Lost Scout

[ChickieBooBoo]

"Works for me," Ezra agreed with Kane. He was eager to get moving as quick as possible. "Leave their saddles on and bags tied... we might be leaving in a hurry."

--

Emma pursed her lips and knotted her fingers into her dress. Three days? As unwilling as she was to wait, Emma recognized Lord Ragnar's tone, which invited no argue. She curbed her tongue and said nothing more then, "Thank you, Lord Ragnar."

 

[Frundette]

As they took the horses to the ravine that Strider had located, Jasper gave Duke a quick pat. "Hopefully we'll be back with your real owner," he told the colt as he looped the reins around a sturdy branch. "Even if it means I have to go back to riding the old nag."

"Let's go," Aelfric said as soon as the horses were secured. "Strider, do you mind taking point? I trust your tracking skills far more than my own."

--

Meanwhile, the humans imprisoned in the orc camp were making good progress on the wooden fortifications, highly motivated by the lash of a whip when they moved too slowly. The orcs were hard at work too, cutting down trees surrounding their campsite and fashioning them into logs sharpened on one end, then stacking them where they could be added to the wall.

Gytha struggled with a particularly heavy log, but she didn't dare trade it out now for a lighter one. Her back was still sore from the lashing that the orc called Orkhan had given her yesterday.

 

[StarrNico]

Strider nodded and gave the two horses a last pat "Guard" He told Stone then moved to the trail the orcs had left in their haste to get their prisoner back to camp. He waited just long enough for the others to gather, then set off following the trail.

~~~
Ruby struggled with the log she was carrying. She was concentrating so much on moving the log that she tripped over a root, falling down.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

"He got you this far, remember." Ezra politely reminded Jasper when the younger man called out his own horse for being old and slow. "Someday you will be old and tired too." At the end of his short lecture he winked good naturedly at Jasper, showing that although he was series, there was also an element of good intention.

He let Kane and Aelfric take the lead after patting Duke and Panago, and stayed behind with Jasper. The young man was the only person along who didn't have a loved one potentially in danger at the end of their quest. He wondered what Jasper felt about tracking down the orcs themselves instead of going for reinforcements. Perhaps he felt that Aelfric, Kane and himself were not thinking clearly because of their emotions, but was too afraid to voice his concerns. Ezra hoped he would have the courage to do so if he felt it was needed.

--

Orkhan was several rows away from Ruby when she fell, supervising another portion of the wall. He did, however, hear the splash she made in the mud from falling over, and it caught his attention. It took him a second or two to locate her in the throng of other humans, but when he did his eyes narrowed and he began walking angrily in her direction.

 

[StarrNico]

Ruby shook her head, making sure she hadn't hurt herself before trying to pick the log back up again "Stupid root" She said, working to get back up with the log. She didn't see Orkhan coming towards her.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Orkhan didn't need to be close to Ruby to use the long, cruel whip which he carried. While she was struggling to pick up the log again he flicked the handle rather hard, and sent a black strip armed with with tips of porcupine quills flying in her direction. Due to the sheer speed it was traveling, the whip made a loud and forbidding 'crack' sound in the air before it struck her.

 

[StarrNico]

Ruby heard the crack right before the whip hit her. She fell down again, crying out in pain. She had never felt anything like that before, none of her training could of prepared her for that. She turned to look at Orkhan, trying to hold back tears.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

"Get up," he growled, staring down at her with a mixture of sick pleasure and impatience. He knew that with a few more blows he could have wounded the girl beyond repair, and he wouldn't have minded doing so, but he needed her to work. A dead girl couldn't work. And so he refrained from hitting her a second time, hoping that his words and the threat of a second blow would be enough.

 

[StarrNico]

Ruby winced and stood up, watching him and hopeing he wouldn't strike her with the whip again. She clenched her jaw to keep from making any comments that would only make things worse for her. She kept her eyes from meeting his as she stepped back, over the log so she wouldn't have to turn her back on him to try to pick it up again.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Orkhan watched with laser-like scrutiny as Ruby tried to pick the log up again, the whip poised and ready at his side. Just for fun and his own personal entertainment, as she bent down with her face towards him, he flicked the whip towards her head. He didn't intend to strike her, just get close enough to make a loud 'crack' in her face.