Gula POV

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"And this will be the time that we go down in history as the Orcs who won the war for our species," The orc boss said to thunderous applause. She threw up her hands in triumph as her long black hair swayed and the axe on her back glinted in the remaining sunlight

"Pff" I scolded under my breath, as I looked down over the black leather armor that tightly clung to my breasts and hips. It was nearing the end of the day, in the middle of the forest that I was enduring this pompous speech. My position was in the middle of a crowd of my own kind whooping and cheering her speech on the dirt floor between two boulders. Some were standing on boulders while others stayed on the ground level looking up to the leader who made sure to be on the highest boulder looking down on everyone.

"But what's different than the last time we did this?" I called, putting my green hands to my mouth in a cone. A lot of faces turned to scowl at me but it wasn't anything worse than what I had endured since my youngest years. Surprisingly, the orc commander just smiled, her red irises showed some pleasure against the rest of her black eyes.

"Yes, we have had a few bad runs of it. But I sent for a decent crossbow to be delivered from the Frojan gang you're so fond of, shamed,' She emphasized the last word, to the sneers of those around me but I kept my eyes locked on her. " That will allow you to shoot the man opening the gate. Since several other scouts have confirmed that it will stay open when the guard lets it go, you can then rush in to provide the distraction we need" She finished.

I felt the blood drain from the green skin on my face.

"But that-"

"Enough! Get going you lot!" She bellowed over me., even going as far as to spit at me. Everyone started moving out after that. I saw some faces in the crowd that told me they knew as well as I did what a terrible plan this was. If I missed the guard, if the guards along the wall reacted too quickly, or if the commander decided not to commit too many troops to put down a single orc and a dozen Frojan everything would fall apart.

Conveniently, it would all be on my head if things went badly. Which was fine, because hey, whoever gave a fuck about me in the first place?

We all moved through the forest with a sense of dread. I had helped in several attempts to break the back of this stone beast, but the fruits of those efforts were riddled with arrows as they rotted among the stumps leading up to the considerable walls.

Along the way, my boys joined up from an entrance to an underground river. The big frogs walked slow but they could do light hops that kept pace with the rest of us. Moving through the forest, it was near night time we came upon the biggest thorn in our green sides aside from the main castle. The grey stone wall was smooth from the work of the mages who formed it. The faint stains of blood on the wall also told of the sacrifices previous attempts had cost us.

Without a word, the others left us. Our group had stayed behind among the trees. I was leaning against one tree out of view of the bandits as did all of the other Frojan. One of the Frojan, a big green guy in a blue robe spoke to me as we all peered through the dimming light up towards the jutting mass of stone. His voice had a deep vibration and rumble similar to the mating calls of his less intelligent, smaller cousins.

"What is this? Do they really expect us to take this place down tonight or pull enough away for them to get up the walls?" He asked in a scandalized tone.

I put my hands to my face in silent agony. The longer hair on the right side of my face was squeezed against my face for a bit before nodding and releasing my hands.

"Nah. We were never going to take this fort. The higher-ups back in the swamps got a big dick over the idea of getting this extra piece on the map without even considering the losses we've sustained elsewhere" I said solemnly. The frogs of red, green, and teal surrounding me all nodded in the darkness of the night at that.

The war for the north had been going disastrously. The long distances for the raids had lengthened our supply lines and brought our soldiers to near breaking. The orcs and Frojan had spent decades in the swamps and enjoying the benefits of being on home territory. But I guess some higher-ups were getting impatient at our kinds lack of apparent progress, so the long slog of pushing northward was launched years ago.

The thing is, none of the generals would have to slog through that mess. It was the sods on the bottom of the pole who would die and bleed to expand the lines of territory on their maps. But it seemed like someone making the decisions had finally noticed what was going on and decided to start focusing on where we should be: the southern regions.

Focusing on taking down this fort was a good start. If it had been done properly. Sadly it also seems whoever made that decision wasn't willing to pull resources from the north to do it. Making the whole thing a pointless waste of lives and resources.

"You know what's gonna happen right?" Baloo, the green Frojan with the blue robe, said in a deflated tone. He looked out over towards the fortress while making sure to have his green hide blended in with the moss-covered tree as he peered over the side of it.

