Chapter Four - First Fight

Noah prepared to charge out and fight the Orcs off, at least until whoever was in the pit could climb out and escape towards the village.

Noah was unsure of his abilities to take on so many opponents at one time as he had never actually gone up against a real opponent. He simply hoped that the training he had done up until now would be good enough.

As Noah primed himself to jump out and attack he noticed that an Orc had put its hand out into the pit which was grabbed by another green hand. The Orc pulled another Orc out which was carrying a small person over their shoulder.

The Orc that was carrying the small person was taller than Noah, they were at least just under 2 metres tall [6.6 ft] The Orc had two tusks coming out from its mouth curving around its chin. It grunted and motioned in a direction opposite the village.

The Orc dropped the small person onto the floor and all the Orcs gathered around. Noah knew he had to act now, no matter what the consequences. The tallest Orc which had come from out of the pit grabbed the small person's hair and twisted them up to face the Orc. Shouting in a foreign language. Noah couldn't see their face but he did feel sorry for them. He could see the spit from the Orcs mouth splatter everywhere.

Whatever the Orc said to the little person didn't seem to get a response as the Orc smacked the small person and turned around. Noah rushed in at that moment knowing it was likely the only chance he could get. Pushing off against one of the roots to the tree he was standing behind.

Noah gripped the wooden sword with both hands, letting out a louder buzzing sound then it had ever let out before. He thought of all the moves he had practised while growing up over the last 8 years and knew that the best shot he had to knock one of these Orcs out was powerful over the head strike.

Noah brought his wood sword down as hard as he could, smashing and denting the Orcs head. It coughed before collapsing down. Before Noah could recuperate, the Orcs let out loud panicked grunts and the leader turned to face Noah.

Noah moved his sword in a power stance to his side and swung it at the next Orc which had been fumbling for its club. Time slowed down for Noah as he saw the eyes of the Orc go side to side after the hit before it closed them and fell down to the floor.

He saw out the corner of his eye the big Orc grab his club and swing at him from the side. Noah knew he didn't have time to adjust his sword to block it in time and instead ducked and rolled forward.

When Noah stood up he stabbed his wooden sword up into the chin of the big Orc, it seemed to daze the big Orc as it took a few steps back shaking its head. Noah turned back to see a few of the remaining Orcs all holding the clubs up in arms towards Noah.

Noah looked down and saw the face of a beast person. They were probably a descendant of the wolf clan, they had blood dripping out a cut in their forehead covering her face. Noah couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl, he just knew that they weren't strong enough to escape by themselves. Noah made the choice to throw the beast person onto his shoulder and sprint over the broken tree across to the other side of the pit. If it wasn't for all his sword training he wouldn't have had a reasonable enough balance to carry himself and another across the dead tree.

He had one arm around the body of the beast person and he was holding his sword in his other hand. rushing in the rough direction of the village. He didn't want to look back but he could hear the breaths and grunts of the Orcs behind them.. getting closer and closer.

Noah didn't realise it but his sword was getting hot in his hands, the symbols from the base of the sword to the tip of the blade had all gone dark and faded. He could have used it as a torch at that moment, but he hadn't realised it was happening.

He was losing his breath faster and faster not able to recover properly. Adrenaline was pumping through his blood which is what kept him going till he could see the end of the woods, he wasn't quite there but he knew he was just a hair width away.

Noah didn't see the shadows of something huge cover him and the beast-men for just a second. It passed by and towards the entrance to the woods. He started to have a bad feeling in his stomach as he felt like he could smell the stinking breath of dead fish and could hear the heavy steps of the Orcs right beside him.

It was too late...

Noah felt something smash into the side of his head, causing him to drop the beast person. He could only blink and try and stand tall before he got hit on the side again harder this time.

His vision began to blur and he could smell blood, most likely his own. He turned to face the Orc that smashed his head but when he turned the Orc leader in front of him turned from one to three to five back to two. He couldn't focus properly and could only roughly guess where to parry the club hits from.

Noah could hear the shouts of Hu-Rah from the remaining Orcs that had been following behind but weren't quite close enough to join in the ferocious beating that the leader was giving Noah.

Noah managed to parry two more hits from the Orc leader but he didn't have enough strength to stop the Orc leaders next attack.

That hit was one of the last that Noah could take, he fell to his knees dropping his sword. Noah's breathing had become sporadic. Coughing hard and wheezing, Noah could feel himself cough up blood.

On his knees looking up he could only guess at which one of the Orc leaders he could see was the real one from his blurred vision. Cursing his luck he was only able to hope that the beast-person would be able to wake up and run before these orcs were finished killing him.

The Orc leader let out a hearty laugh, grunting at Noah. Pulling his hair and spitting in his face, Noah wouldn't take it sitting down and spat blood onto the Orcs face making it grimace. Right as the Orc leader raised his club to do the finishing blow a loud roar could be heard from the skies...