Outright terror and disappointment overcame the leader as he gradually began to accept the crushing reality of the fate that awaited him- extermination! The primal instinct of self-preservation kicked in immediately. Flight was the only option. The leader wasn't ashamed of his cowardly thoughts. Death dwarfed cowardice by far. Right now, he was desperate not to become one of the disfigured corpses surrounding him that had been struck down with the incredibly insane magic.
Meanwhile, Kadin's group combed through the forest with the intent of finding Xzavier. But much to everyone's surprise (except the old man), they found a trail of dead orcs in the woods!
The hunters with Kadin were experienced hunters who had been in the game for a long time. As men of action and violence, they recognized the cruelty and psychotic nature in the way the orcs had been killed. They marveled greatly as they investigated the environment. They all searched for the obvious signs of struggle, but found none. By all counts, the orcs seemed to have been running away from their assailant! This only baffled the hunters.
One of them yelled out to the others as the group investigated the dead orcs.
"Aye! Do ya'll see this? This can't be true right?"
"Roger that! What the hell happened here?"
"Is this for real? Were these orcs truly running…?"
"Bah! What beast could make a group of orcs flee?!"
"Indeed! It is unheard off…"
"HEAVENS! I see no other beastly set of footprints here!"
A roguish fat man who closely resembled a bloated pig spat a brash reply;
"Sorcery…this must be sorcery. Nothing can make a band of full grown orcs run for their lives in this manner!"
The man's suspicions were way off from the real truth, but his supposition on what had happened wasn't entirely baseless. It was unheard of for an orc to run. One orc might be a coincidence, but the multiple dead bodies which they had chanced upon told a different story! It was unbelievable, especially for them who as hunters had witnessed the unrelenting savagery of orcs in the face of battle. So, the only logical conclusion they could arrive at was sorcery.
While the others rambled and debated amongst themselves regarding the truth of what had just happened here, only Kadin kept to himself. Only he knew the truth. This wasn't the work of a beast, neither was it the work of a sorcerer supreme. No, this was the handwork of the young man with the coldest set of eyes called Xzavier. But he didn't voice out his own version of the truth. It was better they stayed in a mood of uncertainty. That way, they needn't worry about running into live orcs.
As the group of hunters trudged through the woods in search of Xzavier, for the first time in a while, Tacy found herself asking questions she never thought she would ask.
"Master Kadin, why hasn't the nearby government sent any troops to round up the orcs causing trouble here?"
Tacy didn't know it, but subconsciously, the part of Xzavier that clamored for change had rubbed off on her. After spending only a short while with him, Tacy had contacted Xzavier's radical approach to life, and his unwillingness to conform to mediocrity. Even now, she was asking questions the same way Xzavier had asked her about the basic problems plaguing the society.
Kadin didn't answer her immediately. Being an old man with a mature mind, he pondered on the motive and thoughts which had provoked Tacy's question. After what seemed like a while, he answered his ward wisely;
"It is not that simple Tacy, you more than anyone knows just how political these border issues can be..."
The old man paused, (as was his usual style when lecturing younger ones) and then continued;
"…besides, the leader of this particular tribe of the nearby orcs is extremely powerful. He is so much of a savage that he singlehandedly slaughtered other orc tribes. Even members of his own race are terrified of him, much less the human government."
Tacy's eyes remained fixated on the old man as she absorbed the information.
"…there isn't a government body that is willing to sacrifice their troops and resources for such a risky endeavor, especially when the chances of success are pretty low…"
As the old man enlightened his young ward on the subject of the matters of the state, he himself reserved his own deep thoughts to himself. His conversation with Tracy was merely a distraction. This gambit wasn't by any means a form of denial, but on a different level, it was.
The fact that Kadin couldn't bring himself to admit it, didn't change the fact that he was indeed worried. He masked this encroaching fear with a false front of fuzzy warmth and the comforting aura of a wise man.
Kadin's fear wasn't a fear that was based on an abstract construct or an intangible variable, his fear was logical. It was based on proven facts and hard truths. This time, the truth was even scarier than the watered down version that was being peddled amongst the group of hunters. No matter how much Kadin tried to suppress it, he couldn't shake off the nagging worry that was threatening to crush him. It rose from the depth of his subconscious like the early morning mist over the deep, and slowly, it began to take a definite form, and then finally, like the epilogue of a bad story, it hung over him like an invisible shadow.
Kadin's worry was brought about by no other variable than the leader of this particular tribe of orcs.
"Oh Xzavier…" he thought to himself;
"…I acknowledge your extraordinary abilities, I admire your resolve to kill the oppressive orcs and defend the weak. I know that you can probably take on up to ten orcs at a time…"
The old man cringed as he delved deeper into his worries.
"But if it is indeed true that you have gone against an entire tribe, especially that terrible leader, then only divine intervention can save you. Because no one can…"
Kadin dared not finish his own train of thoughts. He wasn't a mental weakling, but the thought of a skillful promising young man like Xzavier going against the terrible bloodthirsty orc leader was enough to make the old magician cringe.
A wave of mental fatigue began to sweep through the entire group as they trudged through the forest in their search for Kadin's prodigy. The initial bravado with which the group of seasoned hunters had used to set out had grown cold, and like the remains of a once great flame, their energy had smoldered down into a cold heap of ashes. In place of that initial brimming confidence now stood doubt, fear, and the illogical immature need to suddenly turn back home.
Doubt had stepped in like a palpable entity, hogging the group, feasting on their individual and collective fears, and then, after having its fill of their anxiety, like a dragon, it vomited it back on them with ten times the ferocity, covering them with an entire blanket of terror. The canopy of trees overhead now seemed like a den harboring a band of orcs waiting to jump down on them at the last minute. Even the howling of the trees was reminiscent of the wailing of dying humans at the hands of the viciousness of the savage orcs.
The decimated corpses of the orcs which they had seen a while ago now flooded their minds. Like a dissident seed, it had taken root in their minds and was now bearing the poisoned fruits of unfounded dread that was actively clouding their judgments and poisoning their thinking faculties.
Within a very short period, this fear had infiltrated the group and brought on an inescapable cloud of terror. It wasn't long before an inaudible murmur began in the background. It quickly made its way through the group until it seemed like just about everyone was singing the same song.
"What are we even doing?" someone asked nervously.
"Yeah!" a couple anonymous correspondent echoed his thoughts aloud by chorusing in unison.
"This is a suicide mission!"
They were getting bolder by the minute.
"We all saw the dead bodies of the dismembered orcs a while ago, we don't know who did that…"
The tall slender man speaking paused for dramatic effect before continuing.
"…but one thing we can say for sure is that the orcs will be out for whoever did that to their kind!!"
Grunts of approval echoed through the group. Mutiny was in the air.
The tall slender man was obviously a great orator. By the looks of it, he wasn't just another crude hunter, he had apparently mastered the art of crowd psychology. The hunters had stopped advancing now.
The man championing this distraction made his way through the group, going back and forth with fire in his eyes and a penetrating gaze that seemed to burn his ideals into the hearts of everyman there.
"Look!"
He shot his fore finger in the direction before them.
"…we are almost at the habitat of the orcs, and yet we can't seem to find any trace of the person whom we are supposed to be tracking!"