Page 2 of Agor

I’d be damned if I let the bastard kill me with my own weapon.

Leaping aside, I drew my sword and yelled to Gleb, “Take the women back!”

Gleb frowned. Raising his sword in both hands, he lunged at the orc from the back. The tip of his sword pushed out from the orc’s chest in the front. But even that didn’t stop the monster. Bog orcs were ugly, vicious, and resilient, nearly impossible to kill.

With a wild roar, the orc turned around, swinging my spear at Gleb. The man ducked as I struck with my sword, slicing a wide gash in the orc’s thick neck.

With rivers of blood gushing from his wounds, the orc finally dropped to his knees. His huge hand was still gripping my spear as he crashed to the ground.

The wet noise of water squished from the moss by heavy footfalls betrayed the orc was not alone. His buddies must’ve heard his dying roars and now were rushing to his aid, furious and craving blood.

“Shit,” Gleb cursed under his breath. “There are more.”

“Go with the women,” I ordered.

He gripped his sword, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths.

“I’m staying,” he rasped. “Ilya will bring the women back safely.”

With his eyes open wide in horror, Ilya looked torn between staying and running. At Gleb’s words, he nodded eagerly and ran away as fast as his long, lanky legs would carry him.

Two huge shapes barged into the clearing from behind the mist-shrouded trees. Their shoulders squared, their weapons raised, they charged at us like two raging bulls. Bog orcs weren’t just taller than humans, they were as wide as bulls, too.

Shoulder to shoulder, our swords ready, Gleb and I met them head on.

I swung my sword, aiming for the orc’s neck, but only managed to slash at his arm, drawing blood. It didn’t stop him. He didn’t appear to even notice the cut, swinging his nail-studded mace at me.

I jumped out of the way, then sprang backwards a couple of paces, getting out of his reach.

The only way a human could survive in a fight with a bog orc was by keeping a distance. I was the tallest woman in our village, skilled with every weapon. I’d been winning at arm wrestling with boys and men since I was twelve, but I was no match for an orc in hand-to-hand combat. If I let him come close enough to grab me, I’d be dead.

Two more orcs ran out into the clearing. Four of them against us two. The odds were stacked badly against us.

The one whom Gleb was fighting with had a wound in his chest already, but it wasn’t nearly enough to bring him down. Gleb panted, out of breath, holding his own against the creature twice his size.

Gleb used to be a farmer. He’d only become a village guard because there were few abled-bodied men left to guard women, children, and the elderly. During the long, perilous journey across the valley, we’d lost a lot of good, strong men and women.

His orc suddenly seemed to lose interest in fighting Gleb. Spinning his mace in the air, he pointed it in the direction where the women had gone. My orc joined him, taking off after the women. If they caught up with them, Ilya wouldn’t be able to protect the berry pickers alone.

“Stop them!” I yelled to Gleb while evading a crashing blow of another orc’s mace. “Lead them away from the women!”

Gleb hesitated, clearly worried about leaving me to fight the two remaining orcs on my own. He should be worried. I stood no chance against the two, but I could delay them. Either way, I’d be dead. But at least, the women would get back to safety whileI kept these orcs occupied and Gleb with Ilya took care of the other two.

“I’ll be fine,” I barked at Gleb and ordered, “Go!”

With me being the unofficial leader of the village guards for years, Gleb used to obey me, but he hesitated this time. We’d been friends since childhood, and it must be killing him to leave me to certain death now.

“Go!” I urged. “They’ll need you.”

With a poignant look of regret, he finally obeyed the order, running out of the clearing and after the orcs.

I ran, too, but in the opposite direction. The orc with yellow-green skin and not a single wisp of hair on his square-looking skull gave chase. And his buddy followed.

Jumping from one moss mound to another, I weaved between the trees and ducked under the fallen trunks. They kept up with me easily enough, their heavy footfalls splashing close behind me.

For once, my smaller size gave me an advantage, allowing me to fit between the tree trunks and under the low-hanging branches. The orcs’ incredible strength, however, let them crush through any obstacle, keeping them on my heels.

I squeezed through a narrow arch in a dense shrub. They crashed right through it, broken twigs and branches flying everywhere. My heart pounded. My lungs burned. I couldn’t feel my legs, pumping my arms hard.

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