Rise of the Horde

326 Chapter 32A week had passed after the village of Chief Ka was set ablaze by Ounephes as revenge for the lack of respect that the villagers especially the village head towards him. The entire village was destroyed with only ashes remaining of there once peaceful village, all the possessions of the villagers were destroyed by the fire and the only saving grace that they had was that none perish in the fiery inferno.

At first the villagers were weary of the orcs since most of them were seeing them for the first time and they only knew of their existence from stories mostly from soldiers, merchants or unlucky fellas who have encountered them. A bit over the hundred in number, the added mouths to feed inside the camp didn’t have much of an impact since the horde carried with them more than enough supplies to last them for months and the supplies coming from their allies kept on arriving on time which allowed to always have surplus of supplies.

Since they have nowhere else better to go to, the villagers tagged along with the orcs who were slowly moving to the east.

“Chief Ka…” one of the trusted men of the village chief called towards him.

“What do you think are they aiming for?” he questioned as he directed his gaze at the front towards the burly creatures who were marching silently forward in an orderly manner, “And those guys…” he shifted towards the Drakhars who were a bit towards the rear, “I don’t know if you have noticed it but they are carrying the banner of the fallen house of Darkhariss.” He continued as he stared at the banner that was being carried by the one in the lead of the Drakhars.

“I have no idea but I have a hunch.” Chief Ka answered in a shush tone as he didn’t want others to hear what they are talking about.

“They might be here because someone asked them to be here…”

“And how about them and their banner?” Beran signaled with his eyes to Chief Ka the Drakhars.

“I am not really certain but someone from the Darkhariss Family must have recruited them or they are just pretending to be of that family just so that they could spook the current king since everybody knew that he was hell-bent in destroying that family…” he stopped talking as he realized that some of the Drakhars were directing their gaze towards them. Beran and Chief Ka kept their heads low as they blended in with the other villagers and sinking back into the crowd.

.....

After a while, the two found themselves in the middle of the crowd and far from the scrutinizing gazes of the Drakhars.

“I don’t get it…” Beran tried to think of a reason why the Drakhars would make use of that house’s name.

“Try to think this through… If you thought that you already killed a sworn of enemy of yours or your most hated person but then you heard stories of him wandering around and he was still alive and well. What would go inside your mind?” Chief Ka threw a question at him.

“Of course I’d be frightened since I know that he will be coming after me and my life.” Beran quickly replied.

“You know that he will be coming after you but you just don’t know how, when or where. Just knowing that there is someone out there to get you will be enough to mess with your mind. And in that kind of situation…you would have to be always on guard since you know that he is out there.” Chief Ka continued.

The two were busy with their conversation that they didn’t notice that the march came to a halt and they bumped against the back of the ones who were walking in front of them.

The orcs began moving around, some went on patrol while others had tools in their hands and began digging. Even the Drakhars also joined in with the digging which confused the villagers on they were trying to do until someone among the villagers approached one of their fellow Ereians and asked what they were doing.

“We are building a camp.” Was the reply that they got then the soldier ignored them as he continued with the task that he had at hand. The way that the Drakhars and the Horde made the camp was somewhat new to the villagers as they were more used to camping out in the open unlike their new friends who were erecting walls to surround the camp.

“They are making a fortified camp? What waste of time…” Beran commented in a shush tone as he stared at their companions who were foolish in his eyes as they erect walls and everything.

Chief Ka wandered around nearby as he observed the camp that was taking shape and he found the uncanny resemblance of it to the fort that suddenly appeared near their village just before Ounephes set their village on fire.

‘Don’t tell me that they would build such a camp whenever they halt in their march then tear it down as soon as they moved out?’ he finds it troublesome to do so but then after giving it some thoughts, maybe it’s just the way that they do things or the best way to do it since they are in unfamiliar territory.

“What a bunch of fools…” Beran clicked his tongue as he watched the simple wooden walls finally taking shape.

“I don’t think they are fools… They are just cautious…” a voice replied to Beran’s words and when he saw that it was Chief Ka, he had a questioning look on his face as he can’t understand the purpose of such a fortified camp in the middle of nowhere and no presence of enemies in the surroundings.

“By my estimates, they are under ten thousand in numbers and if the news about an army in the tens of thousands that is being raised by the king is true, under the lead of the new duke then they have every reason to build a fortified camp since they are easily outnumbered and they aren’t familiar with the surroundings.

When it was starting to get dark already, the Drakhars were the first ones to enter the camp to rest then followed by the villagers while the orcs were still busy with the final touches for the camp since they can work well even in the dark unlike their human friends. The Rakshas were patrolling right outside the camp as they go around the area to ensure that no enemies were around as the Yurakks do the work on the walls.