I rushed into the burning house, deciding not to plan ahead. I was pretty sure the whole house would collapse in the time I'd spend thinking.

That was a bad move. As soon as the thick black smoke entered my lungs, I burst right back out of the front door.

After coughing like mad for a couple of seconds, I ran back in, this time after breathing in as much of the fresh air as I could.

I bolted through the living room, trying not to trip up on all of the burning furniture that littered the ground. I barely held my eyes open, just enough to avoid running directly into a wall, but they were still burning from the smoke-

I managed to get to the shaman's workshop, and thankfully, the room seemed to be in a better condition than the rest of the house. Suprisingly the shelves, were still intact on the walls, with many figurines standing upon them.

The smoke obscuring my vision made it impossible to tell which figure was the correct one. The need to breathe in started nagging me more and more, so I decided to risk it and took as many as I could before rushing back outside.

I took a very much needed deep breath and threw all the figurines on the grass, next to my feet. To my horror, none decipted the goddess of fertility.

I cursed and took another deep breath before sprinting back into the house. I was faster this time, the creaking of the roof reminding me that time was limited.

I grabbed most of the remaining figures, leaving only a couple inside. Just as I was running back through the main room, the ceiling finally gave in and collapsed under the unrelenting attack of the flames.

In desperation, I threw all the figurines outside the house before getting buried under one of the large support beams.

The flames burned my skin, and I howled in pain, just for my lungs to be assulted by the smoke I inhaled afterwards.

My vision grew white, but with the last of my strength, I managed to drag myself from under the large wooden beam. My skin burnt like hell.

I coughed, and coughed, and caughed some more. It seemed like it would never stop. But eventually, it did.

Perhaps due to adrenaline, I managed to stand up. My thoughts were jumbled, and my hands felt wobbly, but I still managed to grab what I thought was the correct figure.

I clutched it thightly in my hands, and started running with everything I had. More accurately, stumbling, but I was still determined. The chief had to live.

I heard shouting from behind me. 'Hey, Rak! Stop!'

Only one person called me by that nickname. I turned around, and saw Mok running toward me.

'You're going the wrong way, man! Holy shit, what happened to you?'

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'I'm going to be fine, don't worry about me. It's just a fucking burn, I lived through worse.'

I told him, and held out the figurine.

'Take this, and give it to Zharra.'

'Alright, just stay here, okay? I'll send help.' He said, snatching the figurine from my hand.

'You don't have to…' I said, but he was already running back.

He never listened. That being said, maybe it was fort he best. The more I calmed down, the more my back and left arm burned. I could already tell I would get a nasty scar from this. Just like the one on the right side of my abdomen.

I really ran the wrong way, huh? I'm so dumb.

Adrenaline slowly releasing its grip on me, I sat down on the cold grass and started dozing off.

The sun rose above the trees.

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

I was woken up by one of the younger hunters. If the sun moved with it's usual leisurely pace, only about half an hour should have gone by.

He helped me walk to the chief's house, and told me about what had transpired. My back was still in extreme pain, and I wasn't sure how I even managed to fall asleep.

Zharra, he said, had managed to perform her very first miracle. Consequently, the chief did not seem to be at death's door any longer.

Apart from that, there were many wounded and just barely enough clean cloth and herbs for everyone. The situation would have been much worse if they hadn't taken out as many resources as they could from the burnt houses.

'Everyone started arguing.' He said.

'Olga calmed them down a bit, but they're still angry.'

We arrived in front of the house, and a couple of orcs were laid down in front of it. It looked like those with lesser injuries were thrown outside. How cruel.

I entered the large house. The main room was filled with orcs. The more seriously wounded laid here, their bodies littered with cuts and stab wounds.

Other orcs, mostly women, ran around trying to tend to them all. They were all led by the first lady of the village, Olga. She was mostly known as the chief's wife, but over the years, I learned to really admire her.

Though she had no specific job, other than to tend to the chief, she was just as important as him in many ways.

I often think about the chief as the glue that holds the tribe together; He was confident, strong, and very charismatic. The last years have been very tough for the orcs, yet there were no bigger dissagreements among the villagers. He gave the orcs a sense of belonging, a sense of honor for being part of the tribe.

And that is precisely why I could not let him die right now. We were at our lowest point, and I was sure that the orcs would start fighting among themselves if he were to pass away right now. In fact, they were doing it already.

However, he would never be as successful if not for his wife. She had a knack for calming people down and diffusing tense situations.

Many times, I have seen two or more orcs get into a dissagreement, and many times, these dissagreements grew into fights. The orcs were quite aggressive by nature, and werent prone to simply talking it out.

And yet, every time, just as the orcs were about to start fighting, she would appear out of nowhere and calm them down within minutes. She just had a way with words.

She was working her magic right now as well, commanding everybody present in the house. She noticed me from across the room, and I could see her sigh internally.

I guess she still never liked me from my younger days, when I fought every orc I could find. I created a lot of trouble for her back then.

She strode across the room and stopped before me, looking me up and down.

'You look horrible, Raknar.' She said. 'Come with me and let me get you all patched up.'

I actually quite agreed with her, but I had other things to take care of first.

'I need to see the chief first, ma'am.'

She sighed. Externally, this time.

'I won't try to argue with you. However, make sure to watch your mouth in there. The atmosphere is quite tense.'

I nodded and walked towards the chief's bedroom.

I swatted the hanging fur away with my hand, and entered the room.

Four heads turned to look at me.

'About time. We have been waiting for you.'