Fitoz finally finished cursing at me, and he sent his two orc helpers off to fetch some armor.

“You three are each a head taller now! None of that armor I made will fit you! You should have told me you had eaten a heart, and I would have known to add more to your measurements.”

Fitoz tossed the armor that had been meant for me to Dirk.

“These will fit you or the other one. You two can decide who gets it.”

Vreek shook his head as he ran a sharpening stone along the edge of his curved sword. He was enjoying the chaos we had created. He had however been upset about getting kicked out of Brar’s tent for our private discussion. When Brar announced that Vreek and we would be moving one tent closer to the center of the ring, all of his anger disappeared.

Vreek tsked his tongue to get Fitoz’s attention.

“Just get something from the armory. You have my permission.”

Fitoz rolled his eyes at Vreek and pointed to the direction Snaglak and the other orc had run off.

“I already sent those two bumbling muscle heads to do just that.” He turned and looked at me and rolled his eyes again. “Brar already sent someone to tell me to make sure you three were outfitted and ready to head out by tomorrow. It looks like you were not just throwing Brar’s name around after all.”

I grinned at Fitoz and pointed at his butt.

“Crap your pants?”

Fitoz chuckled and nodded.

“Yes. It was a big load. I think a dwarf’s head popped out of my arse.”

Both Turk and Dirk chuckled. They had been trying to speak in the same colorful language they had heard from the goblins and orcs in camp. It was a dream come true for them to talk about elf tits and dwarf arses and other things.

I turned to Vreek and motioned back toward the main camp.

“All that is left to do then is get Xeld and head out. Are you ready?”

Vreek stood up and slid his sword into its scabbard, and smiled.

“Zolb, I have been waiting for days now to kill something. I would prefer not to wait any longer.”

I nodded and smiled back.

“Then prepare to head out. I have already decided where we will hunt today.”

After thirty minutes into our trek through the woods, Dirk caught up to me and leaned close.

“Are we heading to where I think?”

“I’m guessing you have figured it out by now?”

Looking at his face, I saw the fire burning in Dirk’s eyes. He had realized we were heading in the direction we had been the first time we ran into heroes in this world. He knew what I was after.

Revenge.

He nodded and fell back a few steps. Turk was ahead scouting and putting those new skills of his to use. I could see the small markings Turk had left on the trunks of the trees, keeping us moving in the right direction. I prayed to whatever god that sent us here that we would find people that I could take my anger out on.

For almost an hour we had traveled when I finally saw Turk up ahead, crouched down and waiting for us. My heart started to race. He was looking back at us and motioning for us to slow down and be quiet. Once we had caught up with him he led us to a few bushes about twenty yards ahead and pointed past them.

“Out there is a party of seven heroes. They have killed a few small animals and I believe two goblins who were dumb enough to wander out here. There are two casters, one healer, two archers, and two warriors. It looks like they are cooking and just enjoying lunch. Judging by how they are acting it would appear they are stronger than the first group we defeated.”

Vreek was shaking his head as he listened to Turk.

“You three should be able to kill all of them. If you can’t then you do not deserve your armor and a new tent.”

I glanced at Vreek and saw that he was being serious.

“I had never planned on needing your help. We will handle this. You and Xeld can carry back the spoils.”

Vreek rolled his eyes and shook his head but said nothing. It appeared he had never intended to help all along.

I looked at Xeld and pointed at him.

“Stay here. You will still get a share but we need to train you and outfit you better if you are to be of use.”

Xeld nodded and sat down where he was at. It appeared he was content to get stronger without any real risk. He was obviously smarter than I had given him credit for.

The three of us crawled till we reached the bushes and looked out at the small opening in the woods. A fifty-foot or so section was cleared and in the middle of it were the seven heroes. They were sitting around watching a pot boil and a low conversation could be heard coming from them. One warrior and one archer were facing a different direction to at least check for possible attacks.

“How fast can you get around to the other side,” I whispered to Dirk.

I saw him glance at the area and pause for a few seconds.

“Give me five minutes. What's the plan?”

I looked back at the group and studied them for a minute. I then laid out my plan.

