The Chronicles of Rapina, Chapters 44-46 The Best Laid Plans Back to contents page Back to the, Sorcerer's Apprentice, page. [Rapina]044 The Best Laid Plans [Rapina]045 An Unfriendly Wager [Rapina]046 With A Little Bit of Hluk [Rapina]044 The Best Laid Plans Spring had brought with it the prospect of new battles between Avengene and the orcs, and with it renewed forays to collect bodies. Already Rapina had been on two collection missions, one of which had necessitated a run through the shadow plain to reach the destination. Thane's new spell had been quite handy, allowing the group to reach the location of the battle, consecrate a graveyard and then use it to bring in skeletal horses and body-collecting skeletal soldiers via the graveyard mists spell. By this time Rapina had mastered a small repertoire of cantrips and a relatively long-lasting mage-sight spell called "first sight" that let her see magical emanations. She had also attained a certain degree of adeptness with her energy draining and channeling spell variations. The last of these that she was able to perfect was the mouth-full version of her channeling spell. Thanks to her new channeling spell, if her lover came in her mouth, she swallowed more than his cum. It was late afternoon, morning for Rapina. She had risen a bit early, made breakfast, put it on to warm, then disrobed to give Uhler his morning wash. She was now practicing her channeling spell. Moans, suckles and smacks came from her mouth as she swallowed a great portion of Uhler's cock and rode her mouth and throat up and down. She was hungry and she could feel the energy in him building and building. She began the sequence of sounds and caressed his backside to shape the minor magic she was weaving. Rapina shuddered as more than the shaman's cum bolted down her throat. His energy surged down into her loins then back up her spine, into her heart and from thence it radiated into her breasts to join her reserves. Thane poked his death-masked head into the lab. "Did you get something out of that?" Still kneeling before the shaman, Rapina turned her head and smiled. Just a bit of cum dribbled over her full lips. She had swallowed the rest. "Yes, I took a segment from the drain spell, and I now use it to channel the natural energy of my lovers to hit just the right spot. It's the only cantrip I can do with my mouth full. The entire drain spell is too difficult for me to shape with something in my mouth. Would you like me to demonstrate my new channel spell on you?" Rapina grinned lustily. "That won't be necessary," said. Rapina giggled and shook her head. She stood up, giving Uhler an affectionate rub under the chin. I can't imagine how you stand to do without sex, Kroz. I suppose it's time for breakfast and our lesson. Rapina grabbed the deep purple panties and bustier she had chosen for this morning's breakfast service, and put them on. Then she joined Thane as he walked back towards the lounge. "Your choice of fashion certainly doesn't make celibacy any easier, my dear," Thane said. Rapina grinned, "Maybe not, but I enjoy your lust and Rames as it tingles through me, besides it's not like I'm just teasing you. Since I have two regular lovers, I have much better control and a channeling spell and variations that give me more flexibility than I ever used to have. I need not take any more than a man gives naturally if that's what worries you, and I won't try to bend your mind anymore than it's already bent." Thane gave Rapina's full moon a swat, "You're saying my mind is already bent, Vixen?" Rapina squealed and danced to the other side of the necromancer at which time she grabbed his skeletal left hand from behind and pressed the fingers into the right cheek of her derriere. Thane stiffened involuntarily. "Well you are a little undead, and a necromancer," Rapina said. "You have no idea what that feels like to that hand," Thane said. "I can imagine, though," Rapina said. "I'll bet it feels like a flood of life force, something your hand lacks but craves. Yet if you killed me as most undeads seem to be wont to do, you would get only a brief moment where you felt more life force, and then nothing. It's so sad. Skeletons would really be better off just giving friendly little squeezes. You could immerse your bone in my flesh." Thane groaned at Rapina's play on words. "Do you avoid sex because you fear you would kill me because of your undead hand or because you might loose your objective perspective? If it's your perspective you think you would loose, is it really fully objective where I'm concerned anymore?" "Are you saying I am in love with you?" Thane asked. "Not exactly. You react to my body, but that's just lust and you dismiss it as meaningless. Your fondness stems from your appreciation of my budding intellect, not from other budding things. That's really very impressive. Most women would think you a rare gem because you did not just see them as an object of desire. I think it's sweet too, but I also appreciate men who think of me as an object of desire more than most women do, for obvious reasons." "This fondness you think I have, do you see it in the cold light of your own ability to see men as little more than food?" Thane asked. "Oh come now, you are attributing a cold, calculating manner to me. It is true I can think that way. I have a good teacher, but I happen to be quite fond of the men I make love with, all of them, especially those I see on a regular basis. Just because I get something out of our liaisons, doesn't make it a cold business transaction, anymore than a man's getting something out of it necessarily causes the same attitude. Perhaps I am just projecting my fondness of you as a great wit and fine teacher to reflect back on me. Maybe you really have no feeling for me at all, chess master," Rapina said. "Thane chuckled, "The matter is academic. I am a mortancer. Whether I am fond of you or not is immaterial. I must do what is best for the cause whether I like it or not. The future of our church and hundreds, even thousands of lives rest on my shoulders, and to serve their needs I must retain a great deal of objectivity. Consider Daelrath, what are the odds that such a man would side with a mortancer? True we offer him a vastly better deal than Avengene, but our methods run against the man's grain. Without you, my dear, Daelrath would be in Avengene's pocket. The Order knows that full well, and that is exactly why you are now a full member." "I see your point. Perhaps since you are my teacher I think of you as superhuman. I have always thought of your objective judgment as something that you would exercise no matter what. If I would warp your judgment too much, I guess it's just as well you don't get too close to me," Rapina said. "You are also young enough to be my daughter, perhaps even my granddaughter if I stretched it," Thane said. Rapina grinned. "True, but that seldom stops a man." Thane swatted Rapina's rump again as they entered the kitchen nook. Rames was already there serving himself up a bowl of oatmeal. "Good morning-afternoon, naughty." Rames held aside his bowl of oatmeal while he embraced Rapina with his other arm. Good morning Guardian Thane, is this wench giving you trouble?" Rames grinned. Thane took his death mask off and smiled, "She is a creature of lust, as ever," Thane said. "Oh, she's wondering why she can't have you the two or three nights of the week that she makes me rest up," Rames said. "Indeed," Thane replied. Rames chuckled. "I'm not even going to touch that one. If you were a soldier I'd rib you good, but your role is different, so I figure you must have your reasons." "Yes," Thane said. Rapina set Thane's oatmeal down in front of him, Then took the omelet out of the warm oven where she had hidden it and set it out on a platter. She gave each person a plate and sat down. "You know you are a quite a vixen, Rapina, but I cannot complain about your work or your cooking. For a moment, I thought we would simply have oatmeal, but I should have known better. You always feed us better than we would feed ourselves, and serve us in the finest lingerie fashions of Argos." "There's nothing like Rapina in Argosian fashions to get your heart started." Rames grinned saltily." "At least we know we living men," Thane smiled. "Tell me, how are things going with your bestowal spell?" Rapina sighed. "I can practically do the prescribed syllables and gestures in my sleep, but I have not been able to get it to work." "Hmm, show me your technique after breakfast and I will give you some things to try so that you can narrow it down. I believe your knowledge and command of the drain spell is more than sufficient, but bestowal is something a little new for you, and it requires more power than what you are used to mustering. I do believe it within your capability now. We simply need another breakthrough," Thane said. A few hours later as dusk approached, Thane found his living servitors as they came in from weapons practice. "I have been doing my daily skrying, and there is a battle going on at one of the half-reconstructed forts in Avengene. The orcs appear to be winning. Wash up, a few hours after dark when things settle down we must prepare to make a run through the shadow plane from the nearest graveyard. Presently we do not have a graveyard near enough to this fort." A few hours later the shadowy forms of Thane, Rames, Rapina, Elizabetta, and two reaving skeletons arrived at the scene of the battle. "That is odd," Thane's shadowy voice echoed. "There are some recent dead here but just before we left tonight, I checked my magic pool and the orcs were busy looting." "It could be cavalry arrived more recently. There are a few dead mounts," Rames said. "Indeed, it might be that the Avengenes sent out a rider at the very beginning of the battle and received cavalry reinforcements at the very end of the battle, yet there is no one on the battle site. I suspect the Avengenes would have held this fort if they had won, but the orcs may have left the scene," Thane said. "The cavalry men have been stripped of loot, so I would say the orcs must have weathered the reinforcements. Perhaps they fled for fear of further reinforcements," Rames said. "I concur. We must search in a wide circle around the fort before we come out of the shadow plain. I have no desire to be set upon by more Avengene reinforcements or orcs, although I wonder if sane men would try to fight orcs at night, since the orcs can see in the dark and they cannot. It could be that both sides have camped. The humans because they cannot see, and the orcs because they are licking their wounds from a tough battle. We must see if we can filch the bodies before either group decides to check out the fort. Let us first scout." From the plain of shadow, the group was able to cover a great deal of ground rapidly. They found no one near the ruins of the fort. "Let us make our graveyard here. We are only two hundred yards from the fort, yet the foliage is thick between it and us. Here, however we have a more open area where our train of skeletal horses could move easily," Thane said. "Elizabetta, you will be perimeter sentry. Reavers you will be guarding our immediate area. Rames, and Rapina you will dig the graves and plant the bagged skeletons. I will cast darkness on each of us as a precaution. Let us hustle, we do not want to encounter scouts without the full complement of guards we normally have when using the graveyard mists spell for transport. Thane pronounced the syllables to end the shadow spell for each of his servitors. Rames handed short swords from his pack to the two reaving skeletons and then took up a small shovel he had hanging on the side of the pack. As soon as she was corporeal again, Rapina drew a small shovel from her back and began digging furiously, as did Rames. Thane cast a darkness spell on Elizabetta, and then did vision in darkness on himself and his living servitors before casting darkness on them as well. After getting the darkness spell cast on her, Elizabetta took her weapons belts from Thane's shoulders. Since she had no aura, the necromancer had to carry her things while they were in the shadow plane. When he completed the casting, Thane drew a bagged skeleton from his pack and tossed it into Rames' first finished hole. Because the bagged skeletons were so compact, the graves were small, only about a foot in diameter and two feet deep. Thane drew a second skeleton from Rames' pack and tossed it into the warrior's second hole at about the same time as Rapina drew a bagged skeleton from her pack and tossed it into her first finished hole. Rapina had just started digging when Rames came over to displace her. She knew he was the faster digger so she went to the other holes and quickly began to bury the skeletons Thane had planted. Rapina was kitty-corner from Rames and Thane when she heard it, the sound of rapidly approaching hoof-beats. "A horse," Rapina whispered. "We must take no chances. Rames, you will serve as our beachhead in the shadow plain. Stand here where the moonlight filters through the trees. If there is time we will consecrate, if not we will make a clean escape," Thane said. Thane pronounced the words of the shadow gate spell. Rames stepped back and disappeared. At about that moment, Elizabetta entered the clearing. An orc galloped past not twenty yards from Rapina, his horse bearing the blood-splattered tack of the Avengene cavalry. "Elizabetta, you must remain on the perimeter to run interference if need be. Should we get separated, preserve yourself and I shall pick you up when I can. Reavers, get behind that tree and guard me only if I am about to be attacked," Thane ordered. Elizabetta moved into the trees. Rapina had already buried two of the holes, and she could hear more horses coming. Thane hid behind a thick tree and motioned Rapina away from the holes to do likewise. Nine cavalrymen galloped by in the direction of the orc. Thane waited for a minute as the hoof-beats receded into the distance. "Quickly," he whispered. Rapina burried the second last hole while Thane buried the last, pushing the dirt in with his feet. She had just finished when Thane started with the consecration. "Hail Mortaebius guardian of the dead, we the dead who lie here entreat thee, hallow this ground that we may rest," Thane intoned. Rapina had never heard the first prayer of consecration said quite so rapidly or so softly. "Hail Mortaebius, keeper of the deceased, we the living entreat thee, hallow this ground that the dead be held in thy embrace, to rise only in the direst need." "Hearken, ye buried and departed, to the power of Mortaebius coursing through thy rotting flesh and bones," Thane intoned. "Hearken, ye living to the call of thy ancestors in Mortaebius' embrace, and know his power will preserve thee, until death takes life's grace," Rapina whispered. "And thus we close the circle, life and death, the cycle is complete." Thane and Rapina completed the consecration. Rapina heard a twig snap, a whisper in the wind and then suddenly she was blinded by bright light. She drew her blades and backed towards the nearest tree blinking as she did. She could hear men coming from all sides. By the time she could see anything they were practically on top of her. She had missed the nearest tree and was actually behind and beside it. There were two men coming across the graveyard from the front and two coming through the trees from her flanks. Thane had retreated behind a tree on the other side of the graveyard. He took his light enspelled cape, balled it up and tossed it towards the enemy casters as