El-Vador's Travels (11 page)

'Good.' said Mugrab

'I
want all Orcs in the Elven lands dead. You are an Orc but I do not
wish to kill you, you need to leave.'

He
was not looking at Mugrab, but he was staring south toward the
stronghold that had begun the occupation of the Elven lands.

'Do you know who Chief Sarvacts is?' the Elf asked suddenly.

'I
know of him. Every Orc knows of him.'

'Tell me of Sarvacts.'

It
wasn't a question, Mugrab felt compelled to reply. 'I can't say I
know much more than rumours, and none of them are good. It is said
that Sarvacts killed the family of a very important Orc when he could
not find him and that is why he was banished out into these
mountains.'

El-Vador's
eyes widened, for a moment Mugrab fully expected the youth to shoot
him then and there. Instead he was gone, racing into the woods from
whence he came.
Mugrab's
words had bought himself a reprieve and for the first time he began
to think about leaving these lands.

For a time my heart was in conflict, the lines between enemy and
friend were blurred and the indecision and strife it caused within
hurt me greatly. One has to remember that when you commit to a path
you must eliminate every obstacle regardless of the moral
implications. The consequences otherwise can often undermine
everything you fought for, rendering it as useless as dust and ash.

E
l-Vador
spent many hours hidden away in the woods in an attempt to avoid any
contact with the Orcs. He had been planning for some time how to best
utilise the red phial the creature had given him in the cave but
there was always so much to be getting on with throughout the day
that he never set any of his plans in motion.

Escaping
the settlement altogether suited him better. Then he need not have to
boil with rage at the various abuses that his people put up with from
the Orcs.

He
stood watching birds of prey circle when a voice called next to him,
'You have not completed your task.'

El-Vador
jumped, unsheathing his blade and swinging wildly at thin air. He had
neither seen nor heard the owner of the voice approach, a fact that
should have been impossible. 'Where are you?' he cried. 'Show
yourself!'

The
mocking laughter that rang inside his own skull answered the question
he hadn't asked.

'It has been many moons since you were given the phial and commanded
to seek vengeance upon those that wronged you,' the voice from the
cave said, still remaining out of sight.

'There have been complications.' said El-Vador, scanning the area
hopelessly in an attempt to find the source of the voice. 'Why can I
not see you?'

The
voice chuckled again, El-Vador felt no desire to join it. 'I am
inside of you, always. What complications do you feel excuse you from
your taking of the Orcs' lives?'

'I
have been busy with my father and the planning of the assault.'

The
chuckling subsided, he found the silence ominous. 'Your petty life as
you knew it is of little consequence, you must slay the Orcs and gain
your vengeance.'

'Alone? Armed with just the phial you've given me? I don't know
how!' cried El-Vador, clutching his head in frustration.

'You are my chosen vessel, all you need do is act and it shall be
done.'

'Your chosen vessel?' asked El-Vador. 'Chosen for what purpose?'

'In a time far from now that shall become clear,' the voice replied
cryptically. 'Your purpose in the here and now is clear and I shall
not utter it again.'

A
lancing pain shot through El-Vador's head, making him lose all
bearing on his surroundings and bringing him down to one knee.

'Get out of my head!' he roared, coming to his feet again by force
of will alone. 'I will kill them, I will kill them all! Just leave my
mind in peace!'

Silence
greeted him as his head ached, he needed to kill the Orcs soon.

Chief
Sarvacts rode out of the stronghold and through the bustling streets
of the small settlement that had sprung up around it.

He
left the civilised world behind, not that it would be called that
from where he had come and could never go back to. He couldn't
imagine any of his old comrades standing the squalor he had been
placed in.

He
rode with his axe across his knees, ready to use at a heartbeat's
notice. It would be years before Orcs could travel through these
lands without a weapon to hand. Sarvacts remained convinced the
missing Orc had not vanished all on his own. His bones may well have
been lost deep in the forests but he doubted the wildlife could have
bested him. No, this was some Elven plot to retake the lands or
perhaps some petty act of vengeance.

