Lost Scout

[Frundette]

Vorgak lowered himself into a crouch as Danielle brandished the weapon. His mouth curled up at the sides, displaying his pointed teeth in a grin again, seeming amused at her sword. "Drop da blade humie," he said as he raised his own sword with it's nasty serrated edge. The other two were scrambling back to their feet, one carrying a large spiked mace while the other held a short bow. The arrow had been knocked off the string, but he was quickly putting another one on the string.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Danielle stared at him with a mixture of fear and defiance. She scooted backwards a couple of feet on her butt, but stopped short when she realized that the other two orcs were behind her and armed. The sword was still firmly clutched in her hand, and she showed no signs of letting it go when Vorgak commanded her to do so. Even though she knew that she was terribly outmatched, and outgunned, it was still a small bit comforting to hold the weapon... even if it was virtually useless.

"Get away from me..." She growled at Vorgak. "You have no business being this close to the settlement. As soon as Lord Ragnar finds out that you have been here, he will surely send a team of his best men out to dispatch of you and your sour friends." The words, though brave, sounded hollow as she really had no idea if it was true. In truth, she had only ever seen Ragnar from a distance, and never spoken to him.

 

[Frundette]

The three orcs inched closer to the girl and Vorgak's grin widened as Danielle made her threats. "Humie no beat Vorgak!" he replied in a very broken common tongue, obviously not well practiced in speaking the language of men. The other two grunted something in a rough, guttural tongue, coming closer still to the girl, and Vorgak replied harshly "Nar Udautas!" The pair paused, their small eyes narrowed dangerously.

Vorgak sprung forward suddenly, swinging his weapon hard toward Danielle's sword, intending to knock it from her grasp.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Danielle shrieked loudly and half rolled, half ducked to avoid Vorgak. The sword swung wildly in her grasp, but the orcs aim was better then her evasive tactics and he knocked it easily from her hand. It clanged to the ground several meters from where she was crouched, much to far for her to retrieve without being stepped on by one of the other two orcs. Now weaponless and several heads shorter, not to mention a hundred pounds lighter, than any of the three strangers surrounding her, all she could do was watch helplessly as they overpowered her.

 

[Frundette]

One of the orcs stepped forward and grabbed the girl, pinning her arms to her sides, enveloping her with sweat and stench. With the girl pinned, Vorgak grinned again and pulled a length of coarse rope from a pouch on his belt and bound Danielle's hands tightly in front of her. A second rope was given a loop and slipped over her head and around her neck to form a leash before the orc pinning her finally let go of her. Vorgak held the end of the rope and gave it a tug, not restricting her breathing, but making it uncomfortably tight around her throat so that she was forced to take a step toward him.

"humie setment will be Vorgak's" he told her. Meanwhile, the third orc picked up Danielle's sword and after inspecting the blade and finding it sharp, added it to his belt.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Although obviously futile, Danielle struggled against the strong grip of the orc who held her. The stench of dirt and sweat filled her nose and she wrinkled her face in disgust at their lack of personal hygiene. After her hands were bound and the leash slung around her neck, her first natural reaction to Vorgak pulling on the leash was to grab it with her own hands. The ropes around her wrists however, prevented her from doing so and resulted in a rather awkward looking twisting of her elbows and shoulder joints to accomplish nothing.

The leash, she figured, was certainly an attempt by the orcs to humiliate her even further, and flaunt their power. She felt like a dog being led around by it's Master. So far the orcs hadn't 'really' hurt her, nothing more than a couple minor cuts and bruises... but the end result of her capture was likely not going to end well. Perhaps they were planning on ransoming her to Lord Ragnar in return for land... or maybe they were just hungry. She shuddered inwardly at the thought.

"You'll never get away with this... please, just let me go. What do you want from me? I have nothing to give you!"

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

"Mother! Mother! Mother!" Olivia's tiny voice and the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps announced the small girls arrival before she appeared in the doorway of the small house. She was returning from the barn after having been sent out to feed the animals some leftover kitchen scraps. "Mother! Duke isn't in his stall, he isn't there! He's missing!"

"Olivia, dear..." Emma bent down to greet her daughter, a wave of concern showing on her face. "Are you sure he wan't just out to pasture? Wasn't Danielle there?"

"No Mother, both of them are gone! Only Sheba is left!" She exclaimed, referring to the one remaining mare in their barn.

"I'm sure she just took him out for a ride for some exercise, sweetie..." Emma said soothingly to keep Olivia from becoming scared. "Don't worry, I'll go for a walk and see if I can find them. In the meantime, can you watch your brother for me?"

Olivia nodded silently, her brown curls bouncing gently around her shoulders and hurried off into another room.

With Ezra gone, Emma decided to ask the neighbours if they had seen Danielle or Duke. She knew how much the teenager wanted to prove herself to her Father, and deep down in her heart she was worried that Danielle had attempted to follow the trio on the expedition. The thought only increased her apprehension even more as she knew what kind of dark creatures which lurked in the trees, and how little her oldest daughter would be prepared to defend herself.

 

[Frundette]

Vorgak didn't bother to answer the girl's question, but just gave her another grin, seeming to enjoy watching her struggle uselessly against the ropes.

"Come," he told her, giving the leash another tug as the trio lead her back into the woods the way they had come, away from the road, leaving her saddle bag discarded on the ground. The sun's last rays disappeared, but the orcs seemed to have no trouble seeing their path through the dark forest and set a rather quick pace, pulling their prize along with them.



(Sorry for short, only had a few minutes to sneak in some RP!)

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

(Don't worry bout' it, family is more important!)

Danielle fell silent and followed Vorgak without pulling back on the leash. Without Duke or a weapon, she suddenly felt very vulnerable and scared in the presence of the orcs. This wasn't anything like heroic fairy tales that she had imagined, no knight in shining armour was going to find her here. She kept her gaze low and her posture submissive, hoping that it would give the orcs less reason to take any drastic measures against her. The leash was tight and uncomfortable enough, even when they weren't pulling hard.

Due to her unfamiliarity with the terrain and their quick pace, she stumbled occasionally on a tree root or rock. And each time the leash grew a little bit tighter as she fell behind, and didn't loosen completely to its original setting. A couple times her dress also snagged on a tree branch, leaving it ripped in several places.

(I didn't think of it before, but I would think that due to the time period and setting, Danielle would probably be wearing some type of dress as a girl... I'll go with that. )

 

[Frundette]

(Sounds reasonable to me! )

Even though the sky grew cloudier, no rain fell as the group of men got their fire started and ate their meager dinner from their supplies. Aelfric was mostly quiet, lost in thoughts about the tracks they had followed earlier and of what may have befallen Gytha. "I don't mind the first watch," he volunteered as he broke a stick and tossed both halves onto the fire. "Don't think I could sleep just yet anyway."

--

The orcs' path led them almost due south, deeper into the Greywoods. They walked for roughly two hours before Vorgak halted when, from just a short distance ahead, a voice sounded from the darkness, barking out a few syllables in the harsh sounding orc language. Vorgak answered the challenge "Mabaj bot ob armauk" and the shadowed figure of another orc emerged from the brush. The newcomer grabbed hold of Danielle's chin, pulling up her head and inspecting her as if she were a piece of livestock.