Mina patted the new waterskin attached to her belt. Her bag was slung over her shoulder as she headed out of the village and back into the forest, going in the opposite direction that she had come. She’d been given a new map of the area as well, one that wasn’t crudely drawn by her.

This side of the forest was nowhere near as dense. The trees had likely been thinned by the villagers for building their homes and other things that required wood. There was a road at least. That would make travelling far easier. She’d eventually have to leave the path to begin searching for signs of orcs. That would wait until she concluded her business in Lynden. Not to say that if she came across any orcs she wouldn’t destroy them. She would.

She wouldn’t come across any, not soon. Orcs never set up near each other, they were far too territorial for that. If they weren’t raiding villages then they were warring with each other. Barbaric creatures.

Except those last orcs hadn’t been acting normal. It was a possibility she may run into more. 

She shook her head, no. That wasn’t likely at all. That was probably just a weird one-off, or maybe the chief of one of the tribes had invaded and conquered the others and that’s why there were multiple tribe symbols there. That had to be it. It couldn’t be any other reason.

She set up camp on the side of the road at night, not too terribly worried at the moment about a fire dancing merrily. She foraged for berries and roots and had been relatively successful in finding some. She’d be able to stretch her rations if she could continue to be successful in finding food from nature itself.

She’d been travelling for a week and had passed a few others on the road. They hadn’t said anything to each other, just acknowledged each others existence and moved along. 

She could travel off road for a bit. If there were going to be anymore orcs it would be  in this area. She was almost at the edge of the forest; the Plains of Vicar were a day away and all that stood between her and Lynden.

She still had plenty of rations, given the success she’d had with hunting and foraging. A small detour wouldn’t hurt too badly.

She would take a quick look around to see if she could find any signs. Dying vegetation was a sure sign that there were a good number of orcs in the area and had been there for a while. The more orcs there were, the large the area of effect. The last orc encampment had had a large area, the biggest she’d ever seen. Typically the were only a few hundred feet from the outpost. That one had far exceeded that. 

She’d almost stumbled into an orc while she’d been looking. Luckily the brutes were loud and didn’t give a damn about stealth, so she’d heard it tromping around in the decaying leaves before it saw her at the treeline. She’d be far more careful this time. That had been far too close of a call. 

The trees in this part of the forest were incredibly sparse. The Plains were only a day’s walk from here. She sincerely doubted she’d find any orcs there. The Vicarian Horselords were fiercely protective of their lands, and they would never abide orcs in their territory. 

No, if she was going to find anymore orcs, it would be here.

Something moved in the underbrush and she paused. She darted behind a tree, controlling her breathing so it slowed and was far more quiet. She scanned the area, trying to find what had made the noise and startled the birds and insects. It was some sort of predator, otherwise they wouldn’t be as quiet as they were. Whatever it was didn’t have any inkling of silence as it bumbled about in the underbrush. 

If it was an orc, it was a child, she would be able to see it towering above the bushes otherwise. 

A rustling grew louder and whatever it was grunted and let out a small growl. The noise was followed by a small, brown bear ambling out of the underbrush. A cub. 

Where was its mother? She scanned the area, but didn’t see any sign of another bear. The cub had a branch full of berries hanging out of its mouth. She barely managed to stop the chuckle. She’d been worried about nothing. 

She just needed to wait until the bear cub grew bored of the area and left. It shouldn’t take too long. 

Oh, how wrong she was. The bear cub stayed in the general area for the next two hours. The sun was setting by the time a roar came from deeper in the forest. The cub’s ears perked forward and it ran off towards the roar. 

“Fucking hell…took it long enough.” Mina rolled her eyes. There had been a few close calls where it came close to discovering her, but she’d managed to move around the tree in time to avoid that from happening. She wasn’t worried about a bear, but she was really a fan of killing aimlessly; especially something that hadn't done her any sort of harm.

Mina stopped at the edge of the forest, looking out at the expanse of swaying cerulean grass. Large patches of wildflowers were scattered about. As many times as she saw it, it never failed to astound her. It was the only place she knew of that had grass that wasn’t green. 

“Amidst Vicar’s Plains, where cerulean blades gleam. Stray not, or vanish, a lost traveller’s dream. Horselords rule this path, their secrets untold. Wander astray, your fate’s story is foretold,” she muttered under her breath. It was an old wive’s tale. 

They said that if you strayed from the path carefully carved by the Horselords centuries ago, you would never find your way back and would be lost forever. Mina wasn’t entirely sure how true it was, but she didn’t want to test it. She didn’t know very many people who would be willing. There was something about this place that set her teeth on edge. 

She wasn’t entirely sure how it had come to be like this. She vaguely remembered something about a cataclysmic event that had left the area barren and then when the grass finally began to grow back, it was blue. 

It didn’t really matter though. It didn’t affect her mission, so it didn’t interest her at all. 

She paused. Could she lead orcs into the grass and have them disappear that way? Maybe she could weaponize the Plains? No, that wouldn’t work. That would require her finding orcs in the areas near the Plains to begin with. 

Several sets of foot prints were on the path before her, but there was one pair that was especially large. She could fit both of her feet toe to heel in one of them. What could have made something that large? Not an orc. They very rarely wore shoes, and they never took human paths. 

It had been such a long time since she’d been to a city. She tried to avoid them the best she could, but there were times it couldn’t be avoided. Lynden though, she hadn’t been there in five years. She wasn’t looking forward to going back. There were so many memories there, memories she’d rather not dig up.

