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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3783974" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 5: Smoke on the HorizonThree of them were glad to be out of Besol. Well, no, all four of them were. But while Aylana was focused on the task ahead, she would gladly have stayed if she could have. The others...though they wouldn’t speak it, both Cor and Falen couldn’t help feeling like Rennai did. The Temple was too much a fortress for their tastes, and it felt like a jail with the way everything was locked down. Both Cor and Falen were simply happier in the open air, though for different reasons.    Cor had grown up in the forest to the east, far from where they were now. But he could close his eyes and see it all again. It was the best he would have, though. Though many of his people chose to leave their protected kingdom, Cor hadn’t left on the best of terms. Though it was well over a century later, it was unlikely he would be welcomed back by anyone.    Falen, however, had not grown up in the forest. He and Aylana were born in a rather small village to the south. He had done what most children did on a farm, and helped his father with the chores, but as he’d grown older, Falen wandered more and more, to the dismay of his father who truly did need the help. By the time Falen left his home, he was fairly sure his parents saw him as a disappointment. Their oldest son had left with no real goal or aim, simply taking the bow his father had given him a year before. He looked even worse when compared with Aylana...who seemed to be the perfect child.    But Falen didn’t resent his sister. It was his younger sister, and no matter what else she became, that would never change. In fact, it seemed like she had more difficulty with being around him. For some reason, Falen got the feeling she was always trying to prove herself and show she was worthy of being with them, which made no sense, as she’d tracked him down years ago.    “That thing is looking at me like I’m food again,” Rennai mumbled warily from behind.    And then there was someone else. Falen smiled as he looked down to his side where Convel was calmly walking, though, currently, looking over his shoulder and back towards Rennai...who was standing behind Cor and peering around carefully.    Convel was a grey-furred wolf that Falen had tamed barely a month after he’d left his home. Since then, the wolf had been his closest friend and a loyal companion. He’d been initially cautious of the others, especially Aylana, but warmed up quickly enough. But with Rennai, the wolf seemed to enjoy...toying with her. Falen knew that Convel would never hurt her, but he seemed to enjoy making her hide like that.    Falen couldn’t blame him, and so simply reached down to give the wolf a good scratch before saying to Rennai, “He’d probably stop doing that if you’d grow another inch or two. Right now you’re the only one of us the perfect size for him to get a meal from.”    “One more crack about me being short and I’ll—“    ”And you’ll what? Stab me in my sleep?” Falen laughed and motioned to Convel, “I don’t think he’d like that. Besides, who’d stop Convel from eating you if I wasn’t around.”    Rennai matched his smile with a glare, “I truly dislike you and that beast of yours.”    Convel growled at her.    “Must you do two do this every time we travel somewhere?” Cor was looking at the sky as he spoke, as if it was the only thing that would possibly bother listening to him anymore.    Currently, they were walking to the town of Eschilar, just a few miles out from Besol. The road was more of a narrow dirt path, and they’d encountered no one else while walking. For the first mile, they had passed fields and crops and other things that hinted at the fringes of civilization, but soon it was simply grasslands and rolling hills. Far ahead of them, to the north, the shadow of a pair of mountains could be seen, but that was very far away and, according to the priest back at the temple, they would reach Eschilar long before the mountains.    “Falen...” Aylana, who had been silent for most of the way, reached over and touched him on the shoulder as gently as one could when incased in plate armour.    Stopping, he turned and looked to his sister, “Hm?”    “Smoke is rising over that hill,” Cor said in his usual monotone voice, his eyes catching it before Falen did.    It was thick, black smoke, just off to the west and away from the current direction of the path...though, after looking around again, Falen noted the path broke off and there was a sign not far ahead of them. He turned and looked to the two Elves behind him, “You do not think...”    “I suggest we find out quickly,” Cor spoke as he started walking again, but at a very brisk pace.    There was no argument from the others, who quickly moved to catch up and then match his speed as they first followed the road to its break. The sign had only one arrow, pointing to the west-going path. It read what they didn’t want to see: Eschilar.    Aylana was the first to start running down the road towards the smoke, with the others right on her feet. Rounding a corner took a grassy hill out of their way to show a town...or at least, part of a town. But instead of buildings and people, they saw flames. Fire consumed everything in the town, black smoke billowing up from the tops of the buildings.    “Where’s your stupid bird to warn us of this?” Rennai growled at Cor.    Not even looking at her, Cor simply responded, “He wished to explore. He will return to us when he is ready.”    