he put a tree between them and him. The cape had been illuminated by the second of two light spells that had hit him. The first had dispelled his darkness spell and the second had left a spot on his cape glowing brightly. Rapina realized the side of her cloak hood had a brightly glowing spot on it. The men across the open area had cast light spells. Originally there had been four, now one was part of the advance, three remained; she could hear the droning of their voices. She hopped quickly to her left and turned, putting a tree between them and her, cutting off their line of sight. Rapina knew there were too many of them. She would have to draw them so Thane would have time to escape. She began repeating the words to the drain spell and waving her blades appropriately. She knew she could not cast the spell without her fingers shaping the power, but perhaps they did not. "Caster over here!" a soldier of Avengene shouted. A man came from the forward right and another directly from the right. The reavers met the two men and blade rang on blade. "Undead!" A cavalryman hollered as one of the reavers engaged him. Thane heard the casters running to draw a bead on Rapina, whose apparent spell-casting was just loud enough for them to hear. The necromancer jumped forward and to the right, skirting the battle between the reavers and two of the Avengenes. There was a tree on the right side of the graveyard. The light from his tossed-off cape was hitting it so it cast a deep shadow. With his back to that shadow, Thane began casting. Rapina dove forward between two men about to surround her. She came up standing and ran. She could hear a caster droning and both warriors chasing her. She tried to put trees between them and her. Unfortunately, the warriors were right on her heals. From the corner of his eye, Thane realized that one of the casters had held himself in reserve. He had moved towards Rapina's side of the graveyard but he had not actually run forward to intercept her, as the other two had. He pointed at Thane and drew in his breath. Thane held to his iron discipline and continued casting. If the man had a quicker spell, Thane must suffer the consequences. The priest of the vindicator raised his hands and in the commanding voice of a word of power shouted d--. A crosbow bolt transfixed his throat from behind, sundering his Adams apple and ruining his spell. He choked on his own blood and collapsed. Thane took a step backwards into the plain of shadow. Reverend Juston slowed the shaping of his spell, trying to time the release for when the enemy appeared briefly between trees. He saw the runner and loosed. Rapina squawked, as her feet seemed to stick to the ground. She could not lift them, but she could slide them enough to twist, although it was not easy. She wanted to remove a packet of dust of disenchantment from her belt pouch, but she could hear that she would have no time. She half turned, have twisted. One of the pursuing warriors was about to run her through, This is going to hurt, Rapina told herself as she crossed her blades and deflected the warrior's sword over her head. She might have blocked it aside, but that would have risked the other warrior running her through. This way the first one served as a shield. "Uuu! she groaned as the man bashed into her and landed her on her back. "The rogue is held, lieutenant Harms!" "I yield," Rapina groaned as loud as she could, considering she had no wind left in her belly after having been crashed into. Harms rolled off the enemy and quickly got to his feet. The soldier's voice was not at all what he had expected, and the feel when he crashed into the man had been peculiar. He looked at the enemy's breastplate. "It is a woman. Drop your weapons and keep your hands where I can see them," Harms said. Rapina sat up and dropped her blades. "Herald Bode, keep a blade on that one," Lieutenant Harms ordered. The first soldier ran towards the battle with the reaving skeletons, as did the other men of Avengene. She could hear the priests casting. One of the priests stopped and fell headlong. "Sniper! Reverend Deam is down! The lieutenant whistled loudly, "Let's get the horses back. If we can't find that sniper we are in trouble, but the men should be here soon. I see a spot of darkness over there I think." Rapina saw bits of the battle through the trees. Lieutenant Harms was fighting as he yelled comments and orders. He was obviously good at what he did. He and a man in leather armor brought a reaver down, but the other reaver killed a mailed soldier before the lieutenant and his partner were able to come to the soldier's aid. Reverend Rhymes started casting but then stopped, "The spot of darkness is gone." "We've got one of your people, desist or we shall slay her!" Harms hollered, and then he spoke to his partner at arms; "You take the skeleton warrior's back, Parkman, and we will have him down in no time." The reverend Juston droned a spell and then accented the last words, "and SMITE thee in the name of the vindicator!" Rapina saw the reaver stagger as blast of force hit it, but it kept fighting. She heard the sound of hoofbeats. A single rider pulled a string of nine horses. Reverend Rhymes was casting a spell that sounded suspiciously like the one that reverend Juston, who had immobilized her, had just cast against the reaver. Had it not been for the Harold's blade at her throat she would have used the dust of disenchantment in her belt pouch to free herself, but she was stuck. "... and SM--Aagh. The reverend fell over with a bolt sticking from the base of his skull. While the lieutenant held his own against the reaver, he enabled the scout behind the monster to carve it to pieces. Rapina saw the man push his helmet back and wipe the sweat off his brow when the battle was done. "Reverend Juston, get in among the horses!" Harms ordered. "I think the sniper is after the priests. Has anyone seen reverend Clemont?" Rapina saw the light on the lieutenant's helmet directed towards where the priests had cast their first volley of light spells. "Damned sniper got Clemont!" Scout Parkman, gather up that cape as a light and use the shovel there. I want to know what's in those holes. Maybe it will tell me who the hell these rogues are." Rapina heard the sound of men marching, several dozen men by the sounds of it, and they were close. "So much for being rescued by Elizabetta," she brooded. "Is there any reason I shouldn't kill you, witch, to make good on my threat?" Lieutenant Harms asked. Rapina shrugged. "I cannot command it to stop it's assassinations, if that's what you're asking. The real power left with the one who vanished. If you knew more about spell-casting, you would have known it was impossible for a warrior with blades in her hands to cast spells." Harms frowned as he realized he'd fallen for the witch's misdirection, "It?" Rapina nodded, "A monster similar to the warriors you just fought, but an assassin." "Mayhap my superiors will want to question you." Harms picked up Rapina's blades and made her give him her equipment belt. He strode back to the horses to stow her gear and threw some manacles from his saddlebags to the Harold who put them on Rapina's ankles and on her hands behind her back. Reverend Juston poked his head out from behind cover to release her from his spell, and then she was marched into the midst of the infantrymen who had just arrived. They poked, prodded, punched and kicked her forward in an attempt to make her keep up with the double-time march in spite of her manacles. She kept falling down. "This stupid woman keeps falling down!" a soldier growled. Harms rode into the midst of the men. "Toss her over my saddle. We don't have all night, we have a fort to rescue." A burly soldier threw Rapina over the lieutenant's saddle like a sack of potatoes. Now she would not fall, at least not if she didn't slide off the horse. Of course, she could not help sliding, but maybe that wasn't so bad. Harms reached down and placed a hand on the woman's rump to keep her from sliding. He could tell she had a nice set even through the black bear fur cloak she wore. "They sure are building better witches these days," he thought sourly. Rapina could feel the officer's lust. It was not too bad for a man of the vindicator. The priests were usually more twisted. She tugged at it ever so subtly as the infantry approached the ruined fort. "Too late! Look at this mess! Harms said. "It looks like the cavalry got here, but they were not enough. Another hour, maybe two faster and we'd have saved the day." The fort only had two stone walls and one was only three feet tall except near where it joined the other. There it was six feet tall. The better stone wall was about ten feet tall. The wooden stockades that had served as temporary walls had burned to the ground. Put my command post in the corner! Get a detail together and cut some trees! We need four walls not two! Reverend Juston, can you get us some more light? Parkman, where is that sorcerer's cape with the light on it? Waste not, want not. Sims, give me your cloak. This witch has one about your size, with a spot of light on the side of the hood from our priests. You can trade her for as long as it lasts. The lieutenant dismounted, pulled Rapina down and stepped on the chain between her ankles. He unchained Rapina's wrists from behind and traded her cloak for a soldier's, and then he re-manacled her wrists behind her and spun her around to button the new cloak. Harms raised his eyebrows. The witch's breastplate was custom formed, but it had more chest room than she probably needed. Harms hoisted Rapina back over his horse and rode around barking orders, "Make me a tripod of steaks, nice and broad-based, with a crotch we can stick a big rock in." The lieutenant squeezed Rapina's rump. "See that big rock by the wall, reverend, it's mostly white. Give me as much light on it as you can, especially in a ring around the middle. I want to put it in the tripod up on top of the highest wall as a beacon. If there are still any orcs around here, I want to be able to see them." Rapina saw why Rames respected Avengene's military machine. With officers like Harms, it was no wonder he had been so successful against the orcs. In a few minutes, a man on the wall hoisted a large tripod of stout wooden steaks up onto the highest corner of the wall. Rapina watched as reverend Juston cast a couple of light spells on the large white rock, and then walked to the wall and handed it to a soldier who handed it up to another soldier on the higher wall. The soldier put the rock in the stand and began to climb down from the wall. Suddenly the light flickered out and reverend Juston stiffened as a black crossbow bolt transfixed his skull. Dust wafted down from the wall on Rapina's side as Elizabetta hit the ground on the opposite side of the finished wall. Somehow the assassin had snuck up there, and hid just below the rim of the wall. Once the soldier had put the rock in place and left, she had sprinkled the dust of disenchantment and brought her bow to bear on the caster of the light spells. "Shit!" Harms slapped Rapina's butt hard. "What is that thing?" "Ow! It's an undead assassin, and I think it decided the priests were the ones most dangerous to it. Its master told it to, 'run interference if necessary.' It was a very vague order, so it is hard to say what it will do. I'm sorry you didn't just miss us. No one would have died if you had." "Well that takes care of that, we don't have any fucking priests left! Harms trotted around the wall to see if there was any sign of the assassin." "Damn priest had a see magic spell running, saw some magic shadows, and you turned out to be in them. How old are you anyway?" Harms asked. "Seventeen," Rapina said. "Have you been a witch for your whole li-" ---------------------- [Rapina]045 An Unfriendly Wager Rapina heard a scream from the edge of the forest where the men were cutting wood. "Orcs!" an infantryman shouted. "Retreat! How in hell did that assassin quench the light on the rock? Harms galloped back to the walls as enemy archery fire began. He tossed her to the ground in the corner made by the two remaining stone walls. "I've got work to do. Just keep low and in that corner. If you want to try to escape, go ahead. The orcs will shoot you down." "Yes, I'm sure they would," Rapina said. Harms' men stacked what timbers they had up in front of the inside corner made by the existing stone walls. It was a much smaller fort than they had originally intended. Rapina literally lied down on the cold ground. She heard arrows and the screams of the men. A soldier named Sims came staggering over the timbers the others were putting in place, took a few more steps and fell. There was an arrow stuck deep in his chest. "Damned orcs know we can't see a bloody thing. The assassin has cut off our light!" "Aaah!" Rapina screamed as an arrow buried itself in her calf. Rapina knew she was doomed unless she found a shield. Men were falling everywhere. Only the one's right up near the piled timbers were safe from orcs firing from the direction where the missing walls should have stood. Rapina crept forward. She was luckier than some. There was a dead man lying on the ground not far in front of her. She rolled him on his side and wedged herself under him. She felt the wound in her calf and snapped the arrowhead off, then pulled the shaft out the other side. The pain was terrific but, once she had removed the arrow, she could direct the energies she had stored within her breasts to heal it. She cowered under the dead man as volley after volley struck all around her. On several occasions, she was wounded by arrows that transfixed the corpse or grazed her less well-protected legs, but she received no wounds as bad as the initial wound to her calf had been. She knew that there was no one living this far back, and that she was receiving only the stray shots but there were plenty of those. She slowly wriggled and pulled her dead man shield back into the corner formed by the stone walls so that she would catch fewer of the stray shots. "They're using our own damn arrows against us! They looted these from the garrison stores," Harms threw one of the orc arrows he had pulled out of a man aside. The arrows positively rained down and then Rapina heard it, the sounds of firebombs landing on the men. The orcs were tossing them over the walls from behind, the opposite direction from whence the archery fire originated. It was a route and a massacre. Some of the men ran and were cut down by arrows, others staid and burned, and a very lucky few remained untouched between the fires. After the fires had died down, Rapina noticed the sky had begun to lighten. The day was dawning. --- Rames paced back and forth in front of the door to Thane's chambers. "Come in guardian Rames. I assume you are worried about Rapina," Thane said. "I feel bad about not trying to rescue her," Rames said. Thane nodded, "I realize that this is trying for you, but we must do what is right for the church. We might have tried to rescue the girl, but with the number of Avengene priests and soldiers, the odds were very good that we would only have succeeded in getting ourselves captured as well. As it was, Rapina's decoy spell casting was half the reason I was able to get away. The other half, being Elizabetta's fine marksmanship. I am aware of Rapina's value, and I will do my utmost to retrieve her, but I will not attempt a half-baked plan. Dawn is near and we have little power in the light of day." Rames paced, "I know, I know, but I'm a soldier, I want to do something!" "I have