Alex arrived near Shinatobe, with a puzzled look on his face:
“I don’t know about you, but having such a big group of Orcs joining us, messes with my nerves! I think I see a bunch of females, almost as scary as Ghar. I suppose we will have a new Race living in this World, from now on.”
Shinatobe looked at him, and stuttered:
“Y-you m-must be joking!”
Alex faced forward and saw the Dark Mages arguing with the members of the Security Force:
“Those guys look even more worried than you. No wonder, after decimating that group of Goblins, we got a bunch of Orcs on our side. Do you want to catch them alive? Perhaps you can interrogate them and find out their plans this time, how many Dark Mages are there and where they are hiding?”
Shinatobe slowly nodded. At almost fifty meters ahead, Commander Sebastian Cox was talking with the Dark Mage leader, and he was scared:
“What do we do now? They killed all the Goblins and now those Orcs are joining them peacefully!”
The Dark Mage leader glanced at the other two Mages that immediately grabbed a bunch of Magical Orbs from their cloaks and as he was pointing a strange metallized tube towards Alex, he said:
“Get your men ready to attack, I will make a distraction, and at the same time, get rid of that annoying Earl Alex Brim. I know it’s him under that hood, like if he could fool anyone.”
As soon as Commander Sebastian Cox gave the order for everyone to get ready and to ride upon his signal, the two Dark Mages threw Wind Blades at the same time as the Mage leader shot his gun in quick succession, emptying the barrel.
Shinatobe was surprised by the sudden noise, but she joined Suijin, James Macdonald and Bethany Mathews on fending off the Wind Blades. Alex immediately recognized the familiar sound of the handgun, and he threw in quick succession two Wind Walls, followed by a huge and thick Water Ball, that slowed down the bullets and made them stop. Alex then compressed the Water Ball into the size of his hand and froze it, containing inside the six bullets that were shot against him, and the frozen ball fell to the ground, three meters from him. The Dark Mage leader widened his eyes, surprised by the quick reaction of Alex, and he then heard a shout that made his blood froze in his veins:
“You got your chance, my turn!”
Alex created small rock marbles and threw them against the Mages, pushed by strong Wind Tornados and tiny Water Blades that made the marbles travel almost as fast as the bullets, aimed at the Mages. A barrage of rock projectiles hit the Mages on both arms, legs and chest. In a sudden flash of inspiration, the Dark Mage leader pulled to his front one of the soldiers of Commander Sebastian Cox, and he died in his place, and two Rock Marbles hit the Mage, one on his shoulder and one on his forearm, piercing hit from one side to the other, almost taking out his arm completely.
Commander Sebastian Cox made his horse ran at full speed ahead with his men following him while screaming, side by side with the other group that was following Alex’s group in Bouria. While Shinatobe was making a weird smile, giving time for the riders to approach before taking them down, she saw the survivor Dark Mage opening a Magical Void, but before she could throw a Wind Slash to stop him, the Mage disappeared inside of it, leaving behind the corpse of the soldier that he used as a shield, and a trail of blood.
Ghar turned her Armoured Boar around when she heard the attackers, and ordered the Orcs to kill them all. With Shinatobe, Okami, Suijin and Kagu-tsuchi taking care of the protection against the Spells of the attackers, the Orcs charged, scattering horse pieces and Human remains all over the place.
An Orc arrived near Ghar, dragging on the floor the deadly wounded Commander Sebastian Cox and threw him at her feet. Ghar raised the Commander’s head and Alex approached.
“I told you the next time we meet, you would die. I don’t know if I let you die quickly, or if I let one of these Orcs eat you alive.”
The Commander spoke in a pained voice:
“No, please, anything but that!”
Alex gave him a tiny portion of Healing Magic to stop his several bleedings and looked at Shinatobe:
“Make him suffer. Get from him everything he knows about those Mages, and what happened to his Baron. I suspect those Dark Mages had something to do with that.”
Shinatobe grabbed the Commander by his feet and took him to a nearby small rock, where she leaned him against it and spoke in a whisper:
“I will make you regret being born, you scum. But first, you will tell me everything I want to know, won’t you?”
While the Commander was vigorously nodding, Alex picked from the ground the frozen ball containing the bullets and after melting it with Fire Magic, he put the bullets inside his belt purse. He then went to Ghar and asked while looking at the Orcs:
“Now what? Do I need to worry about them? Because you know I can’t have Orcs roaming around, and killing everything they see.”
Olive Andrews turned again into a tiny ball of light and went to Ghar’s necklace. She spoke, and the Orcs were puzzled by the strange language they were hearing their new leader speaking:
“They are now my responsibility. If you let them live, I will make sure they don’t harm anyone. We may need to search for a place to live, in hiding, because as soon as someone sees them, they will raise the alarm and attack us. I know we can live in peace in this World without worrying about Monsters or other Clans attacking in the middle of the night, but we need to find a safe place for us.”
