Garrun wrapped his hand around the green pendant hanging around his neck. The pendant had been his mother's and was one of the few possessions he still had to his name. It had been given to him by his uncle on his first birthday, and even despite knowing his mother had killed his father, he had chosen to keep the pendant all these years, though had never worn it.
After he had learned of the Water Rage curse from the Whisper, though, four nights ago, he had chosen to wear the pendant in honour of his mother and his new title, "Wildwater".
He pressed the pendant to his lips, then let it fall back to his chest. He hoped it would bring him some luck. They needed it.
Garrun glanced at the Orr'un mining next to him - a young, brown-haired male by the name of Liijak - and nodded. 'Now,' he whispered.
Liijak nodded his understanding, resting his pickaxe against the cave wall. He stepped backwards, swaying slightly. He shouted groggily, then tripped, landing roughly on the cave floor. Garrun would have been concerned had he not known the young Orr'un was playing a ruse.
'Help!' Liijak shouted. His face suddenly flushed purple. Liijak had a bizarre skill in faking illnesses and injuries - which he was using to his advantage.
As they had predicted, two of the guards who had been watching over the slaves stepped towards Liijak. 'What's the matter?' one of them asked. 'Get back to work!' he barked at the other slaves, who had stopped to goggle at the affair.
As the two guards approached, Garrun glanced at the Orr'un on the other side of Liijak - Vax - and nodded. He and Vax had both been purposefully positioned close to Liijak for this plan. The last couple of days, Garrun had been sparring with him and was glad to see, despite the last year of slavery, Vax's battle senses still seemed as sharp as they had been in the Gallacag War. The big brute had beaten Garrun in all fields barring one: Mer magic (which Vax was adamant didn't count).
As the two guards drew close, Vax gave a hand-signal. Garrun nodded. He understood: it was time.
At once, the two soldiers span on their heels, gripping their pickaxes tightly and swinging them. Two sickening thumps echoed through the cave chamber as the pickaxes crashed through the guards' body armour and into the flesh beneath. But the two guards weren't dead yet.
Thinking quickly, Garrun span and smashed his pickaxe - with the guard still impaled on it - into the cave wall. The guard whimpered, then collapsed in a pitiful heap on the rock. Vax opted for a more rugged strategy: pulling his pickaxe out from his victim's belly, he swung again and again into the guard's flesh until at last they fell silent.
Garrun jerked his head towards the entrance of the cave chamber. The fighting had attracted more armoured guards - who wielded more than just mere pikes. Garrun flinched. He gritted his teeth; he couldn't hesitate now.
Picking up his fallen foe's pike, he shouted, 'Now! For the Conquest!'
With a furious chorus of shouts and cheers, the Orr'un slaves turned away from the cave wall, and brandishing three pickaxes a piece, sprinted towards the guards. The dreadful din of the guards' machine-rifles roared through the cave; but even as many Orr'uns fell, the survivors didn't stop their charge.
Garrun smiled as he watched them. They seemed rejuvenated, renewed. Maybe the Whisper was right. Maybe I can lead the Orr'uns to glory.
As the Orr'uns charged towards the armoured guards by the entranceentrance, Garrun threw the pike. It struck one of the guards in the chest, taking him to his knees. Vax passed him the other pike, and he threw it through another guard's head. A fountain of blood erupted from the guard's face, and he collapsed on the stone.
Garrun glanced at Vax, who was brandishing his three pickaxes and staring hungrily at the fighting. 'Come on. Let's join them.'
With a victorious bellow, Vax raced towards the cave entrance, spinning and swinging his pickaxes. He was like a furious pickaxe-hurricane, spinning across the battlelines, impaling heads, chests, arms. Garrun was awe-struck by his fighting prowess.
And the rest were fighting well, too. While many had been cut down by the machine-rifle fire, those that were left seemed to fight with triple their usual strength. Over the last few days, Garrun had sparred with many of these Orr'uns - but he had never seen them fight with such ferocity and strength before. The Orr'uns were machines built for war, and it was fully on display to him.