He
knew that the road he was travelling on was ideal for an ambush, he
didn't care. Let the Elves come if there were any, at least then he
would know for sure that which he suspected.

Sarvacts
arrived at the first Elven settlement he had captured and immediately
came across the Elf that had been eluding him, El-Vador. The boy was
making his way back to his father's house and seemed to be trying his
best to ignore that Sarvacts was riding up beside him. He reined in
across his path, making him impossible to avoid. 'You, Elven boy,' he
called out to him. 'I have been looking for you.'

The
boy's face remained impassive. Sarvacts knew that this young one
wanted him dead from their last encounter, he almost felt like
goading him into action. First though he would attempt to wrangle the
truth out of him, if there was such truth to the rumours he was
hearing.

'I
have questions for you, Elf.' he said, refusing to use the boy's
name.

'Then ask your questions and be done with it,' El-Vador replied in a
disrespectful tone.

Sarvacts
bristled, unaccustomed to having his authority challenged, if he were
to get angry now and slay the child he would never know. The
settlement streets had been abandoned as a result of their meeting,
nobody wanted to see what might happen next.

'You
are aware that one of my men has gone missing, are you not?'

El-Vador
smiled. 'What concern of that is mine? Do you expect me to
sympathise?'

Sarvacts
fought down the urge to spur his horse directly through the boy, this
impudent youth was goading him.

'My
men claim that you go into the woods often, many of them suspect that
you are involved in his downfall, what say you to this?'

The
boy's expression did not change, he was still smiling at the Chief as
if they were talking of the weather. 'If you suspect he was murdered
by one of my people then I can only wish that it had been by my hand.
Sadly I do not have the time to butcher Orcs in the woods, however
satisfying that might seem.'

Either
the boy was an excellent liar or genuinely had nothing to do with the
loss of his man, his patience was being sorely tested either way. He
hefted his axe dangerously at the Elf. 'One more word of dissent from
you and I shall cleave your head from your shoulders.'

He
looked up, the Elf had turned his back to the Chief and was walking
back toward his home as if Sarvacts wasn't there.

He
considered riding the child down then, yet something stopped him. In
all this barren and desolate country, El-Vador's unabashed defiance
of him was the only thing that intrigued him. Turning his horse, he
galloped back to the stronghold to await the Elf's next move.

The
invaders blundering along the trail clearly had no skill in the
woods, El-Vador found tailing them to be almost comically easy. He
pushed his luck further and further, drawing closer to them without
their realising.

They
ambled along, loudly announcing their presence to anything that could
hear, they would be catching no prey this day.

With
a resounding crack, one of them stepped on a stick. 'Fool!' hissed a
Goblin. 'Do you not know how to move silently as I do?'

'As if what I did was any different to your attempts at stealth.' the
Orc replied, clearly not appreciating his companion. 'You keep this
up we'll not catch anything.'

'If we don't catch anything it'll be you to blame, you'll see.' said
the Goblin. He mocked the Orc then, stamping his feet up and down.
'Look at me forest, for I am Hlug the stealth master. Now come to me
animals and let me slay you with my silence!' he reached his scrawny
arms out in mockery as if trying to embrace the animals in the woods.

The
Orc chose not to rise to the Goblin's bait. 'I wouldn't fancy hugging
half the stuff out here, it'd more likely maul you.'

El-Vador
nodded. He wanted to kill all the invaders who tramped through the
woods. Soon he would do exactly that, very soon indeed. He could
easily pin them both to the trees with well-placed shots, now was not
the time for such indulgences with Sarvacts still clearly suspicious
of him. Any further Orcs missing in the woods would cause
retribution. Instead he stayed close to them and listened, not
expecting to hear much of use.

'Our beloved Chief isn't making things any better for us, the way
he's prowling around that settlement as if he'll sniff out the Elven
killer,' another Orc said.

El-Vador
had not expected a third Orc, this one moved silently compared to his
companions. These Orcs, much like the others, suspected that their
comrade had been slain at Elven hands, the idle rumour seemed to have
now been accepted as fact. Why then had they not simply raised the
settlement? What was stopping them?