Rennai just rolled her eyes, drawing her sword and dagger as she noticed Aylana had pulled out her sword and holding her shield up. Falen was readying an arrow and his bow was out. They saw something...and when Rennai looked past the taller members of the group, she saw it, too.    There was a cart off to the side of the road, and it was the only thing made of wood that they could see that wasn’t consumed in fire. And there, around the cart and throwing torches onto the nearest of the buildings, was a large group of humanoids. They were all slightly slumped over, though still likely taller than Rennai was, holding large, slightly curved swords in their hands. And farthest up the road, nearly in the middle of the flames between two of the buildings, was a huge creature well over ten feet tall. It was facing the other direction, into the burning ruins of the Eschilar, pointing at something and shouting orders in a language that sounded more like growls and grunts than anything. In each hand, was a large, Rennai-sized spiked club...and when it glanced around, all of them could clearly see it had not one, but two heads.    “Orcs,” Falen said in a hushed voice, though still loud enough for the three others to hear, then said more softly to the wolf running at his side, “Convel, stay close to me.”    The wolf made an interesting sound that was probably an acknowledgment.    “Ten creatures could not possibly burn an entire town!” Aylana snapped angrily, more speaking to herself than to the others, “Where, in the name of all that is holy, are the town guards?!”    “Put that out of your mind. For now I suggest we use our short moment of surprise to deal with these beasts,” Cor announced, sounding surprisingly ready for battle. Usually he was the type to at least stop and talk before diving in with a weapon or a spell. Of course, there usually weren’t Orcs involved. Planting his feet, Cor shifted his staff to his left hand and then extended his right arm, “Melten baria.”    A bolt of lightning, accompanied by a deafening crack of thunder, sprung to life from Cor’s fingertips and shot out at blinding speed towards the Orcs. The bolt went straight for three of the Orcs, catching the first and shooting right through him to take down the second, and then the third before ending its path by striking the nearest building...and adding to the flames that were already engulfing it.    “I believe we should avoid encouraging the flames, Cor,” Falen said, the hint of a grin on his features as he came to a stop next to the Elf. He raised his bow, arrow already help in place at the ready, took aim at the nearest of the Orcs to have been lucky enough to avoid Cor’s attack, and then let the arrow fly. It caught its target in the torso as the Orc turned to see the attackers, sending him into the grass at his feet immediately.    “Show offs,” Rennai muttered before sprinting for the nearest of the Orcs, who was next to the cart and already raising his sword in preparation for her attack. When she reached it, the Orc swung his large blade to take off her head. Rennai ducked under the strike, thrusting with her rapier as she continued her charge. The blade went up through the light layer of armour worn by the foul-smelling Orc, and Rennai’s momentum skewered the creature to the cart before she removed her weapon and looked to her right where another Orc was already swinging at her.    The Orc let out an angry battle cry and swung its blade at Rennai, who avoided the vertical swing by twisting to the side and letting the Orc drive his sword into the dirt. Just as he was pulling the blade up for another swing, Aylana charged in, her blue and white-glowing sword in hand and swinging across at the Orc. The large sword cut across the Orc’s torso, leaving a trail of ice on the wound that nearly cleaved the creature into two pieces.    Where one Orc suddenly came around Rennai from behind the cart, surprising her as she hadn’t seen it coming, the two remaining turned and raised crossbows. They took a short time to aim, and both let loose a bolt in the direction of where Falen and Cor still stood. One bolt went far, hitting the ground behind the two, while the second dug in at their feet, a little too close to Cor’s robe for his comfort.    It was then that the giant, two-headed creature spun around, made an angry motion and ran towards the cart where Rennai and Aylana were, weapons in both hands raised and ready while the two heads seemed to be growling and snapping at one another.    Seeing this, and not trusting his aim to hit the large creature and not Aylana or Rennai, Cor instead trusted to the true aim of his spells. Keeping his voice low this time, and raising his arm again, he felt the gathering of magical energy...then, with an odd pop of sorts, three bright blue missiles appeared and arced in three different paths straight to the two-headed giant, all striking different sections of its barely-armoured torso precisely.    “Much better,” Falen said, now openly smiling and enjoying this. Fighting in a tomb was so...restricting. It was nice to be out in the open where he could take full advantage of his skill with a bow. His eyes darted across the three remaining Orcs...one behind Rennai and swinging its blade, and the two others beyond the giant and reloading their crossbows.    