been working very hard on scrying during the past year, and this sort of situation was precisely the reason for that work. I have guardedly good news. I was able to locate Elizabetta using my pool, and then switch to my mirror so that I could cast an audible illusion and clairaudience through the mirror," Thane said. "You mean you spoke with her?" Rames asked. "Indeed," Thane replied. "What happened after we left?" Rames asked. "Apparently the men we faced were the scouts and outriders for a unit of infantry about four dozen strong. They arrived shortly after we escaped. Rapina attempted to run away after I made my escape, but a priest's spell rooted her to the ground. While the Avengenes were fighting the reavers and snagging Rapina, Elizabetta did a fine job of assassinating three of the four priests. Had the priest not enspelled Rapina, and had the infantry not arrived when they did, Elizabetta might actually have been able to rescue the girl." "Damn!" Rames snapped. "Indeed, but all is not lost," Thane said. "It was a mistake that the Avengenes decided to attack us, for in so doing they allowed the orc scout to get away. The scout alerted the orcs. Evidently, they decided to attack while it was still dark and their night vision would give them the advantage. Just before the start of the orc attack, Elizabetta was able to sneak up onto one of the stone walls and accomplish two things. She killed the Avengene's last priest, and she used dust of disenchantment to kill the light spells cast on a beacon atop the wall so that the Avengenes were stuck with poor illumination. Currently Rapina has taken cover beneath the body of a dead Avengene. The orcs are doing devastating damage with arrows. They are standing in the dark just out of the visual range of the humans. The overcast night is winning the battle for them. Elizabetta will attempt to secure the bodies of the priests for me before any more Avengenes arrive. She has garnered a number of cloaks to protect herself from the light and is waiting for the orcs to leave. We must sleep soon. I will watch a little longer, but there is nothing I can do for Rapina at this time," Thane said. "But the orcs, if they catch her they'll..." Rames' voice trailed off. "Rape her?" Thane chuckled. "I am more concerned about them eating her. Her skills between the sheets could save her life." --- Rapina heard arrows from the direction of the lower of the two stone walls. Orc archers were somehow poking their heads over the wall, perhaps on the shoulders of their compatriots. There were very few Avengenes left to oppose them, and almost none when the orcs had finished. A minute later, a frontal assault was led by a huge orc in mismatched plate armor bristling with spikes. The orcs seemed to range in size somewhat more than humans did. There were orcs only as tall as a petite woman, and orcs who were something over seven feet tall. On the average they seemed to be relatively broad, or it could have been that they simply tended to carry extra weight. Their skin was usually some tint of gray, beige or brown with pink areas such as the tips of their porcine noses. Their jaws stuck out farther than those of humans, but were not as pronounced as the snouts of animals. Their hair was coarse and ranged in color from white to beige, brown or black. They had small tusk-like teeth that stuck up from the bottom of their jaws and protruded outside their lips. Their armor and weapons were a hodge-podge of pieces that looked to have been salvaged from the soldiers of Avengene. Harms was in the front corner of his makeshift fort, nearly covered with his dead men. He stood, yelling, "Culach!" "Ahahaha!," The orc leader laughed. "Culach? botn mal?" "Uh," Harms pointed to his blade. "Bah!" the orc chief replied. Rapina peered out from under the dead man's shoulder trying to see what the lieutenant was up to. Harms Rushed over to Rapina and poised his blade at her throat. "Push that body off you, lady. I am challenging this orc to a duel and need you as a wager." He held up the keys to Rapina's manacles and pointed at her, nnn iskar squchuchuchuchuch. "Mal?" The orc said as he kicked the dead body, aside with his foot and looked at Rapina. "Heheheh, goo?" "Goooooo," Lieutenant Harms replied. "Culach!" The orc gesticulated with his arms. The orcs who had been busily stabbing the wounded and apparently dead to make sure they were dead, tossed bodies aside to make room. "I have successfully challenged this orc chief to a duel. It is customary to bet something that will then belong to the victor rather than the dead man's clan. The blade of a desperate human was not enough, but he knew I could kill you instantly, so you were," Harms chuckled. "If I win, his clan cannot hunt me because he agreed to the duel, and if they cannot hunt me, I will walk out of here unscathed." "Jool," One of the orc guards said noticing Rapina's jeweled silver choker. "Goooo! Culach!" the chief bellowed. Rapina had seen Harms fight the reavers, and he was good, but the orc was head and shoulders taller than the man, and broad. Rapina doubted it was all muscle, but enough of it certainly was. The combatants circled, trading feints. Rapina looked at the orc's armor. It was probably made from parts salvaged from a dozen different warriors, and there were rivets in many places where it had been patched. It had to weigh a ton. Harms' chainmail was certainly lighter. He seemed a little faster, but the orc's reach was longer, both because of the length of his blade and the length of his arms. After a feint flew by, Harms stepped in and swung. Clang! Rapina watched as Harms' blade struck the side of the orc chief's helmet. The sound must have been deafening. The orc had ducked forward, not far enough to avoid the blow, but far enough to catch it on the boss around his ear. The helm was creased and a bit of blood flowed. The orc was stunned, but not so stunned that he failed to take advantage of Harms' open left side "Ahh!" Harms jumped back, a grizzly wound where his pristine left shoulder had been. Harms had certainly hit a more lethal spot, but Gluud was so strong that the chainmail Harms was wearing gave only as much protection as leather would have given against a normal man. The warriors continued. Harms managed to glance a blow off the orc's chest as the orc struck at a patch of air above his head. Unfortunately, the lieutenant had failed to take advantage of the staggering power of his head blow because of the chief's timely hit to his shoulder. Harms' skill and speed, however, allowed him to move more freely than his opponent did. Wang! The lieutenant's blade took the orc's visor right off and creased his chin. The orc raised a bracer against the lieutenant's back swing and struck forcefully, the point of his sword opening a deep rent just below the officer's right knee. "Vermin!" Harms shouted. He knew he was in trouble now. His best advantage had been his speed, now his leg was a mess and he could not put his full weight on it. It felt spindly as if something were broken but was not yet hurting as much as it soon would. Harms knew it was now or never. The orc's belly was not made for human armor. several bands of dead men's breastplates had been used to cover it. The quality of the workmanship was poor. Harms ran under the orc's swing and pushed his blade up under a plate. Chief Gluud squealed like a wounded pig as the lieutenant's blade entered his belly and slid up through his vitals. The chief swung like a crazed boar as Harms gutted him, but the lieutenant hopped forward and avoided the orc chief's last stroke. The jump brought a sickening crunch from his leg. Harms sat down on top of the fallen chief's body and tossed the keys to Rapina's shackles to her. "Take off the leg irons. I don't think they will give me a horse so we will need to walk fast and I will have to lean on you. Take your cloak if you like. Sims only has a few arrows in him, and most are in the front. Harms removed Rapina's cloak from Sims' body and began ripping strips of cloth from a Sim's breeches. He would need a splint for his leg. Rapina grimaced. Harms had won; that meant the orcs could not challenge him, and it probably also meant that she would still belong to the lieutenant. She was glad to be rescued from the orcs. She kind of liked admired Harms' efficiency, but she had no doubt he would keep her in chains and drag her right into Avengene's court where she would conveniently be relieved of her head. There was a possibility she could use the charm generated by her climax to get him to let her go, but she wondered if it would be strong enough to go against the man's training and unquestioning loyalty to Avengene. Not only that, but she did not know if she could get him to stop to bed her if he was intent on making it to the nearest fort to send reinforcements against the enemies he had outwitted. On the other hand, dealing with one half-lame man, good warrior or not, would be a whole lot easier than dealing with a whole tribe of hostile orcs. The orcs were also missing a chief, making their political situation very volatile. She could see that several of the chief's retainers were eyeing each other. A few of the orcs were grouping around certain of the more powerful-looking warriors. Although she could not understand what they were saying, there were some tones of protest coming from various orcs. Fingers were being pointed at the lieutenant. Rapina relocked the empty shackles as she took them off. By the time she had her cloak on, Harms had a makeshift splint on his leg and was standing up. "Come on, let's get out of here," Lieutenant Harms said. Rapina helped serve as a right-hand crutch for the lieutenant. They headed straight for the nearest folliage. Rapina realized that she was not the only one to have heard the voices of dissension from amongst the orcs. As soon there were a few trees between the two of them and the orcs, the lieutenant spoke up. "Give me the keys to the shackles you've got slung over your shoulders," Harms said. "You took my belt," Rapina replied. "What's that got to do with it?" Harms asked. "I had no pouches, so I stuffed them into my pants," Rapina said. Harms checked the shackles, they were locked so he could not put them on her without having the keys. "Damn it wench, I ought to cut you down where you stand," Harms said. "Except you need me as a crutch." Rapina smiled. The lieutenant shook his head, "Come along. It is not safe for either of us near the orcs. Their tribal custom says that they cannot harm the winner of culach, but they were a sorry lot with many wounded. Had it not been for the arrows they had stolen from the fort, and the fact that it was night and your assassin stripped us of our priests and light, we would have held. At dawn we would have cut them down. They believe that, with my bad leg, I will not be able to find reinforcements to turn their butts into bacon before they can get their sorry asses into the Northern mountains, but I aim to prove them wrong." After Harms put some more distance between himself and the orcs, he put his fingers to his lips and whistled. "Hold up, we will rest here for a minute." After a brief wait, Rapina heard the galloping hooves of a horse. "Hahah, Rascal you are the greatest!" Harms mounted up and reached down to hoist Rapina from the ground. He placed her on the saddle in front of him and got the horse moving right away. Rapina heard hoofbeats behind them. The orcs were screaming something, and she could hear arrows. "They're calling me a horse thief for taking my own horse!" Lieutenant Harms said. Rascal squealed and limped as an arrow buried itself in his hock. "Shit!" Harms pulled up behind some trees but the orcs quickly came up and surrounded them. The lieutenant dismounted and held his horse's head as he spoke to the orc in charge of the little band. A heated argument in orcish followed. "Who Hchil? Culach! Culach!" Harms said. "You're trying to duel them for your horse?" Rapina asked. "Nevermind, there are some medical supplies in the saddlebag. See to the horse's wound if you know how." Rapina opened the saddlebag. There was a pouch of first aid supplies, but that wasn't all. Rapina slid off the horse and took out the pouch, and her equipment belt and blades. She put her belt on and went to the rear of the horse. She gave it a wide berth until she had made it around to the right side. "The arrow's gone through right above the hock joint. Steady him and I'll break it off and take it out." Once the lieutenant had a firm hold of the horse's head, Rapina quickly snapped the arrow from the side and pulled it out. She washed the wound out with some water from her canteen and applied herbs and bandages from the first aid kit. In the meantime more orcs had arrived. Rapina had a bad feeling about the situation. The lieutenant had waited until he was well away from the fort before calling his mount. It was obvious the orcs had been following him all along, or at very least they had followed the whistle at the same time as the horse. ------------------------------- [Rapina]046 With A Little Bit of Hluk Rapina recognized Hluk, one of the strong orc warriors who some of the other orcs had grouped around earlier. He was riding a roan gelding that he dismounted from as he arrived. His skin was beige and his coarse hair was a deep chocolate brown. He had a fierce look about him and his tusks were relatively white. She guessed that meant he was much younger than the chief had been. He was as tall as the former chief was, but not nearly so wide. By human standards, he was still quite solid. "Culach!" Hluk pointed to his horse and to Rapina. Rapina realized that the orc was taking quite a gamble but with potentially great benefits. If he beat the lieutenant, he would have defeated the man who beat the former chief, possibly making him a likely candidate as successor. In addition he would be saving his people from the reinforcements the lieutenant was sure to bring down on them, which would satisfy those who had been murmuring and pointing at the lieutenant. By offering a new deal on a fresh horse, he was skirting the issue as to whether or not the lieutenant could claim his own horse as his or whether it belonged to the orc tribe by right of conquest. "Goo!" Lieutenant Harms replied. At first, Rapina was sure the lieutenant was committing suicide. Then he turned aside the orc's blade and opened a gash across the foolish young buck's chest that went right through his chainmail. Had it not been for the orc's speedy spin left, he would have died in that instant as the lieutenant nearly pushed the blade through the breech and into his heart. After that first blow, the bleeding orc attacked with much less bravado and much greater caution. He kept moving as though trying to find the direction the lieutenant found it most difficult to follow. His sword opened a few rings on the lieutenant's mail a number of times, but Harms' blade invariably turned Hluk's aside. After a number of ineffectual blows the two swung hard and locked blades. Rapina could see the orc's muscles bulge under his chainmail. The lieutenant was a strong man, but the orc was stronger. Both combatants threw each other savagely backwards and swung. The lieutenant opened a breech that bloodied the orc's thigh. Rapina grimaced as she saw what the orc's longer reach had done to the lieutenant's good leg. Like his chief before him, he had opened one of the lieutenant's legs, but this time the blade had gone clean through the bone. "Yal wal buruk no Avengenes dunt gaw unt kahlorc!" Hluk shouted. "I will bring no Avengenes