Page 4 of Storms & Sacrifice
“I forgot to tell him the campsites are camouflaged.” Khazak’s voice is full of realization.
“That would do it.” Deepfistchuckles.
“What the hell was that?” They must have pretty fucking good camo around here.
In response, after walking forward a little farther, Khazak sticks his arm out ahead of him, and everything up to his elbow disappears from sight. Oh, “camouflaged” with magic. It’s not something Nate or Corrine can do, but it’s a pretty common practice to protect a campsite from wild animals—or other intruders—when traveling outside. With another chuckle, Deepfist walks forward past Khazak and vanishes into thin air. Khazak tosses his head in the same direction, and as I walk over the threshold with him, a campsite appears where before there were only trees.
When my friends and I were first told there were “orc camps” in the area, this is a little closer to what we pictured. Around a large central campfire are several tents, eight total with two on opposite sides that are much larger than the rest. One of those is open air, and I can see four orcs congregated at a table under it. Deepfist is over near one of the smaller tents, probably putting away his things, but Khazak leads us over tothe group.
“Captain.” A female orc dressed a little more officially than the rest—more like Khazak or his deputy Ragnar—stands and salutes on our approach. Which around here is done by clasping your fist over your chest. With black hair and brown eyes, she is as tall as the other orcs I’ve seen. Her left tusk is shorter than her right, like it was damaged, and the top has been smoothed out. She’s got a short, cropped haircut, honestly not that unlike Khazak. Itsuits her.
“Deputy Captain Keenguard.” Khazak returns the salute. This is his second deputy, the one that works out of the other ranger station. “Here to relieve you. Anything interesting to report?”
“Just another quiet week in the forest, sir.” She doesn’t sound too upset by that. “Afraid you had all the fun out here three weeks ago.” Her eyes fall on me. “This mustbe David.”
“I do not believe you have had the pleasure of meeting him yet.” Khazak half-turns to me. “David, this is Deputy Captain Morgal Keenguard.”
Morgal holds out her hand to me, and I reach for it, only remembering a split second after she grabs my wrist that they do handshakes differently around here too, and I’m pulled in for a quick hug, her other arm slapping myback.Oof.
“Nice to meet you, David. Sir.” With another salute, she hoists a large bag over her shoulders and makes her way out of the camp. I see the air around the camp’s border shimmer as she passes through, the air snapping back into place once she’s on the other side.
“Let me show you where our tent is.” Khazak calls my attention back to him, walking us around the campfire to one of the smaller tents—though it still looks slightly larger than the others.
“Is this tent bigger?” I ask as Khazak undoes the ties holding the openingflap down.
“Yes, by ten whole square meters!” He says it like I’ve won a prize.
“What did I do to earn such incredible accommodations?”I deadpan.
“Sleeping with the captain comes with perks,” he jokes, stepping inside and dropping his bag to the tent floor before stepping back out. “I am going to go speak with the rest of this week’s patrol unit. Please put our things away and then come find me there, pup.”
“Yes, Sir.” I can do that. The fact that it wasn’t a request isn’t lost on me. He’s gotten more confident with his orders in the last couple of weeks, and I don’t mind it. I like following orders, when they aren’t being given by adickhead.
I put our weapons to one side and drop my bag in one corner. The tent isn’t very big, maybe ten-by-eight feet. The walls and floor are made of a thick leather attached to a sturdy wooden frame, the corners of which are buried to firmly anchor it to the ground. The poles go straight up for about five feet before bending at a point to meet in the middle. I can stand up alright towards the center, but the orcs probably need to crouch some.
First thing to take care of is the bedroll. I pick what I decide feels like the softest patch of earth under the tent floor and unfurl it, smoothing out the corners with my hands. I find a small pillow in the center, realizing now that we forgot to pack a second one.Dammit.I grab some of our clothes out of the smaller bag, making sure to keep them all neatly folded and stacked. I don’t think we need anything else, so I straighten up the bags and weapons, nodding to myself when I’m finished before stepping back outside.
I make my way over to the open tent where Khazak and Arik are standing with the other orcs. I don’t recognize two of them, but the third I’ve gotten to know pretty well—Glasha Silentfang. She smiles when she sees me, her short brown hair falling over the right side of her face. The left side of her hair is shaved, exposing the silver rings pierced into her right ear. Most orcs around here seem to have brown eyes, but she’s one of the few I’ve seen with green. I first met her when she helped me kick Khazak’s ass in a rug’bal game (it’s basically football) during my first week here. Since then, I’ve seen her at the station, where we’ve had lunch together, worked out together, even sparred a little. I likeher a lot.
Khazak notices my approach and smiles, pulling me over to him. “For those of you who have not yet met myavakesh, this is David.” Khazak uses the title for me in his language that means something between slave, servant, and pet. You get used to it. “David, these are Officers Stonearm and Proudblade.”
“Hi.” I say much more meekly than I intend. “Nice tomeet you.”
“Hello.”
“Hi.”
Men of few words.Works for me.
“Over the next week, Rangers Silentfang, Deepfist, and I will periodically walk a patrol route through this section of the forest while the officers remain here and keep guard at the campsite,” Khazak instructs. Mostly me. Okayexclusivelyme, since everyone else obviously knows what they’re doing. “We will walk one more patrol today before it gets dark and we have dinner. Then we each take a two-hour shift, keeping watch overnight untilmorning.”
“Well,wedo all that alone whileyouget a nice warm body to keep you company,” Deepfist half-jokes, half-gripes tomy right.
“If you are so jealous, get one of your own, Arik.” Glasha rollsher eyes.
Noises behind me have me turning around, facing the other large tent across the campfire. When it opens, a small amount of smoke billows out as a sixth orc steps out to join our band. He looks different from the rest with no uniform to speak of, instead wearing brown robes that reach the forest floor. His long grey hair is matted, the individual locks adorned with jewelry that look to be made of bone and metal. His equally grey beard reaches his chest, and when he gets close, I cansmellhim. He doesn’t smell bad exactly, but well... Dude’s been out here a while. He speaks to the group, and not in Common, so I just nodpolitely.
“David, this is Wu’dag Bonespirit, the camp’s resident shaman.”That’swhat that smell is. “He is responsible for creating and maintaining the wards and illusions in this part of the forest.”
