A battlecry that echoed through the entire cavern erupted from the attackers as they flew by our hiding spot. The new attackers were nearly double the numbers of the camp below. The camp was slow to respond and the fighting was soon taking place right in the middle of the orc camp.

Their low wall had been useless since none of the camps orcs had thought to block the entrance before sleeping, the enemy group was able to charge right in and start attacking them as they left the caves. I spotted one of the orcs in the attacking band broke off from the fight heading for the closed door of the prisoner cave, that’s when we had to enter the fray.

Standing we ran along the cavern wall down the slope towards the camp. Once I got my sling up to speed I loosed one of the smaller stones at the orc trying to reach the prisoners cell. The stone exploded with a loud boom and the blackened body of the dead orc fell face down just before the door with a smoking crater in it's back.

The explosion was loud enough to halt the entire battle until my partner shouted with exertion. Her muscles bulged as she heaved one of the larger stones right into the midst of the fighting orc bands. She wasn't fast enough taking cover and was hit by chunks of rocks and dead orc bits as she dove to the side behind a stalagmite.

She stood, looking at me in surprise at the destruction the large stone had caused. I blushed as I watched her top turn to ash and fall away, sliding off her breasts like a pair of tiny waterfalls. Not even phased by being topless once again she grinned at me before grabbing another, slightly smaller stone and hurled it towards the cave the goblins lived in. They hadn’t joined the fight yet and were slowly starting to climb out of their cave.

This time she was able to jump behind a stalagmite in time to avoid the debris that blasted out from where the stone had landed. Though it did block the cave a little, it wasn't enough to completely close off the exit and after a moment goblins began coming out once again, albeit slower than before.

I had no time to catch my breath either, launching stones from my sling as fast as possible. The initial explosion had killed many of the orcs that had come to raid the camp but there were still plenty left to deal with. Careful not to hit my companion I sent my exploding stones at the new orcs or goblins that were charging in towards the fight. I let her deal with the ones who had decided we were a larger threat and charged our position.

I almost cheered when I hit an orc in the back of his head, taking it right off of it's shoulders. Either I was very lucky or my sling skills were definitely improving. Just as I was reaching into my sack for another exploding stone I heard a noise to my right, spinning quickly I was just in time to see a body crash to the ground next to me.

Startled by the impact and blood splattering across my side I flinched, dropping my rock in the process. Lunging forward again I caught it just inches above the ground. With a sigh of relief at having successfully not blown myself up once again I went to investigate. The flattened lump had been a human male before falling to his death, he had apparently been climbing on the cavern wall above me and lost his grip.

Looking up and squinting into the darkness above I could just make out more movement. There was at least one more person climbing down from up near the ceiling of the cave and I was not about to take any more chances. I moved further away from the cavern wall just in case the other one slipped. I launched another stone into a pair of orcs coming up on my companions left. I smiled as the explosion knocked both combatants down and only one got back up.

The girl was very good with a sword, I could see her darting in and out, slashing at her opponents with the short sword before jumping back to avoid their attacks. She seemed to be doing even more damage than I was with my stones. I had to step up my stone slinging speed if I wanted to keep up. I glanced over my shoulder towards the other human trying to sneak up on us from behind. Deciding that I still had time I continued to launch more stones into a pack of goblins. My assault killed several and scattered the rest, an orc cutting one down as it ran past screaming while clutching its mutilated hand.

Having run out of the smaller stones I grabbed one of the larger ones, all thoughts of heaving it at the enemy fled once I hefted the rock and stood, there was no way I could throw this. Standing there I contemplated scribing more small stones, but that would take far too long.

A thought came to me and for a moment I stood there looking stupid while the battle raged around me. I dug out my scribe and made one tiny adjustment to the large stone in my hand. Running towards the battle I threw the stone, it bounced a few times and rolled into the middle of the battle. I shouted duck to my companion just before jumping behind a stalagmite myself. I grabbed another stone from the pile we had made and began making the edits to another large stone.

I’ll admit it, when the grimy hand came out of nowhere and grabbed my forearm I squealed like a little girl. I had just made the finishing touches on another rolling ball of doom when the man grabbed my arm. He yanked the scribe from my grip making me drop the stone as well. Without a second thought, I threw myself down the hill, allowing the gentle slope to take me further from the top. I shouted get down to my partner as loud as I could mid roll.

The explosion that ensued rocked the entire cavern and caused many stalactites to fall, crashing to the ground all around. My roll finally came to a stop when I collided with the corpse of an orc. I quickly looked around, hoping that my companion had heard my warning otherwise she might have gotten a back full of stone shards.

Surveying the battlefield I couldn’t see anyone, not an orc, goblin or human still standing. I sighed in relief a second later when I saw my companion jump back to her feet and begin to stab the downed enemies as fast as she possibly could. Apparently she was the only one to listen when I shouted.

The blast had obliterated the large stalagmite that my scribed stones had been piled up against and sent hundreds of rocks raining down on the battle injuring or killing any who were standing when it went off. The man had either gotten away with my scribe or he was in pieces across the cavern. Either way I'd have to wait till after the battle to go looking for it.

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Climbing to my feet I raced over to help in the stabbing, many were on the ground with their hands over their ears or holding some damaged body parts, a few were even missing limbs. If I had known it would work so well without taking down the whole cavern I would have just put one rune on the stalagmite to begin with and just thrown a rock to set it off.