Several days passed and she hadn’t seen anyone else on the path. She hadn’t seen any of the Horselords either, but that didn’t surprise her all that much. They tended to stay away from the more common thoroughfare; instead preferring to keep to their own. They enjoyed their secrets and anonymity. 

She couldn’t blame them for that. People not knowing what you were planning or doing was far better than the entire damn world knowing. Things were much easier when no one else knew.

She scanned the blue grass surrounding her again and froze, her eyes locking on the patch of wildfires that had begun to wither and grey while everything else remained the same vibrant hue. 

Orcs.

They were on the Plains. She swore under her breath and scanned either side of the path, trying to see if she could see any of their large, hulking figures. 

Did the Horselords know they were there? Had they already taken care of the threat? Did she dare take that chance? 

She took a step towards the grass but paused. What if the old wive’s tale was true? What if she wasn’t able to find her way back to the path and was lost forever? Was that even actually possible?

“You’re being fucking stupid. Of course it’s not possible. I can clearly see for some distance. I won’t lose my way.” she took a deep breath and nodded to herself. “Better safe than sorry when it comes to orcs.”

She hefted her bag higher onto her shoulder and then took a step into the grass, following the patches of decay. 

They’d spot her coming through the grass, she had no doubt about that; she’d be able to see them coming too, though.

Her foot caught on something and she fell forward, a yelp escaping her lips. She landed on something large and warm. She looked down and scrambled backwards. A horse lay dead at her feet, its throat ripped apart and its head gone. A dark man lay trapped beneath the golden beast, his head caved in on itself.

The body of the horse was still warm. She looked around in alarm, trying to spot where the orcs had gone. They couldn’t be far. The animal and man hadn’t been dead long. 

Were they hiding in the grass? She couldn’t see anything. Were they waiting for more Horselords to show up?

She frantically searched, trying to find any kind of deviation or indentation that would signify something hiding. Nothing. Not a fucking thing.

There wasn’t even any sign of where the Horselord had come from. She whirled around and paled when she couldn’t find her own tracks, or even see the path. She hadn’t travelled that far from it had she? There was no break in the grass, it was all the same.

She whipped around when the sound of grass being displaced reached her ears. Five large orcs materialized before her. She backed up, away from the dead horse and rider. She didn’t need to get her feet caught on them and trip. Flaming butterflies surrounded her shoulders.

“Ya don’t wanna do dat, ya gonna set da whole Plains on fire, pycus,” the largest orc spoke. It wore what could only be construed as a smirk, at least if its lips weren’t distorted by the grotesque tusks that jutted from its bottom jaw.

Mina scowled, but the butterflies stayed where they were. She didn’t give a fuck if she burnt the Plains to the ground. There would be five less orcs in the world, and that’s what mattered. She narrowed her eyes and more butterflies materialized around her.

“Oi! Da pycus wants a scrap! Wot d’ya reckon, lads? Giv’ ‘er a go, den grab ‘er for at trip back?” The other four orcs grinned at each other and raked this disgusting gazes over her body.

Mina couldn’t suppress the shudder that ran down her. The butterflies around her shoulder shot forward, towards the giant green creatures.

One of the orcs screamed in pain as a butterfly landed on his shoulder and his clothes were set aflame. Another orc never even had a chance to scream as the manifestation of her power set down atop his head. He was dead before his body hit the ground.

The other tree orcs managed to get out of the way of the rest of the butterflies before they could be touched. The largest one, the one that had done all of the talking, charged at her; flames beginning to coat his shoulders.

Mina dodged out of the way, landing hard on her side. Her breath left her all at once, but she recovered quickly and scrambled up. Not in time though. The orc’s shoulder slammed into her, sending her flying backwards.

Fuck. It could use fire. The damnable thing had a fire Spirit too. Her powers wouldn’t work on it, but they wouldn’t work on her either. She still had her knife, and she was smaller, more nimble that it was. She could do this. 

Her eyes darted to the other two orcs that were behind the big one. 

“Nofu e tao, u ei i o'i ” it barked at them. They immediately took several steps backwards and laughed. It hefted a large club over its shoulder and sneered at her. 

Mina bent her legs, her eyes not leaving the large orc. It’d ordered the other two to stay back. It was awfully confident. That’s fine. So was she.

She pulled her knife from its sheath on her thigh and waited. She wouldn’t make the first move, but she wouldn’t need to. Orcs were impatient and it’d run at her.

That’s exactly what it did. It let out a loud yell and began to swing its club at her. She ducked under the club, it passed a few inches above her head. She brought her hand up, digging her dagger into its hard flesh. Not high enough. The blade had entered the flesh around its ribs. One of the most durable parts of an orc. She needed to bury it into its underarm. There was no way she’d be able to reach its face to stab it in the eye. 

She darted around it as it roared in pain and whirled around, swinging the club as it went. Too high. Her knife found purchase in the small of its back, unable to reach anything important. 

She jumped backwards and watched it warily. Flames coated its club and it swung it at her again. 

“Won’t hit me like that,” she taunted. It was a dance. She darted in and out, taking small chunks from him. It swung its club about like a child that hadn’t fully learned the moves yet. 

Something moved behind her and she took the chance to glance towards it. Pain exploded across her head as the large orc’s club made contact with her head. She went flying and landed not too far from the dead horse. Her vision blurred and began to darken around the edges. 

No. No passing out. If she passed out now it was over. She got to her feet shakily, her entire body swaying. 

“Ia to faya si fayfa'ati'uga lalay. Tela pipa malulusi,” it laughed and stalked towards her. Confident now its ability to subdue her. Any anger it had felt had drained out of its body, only to be replaced with depravation and lust. 

She held her knife up, “Stay…stay back!”