Lost Scout

[ChickieBooBoo]

"Fine by me," Ezra yawned in mutual agreement, accustomed to rising and going to sleep with the sun. He unrolled a small blanket that was attached to Panago's saddle for use as a cover, and folded his jacket into a make-shift pillow for the night. "Wake me up in a couple hours, I'll take the second shift."

--

In the dim light Danielle had to squint in order to see where she was going, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to keep up the fast pace which the orcs had set. She was silently relieved to take a small break, although her feet were sore and bruised, when they finally stopped. The relief lasted only a couple seconds, however, as the voice of the new orc sounded menacing and dangerous to her human ears. Despite her curiosity, she resisted the urge to look up. It was for this reason that she was taken by surprise when the new orc lifted her chin. Even in the dark she could make out its ugly, scarred features... like a horrible nightmare. Initially she squirmed uncomfortably against its grasp, but eventually stilled and stared fearfully into its eyes as it inspected her.

 

[Frundette]

It seemed she had meet whatever requirements the orc desired, for the large brute released Danielle after a few moments. Her captors exchanged a few words with the newcomer before a handful of silver coins were turned over and Vorgak handed the leash to the new orc.

Business finished, all four of the orcs strode forward, dragging the human girl with them. And not far ahead, the forest gave way to a large clearing where various tents had been pitched and multiple fire pits had been dug. Enough cook fires and torches were burning to make most of camp visible. The orc led Danielle toward the center of the clearing where a cage had been erected. The structure was roughly a circle, about 10' in diameter and barred from the outside.

"Stay still," the orc barked at Danielle, grabbed her by the front of her dress while he removed the leash from her neck, but left her hands bound. Still holding the girl, he used his other hand to unbar the cage and then pushed her toward the entrance. "Get in'" he commanded, his skill at the common tongue much higher than the orcs that had taken the girl prisoner. Inside, a few figures, barely visible as there was no torch inside the cage, were huddled against the wall, as far from the door as they could get.


--

​

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

While maintaining a submissive posture with her head down, Danielle peeked sideways and up a couple of times to take a closer look at the crude camp that they were taking her to. The additional light provided by the fire felt harsh to her eyes which had adjusted to the dark, and only added to the feeling of apprehension that was building in her gut. At the orc's command she stumbled forward and ducked into the cage, then spun around to stare at him as he locked it behind her. With a mild case of claustrophobia, she soon felt as though the walls were closing in around her. Exhausted and afraid, she sank to her knees, buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

--

From behind the orc who had locked Danielle in the cage, another approached and joined him standing at the entrance. He leaned forward slightly and sniffed the air, intrigued by the young, fresh smell of their newest prisoner. "How much did you pay for this one?" He asked in orc tongue.


(When I first created Danielle, I didn't realize how much of an age difference there is between her and Olivia. I'm going to lower her age to about 14, so that there's only an 8 year difference as opposed to 10.)

 

[Frundette]

"Less than a gold," Mulush answered, securing the cage again. "Looks like it could hardly lift a shovel, let alone use it," the orc added, a note of derision in his voice for the general weakness of the human race. "Probably won't get much work outta that one. Those puny things make any progress on the fort wall today?" he asked, referring to the efforts to turn their makeshift camp into a more permanent stronghold.

--

Once the cage door was shut, Gytha inched forward toward the crying girl and placed a hand upon her shoulder, hoping to give some small comfort, even though the scout was struggling to keep her own hope alive after five days of the orcish hospitality. She had never met Danielle and did not recognize her from the new settlement so assumed perhaps she was a traveller from Wedmor, like the others imprisoned with her. "Shhhhhh...." she said very softly, wanting to avoid any attention from the orcs, "let me untie your hands."

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

The second orc, who's name was Orkhan, grunted in agreement after noting her puny, relatively unimpressive size. In response to Mulush's question he replied in a low, deep voice: "Not as much as I would have liked, they are still falling behind. At this rate it won't be finished before the first snowfall. We still need more workers, or workers that can actually work." He cast a scornful glare at the group of people huddling in the shadows at the back of the cage.

--

Danielle jumped in fright when she felt Gytha's hand, but relaxed when she seen that it was only another girl a little bit older than herself. She shuffled around to face Gytha so that her back was to the orcs, and sniffed to stifle the tears. "W-who are you?" Her voice trembled quietly as she slowly held out her hands to the other girl. "Where are we?"

 

[Frundette]

While Ezra and Jasper slept, Aelfric sat with his back against a tree, his sword across his knees. An owl hooted somewhere nearby as Lord Ragnar's sworn man tried to clear his mind of the worry and anxiousness that he was feeling. The track they'd found earlier only served to increase his fear that something terrible had befallen Gytha. And here he was, leading two untrained civilians into a possible combat encounter. The question of whether to turn back and inform Lord Ragnar of the tracks they had found weighed heavily on his mind.

