Eritance - Chapter 1
The night was cold, with a soft pattering of rain falling to the ground. A short orc chieftain lifted his head and sniffed the air. Grunting he looked around, feeling a buzz of excitement in the air. Despite his grotesque appearance contrasting with his shimmering black leather armor, a calm intelligence could be seen in his eyes.
Sensing that his prey would soon approach he widened his eyes in anticipation. He gruffly said to the other others, “Spread out and hide yourselves in the undergrowth or behind the trees. Stop those who are approaching….or suffer by my hand.”
Six goblins and four orcs with spears and round wooden shields spread throughout the thick vegetation. The goblins had small green bodies, resembling twisted children with drooling faces. The other orcs had a more balanced and powerful physique, resembling humans somewhat in form, but with short pointed ears and sharp protruding teeth. Soon the movement of the leaves stopped and the area was quiet again.
The chieftain looked down the dark path from behind a thick and gnarled tree he used as cover. “It’s times like these that I’m glad that I’m a creature of the night, and not a pathetic son of man or one of the other goodly races” he thought to himself. The night had a faint light from the stars, it was not enough for many to see in, but for an orc chieftain this much was enough for his eyes to see clearly. The chieftain tightened his grip on his spear, his arms almost trembling in anticipation.
The goblins and orcs maintained their positions for approximately two hours before the smell of horses could be considered close. This brought the small goblins into a frenzy of excitement. “Quiet you fools! If you alert them to our presence, I will have your entire tribes fed to the wolves” hissed the Chieftain. The goblins instantly quieted down, fear reverberating throughout their bodies.
The small carriage pulled by two black horses slowly approached the position where the orcs and goblins were waiting in ambush. The hose-drawn carriage was being driven by a large human man with a great broad sword by his side as he expertly drove the horses onward. To the side of the carriage was a slender elf on a white horse with a bow own her back and a short sword attached at the waist. Inside the carriage a mystical presence could be felt, along with the presence of at least one other being.
“Excellent!” thought the chief, “they will soon be fully within my trap, the master will reward me greatly for succeeding here”.
However, just as the orc chieftain was thinking this to himself, one of the goblins took a half step forward and broke a small branch that was lying on the ground in front of it. With a large crack, the party was alerted to the presence of the orcs and goblins.
As the carriage rushed forward to get out of the trap the chieftain screamed “ATTACK!” at his subordinates, mentally noting to flay the guilty goblin alive after this was over.
Stabbing at the horse of the elven guard at the side, the goblins were able to knock her to the ground. “Go!” she screamed as the warrior seemed to hesitate slightly, as he turned around in his seat. “We must not let this relic fall into the power of the emperor or there will be no hope!” the elven warrior continued saying.
With that the human warrior spurred the horses on and continued to try to escape the ambush. At this point the elven warrior was already surrounded by the goblins and was having trouble fending off their attacks from all sides. “You three with me!” the chieftain screamed at some of the orc warriors, “the rest of you take care of the elf”. Cursing silently, they chased after the carriage on foot. The carriage was getting further and further away, from then as they chased after.
Realizing that they wouldn’t be able to catch up to carriage at this point, the chief took my spear and threw it with all his might towards the lead horse. The spear he had thrown, pierced throw the side one of the horse’s necks at angle causing it immediately fall down. As the horses were harnessed together this caused the other horse to fall as well, nearly overturning the carriage itself. The human warrior expertly jumped off and rolled on the ground coming up with his sword in hand ready for battle.
“Kill him!” the orc chieftain exclaimed to the three orcs that I had brought with me. The orcs rushed in for the kill, but this human warrior was no greenhorn. He dodged the incoming strikes and immediately shoved his greatsword through the neck of one of the orcs, instantly killing it. The other two, became fearful at this and backed off. “What are you doing?? It is only one human warrior! Do not disgrace the orc race!” the chieftain shouted at them, my rage boiling over. The remaining two orcs roused their battle spirit and charged in. As skilled as the warrior may have been, he didn’t have the strength to match the raw power of the orcs, so as he parried a blow from one orc, the other was able to land a shallow cut along his calf. “Rawwww!” exclaimed the orc triumphantly. “You fool! Focus on the battle at hand!” the chieftain said, but it was too late. Due to the distraction, the warrior took the opportunity to stab through the distracted orc’s ribs, pulling his now red blade. The orc fell to his knees, gurgling sounds coming out of his mouth, as he tried to hold his life blood inside of his body.
This sight enraged the last orc, and he charged at the slightly injured human attacking with a great fury. The orc delivered many powerful blows, but the human warrior was barely able to parry the strikes. Going beserk the orc jumped into the air to do an overhead strike, leaving his stomach open to the human warrior. The human warrior thrust his sword into the stomach of the orc warrior, but it was not a total failure on the part of the orc, though mortally wounded, he was able to bring down the blade of his short spear into the tender flesh of the human warrior’s should. The human warrior howled in pain as the blade of the spear pierced all the way through the bone.
The warrior fell under the weight of the dying orc, and desperately tried to get back up. The chieftain used this opportunity to rush in and snap the neck of the injured warrior as he was recovering his stance. As the light faded from his eyes, they seemed to say “do you have no honor”?. “HAHAHA” exclaimed the chieftain, “who needs a fair fight, when you have subordinates to do the work for you” thought the orc chief. “I can finally obtain the relic the emperor has been searching for all this time, my reward will be great” he thought to himself quite smugly. “Although, if the emperor wants this relic that badly, I wonder what kind of power it could give me? Perhaps I could become the next ruler of the continent” the chieftain began to greedily think to himself.
As the chieftain began to approach the unguarded carriage, his remaining subordinates appeared. “Elf woman strong” panted one of the orcs. “three goblins killed, one orc injured” he continued. “Trash goblins aren’t important to begin with” the chieftain replied, “go, retrieve the relic for me”. As the the goblin and the remaining three orcs approached the opening of the carriage, a voice could suddenly be heard from inside. “Ignite!” the voice exlaimed, as a wall of fire burst forth out of the back of the carriage, instantly incinerating two orcs and the last goblin. “A magician!” shouted the orc chieftain “kill her!!” he screamed at the remaining orc. “Hurry before she has time to prepare another spell!”. The orc immediately roused himself and jumped into the back of the carriage, but just as he did so, the voice could be heard again “teleport!” and with that, the relic was teleported to a random place in the continent. “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!” screamed the orc chieftain, as his thoughts of grandeur slipped away from him, right before his very eyes.
With that the magician fainted from using too many high level spells at once for her. Although she knew that her life was over, she knew that the relic was safe-for now, and out of the hands of the emperor. As her consciousness faded she saw the orc chieftain running at her with murder in his eyes and she hoped to herself “I hope that this relic will find a hero, someone who can overturn the emperor’s evil reign” and with that, her consciouness faded to black, never to awaken again.
I’m trying to write a story that includes perspectives from different characters, I will focus on the main character after this, but I wanted to try to create depth by occaisonally writing chapters that showed the thoughts and feelings of others that aren’t the main character. Let me know what you all think!