down on your tribe? I'm not dead yet you orc scum!" Harms replied. Rapina never had a chance to put the roll of bandages away and it was just as well. Someone would need medical attention. The orc was bleeding badly from his chest and thigh, but his wounds were dry in comparison with the torrent of blood fountaining from the lieutenant's left leg. Rapina could see the young orc's strategy. From here on out he simply kept moving and taunting the downed lieutenant with his blade. The lieutenant could not possibly stand. He had to roll and spin around on the ground to block what the orc sent at him. Every roll and spin kept his leg bleeding like a hose. In a few minutes the orc looked unsteady on his feet, but the lieutenant's eyes were glazed and he could barely hold up his sword. The lieutenant's blade wavered and sunk. It looked as though the orc was about to move in for the coup but at the last second he redirected his swing and slammed his sword into the lieutenant's blade. The lieutenant's hand went up to plunge his sword into the orc's chest in the instant before he was decapitated, but the orc had changed his strategy, and the lieutenant realized there was no longer a blade in his hand. The orc had not gone for his neck, but had instead hit his sword and knocked it out of his grasp. "Uhh!" The lieutenant said as the orc plunged his sword into Harms' chest and fell to his knees. Rapina rushed in with her bandages before the cheer that rose from the throats of the orcs had even died. It was quickly apparent that the orc's chest wound was even worse than it had looked. one of his ribs was actually cut in two. Had the angle of the lieutenant's sword been slightly different, he might have sliced between the ribs and killed the orc instantly. The orc's movement or the way his mail broke apart might have made the difference that saved him from a fatal wound. In any case he had been very lucky. Some of the orc's friends helped her get his mail hauberk off. Rapina cleaned the wound, applied herbs and bandaged his chest expertly, but she knew he was bleeding inside. She was just finishing with the thigh wound when the orc leech and wise man arrived to inspect her work. He was not old as Rapina would have expected. He looked much like the warriors but colored beads and feathers decorated his armor. He was short by orc standards, slightly shorter than Rapina herself, but his coloring lent itself to his profession. His skin was a very light beige, nearly white, his nose was pink, and his hair was black as jet. "How bad?" The leech asked in heavily accented common. Rapina pointed to the chest wound, "Very deep, one rib is cut in two. He is still bleeding some inside. He has lost a lot of blood. Do you have magic to fix it?" "Me have rituals, but they slow, and not work too good. Oagmak's chont, Oagmak's magic not so good. You healer? Me see you know how use bandage." Rapina nodded, "I know how to bandage the wounded and use herbs. My magic is not so good either. I can only do cantrips. I have studied the spell he needs, but I have never got it to work, and my reserves of power are too low to cast it even if I could make it work." "No time for ritual of power. Even with dis lieutenant gone, Avengene know we here. He send more soldier. We put Hluk on stretcher, we must hurry go now." --- Rapina knew orcs did not usually go abroad during the day. The fact that the entire clan seemed to be in a great hurry to march North, even though they had no formal chief, could only mean that they firmly believed Avengene would send still more reinforcements. Somehow, Rapina felt they were right. Had it not been for the commandeered Avengene mounts, many of the wounded could not have kept up the pace. As it was, the horses were a bit overloaded and some wounded switched off between riding and walking. It was evident that the orcs had sustained few losses from the battle with Harms' forces, but in the original battle over the fort, they had lost more. Since she was relatively uninjured, she was obliged to walk. Her quick medical treatment had earned her a shred of respect from the orcs. Chontral Oagmak, the leech and wise man of the orc tribe had been using her as an assistant. An orc named Thalis, evidently Hluk's best friend had taken Rapina's blades and as much of her clothing and equipment as he could argue the other orcs out of. He tried to return the Avengene shackles to her ankles, but she protested she could not walk fast in them. Chontral Oagmak had said something on her behalf causing Thalis to fasten the shackles just above her knees instead of on her ankles. She was Hluk's slave, but Hluk was in no condition to order her around so it fell to Thalis. She stayed by Oagmak's side and assisted him with the wounded. There were many wounded, and both they and the able-bodied were being forced to walk when they normally would have been sleeping. Orcs were nocturnal. When they were not otherwise involved in seeing to the walking wounded, the leech, Oagmak, talked to her. "How you become Avengene slave?" Chontral Oagmak asked. Rapina found it best to talk in short sentences, pausing to try to determine if the shaman had grasped the meaning of each. If not, she supplemented with gestures and mimes until the shaman grasped the meaning before going on to the next sentence, "I am not a slave. You see I am a warrior. the Avengenes captured me as they arrived at the fort. "What you name? You come to loot? We loot already," Chontral Oagmak said. "My name is Melina," Rapina made up still another alias. One day she knew she would not be able to keep track of them all. "My master needed a few bodies for his laboratory, his chont rooms." "Who your master?" Oagmak asked "Kroz, a necromancer," Rapina said. "Necromancer?" Chontral Oagmak asked. "A mage of the dead," Rapina said. "Dead magician," Oagmak asked. "His magic works on the dead," Rapina said. "Oh, me understand." Oagmak nodded I became prisoner of the Avengenes just before you attacked. I was near the fort. I was with friends. I was with my master the magician, or chontral as you say. The Avengenes rode up. They chased an orc scout. My friends and I hid in magic darkness. The Avengene priest of the vindicator saw our magic darkness. The Avengenes came back stealthily. Their vindicator priests cast light spells, and other spells. They fought us. My teacher escaped. The Avenenes captured me. They put chains on me." "You human, Avengene human, why they not like you?" Chontral Oagmak asked. Avengenes worship the vindicator. My friends worship Mortaebius. "What worship?" Oagmak asked. "Do you know what a priest is?" Rapina asked. Oagmak priest. Priest have chont. Priest have magic. "Yes, do you know what a god is? Vindicator, Moraebius..." Rapina named every god she could think of, including the troll god. Great being, greater than greatest chief. Gods give chont to their servants. Me know gods. Me serve orc god of raiding rage. He called GzishGthup. "My master serves Mortaebius, the god of the dead." "You serve dead god?" Oagmak asked. "No, Mortaebius is not dead. He is lord of the dead. He is the god of death," Rapina said. "Oh, he death god, lord over dieing and dead. That kind of like GzishGthup, lord over killing and battle rage." Rapina nodded, "They are a little different, but both deal with death some way," Rapina said. "Me understand," Oagmak said. "Do you know Avengene's god?" Rapina asked. "Da bindicader." Chontral Oagmak replied. "Yes, the vindicator. Mortaebius and the vindicator are enemies," Rapina said. "Oh, nnn that why lieutenant make you prisoner. It like chontral-priest clan feud," Chontral Oagmak said. "Yes," Rapina said. "Me understand," Chontral Oagmak said. "You are Avengene's enemy to the North; we are Avengene's Enemy to the South and East, but not everyone South and East worships Mortaebius," Rapina said. "Some he feuds with South and East, but not all?" Chontral Oagmak asked. "Yes," Rapina said. "Where your chontral master, what you call?" Chontral Oagmak asked. "My master is called Kroz. I am not sure where he went. He escaped the Avengenes," Rapina said. --- "Thane wiped the sweat from his brow. I must sleep now, Rames. I am sorry. I have been watching the orcs through my pool since it is less taxing to me than using the mirror. The mirror, however, does allow me to cast the spells I need to communicate. Elizabetta has entombed herself in a ground hog burrow some distance from the fort. The orcs won the battle easily, thanks to Elizabetta and their own rather cowardly tactics. Actually, I believe they were beat up from taking the fort in the fist place and did not want to compromise their ability to leave any further than it was already compromised. They did well, but the Avengene officer survived and cleverly talked the orc chief into a duel using Rapina as his wager. He won, and I was very worried that he would bring news of us to Avengene. Shortly after he left, however, the orcs stopped him for stealing his own horse, and an orc warrior challenged him to a duel. He bet Rapina for a fresh horse this time," Thane said. "Who won?" Rames asked. "The orc, by a nose, but he was badly injured. Rapina has ingratiated the orcs to her somewhat by seeing to his wounds. Their leech has adopted her as an assistant for the moment, but the tribe is in a terrible hurry to get to the northern mountains before Avengene catches up with them. We must rest now. For the moment, we do not have to worry about Avengene getting wind of us. I realize we can hardly think of Rapina as safe with the orcs, but at least she does not appear to be in immediate danger. The orcs are much too busy getting out of the area to be accosting their new prisoner. She appears to be speaking with the tribal shaman as they march Northward as rapidly as they are able." --- When at last the day was over, Rapina was horribly tired. Her only consolation was that she had learned many orcish words from Chontral Oagmak as a way of passing the time during the interminable walk. She had also managed to get the Chontral to chain her to him during the march rather than slowing her with chains on her legs. The orcs stopped for three hours of sleep, but Rapina got only an hour and a half because she was obliged to help the leech with his duties. There were many wounded and too many were doing poorly. Had it not been for Hluk's friends bearing him on a litter, he would surely have perished. As it was he was conscious about half the time, and Rapina made sure he drank plenty of fluids. After traveling most of the night, the orcs entered the rough terrain of the mountains and took up residence in a small cavern they knew about. They posted many sentries, but most of the orcs staid inside the cavern. Finally, Rapina would be able to get some sleep. She was in a small low-ceilinged cavern room near Hluk and his friends. She had her mage light, but she was afraid one of the orcs might take it if she revealed it for what it was. Instead she put it in one of her belt pouches and conjured a tiny globe of blue light using a cantrip she knew. The orcs were amazed and Chontral Oagmak was impressed. Everyone was exhausted, everyone except an orc named Barne. "Barne thuch wooman." "Barne ahlee Hluk?" Rapina asked Algorn, one of Hluk's friends, if Barne was Hluk's friend. "No," Algorn said. "Mal Barne neen?" Rapina asked what Barne wanted as she backpedalled. "Barne neen thuch Melina," The orc moved his hips in a maner that left little to the imagination. Rapina was still getting used to her latest alias, Melina. Yet, it was enough like Rapina that she had taken to it easily enough. "Melina Hluk nnn Hluk ahlee squch. No ahlee Hluk, no thuch Melina," Rapina explained in broken orcish that she was Hluk's woman, and that she would bed only friends of Hluk's. "Barne thuch!" Rapina backed up so that Barne would practically have to stand on Algorn to reach her. "Talus," Algorn waved Barne away. "No!" "Culahil?" Algorn asked if Barne wanted to have a little duel, an unarmed duel that lasted until someone yielded or was knocked out. "Bah!" Barne stormed off. "Bah," Algorn rolled over. "Thalis thuch Melina." Rapina froze for a second as lust tingled through her tired body. She knew Thalis was one of Hluk's friends and roughly his second in command. Rapina recovered herself as the realization of how important Thalis really was dawned on her. Thanks to Barne for suggesting the idea in the first place, Rapina had managed to catch herself in her own web, athough she had successfully repulsed her first orc suitor. Thalis' was advancing forcefully. His skin was a dark brownish gray and was actually darker than the orc's coarse light chocolate-colored hair. The tip of Thalis' nose was not pink as was so often the case, but rather a lighter shade of gray than the rest of him. Rapina was at a loss as to how to repulse a friend of Hluk's now that she had said she was his woman. If she thought she could have got away with it, she would have claimed her freedom, but she knew that she was Harms' wager in the duel that he had fought with Hluk. With Thalis rapidly bearing down on her, she needed to salvage the situation. Rather than obeying her instinct and taking flight, Rapina redirected it and rushed towards Thalis. Rapina tugged at Thalis' lust, "Thalis goo-oo ahlee Hluk. Melina thuckuckuck!" she enthusiastically remarked that Thalis was a fine ally of Hluk's and that she would bed him well. Rapina took advantage of his moment of surprise to unbuckle the strap at her crotch with one hand and undo Thalis' belt with the other. Thalis partly snapped out of his surprise and began removing his armor. Rapina unbuttoned the left side of her breastplate. She lifted her breastplate off over her head and tossed it next to Thalis' bed roll. She used it as a trunk of sorts. Next she stuffed her tunic and long underwear top into it, and then she stuffed her equipment belt, boots, socks, pants and panties in as well. Since it was spring, She had not bothered to wear her long underwear bottoms. All that remained was her green silk bustier, and she would need Thalis' help to unlace that if he wanted it off. She looked up at Thalis. His scent was strong in her nostrils. He had removed his Avengene chain mail. Idly she wondered if orcs had only a long corkscrew for a penis like a pig. She guessed she would soon find out, because the warrior was removing his tunic and his breeches would be next to go. The tunic was a little short on him which didn't surprise Rapina since he was taller than most men. The tunic had no doubt been salvaged from an enemy soldier. His pants were likewise too short, and he wore no underwear. As he removed his pants, a wave of scent like the great unwashed hit Rapina's nose. Had it not been for the musk that was part of it, Rapina would have been totally repulsed, but the male scent was something that put fire into her hunger. Thalis' balls were appreciably larger than a man's were, and his growing shaft was half contained in a sheath of thick flesh like a foreskin that went all the way down to his base. The half of his shaft that was out was glistening pinkly. His erection was a bit larger than the average man's was, but Rapina had known men who were endowed with as much or even more. Its shape was not a corkscrew exactly, but it looked as though, in the womb, it might have started development as one. It was as if the corkscrew had thickened to the point that there was no open area inside the spiral, so that it had then fused. It was thus a shaft with a rounded ridge of flesh that spiraled around and around and up its entire length to the rather