Son of the Night - Volume 3 Chapter 31

***
Akira had been traveling for over two weeks without stopping for more than a few hours of sleep due to the fear of people following him.

The few days both Akira and Nox were still unable to sense anyone following them so it was decided to rest for a while.

Akira stood next to the small fire where half of his lunch was still cooking. He held his hands high above his head.

He had grown careless after reaching the base of the Uhgabuhga Mountains, letting his guard down, only to be interrupted while halfway through eating his lunch.

A small group of warriors surrounded him, their weapons all pointed at him ready to attack if he made the wrong move.

They were not the people that had been chasing after him for the past weeks. They were not like any normal warriors he had ever seen before. The reason why was they were Orc warriors.

Akira had little to no knowledge of the Orc race only that they were fierce warriors and were also part of the demon race.

Akira glanced over the twenty warriors that were surrounding him. Most of them were as tall as he was, the armor they wore was a mixture of fur leather armor and chainmail to combat the cold climate in the mountains. It made them look like a bunch of barbarians.

Their skin was a light red and had upturned noses that were a mixture between a humans nose and a pigs snout. A pair large tusk protruded from their mouths giving them an even more fierce look. Their ears were more pointy than a humans round ear.

Every one of the warriors wore their hair in a long ponytail that started at the top of their head, each ponytail was a different size.

All but three of the Orcs had large bulging stomachs.

The three different Orcs were at least a head and a half taller then Akira and the rest of the Orcs, with skin that was a deeper red, each of their bodies was rippling with muscles. They all wore shiny chain mail for armor.

One of the three tall Orcs stepped forward and pointed his Quarterstaff the looked more like a club with a long handle at Akira before speaking, I Varbu, will ask you again. What are you doing here human? This land that you are trespassing on belongs to the Orc Race. If you are here to try and start trouble we will kill you, either way, you are under arrest for trespassing.

Ding!

Choose between choice 1 or 2:

1: Try to escape.
2: Try to persuade Varbu that you are not an enemy

Whoa, whoa, hold your horses! Who said anything about me being a spy? Im just traveling through this area. Trust me the last thing I need is to anger you guys and cause more problems for myself, said Akira, choosing not to run.

Good choice human. Then does this mean you agree to allow us to peacefully arrest you and take you back to our capital city and be tried by the elders? asked Varbu.

Hey! First of all, Im not a human spy. Im a werewolf! Secondly, Im sorry for trespassing so why do you have to arrest me? Cant you just let me pass through? asked Akira.

Oh, a werewolf? That makes things easier. If youre a werewolf then show us by transforming. If you do then we will let you go, said Varbu.

Wellthere is a slight problem with that I cant do it right now. If you wait, Akira was interrupted by Varbu.

Enough, I have never heard of a werewolf who couldnt transform on will. We dont need to hear any more of your lies you will be going to the capital with us to be judged. Arrest him and search his bag to see if there is any evidence of his spying, commanded Varbu with a snort escaped his snout.

Ding!

The two muscular Orc warriors standing next to Varbu walked over to Akira.

Well hold on to these for you, said the first Orc warrior, as he grabbed Akiras sword and shield.

The second Orc grabbed Akiras hands and placed them into a pair of crude iron handcuffs, and forced him to sit down and wait while his bag was searched.

Well whats inside? asked Varbu.

Its empty, said the Orc searching the bag.

Are you sure? How can he be traveling with so little supplies, asked Varbu.

Yes, there is nothing inside.

Fine, extinguish the fire then lets take him with us, ordered Varbu.

Akira was yanked to his feet.

One of the Orc warriors standing on the outer edge quickly stepped forward and kicked some dirt into the fire and then stomped it out.

Akira watched as the Orcs picked up what remained of Akiras lunch and quickly ate it. When he returned to his position the Orcs next to him looked angry that he had eaten the food. They both gave him a punch, one in the head and the other in the gut.

Break it up you three, shouted Varbu. We dont have time for petty squabbles. Now lets head back home.

The Orcs all gave loud grunts of approval wanting to return home.

