Chapter 175
Chapter 175
Adhalia gathered her bearings and put all her emotions in check. “Introduce me to your comrades.” she softly muttered as she went back to Ulfrus and calmed the creature down with some caressing from her palms. “Shh… They are our friends.” she whispered unto Ulfrus’ ears as Draegh’ana’s summon was raring to pounce on the Ereians who still had their weapons pointed at them.
Zaraki led the way as he walked right in front of her with his shield at the ready to intercept any misfires from his comrades. Their anger for the nobles wasn’t something that is easily quelled with just words, as many of them don’t know about the Darhkariss family personally as he did.
“This one is Dylan, the one who led us here after being pursued by the Ereian Royal Cavalry. He is the current leader of this army.” Zaraki introduced as he directed his gaze on the young man with the blonde hair.
“Dylan, this is lady Adhalia, the princess of the Darhkariss family.” he introduced her as she bowed his head a bit when he faced her.
“And what makes you think that we will show respect her. She just popped out of nowhere.” Dylan muttered while eyeing Adhalia, but the creature standing beside her was making him nervous as he averted his gaze quickly as not to irk the bear made of rocks and soil.
“You know that we have a grudge against nobles and not just a particular noble, but all of them. They are all the same, they don’t value our lives and treat us harshly.” a man beside Dylan spoke out. He had a long hair that went over his ears and almost touching his neck from the sides. A pair of sneaky looking slanted eyes. His frame wasn’t much different from the otters as he was also too skinny to be soldier but perhaps it might just be because of the lack of food that they suffered throughout their journey. That’s why he looks too skinny right now.
“Glas is right Zaraki, we just don’t hate one particular noble but all of them. But our hate for that bastard prince is at the highest. There are many of us here that would like to tear him apart limb from limb if we ever have the chance.” Dylan added while clenching his fist till his palms turned slightly pale.
“Perfect!” Adhalia exclaimed as she clapped her hands together and excitement was obvious on her face. She was smiling from ear to ear because of what she heard. “I am on a quest to bring down the Royal Family to avenge my family and also to fulfill our duty of protecting Ereia. You and your comrades are welcome to join me on my quest.” she continued, as the smile on her face never receded.
Dylan was taken aback by what she said and became silent. “Pshh… Do you think we can go up against a proper army? I think there is something wrong with your head. We are normal citizens of Ereia, that was just conscripted into the army of the prince with little training. You must be dreaming if we will join you on your quest. Wake up! And look around you. Do you think any of us would risk our lives for someone that we just knew? Good luck trying to convince anyone else except for him.” he pointed his finger at Zaraki with a look of pity on his face.
“Oh… Don’t worry about that. I have friends, powerful friends that will aid me in my quest. Actually, we were just finishing our final preparations before starting our expedition. I just dropped by to try to have you join our army and also for you to be protected from the dangers that lurk in the shadows of these lands.” she replied while still smiling, she didn’t take to heart what Glas said to her.
“Yeah right… You and what army?” Glas snorted as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Verakhs to the left by the rocks! Show yourselves. I need you to carry a message!” she shouted in Orcish tongue, which shocked those around her of what they just heard. It was the language of the orcs.
“You speak the language of the savages?” Glas questioned as he unsheathed his sword and prepared to strike at her. Zaraki was quick to intercept him as he quickly stood between her lady and Glas. “I wouldn’t do that I were you…” Adhalia softly muttered and right on cue, an iron bolt flew out from the rocks to their left and directly hit the blade in the hands of Glas making a resounding clang as his weapon vibrated strongly.
Orcs started emerging from behind the rocks as they fearlessly headed towards Adhalia. The other Verakhs were keeping a close eye on them as they moved to provide support just in case a fight breaks out. They confidently stood in front of Adhalia and her fellow Ereians.
Adhalia saw that there were only two of them that showed up, but she paid no heed to it. “Go and tell the Horde Chief to march the horde here. Tell him to make their entrance as grand and as intimidating as possible. Let us show them what a proper army looks like.” she giggled as she spoke. The two Verakhs nodded their head in acknowledgement, saluted, then turned around to inform their Horde Chief. They know that Adhalia doesn’t have a rank in the horde, but her being almost always with their chieftain, they had to show her respect.
