He cried with a passionate on his face;
"At what point do we accept that this is a pointless mission?!"
A couple of hunters cheered him on in the background.
In a deferential tone, he lowered his voice and addressed the old man who stood a little farther ahead from the group.
"I respect you master Kadin…"
Then he sharply turned his head towards the others and spoke in a confident tone;
"But it expedient that we turn back now. At this point, based on what we have all seen and known, it would be unwise to proceed any further knowing what lies ahead of us. I refuse to risk this company!"
His last statement was the final nail in the coffin. The whole group cheered him on in agreement. There was no going forward now. Everyone's heart was set on abandoning this mission, no matter the promised reward.
Kadin watched the drama unfold with a look of indifference on his face. As a man who had lived a full life, he had witnessed situations such as this many times over. This wasn't his first rodeo. And because of his experience, he proffered a solution that he had personally worked for him in the past.
"Gentlemen…" he began in a suave tone and conveyed no hard feelings or disappointment.
"I understand your concern. It is genuine and founded on good intentions. But you must not forget that this is the profession we have chosen for ourselves. No matter the situation, no matter the season, day and night we remain hunters!!"
The crafty old man had begun by appealing to their sense of pride as professionals. But that wasn't his ace in the hole. Ego stroking and flattery was only the first layer. The second stage was to play on their ever present greed. Money was always the best incentive for groups that contained men of this caliber. So, Kadin pressed on in this regard.
He didn't bother to soft pedal it. The old man went all out with his offer.
"So, I hereby offer a cash reward of one gold coin to anyone who aids in the discovery of Xzavier…"
He allowed the offer marinate in their hearts. The ever present green goblin of greed rose out of the dark chambers of their hearts and feasted on the prospects of Kadin's promise of gold, before they could recover and see through his scheme, Kadin dealt out one more surprise.
"…and five gold pieces goes to whosoever finds Xzavier himself!"
The younger hunters in the group swallowed greedily. Most of them had never had up to three percent of the prize money which Kadin seemed to be generously offering. No doubt, they were tempted, but the more mature hunters in the group immediately rebuffed Kadin.
One of the more seasoned hunters stepped forward to answer the old man.
"What good is gold to a corpse who has been mangled by a vengeful orc? Master Kadin of the underground keep, our answer is NO!"
Tacy was not pleased with the situation, not in the least bit. Shaking with rage, she wished she was a man so she could teach a lesson to the cowards who stood before.
The one thing that annoyed her the most was the ostentatiousness of the whole scene. They were all obviously scared! And yet they could not own up to this simple fact! Tacy was disgusted and it irked her that she couldn't let them know just how disgusted she was by their attitude.
The young waitress/receptionist considered the cowardly hunters a disgrace to their profession. They were men whom she had served in the underground exchange. She had listened to their tales of glory, she had seen the bounties they had hauled in, and now, just when she had decided to go into battle with them, they had surprised her by proving that they were made up of the same stock as weak, fickle minded hormonal teenagers.
But despite her rage, Tacy knew that she couldn't take the moral high ground to confront these death-averse people. There and then, Tacy made a promise to herself;
"No matter what happens, I will not stop until I find Xzavier! Nothing can stop me! Not orcs, not master Kadin, and definitely not this band of uncircumcised baboons!"
Out maneuvered and outgunned, Old man Kadin sighed under his breath. Unlike Tacy, he understood more than anyone else why the hunters were so afraid to go forward with the mission. Their reasons weren't justified, but they were founded on reason, and the old man couldn't fault them for that. Xzavier's contribution to the town was worthy of praise. He had single handedly taken care of the Goblin nuisance by annihilating them completely. So, he tried to find a middle ground in the negotiation.
"Very well then. You are all free men, you have made your choice!"
They nodded in agreement to his truthful words.
"But here's a counter offer; since you all have decided not to move forward with this task, I ask that that you remain here in the meantime as I and my ward move on with the task."
The relief that came upon the group (along with the speed which had accompanied the way they had rushed to accept Kadin's offer) confirmed Tacy's suspicions. They were terrified of what lay ahead. She began to worry for Xzavier. For the first time, she started to consider what it was that had made these men to quake in their boots.
Kadin wasn't afraid of death. He had had several close calls in the past when he came dangerously close to the end, but that wasn't the real reason behind his seemingly absent fear of death. He was a masterful magician who could defend himself in any given circumstance. As he turned his back to leave, Kadin beckoned to his young ward saying;
"Come on Tacy, let's find Xzavier as soon as we can."
As the young girl hurried to Kadin's side, she pondered for a minute on something she had picked in Kadin's voice as he spoke about finding Xzavier. It was a certain sense of urgency in his tone that sparked something in her, not wanting to dwell on any more negative thoughts (especially where Xzavier was concerned), Tacy instantly pushed it to the back of her mind and focused on the task at hand.
In the sea of uncertainty and fear, Tacy was the only one in the enviable state of courageousness.
Meanwhile, the battle raged on the other side. Right from the start it hadn't been a battle, it had begun as an ambush and it had taken on the form of a slaughter. The leader of the orcs had suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the invisible enemy. Retreat was the next best thing. As he remained hidden from the blazing attack behind a cleft of rock, the tall leader unhooked the buffalo horn from his worn out loin cloth and blew it hard three times.
This particular signal was one signal that the leader of the orcs had never given in his lifetime. It was the signal to retreat. To withdraw shamefully and cower from the invading enemies. As he watched his fellow orcs turn to flee at his command, the leader was filled with a violent indignation. Righteous anger boiled through him, it was so intense that he physically began to tremble.
Most unique leaders who have successfully ruled over time and gained for themselves the respect of others (or in this case, fear from others) almost always have that one hidden trump card. In the case of this orc leader, it was a terrifying ability that almost always guaranteed his victory. But it wasn't something he activated anyhow. This unique ability was so tasking on him that whenever he activated it, it always consumed a fraction of his psychic essence. The orc leader knew that he was left with no other option. If there was anything such as the perfect time for him to use it, it was now.
As if in response to the evil that was about to be unleashed, the ominous dark clouds that had robbed the valley of the radiant silvery glow of the moon's light suddenly began to disperse. Like a fresh breath of new air, the moon's pale light slowly emerged, illuminating the orcs' base camp in the valley below.
Xzavier tensed when he saw that the opposition had tactfully retreated. As a member of the special forces unit and as an experienced soldier, Xzavier knew that this was not a good sign. It wasn't good because this was a signal that the enemy had somehow managed to make a well informed decision despite being overwhelmed on all sides. This kind of critical thinking wasn't favorable to Xzavier's plans at the moment.
"Damn it." Xzavier cursed as he observed the tactical retreat of the orcs.
"…this isn't good at all!"