Both of them nodded and moved back from the bushes so they could get into position.

The healer had to go down first. With how good of a shot Turk appeared to be at camp that should not be a problem. I was counting on him to take out the healer and one caster. Once he fired that first shot I would make myself known and draw their attention away from him. With my new shield, I could hopefully block any arrows they might fire at me while Turk focused on that last caster. Both archers would fall to Dirk as I rushed forward to try and get the warriors to engage me. That would leave them unprotected. I did not expect everything to work out perfectly but at least we knew our plan and how we wanted to focus on them.

Time was ticking by, and I knew this should start soon. As I waited for that first arrow to fly, I tried to ignore the insects that were crawling up my legs and biting my ankles. Who knew that this world had insects that wanted to make your life difficult too?

I wondered if Turk was ever going to do something, and a few heartbeats later, I heard a gurgle sound and saw an arrow jutting out of the chest of the healer.

Jumping up, I charged towards the group as another arrow struck the caster, closest to Turk's direction, in their shoulder. He had turned to look at the healer and barely avoided taking that arrow in his back. Cursing to myself about that bad luck, I ran faster.

“Over here, you piles of trash!”

One of the warriors jumped up and looked in my direction. He pulled out his sword and grabbed his shield, and ran to meet me. The other warrior raced to the healer and pulled something out of a pouch.

A potion! Elf tits! I did not know such a thing existed! Immediately I knew this group was stronger than Turk had surmised. There was no way this was going to go at all how we planned. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the hunters raise their bow towards me.

I dodged that arrow as I rolled to the right and came up in time to block the warrior who had reached me. My charge and his speed had allowed him to close the distance faster than I had expected. I kept my eyes focused on the warrior, but a fireball flying in the direction Turk had shot from caught my eye. The sword coming at me demanded my full attention and I focused on dealing with this warrior bearing down on me.

He was wearing padded armor and was at least a foot taller than me. His swings and movements were fast but they were not as fast as Vreek. If it wasn’t for the archer supporting him I could have easily taken him out. For now, I was having to spend too much time keeping him between me and that archer who took a shot whenever the warrior moved out of his way. They were skilled at this and worked well as a team. Maybe I was wrong, risking our first fight against such a large group.

He dashed forward and went low with his sword. Thankfully he was right-handed, and I was left-handed. It allowed me, when I blocked his sword down and across with my shield, to force his sword into the ground for a moment. Pinned there for a second was all I needed as I swung my sword and separated his hand from his arm. He screamed as his severed hand remained attached to the hilt, and he pulled back a squirting stump. Grinning, I drove myself into his now open body, using him for cover as I tried to get close to the archer.

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Glancing around his body, I saw that Dirk had engaged the other warrior. The second archer was jumping and twisting while reaching behind his back, trying to grab a dagger that was lodged in his shoulder blade. Thankfully it appeared he could not reach it.

I felt a blast impact the warrior I was pushing toward the archer. Both of us were knocked back the way I had come. Flying through the air for a second, the ground met my back when I hit the ground and I found myself underneath him. He screamed for a moment and his eyes were wide and in shock. A few seconds later, they rolled into the back of his head, and he became unconscious. Glancing around his side, I saw that his back had been torn wide open, ripped completely in half. The caster had hit his own party member with a spell! Rolling him off me, I discovered I no longer had my sword. I had lost my grip on it when we were hit.

I looked around, trying to find my weapon, when I noticed an arrow sticking out of the neck of the second magic user. His long blond hair was red from the neck down, and his robes were slightly scorched from whatever spell he had last cast. He was on his knees, not moving. Dead, I hoped.

Dwarf nuts!

An arrow sliced my cheek as it flew by the side of my head. I had almost taken that in the face! I saw the archer reaching for another arrow and I yanked my shield up to protect my face and hunkered down. I needed to find my sword.

An arrow buried itself into my shield and I glanced around. There just a few feet away was the sword of the warrior I disarmed, stuck into the ground. Diving for it I knocked his dismembered hand from the hilt and yanked it from the ground as I checked to see where the archer was. He had readied another arrow and was waiting for me to make my move. My shield provided little protection this close as the arrow he had just fired had pierced partway through the wood. If I blocked a shot in the wrong place, I would find that arrow in my arm or hand.

