting."
"Oh what a great idea. And we can spectate from above while he works." "Above?" Darius grinned and jumped from tree to tree until he landed in the lowest branches of one a couple hundred feet off the ground.
Fenris grinned as well, readied himself, and copied his movements to get to the branches of another tree across from him. "Have fun Fae." Faelar, seeing the decision had already been made, took out and readied his bow. It likely hadn't been restrung since his mother died. He noticed a scent on the wind as he completed his task. It smelled like a deer, and it was close. He was downwind, so he figured he'd let it come to him. He notched an arrow and hid himself in a large cluster of bushes near by
He waited a few minutes before the deer appeared. It was a buck, and a large one. They'd all have plenty to eat. Woah. That's a big one. It looks delicious.
Faelar ignored the excited chatter going on in his head, and focused. He took a breath and pulled back on the string. Before a he fired, the deer was sent with incredible force into a tree and pinned there with an arrow the size of most longswords through its middle. His eyes got wide.
Nice shot man. I can make tons of jerky from it after we feast. We'll be set for the next few days.
Jerky? What's that?
Oh you have much to learn my man.
Faelar cut through the conversation before it finished. Guys! That wasn't my arrow.
Huh?
That's when they noticed. The arrow was way too big to be Faelar's. Plus, it had pinned the entire buck to a tree and suspended it off the ground. Faelar's arrows were strong, but they weren't sturdy enough to do that. Someone else had shot the deer.
Slow heavy footsteps began to sound out, followed by the appearance of a being that had to be an orc. He was around 8 feet tall with greenish skin and jet black hair. He was muscled to the point of absurdity. His body would have made most bodybuilders jealous. He only wore a large loincloth, a quiver on his back, and a necklace that contained large animal like fangs. Though the fangs were tiny compared to his own two large black tusk that protruded from his lower jaw.
The bow he carried was proportional to his size, so it was equally as massive and seemed to be made from animal bone. The quiver was full of arrows identical to the one that pinned the deer.
He approached his prey and snapped its neck with one large meaty hand. He pulled out the arrow and let the deer drop to the ground. As he reached to pick it up, he stopped and began scanning his surroundings. He looked in every direction, then smelled the air. Immediately he looked at the bushes where Faelar was hiding and started towards them.
Faelar knew he'd noticed him but didn't know if he was capable of fighting an orc alone. One thing lingered in his mind. His body was entirely different now. When he had the seal, he would have had no chance against a full grown orc. Now he was different. He didn't know what he was fully capable of, but now was the time to test it. Guys, don't interfere.
Fenris's voice erupted in protest within his mind, Have you gone insane you fool. You're my brother. You don't fight alone.
You're right, but we're different now. Our seals are broken. We have to see what we can do.
Before Fenris could protest Darius stepped in. Fenris relax. If he thinks he can do this, let him.
Fenris went silent. The orc was upon Faelar now so he tried the first thing that came to mind, diplomacy. He holstered his bow, and leaped from the bushes with his hands up. "Hello there. I'm Faelar. I'm your neighbor from Nellenor. I was just passing through, so if you don't mind I'll get out of your hair."
An awkward silence filled the air, with the orc eyeing him intensely. He grinned in an attempt to break the tension, only for the orc to return his gesture with rage. It let out a loud battle cry and attempted to punch Faelar. Faelar closed his eyes and instinctively crossed his arms in front of him to block the attack, but it never came. Instead he heard the orc's hate filled tone change to one of confusion and frustration.
He opened his eyes and had to process what he was seeing. There was a large circular piece of what looked like a star filled night sky in front of him. The orc was punching at it, but as soon as his fist touched it, his fist disappeared into it. It was as if his hand was entering a window that opened somewhere else. Faelar thought someone had saved him, until he noticed his fingers. On both hands, his index and middle fingers were emitting a soft white light.
He was doing this, and he had to control it. He took out his bow, notched another arrow, and aimed where the orc's head would be. After focusing on whatever it was he had created, it disappeared. It caught the orc off guard, so it had no chance at stopping Faelar's shot, which hit it right between the eyes.
It fell dead with a heavy thud at Faelar's feet. "Guys I did-". He was cut off as two more orcs came at him from both sides armed with crude battle axes. In an instant, Darius and Fenris were upon them. Fenris dropped onto one's back, stabbing it through the head in the process. Darius bifurcated the other straight down the middle.
Fenris walked over to Faelar while Darius scanned the area for more orcs. "I know what you said, but when you're outnumbered you'll always have me at your back." Faelar smiled, knowing his brother was right. Darius, not finding any more orcs while overhearing the conversation, walked behind Fenris and gave him a light chop on the head. "Ow. What was that for?"
"I think you mean we will always be at his back. I'm here too after all."
"Yeah. Sorry about that. Force of habit since we're used to fighting with just the two of us."
"Yeah well now there's three. Speaking of, we've already fought three orcs and we just got here. There'll probably be more before we get through the forest."
Faelar gave him a nervous grin. "There'll be a lot more, depending on if we get caught."
"What do you mean if we get caught?"
Faelar pointed in the direction they were about to head towards. "The way out is that way, but so is the orc yurt. The forest is surrounded by a mountain range. One of the two passes through it is right next to the orc's yurt."
"So the way forward is straight through their stronghold? Great. Guess we're gonna have to be stealthy then. Nothing I haven't done before."
They both eyed him curiously. "What?"
"What exactly did you do in your world?"
Memories of endless bloody battles and special ops missions filled his mind, but he buried them as quick as they came. "That's not important, but since we're asking questions here what the hell was that thing you just did with the orc?"
Faelar looked back down at his fingers. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I've never been able to do that until just now."
Fenris looked at his brother, then himself. "You think it has something to do with the seals being broken?"
"That could be it. I've felt different every since it was lifted. So is this a ability demons have?"
Fenris flexed his fingers and concentrated til he was red in the face. Darius again delivered a light chop to his head. "Ow" "Let's get a move on before you pop a blood vessel".
Faelar laughed at his brother's expense as they set out again. This time, they traveled by tree. They hopped from branch to branch as they moved deeper into orc territory. It was a little slower than their original speed, but they managed to avoid the few other orcs they saw below them.
They made it to the edge of the yurt in good time. They all stared at what they saw. The outside of the yurt was a make shift wall of sharpened logs that had been stuck into the ground. Inside the wall was a massive tarp made from what seemed to be tons of animal hides that had been woven together. Surrounding it, were various post where the orcs were making weapons, skinning animals, and training. Orcs were everywhere. They wore a mixture of animal skins and armor. Those that wore the skins seemed to be doing most of the smithing and skinning, while the armored orcs stood guard with their axes and spiked clubs. Darius counted roughly 100, not taking into account those they passed on their way here.
"So much for 60 orcs." Fenris's eyes widened. "They must have had a huge increase in births these past couple years."
They all turned to look as something caught their attention. Coming from the main yurt was a group of three robed figures. They were just as tall as the other orcs, but their frames were smaller. They approached another smaller yurt opposite of the main one. As soon as they entered, a feminine voice could clearly be heard shouting various obscenities that would have impressed the foulest mouthed sailor.
"Back again I see. Come to let me out you black tusked bastards, or are you here to kiss my ass? Those are your only two options, because I'm not teaching you shit. Just wait til I get out of this cage. I'll blast all of you to bits."
"Wow. What a woman." Fenris and Faelar both looked at Darius. He sighed. "Damn it. I guess we have to save the damsel in distress don't we."