Rise of the Horde

By nightfall, Khao’khen and most of the Yohan First Horde arrived at the defenceless town. The orcs spread out to secure to the place.

Khao’khen and the Rakshas headed towards the most luxurious looking place in town which they knew was the residence of the town’s leading figure. Almost the same as the town, the manor was defenceless with no sign of guards anywhere.

The situation caused Khao’khen a lot of confusion. Sure, they have vanquished an enemy army not so long ago and captured many of the routed enemy soldiers but he was certain that some of them managed to flee successfully. There should be some of them who escaped to this town and would regroup.

The noble of the town seemed to be also missing as there were only servants among those who were being round up by his warriors.

“Where is the master of this house?” Khao’khen questioned the kneeling servants who were obviously trembling in fear. His question seemed to have fallen onto deafened ears as the only respond he got was the sound of sobbing and the pleading for mercy. He was speaking their tongue in order for them to understand what he wanted to say.

But fear seemed to have gripped their hearts so hard that they were only focused on begging for their mercy.

“I asked again, where is the master of this house?” he repeated his question but to no avail.

“The chieftain asks you question!” one of the Rakshas grabbed the nearest man and raised him up so that he would have to look at him eye to eye. The menacing look of the orc scared the shit out of the man and he went limp. He fainted right there and then.

“It wasn’t my intention chief,” the warrior had a look of helplessness on his face as he let go of the man who was scared by him to the point of losing consciousness.

“No worries…” Khao’khen shook his head and waved it off.

“You,” he pointed at the eldest of the servants who he suspects to be the butler of the noble and the leader of the servants.

“Mercy! Please!” the man cried out after being pointed at by the leader of the orcs. He was grabbed by the orcs and brought forward towards their leader.

“Don’t worry, I don’t have any intention of harming you and your peers as long as you do the same towards us,” Khao’khen spoke as softly as possible but his voice was still as threatening because of him being an orc. No matter how soft he spoke, his voice was still deep.

“Where is your master?” he continued to ask.

After a few moments of silence, the old man finally answered. “I-in…the dungeon…” that was all that he said.

Khao’khen nodded his head then ordered some of his warriors to accompany him to the dungeon. He brought with him the old man to lead the way and to identify their master.

The place was dark and was filled with foul stench. From time to time, they would spot a vermin crawling around. There was also the sound of the prisoners which came as groans of pain or crazy screams.

It didn’t take long for them to find Baron Ragab who was shackled firmly on the walls in one of the cells. His body was covered in blood and his body sustained cuts of differing sizes.

“Free his binds carefully and call for the healers,” Khao’khen ordered.

The man was unconscious and barely alive. He has lost a lot of blood and his body was on the verge of surrendering to the claws of death.

*****

Near midnight, the group of Drakhars that was keeping watch on the prisoners from the previous battle arrived along with the rest of the horde.

With the aid of the Drakhars, the town was a bit stabilized. The Drakhars were able to calm down the nerves of the residents even if by just a little bit and their presence somehow alleviated the fear and panic that has gripped the hearts of the residents.

Days passed by and the residents of the town became somewhat accustomed to the presence of the orcs who were patrolling around town. Their fear of them was slowly easing bit by bit.

They came to realize that the knowledge that they knew about the orcs from stories and hearsays were untrue. Although the orcs weren’t approachable because of their silence, there was nothing much that they can say about them. The orcs were much better than the soldiers who used to patrol around the streets.

At least the orcs stick to their duties of just patrolling and weren’t making use of their power to abuse and take advantage of them.

Khao’khen holed up in Ragab’s residence as he waited for the baron to regain his consciousness as he dealt with the management of the town. Although not bountiful, the warehouses were filled with grains which should be able to feed up the town and the horde for months with no problem.

He was also in constant communication with Adhalia who had informed him that they would rendezvous with the horde in a month’s time. She already had most of the eastern parts of the kingdom in their control.

The Warghen Cavalry was busy dealing with the scouts being sent from the capital of the kingdom. They were so busy in dealing with enemy scouts that they rarely show up inside the town. The Rhakaddon Cavalry were even sometimes sent out to resupply them as the number of scouts being sent from the capital seemed to be endless.

So far, there were no sign of an enemy army launching a counter-attack.

Khao’khen and the horde were just waiting for Adhalia to link up with them before launching their assault on the kingdom’s capital. He was not in a rush and Adhalia’s presence was needed after they capture the capital. Adhalia would be the one to deal with her fellow Ereians.

He had no plans of dealing with the political figures in the capital and just thinking about dealing with them was giving him a headache.