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

Thak, Mok, Zharra, and Ghor were all sitting around the sleeping chief.

All three of the men looked quite pissed off, while Zharra simply looked bored out of her mind. She was tossing a burnt figurine up and down and, suprisingly, didn't look too tired. Perhaps she really had some talent for being a shaman.

'Rak, if you're tired, you can go rest,' Mok said. 'It's just that Thak is throwing a tantrum. Nothing special.'

Thak's jaw clenched harder.

'No, Raknar. You will stay. We're in the middle of an important conversation, and we need you here.'

Well, this sucked. I was planning on expressing my condolences for his brother's death, but it seemed like this was not the moment.

I decided to seek help from the oldest person in the group, the previous leading hunter, Ghor. It didn't make much sense to me why he was even here, but I trusted him to be less biased and more grounded than Mok or Thak.

'Would you mind filling me in on what happened, elder?'

'Oh, I'll tell you what happened. These two fucking children decided that the best course of action, after a great tradegy such as this occured, was to start fighting each other to the death. In front of Olga, no less.'

He stared them both down while speaking and was clutching his dagger to give his words even greater weight. Although his body had withered down over the years, making him look like a proper elder, he did not seem any less threathening when angry.

'I'll fucking kill you both the next time anything of this sort happens.'

He blew out air from his nose in a particularly angry way, before looking away to stare at a wall.

I figured this might take a while and sat down on the cold floor.

Mok shook his head and turned towards me.

'You'd have hit him too, if you heard what he said.'

I sighed. 'And what did he say?'

'That we should run away. Run away from the goblins, and find a new home.'

I looked over to Thak, almost expecting for him to deny it. However, I was met with a strong gaze. He was looking me straight in the eyes, and try as I might, I could not find any reluctance within them. It looked like this was not something he said in the spur of the moment, more so something he had in the back of his mind for a long time. Something that his brother's death simply brought it to light.

I would be lying if I said that his idea did not anger me, as it most definetly did. I felt shame for even thinking about running away from the goblins.

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But his idea was not groundless, far from it. It made sense. We had just lost near half our hunters, to not even mention the injured, and half out homes were burnt down. That being said, I still believed that running away was not the correct choice.

'Thak, listen to me. I understand where you're coming from, but you seriously need to sleep this over.'

He mantained eye contact. He was never this stubborn. His brother's death must have really shaken him up.

'If we leave now, many of us might die from starvation. We just lost half our goddamn hunters man! Think about the kids!'

I decided to try and play on his emotions a little bit. He wasn't biting.

'You are the one who should think about the kids, Raknar. Think about them inslaved, working for the goblins 'till the day they roll over and die. I am just willing to make the necessary sacrafices.'

He still held eye contact.

I looked away. He really wasn't backing down. I was getting a bit nervous, to be honest.

'Listen to me. I think we all need to think this over, and at the end of the day, the final decision isn't ours. Lets all just calm down, and wait for the chief to wake up, alright?'

He finally stopped staring.

'If he wakes up. If.'

He walked out of the room.

I spent the next couple of minutes listening to Mok, who was complaining that I wasn't harsh enough on Thak. He asked Ghor for his opinion as well, but he just stayed silent. He found that wall very interesting, it seemed.

I then walked out of the room, deciding not to interrupt the chief's sleep any further. I dragged Mok with me, too. Zharra, unsuprisingly, didn't need any convincing and went over to the burnt shaman's house. At that point realised I should have probably hugged her, or something. This whole event could have been quite traumatic for her, after all; I decided I would speak to her later.

My burnt skin was already swelling, and I could feel blisters starting to form. This was not going to be any fun.

I had my burns cleaned, and Olga applied some herbs onto them before I went off to sleep. It was only afternoon, but I decided I needed some rest. I would face all of my problems tomorrow.

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

I was standing in the small clearing in front of the chief's house. I really felt the effects of the battle now, as looking around, there were noticeably less orcs standing about.

The adults were all quiet, only the children's playful voices lifting the depressing atmosphere.

Two men appeared from inside the house.

Ghor stepped out first, and helped the chief to walk out, supporting his weight. Olga hurriedly came from behind them, quickly putting down the only chair left in the village. The chief slowly sat down, and sighed in relief as he finally managed to do so.

He looked quite pale, and his eyes were not as clear as they used to be. And yet, he held his head high and wore a grand smile.

He chuckled.

'As you can see, I'm alive.' He joked.

Many of the orcs in the crowd let out deep breaths they had been unknowingly holding.

'First off, I must apologize. I misread the enemy's moves, and severely underestimated them. I most definetly did not expect them to attack with those numbers, much less with flaming arrows. Well, now, at least, we can be quite certain they have some kind of backing.'

He looked around the crowd, sweeping every orc gathered with his gaze. He took a deep breath, and continued.

'And now, a question stands before us. Do we fight, or do we flee?'

This question seemed to unnerve many in the crowd.

'Now. For any of you that know me well, I'm sure you know what my opinion on the matter is. However, after all of the bad decisions I have made over the last few years, coupled with my current state, I have realised that maybe, the choice shouldn't be up to me.'

This statement unnerved an even greater amount of orcs. Low murmurs started spreading around the clearing.

'Now! What I am trying to say is, that my time as chief is ending. And I feel like now is the best time as any for the tribe to get a new leader. I, too, ascended to my position during the time of war, and perhaps we should keep the tradition.'

The orcs were talking loudly among each other now, not even trying to be quiet.

The chief held up his hand, and everyone grew quiet once again.

'So, I am asking you now. Is there anyone here who wishes to become the chief, and lead the tribe to greatness?'

My hand shot up.

Only one hand followed.