Chapter 1 – On Arrival

“Don’t come any closer,” commanded the Orc. “Just turn around and go away.”

Before Avingard can react to the Orc an arrow came piercing through the air and then embedded itself in the ground beside him. Avingard scrambled quickly along the wooden wall at the front of the fort, just below the lookout tower. The Orc couldn’t see Avingard in his current position, but tried search from many different angles. Realizing he would make an easy target for the Orc if he ran, he quickly opened the door to the fort to confront the Orc directly.

As he opened the door and entered the fort he saw that another Orc, who was was alerted by the first one, noticed Avingard had entered the fort. The second Orc came running towards Avingard readying his mace as he ran.

Avingard in Battle Against an Orc
Avingard in battle against an Orc.

Avingard unsheathed his sword in reply and prepared for the worst. The Orc, now nearly upon Avingard, swung his mace back and then, as fast as he could, brought it forward towards Avingard. Taking a defensive stance, Avingard managed to block the mace with his sword, which sent him reeling backwards. While the Orc brought his mace back a second time, Avingard slashed with his sword at the exposed body of the Orc.

Growling in pain from the iron sword striking him, the Orc brought his mace down only to be struck again as Avingard thrust his sword into the Orc’s belly. The Orc fell to the ground into a lifeless body.

Before Avingard could enjoy his first victory, a single flew past his head and struck the wall behind him. A second Orc archer, from a nearby building, joined the battle.

With two archers taking aim at him, Avingard sprinted towards the second archer, weaving back and forth to avoid any more arrows, and into the building with the second archer. Hoping the building can provide shelter from the first archer, Avingard readied his sword.

After realizing his bow would be useless in such close quarters against an enemy armed with a sword, the Orc archer put away his bow and pulled out his sword. The Orc quickly began slashing at Avingard, who quickly blocked each blow from his adversary. The strength of the Orc began to make it difficult for Avingard to recover from each block, to the point where he backed himself into a corner of the small room.

Finally, the Orc began to gasp for breath from all the slashing and moved back to give himself time to recover. Seizing the opportunity, Avingard drove towards the Orc, slashing and thrusting as he went. The Orc by this time was completely exhausted as he continuously blocked Avingard’s attack. After the Orc dropped his sword a little too low, Avingard slashed at the left side of the Orc, causing a massive cut to the side of the Orc.

Much like the first Orc, this one also yelled in pain, which gave Avingard the opening he needed to finish off his foe.

Avingard waited to regain his stamina that had almost been completely drained by the two battles. The first Orc archer still remained transfixed on the small building that Avingard was resting, but he quickly called for another Orc that was in the fort.

Slowly walking toward the building, the Orc took out his sword and prepared for battle. As he approached the opening to the building, he stopped just outside to plan his attack. After a moment of planning he jumped into the left side of the building slashing as he went. He quickly realized that Avingard wasn’t there. Turning around he was created with a thrusting sword into his abdomen, and fell dead to the ground.

With three Orcs lying dead on the ground, Avingard briefly looked out the opening at the first Orc archer. The Orc was still trained on him and the building, sending an arrow into the back wall. Realizing the Orc was nocking another arrow, Avingard sprinted towards the tower as quickly as possible, once again staying out of sight of the ORc archer.

Avingard could hear the Orc in the tower frantically searching for him as he slowly began to climb the steps leading up to the tower. With one last burst of speed, he sprinted to the top and with one quick motion slashed the Orc archer before the arrow could be released. Quickly looking around Avingard realized that all the Orcs were lying dead, so he was safe for now.

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