Nightclans (3 page)

Rather than turn and attack he rode on to give himself room to fight from another angle but it was a mistake for further down were another half dozen orcs lying in wait. Now they all sprung forth screaming and waving their weapons, one of them firing a crossbow at him. The bolt flew true and hit the horse right in the chest, it whinnied in pain and its legs collapsed under it. Wollfen fell forward out of the saddle and was flung free tumbling further down the hill, the orcs raising their weapons and cheering.  Finally he rolled to a stop crying out,

“Shit!”

The orcs didn’t hear him thinking they had cut him down. It gave him just enough time to recover and run. As soon as he took his first step he knew he was in trouble, his ankle gave way and the pain shot up his leg as he tumbled once more. This time he got up and favoring his ankle hopped off down the hill as best he could. The orcs realizing their conquest was getting away took off down the hill in pursuit, their harsh screams filling the air.

Towards the bottom of the hill Wollfen found a dry creek bed and decided on going to the right hoping it would snake around a little allowing him to get back around the orcs, his immediate need was to head back in the direction of the clan encampment. The only problem was it was a half days ride away. Coupled with the fact his head buzzed from taking a knock and his right ankle also was in pain, he knew it would be tough going trying to get back. As he limped along Wollfen sized up the situation in his head, he had seen about six orcs that had ambushed him not including the one that he had passed, that made seven. If he stood and fought he might stand a chance but these were odds he hadn't ever had to face before from orcs, how would they fight? Would they be organized? Or would they all come at him at once?

This number of orcs together in one place and working together to pull off a single objective, it just wasn't heard of. Orcs were almost mindless beasts, they couldn't be controlled and had no desire to socialize together in groups. He had only ever seen two together at once before. No, this was something totally new to him. For now all he could do was run and hide, then run again. Hopefully he could delay a confrontation and get near enough to the encampment to raise an alarm.

It wasn't long before his ankle was singing though, he wouldn't be able to keep up this pace for too much longer, the pain was getting too much. Then as he was about to slow down, he noticed movement off to the right of him, it was dark and moving swiftly. His immediate reaction was to look to the left checking for another flanking body and sure enough after a few moments he spotted a similar movement there too. Damn! Those orcs were rounding him up! He was sure  the rest would be behind and were driving him on. This wouldn't do at all, he couldn't go faster to keep ahead, that was simply out of the question. He was hurting more and more but then he also realized that the orcs had made a mistake, by having two flank him they had split their numbers.

He deviated slightly to the right a bit and accelerated a touch as well, it hurt to do so but it would pay dividends. After about a minute Wollfen saw he was noticeably closer to the orc on the right but he kept going on his present course, once the orc realized he was getting closer Wollfen would attack. It didn't take long before the orc realized what was going on and cried out, Wollfen drew his sword and made directly for the orc. The orc wasn't sure at first what to do, it hesitated on the spot looking about for its comrades but they weren't near, now it too drew its own sword and came at him.

Its wild swings were easily parried by Wollfen who having deflected the first strike swung hard and low at the creature but it too took evasive action backing off quickly. It wasn’t quick enough though for the tip of Wollfen's blade bit into the orc's  upper thigh, slicing cleanly, a black ooze immediately erupting from the wound. The creature cried out and staggered, Wollfen didn't waste any time in swinging again. The orc raised its sword defensively and the two blades clashed heavily. Still Wollfen did not hesitate swinging hard again, this time from low to high and diagonally across. The creature didn't drop its blade fast enough and his sword cut deep from its lower right hip through its belly and finishing planted in the things upper left arm. The orc could only gurgle as its intestines spilled out onto the ground and Wollfen wrenched his sword free. The thing pitched forward dying.

He jumped over the body and made fast through the trees. It would take a few minutes for the other orcs to realize what was going on and even then they would need to search around looking for his tracks, that too would give him valuable time. All the while he was opening the gap up between them and him. It gave Wollfen more time to think about his precarious situation, he had been limping along for less than twenty minutes all up, it was still a long way back to the encampment.