pointed pink tip. Rapina found it rather fascinating. She wondered how the spiral ribbing would feel inside her. The orcs around her started laughing, and she realized she was staring. Rapina could tell Thalis was about to push her down and mount her roughly. She knelt and took hold of his balls and sheath. His intention to push her to the ground evaporated the moment she got hold of his balls. An orc behind her took it upon himself to unlace Rapina's bustier, but she was too busy examining Thalis' anatomy to care. Rapina pulled at Thalis' lust "Goo-oo jool," Rapina said lifting Thalis' balls. "Goo-oo thuck ahlee," she said as she pulled his sheath down. The orc behind her finished loosening her bustier and pulled it up. Rapina raised her arms briefly as he took it from her. Thalis watched as Rapina's firm breasts bounced free of her bustier and grinned. "Goo-oooo udds," he said pulling her up to stand and fondling her breasts. Rapina smiled and tugged at his lust. Thalis reached behind her and caressed her rump saying, "Goooo," once again. He felt down the cleavage between her cheeks until his hand was between her legs. He lifted his fingers to his eyes and saw they were wet. This seemed to surprise him "Goooo. Melina squchuch." Rapina laid down on Thalis' bedroll her long legs slightly apart. She looked up at him coyly. Suddenly he jumped onto her and pushed violently between her legs, his tip missing and jabbing the flesh beside her opening. "Ow," Rapina said as she reached under her raised knees and guided him in. Thalis looked almost shocked, as if no woman had ever put him in before. Rapina giggled, the orc was plunging like a madman. Rapina wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed him inside her as she pulled on his energy. She squeezed his shoulders in time to his rhythm and gradually slowed him down. Rapina met his thrusts with her own, moaning as his ridged cock teased her labia. She suspected that if orcs were less smelly, ugly and frightening, they would surely be in high demand among women. At first Rapina thought Thalis was coming but since his energy was not quite gushing as a man's did in orgasm, she guessed the little squirts were more like precum. She was so juicy inside she could hold a squeeze and feel his ridges dancing up and down her tunnel. His feel was exquisite, unfortunately he only lasted a few minutes before he grunted, bucked into her and squealed with a rising pitch as Rapina pulled his energy into her. She took about what she usually took from Rames. She did not want to cause alarm, but she did need what he had to give. Thalis collapsed atop her with an open mouth. He could not remember ever having had a more intense orgasm, nor had he ever done it with a wetter, more willing woman in his life as a raider. "Goooooo, squchuchuchuchuch," he said massaging Rapina's flushed breasts. He had never noticed that any woman had squeezed him inside her either. He wondered if that was because the women had never been willing. The feel was incredible, so incredible that after a few post-climax minutes of it he felt himself growing hard all over again. As he hardened he began to thrust and soon he was moving heatedly. Rapina clutched hotly, she wanted release and given the situation, she desperately needed to use her charm power to gain allies among the brutal orcs quickly. She knew it would be a race to the finish as the orc warrior plunged into her again and again, driving her closer and closer to the breathless, moaning brink. Suddenly she was coming and he was gushing energy into her like a fountain in the same moment. Her ecstasy was so intense with his energy pouring into her as she came that she nearly missed touching his mind. At the last second, she touched it with great power, sending feelings of staunch alliance like the ones she had noticed he seemed to feel for Hluk. After his orgasm, the orc went positively limp. His exhaustion had claimed him. Lust tickled Rapina's nose. Algorn, who had apparently wanted nothing better than to fall asleep when Barnes had been near, now seemed to have other ideas. "Melina thuch Algorn!" He ordered. Rapina smiled greedily. She put her bustier inside her breastplate, then went to Algorn's bedroll and slid her warm body next to his. Algorn had brown skin, a pink nose and bristly beige hair. He got to his knees, pulled her to her hands and knees and entered her from behind. After only a few minutes, Rapina's back arched, her soft moan accompanied the delicious rush of energy she pulled from the second orc's long, intense orgasm. Rapina could feel the various small wounds she had received from arrowheads and the like, begin to mend. As in her pirate days, she healed the deepest layers of the wounds and left her outer skin relatively untouched. Algorn seemed to want to do more, but he was just too tired. Rapina felt kind of sorry for him, as she was feeling better and better. "Melina," Elfar whispered lifting his blanket. His orcish cock was a little smaller than the others she had seen were, but still deliciously hard. She guessed the average orc might be about the same as the average man, but it was hard to say having only seen three orcs so far. Rapina went to him and straddled him in an instant. She rode him until he spent a flood of energy into her hungry, clutching wetness. Mindful that Thalis was the one orc whose mind she had touched, Rapina put on her long underwear top, and snuggled into his bedroll for a bit of sleep. The troop awakened at dusk after their first real night's sleep. Rapina was awake, partly dressed and doing her magical exercises when the others started stirring. Hluk was still alive but not doing as well as she would have liked. She and Oagmak changed his dressings and spoke about his condition. Rapina cast her first sight spell and tried a few of the variations on the bestowal spell that Thane had suggested the day before they had left on the ill-fated mission. She was unsuccessful, but she had a few ideas about what to try next. Her study of spell research techniques had prepared her well for attempting to tweak a spell that was not yet working for her. During the last part of the day, a sentry had spotted far-off campfires, most likely the fires of a company of Avengene's men bedding down for the night. The orcs waited until it was dark and then marched into the mountains. Thankfully, the night was relatively clear, so she was able to stumble along between Chontral Oagmak and Thalis in spite of her lack of night vision. The young orc warrior seemed very enthusiastic about having Rapina learn orcish. He and Oagmak talked to her and listened to her attempts at speech for the entire night. She memorized a good core vocabulary of a couple hundred words, but her grasp of the syntax to use in order to string them together correctly still needed work. On the other hand, she did recognize the words she knew in the conversations of the orcs and could often piece together approximately what they were saying. --- Rames looked down into the scarab pit. The body of lieutenant Harms had been down there since last night and the insects now had it nearly clean. He was glad he and Thane had been able to extract Elizabetta and the bodies of the four priests of the Vindicator she had hidden. This was in spite of the fact that a force of soldiers of Avengene had arrived during the afternoon after the night of the debacle in which they had lost Rapina. The Avengenes had been far too worried about orcs to venture far from the fort in the darkness of the night that followed the day of their arrival. Thus, Elizabetta had removed the dead priests to a safe distance. This time the consecration of a graveyard had gone smoothly. Thane had been able to use the graveyard mists spell to take them back to the Order's central transport point and thence back to the abode. They had discovered the lieutenant's corpse while scouting the area around the fort from the shadow plain. Thane had recognized the man, and felt he could make something of his corpse. Since the Avengenes appeared to be creating a mass grave for their dead soldiers and another for the dead orcs, Thane had left Kent and a contingent of ghouls behind to tunnel into it and pillage the corpses. Thane walked into the necromantic laboratories with a smile on his face. "Did you find her?" Rames asked. "Indeed I did. She is still with the orcs and she has her armor and equipment belt, but not her pack. She is chained to the orc shaman, and is not wearing her blades, but considering she is a slave on a forced march, I believe she is doing very well. The orcs are in the mountains. They are trying to outdistance a company of soldiers from Avengene. The terrain they are in will not make tracking easy." "Have they..." Rames voice trailed off. "Not that I have seen, but they are on a grueling forced march. I suspect their lusts will not flower until they get somewhere they can relax and consume large quantities of ale. Rapina is learning orcish at a pace only she could pull off. Her mind is clear and sharp, so it may be that she has already found herself on the receiving end of some orcish lust. I cannot watch her every minute. Skrying is a somewhat taxing magical feat. I check in periodically for a minute or two and only continue watching if there is reason to do so." "Have you contacted her?" Rames asked. "There is no reason to. I have nothing to tell her. We are unable to extract her at this time. Also, I do not wish the orcs to overhear and realize that they are being watched. The orcs are moving at night, which means unless we know both their planned route and of a graveyard nearby, we cannot intercept them," Thane said. "What about using the shadow plane?" Rames asked. "We could get to them, but we can hardly ask them for Rapina without forces to back us up. After all, they might just decide they needed extra provisions and that we looked to be a good snack," Thane chuckled. Rames grimaced. "You can prepare our forces to be ready to leave as soon as I find the orcs camped and drinking so that it looks as though they will stay in one place for a full night. If the orcs ever stay put long enough for me to engage in negotiations with them, I shall not take you along. If they were to see your face, even if the chances of that are small, you might be recognized from your former days as an orc-slayer." "But..." Rames said. "I know you wish to rescue Rapina, but you have to admit that your face is a liability. The orcs are not worrying about Rapina yet, but my guess is that once they are less fatigued, questions will be raised and politics will rear its ugly head. They might wonder such things as whether Rapina is actually a spy for Avengene, for instance. Considering the lieutenant fought two duels and nearly won his freedom and Rapina's it is unlikely that a sane man would think the Avengenes wanted to plant her in that group of orcs. On the other hand, some individuals are suspicious no matter what. What normally happens to humans among the orcs?" Thane asked. "They are usually put to work as slaves, and if they fail to perform they find themselves in the stew pot. Women are preferred slaves since they are often easier to intimidate. They are usually set to hard labor for their masters, and impregnated by frequent rapes," Rames said. "I assume most are taken in raids. Have you any idea how booty is divided?" Thane asked. "As a chaplain in the early days, I did have occasion to talk with some rescued slaves at length. I even know a bit of orcish. I thought it might come in useful for spying, negotiations and interrogations. Most of the more ambitious officers try to learn some orcish. It looks good on a soldier's record. Unfortunately, the slaves I talked to had no clear idea as to how they wound up as a certain orc's slave. Somehow, they are just assigned a master. I do know they can be loaned, sold, gambled away, won and so on. They are property," Rames said. Thane nodded, "Even when I expend the power to cast a spell of clairaudience, I have found it is not very rewarding since I do not understand what they are saying. If I catch something extremely important, I may expend the power to create an illusion that you can see and hear so that you can tell me what is being said. Nordula's stone would be very helpful for this situation, since his kettle takes care of clairaudience, but Rapina does not have the stone on her as she did at Dealrath, since this was not to be a spying mission." --- Near the end of the night, the orcs entered another cavern system. This one was very like a maze. Rapina was obliged to conjure her tiny ball of blue light so she could see perhaps three feet in front of her. She tried to count the number of left and right turns but could not see when they were passing an intersection. She realized if the Avengenes followed the orcs into this complex, they might easily become lost forever. Many of the byways were half-flooded with cold water and by the time they camped for the day, Rapina's legs and feet were chilled to the bone. Her wax-boiled boots were waterproof, but that did not keep water from pouring in when she waded too deep. When the orcs camped, they were still deep within the system of caverns. Hluk's friends camped around a low ledge where they could put their wounded friend. The orc leech spoke quietly to Hluk's followers, "Hluk is dieing. The wound was deep, and so much of his blood spilled on the ground and inside him. Disease is growing in him. He is slipping away from us." Thanks to her ally, Thalis, and the fact that the orcs knew Rapina could never find her way out of the cavern, she had been given a tiny amount of freedom to bathe and wash her clothes. Rapina refilled her canteen and washed her clothes in a nearby cavern stream. Hluk was doing poorly, and his friends seemed quite worried. She managed to find some dry stalagmites on the ledge not far from Hluk to hang her clothes over. She went back to the stream and washed her hair and body as best she could. Even after using her hands as a squeegee, she was damp and very cold. She was so cold that she was shaking and her teeth were chattering as she walked the thirty yards or so back to the area staked out by Hluk's followers. When she arrived, she saw that Thalis had lit a candle he had so she could see. An orc she did not know was there with a tattered backpack. Flanking him were four other warriors. They turned and a shiver of lust was added atop her many other shivers of coldness. Her nostrils flared as the scent of their lust tickled her. The orc named Jmal was explaining that he had a backpack, and that Hluk's orcs could make her, Melina, carry things if they had a backpack for her. Rapina sat down in Thalis' lap and shivered against his chest. She tipped her head back and whispered in his ear in broken orcish, "Someone has Melina's black backpack. It is like Melina's black boots and Melina's black breastplate. Let him bring Melina's backpack if he wants to barter. He is trying to pass off a poor backpack instead." The other followers of Hluk seemed to think the deal was good. They would get a backpack for Melina so she could carry their things for them, and she would pay for it by entertaining Jmal and his friends, but then Thalis spoke up. Thalis smiled. "Good try Jmal. You try to keep Melina's black backpack for yourself, and give us an old tattered pack. You want a ride with Melina, you bring her black pack. She worth it." The others looked at Thalis in surprise. What they thought would be a great deal, he made out to be a scam. Some sided with him; others were still content with the