Private Tales Troubles and Turbulences

[Mabess]

Hath shrugged, cast an eye towards Ghaavel and touched the fragment of bone to the symbol.

Darkness fell. Not the kind of darkness that yours eyes would adjust to. It was absolute. There was the soft rushing sound. Like water over stones. And something else.

Some had always claimed to hear whispers in the void between portal stones. For the first time Hath heard them. It was no language he could understand. There was no intent between the sounds. As soon as they started the light returned.

Hath had to shield his eyes from the savanna sun. He blinked until he could see. By that time the heat had already worked through his furs and he felt a bead of sweat roll down his back.

He heard a cry in the human tongue and turned sharply.

A small caravan was just beyond the stone. The man at the front telling back, pointing to Hath and the axe in his hands.

"No harm!" shouted Hath, lowering the weapon. One of them was already trying to load a crossbow.

Not long after Ubabe and Sheeha would come through. Seemingly both were more dazzled about the appearance of the savannah than the yapping of of humans whom could be seen in every corner of Arethil.
Sheeha even would let out a small chuckle, seemingly finding the odd trip... a unique experience. She would just hop from an end to another if she had the spare magic to.

But all emotion was shortlived when Ubabe petted her by the shoulder and pointed at the humans.
The ashlanders were not known here, in fact humans feared orcs and would preffer to just stay clear.
This time it was the orcs that had to stay clear.
Ubabe and sheeha kept their arms away from their spears, but held onto the reins of their somewhat startled but calming Ash leopards.

Hath Charosh

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Put down! Put down!" Hath called to the one with a crossbow. A few other men had dropped down from the caravan now. They didn't wear armour but there was a smattering of swords, spears and crossbows.

"Move away from the stone slowly," he muttered to the others in their own tongue. He gave Ghaavel a small nod, urging the young blood to keep his calm.

Hath waved in the direction he started to step carefully away from the humans. They were likely just startled by orcs appearing from the stone.

"Who the fuck taught an orc to use a portal stone?"

Hath ignored the call. He could not ignore the click, hiss and whistle as a crossbow bolt lanced over his head. In one fluid motion he turned. A soft twang, a thud and cry.

The crossbowman was impale to his own seat. Hath's black arrow shaft emerging from just below his sternum. He hadn't even thought about shooting back, it had just happened.

As he reached for his axe, Hath wondered when killing had become so easy.

 

[Mabess]

The pair of she-orcs would slowly move away from the stone, not quite used to having humans treat them like this. But they were Stormcallers at heart and if they could avoid combat, especially with a child on hand, they'd rather run it.

Ubabe would quickly hoist Ghaavel on her leopard and mount it just as swiftly. »Lets Kill them...« Sheeha snapped to them as she hopped onto her leopard, offering Hath an arm.

»Hath, get on!« Ubabe would cry out before things got worse. She had no intention on battling men right now.

 

[Hath Charosh]

Hath turned and looked back at the humans. He tightened his grip on his axe, taking a half step towards them. That surprised even himself. He might have changed from a hunter and survivor to someone more accustomed to killing orcs and men. The anger he felt, the draw towards the battle, that was all unexpected.

His pulse had quickened. The sudden angle bubbling up seemed to narrow his vision on those who had tried to strike first. There was a sudden, sharp pain where the demon's feather had struck him.

Hath lowered his axe and took Ubabe's hand.

"Sorry," he muttered as he swung up onto the feline.

 

[Mabess]

The felines would bolt behind the the portal stone for cover and continue running into the distance.
The pace of an ash keopard was much faster than that of a horse. But they couldn't run for as long as a horse, even less than a human. They were perfect for scaling mountains ten times quicker than burned animals.

A good distance away, Sheeha narrowed her eyes while looking back.
»Should've hunted them down.«

»No, no killing. Hath. What was all that about?« Ubabe would forcefully exhale, not expecting such a greeting from man and a reply from Hath.

 

[Hath Charosh]

"One of them shot at me," he replied, as if it was that simple. "I shot him back. They won't chase us. Just merchants using the portal stones to travel somewhere."

Hath slid off the flank of the Ash leopard. Riding one was more like clinging on and desperately hoping not to be flung off. They ran close enough to the ground that you could truly feel their speed. He always found it unsettling. Not as unsettling as he found his own behaviour.

Beneath his shirt, the wound from the demon itched.

Hath startes to pull away some of his furs. The sudden change in temperature was shocking.

"We'll wait until they have passed through and then travel back."

 

[Mabess]

It felt like the Blackhawk ordeal five years ago to Ubabe.
»And is that how to stop a long chain of hostility? «

»They asked for it, « Sheeha rolled her eyes as she dismounted after Hath. The ash leopard bolted under an acacia shade, panting away. Sheeha dropped some of her furs and walked over to the shade, packing it up and sitting down crosslegged.

Ubabe seemed a bit bewildered, did they just tun the opposite way? Nevermind.

 

[Hath Charosh]

You could still go back. Kill them all and take their goods back to the spine.