The Orc guarding Akira gave him a rough shove forward using the shaft of his spear. Forcing him to follow the rest of the marching Orcs.

***

Its been nearly three weeks and yet no reports have come back. What are they doing taking so long? asked Golden Lion, slamming his fist onto the long conference table that now had many holes in it.

Im sure they will find him and complete the mission successfully, said Beel Geets who was sitting across from the terrifying man.

Dont talk nonsense thinking it will please me. Youre lucky I need you to keep the skill gem production running smoothly. Otherwise, I would have killed you along with that other worthless person, said Golden Lion.

Beel Geets closed his mouth and stayed quite not daring to say anything fearful that it might anger him.

Have you been able to gather the Skill gems I asked for? asked Golden Lion.

Yes! The last one was created today, said Beel Geets.

Picking up a medium-sized leather bag from the ground he placed it on the table in front of Golden Lion.

Golden Lion glanced inside the bag for a second before closing it and placing it inside his one of his hidden pockets inside his robes.

I will be going now, as I have other things that need to be done. Ive already wasted far to much time in this city all thanks to you and your dead companion for letting my target escape. I hope you have learned and understand what happens to those who fail me. You are to keep producing the skill gems and the skill scrolls. We are still in need of thousands more. If you find any information about the whereabouts of our target you are to inform me immediately. If you try anything stupid again like before, I will not give you a swift death like your companion, warned Golden Lion as he stood up from his chair.

Before Beel Geets could answer Golden Lion walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

What have I gotten myself into! Im too old for this crap. We should have never made a deal with those devils, muttered Beel Geets.

He felt remorse as he looked at the carpet covering the floor which still had stains from the blood that had gushed out of Deve Hobs dead body.

***

The sun had finally set leaving only the sliver of moonlight to show the orcs where they were going.

Well stop here for the night! shouted Varbu with a grunt.

The nineteen other Orcs all spread out and started unpacking their gear, raising tents, and in no time at all started a fire to cook dinner.

Akira was placed next to the main fire where Varbu stood.

After a short time of waiting for the meat roasting over the fire finished cooking.

Im going to take the iron handcuffs off so you can eat if you promise that you wont do anything stupid like trying to attack me or escape, said Varbu waiting for Akiras response.

Dont worry, as I said before I dont want any problems with your race, said Akira.

Varbu walked behind Akira and took out the pins that were holding the handcuffs together.

Thanks, said Akira as he rubbed his sore wrists.

Here, said Varbu, shoving a wooden plate with a large chunk of greasy meat into Akiras hands.

Akiras stomach had been growling from hunger for a while. With the meat right in front of him, he couldnt resist and bit into the meat tearing a large chunk off with his teeth.

The Orcs that had been guarding him all day were now ignoring him and only focused on eating their food.

Halt! Who goesgurgle, shouted one of the Orc sentries.

Enemy attack! shouted a second sentry followed by the sound of metal clanging together as attacks were exchanged.

Everyone stopped eating and stood up, quickly finding the area the enemy was attacking from due to the sound of the sword fight.

Kill the enemy! Show no mercy! shouted Varbu.

All the Orcs Quickly drew their weapons and charged towards the fight grunting and shouting obscene words at their unseen enemies.

Akira was left alone next to the fire. With no one to watch him, he quickly finished eating the meat in his hands and began searching for his shield and sword.

Ah! There they are! said Akira.

He walked over to Varbus tent where his shield and sword laid on top of some of Varbus luggage.

Better to be safe than sorry, Akira muttered to himself as he equipped them both.

He would not try escape as he had given his word to Varbu.

Before he could sit back down near the fire, he heard the sound of multiple footsteps running towards him from what was supposed to be an empty part of the camp.

Akira readied his sword and shield. Multiple crossbow bolts shot out from the darkness between two tents, two bounced off his shield and the third flew high over his head missing him completely.

Three people clothed all in black stepped out of the darkness and into the light of the fire.