Alex slowly nodded:
“I know just the place. You will need to be near them all the time, and none of them, or you, can enter a City. I will take care of providing a ship to travel your group to a cluster of big islands at the East of Bouria. No one lives there, and the land is fertile and with a bunch of animals to hunt. I know there is also a lot of fish in the sea that can be caught from the shores of those islands. Maybe one day, people get used to having Orcs living here, and your kind can join the rest of the World.”
Ghar asked with tears fighting to get out:
“You would do that for us, a bunch of Orcs that everyone calls Monsters?”
Alex faced an extremely beautiful female Orc nearby that was looking at him with a raised eyebrow:
“If there are more females like that dark-haired Orc over there, I bet your kind won’t have any problems whatsoever, as long as they don’t attack or kill anyone. Because you know what I will have to do if they don’t learn to live in peace, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know. You will kill and eat all of us.”
“It’s better if you explain to your Clan what will happen while I talk with my group. I know a certain Princess that won’t like this idea a single bit.”
Ghar stuttered, suddenly realizing the implications of Alex’s words:
“M-my Clan? Yeah… They are my Clan now…”
Alex placed his right fist above his heart and said:
“Guide them well, Clan Leader Ghar!”
Ghar made the same greeting and went to talk with the puzzled group of Orcs. Alex held the reins of his horse and walked to get near James Macdonald that was looking at the Orcs with a nervous Bethany Mathews at his side. Before Alex could say anything, James Macdonald spoke with a slight smile:
“I guess our Party got bigger, right? Or we just got ourselves a bunch of free meat?”
“I don’t think I will ever be able to eat Orc’s meat after meeting Ghar. That’s a pity, I really liked to eat them. It’s probably better if we get rid of the dead bodies, and then we can talk with the others.”
James Macdonald answered while following Alex to the nearest dead soldier:
“By others, you mean a spoiled Princess and a scared lady’s maid, right? Because I don’t think our group will have any problem on having a bunch of Orcs escorting us, but we have to disguise them, maybe with a turban around their face, like Ghar.”
Alex nodded while dragging the body to join the pile that Suijin and Okami were making:
“Yes, probably better. I am more worried about Mister Gabriel, he seems worried. Perhaps he thinks that Ghar now has Orcs to choose a partner from, and he became dispensable.”
Bethany Mathews spoke while glancing at Ghar that had her right hand over Gabriel’s shoulder, and she seemed to be introducing him to the group of Orcs:
“I am not sure, but judging by the growling and the taps on the back those Orcs are giving Gabriel, I don’t think he needs to be worried. I always thought that Gabriel looked more Orc than Human, with his beard and big sized muscles.”
Alex muffled his laughter, and they continued dragging the dead to the pile. Ghar pointed to a dead horse and a Harpy, and the Orcs took care of gathering the pieces that were lying around. A group of females went in search of wood and straw to make a fire, and Ghar asked Alex as he was passing by her:
“Alex, do you think we have time to smoke the meat of those animals? My Clan could use all that meat for the travel.”
“Sure, better than having them looking at me with hunger! We can also hunt during our voyage to Bouria, but make sure they hide their faces with a turban like yours. We can’t risk a Human passing by and be alarmed by the scary sight of a bunch of Orcs travelling with us.”
Ghar signalled with her head to a group of Orcs that were removing the clothes from the dead soldiers:
“They are already taking care of that. Unless you think it’s disrespectful to take their clothes, considering that we already took their lives.”
“It’s a bit disrespectful, but considering they were aiming to kill us, and we were going to burn the bodies and the clothes, I suppose the Gods won’t be angry. Make sure your Orcs only use clothes without blood as turbans. Strangely, there are so many Orcs riding Armoured Boars. Those animals exist in your World?”
“I already talked about that with Miss Olive. I think the Armoured Boars that live here came from my World a long time ago because they are the usual ride of an Orc. Goblins don’t have the brains or the strength to tame those wild beasts, but they are not a problem for an Orc.”
Alex frowned at the Boar that was near Ghar and asked:
“You can talk with them, right?”
“A little, yes. They are very intelligent, and they can speak and understand simple sentences and many words in Orcish language. By the way, I told a group of Orcs to gather the Magical Orbs inside the Harpies and the Goblins, and they are going to give them to Mister James so that he can decide how to divide them. I don’t know if there are Orcs in my Clan that can use Magic like me, I need to ask. Do you think we can also have a few Orbs?”
“I guess there’s no problem, considering how they helped us. See how many can use Magic and ask Mister James about the Orbs. I need to talk with a certain Princess.”