The horses stirred suddenly and Aelfric's hand tightened on the hilt of his blade as he looked toward them and saw all three of the animals had their attention focused on something in the forest. Aelfric rose to his feet as Panago whinnied. In the distance, he heard another horse answer. He moved quickly to wake Ezra and Jasper, in case the noise hadn't already awoken them.

--

"My name is Gytha," the woman said, keeping her voice barely above a whisper as she started working on the bonds securing Danielle's wrists. Her own hands looked scraped and sore and she struggled slightly to loosen the tight knot. A rather nasty looking bruise adorned her left cheek.

She didn't answer Danielle's second question. Honestly, she wasn't exactly sure. She knew they were still in the Greywood, but a part she wasn't familiar with. And she hadn't been conscious on her trip to the orc camp.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Ezra stirred when Panago whinnied and had made it halfway to a sitting position when Aelfric grabbed and shook him urgently by the shoulder to wake him up. Instantly awake and alarmed, he threw off the banket and reached to put on his jacket as the night air was cool. "Aelfric, what's going on?" By now he had heard the answering whinny, and was fumbling for his own sword while scrambling to his feet.

--

After noticing the general condition of Gytha's hands, Danielle felt a mixture of sympathy and worry. Was that going to happen to her as well? Once the bonds were free she flexed her sore wrists and moved her fingers to encourage the circulation of blood. "Are you from the settlement too?" She didn't recognize Gytha, and assumed that everyone in the cage had come from there as she wasn't aware of any surrounding towns.

 

[Frundette]

"Maybe nothing, maybe something," Aelfric said in reply, displaying an outward calm that belied his inner worry. He stared in the direction the horses were all looking, trying to make out if there was a rider approaching. Meanwhile, Jasper was slamming his feet into his boots since he had taken them off to sleep. He barely had his laces tied when a familiar black colt, saddle askew, came picking his way through the forest.

--

"Lord Ragnar's settlement?" Gytha asked, feeling a chill of fear at the girl's words. "I am. What happened?" she asked urgently. "Did the orcs attack it?"

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Although the black horse blended in with the dark night, Ezra recognized Duke by the elegant curves which graced the beautiful Arabian colt. "Duke?" He exclaimed, almost as though the animal could answer. "What are you doing out here? How did you get so far from home?" Carefully, as to not spook the horse, Ezra slowly approached him and managed to grab his halter. In gentle, soothing tones, he calmed the frightened animal down enough that it could be led into the camp beside the other horses. Seeming to recognize Panago, Duke whinnied softly and joined his barn mate as Ezra tied him up properly and removed the saddle.

Once Duke was secured, Ezra looked quizzedly at Aelfric and Jasper. "What do you make of that? I can't imagine any reason why he would be out here... unless someone broke into the barn?" The concern in his voice jumped exponentially at his last question as he pictured thieves breaking into the barn and possibly the house where Emma, Danielle (he thought), Olivia and his twin sons, Theo and Owen, were staying alone.

--

Danielle nodded, then shook her head quickly. "Yes... I-I mean no! I do come from that settlement, but it wasn't attacked by the orcs... its a long story." She paused for a second and hung her head, thinking about where she would be in her warm bed at home right now if she hadn't tried to follow her Father. After a moment, she decided to explain the story to Gytha. "I... I left home in search of my Father." She started. "Another man came to our house and asked if he would join them on a mission to find someone who had gone missing. I wanted to join them, but my Father wouldn't let me. After they left I followed them in secret, hoping that if I caught up with them later on they would let me come along. I never ended up finding them... it got dark... and then the orcs came..." Her voice cracked and trailed off as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I was so scared... they grabbed me and tied me up, then dragged me here." She looked miserably at Gytha, not realizing that she was the woman they had been searching for all along.

 

[Frundette]

Aelfric scratched his chin thoughtfully, but was unable to answer Ezra's questions. Only tried to talk reason to the man before he galloped back to check on his family, "Could be he just got loose and followed after his friend here," he said, giving Panago a pat on the shoulder. "And traveling in the dark invites disaster. If you decide to head back, I won't stop you, but wait for first light, at least."

Jasper approached the horse, holding his palm out flat for the horse to smell. "He came from the east," the boy observed. "Not from the west like if he'd just followed us."


---


Gytha wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulder as she tried to process what Danielle had just told her. Was she the missing person the girl was referring to? It made sense, unless of course the orcs had managed to take other prisoners from the settlement over the past few days. Though, none of them had ended up here, so she doubted that was the case.

"Come try to get some sleep," the scout said, failing to think of something suitably comforting to say. Even the thought that Aelfric was out there looking for her did little to raise her hopes. If it was only him and a handful of men, what chance did they stand against the orc camp? Did they even know what was waiting for them? "Tomorrow will be a long day," she said, giving the girl a small tug to encourage her to move closer to the small group only a few feet away. While the nights weren't freezing yet, they were definitely cool and with no blankets, laying close together was a way to keep some warmth.