It was early in the morning as they made breakfast.  The air was damp and a mist blew through the camp as they merrily ate.  The hunt this time was far better than the hunts the last three months.  Finished with breakfast, they cleaned and packed the camp down and began the five hours long march back to the village.  It was barely past midday by the time they arrived at the familiar sight of their village.

The sight of the burning of the village’s outer perimeter and the closed gates to the inner village made the group dumbfounded.  Some bodies of villagers littered the streets near the outer part of the village.  Outside they saw two hundred or so odd monsters surrounding the inner village walls.  Paden was utterly frightened by the sight of his home.  He was worried about Leanna and the girls and looked at Axel wondering if this was real.

Axel’s face was grim.  The wooden walls were still standing but that would not last long.  Their village was slightly large with five hundred villagers but their guards numbered less than fifty.  Against the two hundred lower demons outside, that would not be enough.  Even the weaker goblins could kill grown men and give a regular soldier trouble.  He even spotted some orcs amongst their ranks. 

“Axel…” muttered Paden weakly.

“I know…” spoke Axel quietly.  He looked at Gerard and Eber who had determined expressions on their faces as they nodded.   “Martin, I’ll need you to go to army barracks near Brent.  Warn them, Demon scouts showed up.  Eber, Gerard split into two groups of eight men.  Target the orcs first.  Aim for center near the upper right where their heart is located.  Six arrows is usually enough to put them down even if they don’t die.”

“What about me?” Paden asked anxiously. 

“You’re going with Martin,” replied Axel evenly.

“What?!  You expect me to run and do nothing?!”  Paden was incensed.  He would rather fight with Axel to defend what family he had, then suffer a life without them.

Axel looked at Eber and Gerard helplessly.  They both shrugged their shoulders and Eber gave him a grin.  He knew the boy wouldn’t want to leave and would insist on joining them.  Axel looked at Paden who gave him a determined look of defiance daring him to try to make him leave.  Seeing this, Axel could do nothing but frown and sigh in resignation.

“Sorry ‘bout this Martin, looks like you’re goin alone” Axel told him with a wry grin.  “Paden, you’re with me.  Do exactly as I say.  If I tell you to run you run, no debate.”

Paden wanted to argue but the look on Axel’s face made him stop.  He slowly nodded.

The men split into three groups.  Axel and his would set up a trap in a section of the village in preparation for Eber and Gerard to lure some of the demons into.  Axel and Paden along with four other men snuck into the outer perimeter of the village and began moving items to make a bottle neck while they made some quick pitfall traps and spread some oil covered wood and cloth at the back and into some pitfall traps.  Paden was on lookout to make sure no demon’s spotted them before it was time.

The demons were still being held up by the ironwood walls surrounding the inner village and village lord’s manor.  The village guards along with other able bodied men had defended the walls with arrows and had killed fifty demons.  The orcs had still not entered the fray but should they do, it would be a matter of time until either the wall or gates fell.

The traps were ready.  Eber and Gerard’s men began to operate.  They began targeting two orcs and eight arrows impaled into the two orcs each, toppling them over as they roared in pain.  The surrounding goblins heard the roars and looked around.  Eight more arrows impaled two more orcs before they spotted the two groups. 

The goblins screeched in anger and the four foot, greyish green monsters charged Eber and Gerard’s groups.  Their groups fired sixteen arrows and downed six goblins as they repeatedly retreated and turned to shoot the goblin front lines.  They managed to down fifteen or so goblins by the time they reached the trap area.

The goblins were in hot pursuit aided by three orcs behind their lines.  They screeched and roared in absolute anger.  The orcs were feeling utterly indignant of being fought by such lowly creatures.  They had passed the rear where Axel and his group placed the flammable materials.  They noticed the odd smell but thought nothing of it and continued their charge.  When the last orc crossed a flaming arrow set their rear on fire as other arrows set fire to the side buildings sealing them in a box with the only option to charge forward.

The goblins at the front fell into pit traps full of thatch and some oil where a flaming arrow met them setting them on fire.  Pitfall after pitfall stalled the goblins as Gerard’s, Axel’s and Eber’s groups fired volley after volley of arrows.  The demon group was made up of thirty of their numbers when they chased Eber and Gerard and by the time they reached Axel and the others more than two thirds their numbers were gone.

Half the men dropped their bows and took a defensive line with their hunting spears as the people at the rear shot towards the orcs hoping to down them before they reached the front.  Goblins were impaled as they approached, hindered by the chokepoint Axel and his men created.  The orcs roared angrily as arrow after arrow penetrated their chest.  One orc toppled over as froth gathered at its mouth.  The second orc had slowed down under the pressure of arrows hitting it.  The goblin numbers had been reduced to less than five as they charged with the last orc into the hunting party.

The orc gave and angry roar as it smashed into the front line of spears with its giant club and the screams of the men rang out into the air.  Axel and Eber charged the orc as Gerard killed two goblins swiftly.  A goblin approached Paden who looked the weakest of the bunch with an evil grin.  Paden threw his bow to the side as he readied his spear, his heart racing in its chest.  The goblin charged while screeching and attacked with its rusty sword.  Paden made use of his reach and thrusted out at the goblin, missing.

