Barry looked at his surroundings, noticing that the person to his left was killed by an arrow. He was hit two times in the chest and none in the head. Barry was too tired to react to the corpse. He then looked back in front of him.

The carnage was brutal. Thousands of Federation soldiers were dead. The enemy stopped advancing, meaning that they’d rather retreat for now than let more and more die.

It was a good idea for the enemy since the corpses piled up too much, resulting in a makeshift hill and barrier.

Barry was lucky though as he only had a few amounts of ammunition left.

“Men! Good Job! We’ve stalled the enemy for now! Now, let’s move it, we need the rest.” The captain of Barry’s company said. “Company! Follow!”

As the captain moved, the whole company followed. And it seemed that they weren’t the only ones who were withdrawing as the other companies did the same, retreating to another building.

Barry’s company went back to the headquarters and went to the mess hall, where the captain told them to rest and eat.

The mess hall was nothing special, just a big room filled with long wooden tables and wooden chairs.

“Remember! Do not eat too much! We need to ration them since the scouts said that we’ve been cut off.” The captain said. He then exited the area and went upstairs where the chain of command was supposed to stay.

Now left to their own devices, the company went and sat down on the chairs that were there, finally taking a break from the fighting. They were silent though as they did not have the feeling to celebrate because of their exhaustion and fallen comrades many of whom were friends.

A few went up and got some of the rations to bring back to the table.

Barry was sitting with Kyle to his right and someone from the company to his left. In front of him, was a tall and muscly person in steel armor. His face couldn’t be seen with the helmet he had on. His presence was disturbing to many like Barry. He was already nervous just by his stare. Barry could hear mutters from near him.

“Oh shit, is that the guy a member of the Dread Hammers?” One of the soldiers whispered.

“Yeah, more importantly, he’s the guy they all call ‘Medusa’ since they all say that many were petrified by his stare…not literally turned to stone but metaphorically.” Another whispered.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard that he annihilated a whole regiment of Black Orks.” Another decided to jump into the conversation.

“What the fuck—you must be joking Jake.”

“No, no joke, Rory. I heard it from someone from the same brigade as him.”

“I get that he could destroy regiments, but Black Orks?! That’s bullshit.”

Black Orks, are one of the kinds of Orks in the world. Black Orks are just Green Orks but black. They have the same average height, and same average muscle tone, but what makes Black Orks deadly were their brutality. Black Orks are deadly in raids, especially at night, since their skin blends in with the dark environment.

But strengths have their weaknesses and the Black Orks’ weakness? Sunlight. Black Orks were nocturnal because of their non-present resistance to sunlight.

“Whatever Rory, I’m just saying what the other said to me.” Jake proceeded to eat his portion of the rations.

As soon as the conversation stopped, William arrived at the table with rations. He sat down near Medusa and proceeded to give the rations to the others. The rations they had were bread, simple and plain bread.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Barry grabbed one of them and ate it. He looked at William who was just silent, not looking to his right where Medusa was silently sitting at. Kyle was acting the same as Barry, eyes avoiding Medusa and so did the other person that was beside Barry.

They were very awkward as Medusa just looked at their turned heads. Medusa’s eyes wandered around the table but his head never turned. About a second later, he stood up. This caused the others to pause what they were doing. He headed towards the exit, ignoring the staring eyes of the others. Once out of the mess hall, the soldiers inside all let out a sigh.

“Oh my god, thank goodness he’s gone. He’s scary as shit.”

“Yeah, it’s weird that he was just there, sitting and looking somewhere. Very weird and creepy.”

The muttering erupted into a descent of incoherent madness.

Barry ignored the countless mutterings as he ate his rations.

“So…how’re you guys.” William started, trying to start a conversation at the awkward table.

“Tired.” Barry mumbled.

“Same…” Kyle muttered as he rest his head on the table, finishing his rations.

“How about you?” William asked the person that was near Barry’s left side. The person had long black bangs that covered his eyes. He seemed to be looking at his rations as it wasn’t even being eaten by him. He was startled when he noticed all eyes were on him.

“…uh…” The person said, words as silent as the air. He was looking down at his bread. William proceeded to ask again.

“So, how are you?” William asked.

“Uhm…I’m……okay…” His words were barely audible and he was squirming uncomfortably. The table was silent as no one seemed to say a word.

As Barry was just minding his own business, Kyle spoke up.

“Hey Bar, you have something on your cheek.” Kyle said as he looked at the blood-stained cheek. Barry knew what he was talking about.

“Did it dry up?” Barry asked, looking at him while pointing a finger at his right cheek. Kyle nodded silently. “Crap. That’s going to be hard to remove.”

“Where’d you even get it? I don’t see you bleeding anywhere else.” Kyle asked curiously.

“Someone’s musket backfired and killed them.” Barry said, recalling the sight of the corpse, sending chills down his spine. “Anyway, can we move on from the topic?”

“Okay…” Kyle muttered, dropping the topic.

----------------------------------------

In the Federation’s camp, they were preparing for another assault. Orks and Goblins, as well as Kobolds, were making siege equipment, Ogres were helping out with building it. The troops were stationed far away, out of the cannon's range.

The camp surrounded the entire fortress with some Orks on the lookout. There were thousands of tents and foxholes present.

In an open field, goblin shamans were seen, heads drooped down.

“May da big baed moon take der shoulshs end let dem resht wid der anceshtorshs.” One of the shamans was reading a book. The others were facing him as he did. “Dey was good sholdiershs.”

One of the goblin shamans then started chanting.

“Go do lo maru en sti po lud.” The goblin chanted while the others hummed harmoniously. “Go do lo sanu te ri man.”

Another then got out a small sack, opened it, and revealed some ashes. He then took a pinch of it and spread it on the ground.

They were doing a ritual for the fallen warriors.

“Resht in peashe.” The shaman with the book muttered before closing the book and leaving. The other shamans proceeded to leave as the other continued to spread the ashes on the ground. The shamans went back to the camp to rest.

Inside the camp, there was one tent that was bigger and wider than the rest. That was the general’s quarters, where the General of the army was staying at.

Inside were two people, one was a short goblin and the other was an Ork.

The inside was normal looking. A table with a portable drawer at its side. A pillow with some blankets on the ground. A lantern to lighten up the place. And an armor stand with nothing on it.

The general was named Gargok, and he was a Green Ork. Gargok had a menacing-looking helmet that covered his face, and that was it regarding armor. For his torso and limbs, it was just some plain fur clothing and did nothing to hide his muscles.

Gargok was currently talking to the goblin.

“Foot, are the spiders ready?” Gargok said with a throaty and deep voice yet even though it was like that, it was quite calming and gentle.

“Yesh sha.” The goblin, Foot, replied. Foot was just like any other goblin. “The Shpida Krawlas ar redy for da ashault.”

“Good. Let’s just hope this assault won’t be costly.” Gargok muttered bluntly before sighing in a mild-mannered way. “The Black Raiders Clan would’ve been useful if they didn’t refuse to join the Federation years ago.”

“I-I’ve hard dat negotiationshs ar being held rid now fur dem tu join dow.” Foot informed Gargok.

“Yes, but at what cost? Our relationship with the dwarves? It would be disastrous if those Humans were to be supported by the Dwarves of the Bandroz mountain range.” Gargok stated. “It’s best if they’d stay neutral in this three-way fight.”

From the outside, the sun was beginning to set, with a quarter of it already out of sight. With it, another assault by the Federation was approaching. About 3 thousand spiders, all about the size of a large table, were ordered to attack the fortress.