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Lord Harrow threw his glass at the wall, raging. He had hoped by dispatching his useless bastard that the problem had been handled already. Not only had his special unit deserted him. Now it seems they intercepted his cargo as well. Without that shipment he would lose face amongst the others of the circle. He had moved quickly but the event day was approaching and there was not time to get replacements.
He was already going to be in a weakened position because of the desertion. It would still be months before the circle made their move. Lord Harrow knew he still had time to come up with a replacement for the deserters, maybe not of the same strength, but he would still be able to come up with something suitable. However, to be made a fool in his own home by not providing for his guests was something he would have trouble living down.
The games of the circle were all about status. Being able to hold failures over each other was the best currency they had. All the members of the circle were wealthy. They all no longer cared about that. They wanted to reshape the continent. That would be a true test of power that money could not buy. They would have to do it through guile, manipulation, and at times force of arms.
He had only sent his son away a few days ago. It may be worth calling in a favor. The favor would be wasted if his son succeeded. However, the price of failure was too high. He would only be cashing in a favor from a minor player, a small price to pay even if it turns out to be unneeded. Lord Harrow called for his attendant to ready the sending stone.
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I came to, feeling my body slowly sway back and forth. My head felt fuzzy and I could not concentrate. I tried to reach for my head but stopped when I noticed my hands were tied together. It was then I noticed I was facing the ground. Shaking my head to try and wake myself fully I finally realized I had been thrown over someone's shoulder.
I looked up and saw several orcs walking in a loose circle around Triss and Fay. They as well had their hands tied and also seemed connected to each other via the same rope. I followed the rope to the hands of an orc walking beside the one that carried me. I attempted to look around but I could not see much.
It was then I felt a heavy slap to my rear. "Quit squirming, we are almost there." The Orc that was carrying me had noticed I was awake. I went to speak but could not. A knotted rope was tied into my mouth. I looked up and saw that Triss and Fay also had the same thing done to them.
I was concerned I did not see Sumara. The last I had seen her she was exiting my Holy Fire spell. Then she collapsed. Panic overtook me when that thought hit me. I started to try and find her again. This earned me another slap to my butt.
"You are still too weak to walk. If you don't stop moving, I will have to drag you." The orc barked at me.
I stopped moving again. I needed to know what happened to Sumara, but it seemed like I could not press my luck with this orc much more. I just hung over his shoulder and prayed to my goddess. I had to hope that she would see fit to offer Sumara her grace on my behalf.
It was not long before I noticed we started to move uphill. We must be headed to the ruins that Landis had us here to scout. I tried to take note of our surroundings but it was getting dark and not seeing where we were going was disorienting.
I had not been afraid since I woke up, I guess there was too much going on for me to think about it. However, now that we were entering ruins, basically the orcs stronghold, I was starting to think about what was going to happen to us. Looking at Triss and Fay I could only imagine those same thoughts went through their minds as well.
Again moving through a space backwards was very strange. The ruins were larger than I had suspected they were when I first saw them in the distance. There were at least two floors, as I saw orcs coming from upstairs. As we made our way through the broken down walls and collapsed ceilings we came to another stairway. This time it led down.
I was expecting a dark dungeon when the orc started carrying me down. Instead I quickly saw that due to the degradation of the building I could still see the outside. One wall was partially collapsed, I could clearly see trees and behind that the night sky. It was due to height differences of the terrain. The floor we entered on, which I assumed to be the first floor, was actually the second.
The collapsed wall had a hand made wooden cage covering it. As I took stock of the rest of the area I could see that several other wooden cells were in the room. Most already had people in them.
We came to the back of the room and I was roughly dropped to the dirt floor. I could see Triss and Ray being yanked along as they were untied from each other and put in as well. I was surprised when the orc pulled out a knife. I gasped at first as he snatched my arms in his massive fist. Relief washed over me as he cut the bindings from my wrists. I quickly removed my gag as he did the same to Triss and Ray. He then pulled a door closed and secured it shut.
I did not know how tightly my wrists were bound until the blood rushed back to them. I rubbed my wrists trying to get the tingling feeling to go away. The cage we were in was the largest by far. The other changes were smaller, being just bigger than a normal bedroom. The caged right next to ours had a group of five prisoners all dressed in simple clothes. Likely villages or travelers the orcs captured. My eyes moved to the back of our cell and saw two figures dressed in not so simple clothes.
