The Chains that Bind

King Siegfried sat on his throne as his military advisor spoke to him. "Milord, things have been going well in the kingdoms. The elven bandits in the woodlands are still causing a problem for our villages but….."

"Why can't we stop them?" he snapped, rather annoyed with the lack of progress his forces had been having.

"Our weapons shipments are being delayed, some rogue orc tribe is hitting our caravans and stealing only weapons and war material, and stealing our workers.1"

"We need that war material! The elves could attack us at any moment, and that war material is crucial to my plan to wipe the elves and their cursed island from the world!"

"Well sir, the orcs hit our caravans like ghosts and then flee leaving plenty injured in their wake, but none dead oddly enough. Also a human village was attacked by a mob of orcs coming to free one of their own, who was a human."

Siegfried rubbed his eyes. "The state of the men doesn't concern me, they can fight well enough wounded, and this mystery human would never last among the orcs, but these orcs must be stopped from stealing the weapons we need to destroy the elves."

"What would you have me do sir?"

"The orcs must have a camp somewhere around here; take three battle groups2 of knights, four battle-groups of both spearmen and archers, and whatever else you require, when the orcs raid a caravan ambush them and follow the survivors back to the campsite"

"What do the men do when they find the camp?"

"Raze it to the ground and kill every monster in that place, and if a human leads them, make the traitor suffer."

"Yes sir."

The next morning Caewen awoke in a bed, and the sensation was new to her, but also comforting.

How long has it been since I've slept in a bed?

The sun was bathing the whole camp in a reddish gold glow, and for a single second it looked to Caewen as if the camp was on fire and covered in blood, then the second passed and Caewen walked out of the tent to see the camp already in activity mode; the Captain was surrounded by several orcs and trolls and was speaking to them:

"Alright, today is a busy day for the humans, which means it will be a good day for us! Four separate Caravans are traveling our roads, and our spies say they are carrying weapons and replacement parts for war-machines. Remember strike hard, strike fast, and avoid bloodshed if possible, bring back anything of military value and then send them on their way. Move out!"

The crowd dispersed as the Captain smiled at Caewen "Once we raid these caravans the whole camp is moving out!"

Caewen smiled back, a hope rising in her chest, "Where are we going?"

"To join the resistance to fight the humans and elves of course!" The Captain smiled wider "Lorien came to me in a dream last night, and told me what to do!"

Caewen nodded as the Captain turned away "But if we are heading into a war, you need to learn to defend yourself." He handed her a short sword and started walking away "Let's see if I can teach you a few things!"

Snag waited in the trees and his eyes focused on the golden road, listening for the familiar sound of a caravan, the sounds of wheels and hooves, the sound of clattering weapons, the sound of guards. He heard the sounds before he saw the Caravan and watched it come over the hill.

Two horse drawn caravans were walking up the road, with five guards walking alongside them. Snag half drew his sword as the Caravan marched along. When it was almost past him he drew his sword and roared.

The roar signaled action: Snag leapt from the tree kicking the rider off the first horse. Black feathered arrows zipped out from the trees embedding themselves both in front of and behind the caravan. Two Orcs riding wolves sprang from the trees with nets hurling them over the guards and three goblins, who had fired the arrows, rushed towards the caravan with greed shining in their eyes.

Snag strode over to the trapped guards who had surrendered, and smiled at the three goblins "Open her up and see what we have today!"

The goblins fiddled with the latch on the cart, finally opening it.

Arrows shot out of the cart slaying all three before they could blink. The sides of the cart fell away, and twenty fully armed human knights rushed out of the cart and swung maces and swords slaying the wolves and their riders, Snag swung his blade and shoved a knight away rushing back into the woodlands with three words burning in his mind:

It's a trap!

The other three raiding parties soon found themselves ambushed by human knights, and those that were not cut down immediately fled back towards the camp.

Without realizing that's what the humans wanted.

"Keep your guard up!"

The Captain's wooden blade clanged against hers forcing her back a step, she swung in return, but found her blade blocked.

"I can see your attack coming from a mile away!" His blade knocked hers aside and he tapped her chest with the sword point.

"Dead."

Caewen sighed "I'm not much of a fighter."

"It's not about fighting; it's simply about defending yourself and others." The Captain smiled "You are better than you were thirty minutes ago, I'll give you that!"

Caewen couldn't help but smile at those words. She was really starting to understand the Captain.

A noise startled both of them and Snag ran out of the bushes. He was covered in blood and started to speak "Captain…..ambush….."

He then fell forward with a dozen arrows protruding from his back.

"Oh no" muttered the Captain.

