Adam was awake when the bells started ringing. Not out of bed, but awake. He jolted out from his bedroll, grabbed his shield, and winced at the light as he parted the flaps of his hut.
It was Sunday, which was no surprise. Humans liked to skirmish on Sundays. Adam wasn’t sure why. Free time, maybe. The chief said that it was a day of rest for them, Sam said that it was their human churches and gods that whipped them into a lather.
The bells never had a sense of hurry to them, each beat rang to an unchanging rhythm. It used to be a sound of rest for Adam, but that had changed in the last several months. Now it signaled the impending battle from the humans.
Adam trotted over to the watchtower. The rest of the camp, about 40 orcs, had already gathered around to learn about the human force. The camp’s chief and the ten or so warrior orcs that made up the camp’s effective fighting force were already at the top.
Adam’s squad noted his arrival and fell in behind him. Dax towered not only over his brother Max, but almost all the orcs present. He was tall and thin as the spears he preferred to arm himself with. Max was the opposite, a thick tree-stump build and low center of gravity.
Adam’s archer sidled up to him and nudged Adam with his elbow, “It looks like a bigger force than usual today - should be some good fodder for your notes.”
Sam was neither tall nor stout. Like Luke, the fifth member of the team, he had no defining features. Unlike Luke, he had no problem speaking - where Luke watched and waited, Sam could almost always find a comment of some kind.
All the orc warriors looked tired to Adam, the chief included. Being the camp’s only Ancient Orc was wearing on him.
“There’s two of them,” the chief looked into the distance and spoke without looking back.
The Chief was referring to knights. Most attacks were made by peasants armed with knives or makeshift spears. Those humans were easily discouraged - they would charge, make some fearful attacks, but slink away at the first sign of real blood. But some days, knights clad in silver armor and tempered swords would appear. That meant a real battle, one where the blood spilled from the veins of an orc.
Even if they didn’t participate, the knights had some sort of power over the other humans and could push them to advance. It was then that mistakes would be made, and the ever-dwindling number of fighting orcs would drop even further.
“What’s that over there?” Sam was pointing at something beyond the treeline. Like always, his tone was trembling.
“I don’t know,” the chief sighed, “I’ve been at this village for too long.”
The group at the watchtower fell silent. It was true, Adam knew. A new group should have replaced them months ago. Money at an outpost village was great, and that usually brought reinforcements eager for bounties. But only the living could spend gold, and fewer and fewer of the camp remained to take advantage of their earnings.
From the corner of his eye, Adam caught a glint in the forest. Something was reflecting the sunlight in the trees. He looked and saw the chief gazing in the same direction.
“Do you think there are more knights?”
“No. It must have been something else,” the chief grunted.
“They could be preparing an ambush.”
“They would have no reason for it. With more knights, they could avoid bounties while still overwhelming us. There is no advantage for them to hide their strength.”
Adam opened his mouth again, then stilled his desire to disagree. In camp, the chief’s word was law. It was not his place to disagree. He turned and walked to his lookout station. If things went poorly, he would call for the gates to be opened to allow the injured orcs to retreat. If the battle went very poorly, he would call the retreat.
“Not today, Adam.” The chief said. “Assemble your team. It is time you blooded.”
Adam suppressed his surprise. He and his team of trainees should have been called to fight months ago. He had begun to think they would never have the chance to prove themselves.
“Should we kill?”
“No. Not if they make a price for their captured.”
Bounties, then. Adam shook off his fear. Killing was easier, but the difficulty of taking enemies alive would make for a better proof for him and his warriors. He signaled his team and they gathered. He could feel the tension radiating from everyone.
The group once again fell silent and looked down below. The bells were still ringing and each ring brought new figures from the trees. They crowded around the two silver knights as if they were some sort of protective charm.
No new orc appeared at the top of the watchtower. Those beneath the tower were support - the old, and the women. Even with the addition of Adam and his four, Highvale’s fighting forces were stretched thin.
“Let’s go down,” the chief’s voice was heavy.
One by one, they picked up their weapons. The chief heaved his battleaxe. As the strongest of the group, he always fought at the front, engaging the strongest knight so the others could wreak havoc among the weaker humans.
Adam’s team gathered around their weapons and began to arm themselves. Sam was the first to talk, as was usually the case.
“Why would he pick today for our blood-proving? There have been plenty of easy days lately, we could have had one of those!”
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“It’s because he expects things from Adam,” Dax said, with his brother Max nodding in assent beside him. “Adam is always asking questions and by now, he probably tricked the chief into thinking we’ve actually been learning something.”
Luke stepped up. Adam had never known him to speak before at least a few seconds of mulling over the correct phrasing, as if getting the words wrong would come with some danger to his life. It was the same personality trait that made Adam trust him.
“The chief expects much from Adam because he has much to give. Just follow his lead. Adam, you will do fine. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t trust you.”
Reassured, Adam armed himself with his shield. Sam strung his bow. Dax grasped his spear, and his brother Max used a shield like Adam. Luke held his sword, trying and failing not to tremble.
“Well, at least it’s not raining today,” Adam said in an attempt to joke away some of the tension. The group said nothing.
“If we capture one of those knights, the ransom will be huge,” Adam tried again. No one responded, but the group’s footsteps seemed a bit lighter.
“And maybe we can ask for two goats this time. I’ve been craving some meat.” It had been months since anyone had meat. Sparks came into Sam’s eyes. He was both the hungriest and most gullible of anyone in the group.
“We’re orcs. We live, we fight, and we feast,” Adam chanted the ancient saying that the chief always used.
“We live, we fight, and we feast,” the chief roared in response.