It would do no good he decided, there simply was no way he could continue to outmaneuver the creatures for the rest of the day. Could he go to ground? Hide somewhere? He had been looking for likely spots but the orcs had a keen sense of smell and now that he was sweating from pain and exertion they would  find him. No that wouldn't work either. There had to be something. The creek was no good, it was dry. Still he continued on knowing he didn't have many options, something would present itself surely?

It was maybe another fifteen minutes before he heard a rustle behind and to the right of him, the orcs had closed in. Wollfen had slowed too, his ankle wasn't going to last much longer and he knew it. He stopped, better to fight while he could still use his ankle rather than later when it had totally given way. He stepped up to a big tree and slid his back against it hiding and waiting for the orcs to close. As the rustling got closer he controlled his breathing, deep and slow, it helped to calm him.

Then just as an orc was about to creep past his position Wollfen stepped forward sword swinging fast, it passed through the creatures neck taking it's head clean off. It was made easier by the fact that at that moment it had lifted its head to sniff the air. He had been so close and the thing had been totally taken by surprise. He pulled back again against the tree, while he had been swinging the sword he had also taken in the surrounds and had not seen any other orcs in the open, his position had not been given away yet, two down, five to go.

The rustling continued and he heard an orc cry out, it had spotted the dead orc beside the tree and raced forward, again it too was taken by surprise as Wollfen swung out and low catching this orc in the chest, it died quickly. This time though another orc saw what happened and it screamed for the others. Wollfen knew his position was given away but rather than  run he slowly stepped out from the tree goading the creatures on,

“Come on! I'm right here! Have your fill!”

Two orcs ran in without waiting for the others. Wollfen stood his ground as they rushed him, he lifted his sword high in the air with both of his hands and swung in an arc through their path making them pull up. Then he stepped to one side depriving one of an immediate attack by a second or so but it was enough to attack the other orc. He continued the swing back over his head and aiming it at that orc swung down in one fluid movement making it raise its sword defensively, their swords met above its head with a loud clang of steel. Wollfen though was already following through with a push kick catching the orc in the middle of its chest sending it backwards into the undergrowth. The second orc by this time was swinging its own sword at Wollfen who swung again in a partly defensive parry and spun around. This time he jabbed the blade forward as the orc's blade swung past catching this orc unawares and Wollfen's blade slid in deep. The creature  grabbed the blade with both hands and held tight as it screamed out in agony but it did not die, holding on grimly. The second orc was back up and rushing him,

“Shit!”

It was all he could get out as he let his sword go and backed off quickly towards the first two dead orcs, there he scooped up one of the swords laying there and turned once again to fight the second orc chasing him, their swords clashed and each fought crashing away with their blades looking for the upper hand.

Right at that moment the last two orcs showed up and immediately joined the fight. Wollfen was getting desperate, he was hurting and tired with no where to go. Just as he went to defend another blow from one of the orcs there was a flash behind it, the thing screamed and fell but he didn't stop to look. Still swinging his sword Wollfen kept parrying the blows of the other two orcs. Then he heard the whinnying of a horse, the two orcs stopped and ran. Panting Wollfen leaned on the orc sword and looked up, Raven sat there on her mount smiling at him,

“You really are the life of the party aren't you Wolfy?”

He panted more and didn't answer, sitting on the ground. Two more horsemen rode up and took station around Raven. Finally Wollfen managed to stop panting enough to speak a little,

“So what brings you here?” Raven smiled again,

“I know I know, you were just tidying up and didn't really need any help right?”

“Actually, truth be known, I'm quite grateful Raven, thanks for the hand.”

“So where is your horse?” Wollfen jerked his thumb over his shoulder,

“It's about a mile in that direction, dead.”

“I will send these two to get the saddle. They will manage to find it, they are good trackers. Any landmarks?” Wollfen turned to the two horsemen,

“You will find a dry creek bed along aways, travel for about three hundred yards once you find it and then you will see my horse about halfway up the hill on the left, you won't miss it.” The men nodded and without any further questions trotted off.