Zaraki shook his head in helplessness as he actually could speak a little of the Orcish tongue. He and Lord Darhkariss had some dealings with some small groups of orcs before but it didn’t last long as the orcs that they were trading with just suddenly disappeared like a bubble and never came back south to do business with them again.
“So, the friends that you spoke about are orcs. They are powerful warriors but if there are only a few of them, the number of the prince’s army would easily devour them.” Dylan finally spoke as he stared at her with a serious look. He had decided that if the friends that she spoke about were powerful enough, he would join them and if not, he would just erect a place for them here in the lands of the orcs and start a new life.
From the distance, blaring sounds of the battle horns sounded, which was followed up by the thundering sounds of the war drums. The battle band played their instruments with vigor as they were pumped up. They have been commanded to frighten the Ereians with just the instruments that they had.
“Yohan First Horde! Move out!” Sakh’arran bellowed as he led the way forward atop Blackwind. He was to the left of the First Warband as he marched alongside them. The Third, Fourth, Sixth and Eight Warbands were hanging a few paces behind the First Warband in a long, straight battle-line. The Rumbling Clan were at the rearmost as they marched behind them at a relaxed pace.
Dylan, Glas, Zaraki and the rest of the Ereians all focused their gazes on where the sounds were coming from. The first thing that they spotted was the figure of a wolf sitting atop a thick pole that is carried by an orc and was flanked by two other orcs who were carrying their banners.
It didn’t take long for them to have a glance at the almost full might of the horde as they marched towards them in an orderly fashion. Dylan can’t help but gawked at the sight that he was seeing. All the orcs are wearing uniformed armors. The ones worn by the first group following the Golden Wolf and their banners differed from the ones worn by the groups following right behind them. Straining his eyes, he could make out a silhouette of what looks like a cavalry unit standing at the rearmost of the orcs.
Even Glas had his eyes almost popping out of their sockets as he observed the army of orcs heading towards them. He was sure of it. The orcs will easily slaughter them if they wanted to and they can’t do anything about it. From behind the tree lines, bushes, rocks and anywhere else that you could hide at even the less likely places to hide at, orcs started showing themselves as they slung their weapons on their shoulders while standing proudly.
“By Faerush name… This is impossible…” Zaraki muttered, as he can’t quite believe what he was witnessing. He had seen army’s of orcs before and even fought against some of them, but never were they this organized and well equipped.
“I told you my friends are powerful… This one isn’t even their full might, there are still others who were left behind to secure our base.” Adhalia proudly said as she turned towards the First Horde.
“First Horde! Halt!” Sakh’arran shouted, and the entire horde came to a halt and even the battle band stopped playing their instruments and remained still. The horde remained still, but their mere presence was suffocating as the Ereians felt even more nervous than before.
“Let’s go…” Sakh’arran said to Blackwind as they sprinted towards where Adhalia was at. The orc atop his warg was quick to arrive beside Adhalia.
“This is Sakh’arran, Horde Chief of the Yohan First Horde, Ikarush, Druu’ghar Vaddash of all the hordes and the clan chief of the Arkhan Clan. Adhalia introduced him to all those who are nearby to which the orc atop his warg just gave them a friendly nod, then smiled. Dylan didn’t know how to respond to the smile of the orc as he still looked intimidating even while smiling, he looked to his left and right and saw his comrades who were staring blankly at the orc.
“The one with the blonde hair is Dylan, the commander of this army, the one with the sneaky look is Glas and this is Zaraki, one of the remaining trusted servants of my family.” Adhalia introduced them as she put a hand on the shoulder of Zaraki.
“Tell them that I gladly welcome them to join us.” Sakh’arran muttered. Adhalia translated what the Horde Chief said.
A few moments of Adhalia being the translator between Dylan and Sakh’arran sorted things out. She was having a headache already, but she endured it as only she could speak both Ereian and Orcish properly. Looking to his right, she saw Draegh’ana giving her a thumbs up while smiling as she sat on the back of Ulfrus in a lotus position. Adhalia can’t help but envy her. She shook her head and focused her attention on what she needs to do.