Joining her in the stabbing I killed several goblins that were still moving nearby. I groaned loudly when my sword tipped stick came back from the plunge into a goblin's heart, minus its shiny metallic end. It had been a good tool and I was sad to see it go. I had to draw the stone dagger I had taken from the battle earlier to finish off the last moving goblin in this pack. It suddenly became eerily quiet without the din of battle or the moans of the injured. The only sound was our heavy breathing, the two of us standing amidst a battlefield of broken bodies.

“What was that?” she asked looking at me, a bit of awe still on her face.

Gesturing to the only unbroken cave with a large wooden door I explained as we walked, telling her of the man who stole the scribe and made me drop my delayed stone. I was happy when she offered to help search for it, once we had released her friends from captivity. The door was locked and far too strong to break down with only her broken short sword. Since neither of us knew how to pick a lock we had to go back and search the bodies for the key. We looted everything quickly, piling it off to the side to sort later.

We got quite the haul though even if all three of her friends were still alive we wouldn’t be able to carry it all. We found my scribe while searching the bodies, it was still clutched tightly in the man’s hand. His arm had been severed at the elbow and rolled down the slope towards the battle. We found the key a moment later, it was on a leather thong around the neck of the largest orc I had seen yet. One of the rocks from the blast had killed him, a large shard of stone was still sticking out of his head where half of his face should have been. Pulling off the key we both rushed to the door, swinging it open we quickly crawled through the entrance, weapons at the ready.

I was glad for the brief darkness as we entered the long tunnel. The darkness hid my deep blush and helped avoid the embarrassment of being caught looking at her naked ass. I had followed her into the tunnel and it was swaying only a few paces in front of my face as we made our way towards the light ahead. My blush deepened when we reached the end and I got an eyeful of all her assets as she climbed to her feet in a well lit room. Her cry of anguish that echoed through the room was enough to immediately clear my thoughts and let me know that our rescue attempt had most likely been too late.

I found my companion on her knees crying, face held in her hands. I was horrified at the scene before me, all three bodies ad been tied to posts. Their limbs stretched tight enough with the bindings that their bodies were suspended several feet off the ground. All three had been badly beaten, bloody and bruised. The two women had it worse though, they had obviously been well used by the orcs. One had severe bruising on her neck and seems to have been suffocated while enduring an orcs attention.

The second girl looked much like the first though no bruising on the neck, she had trickles of blood running out of her mouth and after stepping closer found she had bitten off her tongue and drowned in her own blood to avoid further abuse by her captives. At closer inspection of the bodies I noticed the first girl had a similar look to my companion, enough that they had probably been related. Not knowing how to console her, I did the only thing I could think of.

Drawing my stone knife I gently cut down each of the dead and laid them down in a peaceful pose to one side of the cave. Once done I searched the cave, only finding an old threadbare blanket, and a small wooden lock box. With nothing else to do, I wrapped my companion in the old blanket and put out the torches.

I sat down next to her and after wrapping an arm around her shoulder, she leaned into me. Her arms snaked around me as she placed her face into the crook of my neck, I don't know how long she cried in the dark while I held her. We sat in the dark like that for a while, her crying was the big hitching sobs. The kind that shakes the whole body and end in hiccup's and lots of snot once the crying calms down. It was pretty gross since the snot ended up running down my neck but I endured, it also helped distract me from the fact that I had a beautiful naked woman in my arms.

Once she had cried all she was able to, she sat up. I activated my light stone and after she cleaned her face she noticed the mess down my neck and torso. With a mumbled apology she half giggled half sniffled while attempting to wipe it off with her blanket, with more smearing than cleaning. Finished with me she looked again at the bodies that now looked to be peacefully resting. Looking fondly at the body for several moments she began to speak.

“Ida was my twin sister. Mother named us Ida and Iva” she said smiling at the body.

“We were born in the breeding pens, trained from birth to fight back to back, to be sold as a pair.”

“We were the best in our age group, none of the others could beat us even the larger boys didn't want to spar.”

“When we got older the guards began to “visit” us in the evenings, “training” they called it.”

“They only came to our bunk twice, the second time one of the guards decided he wanted to bed twins.”

“It was the last time he attempted to bed anyone, when he told us to pleasure him Ida bit it off and spit it in his face.”

“We were beaten for it but they left us alone after that, we were the only ones who didn't receive “night training”.

“We were all told what to expect if we were taken alive, it was suggested that we not be taken alive.”

“We were taught to bite off our own tongues and bleed to death, it would be a better alternative to being used until death or even worse, birth a half-breed.”

“It's well known that without a proper healer, humans usually die during childbirth with a half breed.”

“Ida must have seen that I escaped, she probably held out knowing that, if possible I would come for her.”

“They used her up” she said beginning to cry again.

“Because she had hope, I failed, I can't even give her a proper warriors pyre, there’s no wood here”.

“I can help with that” I said smiling, I patted her shoulder holding up my scribe.

“I can make her pyre, and we don't need any wood.”

After a nod from her I moved over to the bodies and began to scribe the rune of fire on each of their stomachs, stopping before completing the activation portion of each. I walked down the line quickly finishing the runes and stepping away before the intense heat could burn me. In seconds all three bodies had burned away to ash, once the magic fire consumed them there was nothing left, not even bones for the monsters to chew on.