The first was an elf. She had long golden hair and green eyes that showed even in the dark. Some of the sisters are of elven heritage. I knew the glow was what allowed them to see in the dark. Her clothes looked like they were once of fairly high quality. Now they were a little better than rags. Dozens of small holes and tears covered her. I saw a small head pop up then back down behind her. They were in a dark corner of the cell so I could not make out anything about who it was.
I was startled back to my situation when I heard what sounded like a growl and a tussle coming from the stairs. I moved to the tree branches that counted as bars to the cell to get a better look. Just then I saw Sumara stumble down the stairs. Her fists were raised and she was looking up at whoever she was fighting with. I could not help myself.
"Sumara you are ok."
Of course she looked right at me, her face instantly brightening. It did not last long as a fist soon connected with her face from the stairs. She was sent flying into the cell behind her cracking one of the wooden bars. Several orcs rushed her and helped hold her down as the other started to kick her.
"STOP!"
They ignored me. The orc must have kicked her a half dozen times before the largest orc I had seen so far shoved him into the wall. I could tell the pair had heated words but could not clearly hear what was said. A pair of orcs picked Sumara up by the arms and started to drag her to the cell. The orc that had been kicking her ducked away from the glare of the larger orc and joined the pair that brought Sumara to our cell. He stood directly in front of me and kicked the cell bars. Even though he did not hit me I still stumbled back. He then unlatched the door and pulled it open and stepped in. He took a fist full of my robes and pulled me up as he leaned in. He just growled at me until I turned my face away. He shoved me aside to clear the door. Sumara was dumped into the cell after me. Followed by Landis who was shoved in causing him to trip on Sumara and fall next to me.
The orcs all laughed as they closed and locked the cell door. Shoving Landis out of the way, I started to check on Sumara. She seemed to have passed out, She was covered in cuts and bruises. Many of them were deep. Most had stopped bleeding except for a few that reopened thanks to the beating she just received.
I looked around and saw that while they had guards posted most seemed to not be paying that close attention. Casting a spell would for sure alert a fellow spell caster as most were able to feel the magic in the air. I did not think these guards would be spell casters. I waved Fay over and we both got shoulder to shoulder to make a wall to help hide the light.
Goddess please heal our protector
Healing.
I suddenly felt light headed. It was the feeling I would get if I tried to cast a spell once I had used all my casts for the day. This was not good.
"What's wrong?" Fay asked.
I knew Holy Fire was a powerful and high level spell. I must have used my more basic spells to fuel it. If I was lucky I would be able to heal Sumara tomorrow morning at the earliest. I just hope we did not need her before them.
"I must have used all my spells in our last fight. I just need time to recover."
Fay's shoulders slumped. I wrapped my arm around her and I felt her hand reach up and touch mine and she leaned into me. I was a little taken back by her contact. It was not how she usually acted. I guess now that we had been captured she did not see the need to wear her mask any more. I mean what did it matter what power Landis had over us if we were going to be slaves to orcs. The irony that Fay was more free to be her real self in an orc prison was not lost on me.
Triss had moved to one of the corners of the cell. Landis said nothing to us. His face just held a blank expression and he sat there staring at the floor. I was not expecting much from those two. I knew Sumara would help once she woke up. I needed to gather info and the elf and whoever the mystery person was behind her would at least know something.
"Fay, keep an eye on the guards. Let me know if they are coming. Also it would not be a bad idea to start keeping track of them. How many they keep down here. How often they switch. All that stuff."
"Of course Ranz." Fay nodded.
I got up and moved over to the elf woman in the corner. The only movement she made was with her eyes as they followed me over.
"My name is Ranz, a cleric of Lillia." I said as I sat down crossing my legs. This reminded me that I was not wearing my pants. I had never put them back on after I washed them. I could feel the cool earth on my naked backside. The only thing keeping me modest were my robes.
"That pretty shit luck you got there." The elf said not trying to conceal her mocking tone.
"I am starting to reconsider what the word luck means. We will have to see how this plays out." I try to smile but I know I am forcing it.
"Only one way this plays out for girls like you." She sighs heavily. "Should not have let them take you alive." It was not worth correcting her at this point about my gender. I wanted to stay on topic.
"Well we cannot change the past. We still have an opportunity to change the future. I was hoping you would be willing to answer a few questions." I said as I turned to her a little more.
"We got nothing better to do." She shrugged.
