Chapter 11: Under Siege

We had left the horses in Crossing and continued on foot. Summer was almost over even if it was still warm. We were a half day away from Blue Pass when the first large hunting party of orcs almost walked into us. We had dropped packs and were waiting with our bows. I think we caught them completely by surprise because we were able to empty our quivers.

I tossed my bow aside and pulled my short swords before moving to the left. Aveline was moving right as I slid an old rusted sword aside and used my other sword to slice open the orc’s belly. Three came at me at once as I tried to step back. I blocked two but the rusty sword the third swung slammed into my side.

I grunted as I brought my arm down to trap it and jabbed into the orc’s throat. I blocked another sword and parried a second before lunging to stab one. I yanked the blade out and kept moving as a sword slashed into my back and I stabbed into the last one in front of me. I spun and brushed another sword away before slashing across the throat of the last orc close to me.

I moved towards Aveline as she faced the last two. She cut one open and took the arm of the other. I arrived and cut its throat before I looked around. We knelt together and cleaned our weapons before going to pull arrows out and kill any orc still alive. We broke all the weapons and cleaned arrows before shouldering our packs.

There were signs of large orc hunting parties everywhere. We watched another party several hours later. It was going out from the empty and harvested fields that were around Blue Pass fortress. I had a bad feeling as we moved to the edge of the forest and looked out at the army of orcs camped around the fortress.

We moved back and I gestured to the east side of the pass. We moved around staying in the forest until we were directly to the east of the fortress. I headed towards a ridge and glanced around when I came to what looked like a rock wall. I took my pack off and held it and stepped into a niche and turned to edge around to the left into a narrow opening.

It turned back to the right and into a dark cave. I opened my pack and pulled out a small candle and lit it. I looked around and carried my pack to the back where a shelf had been carved into the rock. Aveline had followed and set her pack beside mine, “What are we going to do?”

I grinned as I pulled my dark cloak out and started for the opening, “Kill orcs and break the siege.”

She snorted but followed with her cloak. After I blew the candle out I set it on a tiny ledge above my head in the niche. I listened before stepping out and headed towards the fields, “Most of the orcs are going to be asleep. I want to try sneaking into one of the command tents and cutting a few throats.”

We moved through the forest to the edge of the fields before watching the orc camp. We moved to a dry watering ditch and slipped out and into the field and started crawling. When we reached the edge of the camp I stood slowly and started walking with my cloak around me. We reached the large central tent and I glanced around and pulled my long knives.

We could hear loud snoring from inside and looked at each other before ducking in. A dozen orcs were scattered around the tent and we split up. I stabbed into the first behind his ear and into his brain. It jerked and spasmed but did not make a lot of noise as it died. Less than two minutes and they were all dead.

I looked at Aveline and grinned as I moved the commander’s bed to one side. I began digging where it had been until I had a large enough hole. I moved the orc clan treasure chest before covering it with dirt and moving the bed back. I used a candle wick and lit it before we left. We moved north through the camp and into the next.

Again we entered the large central tent and killed all the orcs silently before burying their treasure. We were walking away when the first tent burst into flames. We were crawling through the fields towards the forest before the camps awoke and rushed to the burning tent. By the time we slipped into the forest the second was on fire and burning.

We moved all the way around to the north side and looked at better made tents. Aveline whispered in my ear, “Dark brothers.”

I gestured to the standard and she shrugged, “Frost mountain.”

I nodded and stepped out and started walking. I walked up behind a dark brother between the tents watching the other camps and the burning tents. One hand went around to his chin and the other to the back of his head before I grabbed and twisted. His neck popped and he dropped to the ground and I looked around before pulling him behind a tent.

I peeked into one tent and gestured to Aveline who followed as I went in. I used short swords as I moved through the tent killing dark brothers with Aveline beside me. We slipped out and moved back to the forest. We moved back to the east and to the cave. We drank water and rested and I thought of other things we could do.

It was dark when we came out and headed back towards the fortress. We walked across the fields, the orcs were on the far side in ranks facing the fortress. The large command tent we entered had two guards. We killed them quietly as they looked towards the fortress and the other orcs. Inside I moved the bed and we dug a hole and put the clan treasure chest in it.

We buried it and spread the dirt before moving the bed back. Like before we set a fuse to start a fire before leaving. We moved through the camps to another command tent to repeat what we had done. As the orcs attacked the fortress we ended up in the dark brother camp. It was easy to slip up on the few left to guard their tents.

Unlike the orcs who carried their clan treasure the dark brothers only brought what they needed. We set a fuze burning in each tent before leaving. We were in the darkness at the back of the camps when the fires were noticed and the orcs broke off the attack. At first they were confused and those inside the walls killed a lot as they milled around.