Page 42 of Mountain Orc Daddy

Rogar approaches me and slaps a hand on my shoulder. “Good to have you back Chieftain. You’ve been missed.”

“Rogar!” I grab him and hold him close. I need to make sure he hears this over everyone’s commotion. “The tribe is in danger. We need to get everyone out of here as soon as-”

“You brought them back?” I follow Rogar’s eye line behind me to where Blair and her family are stepping out of the woods.

“Listen to me now!” With that, all the commotion from my tribe around me quiets down. “We need to get the tribe to safety before it’s too late.” The tribe bursts into more questions.

“UZUL!” Blair’s shout cuts through everything else. I look at her and see she is pointing at something in the distance. On the far side of my tribe’s land, a mass of rogue witches and their minions approach us. They move slowly but menacingly.

It’s too late to run and hide. Now is the time for the Broken Maws Tribe to fight.

26

BLAIR

“Warriors, go to Uzul, everyone else, you know where to safely hide until the battle is won.” I try to yell over the commotion, but I doubt anyone hears me. Luckily, it seems the Broken Maw Tribe has planned for days like this. Everyone seems to know exactly what their role is and plays it perfectly.

In just a few moments, only the fighters are left on our side of this soon to be battlefield. While the warrior orcs all flock around Uzul. I stand back, out of their way. Better to let Uzul do his thing as Chieftain than get in the way.

My family hangs back, ready to fight from a distance, behind the orcs at this end of the battlefield. They all look so serious. I’ve never seen my family like this. Though I appreciate how willing they are to help Uzul and his tribe, I don’t think many would blame them if they stayed out of the fight.

I watch the rogue coven approach at a distance. They creep towards us slowly. These rogue witches seem to be enjoying the dramatics of it all. Soon, they will come to regret that. All they’re doing is giving us more time to prepare.

“Blair!” I turn and see Uzul waving me over to the center of all the orcs. I shake my head ‘no.' I know I wanted to be here, but I don’t know if I should be in the middle of all that. But Uzul keeps waving me over. “Get over here, Blair!”

I relent and hustle over to them. What could Uzul possibly need from me right now? All the orc warriors watch me closely as I run over. I thought after my time with Uzul, I’d be better at reading orc facial expressions. But I can’t tell what they’re thinking.

“Really, Uzul? What are you doing? She-” One of the orcs starts talking but Uzul waves his concern off.

“Trust me, Rogar. Just trust me, she is a good one.”

“What? Uzul, what is it?” I look at Uzul and try to ignore what I just overheard from that orc, who I suppose is named Rogar.

“Tell them the plan.”

“I- What?”

“It’s your plan. I think they should all hear it from you, Blair.”

“But, don’t you think it should be you?”

“They will listen to you.”

I look at all the orcs that now surround me, again I can’t read their faces. I have no idea if Uzul is right. Will they listen to me or even respect the plan I came up with? But I look at Uzul andcanread his face. He looks confident and it gives me the confidence I need to order these orcs around.

“Okay, the first thing you all need to understand is that those witches–” I point at my family. "Are on your side. Do not hurt them. Any other witches today are fair game to hurt. Understood?”

I wait for the orcs to make some kind of indication that they understand. I look at all of them and they simply look back at me. This is not reassuring. I look at Uzul.

“It’s understood. Keep going.”

“Alright, so witches are not able to constantly be using magic. There will be intervals where they have to rest for a moment. That is when all of you orcs should attack. My family back there will use their magic to fight these rogue witches first, then you attack until they get their magic back, then you pull away and wait to strike again.”

I again pause to try to see if they are all following along, but get nothing so I just continue. “This way, we can keep them on the defensive constantly. So, they will tire out, their numbers will dwindle, and we will get the upper hand. Do you all understand?”

The orcs all look at me. Then they look at Uzul before looking back at me. Oh god, this was a mistake, wasn’t it? Uzul should’ve just given them their orders himself. Not me.

Of course, the orcs wouldn’t listen to me. No matter what their Chieftain says, they would never take orders from a human. This was just a waste of time.

---