"Yep," I responded in as quiet and neutral a tone as I could manage.

"This will fail, just like all the other raids did. But this time they will have someone to blame. They didn't want us for our skill or ability, they wanted someone who could take the blame when this operation fails. Because more than skilled, experienced, or well adapted to the battlefield, we are above all else, expendable," I looked around the Frojan, who all looked at me with a knowing gaze. These Frojan were all outcasts who offended the wrong person back in the swamps, stole the wrong goods, or slept with the wrong wife.

The bitches' crime made me expendable as well. These blokes had helped me through some tough spots, as I had helped them. Over time we had just melded together through the course of raids, battles and ambushes.

I cleared my throat before I continued.

"The commander knows we don't have the troops or the means to take this place. It's fucked. But at least this way she can say her desperate unworkable plan would have succeeded if we hadn't screwed it up." I said. The scowl on my face wouldn't be contained as I looked over towards the fort.

"Hey, maybe we can win. It's not like we have no chance at all" One of the younger Frojan to the side said.

"Bah! And maybe I'm secretly Borba. Keep your eyes open and your mouths shut," I commanded as we all settled in.

It took a while but finally, a laborer came out. When the gate was pulled up the winch, I took a deep breath and whipped the crossbow up. The bolt flew through the air and took the guard right in the throat. His armor only extended up to his shoulders, not that the leather armor would have done him much good anyway.

I had that ever-present pang as he fell over clutching at his throat, but then the other guards blew their horns and the adrenaline pushed aside my doubts to do what needed to be done. We all dashed towards the wall as the laborer ran back to safety, dropping the buckets of sewage as he sprinted. Some of the frojan battered the men on the wall with balls of water as they tried to get to the wench, pushing them over the side of the wall. Once we got past the stone arch where the palisade still sat immobile we fought with the 8 or 9 guards who came up to resist us.

When I pulled out my sword, a horn blew off to the left side.

"idiots," I growled to myself as I ran one man through the heart when as his leftward swing with a morningstar missed. The others were already running towards the wall before enough troops had been drawn to this side of the camp. Not that the plan was good to start with.

After killing the guards with a few minutes of fighting, it was when we were making our way towards the halls that a wagon filled with oil barrels caught on fire and careened down the hill on the right side of the camp. Flaming barrels rolled through the field setting the halls on fire as well as some of the passing men who were now screaming in agony as their skin melted off. All I could see of the side where the main assault was taking place was a wall of smoke. I had Baloo and two others behind my back as we pushed towards the entrance but as the other frojan fought on the left side of the field with some of the bandits, a group of men came who came out of the smoke coughing up their lungs got a second wind and charged us.

A sharp crack rang out through the air but I focused on the mob approaching us.

Brandishing swords, spears, and war hammers, they pushed us further back. I saw one of the red Frojan on the farther side take a spear to the leg and when he toppled over and out of the main formation, one of the men in cheap leather armor rushed forward and crushed his skull with a maul. The smell of blood and smoke filled my lungs as I parried a sword swing aimed at my neck. Going on the offense wasn't an option as more men came out of the smoke and embers.

Baloo crushed the throat of a spearman two tried to get in a jab at us with a solid water ball, but there were more men coming out of the smoke now. Another sharp crack rang out but in the confusing chaos I couldn't get a bead on where the strange sound was coming from. Turning back towards the wall of smoke and the row of now burning buildings I saw some of the distinctive grey cloaks of the mages coming out of the two bunker houses near the cave entrance. All of the water mages were running about trying to put out the flames while the mages of the other elements came towards us or to defend against the attack on the far wall.

The ones who approached us looked like wraiths that had their backs glowing with the flames from the burning buildings as their fronts were covered in the shadow of the night. They sauntered forward, every inch of their beings exuding power and confidence.

A group of about 7 mages approached the Frojans who had made it almost up to the bunker on the left side. One blond woman with blue eyes used a spear of flame to skewer another of the frog-men through the gut, leaving a smoldering hole through his red chest. The brown-haired mage to her left dealt a quick blow to the skull with a rock the size of a head, finishing him off. The two mages did a hand clap to celebrate their victory over a foe who had been looking the other way.