They threw away their hand crossbows the had just used and pulled out a different assortment of weapons from short swords to daggers. There three attackers began inching towards Akira from three directions.

Who are you? asked Akira.

Come with us quietly or well have to cut off a few of your limbs. Dont worry we dont want to kill you, said the dark figure in the middle ignoring Akiras question.

Above his head, a name and level appeared [Headhunter 1: Lvl 14]

Sorry Ill have to decline, said Akira as he transformed and then summoned Nox.

You want these guys dead? asked Nox after jumping out of Akiras shadow.

Yes, said Akira with a gravelly voice.

It is him! We must capture him! said [Head hunter 2: Lvl 10].

Nox ran forward intercepting [Head hunter 3: Lvl 12] who was on the left.

Akira charged forward towards [Headhunter 1] who was in front of him guessing that he was the leader of the group.

He swung his sword at the headhunters neck using his full power behind the attack. The attack was parried by the short sword in the headhunters hands and was forced back multiple steps due to the force of the attack.

Not wanting to be forgotten [Head hunter 2] attacked Akira with dual daggers turning the fight into a two on one.

Using his shield Akira was able to successfully block the daggers and activated the skill, Shield Bash. His shield swung out and landed a heavy blow to his attackers face breaking his nose, causing a cry of pain and blood to spurt out.

Akira couldnt finish him off due to being forced to step back and dodge a new attack from the short sword of [Head hunter 1].

Akira stabbed forward aiming for the leaders gut but only managed to cut his arm, as his sword was again parried and pushed to the side.

[Head hunter 3] who Nox was fighting let out a scream causing [Head hunter 1] to jump back and look in the direction of their fight, right then Akira heard a loud yipe from Nox and glanced over to see what had happened.

Nox had taken an attack and was knocked off his feet, but was able to quickly jump back to his feet letting out a chilling snarl, before launching an attack.

His opponent who had let out the scream was holding onto a bloody stump where his hand had been bitten and torn off.

Not wasting any more time Akira used his skill sword slash to send the bright attack towards [Head hunter 2] who was still disoriented from the shield bash to his face.

The attack caused a deep wound to appear across [Head hunter 2s] chest spurting a large amount of blood into the air. Akira rushed forward and stabbed his sword into the mans heart.

He dropped to the ground after Akira pulled his sword from the lifeless body.

At that moment a shout from behind Akira caught the attention of the two remaining attackers.

I heard fighting back here, are you okay? Varbu shouted as he ran to Akira.

Retreat! shouted [Headhunter 1].

Like Im going to let you, growled Akira sending an attack towards him.

The attack was dodged [Headhunter 1] threw a small ball in his hands onto the ground causing a bang and a large cloud of black smoke rose up to block his vision.

Akira cautiously walked forward trying to sense the enemy but was unable to.

As the smoke cleared the last two enemies had both escaped.

The fighting at the edge of the camp had also stopped just as quickly as they had begun.

Akira looked at a message he had received while fighting.

Be on guard for another sneak attack, they might be trying to trick us into letting our guard down, Varbu the Orc warriors that had started to walk back to the main fire.

Varbu looked at Akira and Nox studying each of them.

So you were telling the truth. Although this is my first time hearing about a werewolf not being able to change when he wants to, said Varbu.

You are probably more informed on werewolves then me. I only learned I was one a few months ago. Theres a lot I dont know, said Akira.

Varbu watched as Akira pick up the two daggers from the corpse of the enemy he had killed and placed them in his small bag.

Find anything on who they are, Varbu asked.

No, but before I attacked, they said something about being sent to capture me alive.

You are no longer a prisoner now that we know youre not a human spy, but I would like you to come to our city and report on what you know.

Thats fine, you should know that they might attack you again, said Akira.

If they do we might be able to capture one of them and find out who they are working for. They have some nerve to trespass on our land and even attack my kin, said Varbu.

Akira switched back into his human form his stomach growled loudly.

Uhg, this fighting made me hungry again, said Akira.

No worries we still have plenty of food. Its not a true fight if it doesnt make you hungry, Varbu said as he laughed.