Matriarch

John leaned into a wall breathing heavily, the way to get here had been a struggle. The attackers turned out to be orcs, they were thought to be nearly extinct but it seems that a very healthy clan was surviving just fine, here in the Wildlands.

Fighting an orc is not that different than fighting a well-armored knight or templar, the openings are small so when you strike you have to be precise and decisive. There is two glaring difference between the two however, orcs have an extremely long reach and they are almost impossible to exhaust. A heavy armor leaves the warrior slowed down and the need to manage their stamina carefully, slow and steady moving forward is the way to take advantage of your superior protection.

Orcs on the other hand don't have this problem, they're not really faster but unlike the knights, they don't need to be careful. They can swing their massive blades wildly around for days without fear of running out of stamina, and if one of those hits catches you ... well, let's just say that the number of armors in existence that can withstand such a strike is very rare.

Unfortunately for John, his armor wasn't one of those. He had to face three stragglers to get here and although the first two were careless and easy to dispatch the last one managed to clip him. The young strategist had succeeded in deflecting the strike but was still thrown into a house wooden wall, the impact left him with a dislocated shoulder, and now the prospect of managing a good enough diversion and surviving it ... well, the odds could be a lot better.

"You know you you'll have to pop your shoulder back in, right?" The incubus taunted.

"I know," John answered with a wince.

"You know it's going to hurt, right?" Legion pushed.

"I knoooooooowww!" The young prince said shoving his shoulder into the wall popping it back in place.

"Could you be louder? I think the orcs on the other side of the village missed that!" The tenant complained.

"Doesn't really matter, does it? We're about to light up a beacon leading right at us." The young man countered while stretching and testing his wounded shoulder.

"You got a point. You sure you want to do this? We aren't really topped off right now, there is no telling how long you'll be able to keep this up and if you're not careful ... well, the shoulder will be the last of your problems." The incubus warned.

"Beleive me, if there was any other way I would have taken it but here we are. Let's get this over with, how do I do it?" The prince reluctantly asked.

"It should be pretty easy ............."

---------------------------------------------------meanwhile------------------------------------------------

The young captain gained a lot of respect for the elm's squad, she wasn't sure she would have been able to stay this focus if she had seen her own home burned like that. But the professional squad had quickly been able to refocus and now they were closing in on the central tower where the matriarch was most likely to be.

They had been pretty lucky on their way, only a handful of orcs managed to spot them. It helps when you have the advantages of knowing the lay of the land.

When they arrive at the entrance a guard immediately opened the door for them without asking questions, seem to Asagi that captain Hail commanded a lot of respect among her peoples.

It took them some time and a hell of a lot of steps to reach the top of the tower. When they opened the door of the top chamber they came face to face with 3 women, the one in the middle was clearly the matriarch and the 2 others some kind of bodyguards if the young captain had to guess.

Her counterpart quickly dropped to one knee and started her report while trying to gain information on the situation of her village, Asagi took this time to look at the trio more closely.

The matriarch was older and looked more regal and despite the situation, she was unusually calm. Asagi was taken aback by her outfit, in any part of the northern kingdom this kind of clothing, or lack thereof, would only be seen on ladies of the night ... the most willing anyway.

The bodyguards also showed signs of experience although they were definitively younger, the one on the right was probably a mage. The lack of weapons or any sort of effective armor was usually a dead giveaway, mage relied on defensive shields, and when more experienced on skins. Skins were layers of shields just above the user skin, it was a great way of protection but also heavily draining on magic reserve.

The last one was an archer, this was atypical for many reasons. When you have a mage in your party, the best way to make use of them was with a frontline type of warrior. The frontline engages while the mage is free to either cast offensive spells or support the frontline with empowering and protection spells. There were very few mages who could sustain a vanguard style of fighting, a style that put the mage on the frontline instead. So unless the mage could do such a thing the archer/mage duo was an incredibly ineffective team, if your opponent closed the gap you were pretty much done. And with these 3 beauties, Asagi was sure any victor would have a blast reaping their reward.

Asagi was roused from her observation when the captain report was interrupted by a sudden spike of magic, this was not a spell, it was the build-up of someone getting ready to fight. Asagi knew that magical aura very well but never before she felt something this terrifying, she could tell John was some distance away, and yet when the shockwave of the release struck the tower it shook and the wind entered the room like a hurricane had just dropped on top of them.

They all gathered at the balcony overlooking the plaza to see pillaging Orcs start to make their way toward what was a very obvious challenge.

"We-Well ... as distractions go I must say your prince certainly doesn't seem to like subtlety." The elm matriarch said still a bit shook by the monstrous magical display.

"That fucking idiot, he's going to bring the whole horde on him. What the fuck! Hey! where the hell are you going you stupid mutt!" The almost forgotten elf mumbled echoing Asagi's thoughts, at least the first part anyway. Seem like the deathmaw decided to run away, as far as Asagi was concern it was a blessing, she didn't need to worry about a fucking pet right now. She had her orders and they needed to evacuate the VIP.

"C'mon! we need to move or this distraction will be for nothing." The young captain urged before turning on her heels and heading for the stairs.

"She's right Matriarch, we need to get you somewhere safe." Hail seconded before her face lit in surprise at her leader's reaction.

"I will certainly not flee and let a northerner scum steal all the glory!" The Matriarch exclaimed heading toward the stair with a determined face leaving both captains stunned and unsure of how to proceed other than follow her......................................................

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