original deal. The fact that Rapina was in Thalis' lap and not someone else's put him in a slightly better position to negotiate, not to mention to play with her breasts. Rapina snuggled against Thalis and while pretending to ignore Jmal, she relentlessly tugged at Jmal's lust. His dark gray skin revealed nothing, but the tip of his nose seemed pinker than it had been moments before. Rapina tugged at the lust of his friends a bit while she was at it, but concentrated most of her clandestine attentions on Jmal. After a few minutes of haggling with Thalis' faction, and trying to swell the faction of Hluk's followers that embraced the original deal, Jmal started looking a bit uncomfortable. It affected his negotiating ability, and soon he was loosing ground. Finally, he gave up. In a few minutes, he returned with Rapina's pack. Thalis had been right! Thalis gave the other followers of Hluk an "I told you so" grin as he took the pack. Rapina gently nibbled the tip of Thalis' ear, and then stood up and padded over to Jmal. She put her hands up his mail coat. The orc was actually shaking. She slid her hands down as she pulled his lust, "I cold, Jmal warm Melina?" Jmal lifted the flaps of his mail hauberk and attacked the buttons on his breeches. Rapina motioned to Jmal's followers. "Please help with mail. He no get good thuch if Melina no touch him. You protect him while he work." Jmal got out of his armor and got his pants down. Rapina took his erection and unsheathed it. Precum already oozed and squirted from its tip as Rapina caressed Jmal's balls and licked the tip. "Jmal not bring bed?" Jmal shook his head. Rapina turned her rump to him, bent over and grabbed her ankles. She felt a jab, and then reached back to guide him in. The orc pulled her hips into him as he thrust forward, driving himself in to the hilt and thrusting wildly. Rapina squeezed and held, squeezed and held as he pistoned in and out of her well of pleasure. She tugged at his energy until he squealed and exploded in a long, quaking orgasm. Jmal could not seem to blink as he pumped and pumped his cum into the new human girl. The pleasure was so intense he squealed like a child, but he did not care. When it was over, he could still hardly blink. His eyes were so wide open. He stared dumbly and started getting his clothes back on. "Goo?" A'oot, one of Jmal's followers asked. "Goooooooouchuchuchuch! Jmal said. "Next time I bring bed." A'oof tossed his armor down and took hold of Melina. She was very pretty, the prettiest human girl he had seen, and her breasts were big like she was full of milk but she was not. He tossed his surcoat on the floor and before he could push her she was on her back on it looking at him with heat in her eyes. A'oof got between her pretty, long legs and pumped into her tight cavern. She felt so good he wanted to go on forever. He held back until he could hardly stand it. The girl moaned as if she was coming. A'oof had seldom seen this happen; he was proud he had made her come and he felt like she was an ally now. She could trust him. He would protect her and she would make him feel so good, and he did feel so good but he really could hold back no longer. He hollered so loud that it echoed all around the cavern. It seemed like he came forever. Then he fell on top of her as if a giant had bonked his head with a club. Rapina could tell she was getting into one of her crazed moods now, as if she had been a starving woman who was on the first course of a five-course banquet. She wondered if it was some sort of self-preservation mechanism she had inherited from the lust spirit. When times were uncertain and stress was heavy, she seemed to get very lustful. She hoped her eyes had not turned red or anything. Allok took her next; he was rough. He just pushed her down, jumped on her, and started bucking her against the stone floor. She snarled like a troll and when he came, she drew on him twice as hard as she had the others. "Yaaaaaaah!" Allok screamed for an eternity as his orgasm nearly crushed his small mind. When he got up from her, Allok looked at the woman with a little fear in his eyes. He had come like ten orcs. The pleasure had been like a range of mountains. She was magic. He feared her magic, but he knew he would come back. He would have to have her again. Rapina wrinkled her nose. She really should not have drawn so hard on Allok. Somehow, his brutality had brought out the same frantic urge to draw the life out of him that Evangeline's horrors had when she was younger. Yet now she was more adept at drawing from a man and that made it all the more important that she did not loose her control. The last of Jmal's followers was Hrune. He looked as though he was always the last to get anything. His tiny cock did not fit his robust measure. He had tan skin, black hair, and his nose was dark gray on the tip instead of the usual pink. He was gentle, uncommonly gentle for an orc. Rapina had to do most of the work. She did it warmly, thrusting her hips firmly against his loins and squeezing him rhythmically. It was impossible to squeeze the crazed, fast orcs properly, but she was able to massage Hrune to a fever pitch and he soon came within her, long and smooth, filling her with his seed. Rapina thought she was finished, but she had only just begun. Seeing Jmal's followers had enjoyed her, Hluk's followers felt that they should certainly have her. After all, she was their girl. Thalis started it, and when Rapina had finished with him, Elfar with the unusual light beige nose tip called her over to his bedroll. "You have fun?" Elfar asked. Rapina grinned hugely. "I give you fun." Elfar dove between Rapina's long legs and rooted around with his nose, and then he started eating her. She squirmed and moaned as he tongued her nub over and over until the orc had her bucking near the brink. Then he jumped onto her and rammed his ribbed cock home. He thrust mercilessly until Rapina's back arched against the bedroll and she gasped as orgasm cascaded through her mind. In that instant, she gained another ally in Elfar as she floated down from her peak. Minutes later, Elfar grunted long and loud while he filled her with his orcseed. Rapina whispered in Elfar's ear, "Elfar goooooo." "Me, me too Melina," Algorn said. She hopped over to Algorn's bedroll, laid down and unsheathed the orc's spiral ribbed wonder. She smiled greedily and put him into her before she could cool down from Elfar. "You like orc? Algorn asked as he thrust heatedly." "Melina love the way orcs are shaped between the legs," Rapina panted and thrust back. "Uhahh!" she moaned as Algorn drove her over the brink. Algorn was amazed at how hard the woman came. She was the best thuck he had ever heard of. She squeezed an orc. She made him feel good. He knew now that he would be her friend and ally even though he had not thought much of her a moment before. He liked her now. She seemed very greedy for orcs. He wondered if she could thuck the whole camp. Algorn wondered if she was crazy. He had never heard of such a thing. Algorn gasped and grunted and he came so long and hard he could see lights behind his eyes. Melina was the greatest thuck. She was chont thuck. Rapina looked around. She was sure her eyes were red now. She felt Algorn start to shrink and looked around almost frantically. Her emerald eyes lit on Furuk, another of Hluk's followers. He was a gray-skined black-haired orc with a pink nose. She also looked on B'dar, a very cute orc she thought, with beige skin, black hair and a light beige nearly white nose tip. He motioned her over. She was there in a flash. "B'dar thuck Melina?" He asked. Rapina rolled her eyes back into her head as he entered her, his spiral caressing her labia. "Mmm," she moaned. "Melina like orcs. Lots and lots of orcs. B'dar looked like she could have knocked him over with a spoon. Rapina giggled. Just the same he was panting and thrusting like an orc possessed, and before long he squealed as Rapina pulled his sweet power and seed into her womb. Furuk was there as soon as B'dar was spent. It was as if the two of them had been one longer lasting orc. Rapina came and ushered Furuk into her fold. With so many allies among Hluk's orcs, Rapina at last felt safe enough to shift the slider of her mage light to illuminate the room in red. Before she had been afraid that someone would take the light from her, and she desperately needed it to see. Rapina was not sure whom she bedded next. It seemed that new groups of orcs from the fragmented tribe wandered in from other nearby cavern rooms to barter with one of Hluk's men for Rapina's favors. Followers of Hluk sometimes bedded her again after getting a little sleep. Rapina did not sleep. She was not tired; she was wet. Since they knew they were safe, the orcs had decided to stay an additional night and day in the caverns to rest up and lick their wounds. Rapina was busy until nearly a few hours before dusk the next day. By that time she had been given her own bedroll and various other items including everything she had lost to the Avengenes, and she had made many allies within the tribe. --- Thane walked from his rooms shaking his head. He found Rames in the lounge eating oatmeal and looking worried. "Any news?" Rames asked. "None. I have attempted off an on, but the last time I saw Rapina was two nights ago with the orcs in the mountains. Now I cannot find any of them. It is as if they had disappeared from the face of Ifreanne." Rames grimaced. "Nothing at all?" "Only some soldiers of Avengene wandering through the valleys. I believe the orcs have given us all the slip. I will watch the soldiers to see if their trackers can do any better than I." --- Rapina had lost track of time, but when the last orc fell asleep beside her, she looked for another, but there were none this time. She was crazed, she fingered herself to three heated orgasms before she finally began to come down from her frenzy of lovemaking. She rolled her head back and sighed, "Rapina, what were you thinking? She looked at the aftermath. There were spent orcs everywhere. Many of the more lusty groups had moved closer. Now Hluk's group was Mecca, and there were many other groups sprawled nearby. She had completely forgotten herself. Every wound on her body was healed. Her skin glowed with health. He breasts were enlarged and over-firm. Energy was ricocheting around her mind like a thousand swarms of ecstatic bees. She was packed to excess. She went to the stream and washed, using some gravely sand from the bottom as cleanser. When she was done she did not even shiver. Her skin showed the cold for a minute, but she was so aglow with energy she hardly noticed. She dressed, but she did not even try to put her bustier on. She knew it would not fit. Instead, she put her long underwear top and tunic on. Both were a bit strained around her chest. Rapina wiped some cum from her labia. She knew that after that bout she would not stop dribbling for quite sometime. She did not bother with pants. They would just get slimed at the crotch. "Damn it Rapina, what were you thinking? How am I going to explain gaining two cup sizes, and the fullness, the redness, and my nipples will not relax. She fiddled with her breasts. They moved but not as they had earlier. It was as though she were stuffed and swollen. She could feel the excess energy zinging around her body as if she were not quite adequate to hold it. She needed to release some somehow. It was the perfect time to practice her bestowal spell. The energy was so packed within her that if she got something even half-right life force was bound to leak out of her like water from a hole in a very tall dike. She sat down next to Hluk, her benefactor, the orc who owned her but was seldom conscious and in no shape to tell her what to do, thanks to the late lieutenant Harms. Rapina removed the dressings from Hluk's chest wound and cast her first sight spell so that she could see any sputters of magic. She tried all of the variations Thane had suggested. She could see minor effects from two of them, but they certainly did not work to any appreciable extent. She thought about how she could send her energy to any part of her body. In a way, the wounds pulled the energy. They lacked life force and she just let it flow. Wounds might be seen as deficiencies of life force. She just needed to open a channel from her reserves to the wound in question. Within herself, she did that naturally but she had learned to control it by restricting the flow from her reserves to a wound so that she could heal only part of it. The bestowal spell was designed to rip life force from a normal spell caster, and then bestow it on another. In a way it was two spells, energy drain from the caster herself, and then bestowal. If there were some way she could bridge the gap between her flesh, and the flesh of another that she touched, then she would be able to heal him. With the energy zinging around in her the way it was, Rapina thought perhaps she could skip the energy drain part of the spell, and just work on the part that directed the energy just drained to the other person. It was really very like her channeling spell for directing the energy of a man's orgasm from an odd part of her body to her hungry vagina. The direction of flow, however was reversed. She formulated endless sets of variations, and even cut and healed her fingers a few different ways in an attempted to gain insight into the way her own energies flowed. She came up with variations and incorporated those that seemed to help. She changed emotional sets to one of greater empathy and love. It helped, but she was still stumped. She had tried endless variations and reinterpretations of the spell and could not achieve anything more than a few sparkles of life force at her fingertips in spite of the energy that was zinging through her. She also scoured her mind to see if she could think of some component she was leaving out from the classic spell when she formulated her simpler channeling variation. Suddenly she realized there was something missing. She was missing a stupid transitional element. She was not sure how the transition should work in the short channeling only version of her spell, but she had a few ideas and tried them. On the third casting, she got something. She was definitely onto something. She tried it again but she was still missing an important twist. As she cast she thrust her mind into the energy, over the gap and into Hluk's wound, making it a part of her. Rapina shuddered as a power surged from her reserves. "Uhh," Hluk cried out Rapina yiped as B'dar grabbed her hair and held a blade to the throat. "What you do to Hluk," B'dar snarled. "Look at the wound," Rapina squeaked. B'dar took a quick glance at the wound. He noticed Hluk's eyes were opened and he had the strangest expression on his face. B'dar's jaw dropped, as did the blade from Rapina's throat. "Great medicine!" Thalis awakened and rushed to Rapina's side, then he too saw the wound. It was healing so rapidly he could see the flesh move. The wound was not fully healed When it stopped, but the flesh had turned to a healthier color, and the wound was smaller and shallower. "What Melina do?" Thalis asked. "I have been trying to get my healing spell to work for hours. I did it. Rapina dug through her things and found the small traveling book of spells and cantrips that had been in a pocket in her cloak for easy reference. She took it out. I need a quill and ink to write down what I did so I do not forget it," Rapina said. B'dar ran off and returned with Chontral Oagmak who gave Rapina a quill and ink, then