Chapter 36

"Over there! I see 2 of them" said Jag. They were crouching under the cover of the forest overlooking a couple of orcs. Jag had spotted them. According to Hogar, this was far for them to be. The orc tribe was behind the mountain range through a valley on a big plain. They numbered in the thousands and would usually only start being seen near the kingdom if they were in the need of food or scouting. If these 2 were outside the valley entrance it's a good chance that the orcs are getting antsy.

Every so often the orcs would launch attacks against the Iron Rose Kingdom or even full-out wars. The orc tribe has never been that powerful and they have not accomplished much in their raids. But thanks to the useless king the orc tribe was given room to grow. The kingdom would never launch attacks against the orcs and would stay on the defensive which let the orcs numbers rise to over 2000.

Hogar had told Kane about how the orcs had been planning a big attack but that was all he knew. He had no specific information on when or how it would happen. He had been away from the tribe for a while now and had no idea how much they had grown.

Kane wanted to scout out the tribe so he needed to get past the 2 orcs. He did not want to kill them because the orcs would realize that something was up and maybe even suspect that there were humans prowling about.

Kane had a plan to get past them though. Because he brought quite a few people he could not sneak past the guards so he would have to make a distraction. He had his men hide in a different part of the forest near the valley. They would make as much noise as possible before running back to meet Kane and slip by the guards as they went to check out the disturbance.

Kane commanded them to carry it out while he prepared to head into the valley. The men started to make loud banging noises and some of the ex bandits even made loud moaning sounds. They may be soldiers now but some of their old ways would never be lost. Kane inwardly laughed before running into the valley with the rest of his troops.

The valley was rather long and dark. It only had a few torches every so often. The thing it had plenty of was bones. Skulls and other parts were propped up all over the valley. Lots of skeletons were propped up on wooded spikes or hanging in cages.

The brutality and savagery of this orc tribe were surprising as they seemed to contrast the honorable way Hogar acted. Hogar saw the confusion in Kane's face and explained that orcs and orc tribes had different ways of acting. There were savage tribes as well as warrior tribes. The tribe that they were heading to was a mix of many tribes that had come together to form a bigger tribe which is why you will see many different types of orcs in it.

Apparently, the leader of the tribe Gashna the Great had a very strong tribe and used its power to recruit other tribes. He was a barbarian brute who loved the thrill of battle. He could sometimes be a savage and other times be a warrior. He had become the sole leader of the orcs in the area forming one big tribe. The Chaos Cleavers were born and Gashna lead them to power. The tribe had great strength but Gashna was always unhappy that he could never take over the Iron Rose Kingdom. He had spent many years trying to take it over.

Kane thought that the whole thing was very interesting. The Gashna seemed like a tough character to deal with. Hopefully, this scouting mission would help Kane prepare for the war that would undoubtedly come. He is currently able to defend his castle thanks to the wall but he still does not have the strength to completely stop the tribe. He still needed more men to be able to conquer it and more info on what to expect from it.

Kane saw the end of the valley after walking for 15 minutes. He saw many lights and figures. He heard many loud noises and smelled some pretty foul smells. They had arrived at the orc tribe.