Unsurprisingly, the Orr'un slaves cut through the Vorion guards. In a matter of minutes, all but a few of the guards lay still on the rock floor. They let the survivors go, running off into the caves.
Garrun glanced at Vax, who held two surviving men between his three meaty hands. 'Vax, let them go,' he commanded.
The big Orr'un frowned. 'Why? We'll need them if we want to infiltrate the fort. Think of the damage we could wreak on the Imperium.'
' "Free them and lead them", those were the Whisper's orders,' Garrun replied, shaking his head. 'My priority is to get us offworld and safe. Once we've rebuilt the Conquest, then we can destroy the Imperium.'
Vax's face twisted into a snarl. 'What? We can't just let them get away with this!'
'They won't,' said Garrun calmly. 'But we are in no state to try to fight them. Not yet.' He turned back to the others, eyes fixing on the injured. 'Medics, take a look at some of the injuries.' He gestured to the others. 'The rest of you, follow me.'
With him and Vax at the head of the column, they marched through the cave. Behind them, the medics - two twin brothers, Oji and Doji, and an elderly woman, Oshaaron - hastily tended to the wounded.
Up ahead lay the entrance to another of the chambers. Garrun spied the guards standing calmly by the entrance in their dark-grey bodysuits, black pikes glistening.
'Quiet!' Garrun hissed at the Orr'uns, who were moving noisily through the cave. He glanced at Vax and nodded. 'Vax, with me. We're going to give them a surprise.'
Vax still looked abashed from Garrun's refusal to attack the Imperium fort. Still, he followed him obediently, creeping quietly along the cave wall. The others lay behind a safe distance away, ready to attack at Garrun's command.
Garrun and Vax crept closer to the guards, preparing to strike. When they were only a metre or so away, Garrun gave the signal and both he and Vax moved to attack.
They easily crept behind the first two guards and twisted their necks. The guards let out brief yelps, before falling limp. Unfortunately, the other guards were much more difficult to deal with. They were able to take down one, slicing out his throat, but the others quickly overpowered them, striking their pikes against their backs. Garrun's back burned with pain.
He shouted for the other Orr'uns to join them, but they were too far, would come to late. Garrun closed his eyes, waiting for the final blow to strike.
But it never did.
Instead, he turned around to see a Orr'un woman with short, silver hair yank the guard's pike from his hands, twist it, and impale it back into him. The guard choked, then collapsed to the floor. All around them, the Orr'un slaves from inside the second chamber ran around, swinging their picks at the guards.
'Took your time, Cayyon,' Garrun remarked, inhaling sharply.
The silver-haired Orr'un woman - Cayyon - smirked. 'I wanted to see you sweat, Wildwater.' Her face gravened. 'I'll be honest, we were struggling to find an opening before you guys got here. Our slave group doesn't have any warriors like you and Vax. I know you trained Guhy and Vero up, but no offence to them, they're hardly comparable to you two.'
Garrun smiled. 'Well, we came, and now you're free. Come on. We need to move quickly.'
They freed the rest of the slaves in the caves - even the non-Orr'un ones - one chamber at a time. Friends, family, lovers were reunited in freedom. Garrun smiled as he watched Liijak and Vero reunite with their mother and Cayyon reunite with her muscular felinoid boyfriend.
His eyes caught sight of a small Orr'un girl sprinting into her father's arms. He glanced to his left and saw Vax was watching them too. A flash of pain danced behind the big Orr'un's eyes.
They were soon joined by the medics and the injured. While their injuries had not been fully treated, they had been patched up enough so they could survive the escape. Another bout of reunions ensued - which Garrun reluctantly cut short.
'There's no time,' he reasoned. 'We need to leave! Arm up,' he said, picking up a pike from a fallen guard. 'I want everyone who can wield them armed with a pike.'
