Chapter 10

The Captain was caught in a predicament. Should he charge the orcs and risk killing the two captives or should he try to save them somehow. He knew he need to save them but capturing the either orc could provide intel on Helgrath.

"Let's not be hasty now." The Captain said leveling his sword at the leader. "How about this, I propose a duel. You win and my men here, will provide you safely out of town. You have my word."

The leader was not fooled, he knew as soon as he released his hostage he would be attacked. "Ha, ha, you dare to trick me. I will do no such thing. Now be a good dog and stand aside!" He said pressing harder on the woman's neck. A small streak of bright blood dropped off her neck onto the floor. She let out a small squeak of fear.

"Ah! Don't hurt my daughter you monster!" The Mayor shouted angrily from behind and he struggled to break free. The orc holding him swatted at the mayor with the daggers handle he held, "Shut up!"

"Enough of this!" The Captain shouted. He then pointed obviously over the leaders left shoulder. "Get him!" He yelled.

This was the orc leaders final mistake. He quickly glanced over his shoulder to see who might be attacking him. At that exact moment the captain leapt forward and thrust his sword into the temple of the orc. The orcs grip instantly loosened as the woman screamed and collapsed into the Captain's arms, appearing safe.

The other orc was stunned for a moment and threw the mayor forward at the humans in an attempt to escape. The Sargent had followed the Captain the entire time neatly side stepped the mayor and tackled the orc to the floor. The Sargent knocked the dagger from the orcs hand and pinned him to the floor. For a large man he was very agile.

At last they were safe for the moment.

"Th-thank you so much!" The woman sobbed clinging to the Captains arm.

"Are you alright my daughter?" The Mayor said scrambling off the floor toward the two.

"Yes father. I think so." She said as the Captain helped her up. She and the mayor embraced happily.

"Sir, I have come to re-enforce this town as per the Human Kingdoms orders. Fortunately, we made it in time. I am the Captain of Mustang Company. The Sargent and these men will escort you safely to the rest of the men out in the town square. I need to get back to the gate and ensure that it's in our control." The Captain quickly summarized.

"Oh, thank goodness and thank you for saving us!" The Mayor said shaking the Captains hand. "I will gladly repay you for this."

"Not now I must go." The Captain said in a hurry. "Sargent see to them and the wounded. Also, I want this orc alive for interrogation."

The Sargent nodded knowingly. He placed sword on the orcs back as he jerked him off the floor to stand and motioned to the Mayor and daughter. "Come now let's go."

The Captain left them and rushed back outside and back to his horse. The area was secure for the moment. His troops had killed multiple orcs that entered the area and dozens of townsfolk had joined up with them. He mounted his horse and road off toward the gate.

He called out to his men and townsfolk as he rode by saying things like, "Keep up the fight, victory is ours." and other orders to find the remaining orcs or put out fires.

As he neared the gate a woman suddenly dashed out of a doorway screaming. An orc was cackling as he chased her. His horse suddenly jumped up when they did, its actions hindered the Captain only a bit. He drew his sword and quickly slashed at the orcs back as he passed. The sword cut into the orc who screamed and fell to the ground. His horse was still in a panic and the orc was still alive trying to crawl away from them.

Deciding to use the horses panic to his advantage he pulled the reigns in the directions the orc. The horse jumped one more time and his two powerful hooves smashed the orcs back, snapping his spine.

The horse calmed after a moment and he spurred it on toward the gate. Which soon came into view and to his relief the Major still had control of the situation. Her accomplishments from military training were not overly exaggerated. She still had seventeen soldiers with her and a dozen or so town defenders they had been attacked by and killed many orcs trying to escape.

"Major report!" The Captain said coming to a halt and dismounted quickly. She looked at him wearily and gave a quick salute.

"Sir the situation is under control and no orcs have escaped." She said her voice was quivering slightly. This must have been her first large scale battle.

"Well done." The Captain said resting his hand on her shoulder. "Keep defending the gate. The orcs numbers are nearly gone, and I have slain their leader. The battle is nearly over but stay aware of your surroundings. The ends of a battle are when the strongest soldiers are killed suddenly." She nodded and he turned back to look at the town.

Why were there only two hundred orcs attacking such a large town? Even though they nearly won and could have burned the town down this place had little strategic power. Even if their aim was to just kill everyone here the town only had a small amount of food stockpiles and didn't export much. So, attacking here for food was odd.

He saw that many towns people were now just milling about unsure what to do next. The adrenaline they had gotten from the fight had started to ware off now. After ensuring that no orcs were nearby the top priority should be to put out the fires and close the game.

"You four and you two." He said to four soldiers and two townsmen that were guarding the gate turned to look at him. "Come with me we need to get everyone to form fire brigades and put out these flames. Can you two show them to a well?" He said to the townsmen.

They nodded, "Yes, it's not far from here." One of them replied. "This way." He continued and started down the road. The four soldiers followed calling out to the other townsfolk to find buckets and other things to hold water.

He turned back to the group guarding the gate. At that moment a group of twenty or so orcs charged down the street towards the gate opposite of the captain. The Captain rushed to help the defenders.

Several townsmen near the attackers were quickly overrun due to their lack of skill and the ferocity of the orcs disparate attempt to escape. His soldiers and the Major formed a line of defense swords ready, while the remaining towns men rushed the orcs from behind the soldiers. The orcs charged them, and they engaged in close quarters combat. The Captain was about to join them when five more orcs from an alleyway charged him.

He quickly dodged a swing from the first orc and parried with an uppercut neatly lopping off the orcs arm. He screamed and fell to the side and the next orc aimed at the Captains head with a spear. The Captain deflected to strike in the nick of time, and it grazed his cheek. He jumped back to make space, but another orc had flanked him on his left and his spear darted out at the Captains center. Again, the Captain evaded the strike by managing to lean back and grabbing the spear handle. Quickly regarding his stature, he jerked the spear past himself and in the same motion stabbed the orcs chest ending him immediately.

The other three orcs were now acting carefully around the Captain. They moved around him forming a triangle with two of them holding spears and one a sword and shield. The Captain eyed them quickly watching to see who would strike first. Smartly the orc with the shield attacked first, if the Captain tried to attack him back his own sword might lodge into the orcs shield letting the other two stab him from behind. However, the Captain has seen this tactic before. He stepped back and spun to swing at the orc on his right.

The shield orc couldn't hinder the Captain at that moment and the left spear orc had stepped to close and the Captains sword slashed across his neck. Blood spewed out of his neck like a wine cup dropped on the floor. The right spear orcs attack was much more successful hitting the captain's right shoulder with a resounding ping! Fortunately, the army blacksmiths had built this armor very well and it was only able to dent the armor and knock the Captain to the ground.

However, the shield orc was now standing over the fallen captain and chopped down at the captain's head. The Captain neatly dodged his head to one side and reflexively thrust upward into the gap under the orcs armor and belt. The orc grunted heavily and collapsed onto the captain. This was the remaining orcs chance and he went to stave at the captain, when suddenly a dagger buried itself into the orc's forehead. The Captain had managed to pull the dagger at his side and thrown it just in time.

He roughly pushed off the orc on top of him and sat up breathing heavily. He adjusted his helmet and using his sword to lift himself up he looked at how the skirmish was going. The orcs and troops were evenly numbered now but the humans had the advantage and several orcs were being killed at that moment.

Suddenly the largest of those orcs kicked the Major in the chest knocking her out of the chaotic battle area and into the gates entrance. He made a heavy swing at the Major who went to block it, but the power was to great and it knocked her to the ground in a bloom of dust. He stood over her and raised his sword over her chest to stab down!

Thunk!!