Adam found himself thankful that Chief Ironblood had spent so much time pointing out the various defense-oriented details of the human town. There wasn’t time for scouting in Greenbough’s plan, and nobody wanted to make more noise than they had to. Not while they watched Yav risk his life with a full suit of armor strapped to his body like a huge, awkward necklace.

The armor was so big and loud that it had taken Yav the better part of the day to get anywhere near the town. It had been decided that the plan had the best chance of working if the knights saw Yav right outside their town, near enough to warrant a knee-jerk reaction and far enough to give Yav a good head start.

By the time he managed to creep all the way to the village, it was almost noon. As the sun finally hit its highest point, they heard the beginnings of a commotion. Yav had finally made his play. Adam found himself mouthing a silent sort of prayer for Yav; he had grown to like the quiet orc. He was dependable, an expert with the spear, and there was a very good chance he wouldn’t survive the day.

Greenbough’s breathing started to grow heavy. It was hard to say whether that was out of fear for Yav, excitement at the battle to come, or some combination of the two. When he saw a handful of knights charge out of the town on horses, he grimaced. Yav’s chances of survival were a lot lower if the knights were mounted. The horses’ fear of orcs would keep the knights from attacking Yav on horseback, but they could corner Yav. The knights could keep their distance and run him down until he was tired, then cut him to pieces.

The knights galloped off, and after several moments the clamor in the town started to die down. Greenbough lifted his hand and gave the signal to attack.

Adam knew in advance that this raid was different from the Ironblood raid. There were no thoughts of bounties or of using the humans as foils for training. This was a knockdown, kill-or-be-killed fight. What little etiquette had existed between the orcs and their enemies had been wiped out by the battle last week. The rules were different now. He was different now.

They were now running full tilt towards the village, with Adam, Max, and Dax to the left of Greenbough, who left a small gap between Adam and his group as they ran. The bells in the town started tolling, and Adam watched as half the town ran for the protection of buildings. The other half mustered with surprising quickness, joining with the portion of the human army that was already there to rush at the orcs.

The first few human soldiers they encountered were simple to deal with. They had rushed faster than the other soldiers, and Adam rewarded their dedication with well-timed swipes of his shield that threw them to the left, and Dax dispatched the now-unstable humans with casual pokes of his spear.

Four or five humans fell this way before the orcs met with the first massed group. But even a organized group of ten or fifteen humans wasn’t much an obstacle to them anymore. Adam and Max simply plowed through and outdistanced the group. Slightly behind them, Greenbough got through with one massive swipe of his warclub that sent the rest of the group scattering like splinters of a shattered sword.

And then the knight came. Apparently not all the knights had chased Yav, and one such example came charging out with five soldiers behind him. The soldiers looked larger and better armed than the usual human warrior. Adam caught Max’s eye and gestured towards the knight, and Max immediately split off to stop him.

It’s hard to leave him alone to face the knight, but if we don’t, none of us will survive this.

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The knight collided with Max and couldn't find a way past Max's sturdy defenses. He barked orders at his men, who broke off to intercept Adam and Max. This proved to be a mistake. Even with the advantage of numbers, five humans were nearly nothing against Adam’s full-sprint charge. He immediately bowled over three of them and went to work cracking their grounded skulls with the edge of his shield. By the time he had finished with his three, Dax had dispatched the other two. It was all over in a matter of seconds.

Adam glanced back at Max. It was an even fight. The knight couldn't get past Max's defenses and kept dancing out of Max's counters. Adam was confident Max could keep himself safe for at least a few minutes. He looked around for Greenbough. If they could join back up, it would make getting through the town a good deal easier.

Greenbough had somehow managed to get tied up by human troops. He was dominating the soldiers, but the humans made valiant efforts to rush against the ancient orcs. Adam could also see a sort of wild rage in Greenbough's face. Greenbough appeared to have forgotten the mission entirely in favor of taking revenge on the humans.

Adam and Dax would continue advancing by themselves. It was their best shot at success. He didn’t know what suicidal madness had overtaken Greenbough, but he wouldn’t let it compromise what they were trying to do.

They had a good guess for where the town was storing the majority of the grain: the church. The church and its stone outbuildings were the most defensible, and Yav and Dax had seen a number of the wagons pull up to that area during their scouting run yesterday. The only problem was that they had to pass through almost the entire town to get to it.

When Adam and Max reached the main road, it was bustling with both soldiers and women, children and ordinary village tradesmen trying to find cover. The latter they ignored, but the former wouldn’t allow that and pestered Adam and Dax like gnats. They weren’t organized, and didn’t present much of a threat. They attacked in groups of no more than two or three and were easily dealt with. Making their way forward, Adam and Dax left a trail of broken humans behind them.

But the closer they came to the church, the more intense the opposition became. A group of three or four soldiers became five or six, and then ten or fifteen. Even though Adam and Dax were much stronger than before, they started finding it difficult to advance. They slammed, stabbed, and sliced to keep moving forward.

And then the pressure of soldiers stopped.

The soldiers suddenly withdrew, gathering in a few rows of behind another knight. It was a knight that Adam and Dax were familiar with, the one-armed knight.

Both of them had seen him fight several times. The one-armed knight had been formidable when he was healthy. But his fighting abilities had been lost with the arm. Although he still had a full mail of armor, any warrior orc could handle him now.

But, backed by 20 soldiers, he was still a serious threat. He and the soldiers were the last thing in their way to the church. So, Adam and Dax paused to catch their breath while staring at the human army.

At the same time, the humans had just watched Adam and Dax rip through an entire town. They eyed the orcs back without making any move either.

For a few moments, peace fell over the human town. Then, the knight did something Adam suspected even the other humans didn’t expect, he dropped to his knees and started praying.

If they were cautious before, now Adam and Max were just shocked. They looked on as the knight, with eyes closed, prayed reverently to his human gods. Orcs had some sense of religion - they’d offer prayers to their ancestors before big battles. They'd pray for strength, courage, and honor. There were some who swore by the prayers. But even the most reverent of orcs would never consider stopping in the middle of a fight to pray.

Adam was the first to snap out of it. He shoved his shoulder into Max, and nodded forward at the troops. They both sprang forward into a charge.

Adam hoped the knight would continue praying until they got there, but it wasn’t destined to be. He suddenly opened his eyes and stood. The knight wasn’t wearing a helmet, and Adam could see this was actually a fairly young human. A thought flashed across Adam's mind, wondering how well he had weathered his recent string of defeats at Adam and the chief’s hands.

Then, there was no time for idle thoughts. The knight drew his sword, yelled, and began his counter-charge. The real fight had begun.