The early sun has appeared from the faraway mountain ranges, revealing a group of orcs rallying right out of the gates of the town of Ravenhill. There are 100 orcs to be exact, around 30% of them are female while the rest are males. Female orcs are also not comparable to their male counterparts in terms of brute force, but they have greater agility and often join the Orkish armies as light infantry or archers.
Slowly, Abutai walks onto a log, making him higher than all the orcs in front of him, most of whose faces are covered with uneasiness. Like adults, these adolescent orcs also dislike being commanded by a half-blood orc. Abutai notices Alina standing in the front row of the females, he understands that if he appointed Alina as the vice commander and leaves the female orcs under her command, there would be no problems in handling them.
Loudly, Abutai speaks:
-" My name is Abutai, and Jarl Umber has given the order to lead you in the campaign helping the great warrior Brutan fight the goblins to the west."
Pausing a little and look at the face of every orc presenting, Abutai continues speaking:
-" I know that many of you are not content with the fact that I'm your commander because I'm a half-breed. If anyone of you assumes that you are a better commander than me, stand out and face me in single combat. If you win, I will surrender this position to the orc that wins."
Many male orcs stand forward, raising their hands and yelling with the willingness to duel Abutai. However, all of them back off when a large orc stands forward and whispers: " I will do it." The remaining orcs make way for him while starting to chant: " Agnor, Agnor, Agnor... "
Agnor is a tall and large orc compared to orcs of his age. There is a scar on his face, which is believed to be the craft of a tiger which is now made into a cloak he is wearing. Taller than Abutai a head, Agnor looks down onto his opponent, believing that Abutai would stand no chance in winning, as Agnor has proved to fight as skilled as the matured orcs.
-"What's your name?" Abutai asks, strengthening the arm holding his spear, and picking up a shield with the other hand.
-"Agnor, the orc who's going to end our pitiful life." Agnor speaks before drawing a broadsword.
-"Shall we start?" Abutai asks another question. Agnor simply answers by swinging his broadsword, which nearly chops Abutai in half if he didn't jump back fast enough. Responding to his opponent, Abutai delivers a thrust aiming at Agnor's face. Opposite to his size, Agnor's fast and manage to dodge Abutai's attack. However, Abutai does not let him escape easily: the second thrust aims at the hand holding the broadsword of Agnor while using his shield to bash the sword.
As the broadsword's a bit stuck to the ground, Agnor has to give it up and back off. Abutai's spear doesn't stop, he keeps thrusting, making Agnor step back continuously in order to dodge the spear. From the crowd, somebody throws out an ax for Agnor. Receiving the ax, Agnor delivers a blow to Abutai. Abutai narrowly blocks Agnor's blow by raising his shield; However, Agnor has shortened the distance, disabling the reach advantage of Abutai's spear. Swing his ax crazily combined with kickings, Agnor knocks Abutai into the ground. The sounds of cheering start to erupt from the crowd as they think Agnor is going to win.
With a strike from the ax, Abutai's shield is broken. At the moment when everyone thinks Abutai is going to surrender, he suddenly kicks Agnor, forcing the large orc to back down a few steps, giving him some time to rise up from the ground. Using two hands grabbing the spear, Abutai thrusts in an incredible, which narrowly misses Agnor's face, leaving a cut on his cheek. Not letting Agnor rest, Abutai swings his spear at Agnor's feet, knocking the large orc to the ground. When Agnor regains consciousness and attempts to rise up, the cold blade of the spear has already been put on his neck.
-" I yield. " The large orc speaks. The scenery of a 2.3-meter orc defeated by a much smaller opponent shocks everyone on the scene, except Alina, as she has been fighting him every day and knows that Abutai's ability to fight is beyond normal.
- "Agnor, you are a strong opponent. To recognize your strength, you will be the infantry captain, responsible to command the male infantry when I'm not present."
Spend an hour to get everyone in position, where the skirmishers are positioned in the middle, surrounded by infantry while 15 boar riders are at the front, Abutai orders the raven banners to be raised. The host of orcs starts to move, their war chants echo high in the air. As the marching of the orcs begins, the ravens start to follow them, knowing that they will soon have a feast.
What the orcs do not notice is that, inside the bushes from the woods not far away from the settlement, there are small creatures watching them. Seeing the army of orcs marching out of Ravenhill, they start to laugh and make "Gi-Gi" sounds.
-" The orcs have sent their adolescents just as King Horik has planned. Now the orcs of Ravenhill will soon feel our wrath."
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The mountains range of Fernir, west of Ravenhill.
In this mountain ranges, we rarely find anything aside from rocks, wild goats and some lonely trees. A group of female orcs are scouting the area. Two goblins hiding behind a rock is spotted, they try to run away immediately. However, the poor goblins do not even go far than 10 steps before the heads impaled by arrows.
-" That the 10th and 11th goblin of today, Trina. This number is very strange for strayed goblins, we should come back and report to Captain Brutan." A female orc talks to the orc who has just shot the arrows."
-" No we should go deeper, 37 orcs were found dead, tortured by goblins in the village we encountered earlier. Even if they launch a surprise attack, no small group of goblins can massacred a whole village. They must have great number, we need to track them down so that our army can hunt them down. " The orc named Trina speaks, in her eyes we see a deep hatred when she looks at the goblins.
-" That's why we need to come back soon, Trina. We only have 10 orcs. The sun is setting and in the dark the goblins can see, we can not. "
-" Tskk, alright. Let go" Trina withdraw the arrows impaled on the heads of the goblins and put it back into her bags. The group of orc scouts begin to head back to the east, the opposite direction of where the Sun is setting.
Suddenly, an arrow from the air pierce the head of an orc, kill her immediately. Following the arrow is dozens more arrows aiming at the Orckish scouts. From the top of the mountains, dozens of goblins are there, laughing at their preys and constantly firing at the group of scouts.
-" We are trapped, get in cover." Trina shouts and gets behind a large rock. Two of her companions fall death to the ground with several arrows penetrated into their bodies. Drawing a bow, Trina grins angrily. She starts to fire back the goblins on the top; every time she looses the string of her bow, a goblin is killed. But their number does not seem to decrease; Having no choice, Trina and her group decides to flee. Two more orcs are shot down by the goblin archers before they make their way out of the valley. However, waiting for them is lines of goblins creating a spear wall.
-" Brunhild, break their lines." Trina shouts. Brunhild is the largest orc in the party, she is holding a large hammer. The large female warrior roars, her eyes turn into red before she charges straight into the goblins. The small goblins are frighten when they see the large orc in berserk coming. The head of 5 goblins are completely blown up by Brunhild's first swing while many more are killed by her fierce and crazy hammer of which strike has the power of a wild elephant.
Nonetheless, the goblins are numerous; also, they are well-armed and armored with iron equipment, not rusty swords like normal strayed goblins. Brunhild's advance is soon stopped and the female warriors are soon attacked from all sides. Trina looks at the surrounding, she estimates that there must be at least 100 goblins hindering their escape. Their only chance of survival is to cross the lines of goblins and get into the woods behind their lines.
-" Ravenhill warriors, rampage. " Trina's sentence ends with a roar from her mouth. Hearing her call, every orc's eye turn into red. The berserkers of Ravenhill charge into the lines of goblins. With her swords, Trina cuts down the heads of the goblins surrounding her like harvesting wheat on the field. Together, Brunhild and Trina create a blood way to the woods, leading their party out of danger.