"Eddk" I said sadly as I recognized the Frojan who had died. But as the men pressed down on us, three mages came over to put us down. As our group of three were slowly edging backward I went to stab one of the men in the leg but his friend to the right swung a mace at me, knocking the sword clean out of my hand.

My sword was flung a good 10 feet behind me but fortunately, I got away with only some scrapes on my right hand. Unfortunately, the 5 men got in closer before the laugh of one of the mages rang out.

"Man, Garren must not have given you green skins much to work with upstairs to try a plan this stupid" He mocked, his rusty, wild red beard stood out among his grey cloak and leather armor. His blue eyes showed clear contempt towards us while I could only grasp my right hand in pain.

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"Now, be a good-" His taunt but the sharp whistles of blades moving through the air and a sudden chorus of fresh agony behind him stopped his speech. A lot of the water mages and several of the halls had been diced and cut with what looked like a whirlwind of stone blades that disappeared by the time he turned around. Between the smoke and the distance of several dozen yards I couldn't see the source.

"What the FUCK?!" The mage screamed. Then some flames started moving in his hands as he whistled towards the group of mages toying with the Frojan. All but two of them turned towards him.

"Get over there and see what happened. Once I'm done cooking this-" Another sharp crack rang out and this time I saw what the noise actually did. The left side of his forehead suddenly had a hole in it that trickled blood and brain matter before he collapsed in a heap laying backward. Seeing as how the flash of whatever pierced his skull seemed like it didn't come from the far side of the camp, I turned around to see where it had come from.

The night time was like a dark cloak over everything, with not even a ray of moonlight to provide us any sort of lighting beyond the barest illumination of stars that peeked out between the clouds. That, combined with the flickering light of the fire making it hard to distinguish anything in that formless expanse of blackness, I didn't really see anything until I saw... it. And when I did, I had a moment where my brain refused what my eyes were telling it.

Melting from the darkness of the walls' shade, with nothing but the soft orange glow to light up its features, was some demon, plant hybrid. The skull was like that of deer, with only a mass of vines and a shifting underdress of grass for a body. But it apparently had legs underneath those vines because it ran at a speed greater than any deer or jungle cat I had ever seen. Each stomp into the soil would kick up dirt behind it and the demon closed the several dozen yards long gap between the wall and the group of Frojan to the left in what seemed like mere blinks of an eye. The only sound that I could register was the wind generated by the tremendous speed of this nightmare.

'A Pandego.' was the word that finally came to me. Pandegos were a mythical plant monster, the mutated mix of a demon and a dryad. It was said to stalk the swamps for prey and it was the favored monster for scaring wayward children who wouldn't keep out of the patches of tall grass or stay in the house after dark. It wasn't quite like the stories though, its horns were bone instead of black wood and the body was a mess of vines instead of the bones of its victims.

As it came from their right side, it summoned and launched a column of stone into the air towards the mages. That finally snapped them out of their stupor, but as they all jumped out of the way, three of the mages got pushed off to the right side by themselves. Dodge rolling towards the monster, they tried to summon various fire and what I assumed were air effects but the demon just launched a hail of stone shards at them as they landed on the ground. The stones quickly vanished but the mages left behind resembled some odd bits of people that might have enough spare parts laying around to form one whole person.

The other four mages howled in rage and charged forwards. Showing exceptional reaction times, the demon just jumped straight up. It slipped out of the glow of the fires and into the sky, briefly hiding in the dark spaces between the stars and clouds for the briefest of moments before coming back down. And this time a faint whistle could be heard as it brought a wide slab of stone back down in its hands of... leather? The slab of grey stone careened through the air before it landed among the mages and reduced the blond fire mage to a paste with a sickening crunch.

The other mages gave a cry of rage but the monster just summoned a wave of flame to burn the other two behind its initial victim. The brown-haired mage to the monsters left let out a cry of outrage, but the Frojan also snapped out of their stupor and 4 of them promptly stabbed her in the back with spears, which she uselessly clutched at in disbelief before collapsing.