Though there were a fair few of the Orr'uns who looked disgruntled by this, they simply bowed their heads and murmured, 'Yes, Wildwater,' before arming themselves and following him outside.
They hastily ran down the mountainside, making sure not to lose their footing. The cracked ground threatened to give way at any moment; Garrun only prayed they wouldn't trigger a landslide. The sun beat on their back like a flaming whip, spurring them to speed.
Garrun eyed the Grey River at the bottom of the mountain and pointed it out. After much runninh and stumbling, they came down onto the river's flat floodplain and were close to the water's edge when - at the front of the column, where Garrun, Vax, and Cayyon were - the ground exploded.
They were thrown aside, flung into the air. Garrun crashed hard against the mountain. Wiping tears from his eyes, Garrun quickly got to his feet, looking around frantically to check on the others.
Looking through the thick dust cloud was difficult, but from what he could see, no one was majorly injured. He spied Vax shielding Cayyon with her body and breathed a sigh of relief.
However, as the dust plumes settled, a shiver settled on his spine. Standing in a great crate at the centre of the explosion site was an ulf.
Six-legged, giant, and covered in matted, black fur, the ulf smacked its paws furiously on the rock. Its two emerald eyes raked across the barren landscape. Its four mouths stretched in a furious howl which made Garrun's heart quake.
He shivered. It had been the work of ulfs in the mountain caves which had tarnished his reputation as Dagger Commander and cost him a potential promotion to general. The ulfs had beaten him once - but they wouldn't this time. He wasn't just a leader of a unit this time, but of an entire people; he couldn't afford to lose.
Stalking towards the ulf, gripping his pikes in three tight fists, Garrun shouted, 'Vax! With me!' He gritted his teeth, glaring at the ulf. 'Cayyon, take them to the river. We'll deal with this.'
As Cayyon gathered the others to her, Garrun glanced at Vax as the hulking Orr'un approached him. 'Go from the right side. I'll go in from the left.'
'Target the legs,' Vax advised. 'If we can wound its legs, then we might get a shot at that thing's head.'
Garrun nodded his understanding, then sprinted left. Vax ran towards the right. The ulf, unsure, glanced left to right and roared.
Garrun paused a second to see Cayyon and the others descend towards the river bank. The Grey River was swollen with water from the northern temperate zones and was moving very fast.
Glancing across the floodplain at Vax, Garrun gritted his teeth. Vax raised his pikes into the air. That was the signal. In response, Garrun raised his pikes, then raced towards the ulf.
As he got closer, the sheer size of the ulf became much more impressive - and terrifying. It was nearly as big as a house.
As Garrun neared the ulf, it swung at him. It was a slow, clumsy swing and he easily dodged it. He exhaled sharply. If one of the ulf's strikes hit him, judging by the creature's size, he'd be a goner for sure.
He was almost in striking range now. He leapt into the air and span, slashing with his pike. The ulf howled. As he passed through the ulf's legs and to the other side, he skidded to a stop to admire his handiwork.
For a first strike, it wasn't bad: he'd inflicted a deep cut on one of the ulf's legs, crippling it, and a minor cut on another. All in all, it could've been much better - but it also could've been much worse. Vax had been far more successful, with deep cuts on two of the ulf's legs and a shallow cut on another.
Glancing across at Vax on the other side of the ulf, he raised his three pikes. Vax did the same, and before the ulf could react, they both rushed in for a second strike.
Garrun sprinted towards the ulf, boots pounding on the rock. His heart roared. Out of the corner of his eye he spied a black shape coming towards him - the ulf's paw - but it was too late for him to evade.
He braced himself, taking the impact to the chest. He rolled across the floodplain, kicking up dust. Rolling himself back onto his feet, he plunged a spear into the ground to steady himself, to stop his momentum carrying him further away. Wincing, he looked up to see Vax spin through the ulf's legs, inflicting another couple of cuts on its limbs.