“We live, we fight, and we feast!” Glad to have a response, Adam’s voice started to take energy. The others glanced at Adam and the chief, and began chanting under their breath.
—
At the gate, the chief turned around. “Adam, make sure to keep up with me. Max and Luke, cover Sam and watch for a signal from Adam before you advance. Dax, if you get too far from me, retreat to Max.”
The group nodded. The chief turned back and started to push on the left door of the gate. His giant palms pressed against the wood grain as he grunted. One step at a time, he opened the left door. It had been years since both doors had opened.
Outside, the small army of humans had already gathered. The two silver knights were at the front, without horses. That was bad, Adam thought. If the knights were mounted, they tended to treat the fights as sport. Seeing both knights on foot meant that they intended to fight.
Behind the knights were around thirty men. Most of them were familiar faces that the orcs had captured in the past. Adam was pleased to see the one they called skeleton, a thin man who insisted on using a club he could barely swing. Present also was fat-face, who ran at the first sign of loss but who lacked the breath to evade capture. If all went well, both were low-risk bounties to take.
As Adam and the rest of the group stepped out of the village, the chief opened negotiations.
“Is today’s fighting for blood, or will you pay for your captured?”
“We will pay. I offer 200 gold for each of our captured you spare. How does that sound to you?”
“What about captured knights?”
The knight laughed.
“I don’t think it will come up, but if it pleases you, we can double the bounty.”
The chief looked back at his group again. The group met his eyes. He looked at Adam. Adam blinked back.
Turning around, the chief’s voice boomed across the field, “250 gold, and 500 for a captured knight.”
“Agreed,” the knight snapped his visor down.
With the negotiations complete, the orcs started walking forward. They split into two groups, with the chief, Adam, Max and Luke taking the front and Dax and Sam covering the rear. The knights drew their swords as the lesser humans fanned out behind them.
As the distance between the two narrowed to a stone’s throw, Max planted his shield. The chief grunted with approval. Behind him, Dax leveled his spear, pointy end forward, and started to jog. Adam waited two seconds and then also ran towards the action.
The knights made the mistake of focusing too much on the much larger and stronger chief, and Dax and Adam’s charge caught them by surprise. One knight instinctively leaped to the side while the other braced. Most of the other humans reacted more slowly and were still standing behind the knights.
Orcs were stronger than humans, but Adam had watched enough combat to know the braced shield of a knight was still troublesome.
“Left!” Adam shouted and accelerated. He was now ahead of even Dax’s spear. Behind him, Dax grunted and followed.
Realizing that he was the target, the dodging knight gave a low shout and threw one leg back. He flung his sword down and put both hands behind his shield. In seconds, Adam and Dax were on the knight. Dax had sprinted the last few steps, and his coarse breath was right on Adam’s neck. Grinning, the two of them barreled into the knight.
Dax’s spear caught the bottom half of the knight’s shield, tilting it forward. Adam’s shield, with both Adam and Dax’s weight behind it, slammed right into the exposed edge. The knight’s shield rammed downwards, cutting at his own legs, and threw the knight’s head right into Adam’s arms.
Adam was careful not to slam into the knight’s head. Humans broke before steel would and 500 gold was at stake. Instead, he punched the helmet, then kicked the now kneeling knight’s chest. The knight went limp - even if he was still awake, the combined weight of two orcs had clearly removed him from the fight.
Seeing this, Dax threw his spear at the army to his right and bent to pick up the fallen knight. While the humans scrambled in fear of another projectile, Adam picked up the knight’s sword and set himself to cover Dax’s retreat.
By now, the other knight had recovered and started barking at the men behind him. Dax started running back towards the chief while Adam readied his shield in the direction of the rest of the humans.
This was the most dangerous part of their tactic. Adam had to fend off a dozen men with nothing but a sword and shield until the chief advanced to his position.
Max, Luke and Sam will catch up soon, Adam thought. I just have to hold on until then.
Shifting the shield to his left hand, Adam raised his new sword. The knight shifted into his view and screamed as he aimed a downward slash at Adam’s head. Catching the blow with his shield, Adam took a step back. At this point, offense was a mistake. The knight’s armor made an instant kill unlikely, and the other humans would quickly pounce on the opening.
Instead, Adam kept his sword raised and shoved his shield forward, pushing the knight back. The other humans paused. Humans had some weird battle dynamic where they needed affirmation from the rest of their group to find courage. They always waited for someone among the group to move first before all moving in.
Orcs, on the other hand, simply charged first and thought later.
Adam backed up as much as he could, batting away the knight and whatever brave peasants chose to harry him. It worked, too, until he saw something that ruined his plan.
The humans had planned***.*** They had carved off some of their men as a cutting group to harass Luke, Sam, and Max. Luke and Max couldn’t move without abandoning Sam.
Taking a breath, Adam let out a roar. Most orcs charged right after their battle roar. Knowing this, the humans instinctively took a step back. That would buy him time, and every breath of time mattered.
With a curse, the second knight charged at Adam again. This time, the knight’s stance emphasized stability and promised a slam of the shield. That was tricky - if Adam was knocked off balanced, it was going to be death by a thousand cuts, but if he held his ground, then the pause would leave an opening for the rest of the humans to completely surround him.
He held his ground. It was not necessarily fatal to get surrounded if he kept his wits about him, but where orcs held the advantage in individual strength, humans thrived with numbers. As the knight neared him, Adam braced.
But the knight’s impact never came. A few steps from Adam, he stopped, as did the other humans behind him. Adam saw the knight’s eyes refocus behind him in fear, and knew.
The chief was there.