Hisses filled the air as arrows suddenly fell like rain inside the camp, human arrows.

Cries of alarm and panic sounded soon after as Orcs, trolls, Minotaurs and goblins tried to dodge the arrows.

"It's an attack! Grab your weapons and defend the camp!" The Captain cried to those around him.

The monsters rushed to obey, ducking the arrows as they buckled on armor and passed out weapons, but even with this a defense was barely formed as the first wave of human knights charged into the camp.

Swords slashed, spears stabbed, and maces hammered, barely parried by orc weaponry as human knights rushed into combat with the orcs and Minotaur, their weapons clanged and clashed as hundreds of duels broke out in the campsite. The orcs swung axes, curved swords, and spiked clubs, either sparks flew as the weapons were parried by swords and shields, or blood flew as the weapons made contact with limbs or chinks in the armor.

The knights bravely weathered the storm of blows striking back with their long swords and iron maces, and when their weapons touched green skin or brown fur, it turned red with blood.

Minotaur stood at least a head taller than the tallest of the knights and swung their clubs and axes with strong arms, the knights' shields dented, but didn't break and they stabbed under the swings drawing blood when they could.

The Captain shoved Caewen down as another storm of arrows battered the campsite. He held the wooden sword firmly, feeling naked without his own blade. "Stay down Caewen!" he commanded.

He rushed into the fray and swung his wooden sword. It shattered on the plate armor and he ducked a sword swing driving himself into the Knight's chest. A solider with a spear swung his weapon, but the Captain leapt away from the weapon, and he seized the spear whacking the soldier's head. Another knight swung his mace, and the Captain took the blow on his shoulder. He fell to the ground but rolled away from the next blow, sweeping his legs under the man and knocking him to the ground. He stood and ran towards his tent.

Another storm of arrow fire rained down from the surrounding trees, and a few fire arrows were also shot. They slammed into the tents and soon several tents were massive balls of flame. The smoke burned into the eyes of all present, while the fire began to spread.

Orcs screamed as arrows slammed into them, and they flailed around if they were wounded, and the knights finished them off quickly. The human forces slowly moved forward throughout the outskirts of the camp slowly cutting through the orcs that stood in their way. Goblins darted through the duels and swung their small weapons slashing at armored legs. The human knights swung their weapons through the crowd of goblins, slicing at their heads and kicking them away until the goblin offensive was destroyed.

The battle continued as a massive crate was brought onto the outskirts of the campsite. Several human soldiers opened the crate and a massive cannon was brought out. They loaded the cannon and took aim at a group of tents.

Boom!

Orcs, trolls, Minotaur, and all the monsters in the camp looked up at the sound and the iron cannonball. They leapt for cover as the cannonball slammed into the tents and exploded sending bodies and debris everywhere. The shock of the unfamiliar weapon sent shudders through the assembled monsters, and they backed away from the humans who advanced slightly forward as another cannon was unpacked and loaded. The humans formed into ranks with knights and soldiers in front, and archers behind.

"Stand and fight!" The Captain rushed to the head of his army. He had blood on his shoulder and was slightly limping, but he held his sword firm and stared down the human army. The Captain's forces gripped their weapons and growled ready to charge. Suddenly a massive thumping was heard from the trees and the Giant marched into view.

The Captain smiled "Alright puny humans! Face us now!" He pointed his sword directly at the human troops as they stood in the ruins of the camp, while his forces gathered in what remained.

Both armies stared one another down, until the Captain lowered his sword and let out a yell "CHARGE!"

The tide of monsters rushed forward and two cannons fired, blowing gaping holes through the first wave. Then the human archers fired over the heads of the knights, turning the frontrunners into pincushions, but the tide came on and soon the monsters rammed themselves into the shields of the humans. The knights took the blows on their shields and fought back while the regular men stabbed through the shield wall with spears. The archers fired arrows and fire arrows at the crowd of monsters killing several more from above. The Captain leapt over the shield wall and swung his sword knocking knights and men down and creating a small gap that his forces were quick to take advantage of.

The orcs pried the shield wall apart and swung their weapons tearing into the regular human troops and the knights that stood before them. The Captain stood in the thick of the fighting along with a quartet of trolls who swung their stone hammers with fierce strokes, their scaly skin defending them from spear strikes. The Captain was dueling a knight and ducked a wild mace swing. He stabbed upward and his blade tore through the knight's body. He let the corpse fall to his feet as he charged towards another target.

The giant stomped to the edges of the melee and reached downward grabbing a handful of human soldiers and then dropping them. A knight turned towards the archers "Bring him down!"