Pulling his spear out of the ground, Garrun rushed to meet Vax. 'One more cut to its legs should do it,' said Garrun, breathless. Behind him, the ulf roared in pain.
Vax nodded. 'I'll get the legs - you try to get the head.'
As laserfire suddenly rang out from the mountainside, the pair dropped to the ground. Garrun glanced up at the mountainside to see a stream of Vorion guards approaching, machine-rifles buzzing. 'They took their time,' he muttered, glancing at Vax. 'We need to kill this thing now and get to the river.'
Vax nodded and leapt to his feet, sprinting towards the ulf's forelegs. Garrun followed after him, sprinting in the direction of the ulf's head. He grimaced as laserfire from up on the mountainside traced his steps.
Vax reached his target first, dodging the ulf's clumsy seipes as he span through its legs. The ulf's four mouths splayed wide as it let out a bone-chilling scream. It collapsed to the floor - giving Garrun his opportunity. He ran towards the ulf's head and leapt on, dodging the creature's four mashing maws. With a thunderous bellow of victory, he drove all three pikes deep into the ulf's giant, green eyes.
The ulf let out a final, desperate wail, before collapsing on the floodplain with an almight thump. It lay, still and silent.
Garrun gasped, inhaling sharply, fists still wrapped tightly around his pikes. He'd done it - he'd beaten the ulf. He hoped this first victory would reminiscent of his future success as the Orr'uns' new leader.
He was jarred from his thoughts by the buzz of laserfire coming from up on the mountain. Reminded of the present threat at hand, he slid off the ulf and raced to the riverbank. He heard lasers strike the rock behind him as he ran, but he refused to look back. He fixed his eyes on the Grey River.
Reaching the riverbank, he shouted to Cayyon as he passed, 'Stay on the riverbank. I'll tell you when to come in!'
She frowned. 'Whatever you're doing, make it quick!'
He didn't reply, jumping straight into the water. At once, he attuned (it was second-nature by now). He floated to the top of the water and closed his eyes.
Since the night he had first been given the title "Wildwater", he had been training every night with the Whisper in the Cosmic Plane, refining his skills and becoming further attuned to the water and to his Mer heritage. Now was the time to see if it had paid off; now was his opportunity to live up to his "Wildwater" moniker.
He closed his eyes and imagined a platform of water rising out of the river. It became increasingly difficult to focus as the buzz of laserfire echoed all around him. He strained, feeling the water's energies coil all around him. The water bubbled and foamed - then suddenly it began to rise. With much difficulty, he stopped it from rising, awaiting the others.
Keeping his eyes firmly shut, he shouted, 'Cayyon! Get them on!' He heard splashing as the other slaves frantically waded into the water.
Then he released the water platform. He wasn't sure how high it rose to - he kept his eyes clamped shut - but he knew it would be enough to get them all to safety. The next settlement down the river was Thy, an indigenous Kela settlement the Vorions had yet to discover - at least, that was what he hoped. Garrun had only found the settlement by chance, stumbling across it on one of his unit's many patrols through the Wastes.
By the whip of a single thought, the water pillar spurred at once into action. It set off down the river, carrying its awe-struck cargo to their destination. The sound of crashing water buffeted Garrun's ears. He finally let himself open his eyes to see the water pillar towering over the river's edge by at least fifty metres as it carried them downstream. He gasped. He'd surprised himself; he'd achieved nothing of the scale as yet in the Cosmic Plane with the Whisper.
He looked around at the Orr'und and non-Orr'uns. All eyes were wide; all mouths gaped. He exchanged a look with Vax, who nodded back, impressed.
Keeping his eyes peeled for the telltale signs of the Thy settlement - namely, the huge carved monolith erected to honour one of the indigenous Kela people's mythic deities. When he saw the stone statue, he at once killed the water pillar; it - and the slaves sat upon it - crashed down to the river's surface below. He ordered the slaves to stay on the river's edge while he left to negotiate with the Thy people. What they needed was a ship - something large enough to get them all offworld.
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