examined Hluk's wound. "B'dar say you get heal spell working," Oagmak said. Rapina nodded as she scribbled down some notes. "Yes," she said and then was silent as she wrote frantically. The wise man examined the wound and raised an eyebrow and pronounced: "Melina has saved Hluk's life with her chont, her magic." The few orcs that were awake praised Rapina's medicine. Oagmak looked around and sniffed the air. Why you thuck so many orc soldier? Oagmak think human women not like orc." Rapina smiled. "Melina think orcs beautiful between the legs. Melina love thuchthuchthuch. Melina's best chont is thuck. Melina thought she get strong chont from thuckthuckthuchthuck, maybe it give her so much chont she get heal spell to work," Rapina said in broken orcish. "Melina chontral thuck, Melina sex magician?" Oagmak asked in both common and orcish. "Melina has small chont many kinds. Melina best chont thuck," Rapina said. "Ahhh, it is good we have so many orc warriors. Orc warriors helped Melina save Hluk," Oagmak said. "Orc warrior help Melina learn heal spell, make spell more easy; she have so much thuck chont she dizzy," Rapina replied in broken orcish. Oagmak chuckled. "Melina try help Hluk more now," Rapina said in broken orcish and then she began weaving the magic. After a few moments she released another surge of energy into Hluk's chest. "Uhhhh, Melena makes me tingle wildly when she does that, and my cock grows stiff," Hluk groaned. The wise orc propped Hluk's head up. "I saw death all around you, and in your eyes. You were dead in one, maybe two days. Behold the power." Hluk's mouth opened as he saw the wound shrinking before his eyes, "Great chont!" "Melina only beginner chontral. Melina is an apprentice. This Melina best spell ever," Rapina said in broken orcish. "I rest a minute, then more chont." After a period of rest, Rapina stood back up. The orcs were stirring, and she could feel the lust of the awakened ones trickling up her spine. She realized that she had no breeches on and that some of the awakened orcs had been sleeping for quite some time. The third casting of her simplified bestow energy spell sealed Hluk's chest wound leaving a long pinkish line across his chest where the wound had been. Her next casting rendered Hluk's thigh wound inconsequential. "Melina is chontral. Melina saved your life, Hluk. Would you keep her as a slave girl when the tribe has need of her?" Chontral Oagmak asked. "I will think about entrusting her to you and the tribe, Chontral Oagmak, but for now we are not a tribe but factions. We cannot make her a woman of the tribe without a tribe. She is a chantral, all factions would want her, and some might kill her just so the other factions would not get her. If she is a slave, the orc that hurts her hurts me, and my allies can help protect her. Some factions might start fights and kill my woman to remove certain competitors from the competition. You may make use of her skills, but she will heal here in my presence and I will refuse troublemakers. I hope we have the trials soon. The warriors are recovering from the march, and will soon become restless," Hluk said. "I will cast the bones to see if GzishGthup gives us his favor to select a new chief. Now that we have such medicine, if you will allow it, all competitors can be healed and we need not wait for all to be well before the competition. A fragmented tribe in Jooldig might fall to treachery. It is wise we have a leader before we sell," Chontral Oagmak said. "You are wise Chontral Oagmak. Let us act on your wisdom then," Hluk said. --- "I am sorry Rames, but we can do nothing until I can find her. I have communed with Mortaebius and I was assured that Rapina was not among the deceased. I have spent considerable power watching the Avengenes, but their trackers are stumped. I have been very hard on myself of late for being unable to locate her. Too hard, I suspect. It appears that the chess mistress was correct. I am fond of her, and now that she may be lost to us forever, I have lingering doubts about never having taken her up on one of her many offers. On the other hand, I see what a mess you are these days and I think perhaps that I was wise to do what I did. Until I realize that I feel much as you do, but at least you have richer memories. Rames nodded, "She added life to this place. It seems so dead without her." "Indeed, I sincerely hope the orcs simply went underground as a way to insure that the Avengenes would not find them, but I have no way of knowing," Thane said. "I have combed the area around where I last saw them, but as yet have found nothing. I will look for a cavern entrance. I have that advantage over Avengene's men. I know I should be able to locate her with her collar or my pool, and since I cannot, it is likely she has delved beneath the surface of Ifreanne. I assure you that I will continue a daily search for caverns, but there are other things we must do. I have spells to learn and advanced animations to create. Avengene has rendered the giants impotent against his larger forts, and has secured aid from Li'Yieraun to help rebuild those forts that were destroyed. Obviously he has deep pockets, for he is also advertising in other baronies for soldiers." "Since our morning magic lesson only seems to remind us of Rapina's absence, I have decided to send you to Argos to train under an armorer. Your skills have been more than adequate to repair those suits of chain mail we have been able to glean from the dead of Avengene that were not stripped by orcs. Yet, I wish you to have more experience with repairing plate armors, forging and customizing. I believe if we are to have a chance against Avengene, we cannot rely on the stereotypic army of rotting undead with decaying weapons and armor. Avengene's soldiers are too well trained and too zealous for that. Our army must have more than a frightening appearance. It must be truly formidable so that the fear will be well deserved." --- In the light of five candles, Oagmak squinted at the bones he had thrown. "Such a tangled stack," he sighed. "Why could they not have rolled out loosely?" The shaman stared at the bones for a time. The bone of fait had fallen nearest the shaman, but the bone of death was tangled with it. The bone of treachery formed a trine with the bone of the shaman, and the bone of death and fait formed a line with the bone of the shaman. This line was square with the line of the bone of the tribe and chief, yet the bone of good fortune formed a trine with the line of the bone of tribe and chief. The more he looked at it, the more the divination made little sense, yet fait had fallen first, so his course of action was clear, but what it set in motion was inscrutable. --- In a way Rapina was glad that Hluk had not set her free. So much posturing and bargaining was going on. The orcs had become very aggressive with one another, and this seemed to be a prelude to numerous duels. Already several small groups had pledged their loyalty to Hluk by loosing it to him in unarmed duels with wagers of loyalty against services rendered, which usually wound up being Rapina's favors. She got the feeling that some of the smaller groups with little political clout had joined simply to be allies with Hluk. That way they would have relatively unrestricted rights to see her once the tribe had decided on a new chief. Rapina dared not even go take a bath in the stream without taking an armed group. Threats and slights that lead to duels and unarmed duels were becoming increasingly commonplace as a prelude to the announcement of the formal duels that would decide on the new chief. Jmal and his ten warriors came strutting into Hluk's camp. "You whore-sellers are weak!" "If we are so weak, why do you even bother coming?" Hluck asked. "To taunt you, to offer a wager to pass the time," Jmal said. "What wager?" Hluk asked. "Two Avengene horses, and these three jools against your woman. Allok against Thalis," Jmal said. "You think I would bet my woman against money? She saved my life. She is nearly an ally. She is beyond money," Hluk said, making a show of being insulted. "I will bet three horses, and these six jools too against your woman, Allok against Thalis," Jmal enriched the offer. "Bah, you do not have enough money to balance the scale on Melina," Hluk said. "She is more valuable than the lot of you. Do you think I value my life so little that I would bet one who saved it in a fight I had no part in? It is obvious why you say I am weak, you think I am weak in the mind, but I am not so big a fool as you think." "We are worth more than your woman. Ten warriors and I who could best you in the chief's duel," Jmal said. "Then bet loyalties not jools and horses," Hluk said. "I could face you in the chief duels. They will be announced soon I hear, and afterwards we may not wager our loyalties," Jmal said. "Fight me now or later as you please, but wager loyalty. What use do I have for booty, when I may not live to spend it?" Hluk said. Jmal saw Chontral Oagmak emerging from his tent, "Then I wager an alliance between us and our warriors, the leader of the whole group to be decided by combat between us." "Armed and deadly?" Hluk asked. "To death or yield, but the loser will be the second to the winner," Jmal said. "You would decide your second thusly and not as custom dictates?" Hluk asked. "Then offer a counter," Jmal said. "The looser is a hchil, a sergeant and can compete for higher posts just as any hchil," Hluk said. "Done, but choice of weapons will be decided by culahil, an unarmed duel between Allok and Thalis," Jmal said. "Bah, Allok is your best. Weapon choice should be decided by the least among us," Hluk said. "Done, but least as determined by the other group leader," Jmal said. "Done," Hluk agreed. Chontral Oagmak raised his hands as if to speak. Before Oagmak could open his mouth, Hluk and Jmal hollered, "Culach! Culach! to death or yield for loyalty and alliance, between us! "And afterwards a great announcement," Chontral Oagmak added. Rapina smirked. Both of the young leaders looked relieved they had come to an agreement before Oagmak could make his announcement. "Who do you say is least in my group?" Jmal asked of Hluk. "You think I will say Hrune, but no, without weapons the least among you is Bargl. What weapons would you use if Bargl wins?" Hluk asked. "Cavalry flail and shield," Jmal said. Hluk grimaced, it was obvious he was not good with small flails. "Who do you choose as least among us?" Hluk asked. "Melina," Jmal replied, grinning with self satisfaction. "Melina is not a warrior of Hluk!" Hluk sputtered. You said yourself, "'Weapon to be decided by the least among us.' You did not say least warrior among us. Is that not so Chontral Oagmak?" Jmal asked. "I heard, 'least among us to be decided by the other leader.' Jmal has trapped you well, Hluk," Oagmak said. Hluk cussed under his breath. "What weapon would you choose if Melina wins?" Jmal "Great club, bare of spikes." Hluk said. "Uch! Let us form a circle then. Armor must be even for the culahil," Jmal said. "No armor will fit Melina right. They fight with no armor at all," Hluk said. "Collar only, Melina has the jool with no clasp," Jmal said. "Done, but you must find a slim collar for Bargl," Hluk said. "I have one that will do." Jmal had Hrune fetch him a slave collar that he put on Bargl. Hluk addressed Rapina and Bargl, "This is culahil, a fight to yield or knockout. Deliberate killing is against the rules, and either leader may demand culach with the breaker of the rules as is our custom." Jmal nodded, "Go!" Rapina could not imagine why Hluk had selected Bargl as the least in unarmed combat. He was huge. If he were no good at unarmed then it had to be due to speed, because it certainly could not have been due to strength or reach. Rapina did not have time for an elaborate plan. The huge beige-skined orc stuck his jaw forward and charged like a bull. She fell before him in a sacrifice throw. The orc sailed over her head squealing. Rapina was up in an instant. The orc landed on his back. Before he could get his head two feet above the ground Rapina was off the ground with a double kick to the side of his head. Bargle blinked and staggered as the woman kicked him. He would pound her with his fists! He threw the one- two punch. One missed and the other glanced off beneath her breast. If the woman could kick, then so could he. He launched a meaty foot at the woman's belly. Rapina went into a back flip, but the orc's foot caught her on the fly. As she landed, she tried desperately to keep her coughing and gasping to a minimum. Bargl was not so slow as she had hoped, and he was definitely not weak. Bargle charged. His meaty arms deflected the woman's kick, but his right arm tingled with pain. She deflected his slow punch and he fell as the she swept his legs from beneath him. This time he got up faster. She kicked him in the head only once. As the large orc rose, Rapina's boot lanced out and struck the nerve on the inside of his thigh. Bargle's leg was tingly and useless; he was unbalanced and falling. Rapina saw the look of confusion on his face as the orc bagan to topple. She spun a round-house kick into the back of Bargle's head. The huge orc dropped like a felled tree. She held her boot heel above his neck and poised for a deadly kick. "Yield?" she coughed in orcish. "He yields." Jmal said. Rapina walked away coughing, blood spattered the floor beneath her mouth. She gathered her wits and let her held-back magic flood into her wounded belly. She straightened and let the damage heal completely. Thankfully, she had kept some reserves for herself after healing several of the chief contenders for Chontral Oagmak. Hluk was being more careful about whom he let in her bed, but she was still steadily seeing orcs interested in her favors, albeit under the watchful eye of several armed guards. It was a lucky thing too, because it seemed as though whenever she got reserves ahead, there was someone who needed healing. Hluk chuckled, "Jmal you tricked me, but the gods have tripped you up with your own wits. Melina is a warrior woman." "Melina is an enemy of our enemy. Melina is a chont thuck, the best our warriors have ever had. Melina has saved Hluk's life. Melina has healed the contenders. Melina has won culahil for Hluk." Chontral Oagmak grinned. Hluk seemed to squirm a bit, but said nothing. Jmal took a great club from Algorn. Although he swung the weapon distastefully, he flexed and strutted nonetheless. Hluk smiled and winked at Rapina while brandishing his great club. "Go!" Algorn said. As the warriors began to circle each other, Hluk's expression became serious, yet Jmal seemed filled with an easy bravado. The first blow came quickly. Hluk slammed Jmal's club down with his own then bashed Jmal's calf with a bounce of a back swing. Jmal limped a little. "You're going to have to do better than cheap swings to beat me, Hluk," Jmal said. Hluk smiled briefly eclipsing the look of concentration on his face, "I pound your head into the floor soon enough, Jmal," Hluk said. "Bah!" Jmal lunged and managed a glancing blow off Hluk's forehead. Hluk staggered wildly and left an opening. Jmal swung at the half-ducked head of his staggering opponent. As soon as Jmal had committed to the swing, Hluk, jumped forward and rammed his club into Jmal's temple. Jmal realized too late that he had let his bravado fool him into believing he had landed a better blow than he really had. Hluk had been pretending to be staggering but it was a trap! Slam! Jmal saw a constellation of stars as he paid the price for his overconfidence. Hluk pulled