'If he hears you saying that Harg, you'll be on the gallows with the
rest of the Elves up north. Sarvacts doesn't like people questioning
his motives, however right they might be in questioning him.'

'Well someone must have given him orders,' said the Orc who wasn't
Harg. 'Otherwise he wouldn't be up here knee deep in that Pixie we
captured.'

El-Vador
almost stumbled out of his hiding place, they had captured the Pixie
that he had rescued from the Orc? She knew that the Orc had been
slain by an Elf. If she told Sarvacts what she knew...

For
a little while, he forgot about murdering all the invaders. He needed
to know more about Sarvacts and his relationship with his new
captive, it was imperative that he acted soon lest Sarvacts discover
the truth and torch his settlement and all those within.

Gurgash
hated the Elven forest, even more so than the ribbing he took from
the Goblins about his lack of stealth. He knew he was a big dumb Orc
but he tried his best not to make a sound when they were out hunting.
Often he'd simply be left behind on sentry duty while Harg went out
with the others, this time he had been invited along under the
condition that he try not to scare too much game away.

When
he stopped for a moment, the other two soldiers also halted. 'What is
it?' asked Harg. 'Is something out there, cousin?' He sounded edgier
than usual himself; perhaps the silent immensity of the woods had
begun to get under his skin, too.

However
reluctantly, Gurgash shook his head. 'No,' he admitted. 'But we could
be hunted as we speak and we'd never notice, not in woods like
these.'

His
own words made him stop, look, and listen again, as if in saying so
he had conjured Elven hunters into reality. But if anything was there
his senses did not detect it. Perhaps the hair-prickling feeling at
the nape of his neck was just his irrationality.

'You look on edge cousin, if there was anything out there I'd have
spotted it by now.' said Harg.

'I
know, I just...' Gurgash tried to put the feeling into words, 'I feel
like we're being watched, maybe I'm just being paranoid.'

'Being overly paranoid can sometimes save a soldier's life.' said
his cousin. Gurgash felt a bit better for that, remaining vigilant
and paranoid was probably for the best in woods like these.

'You're in safe hands here.' added the Goblin. 'Anything jumps out
of the woods at us I'll stick it with an arrow faster than you can
blink.'

That
only served to reinforce Gurgash's feeling of unease, the thought
that something might leap out without warning.

Thinking
of the forest made him think of the Elves who dwelt in it. Had they
really accounted for all their settlements? What if they had missed
one that was gearing for war? 'The Elves don't seem as docile as
before.'

Frowning,
Harg said, 'They've heard of the killer. That one of their own has
started fighting back and Sarvacts has not quashed the rumour with
any retribution. His inaction gives them hope.'

'They could have beaten us the first time round, they almost did.
I'm thinking that maybe a few of them are wondering if they can do it
again.' the Goblin added.

'And they know it, too,' agreed Harg. 'You can see it in their faces
when you go into the settlement. They know they nearly had us and
they're just waiting for an excuse to strike again. That's why so
many soldiers are coming up from the south. Sarvacts fears them
taking another shot at us when we're not expecting it.'

'Even without the reinforcements there's still more of us now than
there were when the army first came up into the Elven lands.' Gurgash
said in an attempt to reassure himself more than anything else.

He
had always hated the Elven forests. They stretched across the
landscape, vast and impenetrable. He kept thinking about the Elves
they hadn't accounted for, would they do anything? Would there be a
retaliation from the ones he did know of? He couldn't tell, he knew
nothing at all, he was just a stupid grunt. He fervently hoped that
the fighting had come to and end for good.

He
kept his thoughts to himself for the duration of the hunt, which
yielded nothing edible.

Later
on that day he watched Chief Sarvacts from a distance inspecting some
troops who seemed very eager to please him. Turning to his cousin, he
said, 'Why is he showing so much attention to this fort in
particular? There are plenty up north that deserve his presence.'