With an army of two hundred men who were already waning in strength and were only under him because they had no place in other baronies, Asher went to the mines. On their way, he could hear their whispers as they gazed at his pet beast, Sirius.
His presence meant little, but Sirius was the morale booster for two hundred men. Just the thought of them putting their trust in a beast and underestimating him made Asher shake his head inwardly.
Asher turned his head toward his troop. All of them wore worn-out clothing and held wooden spears and shields made from the tall trees found in the mountains that surrounded Ashtown.
His ancestors were wise to build the town in a place strategically advantageous to them. For an enemy to attack them, they would have to climb the mountains.
The thought of his enemies climbing thousands of feet made Asher chuckle.
The town was located in a valley surrounded by tall trees, which led up to the thick mountain forests populated with beasts of different sizes and nature.
After looking at his troops, Asher only saw an advantage in their discipline. A hundred of them were shieldmen, and the other hundred were swordsmen.
Although they did not look frightening due to their attire, their united marching and strict formation were noteworthy.
After resting at different spots, Asher arrived at the mines when the day had turned to night and two moons were high above the floating dark clouds. One was silver and the other was purple.
Standing on high grounds, Asher looked down at the tents made from animal skins littered about. Hulking green-skinned humanoid beings with tusks protruding out of their lips moved about, clad in nothing but animal skins about their waists.
Only the females had a covering around their chests.
He noticed some stood as watchmen and held the bones of beasts as their weapons. Although those bones weren’t sharp, Asher did not doubt the damage it could cause as a blunt weapon.
“Lord Asher. They’re about 400 orcs in total.” Alex unsheathed his sword, stabbed the ground, and leaned against it.
“All those orcs, and you tell me there are only 400?”
“He meant 400 capable of fighting. Not including those inside the tents.” Alec responded to Asher.
Right at that moment, an orc much bigger than the others wearing a garment made of wolf skin emerged from the biggest tent with a sizable, intricate silver iron ore in his hands. As he lifted it up, the other orcs began to yell and scream. They also lifted up their own.
All they said sounded like gibberish in Asher’s ears.
“This looks like some sort of ritual, so there should be none inside the tent. Especially those capable of fighting.” Asher spoke with narrowed eyes.
“They use our ore to summon and sacrifice it to their minotaur deity.”
Upon hearing that, Asher’s expression became solemn. “They have a stronger ranked entity than gold!”
Alex shook his head. “I don’t think so. They simply take those ores into a cave and wait for their deity to eat his meal. They’re quite dumb up there, but when it comes to strength, only bronze-ranked warriors can match.”
Asher then responded. “How will your men fare against four hundred?”
“With me, my brother, and Sirius, we should be able to weaken the pressure, but they won’t survive a one-on-one battle, and they’re already twice our number.” Alec responded with knit eyebrows.
“Their number advantage makes it better for us. We’ll take advantage of the slope. Prepare the shieldmen at the front and the swordsmen behind. Once the formation of the shieldmen is broken, the swordsmen will take the stage.”
Alex and Alec were dumbfounded. Why would their lord say such things? How is twice the number better in any way?
After the shieldmen arranged their triangular formation with their spears ready to pierce through their enemies, Asher turned to his wolf. “Inform them of our presence.”
Awoo!
Awoo!!
Sirius earth-shaking howl made the orcs turn. Instantly they sighted the huge white wolf at the top of the hill, and it was seemingly alone.
Normally, only a few would go after it, but the orcs could perceive that the strength of this wolf was uncommon. And the second their leader mentioned using it as a feast, the orcs ran toward the hill. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a hundred orcs began to whistle, and large, stout grey wolves came out of the other side of the forests.
The orcs, along with their leaders, mounted the wolves and went after Sirius. Sirius purposely retreated into the hill where the orcs could no longer see it, causing them to increase their speed. They were shouting and making all sorts of sounds until the first batch arrived at the hilltop.
The sharpened wooden spears of well-prepared shieldmen pierced through their thick skins, drawing blood as they were drawn out. Without delay, they took a step forward and thrust out their spears, nailing down the second batch.
Instantaneously, 30 orcs were dead!
The next group was over twenty, and the shieldmen opened up a space, forcing them into their circle. In no time, twenty orcs were pierced to their deaths. The formation was so destructive that Asher’s mouth almost dropped.
Although they looked like the worst, the constant fight against beasts every winter had forged them to be keen warriors.
Their skyrocketing morale plunged when the wolf-riding orcs arrived. The first wall of shieldmen broke as the orcs swung their bone clubs at such speed that some shieldmen’s shields shattered.
“Sirius!” Asher, who stood at the back, bellowed.
Sirius launched out, clawing two orcs and their wolves. Its presence drew the attention of the wolf-riding orcs, and Asher ordered Sirius to lead them away with their mental connection. He then looked at the chaos going on at the forefront with solemn eyes.
Alec stood at the front, leading his shieldmen. His yells broke through the sounds of clashing, keeping the formation from breaking. “Sirius has created an opening; go from the right side now!”
Alex nodded and led the swordsmen to come from the right instead of the shield men’s back. As Alex closed the gap, he leaped into the air and sung his sword, cleanly killing an orc. The orc’s body had not even touched the ground when Alex weaved through two more and flicked away the blood from his sword.
“Three dead.” He muttered under his breath.
