A white lightning bolt struck the mounted orc in his side. He roared in pain as the raptor beneath him thrashed from the electricity, yet neither went down. Struggling to pacify the raptor, the orc was thrown clear off into the ditch by the road.

The other four orcs immediately took notice, unsheathed their axes, and charged with guttural roars. One of them threw an axe in my direction. I tried to dodge, but it was too fast and impacted my shield with little effect.

I expected them to slow down due to the ineffective attack, though they didn't even seem to notice. I launched another Bolt, and it was his turn to try and dodge, but he was just too massive, and it hit him in the shoulder.

As the remaining three almost reached me, adrenaline kicked in, making my heart race. They were sprinting now, clearly wanting to tackle me to the ground. I created a mini black hole in their path.

While it wasn't powerful enough to lift them off the ground, it pulled them into a tighter formation, causing them to stumble into each other.

Now close, two lightning bolts found their way into their chests before they could get up. Unfortunately, this gave the last orc the time needed to tackle me. Pinned under his torso, I took a direct hit to the face. My shield protected me, yet it would still leave a mark.

I tried to fire another bolt, but he grabbed my hands and started pulling in different directions.

For a moment, I panicked, unsure if the shield would protect me from this kind of attack. Fortunately, Alira appeared behind him and slashed at his neck. I expected blood to spray everywhere, however the sword barely cut into his neck, indicating some type of physical resistance.

Still, the sword did leave a gash, and his hands went to protect its neck. With my hands free, a lightning bolt hit him in the chest, and he collapsed.

"Took you long enough," I said, trying to get the orc off my feet. I saw the first injured orc throwing an axe at Alira. "Watch out," I managed to say. She sidestepped the projectile and turned to face the orc. Despite his charred ribs, he moved like nothing was bothering him.

The orc lunged first, swinging his axe in a wide arc. Alira sidestepped, avoiding the hit. She responded with a swift slash aimed at his leg, except the sword didn't even scratch him.

He slashed again, but his injuries slowed him. Changing tactics, Alira slashed at his injured side, still he parried with the haft of his axe and immediately pushed her back with his massive strength.

Without hesitation, he growled and lunged again, this time with a powerful overhand strike. She rolled left, dodging the blow, and threw a knife at his ribs just after landing. It managed to hit the previous wound, and blood visibly flowed on his charred black skin.

Roaring with even more force, he charged, aiming to tackle her. She twisted away at the last moment, pushing her sword into his ribs as momentum carried him past her, crashing into the ground.

Roaring with even more force, he charged, aiming to tackle her. She twisted away at the last moment, pushing her sword into his ribs as momentum carried him past her, but she couldn't dodge all the way, and they both crashed to the ground.

I finally got to my feet and sprinted towards them. The orc still had some fight left in him, trying to prop himself up with one hand, yet he couldn’t lift himself. Alira tried to use a knife, though it had no effect on his skin.

Realizing a lightning bolt might do more harm than good, I cast a wind blast at both of them just as he managed to raise himself with his other arm. The orc stumbled onto his side, allowing Alira to free herself and get up. He tried again to stand but collapsed, and I didn't see any movement from his chest.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She checked her shoulder by trying to rotate it and stopped, grimacing in pain. "It only hurts when I move it," she said, trying to hide the pain.

Palpating her shoulder, it looked like a bone was out of place. "I think it's dislocated."

"And that means?" she looked at me with clear annoyance.

I guessed pain makes people cranky. "One of the bones in the shoulder joint is out of place," I explained. "I think."

"Let's see about the prisoner first," she said, moving to the wagon.

The door was wooden with a metal frame and a lock on it. Realizing a lightning bolt might cause the wood to splinter, I took an axe one of the orcs had dropped and eventually managed to destroy the lock. Opening the door, we found the elf inside, chained by her leg to the wall.

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She looked at us, still afraid but with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "We mean you no harm," I said, stopping at the door.

With few options, she skipped the trust issues surprisingly fast. "If you mean that, help me get this chain off." She said.

She looked relatively healthy, the only visible exception being the metal shackle tightly bound to her ankle, piercing her skin and causing it to bleed. Removing it forcefully risked maiming her leg.

"Did they have a key for it?" I asked, hoping some orc might have it.

She shook her head. "I don't think so."

Alira kneeled near the shackles and started picking the lock with some tools she had. It took her a minute or two, but she managed to get the shackle off. The elf got to her feet and slowly exited the wagon, limping.

"We should get off the road," she said.

Not a bad idea, given our injuries and the need to put some distance between us and potential threats. "South is that way," I said, pointing to a hilly area with tall grasses.

"Why would we go south? There is nothing there," the elf said.

Alira chuckled despite the pain. "That's the point."