Wollfen stood up  having caught his breath and made his way over to the lifeless orc with his sword still buried in it, he was able to prise it loose from the creatures dead clasp without too much trouble. He walked back to Raven who extended her hand. Wollfen took it and pulled himself up behind Raven as she leaned back helping him up, she was a strong woman. She couldn't help but comment,

“Damn you stink, when’s the last time you had a bath?”

He grunted but wouldn't reply as she kicked the horse into motion and they rode back towards the encampment.

Raven pulled up in camp with Wollfen holding on behind, the two other scouts also reined in their horses and she spoke to them,

“Drop Wollfen's saddle and stuff at my tent thanks.” The two nodded and bade their farewell moving off.

Wollfen grumbled from behind trying to get down. Raven gave him a pinch for his troubles and commented,

“Hey can't you wait till I get down? I can help you.” He agreed,

“Yes you are right I am having a lot of trouble with this ankle.”

He looked down at it while Raven slipped off the saddle, it was badly swollen  and tingling. It didn’t look good at all. Raven stood holding her hand up to him.

“Come on you big baby, momma's got you home .”

He glared a bit as he took her hand and gingerly moved himself off the horse. She couldn’t help but giggle as he winced and made noises.

“I knew you needed a girl in your life, someone to take care of you.” He sighed at the comment and again Raven giggled,

“You know I'm just trying to give you the shits don’t you?”

“I know hon, I am just in a lot of pain.” Raven was still grinning.

“Yes the best time to take the piss out of you, oh hey, you called me hon!”

He stood on one leg looking down at his ankle still, could it be fractured?

“Are you gonna stand there giving me a hard time or are you going to help me?” He commented with a little exasperation.

“Yeah, yeah I am gonna help you grumble bum, don't get your knickers in a knot.” Raven slipped her shoulder under his right arm and took his weight, “Now don't go bitching about how I walk okay?”

“Thanks hon, I really do appreciate you helping me, I am just a bad patient is all.” Raven giggled even more,

“Yup, don't I know it? Oh and you called me hon again.” She said smiling.

They managed to get inside the guest tent that had been set aside for him and she lay him down on the cot. He went to try and take his boots off but Raven wouldn’t have it.

“Lay back and relax you will hurt yourself more trying to do it. I will take care of it all okay?”

He nodded in response and finally allowed himself to be taken care of. He pulled the pillow further under his head so he could watch. She slowly pulled at the boot with the swollen ankle ignoring Wollfen's protests and shushed him. It was in a bad way she saw and eventually managed to get the boot off. Then she gingerly pulled at the sock slowly sliding it off exposing the injury. The skin had turned purple and she lightly touched it, Wollfen jumped a little with a cry. She looked up at him with a serious look on her face,

“It doesn’t look good I’m afraid.”

“It's serious?” Wollfen asked with a worried look.

She fixed him with a steady expression before going on,

“I doubt you will make it through the night.” She laughed out loud as he gave her the finger. Raven got back up waving her hand in front of her face, “You really do stink though, before we do anything about your ankle you need to have a bath, I will be back in a minute.”

She turned and left the tent on some errand and Wollfen closed his eyes trying to block out the pain. A few minutes later two women carrying a wooden tub came in with Raven following, they planted the tub and left again. She moved over to him and started pulling on the other boot to get it off, then pulled off his other sock. As she started lifting his shirt off the girls returned with large jugs of water which they emptied into the tub and left again. Finally Raven had Wollfen's trousers unbuttoned and had them halfway down his legs when the girls came in once more with the jugs of water, one of them commented on his crown jewels before leaving. Raven grinned at him as he turned a bit red.

“Aw are we a bit shy?” He grunted at her and she carefully slipped the pants leg off over his injury. Now he was fully naked laying on the bed when one of the girls came in with a hot jug of water, she smiled while checking him out and poured the water into the tub.

