A bit before midday, though, Gorza came to find them again. She burst through the flaps of the tent speaking orcish, but hesitated and switched to elvish when she saw Taegan and the elven soldiers they were sitting with.
“They’ve been spotted again,” she said, panting, glancing between them and the small group of orcish warriors that were also present. “It’ll only be another hour or two now.”
“We’ll meet them in the field,” Zorvut said quickly—they had been discussing the plan of attack, and everyone seemed to agree that fighting in the city would be a disadvantage to be avoided if at all possible. “I’ll meet with your scout. Taegan, make sure the message is passed along to every elven warrior in the city. I want every fighter stationed along the western wall.” Taegan nodded, as did the elves sitting with them, but already Zorvut had turned his attention to the handful of orcs waiting for his command, barking out a gruff order before the group of them dispersed with a nod of acknowledgment.
Surprisingly, there was very little anxiety coming from the bond now, and Zorvut seemed cool and collected as he gave commands—a stark contrast to his vulnerability the night before, but Taegan supposed that was to be expected. He was a warrior, a warlord now, and so it was only fitting that he would keep his emotions under tight control. Still, it gave him pause.
He left with the elven soldiers to pass the information on to Captain Kyrenic, and did not see Zorvut again until he was atop his horse and riding for the western gate. It was strange, finally riding into battle against the orcs the way he had thought he would for so much of his life, knowing he was now fighting alongside them too.
Zorvut was a vision atop his own warhorse, Taegan’s breath catching in his chest when he came into view—Graksh’t was always an intimidating sight as such a massive beast, but the armor adorning him made him all the more fearsome. And Zorvut had been painted with warpaint not unlike the paint he’d worn on their wedding day, though this time it was much more aggressive, somehow. A vivid crimson, it curled up from his eyes like flames and accentuated every muscle of his bare arms. He had never seen Zorvut looking so fierce, but it was strangely fitting, and atop Graksh’t he did not look all that much shorter than any of the orcs surrounding him also in armor and warpaint, and no less fearsome.
From the bond he could feel a grim determination more than anything else, but as he drew closer and Zorvut caught sight of him, relief overpowered it.
“I’m here,” Taegan said, pulling up alongside him. It seemed every time they were on horseback together Taegan had a different horse—this one was a black gelding that had been given as a gift from one of the merchants Zorvut had been meeting with that was too small for an adult orc to ride, but still taller than any horse he’d rode before. “We’re all ready. Everyone’s in position.”
“Good,” Zorvut said with a nod, then leaned over to squeeze Taegan’s shoulder. “I’m glad to see you. You look… I don’t know. It suits you somehow. Being up here in your armor.”
Taegan grinned up at him. “Strange, I was just thinking the same of you. Who painted you? It looks truly fearsome.”
Zorvut laughed at that. “Myself, mostly, though Gorza helped me. Mostly symbols of luck and victory, though this—” He pointed at his eyes. “—was her idea.”
“Where is Gorza?” he asked, glancing around. He did not see her; he did not recognize any of the orcs leading the charge, but they were equally vicious in appearance with their own paint and armored horses.
“Watching from the wall,” Zorvut replied, looking decidedly less amused now. “I asked her to stay back and watch with the guard, so she can give the order to try and evacuate as many as possible if Zesh’s group is able to break through, or… Or if there’s a splinter group in the city waiting on his command to come from behind.”
Taegan frowned at that. “You think there might be that many?”
“No, probably not. I think whatever group here in the city that might be loyal to Zesh and has any knowledge of this would be quite small, but if they take us by surprise, they don’t need many.”
“Wise of you,” Taegan replied, though he shot an anxious glance over at the wall. That could certainly be a problem.
“Now we wait,” Zorvut sighed, his gaze out on the horizon. With the craggy hills surrounding Drol Kuggradh, visibility did not extend very far from the city. “Once the horn is sounded from the wall, we’ll start marching west. I would expect he knows or at least suspects that we know he’s coming, so I think he’ll just be coming up the main road.”
Taegan nodded, following his gaze. The road was not particularly wide, especially for those on horseback, and the land became more rocky and hilly the further west it extended. There would be room for a battle, certainly, but close combat could end up beingquiteclose. He would have to stay as far away as possible—the last thing he wanted was to be in close combat with an orc twice his size.
But here he was, helping to lead the charge anyway. Part of him wanted to pull back and linger at the rear, but the part of him that had so long yearned to lead and fight was strangely excited. The anticipation of seeing their common enemy, drawing his bow as he shouted commands to the elves behind him… Finally, it seemed, some of his lifelong training would pay off.
Zorvut glanced over at him wordlessly, seeming to sense his anticipation, and a faint amusement flickered from the bond but otherwise his expression was unreadable.
He was not sure how much longer they waited, everyone glancing between each other nervously but no one speaking. It felt like a long time, but each time he glanced up at the sky it seemed the sun hadn’t changed positions at all, so although it felt like hours he doubted it was more than perhaps thirty minutes.
And then, finally—the signal that they had all been waiting silently for, the long blare of the warning horn from the wall shattered through the nervous silence, reverberating through Taegan’s ribs as his heart started to pound. This was it.
Next to him Zorvut shouted something in orcish, drawing his sword. A resounding, guttural shout answered him from the orcs behind them.
“We march!” Taegan exclaimed, echoed by Captain Kyrenic far behind him, and he pressed his heels into the horse’s sides, and they were off.
He did not see them yet, and the sound of hooves on dirt and cobblestone were almost certainly from their own group, but he thought he could just make out the sound of more horses from a distance. He glanced over at Zorvut, but the half-orc’s gaze was firmly ahead of him, his brows furrowed and his lips pulled taut in a grim frown around his tusks.
The opposing group of orcs did not come into view until they crested a low hill, and finally Taegan could see them—all on horseback, but even at first glance decidedly fewer than the group they led. They were around three hundred feet away, maybe a bit further, but just as the first scout had reported he could see only fifty, maybe sixty at most. Compared to the nearly fifty elves behind him, and easily twice as many orcs, Zesh and his group were easily outnumbered. A strange relief flooded him at the same time as a spike of adrenaline at the sight, and he wasn’t sure which of the feelings was his and which was Zorvut’s.
A second horn sounded, this one from ahead of them. They had been spotted, too.
Zorvut glanced at him and nodded. From here, the elves and other archers would have a solid vantage point and would be harder to reach. Taegan nodded in return, already pulling an arrow from his quiver.
“Don’t wait. No mercy,” Zorvut said quickly, gruffly in elvish, before turning away and shouting out a command in orcish. His voice was deep and harsh as he roared, and was quickly echoed by other orcs responding to his call. Graksh’t broke into a gallop as the melee warriors plunged ahead.
“Archers to me!” Taegan exclaimed, and though he did not look behind him he could hear the sound of many more horses approaching and scattering behind him. This far away, he could not tell which orc was Zesh, so he picked out the biggest of the group and aimed his arrow. “And fire!”