Then the thing turned its head towards our group as the stone slab came apart as it cracked and broke into nothingness and it was only then that any of us moved. We instinctively moved backward, like smaller animals making way for the alpha predator. The men and two mages ran away in a panic, but the beast closed the gap with the speed and grace of a bird. When it got close to our group, several lines of flames, condensed into a solid line, sprang up from the antlers of the beast that gave a harsh pounding sound. The lines of flame moved back and forth, cutting through the men like a blade through water. The vibrations in the air from that magic cut out as the odd flames died out.

The deer skull turned towards us, and for the briefest moment, I worried that we were next. But then it spoke and despite the cries of carnage everywhere, the voice was so all-consuming that it blotted out everything else, including my fear.

"I have business here. Would any of you happen to know where they keep prisoners slated for execution?" it asked. Another sharp crack went out and I saw in the distance one of the water mages who had been working on a burning building collapse on the dirt writhing in pain.

My hands trembled but I still stepped forward, looking into the black nothingness of the skull's eye holes for the briefest second before averting my eyes.

"Master, such ones are typically held in the cave between the two bunkers. At least that is what we have gathered from various captured bandits who have lived here, great one." I said, miraculously keeping the tremor out of my voice. I dared not look in its eyes again so I kept my gaze on my black boots.

"Hmm. Very well." It said before stomping off towards the cave. It took a brief moment but I made my decision and dashed to get my sword. As I made my way towards the demon I whistled for the Frojan to follow him.

Baloo came up to me as I jogged to keep up with the vine-demon.

"Are you crazy?!" Baloo demanded as he and the rest of the Frojan did the one-legged hops that allowed them to keep up with regular jogging.

"It... it isn't hostile to us and I'd rather be fighting with it against the mages than by ourselves," I said but as we got closer to him a water mage who had been putting out a fire in one of the tents intercepted it with a dash and water blade in hand as another group of mages came out of the relatively unharmed bunker to the right side of the cave entrance. Two air mages came out of the second-story window while 3 more mages came out of the door of the front entrance.

The demons leather hands did some hand motions and the earth beneath the water mages feet shifted, throwing her off balance. As the two air mages started throwing daggers down at the mass of vines, the motions of the creature barely missed a beat. Dashing forward, it used a flying water blade to cut off the mages hand that held the water blade, and then it grabbed the water mage by her left shoulder as she was disoriented and screaming with pain as it jumped upward with its new cargo. The demon turned and used her as a shield, her body taking four daggers in the gut and shoulders before he threw her in the air towards one of the air mages.

The two women slammed into each other and promptly landed near the group of Frojan, who both let out a sharp cry as the frog-men ran them through with spears. I saw it reach into the mass of vines and throw out a block of stone the size of a fist towards the mages coming out of the building entrance. As the two skyward objects met I saw some movement in the mass of vines as the air mage pulled out a sword from her back.

She did some air magic that caused her to shoot forward towards the beast. As she came close t the beast raised its right hand and her sword suddenly jerked back even as it remained in her grip and from the vines two...arms jutted out. They looked similar to arms but the blades jutting out of them said they weren't actually flesh. The mage who had dashed forward didn't have enough time to adjust course and impaled herself on the two blades, one between the eyes and one in the heart, her hand slacked and dropped the sword she had been carrying tip first into the grass. The whistling of air drew my gaze to the right as a series of stone blades shot out of the stone block a few feet behind the mages before it crumbled and disappeared.

The three mages were cut up pretty badly but one of them had been an earth mage who summoned a dirt shield that blocked him and his compatriots. But this proved to be futile in the end as they were now exposed to the water blades Baloo and the other Frojan launched at them. As the mages were cut to a mince, the demon looked on with a satisfied nod as he threw the mage's body off to the left. It then continued its march around the back end of the wooden bunker, making sure to send a jet of flame from its right hand over the side of the wall as it walked.

"Besides, what exactly could we do if he decided to attack us?" I asked Baloo. His eyes looked away into the carnage of the camp before turning back to me with a nod.

We meekly followed behind it, but there was no way the commander would see us cowering behind this demon. The now burning bunker had been the only place that wasn't lit up and I could only just barely make out the tops of the wall peering out over the smoke on the opposite side. The two bunkers on the sides of the cave went into the hillside so the demon did another exaggerated jump onto the roof as we went around the side.