I risked a glance and saw he was moving to the right trying to get a better shot on me. I did not have time to wait as I had no clue how the other fights were going. Turk might be hurt and I could not see how Dirk was doing against the other warrior.

Risk versus reward. I would rather get hurt than let my boys get injured or worse. It was an easy choice.

I stood up and charged toward the archer. As soon as I moved, he fired an arrow that struck me in the leg and tore right through. I never realized a scream had escaped my lips as the arrow tore through my leg but I kept running toward him. I saw him cringe when his hope that I would be unable to move was gone. He dropped his bow and pulled out a short sword and prepared for my charge.

Anger flowed through me and even though my leg felt like it would give out at any moment, I was done letting people I cared about get hurt. I remembered how I felt when we had to run and leave Duncan and Peter to die. Their screams still haunted my dreams sometimes. I would never do that again.

He tried to dodge to my left since my right leg was shot but I gritted my teeth and drove off my right leg and rammed the shield at him. He used his arm and sword to stop my shield and I swung the sword at his right leg, chopping it off at the knee. I had swung so hard that it continued into the next leg, getting stuck in his bone.

As we tumbled to the ground, his screams filled my ears. I rolled over and climbed on top of him and pushed his head and shoulder to the ground and attacked his neck with my teeth. His screams were nothing more than gurgles as I tore his windpipe from his throat. Again and again, I bit down, tearing off that tender flesh and swallowing each bite. These sharp teeth were useful in many different ways.

Looking down, I saw that he was dead, so I turned to see what was going on around me. Dirk was breathing hard, holding his left arm, blood running from under his hand. The warrior he had been fighting was on the ground and not moving. A dagger was lodged in his neck.

Turk was running forward with his bow out. The other members of the party were all dead from arrows. It seemed that Turk was fine as he ran towards Dirk.

“Check them first!” I shouted.

Both boys looked at me and then nodded. Dirk bent down and ripped the dagger from the neck of the warrior. He then proceeded to walk up to each of the ones his brother had shot and stuck them each once in the back of the neck or their throat, depending on which side was facing up.

“You ok?” Turk asked.

I nodded at Turk and looked down at my leg. It was bleeding profusely since the arrow had gone through it. I ripped some fabric off of the archer I had just killed and handed it to Turk.

“Tie it tight. I don’t want to bleed to death before we get back to camp.”

“More loot for me if you do, though, right?” Turk said with a smile.

I chuckled and bopped him on the shoulder.

“Maybe. Or maybe Vreek will take it all for himself.”

“Where is Vreek?” Turk asked as he started tying the strip of cloth around my leg.

“GAHH! That is tight!”

Turk laughed and nodded.

“You told me to make it tight!”

I nodded and grimaced as he finished tying it off. I took the hand he offered as he helped me up and looked at what lay before us. Seven dead heroes, all well-equipped and maybe even having some potions.

“How bad is your arm?” called out Turk.

“It’s fine,” shouted Dirk. He paused for a moment and then smiled before continuing. “Some of us can’t sit back and just shoot people.”

“Hey! I had to dodge a fireball and some other weird spell. I would have shot more but had to move twice before taking them all down.”

“Forget it,” I interrupted their teasing. “Go check the bodies. See if there is a potion or something on that warrior or cleric. I think he was trying to heal him.”

Dirk went back to where the warrior was and held up a pouch.

“You ok?”

Turning around I saw Vreek and Xeld finally approaching. Xeld was looking at all of the dead heroes and appeared to be in shock. Vreek was grinning and slowly clapping his hands as he approached us.

“You did not want to help?” I asked.

“Zolb, had I helped you would have had to give me an equal share of everything. Since you did not need help it is all yours.”

“And if we had died?”

Vreek shrugged.

“It would have all been mine. Brar would have been upset but I would have told him you made me hold back until it was too late.”