Setting their positions in his mind, Falen took aim at the first and let loose an arrow, with two others following in quick succession. The first arrow struck perfectly, catching the Orc behind Rennai in its skull and flattening it against the cart next to the Orc that Rennai had run through. His eyes followed the same path from before, seeing his second target take an arrow in the chest and dropping it at the third’s feet...and then his last arrow whisking over the head of its target and sticking into a burning building.    By the time Rennai had turned to see the Orc coming up behind her, an arrow went through its skull. She blinked, looked off to the side to see Falen looking another direction, and decided not to say anything. It had been a good shot. Moving on, she spun back around to see the giant bearing down over Aylana. Not one to let the armoured-up human have all the fun, Rennai ducked around Aylana to get close to the giant. One of its heads immediately saw this, growled something incomprehensible, and its left arm swung a spiked-mace down, catching Rennai across her back as she moved.    She let out a cry of pain, knowing that the spikes had cut through her chain armour. But she focused through the slight red-tint of her vision and attempted to drive her rapier up to its currently-exposed side. Rennai got her own revenge as the point of her sword cut through the giant’s armour and into its side.    Hearing the cry over her shoulder, Aylana spun around in time to see the blood from Rennai’s back splatter the dirt. Aylana clenched her teeth and raised her shield, taking only a single step before swinging her very large sword upwards at the giant. While one of its heads had been watching Rennai, the second was on Aylana, and its right arm moved its second weapon in to parry her strike on the long shaft of the spiked weapon. Aylana did not let this deter her, however, and quickly reversed the momentum of her swing to bring the blade back down. The back swing cut across the giant’s leg, and the magic imbued in her sword left a trail of ice in the wound that it cut open, sending freezing cold pain up the giant’s body.    A loud twang signaled the last of the Orcs firing his crossbow. Falen had been distracted by Rennai’s cry, and then suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right leg. Gritting his teeth to hold back any sound, Falen still grunted in pain. Before Cor could say anything, however, Falen reached down and pulled the crossbow bolt out of his thigh, getting another grunt from the human and a whining sound from the wolf at his side.    “I assume that means you will be alright,” Cor said simply to Falen. The human didn’t say anything, and there was a pained, but focused look on his face, but he did nod. Having gotten a response, Cor returned his focus to the magical energy he was still drawing around him. Weaving a circle in the air in front of him, Cor focused the energy, then pressed his hands together, releasing it in a sickly, green arrow that shot out and slammed into the giant just under its head, splashing the acid all over its torso and face and getting another growl from both of its heads.    Falen was in the process of taking in the two last targets, making sure to correctly place the Orc in his mind before letting loose another series of three arrows. This time, his arrow struck the Orc high on its torso and dropped it, the heavy crossbow slamming onto its unmoving body. The last two arrows both hit the giant, one another after going straight through its thin layer of armour and lodging into its torso where the acid from Cor’s spell was still burning away.    Still trying to see through the pain, Rennai used the distraction of other’s injuring the giant to step around behind it, thrusting up with her dagger at its back and slashing her dagger towards its leg. But both strikes did nothing but catch the creature’s armour, neither digging through it...the pain was distracting her...    The pain, however, was not distracting the giant. It twisted slightly so that the head following Rennai could see her, and swung one of its massive weapons down on her, while the other head aimed a strike down on Aylana. Rennai was able to just barely avoid being crushed by another blow, stepping to the side as she had done earlier but nearly losing her balance in the process. Aylana, however, wasn’t as lucky. Though she managed to raise her shield, the giant’s weapon came down right on shield, nearly driving her down to the ground and the force of the blow wracking her within the armour she wore...and, for a moment, causing her to wonder if her shield-arm had been broken.    Lowering her shield, Aylana tilted her head up to see the creature’s snarling face, the one that was looking at her, at least, watching her angrily. Tightening her grip on her sword, Aylana swung upwards again, simply grazing the giant’s armour and leaving no wound at all. Though she had become rattled from the blow to her shield, she still attempted another strike, swinging her sword back across its torso...but somehow, the giant managed to shift its body and completely avoid being hit.    By now, the giant was looking terrible. It was bloodied, iced in one place, and had green acid eating through both armour and skin. Cor took a moment to see this, and decided to resort to letting loose another trio of magic missiles to, hopefully, finish the creature off. Again, the three blue bolts shot out from, seemingly, nothing and impacted the giant hard. It was enough force to dig into already opened wounds before sending the creature to the ground, toppling into the cart behind it and crushing it beneath its weight.</blockquote>

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