Chapter Fourteen: Orc and Goblins

Dayn drew his sword as the creatures continued their slow cautious approach, they carried small rusty swords with several nicks and cracks as an open threat, Ziri drew her own sword and prepared for a fight.

"Be ready" Dayn warned, "Its about to get really bright in here" He grabbed the amulet around his neck and said a short prayer, he expected it to give off a sudden bright light however the hilt of his sword radiated light instead. The sudden illumination threw the goblins off blinding them, Ziri was prepared for it so as soon as the lead goblin staggered she rushed the creature driving her blade through its midsection.

Dayn intercepted a slash from one of the rear goblins aimed for Ziri's head followed by a shoulder charge which knocked it flat, Ziri's next strike cleaved through the skin on a creatures forearm forcing it to drop its weapon before it could connect with Dayn's back.

The light continued to glow however the goblins had gotten used to it and were prepared to put up a better fight. A slash came in at Dayn, he turned it aside and drove forward slashing through the creatures grinning visage.

The floored goblin began to rise however Ziri placed a booted foot on its neck while she turned aside the blows of another two. She drew a second sword and drove it through the leg of one of her opponents while turning aside a wicked slash from the second, Dayn spotted the prone goblin reaching for its sword.

He moved to Ziri's side quickly driving his blade into the floored creatures heart before ducking another slash. The remaining two creatures fled in a panic however one of them rose into the air while the others head fell from its shoulders, A large form exited the blackness of the corridor, it tossed the held goblin to the floor and crushed its skull with an armored boot.

"A humie and a savage working side by side how touching" the creature said in the common tongue, it was slender but had a heavily muscled form, its skin was somewhere in between orc and human, tanned flesh with patches of green. It wore a forged iron breastplate and an intimidating helmet made in the likeness of some monster, demon perhaps, glowing red eyes shone from within the eye slits.

"Iron orc" Ziri gasped Dayn decided they'd attempt to negotiate but brought the words of a prayer to mind just incase, "Your goblins were out of line, we merely defended ourselves, we'll be leaving shortly if our presence here upsets you."

The orc looked at Dayn, "Negotiation then" it said seeming amused, "Very well, strip naked and pile all your belongings at my feet and I may consider letting you leave." Dayn and Ziri looked at each other, Ziri blushed, "There's only one" Dayn said, "Don't underestimate Iron Orcs" she responded.

Dayn shouted loudly to attempt to wake up Zak and Garrok before silently running through his prayer. Golden flames leaped from Dayn's longsword engulfing the orc, while the beast batted at the magical fire He and Ziri ran back to the tent to wake up their elders.

Zak was climbing out of the tent when they got there sword at the ready followed quickly by Garrok, The Iron Orc only took minor damage from the fire the hair on his arms singed off.

Seeing the readied claymore and massive war axe of the two new combatants the orc hesitated, "Orcs working with humans? disgusting" the orc spat, "Attacking children?, disgusting" Garrok mimicked spitting in the orcs direction. The Iron Orc began to backtrack cautiously while keeping its eyes on the group, once it rounded the bend they could hear its heavy boots retreating quickly.

The group quickly packed up their gear and headed down the tunnel, "He'll be bringing reinforcements" Zak said, Garrok agreed "We should make our escape now" he replied, Ziri smacked Dayn hard on the back.

"You never told me you could use magic!" she said indignantly, Dayn smiled at her "You never asked" he replied, "How could I ask without knowing!" she said clearly annoyed. Zak gave Dayn a sideways glance, he knew it, the kid is using it on command now, he'll definitely bring him into the Kanara family.

They moved quickly down the long winding corridor, the torchlight reflected off the water trickling down the ordinary cave walls, the loose soil on the floor was wet yet the water didn't pool, Dayn looked to the side as they ran. The flow must have continued unhindered for years as it wore away the rock on either side of the path, it pooled slightly in the small crevasse but didn't appear to be overflowing anywhere suggesting it must be dripping down further. The tunnel was otherwise plain, no moss, no stalagmites just a straight run as if some giant creature had eaten away the stone as it moved past.

They had been running for hours and there was still no sign of the path ending, they had gradually been slowing, first to a jog then to a casual walk, "Are we sure this is the right path" Zak muttered to himself.

"It was the only other path on the southern route" Dayn reassured, "The dwarf didn't say there were any caverns or anything just that it leads out, we've also slowly been going up." They hadn't heard any pursuit from behind and the plain scenery that they continued to pass had started to relax them.

Dayn struck up a conversation with Ziri to keep his mind occupied, "What was your home like?" he asked curiously, "It wasn't big but it was comfortable" she responded, "We lived in a large fungal forest and built our homes into the fibrous stem material."

Dayn looked at Garrok, "Not many know but the stems of giant mushrooms are as hard as wood and make excellent building material" Dayn nodded and returned to his conversation with Ziri. It seemed the Wild Orcs were regarded as savages since they made their homes in deep woods and lived off the land without crafting or trading often, they hunted, fished, and gathered wild herbs. Dayn found it interesting, at one time in his previous life he had wanted to try homesteading but once his life was stable enough to buy land he got sick and was hospitalized.

What seemed like half the day had passed before they finally exited the tunnel and found themselves in a massive high ceilinged cavern, they immediately found themselves at some what of a loss however. They were all staring at a massive granite shelf, they could see a ledge above them that continued but would have to ascend thirty feet to reach it, after a thorough search of the area up was the only path that they would be able to take.