It was his own voice, but he did not quite recognise the force behind them. Angre flashed across his face, lips curling back to bare his tusks. It was almost immediately replaced by confusion. He couldn't find the source of such sudden aggression. Typically he was a calm, calculated hunter.

"They will be gone soon," he told them. "Caravan doesn't linger around a stone. Good place for an ambush."

 

[Mabess]

Sheeha took a sip before offering her waterskin to the panther who happily lapped up some of the stream. Part of it the she.orc captured in her arms, just to wash her face with it. A refreshment for the moment.

Ubabe slowly stepped into the shade. »So... Relations here with other races...are not the best.«

 

[Hath Charosh]

"The savanna is so big that you don't have big wars between humans and orcs so often," he said. "The small tribes that survive out here see any others as a threat, regardless of race."

Hath turned to look south. With his furs removed he was relishing the kiss of sun across his skin. It seemed to burn away some of that misplaced rage.

"Down south though... Vel Anir... Always expanding into orc lands. They despise other species. Elves, orcs, dwarves..."

 

[Mabess]

»And what's...Vel Anir?« Ubabe shrugged her head, noticing some leaf that drifted on her nose... before.

A dozen or so monkey lept off the acacia and scuttled off into the grass to another tree.
Ubabe seemed the most startled, screeching her lungs out while Sheeha grabbed one by the tail, getting scratched across the face, dropping the nuisance just to have her ash leopard kill it in one bite. The other darted off after the monkeys before returning with a fresh kill.

 

[Hath Charosh]

"A human fortress. Never seen it myself. Huge stone walls."

Ghaavel picked and arrow from his quiver, eyes on the monkeys. Hath held out a hand in warning.

"Don't agitate them any further. They'll start tossing their shit down at us from the tree."

 

[Mabess]

»And what were those??« Ubabe stacked her questions.

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Monkeys. They're not really dangerous. Can be to very little ones. We don't normally range this far north. We're still weeks away from where my tribe could be," he replied. They could not go searching for them now. They had to report back to the Ashlanders.

 

[Mabess]

Ubabe walked out into the light, looking over the portal stone to see if the caravan had gone through.
Imagine if they went to the spine!

»And what's this Vel Anir?«

 

[Hath Charosh]

"Directly south. We won't get any bother from their armies this far north. They encroach on the savanna and try and farm the land, churning it up. But...they do not understand how to survive here. They do not understand what they cannot change to be the same. "

 

[Mabess]

»Typical human...and elves too. They don't live with the nature.« Sheeha shrugged while crossing her arms. Eventually she pointed at the portal stone. »They left!«

 

[Hath Charosh]

"The elves tolerate us when we move to the edges of their woods during the dry season," he replied. "As long as we don't hunt too deep."

"Last time I passed through home the humans had sent out a small force to set up a new settlement. The elves eradicated them."

Hath looked to the portal stone. He could just make out faint wisps from the grass around the stone. A sign it had just been used again. As if the lack of caravan wasn't enough of a sign.

"Let's get back them."

 

[Mabess]

Sheeha noded before taking her leopard by the reins. Ubabe would head out first towards the portal stone.

»You know, I feel rather exposed.« Ubabe looked around around the flat terrain.
»I don't like it,« Sheeha scoffed.

 

[Hath Charosh]

"You should try south. The sun can kill. No hiding from prides of lions. Reptiles in the water with jaws big enough to eat your leopard. Oh and the savanna trolls.

"Would still take it over the fucking cold," Hath muttered. He looked at the furs in his hands as if he didn't want to take them back.

 

[Mabess]

»Are savannah trolls anything like Mountain ones?« Ubabe casually asked. Raising a brow at the dangers recited as they made their way back.

»I don't like it either wa,.« Sheeha scoffed again, crossing her arms.

 

[Hath Charosh]

"They blend in. Hide I'm ravines or long brush. Pale yellow and hairy things. If one catches you in its long arms it'll crush your rubs and spine in a few seconds. They don't come this far north I don't think."

Hath didn't know these lands, but they had never seen one this far north. The coast seemed to have its own climate and ecosystem.

"Not as big. Much faster."

 

[Mabess]

»Much faster? Is that a significant trait?« Ubabe shook her head a little. How much faster could a troll realy be. A slight thought came across her mind of zooming trolls all of a sudden.
She chuckled.

 

[Hath Charosh]

"You don't want to be on foot when there is a hungry one around. They'll scavenge too, but they see a lone orc as a snack." As a lone scout and hunter it was a constant threat.

As they approached the stone once more he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. There was no sound or flash of magic to herald another arrive. Six armoured men appeared. One of them immediately pointed at the orcs.

"Look! There are orcs ambushing travellers!"

"Fuck," went Hath.

 

[Mabess]

Ubabe nodded along as they moved onward. Savannah trolls sounded quite their own thing. More monstrous really and...

The two she-orcs stepped back. Sheeha instinctively grabbed her weapons.

Ubabe would try for damadge controll, grabbing sheeha by her arm, restraining her urge to fling a javelin right into a human.
She wasn't quite versed in human speech either.