“You are smarter than Brar gives you credit,” I replied, shaking my head and just smiling.

Vreek looked at me and made a strange face. I could only guess that he was trying to decide if I was joking or if Brar had actually commented on his intelligence. He kept walking and seemed content to ignore my last statement. He stopped at the warrior who was missing half of his back and pulled out a knife.

“Your leg will be a problem. You should eat a heart now.”

I glanced at Vreek and noticed that he was about to cut out the man's heart from his back.

“How will that help?”

Vreek didn’t reply and used his knife to separate the man's ribs from his spine. It only took him a few moments and he pulled the spine out. He lifted it up and offered it to me.

“You want to suck on this?”

I shook my head and he shrugged before turning it upside down and putting his lips on the end of the cord that had been closest to the skull. He started sucking and slurping it like a kid trying to get the last of some ice cream out of a cone. It almost made my stomach roll but I figured it must be something of a delicacy I did not know about yet.

After a few last sucks on the cord he tossed it off onto the ground and set back to cutting out the warrior's heart.

“Eat this now. I’ll chop you up a few pieces of fresh meat as well. You need to recover.”

Vreek walked to me and deposited the heart in my hand and I watched him move over to Dirk.

“Careful with that. There could be something that explodes in there.”

Dirk glanced at the pouch and carefully set it down.

“How do we know which potion does what?”

Vreek shrugged and laughed.

“I have no idea. That is not a talent of mine. I always give them to Brar and let him deal with them.”

Vreek motioned to Dirk to move his hand and inspected his arm and gash.

“Zolb, give him a small piece of that heart. This will leave a nice scar. Something a female would enjoy hearing about how he got it while he was getting dressed.”

“After I got dressed?” Dirk’s eyes were wide and he was obviously interested in hearing what Vreek might say.

“They probably would not ask about it until after you were done. She might ask before but if she does be careful. She might be looking for a mate then.”

Dirk looked at me and I shook my head. I had no clue how the orc or goblin women interacted. Only a few ever were in the main camp and none of them would have talked to any of us when we first arrived.

“Why am I eating a heart now?” I asked. “Does it provide healing too?”

Vreek pointed at Xeld.

“Xeld cut up that body and get those haunches in some good size pieces. These two need to eat and we need to move fast. This is not close to our camp at all.”

I was getting upset.

“Vreek! Stop ignoring my question. Does the heart heal also?”

Vreek looked at me and groaned.

“Yes, you greenie. If you would do what I say without asking so many questions, this will go easier. Now eat your part of that heart and give Dirk some so we can get on with what we need to do. We need to get out of here and you two will be of no help if you do not do it now!”

Frustrated, I bit into that heart and lost myself again in that amazing taste. Each bite was sweet and I could feel my body pulsing inside. The pain in my leg was almost gone and I had barely eaten half of the heart. After a few more bites, only a small chunk remained. I struggled to stop eating it. Everything inside me wanted to hork that last piece down.

“Catch.”

Tossing the piece to Dirk he snatched it out of the air and swallowed it in two bites. Within a few seconds, he was moving his arm around.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore!”

Vreek looked at me and pointed at Dirk.

“Now if we are done asking me for an answer about everything, eat the meat Xeld is cutting and then get to work on these bodies. We need to be out of here soon. More will come and you three are not prepared for that!”

I felt foolish. Vreek had let me stumble into this fight like a fool. He knew why I was here and that I acted on anger and a need for vengeance. He had allowed me to almost fail, and now I was second-guessing everything he was doing to help us.

“Thank you.”

Vreek grimaced and shook his head at me.

“Don’t apologize and don’t thank me. Just do what I say.”

I walked over to Xeld and noticed my leg was noticeably better already. No pain and no more blood. There was so much more I needed to learn about what a heart could do. Taking the slab of meat Xeld had cut off I started chewing. Warm, fresh, soft. Those bites reminded me of a fresh pretzel for some reason. The salt from the blood, the small bit of fat around the edges. They all worked together to make each bite something I would gladly eat each day.

Vreek started giving orders to the others and after finishing the last few bites I joined in with the looting.