“Can I be of any more help?” She asked, Raven shook her head,

“No that’s fine I can handle it from here.” The girl smiled and waved as she left.

“Come on Wolfy lets get you into the tub.” She reached under his arm as he lifted himself up and they managed to get him into the warm water without too much trouble. The water stung his swollen ankle but he knew the heat would have to help. Raven grabbed a bar of soap and started rubbing him down. He half closed his eyes at the pleasure of it, it had been a long time since he had felt the touch of a woman.

“It's been a couple of years since I saw you naked, you still look good my darling.” He smiled a little but didn’t respond. “You feel good too.”

He started getting a hard on and Raven seeing, gave it a soapy slow stroking. He couldn’t help but moan just a little but then a thought occurred to him,

“Hon? When I left camp you were going to have a talk to Elith, is all that sorted?”

She nodded in reply,

“Yeah, it didn’t go too well there were a few harsh words spoken but she hasn’t made trouble. She will accept it eventually, if I'm lucky we will manage to stay friends.”

“I guess that’s good, I am sorry though she is hurt.” Raven shrugged her shoulders in response.

“I haven’t been happy for awhile, if I hadn’t done it now the talk would have happened later anyway so I don’t have any regrets.”

He nodded quietly and left it alone, nothing more needed to be said. She finally stopped stroking his hard rod and went back to cleaning the rest of him. Before long she had him out of the tub and back on the cot. Raven bandaged his ankle and slid a pillow under to elevate it. She sat beside his waist, lightly caressing over his bare belly looking down at him, she looked deep into his eyes without saying a word.

“What are you thinking?” She smiled a little before responding,

“I was thinking about the last time we made love under the stars a couple of years ago, do you remember? We were on a blanket and kissing deeply when a rain storm rolled in, we didn’t notice until the wind picked up and light rain started falling.  Even then we didn’t stop, the rain got heavy and lightning cracked overhead lighting us up. The cold rain soaked us as we made hot passionate love, it was an amazing moment, I still think of it from time to time.” Wollfen smiled at the memory.

“Yes I haven’t forgotten, it still comes back to me too.” She leaned down and they traded a soft passionate kiss that lingered. She pulled away and whispered,

“Wait.”

Standing up she moved over to the tent flaps and tied them shut. Raven then started to strip off slowly as he watched, his rod standing to attention. She sauntered over looking up and down his naked body before straddling him. She leaned down kissing him deeper and it wasn’t long before some rather loud moans were emanating from the tent.

Later that evening Raven awoke beside the still sleeping Wollfen and she slowly eased herself out of the cot and dressed. She left the tent and went off to grab some food for the both of them and while she was collecting it Ironside coughed and made his presence known. She turned and smiled at him,

“Hello my Lord, I hope you are doing well?”

“Yes thanks, I was wondering how Wollfen is?”

“Oh his ankle isn’t good but he will heal fully and he is in good spirits.” Ironside smiled widely.

“Ha! We all know, I doubt anyone in  the encampment didn’t hear!” She smiled now too, it wasn’t embarrassing to these people, they lived in tents all their lives and hearing people having sex was perfectly normal to them. Raven changed the subject though as she thought of something,

“You know Wollfen said something curious about the attack when we were riding back from the patrol,” Ironside motioned for her to go on, “ He said it was eight orcs that tracked him and then ambushed him, he also said they all worked together to take him down.”

He looked on surprised,

“That's unusual isn’t it? There have been orcs spotted in numbers lately but a larger number cooperating to take out a target? That’s a first. You know when Wollfen is up and about he and I need to have a talk, let him know will you?” She nodded,

“Sure no problem.”

Ironside walked off to do his own thing as Raven returned to the tent with a bowl of food. Entering the tent she saw Wollfen was still fast asleep. She looked over his naked form, she never tired of it. As she carefully sat by his waist he stirred and looked up at her a smile coming across his face,

“Hey you, I was just dreaming of us by a lake.”

