Chapter 1

"Die, Abomination!" screamed Katrina as her blade sliced into the throat of yet another greenskin opponent.

The warrior princess gave a cold smile of savage satisfaction as the doomed goblin clutched as his wound, incapable of comprehending the spurting dark green blood. Down he went and moved no more.

Suddenly finding herself with no enemy in front of her Katrina lowered her sword and brushed back her long blonde hair. All around her she could hear the sounds of battle - sword versus axe, elf versus greenskin monster, good and free versus pure evil. To her left Katrina smiled to see the loyal redhead Hannah, her weapon gleaning as she decapitated yet another foe. To her right blonde Martine was also winning, - winning, killing and laughing.

"These scum are pathetic!" snarled the raven-haired Laura, "We kill them as easily as slaughtering sheep!"

Katrina nodded in agreement. She and the rest of the Virtuous Maiden Regiment of High Kevlava weren't so much as fighting the enemy army as massacring it. It was truly incredible that this worthless rabble had caused such terror amongst the peoples of the Free World. Katrina had heard tales of how the huge army of the Orc King Delrog had countless numbers of massively-powerful orcs and trolls that had wiped out every human force sent against them. How even the dwarves hid in their tunnels for fear of facing the fearsome horde of Delrog.

When the human king had stood before the High Elven King Falenronda at the court of Kevlava to beg for help Katrina had noticed with contempt how the wimp had shook with fear when he described the advance of the orcs.

"An unstoppable horde of monsters!" the coward had whimpered, "Lead by that most rare of things - a clever orc!"

A clever orc!?!

Ridiculous notion!

Orcs were stupid. Strong, yes. But their strength tempered by their foolishness. This clown had led his people to the brink of defeat and was trying to excuse his mistakes by exaggarterating the prowess of his conqueror...

Now as she stood amongst the greenskin dead on this field of battle Katrina modified her opinion. Not only were her opponents stupid, they were smaller than she d been led to believe. Not a worthy foe at all...

"Boobies!" drooled a grinning goblin as he moved towards her arms out-stretched, "Nice boobies!"

"Degenerate scum!" spat Katrina as she readied herself for combat.

Clearly the belief that these monsters were immoral was one notion that was correct.

"Ugh!" gasped the princess as the ugly brute unfastened his belt and let his tunic fall to the ground. It was now obvious that he found his beautiful opponent attractive...

How dare this low-born beast conduct himself in such a vulgar manner in the presence of the only daughter of an Elven king!

"Me sucka boob-GARK!" choked the rude fellow as Katrina stuck her sword into his chest, swiftly withdrew it and then spat at the corpse.

"My lady!" came a small voice from somewhere amidst the noise of warfare.

Katrina turned to see a male elf soldier calling out to her. The man looked tired and scared.

'Typical male!' was the thought that flashed thru Katrina's mind.

Men were little better than orcs!

"We are enveloped!" the man spluttered, "The day is lost!"

"You fool!" Katrina responded with a sneer, "Look around you! My girls and I are killing all who oppose us!"

To emphasis her point Katrina struck an heroic pose with her hand on her hips, long slim legs standing firm and her full bosom thrust forward.

"But look elsewhere!|" whined the man, gesticulating wildly.

Now Katrina looked around.

Beyond her stoutly fighting girls giant trolls could be seen attacking the lines of the rest of the Elf army, their huge clubs rising and falling in bloody business. A volley of arrows slammed into one of the powerful brutes and didn't slow him down a jot.

Further off swarms of wolf riders were racing forward, pausing to rip apart Elven soldiers in their way.

Surely her father would be able to counter this?

He had his bodyguard after all.

Where were they?

"Aroooo-hah!" arose a gutteral cry, causing Katrina to spin round.

The wimpy goblins were now nowhere to be seen, disappearing like wisps of smoke. In their place advanced wave after wave of orcs, three times the size of their smaller brethren.

Katrina felt her heart rate rising. Her mouth suddenly dry.

"It s a trap!" she gasped, looking around to see countless numbers of the enemy almost surrounding them, "We've charged into a trap!"

"B-but father!" entreated a desperate Katrina, "Surely there is another way!?"