Maybe changing the topic would be better. I raised my hand to her and said, "My name is Tiberius, this is Alira."

She took my hand with a quizzical look, clearly unaware of the significance, and just held it. "Isla," she said.

As we awkwardly held hands, I added, "We shake hands when we meet."

"Ah..." she immediately shook my hand and then released it.

Very slowly, we put some distance between us and the ambush site.Due to her injured ankle, I helped Isla walk. As we reached the first hill, and we were about the loose sight of the ambush site, I turned to them.

"Let's pause here. We can see the ambush site and be alert if we're discovered. Besides, we aren't making good progress with all these injuries."

Alira started to sit, grimacing in pain as she made contact with the ground. "You're right."

"You're not a healer by any chance are you?" I said to Isla.

She looked indignant. "Why would I torment myself walking with a broken ankle if I had healing spells?"

"Fine, fine..." I said as she sat down too.

"Alira, didn't you have some ointment with you when we first met?" That could be useful right about now.

She also looked annoyed "To quote Miss Sunshine here, I would have used it already if I had it."

"Then I guess we try what little I know about healing" they both looked at me with reserved optimism.

"First thing is applying cold to the wound to prevent swelling." I crouched at Isla's ankle and cast the first part of the ice spear spell, taking moisture from the air and freezing it above her skin.

With her ankle covered in ice flakes, I said, "Keep the ice there; it will melt before it can do any harm."

Turning to Alira, I repeated the procedure for her. "When it's numb enough, we should try to reset your shoulder."

Alira looked unconvinced. "Don't you have to be a healer for that? I never heard you mention being a healer in your world."

What was I supposed to say that I had seen enough medical dramas to know how to set a shoulder, "It's a relative simple maneuver, but it will hurt" I said.

"What exactly do you have to do to reset it?"

The movies made it look easy, so I tried to sound confident. "You just lie down, and I pull on your arm at a ninety-degree angle from your torso."

She looked at me more closely, "Well, you sound pretty confident."

A smile escaped my lips, and she immediately retorted, "You have done this before, right?"

I tried to hold back any more smiles. "Well... technically no." She tried to interrupt me, nevertheless I talked over her. "But I have seen it done dozens of times." 'On video,' I added in my thoughts.

"So while we wait for the ice to numb her shoulder, Isla, how did you end up with the orcs?" hoping it was a good neutral question to start.

She looked lost in thoughts for a moment but recovered quickly, "My mission was to keep watch on the orcs and report their movement to my superiors."

"There is an elf enclave on this continent?" Alira sounded genuinely surprised.

She shook her head, "No, I was sent here through a portal"

"When you say portal" my enthusiasm rising in my chest, "what exactly do you mean?"

"I'm not a mage, so my knowledge is limited, it's like a circle you walk through it, and you arrive at the destination"

"That's amazing, if I could get a portal working, it would change everything."

Isla looked at me dismissively, "It took five mages to open a portal for me, it is impossible for a single mage to do it."

Certainly, covering longer distances might demand more power, yet for shorter distances, simply believing that it was achievable meant mastering the spell was possible.

"I think my shoulder is numb enough" Alira said while lying down on the grass.

Positioning myself to have a good grip, I grabbed her arm with both my hands, "Are you ready" I said.

"Not really" she seemed to grit her teeth.

"Remember this is going to hurt us both... but not in the same way" she turned her head to say something, except I used the distraction and pulled at her arm.

"Damn...that hurt" she yelled.

"Now don't move the arm too much, we need to build a sling."

While I was taking some extra clothes we had to make into a sling, Alira sat up while trying not to move her shoulder.

"Did you discover anything about the orcs before you were captured?" Alira asked while stopping herself from moving the shoulder.

She seemed to weigh the options, "Yes, if I'm captured again you must inform your leaders." that didn't sound ominous at all.

Seeing us waiting, she spoke. "The orcs are being helped by the gods to advance past their knowledge."

Great, just great, now even if I managed to complete my quest the world would still be left with gigantic problems.

Isla looked at both of us with curiosity, "You don't seem that surprised."

"That the gods are assholes? Not really" I said

"How exactly are the orcs being helped?" Alira asked.

"The gods brought someone from another world that managed to unite the orc clans for the first time in centuries."

"Then war is inevitable" she looked at the horizon as if imagining the future "Countless lives will be lost and if the gods are not there we might lose this time"

Seeing Alira look so fragile, I reached and hugged her.

"It's going to be ok, remember what I told you about the quest, if we succeed the orcs will also lose their support from the gods."

Isla looked confused, "What's a quest and how exactly can you stop the orcs support from their god?"

"I'm from another world as well, and another God brought me here to either prevent or most likely even the odds."