Raven smiled back and offered him some baked potato while replying,

“I hope there weren’t any orcs in your dream.” She winked.

He shook his head as he took the offered potato,

“Nope, just you, me and a sunny day alone relaxing by the water.” He took a bite of the potato and made a noise of appreciation.

They sat quietly together eating the simple fare of cooked venison and baked vegetables. It filled their bellies and felt good. Raven stripped off again grabbing a blanket before laying beside him for the night. They snuggled down to keep warm and drifted off to sleep in each others arms.

The following morning Raven woke to find Wollfen looking at her and she smiled giving him a kiss,

“Morning snuggle pup did you sleep well?” He smiled,

“Oh yeah, best sleep I had in ages, you are definitely a wonderful tonic.” She giggled a bit,

“Mm, it's good to hear, I slept well too and I hope we get to do this every night.” Wollfen rolled his eyes,

“You are going to turn me into a homemaker huh?” She made a pfft sound at that.

“Bullshit, that would bore the heck out of me,” She remembered the message from Ironside all of a sudden, “Hey Ironside wants to talk to you about the incident, I think he has something to say. Do you think you are up for a walk over to his tent?”

“I'm not sure, lets have a look at my ankle, it isn’t hurting anymore.”

Raven sat up carefully pushing the blanket down and off Wollfen's feet looking at the bandaged ankle. The bandages were hanging loose and she tsk tsked thinking they had come undone. When she removed the bandage though the ankle swelling was gone with only purple skin showing for where the injury was.

“Holy crap! You ankle is almost fully healed!” She looked back up at Wollfen in astonishment, “How can that be?”

He looked up at her from studying it,

“You must have a magical touch hon, all that bathing and tender loving care you gave me.” She rolled her eyes and gave him a playful pinch on his thigh,

“Come on, lets get you up and put some weight on it, I want to see how good you are.”

She got up off the cot and he turned himself sideways swinging his legs over the edge, she held her hand out for him which he took and got up gingerly. Then he slowly shifted his weight onto the ankle and it held.

“It feels good, I don’t feel any weakness or pain at all.” She shook her head,

“You must be some fast healer eh?” He agreed, “Alright let's get some clothes on and go see Ironside.” They got dressed and walked out of the tent into the morning air looking around, there was hardly a cloud in the sky and the sun was still coming through the trees.

“It's going to be a nice day eh?” Raven agreed, she put her arm through Wollfen's and made off.

They found Ironside at a bench and table outside of his grand tent eating some leftovers from the night before, they made their greetings and sat down beside him.

“So man, what would you like to discuss about the orcs?”

Ironside swallowed before speaking,

“You were telling Raven that the orcs worked together when they attacked you?” Wollfen nodded in reply, “Normally I wouldn’t take no heed to such a story but I have started hearing similar reports all along the eastern borders from the other clans. The other leaders and I were discussing it the day after the festivities and we feel there is much to be concerned about.”

Wollfen gave it some thought but couldn’t see it being a major issue beyond changing the numbers of people when they traveled.

“What makes you think it is a big deal?”

Ironside sat and thought a bit before replying, he realized that he would have to fill Wollfen in on the full ramifications for all the clans.

“Okay, let me explain, as you know the Nightclans are all independent groups that look after themselves and have complete freedom to move around the mountains of the east here. We are a nomadic people without any home base, no towns with walls, no real defenses against marauders or orcs other than a strong arm and sharp blade. Well you get my drift.

Coupled with that we have always taken great pride in the warrior code we live by. We fight not only as a way of life but also for survival too. Up to now the clans have never been able to grow too large or spread beyond the mountains because of this. There is an equilibrium within the confines of our world here, the mountains and all that is on it. That includes the orcs. Now that the orcs are becoming more aggressive and are working together the losses in numbers of men out there has started to increase, it isn’t noticeable yet to the casual eye but if you look at it, it speaks of a dangerous situation arising.”