In a panic he backed up and lost his footing as he fell backwards.  Still holding his spear he closed his eyes in fright.  He expected to feel the goblin cutting him in two but the situation never came.  He opened his eyes to see the goblin impaled in the skull by an arrow.  He was utterly confused by the situation but thankful he was alive.  He looked to see Axel and Eber wounded, but alive, standing over the corpse of the orc.

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A horn resounded from behind them and they all looked to see a group of twenty soldiers on horseback.  The lead man had Martin on his back and Martin was waving and shouting at them.  A flood of relief hit Axel as he understood Martin met a patrol group and managed to convince them to come to their village’s aid. 

The numbers at the wall had dwindled with the intervention of Axel and his group along with the actions of the village people.  The two hundred strong demons had been cut by half when the soldiers showed up.  With their powerful bows they launched arrow after arrow downing the remaining orcs sending their numbers into utter chaos.  Goblins fled in all sorts of directions as archers from both the walls and soldiers continued to mince their retreating numbers.

“It’s over,” Paden sighed in relief as he fell to his butt.  He looked at the fallen orc.  They were burly creatures of about seven to eight feet with muscular arms and legs but fat bodies.  Their fat heads and pig snouts repulsed him and he could not stand to look at it any longer.

“Not quite,” spoke Axel gravely, as the looks of Eber and Gerard turned dark.  Paden looked at him in confusion.  “Those were merely scouts.  The regularly army is made up completely of orcs.  Only the scout legions of the demons bother with the weak goblins amongst its ranks.  They will be back.”

“What will we do?” Paden asked fearfully.  He had never thought the demons would make it so far east.  Their kingdom had held off the demons the last hundred years after the fall of the Brent kingdom which bordered the Demon Empire at that time.

Axel remained silent as he contemplated what to do next.  Scouts usually preceded the actual Demon army by two months on average as their armies took a long time to move.  Orcs were a gluttonous race and keeping them fed and satisfied was a daunting task for any middle or high demon commander.

“Eber, Gerard, things do not look good.  We may need to think about leaving soon,” he told his friends evenly. 

They nodded gravely.  They had fought with Axel and knew the chances of a small village like theirs against scouts much less the regular army.  It was luck the walls still stood.  Even if they were made of iron wood, the orcs could have easily broken them down, the flood of goblins would have overwhelmed the soldiers and the regular people would not have stood a chance. 

The soldiers walked up to Axel and the hunters on their horses.  Martin jumped down and the hunters gave him applause for returning with aid so quickly.  The lead commander of the soldiers looked at the sight of the hunters and the burning homes with the bodies of demons littering the streets in pleasant surprise.  Twenty men had killed three orcs and nearly two dozen goblins showed they had an experienced leader amongst them. 

The commander silently chanted some words and rain fell from the sky and began to put out the burning homes.  Looks of appreciation and thanks from the hunters were directed to the man who had used magic to help them.  It would have taken hours them to put it out themselves.  The fire was an act of desperation.  Like this they can quickly repair any damage. 

Paden watched the whole thing in wonder and confusion.  He had a strange hot feeling in his chest when the man had casted the spell.  Mages were highly respected in any kingdom as they had held the line and prevented the encroachment of demon kind for over a millennium.  In particular, battlemages, who fight on the front lines of battle, are highly regarded as national heroes.

“Much appreciated,” thanked Axel humbly.

“No problem.  I’ll have some of my men go around and patrol for any hiding demons while putting out the fires.  Mind sparing some men to help?” asked the commander.

Some of the single hunters volunteered while Axel and the other hunters went to the wall to find their families.  The gates opened slowly as the guards welcomed the commander and the returning hunters.  Some people were sent to fetch the meat they left in the forest, accompanied by some guards.  Axel left with Paden, Eber and Gerard to Gerard’s brothers as their families would stay in his brother’s store during times like these.

A beautiful woman full of tears hugged Axel and Paden as they entered the shop.  Axel’s wife, Leanna, was a full figured woman with red hair and green eyes.  She had an ample bosom that would always suffocate Paden when she hugged him, though he would never complain about something so enviable.  Axel’s four girls came and hugged him and Axel as the families of Gerard and Eber surrounded the two with relieved expressions.

The night was a cause for celebration.  Even though several villagers been lost, the fact they survived was cause enough for a celebration.  The meat from the hunt was retrieved.  The hunters and the lord contributed the meat to feed the people and soldiers in a night time celebration having survived the demon attack.

Some of the hunters had wounds from the orc’s charge but managed to show up to the celebration.  They only needed one working hand to drink and eat after all.  Their wives dotted on them and fed them like children and they soaked up the attention.  The bachelors amongst the hunters were getting interested glances from the single women of the village.  Even Paden was enjoying his time in the limelight.

The hunters and Paden were hailed as heroes alongside the soldiers.  Once again, Paden was approached by Lily whom he struggled to maintain a conversation with.  The adults and other youths looked on with light grins at the scene of their ‘shy hero’.  The fires danced all night as the people ate and drank their worries away.  Tomorrow they would morn and bury the dead, knowing the demon army was likely approaching but for tonight they had not a care in the world.  They had survived.