Darius sat and surveyed the landscape to come up with a plan. He had climbed higher in the tree to get a better view. He'd noticed there were three entrances into the encampment. One was in the direction of a mountain, another went the direction they had come from, and the last seemed to lead to another part of the forest. Only the last entrance was guarded. A group of 10 had gathered near it. All but one seemed smaller than the other orcs. And their tusks weren't the black color of the others. They must be adolescents, but that one definitely isn't. He looks important.
The orc in question had a long braided beard. He had white lines painted beneath his eyes, and golden rings through his nose, one of his tusks, and ears. Unlike the other armored orcs, he also wore a wolf pelt over his head and shoulders.
He walked through the entrance carrying his axe over his shoulder. The smaller orcs followed close behind carrying an assortment of bows and clubs. As they left, the hooded orcs emerged from the small hut, and followed the other group into the forest. They had been gone for 10 minutes, before Darius dropped back down to the twins. Faelar had been practicing his new ability. Two of the strange space filled circles were now open. Faelar had stuck his hand through one, and it popped out the other. Fenris was amazed and reacted by doing the same thing to flick Faelar's forehead.
"Looks like you're starting to get the hang of that."
"Yeah. I figured out they act like portals, and I can connect them", said Faelar as he rubbed his head.
"Good work. You can show us more after we rescue whoever is in that hut. Alright here's the plan. We'll-"
"CHAAAAAARRRRRRRGE!" The three of them looked to the entrance leading to the mountain pass. A large group of over 200 men, armed with swords and spears, had run through and were charging the orc encampment. The orcs responded instantly. 20 of the armored orcs ran to meet them, and swiftly began slaughtering them. Those 20 were soon joined by more orcs. The men stood little to no chance.
"Fuck. Fine I guess we'll improvise. Faelar you stay up here and target their archers. Once your done with that, fire at will. Fenris, you're with me. Those idiots aren't gonna last long, we have to help." Darius and Fenris leaped from their hiding spot, over the wall, and into the edge of the encampment. They landed with a wall of orcs to the front attacking the men, and two more smaller groups to either side of them gearing up to join.
"Fen, you take the right side and I'll take the left."
"What about the battle in the front?"
"We have to wipe out their flanks first, otherwise we'll get caught in a pincer attack."
"Got it."
They both took off towards the orcs on each flank. Faelar portaled his way to a better vantage point on top of the largest yurt. The orcs had noticed the Darius and Fenris when they landed and rushed to meet them, which left Faelar undetected and free to rain down arrows. Darius met his group head on. Three came at him with axes. Darius shot Fulgur into the chest of one, sending it flying in the opposite direction. The other ignored the fate of his comrade, and brought down his axe on the now weaponless Darius. Darius caught it, and redirected its momentum into the ground at his side. He then uppercutted the orc sending it airborne. The last of the three took a side ways swing only to hit air. Darius nimbly flipped over it, and delivered a spinning kick to its head.
The crunch of its neck snapping was followed by the sound of its head slamming into the ground. Darius summoned Fulgur from the corpse of the first orc to impale the other orc as it fell from the sky. The remaining orcs raised their bows and fired. Darius spun Fulgur in front of him with one hand, blocking all the arrows in the process. Lightning begun to dance on the fingers of his other before he pointed at them. "Surging Thunder!" It shot from his fingertips and branched off into the chests of the remaining orcs. They collapsed to the ground reeking of charred flesh.
He looked over his shoulder and saw that Fenris had finished up as well. Over a dozen orcs lay dead at his feet, many of them also baring a single arrow through their skull. He spoke more to himself than them, "Good work you two". Both of them made their way to the center. There were only a couple dozen men left, and they were barely holding out against a few dozen remaining orcs. "Good work. I guess this place isn't as scary as you thought."
"It's only because of our seals being broken. Otherwise I'd definitely be dead."
Darius gave him a smug grin, "Well, let's see what else you can do. Faelar has the portal thing, now it's your turn." Fenris eyed him curiously. "But I don't know what I can do."
"Welp, now's the time to figure it out." He sped ahead of Fenris and leaped to slash the back of the orc in front of him. He hadn't seen the other orc rush out from the main hut to hit him with its club until the last second. He raised his arms to block it, but the force knocked him straight into the smaller hut the hooded orcs had entered before. He landed on top of a table that looked closer to an altar. "Whoops. Hope that wasn't important."
Inside he saw two large cages made of thick animal bone. Inside one, was an oddly relaxed man covered head to toe, in orcish plate armor. The only skin visible was his upper face, and the back of his neck. His eyes seemed surprisingly friendly.
Inside the other was a beautiful redheaded woman with her hands shackled. She wore a short sleeved black and grey robe, with thigh high boots, and a gold arm bracelet. She got up to speak and her glasses fell in the process. "Damn it, my glasses."
"Well hello Miss Damsel in distress." He picked up her glasses and handed them to her. Immediately he heard a roar and heavy footsteps headed towards the hut. "Be right back." He raced out of the hut and met the orc on the battlefield.
