Drop dead
1096 Words
Aaron quickly accessed his inventory and hid behind the large wooden barrels in the Grog Pit. There was a large bonfire burning just a few feet away, which increased his chances of being spotted from far away.
After the fireworks stopped, a few of the Hobgoblins spread out to investigate what was going on. They weren’t as gullible as the Orcs and suspected that something was wrong. Meanwhile, the Orcs started making their way back to the Grog Pit. The night was still young and they still had plenty of fresh meat cooking on the open fire.
Aaron wondered why the fireworks had stopped. It could only mean that either Zach had been caught or he had run into some trouble. Going back to check on his friend was a sure fire way to jeopardise the whole plan, but Aaron couldn’t just leave him behind.
“Zach, are you there?” Aaron whispered into his Z-band.
“Yeah, I’m here, but it doesn’t look too good for me,” Zach answered in a cracking voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“An Orc spotted me and it cancelled out my ability. Luckily, I managed to freeze him before he could call for help.”
“f**k, this is bad. Where are the others?”
“I don’t know, man. I’m just trying to stay quiet. These freaking Hobgoblins are searching all around. They aren’t as dumb as the Orcs.”
“Just stay there. I’ll find a way to you,” Aaron quickly cut the chatter and peeped over the barrels to see what was going on. A group of Orcs was marching straight in his direction. He didn’t have time to improvise, and so he quickly took out the pouch of green herbs he had asked the Cayuga to gather for him. Pressing them between his palms, he crushed the dried leaves into a fine powder and poured a small portion into each of the 6 grog barrels.
Once he was done mixing the powder, he quickly crouched down. The Orcs were going to see him if he tried to run. And his whole plan depended on not being discovered. There was no way he could dash to cover, so instead he hit the dirt and started crawling towards the large log bench on the other side of the Grog Pit. He made it to the other end just before the Orc warriors jumped down into the pit.
Aaron hid behind the log bench and waited for the Orcs to drop their guard. Once they got busy in their nightly revelry, he quietly snuck out of the pit and made his way to the nearest Orc tent.
“Zach, are you there? Zach, give me a status report.”
“Yeah yeah, I’m there. The area is clear now. The Hobs are going back.” Zach paused for a moment and then got back on the call. “I see Mawanko and the others. It looks like they managed to free the women. We have just 25 minutes remaining on the quest. What do we do now?”
“Tell the chief to wait here with the women. I need you, Kawasha and Mawanko with me. Meet me at the Grog pit in 5.”
“That place is swarming with Orcs. Are you serious?”
“I got them covered. Just get moving.” Those were Aaron’s last words before turning the comms off.
Zach, Mawanko and Kawasha walked in the shadows and carefully made their way to the small tent near the Grog Pit. Going any closer to the totem seemed like a suicidal idea. The place was swarming with Dark Orc Warriors and Elite Dark Orc Riders.
The Orcs inside the pit were celebrating their day’s success and feasting on wildebeest meat and chugging down copious amounts of their favourite home-grown grog. Aaron waited patiently and watched from the shadows.
“It’s almost time,” Aaron whispered to himself, checking the timer he had set on his Z-band. As soon as it hit zero, he pulled out his knives.
Zach and the others were crouching low behind a large log, still unsure about Aaron’s plan, when suddenly something caught Kawasha’s attention. “Look over there. The Orcs seem sick.”
“What do you mean, sick?” Zach popped his head over the log and watched one Orc after the other turn pale blue and collapse on the ground.
All the strongest fighters in the Orc camp had gathered in the Grog Pit for their midnight revelry and Aaron had made full use of this golden opportunity. He knew all species of Orcs were fond of drinking and feasting and this was when they let their guard down.
As the last Dark Orc dropped dead, Aaron stepped out of the shadows and regrouped with Zach.
“What just happened? How did they all just end up dead? What kind of OP skill did you use?”
Aaron held out the dried green herb in his hand and replied, “I didn’t have to use any skills. I just put Orcsbane in their grog barrels.”
“Damn, how did you even know it would work? These Orcs aren’t from Evolution Island.”
“You remember I asked the Cayuga elder to get the herb for me. When I told him I needed Orcsbane, he understood at once what I was looking for. This meant Orcsbane was common in their world too. And we all know if Orcsbane exists, it serves just one purpose.”
“Only you can think of something so damn sneaky.” Zach looked over at the corpses lying inside the Grog Pit and shook his head. “Unbelievable, you just managed to take out their best fighters without even attacking them. Now, we just gotta deal with Hobs. Good thing, we haven’t been spotted yet.”
The words were barely out of Zach’s mouth, when the whole camp came alive with sounds of drum beats. The Hobgoblin patrol party had spotted them.
“What’s going on over there?”
“What!!”
“The Orcs are dead!”
“We have humans inside our camp!”
“Attack brothers! Kill them all!”
Angry Hobgoblins armed with poisoned spears rushed at them from all directions. Alerted by the beating of the drums, even more of them started pouring out from the tents.
“God damn it!” Aaron cursed, spinning around. The Hobgoblins had them surrounded from all sides. “Get ready, everyone! This is gonna turn ugly!”
- Writer