The archers turned and fired upward at the giant, with their arrows only annoying him. He swung his club downward and smashed it into the group of archers sending their bodies flying. The two cannons aimed upward along with more archers who had attached ropes to the ends of their arrows.

The arrows fired and pierced the Giant's skin, the ropes became taunt as the archers struggled to keep the thrashing giant still, and several archers went flying, slamming into trees and other humans, but the cannons fired.

Two cannonballs ripped through the air and into the Giant. He roared and slowly fell backward.

Orcs and humans alike scattered as the giant fell and crashed into the ground scattering the two armies and sending a cloud of dust over the battlefield. Both armies shielded themselves as the dust faded, and then the killing began again.

Orcs were being surrounded by the human forces and cut down like grass, the Minotaur were faring little better, and the other monsters in the camp had targets on their backs once the knights decided to slay them in order to gain "honor." The human forces slowly hacked and sliced their way deeper into the orc campsite, destroying tents and scattering possessions as they came.

The Captain was still battling even though two of the trolls defending him had fallen and the other two had been cut off from his position. Blood flowed from a head wound as the Captain parried a sword strike, and found his return blow blocked by a shield. The cannons fired again and several orcs went flying through the air.

The Captain swung again and loped off the knight's arm; he kicked the knight in the chest and turned seeing that his forces were losing. Another storm of mostly fire arrows arced overhead and rammed into the remaining sections of the camp setting the last few tents on fire. The whole camp was burning and the smell of smoke mixed with the smell of blood creating a horrible stench throughout the camp.

Everywhere the Captain looked his forces were dying, so he finally did what any sensible general would do.

"FALL BACK!"

The Captain's shout echoed over the sounds of battle and the surviving monsters moved to obey.

Several orcs and the two remaining trolls rushed to his side and led him away, "Come on Captain!"

The leader of the human knights watched the monsters begin to flee and he smiled under his helmet. He turned to an archer; "Spring the trap, let no one leave here alive."

The monsters ran for the trees, knowing that they could lose their pursuers in the trees as the front runners rushed toward the forest the trap was sprung.

Arrows from dozens of human archers zipped out of the trees and hit the monsters point blank, they fell in crumpled heaps as the others scattered, but there was no escaping the deadly storm of arrows and every monster was either killed or driven toward the center of the camp. The knights taunted the monsters as they collapsed from their wounds or simply lay wounded.

"Hah, die you freaks."

"That's what you get for messing with the Tempest vanguards…..a storm."

"Don't waste your breath asking for surrender, because freaks and monsters don't get help."

The Captain found Caewen huddling in the remains of a tent and he hauled her up "We need to go, now!" he commanded. "Protect Caewen at all costs!"

He gathered a group of his forces and led the charge toward the trees.

Several storms of arrows greeted his attempt and the monsters fell dead, but as they got closer to the trees the Captain realized something, his forces were literally throwing themselves between him and the arrows, and they were shielding both him and Caewen with their bodies wholeheartedly.

The Captain couldn't object to what his troops were doing, because he knew this was what he had taught them. One of the first laws of chivalry was to put others first, and his troops were doing that at the cost of their own lives. He kept running through the forest as arrows pelted the ground around him, and killed the creatures that were protecting him.

Until finally there was only one troll left and as he ran he could see a break in the trees, which meant relief from the storm of arrows. He seized the Captain and Caewen in his hands and before the Captain could protest he hurled them towards the opening as another storm of arrows slammed into where they had been standing, and into the troll himself.

The Troll fell backward with a smile on his face as the Captain and Caewen kept running, and as he died he knew that the "monsters" were the true heroes that day.

Back at the ruins of the orc campsite everything that could be set on fire was on fire, and corpses of the humans were burned and hailed as heroes, while the corpses of the orcs were left out to rot.

Several human knights packed up the cannons "Well this was a successful fight; these cannons will slaughter the elves before they can even blink."

"Yep, it felt good to raid the monsters that have been raiding us, and they deserve it, like the elves they don't belong on this Earth."

"Well the boss said to burn the whole camp and that's what we did. No trace that those orcs ever existed."

"I hope that human traitor was killed along with them, he sold us out for one of the freaks, I heard he was in love with some elven lady."

"I think I saw him die during the escape. Good riddance."

"Alright, knights of the Tempest! Move out, we need to head back to the palace and inform the King that the orcs are no more!" The knight hollered at his men and soon they loaded up and left with the burned shell of the camp, and the monster corpses the only evidence of the battle that had taken place.

1 I.e slaves

2 About 100 knights in each battle group