It was bigger than the others by at least a foot. It towered over Darius as they clashed. His blows weren't strong enough to do serious damage, but they'd knock him off his feet again if he wasn't careful. Darius ducked a blow to his head, and stabbed Fulgur into one of its barrel sized thighs. The orc howled in pain and swung wildly. Darius bobbed and weaved away. The orc was in pain, but unhindered by the blade in its leg. It charged with an overhead swing that shook the ground as it hit. Darius dodged left and spun to get behind the orc. In the process, he caught a glimpse of a massive black wolf tearing through the main body of orcs while arrows rained down on the rest.
He shook off the sight, and leaped onto the back of his opponent. He grabbed his opponents head and sent lightning straight into its skull. It stood there convulsing before losing grip on its club and falling face first into the dirt. Darius retrieved his sword and turned to face the rest of them, but they all were dead. Only the wolf and one bloodied and broken man remained
He jogged over to them, curiosity and concern in his eyes. "Fenris?!" The wolf nodded its head and turned to the last remaining man. He was on the ground, covered in lacerations and bruises. His leg sat at a twisted angle. He coughed up blood before speaking to Darius. "A Saharian. Praise the gods. You can carry out our mission."
"Saharian? And what mission?"
The man coughed again and pulled him closer. "These savages have a prisoner, a woman. Kill her. She..... must... die." His hand fell to the ground as he breathed his last. He turned to face Fenris who had turned back into his normal self. "You understand what he was talking about?"
"Not a bit."
"Hm. Guess we'll see once we talk to the girl." They started towards the hut, "By the way, since when could you go all furry?"
"Never until just now. Though, I could ask the same about you with the lightning magic."
"Oh I'm full of surprises. Might be more later on. Stay tuned." Darius went though the opening of the hut, and Fenris stayed outside to guard the entrance and wait for Faelar. The woman looked at him with awe as he walked in. "You're alive?"
"Yup."
"The orcs are dead?"
"Yup."
"I guess what they say about Saharians is true then."
"I don't know what this Saharian business is, but sure. Now if you'd kindly step back, I can get you outta here." She backed up and Darius cut out the cage door. "Out ya go."
"Thank you. I was beginning to think I'd never get out of this place."
"Yeah, speaking of this place, what'd they want you for?"
"They wanted help in some ritual regarding the demons."
"You must be special then."
"I guess. I'm a mage, but I'm also a demonologist. I guess they figured I could help them with their ritual because of it."
"Demonologist? I'm guessing that's why that guy out there wanted me to kill you."
"Kill me?! You're with The Order aren't you?" She recoiled and opened her hands as if she was about to conjure something. "Damn these shackles."
"Woah woah relax. I'm not with any order, I'm not gonna kill you, and those were just that guy's dying words. He and the rest of his men got slaughtered by the orcs. You're safe."
She kept her guard up, her small hands now balled into fist. Darius tried to ease the tension. "I'm not going to hurt you. Look, I'll prove it. Let me break your shackles." He eased closer to her and guided one of her hands down with his own. He kept eye contact, dug his fingers beneath the shackle, and ripped it apart. Her eyes softened and he repeated the process.
She rubbed both of her freed wrists and looked away from him as she spoke. "Thank you."
"No problem."
An awkward silence filled the air. Rubbing his head, and wanting to change the subject, he asked the first thing that came to mind. "So.... um.... how'd they find out you study demons?"
She pointed towards the other cage with the man sitting in it, watching them with intrigue. He had forgotten he was there until she pointed it out. "He translated. Despite appearances he's very sweet and kept them from killing me."
Darius approached his cell and the man spoke with a deep and polite voice. "Hi there. My name is Grol. Nice to meet you new friend." Caught off guard by the mismatch of his appearance and demeanor, Darius stumbled his response, "Um... uh.... yeah pleasure to meet you. You want out of there too?"
His cheerful tone didn't change with his response. "That'd be great. I'd love to get out and thank Miss Alice properly for being so kind to me. Though if you want to leave me here, that's ok too."
Darius looked at who he assumed was Alice, and she seemed to understand his question. "He has a troubled past. He's always like this, but it's genuine."
Darius cut out his cage door and stepped back as he exited. He was just as tall as the orcs they'd just fought. "Wait, are you an orc?" He couldn't see his mouth, since it was covered by a mask, but he could tell he was smiling. "Yes. I wasn't born from this tribe though. I actually don't know my tribe, but I've been here as long as I can remember."
"Oh. Um." Alice tapped Darius's shoulder. "I'll explain the situation to him. Could you wait outside?" Welcoming the time to process, Darius nodded and went outside to Fenris and Faelar. "So where's the damsel?", asked Fenris. "She'll be out soon." They waited a short time before Grol and Alice emerged. In the sunlight, her pale skin seemed even paler then the elve's by contrast. Her big blue eyes got wide as she saw the twins. "Those eyes, are you two archdemons?!" She rushed over to them and began vigorously inspecting them.
"Um kinda." They both looked at Darius for help, but he simply shrugged and let it happen. Grol stood beside him and watched as well. "Is this some type of human greeting?" Darius tried to give him a softened answer. "Na big man, she's just a bit different."
At that moment, a whistling sound came and Darius pulled Grol out of the way just in time. The arrow had come from the forest and it had just barely grazed Grol's neck. Everyone turned towards the commotion, and Darius scanned the forest. "Sorry about that Grol. It grazed you, but it's not deep. Grol looked at him with genuine fear as his eyes began to glow red. "No my new friend. I'm sorry for what's about to happen."