The smoke was so thick as everyone ran around in a panic that we managed to slip between the bunkers unnoticed. It also helped that the troops were all focused on the burning halls or the assault on the walls. When we came up to the mass of vines I noticed that it was standing in front of the cave entrance.

"Dammit," It suddenly cursed. Getting closer, I saw the deer head was looking at the wooden boards above the entrance, but I could see nothing wrong with it.

I stepped forward to the demons left and was curiously looking at the boards attached to the roof. I tried to give a quick look to my right but the thing was looking at me and noticed my gaze. It held it for a second before it started moving its hands back and forth, I assume to make a spell.

"The boards on the ceiling have air magic enchantments to suck in the surrounding air. But now it's sucking all the ash and smoke into the underground base and if I don't hurry the ventilation system is going to kill everyone inside. Including someone I very much need to talk to." It said casually before it started walking forwards.

Vent-er-nation? I chewed on the unfamiliar word before I continued my walk behind the beast.

Looking more closely at the boards now, I saw the wisps of smoke and bits of black ash getting sucked into the cave entrance as we got closer. A twisting ball of air formed above the demons' head and slammed into the boards. Then the sucking motion into the cave stopped. The beast put a leather hand out and a ball of water formed in its palm, putting our a constant stream of mist that coiled and moved around the air as it slipped around the form of the demon is an expanding circle.

It put up a hand for us to stay behind. I nodded as we got into defensive positions behind the bunker or other upturned carts. The amount of time that passed was hard to tell. Everything was a burning heap of chaos and we were well hidden on a side of the camp no one was paying attention to. But eventually, a cry of fury and rage rang out from the cave.

After considering that any traps in the cave had probably been knocked out by the demons mist, I ran into the cave and heard the Frojan coming along with me. We hadn't gotten any orders on what to do after the distraction, not that we were supposed to live past that anyway. So following around this beast and making sure it stayed alive was probably the best course of action if we wanted to defy expectations.

We moved through the smoke into the cave while two other Frojan stayed behind to keep watch on both sides of the cave entrance. Its walls were rough dark dirt with deep cuts showing its creation was not done with the soft graceful measures of water. As the constant application of mist had thoroughly doused the flaming chairs and wooden support beams in the hall, the air took on a constant stream of sizzles and pops. Pushing forward to the end of the hall, it split into two empty door frames on either side.

Peering past the door frame on the right I saw a huge storeroom with large stacks of grain bags, bundles of arrows, and wood planks all lit up in flames from the embers that had been sucked in. I pulled back and went into the left side room. As I passed through that doorway, the first thing I smelled was burnt flesh. To the left was a charred corpse laying on the ground and a heavy barrel that had spilled oil all over the floor of the room and also dripped past the rail of a staircase into the lower rooms with its entrance on the far side of the room.

Judging from his positions, as well as the several scattered torches laying around the floor, it seems he was replacing the torches when the embers caught the barrel. The second thing I noticed was the beast pacing back and forth past the cells that lined the right side of the wall while the wind moving around its left shoulder suggested some kind of air spell flowing into the basement. Its manner and general movements spoke of extreme agitation as it looked inside the cells. Looking past the walking bundle of vines, the cells that weren't empty all had a charred corpse in them.

"Dead. They're all dead." The Pandego said, seemingly more to itself than us.

"But how? The fire shouldn't have been intense enough to burn them this badly." I said in a voice soaked in as much meekness and respect as I could drench it in.

"Poor planning, that's how. The lower room was a storage space for the oils. When the barrel up here caught fire and spilled its flaming contents down below the staircase, it caught all of the barrels down there on fire. That proceeded to cook everything in the cave, like a meal forgotten in the oven." It gave a deep sigh before lowering its head.

"All right, get out. I've stopped the flames and mitigated the heat with several air barriers but it's so hot down there the whole place will flare back up once I break the spell." It said as it made its way out the doorway. I saw the faint whisps of wind stop and suddenly the heat surged as did more of the smoke pouring out of the staircase.

We all quickly shuffled out of the room and into the hallway. Unfortunately, past the end of the tunnel was a line of archers to the left and 5 mages to the right.