Ambush the ambushers

“Okay Van, I have an idea. You wait here in the open to lure them out, and I’ll use my wind magic to slip around and flank them from the rear. That should give us an edge to secure this fight without either of us getting injured.” Helena explained that as if there was an equal risk to both of them in the upcoming fight, but in reality she was worried about the older woman. She seemed fairly strong, and could take on a human bandit on her own. But orcs were much stronger than humans, and only someone with an advantage like Helena’s magic could go one on one against them. But hopefully the flanking maneuver would make the difference.

“Seems like a good plan to me,” Van said, who seemed satisfied that she’d be trusted to fight.

With that settled, Helena let a whirlwind pick her up and vanished into the trees beside the road.

“She’s really planning to join in, right?” Dav asked nervously. He had nothing against Helena, but ultimately she was a stranger and he was entrusting his own life and his sister’s to her.

“She is. If anything, I think her first instinct was to try to take those orcs down alone. But my pride won’t let that be.” With that, Van got off of the carriage and stood in the road with her sword drawn.

Soon enough, a pair of orcs emerged into view. Their green skin matched the leaves above them, they stood over six feet in height, and they left their burly chests bare while wearing stolen trousers that barely fit them. Each had an axe in hand as they approached. “Well Grot, seems this one’s got a woman with them,” one of the orcs said.

“Seems like it Grod,” the other replied. “She ain’t pretty though.”

“Yeah, but she don’t need to be pretty. She just needs holes,” Grod said.

“True enough. She wouldn’t look pretty after we’re done with her anyways,” Grot added.

Van settled into a tense stance. “I’m going to enjoy killing you bastards,” she said through gritted teeth.

“We get that a lot,” Grod said.

“And it hasn’t come true so far,” Grot added.

“It is this time,” a new voice, Helena’s voice, interjected. She had emerged from the treeline in a whirlwind during the conversation, appearing behind the orc brothers. Her sword lashed out, piercing Grot’s chest. He looked down in shock as a sharp blade emerged from his chest. As he realized the blade had pierced his heart, his vision went dark.

But in his final moments, he grabbed onto the sword, refusing to let Helena pull it out. His grip remained tight even as the life left him.

“You bitch!” Grod saw the blade protruding from his brother’s chest and whirled, his axe going straight for Helena’s neck.

Unable to free her blade from Grot’s grip, Helena released it as her wind magic carried her back, out of the reach of Grod’s attack.

With dark rage in his eyes, Grod stated, “You don’t need limbs to be my little fuck pillow. There’s no replacing my brother, but I can pump plenty of sons out of your damn cunt to fill the void.”

“You’ve killed far too many innocent people to play the victim now!” Helena replied coldly, even as sweat ran down her neck. She’d been disarmed, and had no idea if she could get her weapon back. Her sword served as a focus for her magic, and she wasn’t confident her magic could take down an armed orc warrior. Especially one as angry as this one.

Could she take him down?