Chapter 8: Benthor

We ended up spending the night in the cave, since the rain never did let up. We spent all night huddled together under the blankets, Atheria on one side of me, Gianna on the other. Atheria woke Gianna and I up as the sun was rising. The rain had stopped. She already had her armor and weapons on. Gianna and I got dressed and gathered our blankets. We then set out once more on our journey.

The morning passed uneventfully, and our lunch break consisted of eating hard tack and my continued training in the use of a sword. Even after the events of yesterday and our having a threesome, Atheria was no less stern with me when I made a mistake. Atheria also began showing Gianna how to use a sword, although Gianna still felt more at ease with using a dagger.

That afternoon, as we walked, Gianna had moved up beside Atheria and was talking with her. I brought up the rear by myself, watching both of their rears with great joy. I could see mountains ahead of us in the direction we were going. I wondered if we were actually going to go into the mountains. At home, I had been up on Mount Rainier, but that was in a car. I had never actually had to climb a mountain.

I heard the distant sounds of hooves pounding on the ground behind us. I turned and looked. There were a few figures on horseback riding in our general direction, but they were far away. I started to give a warning to Atheria, but her sharp elven hearing had already heard the horses. She had run back to stand beside me, her eyes gazing at them.

"Orcs," she said. "Four of them. I don't think they have seen us."

"What makes you think that?" Gianna asked, joining us to watch the riders.

"They are riding in our general direction, but not directly toward us." Her eyes followed the path the riders were taking, and she pointed at a spot on a distant hill. "Their campsite is there," she told us, her finger pointing. "I can see someone at their camp - a prisoner, I suspect. He's chained to a rock."

"A prisoner?" I repeated.

"Should we try and free him?" Gianna asked.

"Why?" Atheria asked. "He's only a dwarf."

"I'm going to go," I declared. "Atheria, if you want to stay here, you do that."

"You would die trying to free him," the elf woman pointed out. "And he would still be a prisoner."

"Then I guess you'd better come along to keep me from dying," I replied, the tone of my voice leaving no room for argument.

As we crept nearer to the campsite, I could hear them talking in their inhuman, guttural language, laughing among themselves. We crouched behind a large rock near their camp. Atheria and I peeked over the top of the stone as Gianna snuck around the side closest to the chained dwarf.

There were indeed four of the foul creatures. They were eating pieces of some creature, or creatures, raw. The chained dwarf stared in hatred at the bunch. He was about four feet tall and very thick and stout. His long brown beard reached down his chest, all the way to his waist. His thick brown hair was tied back into a braid. His armor and battleaxe lay on the ground nearby.

Atheria and I lowered ourselves back below where they could see us. Gianna was almost in her position to free the dwarf. Atheria drew her twin blades, and I drew my sword as well. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I couldn't believe I was really going to do this. I had done this a hundred times or more in video games at home, but I was going to really be fighting orcs. It was not imaginary, it was not a game. I had to kill them, or me or either of the women could die.

"Stay close to me," Atheria whispered. "Remember your training."

I nodded and gripped the hilt of the sword tighter. Then, as quick and lithe as a cat, Atheria sprung herself to top of the rock we had been hiding behind. The orcs cried out at seeing the elf warrior, her silver armor glistening, her deadly blades poised and ready. I heard them roar in anger. And then I let out my own battlecry and charged around the side of the rock, my sword held high.

The orcs had wicked looking curved blades. Three of the orcs had moved to attack Atheria, and the remaining one broke off and charged at me, roaring as he bore down on me. He swung his blade with a furious might, and I narrowly got my own sword up to block it. I stepped back as the orc swung his sword at me again. My sword again blocked his with a clang of metal and a brief shower of sparks.

He was driving me back, putting me on the defensive. I had to take his advantage away, let me take the offensive. I blocked a few more of his swings as I tried to think of what I could do to surprise him.

The orc suddenly stiffened, one of his hands reaching behind him. He whirled to look behind him. Gianna stood across the camp. With the orc's back to me, I could see Gianna's dagger protruding from its back. I swung my sword into and through his neck. His body fell to the ground, his head rolling away.

I glanced over. The dwarf had taken to attacking one of the orcs, his battleaxe swinging wildly, the orc desperately blocking the enraged dwarf's swings. Atheria was still fighting two of the monsters though, her swords expertly twirling and weaving to block and parry the attacks of the orcs on either side of her.

I let out another battlecry and ran towards one of the orcs that attacked Atheria. The orc turned to face me. His sword blocked mine, and then he kicked me in the stomach. The air was knocked out of me. I stumbled back for a moment, the orc bringing his sword back to swing at me. My foot flew up, nailing him in the balls. The weapon dropped from his hand and his hands moved to hold his wounded genitals. I thrust my sword into his chest. I felt his warm blood splash down onto my hand. His eyes and mouth opened wide, like he had just been surprised. Then they closed, and his limp body fell to the ground.

I looked around. With only one orc facing her, Atheria had made short work of her foe. The orc that the dwarf had been fighting lay on the ground, quite dead. The dwarf was still hacking at the body, cursing under his breath. Gianna was retrieving her dagger from the orc she had thrown it into.

"I think he's dead," I commented to the dwarf.

The dwarf looked up at me, then looked around the camp. A battlerage still filled his brown eyes. "Ya sure there ain't anymore of 'em about?"

"We only saw four of them," I told him, "and they're all dead."

He visibly relaxed. He wiped his axe on one of the orcs, then spat on the body for good measure. "Thank ya f'r rescuin' me."

"How is it that a dwarf came to be needing to be rescued by two young humans and an elf warrior?" Atheria asked, her voice frigid.

"Ah, th' bastards snuck up on me while I was on th' road. Was on my way to join th' southern army and fight against that Magus to th' north. But I was captured and they were goin' ta eat me f'r dinner t'night. Foul-smelling bastards." He peered around at the three of us. "Ya saved my life. Tell me, who's th' leader of yer trio?"

Gianna pointed to me while Atheria declared, "I am sworn to protect him, but he is not my leader."

The dwarf stomped over to stand in front of me, then kneeled down. "Ya saved my life, so I'm here ta serve ya until ya dismiss me."

I looked to Atheria. "Foolish dwarven custom," she explained, rolling her eyes.

The dwarf stood up, ignorning her. "Th' name is Benthor Battlestone." He rubbed his hands briskly together and said, "So where we goin'?"

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Atheria leading the way, as usual, and Benthor and myself walking behind. Sometimes Gianna would join us, but she usually stayed ahead with Atheria. Benthor talked and talked and talked and talked. Sometimes, for a change of pace, he yammered instead of talked. He told some good stories of his adventures and travels, but I didn't want to hear them all in one afternoon. So after a while, my thoughts went elsewhere and tuned him out.