Her voice echoed around the empty hall of the Royal Palace. The guards, the few that were left, had been stood down while the King explained the terms of the surrender to his daughter.

The old King turned away and went to slump down on his throne. He had visibly aged in the past few weeks, weeks of relentless bad news. Three of his sons had been left dead on the field of that first battle with the orcs. Two more had fallen in subsequent defeats. Of all his children only the teenage girl in front of him remained.

"I'm sorry!" he cried, "But the Orc King's demands MUST be accepted!"

Katrina felt overwhelmed by the horror of the situation. Elves had never been beaten by Orc-filth. It was impossible! The news that her father had agreed to surrender was shocking enough, but the terms...

"What of the other Elven kingdoms?" she demanded, "Why will they not come to our aid? They must know that they are next!"

"They know," replied the King sadly, "But they need time to find a way to beat this Delrog. Time we must give them. No matter what the cost."

"B-but father... ," she tried again, "The shame of it..."

"I know!" barked the old man, "But as the leader of our people I must put aside my feelings and we all must do our duty."

Gently he caressed the reddening cheek of his daughter. He could see her lower lip trembling and feared that if his shame gave way to tears she would fail in what she had to do.

"Duty." she said quietly.

"Yes, our damned duty," he replied, "The curse of a royal family."

Katrina swallowed hard. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes and prayed she could control herself.

"Go now, sobbed the King, "Go and gather your cousins. The wizardess of the White Tower will speed you on your way."

Few citizens could bring themselves to watch as the group of riders rode out of the city. At the head of the group Katrina noted dully that Delrog had kept the first part of his promise — he'd ordered his army to abandon their siege trenches. That had been after all the gold of Kevlava had been handed over. Katrina and the four other horse riders were the final part of payment. They were to ride east to the White Tower. Once within range of the wizardess' powers their steeds woul dbe magically propelled to Delrog's fortress- the old Dwarven stronghold of Zangubba.

Katrina paused and looked back. Behind her were her cousins Hannah, Martine and Laura. Beautiful Elven maidens all. Their fate should have been marriage to a high-ranking Elven noble and taking their place in the ruling of this land. Not this...

The fourth rider at the back was struggling to keep up, even this early. This was Eliza, a mere servant. She was only here as a replacement for Claudette, daughter of the Baron Redialle. Upon hearing that all the noble girls of the Royal Household were to be handed over to the orcs Claudette had been gripped by terror and leapt from the highest tower in the palace. Such cowardice disgraced her and would disgrace what was left of her family for a generation. Eliza was given Claudette's finest clothes and was to be sent in her place. Katirna regarded her with a sneer, a peasant in the clothes of a noble! How times had changed!

The quintet rode on. The ride was a grim one, carried out mostly in silence. The scenes of death and destruction that had accompanied Delrog's advance were everywhere. Corpses not just of Elven soldiers but civilians and even children. Some had clearly been tortured before the blessed relief of death had overtaken them.

"I wonder what sort of husband an orc will make?"

Katrina spun round in astonishment at Eliza s feckless comment.

Surely this was a jest? But no, the simple girl actually meant it!

"You seriously think we're on our way to Zangubba to be married?" gasped Martine, "By the Lords, you re stupid!"

"Leave it!" ordered Katrina, shooting a glare at Martine to silence her.

If Eliza didn't suspect what was going to be done to her and the others then perhaps that was for the best.

Katrina, though, knew exactly what kind of treatment they would receive.

As she had been fleeing from the field of that first bloody defeat Kaye with the long dark hair had been felled by a rock. Katrina hadn't noticed for a moment and ran on for a good few yards before realizing. When she had turned she saw a pair of orcs racing up to the sprawling Elf maiden. Kaye tried to raise her sword but it was knocked aside like a child's toy. Katrina expected see her friend receive a death-blow, so it was even more shocking what did happen; Working together the orcs first pulled off Kaye's breastplate then slapped her face to send her falling onto her back. Now shoving aside his comrade the bigger of the two leapt on top of the downed elf, pulled her slender legs apart and - despite his victims' jabbering protest - stuck his powerful hand up her skirt and ripped off her knickers.