his club back and repeated his move, this time knocking Jmal to the floor. Jmal rolled and stood, then fell back down again. He could not see entirely straight but he was not about to go down now. He would use Hluk's own trick and act as though he was within an inch of his life. He left an opening, but he was clumsy because he really was staggering. His club met Hluks in a wrist-numbing collision. Both orcs held on and used the bounce for a murderous second try. Each orc nearly brained the other. Hluk reeled and staggered, but smiled as he saw Jmal hit the cavern floor with blood running from his nose. "M-mlunina," Hluk pointed at Jmal; "Heal J-jmal." Hluk leaned on his club and wavered. Rapina tried her new spell on Jmal, but her reserves were meager after having healed her belly and various orcs earlier in the day. The spell did little, if anything. "Chont small, too many heals. Melina neen thuck chont," Rapina grabbed her own crotch and squeezed as she spoke in orcish. Lust tingled up her spine and tickled her nose as the orcs assembled around her realized her need. Rapina's greedy emerald eyes swept over the crowd as she sniffed out the lustiest orc present. Maron and two orcs who had recently flocked to Hluk's banner were currently the most overcome with need for her. Rapina realized that her mode of dress would have to change in the orc tribe because her legs got too cold, yet her cunny was nearly always hot. Half the time it seemed she was bent over or on her back with her legs wrapped around some grunting orc. To complicate matters, both her breastplate and her bustier seemed to fit only after she had cast many healing spells. Her father would absolutely have died if he had seen how shamelessly wanton she was with the orc warriors. Then again, he probably believed she was nothing more than a murderous witch after the clergy of the vindicator had moved in to whitewash what Evangeline had really been. Rapina supposed only her friends Evangeline had raped still esteemed her; the others, no doubt, believed as they were told. "Me thuck you good, Melina, make your belly grow," Maron smiled as he pulled his glistening pink erection from his pants. Rapina put her fingers over her mouth for a second in surprise. Then she shrugged and embraced Maron who lifted her hips, found her heated lips and began to grunt as he thrust his erection through them and into her lively tunnel. If she were not hotly squeezing Maron's erection, she might have been very worried. She had not had her contraceptive herbs in four days and she was awash in orcseed. The next orc warrior took her from behind and then a third threw her down on the stone floor and took her roughly. She knew she ought to have been terrified of the orcs, but in unarmed combat, she had learned how to fall properly, and if an orc treated her roughly, she drew on him heavily. It was as simple as that. Rapina thrived in an environment that would have quickly driven another woman to the insane depths of despair. Her wanton resilience impressed the orcs and earned her a kind of surprised respect. A respect she could greatly build on whenever she climaxed and could use her charm power. A fourth orc wanted her to suck him. It was a bit of a challenge to keep her teeth out of the way, but the spiral ridges were fun. Their texture was so exotic, and the volume of the orc's pre-cum was enough that it often ran down her chin. He came rapidly, but Rapina was prepared. She caressed his rear just so and channeled his energy to her loins. It was good practice with her channeling spell and the orc was happy as well. After satisfying ten of Hluk's warriors, she used the power she had gleaned to heal Jmal's head. "I must rest now, then I will try Hluk's head or maybe I will need more orc warriors to help first. We will see," Rapina said. While resting between castings of her healing spell, Rapina took a moment to think about how she might prevent involuntary motherhood. Normally she used one herb to keep her from conceiving, and she had another that would return her menses if she suspected she was pregnant. In the caverns no herbs were available. She was not even sure lust spirits could get pregnant. Then again she was a woman too, at least that was what her late Aunt had told her in the dream she had, had right after Rapina had inadvertently killed reverend Evangeline. Rapina knew there was life force in the seed of males, she had sensed it many times. One thing she felt she could do was to make sure she drew not only on the flow of energy from a climaxing man's body, but also on his seed itself. She felt if she were sure to be thorough, she might render the seed of the orcs lifeless, and make pregnancy less likely. The other thing she decided she would have to do was to develop a drain spell that centered in her womb. She felt she could use the spell in place of the back-up herb to cleanse her womb before any seed got started growing there. She could already drain using several parts of her body; thus, the new variation would not be a difficult adaptation. --- Thane swept into the kitchen with a self-satisfied grin on his face. Rames stood up. "Did you find her?" "No." Thane paused dramatically. "But I believe the trackers of Avengene have given me an invaluable clue. They found the entrance to a hidden cavern." "Have you searched it?" Rames asked. "Not extensively, but I can tell you one thing, the cavern is vast and deep, and the Avengenes would need a sizable army to find the orcs in it. I have attempted to find a path but the deeper I go the fuzzier the image gets until I loose it altogether. It appears that I will not be able to track Rapina via remote viewing. On the other hand, the cavern explains why I am not able to find her, and why the ring I have that is linked to her collar just shows an arrow going around and around. There is a good possibility that she is too deep to track via the magic I have at my disposal," Thane said. "But." Rames stammered. "All is not lost. At least now we may know where she probably is, even if we cannot reach her via remote viewing," Thane said. "Can you track the Avengenes?" Rames asked. "They do not appear to be delving any deeper than the surface caverns. From their point of view, it is impossible to say if the orcs went into the cavern. They lack the manpower to search it even if they were as convinced as I am that, that is indeed where the orcs went," Thane said. "There could be a dozen entrances and exits from those caverns. Will we ever find her before the orcs have her for supper? Rames asked. "We are not helpless in this. I have better servitors than I once did, and we have the ability to use the shadow plain. I realize she is with a tribe of orcs, Guardian Rames, but we cannot underestimate her resourcefulness," Thane said. --- The word for tribe and chief were the same in Orcish. Both were Kahl, and the contests that would determine the Kahl of Kahl Rageblood had been telling on Hluk. He was a good warrior, but he was young and not quite as seasoned as a few of the other contenders. His speed, endurance and cautious audacity had delivered him through the first combats. Some had gone more smoothly than others had. The final bout was between him and a filthy middle-aged orc named Scrag. Going into the battle, Hluk was in better shape than Scrag, for Rapina had clandestinely healed Hluk after each previous bout. Early in the battle, Hluck had scored two telling blows, one on Scrag's foot, and the other on Scrag's opposite leg. Just when Rapina thought the battle was won, Scrag had put a deep slash across Hluk's still tender chest and another one across his thigh. As the two fought, Rapina knew it was going to be a close. Whoever made the first mistake would likely loose. Neither could move perfectly because of their leg wounds. Hluk seemingly had a slight advantage in this regard, but he had previously had a better advantage and it had done him no good. Hluk knew it must end quickly. He would have to press for victory, to exploit any appreciable error in Scrag's technique, but no. Scrag must be thinking the same thing. Scrag must be thinking, "One more blow, I am on a roll and so close to victory." Hluk knew what he must do. His thigh was hurt and Scrag knew it, but Scrag's legs were also hurt, and he had used that against Hluk. Scrag had used brief victories over his own pain to inflict wounds on Hluk that should not have been possible considering Scrag's condition. Rather than waiting for the orc that made the first mistake to fall, Hluk would make a mistake, and use it. The arm that held his buckler already ached, and the tiny shield had taken too many blows to be counted on, but it had to serve. As Scrag changed direction, Hluk turned crossing one leg over the other, closing his stance like a fool. He could hear the reply to his error whisper through the air. Scrag was crouched and the attack went against Hluk's errant thighs, the one part Scrag was assured Hluk could never dodge away from his swing in time. Hluk held his buckler behind him at the ready; he brought it forward to protect his thigh while nearly snapping his wrist with one short but lightning swing to a swath of skin between Scrag's gorget and his helmet. Both orcs roared with pain as they wounded one another. Hluk's buckler was destroyed and his forearm was a ruin in spite of his bracer. Scrag had had the right stance and timing for a powerful swing, and it looked bad for Hluk. His arm was bleeding profusely and it was easy to see that the hand was not working, for the bones of his forearm had been broken. Hluck dropped his sword and hollered in agony as he held his bleeding left arm trying to keep all of his blood from leaving him. Scrag stood up, his buckler fowled against his helmet as he tried to get to the wound in his neck. It was up, almost under the edge of his helmet. Scrag's hand never reached the wound but was sprayed red nonetheless. "No!" Scrag bellowed. He charged at Hluk like a wounded boar, his sword aimed for Hluk's gut. Hluk forgot his pain and jumped as high as he could. The sword tore at his calf rather than his belly as he went up over the top of the charging juggernaut. Hluk let go of his bleeding arm. Both orcs struggled to their feet. Hluck wavered but limped sideways, holding his bleeding left forearm under the armpit of his right arm so he could draw a dagger and keep the dagger trained on Scrag. Even with his neck wound, Scrag got his bearings and prepared for another charge, but the whelp he was fighting kept moving sideways and up and around. Scrag blinked, his vision was swimming. Rapina blinked as a jet of fluid wet a line across her face. She brought her hand back and it was red with blood, but whose was it? Hluck turned Scrag's next lunge aside with his dagger, but was again knocked across the cavern. By the time he stood up, Scrag was charging again. Ting! Uf! Hluck parried the bullish warrior's sword aside with his dagger and kicked Scrag in the face. Hluk fell a split second after landing the swift kick; his bad leg had buckled beneath him. He fell to the floor and the dagger left his grasp and clattered against the floor. Reeling from Hluk's kick, Scrag fell on top of Hluck. He was determined to gut the stripling beneath him, He tried to struggle to his feet but instead wound up sitting on Hluk's abdomen. He raised the sword. Hluk groped for the dagger. He had heard it land; he squirmed trying to grasp it but he knew it might be just out of reach. Scrag was about to impale the stripling's chest when he heard a crunch and saw the boy's fist against his nose... It was a good punch but he hardly felt it. There was something else though, but he was only vaguely aware of it. It looked to Rapina as though the tribe would have no chief, by virtue of both candidates slaughtering one another, but when Scrag's sword came down, there was no crunch. Only the point penetrated Hluk's breastplate before the older orc fell to the side, the hilt of Hluck's dagger stood out from Scrag's porcine nose. Hluck had found his dagger in the last second. What Scrag had thought was a punch was also a stab. Rapina was up in a flash. She grabbed Hluk's arm and at the elbow and just above the wrist and jerked. Hluck screamed as the bones of his arm snapped back into place. Rapina let Chantral Oagmak take the arm and began casting. After two spells she was so spent she could not go on, but she felt certain the arm was saved. Oagmak patched Hluk up as best he could while Rapina rested. Rapina smiled wanly. She knew she could count on the orcs to flood her with the power to heal their new chief. Hluk was a good warrior, but not the best. Some of the best orc warriors lacked the charisma to attract a group of supporters, but instead had given their loyalty to the orc who possessed the woman who had the tribal warriors spellbound between her thighs. Chantral Oagmak spoke, "The Rageblood tribe has a new Kahl. First, let us hear him speak, then perhaps he will lead us to a place where ale can be had for celebration!" The orc warriors cheered and hollered in affirmation of what their shaman said. Shaken by the ferocious bout with Scrag, but proud of his victory, Hluk stood up on a formation of rock and gave his first address to the tribe. "Brothers, warriors of the Rageblood, I am proud to stand before you as your chief!" The assembled orcs yelled battle cries and stamped their feet. "I am young, but wise enough to know there are still things my elders can teach me. I promise to bring vitality and guile to the chief's tent and to look out for our tribe to insure our continued survival and success!" The orc warriors again cheered for their new chief. "As you see, I am not a bad warrior, but I know I am not the very best warrior of the Rageblood. I hold the prowess of Farge, Stang, and a few others above my own. Thankfully, Farge is too ornery and Strang too ugly to want to be chief! The Ragbloods laughed. "Nevertheless, I am grateful for their support. A tribe needs senior warriors who can spend their time training, and demonstrating their abilities to less gifted warriors to keep the Kahl Rageblood strong. A chief seldom has the luxury to help train even gifted youths. As our senior warriors know, I am also not the smartest among us. On my shoulders will fall all the tribal details these warriors who might have beaten me have had the sense to avoid." "I care about my brothers, and I promise that we will fight when we can, and run when we must. But more than that, I promise that the hordes of the Avengene who usurps our lands and kills our people will feel our rage written in the blood of countless fallen soldiers!" The Rageblood orcs yelled battle cries and stamped their feet. "In honor of my victory, I am putting my slave girl Melina in trust for the tribe for as long as I am Kahl of Kahl Rageblood. She is an enemy of our enemy. She has saved my life more than once, and she has done great service for the Kahl. She is to have the same measure of freedom and respect that a young orc shaman might. Her master at work will be Chontral Oagmak, for her chont is uncommonly strong, and our wounded warriors can make good use of her charms." Squck! Squck! Squck! Melinaaah! The warriors hollered making innumerable noises and gestures that would have whitened the hair of most any woman who had grown up in Rapina's hometown. Rapina basked in the collective lust of her orc tribe, her own hunger pulling at theirs. "Enough of speeches, this is a time for celebration. Let us strike camp and make for Jooldig!" The story continues in [Rapina]047 Jooldig copyright 2001-2002 by Rapina