A pin prick to the heart
1632 Words
Zach’s rousing speech had a profound impact on the tribals. Though the Cayuga weren’t a tribe of warriors, they were proud of their culture. The Dark Orcs were in their eyes, a blight upon their sacred land. As long as the Orcs drew breath, they could never truly be safe. The Orc raiders had stolen their women, burned and pillaged their settlements and killed several of their brave warriors. All this time they had devised plans to flee from the horde, but now Zach’s words awakened in them that long slumbering fire, whose last embers were yet to be extinguished.
“I want to crush their skulls with my fists!” a rough looking middle-aged man with a scruffy black beard exclaimed.
“You’re a hunter, Mawanko!” a much younger man protested.
Mawanko looked the young man dead in the eye and rebuked him. “You don’t need to fight. You can stay hidden in your shack with your wife. But I will not let my brothers’ deaths be in vain.”
“I’m with Mawanko.”
“Hurr... Let’s cut down the Orcs like the animals they are!”
“We cannot win against a horde of Dark Orcs. They will outnumber us.”
“They have better weapons and are stronger than us.”
“And they have their terrifying beasts of war!”
The ruckus was finally suppressed by the loud booming voice of Nashoba. Hearing this commotion, he had stepped out of his hut to find out what was going on. He had just heard enough to realise what Zach had suggested. This time the chief was angry. He didn’t look at Zach as an ally, but stared at his eyes like a foe. The crowd went silent. They knew the chief was in no mood to listen to anyone.
“What is the meaning of this? I give you a place to stay and you want to provoke my people to go to war?”
Zach stared right back at him, to the great shock of the entire tribe. “You’re not doing me any favour. My friend and I just saved your damn village!”
“We are not going anywhere. You’re a f*****g worthless leader. Grogath would’ve beaten your ass to a pulp if I hadn’t stepped in.”
The tribals gasped in disbelief. They couldn’t believe anyone could have the audacity to talk to their chief like that. The loyalists of the chief stood up to grab hold of Zach. They were ready to act as soon as Nashoba gave his command.
The chief gritted his teeth in a final attempt to contain his anger. His whole body tensed up and his clenched fists shook with fury. He kept staring at Zach and he in turn reciprocated the gesture without flinching.
“Zach, stop it, bro. This is gonna turn ugly real soon,” Aaron called out in vain. Zach was not ready to back down.
Odolo too joined in with his entreaties. “Nashoba, it is unbecoming of you to behave so brazenly before a guest. You must not forget our—”
“I didn’t ask for your counsel, Odolo,” Nashoba rebuked in his firm voice. “Take this one away and put him in the cave,” he ordered his men.
The men pressed their right palm on their chests and obeyed at once. They surrounded Zach and prepared to grab him. He was no longer a guest of the tribe. The three middle aged hunters approached to overpower Zach, while the rest of the tribe watched dumbstruck.
“f**k it!” Aaron stepped before Zach and pointed his open palms on either side. “Anyone who tries to touch him will have to go through me first. Get the f**k back!”
“Phew, I almost thought you’d side with them,” Zach muttered under his breath.
“God damn it, you know you started this.”
“What was I supposed to do? We need their help to take down the Dark Orc camp.”
“Ever heard about subtlety?”
“Nah, I ain’t the most subtle gamer. You know my play-style bro. I like to go out all guns blazing and speak out my mind.”
“Yeah and I have to save your ass every time.” Aaron looked from one face to another and turned up the heat to make his fingers glow red hot. “Now just cork it and let me handle the mess.”
“You got it, bro.”
The hunters were afraid of disobeying their chief, but they were even more afraid of being burned to a crisp by Aaron. They had watched him incinerate an entire Orc raiding party just a few hours ago. And so they stood there, frozen in fear.
Finally, the chief relented. “There have been enough killings. Surely, you understand what your friend demands, is nothing short of madness. I cannot send my people to die.” He backed away and flicked back his right hand to disperse his hunters.
Aaron knew he had to adopt a more diplomatic approach to handle the situation tactfully. “My friend got carried away. He hates the Dark Orcs as much as you do. But rest assured I do not wish to burden you with our work. This is not your fight.”
Nashoba saw the truth in Aaron’s eyes and calmed down. “All our warriors were killed right before your eyes. I do not wish to send more men to their graves.”
“I understand. I guess we will have to attack the Dark Orcs alone,” Aaron replied, lowering his hands. He paused for a good few moments and then added, “You know the Orcs will come for you once they find out that their raiding party was killed.”
This was a truth Nashoba knew beforehand. All this time, he was consulting his best forager to decide upon a safer location for establishing a new village. Staying at this place was no longer an option. And there was no guarantee they wouldn’t run into some other bloodthirsty tribe or Orcish horde in the new region. The chief breathed out a defeated sigh and looked down. “I have failed my people once again. I wasn’t strong enough to defend our home. But they do not have to pay for my failure.” He looked back up again and addressed Aaron. “I and my eldest son Kawasha will go with you. Mawanko will lead the way for us. We can’t win in a direct fight, but if we can sneak into their camp undetected, we just might be able to kill them.”
“The 5 of us aren’t gonna stand a chance against their whole camp. There are Hobgoblins there as well. We need all the people we can get,” Zach cried out.
“Wait,” Aaron held him back. “Let’s hear the chief out first. I feel he has a plan.”
“I know a secret passage which leads to the heart of their camp,” Nashoba marked a place on the map on the ground. “I can get you inside, but it’s up to you to devise a plan to kill them without raising any alarms.”
“That’s impossible,” Zach sneered.
“No, there is a way,” Aaron cut in. “I’m gonna need a few items for that. It’s just gonna be like a stealth mission on Hard difficulty. We don’t need to hit ‘em with a sledgehammer, we just need to prick them in the heart. ”
“I hope your plan works. But, in any case, we should definitely save our progress,” Zach advised.
Aaron agreed and together they excused themselves and walked out of the chief’s tent. The totem pole behind the tent was marked as a save point on the map. As they approached the Totem Pole, their Z-bands displayed the same pop-up.
[Do you wish to save your game?]
[Yes] [No]
They both clicked on ‘Yes’ and created a new save file. On exiting the save menu, a new holographic pop- up display appeared before them.
[*Mystical Shop is now open!*]
[This is a special shop where you can trade your Sky Gems for exclusive rewards. Once you exit the menu, the shop will become unavailable permanently.]
[Do you wish to browse the rewards available?]
[Yes] [No]
Aaron looked at Zach, who nodded in agreement. “Go for it. You have plenty of gems to spare. I’ll save mine in case we need something special in the future.”
“Access shop,” Aaron spoke aloud.
Immediately, the Mystical Shop displayed a collection of special equipment, weapons and several consumable items. Aaron carefully browsed the menu, to find something which would be useful in the coming battles. He had 10000 Sky Gems in his inventory, and all rare weapons and armor sets were priced over 50000. The consumables were relatively cheap, but there were too many items on offer. Making a good selection was pretty difficult. After a great deal of thinking, he finally decided to purchase a couple of accessories for 5000 Sky Gems each.
[*Fortifying Medallion Purchased!*]
[*Warlock Ring Purchased!*]
Having made the purchases, Aaron closed the shop menu and equipped his recently acquired items. The Fortifying Medallion granted him a 500 extra HP and the Warlock Ring cut down all EP consumption of his skills by half. Now, he could keep using skills without having to worry about running out of EP.
Back inside the shack, Nashoba and his companions had also finished making preparations. They were now ready to join Aaron and Zach on their quest.
- Writer
