Chapter 14: Moles and Ogres

I raced across the camp, darting between the tents. Why the orcs even needed tents underground was beyond me, but they didn’t seem to do things logically. They were almost like little computers that hadn’t been programmed properly.

Still, the tents gave me cover. I raced between them until I reached the hallway that we’d come from. I sprinted down it, skittered around the corner, then raced to the door that we’d slammed shut behind us.

I paused at the door for a few seconds, debating if I should do this. But then a scream echoed in through from the orc camp—a human scream, and not a Dupe. It was one of the prisoners. We weren’t going to make it out.

Ripping the door open, I waved the clump of singed wool and shouted, “Over here, you big lump! Come get me!”

For a moment, the mole didn’t move. It was nearly impossible to see. I only had the flickering light from the hall behind me to work with, and that wasn’t much. I could barely see an outline of the mole, no matter how hard I strained my eyes.

Then the tentacles on the mole’s star-shaped nose flared blue. Rings of turquoise light pulsed through them, and electricity crackled on their tips.

I swallowed, but I didn’t wait. I’d seen so many movies where someone waited until it was obvious that a monster was chasing them before they ran, and I wasn’t gonna be that guy. Sprinting away, I waved the clump of wool behind me and shouted, “Come get me! You eat meat, don’t you?”

I couldn’t think of what else to say. My Focus wasn’t perfect yet, not in a situation like this, and I wasn’t confident enough to come up with something cool to say.

Continuing to sprint, I raced back to the orc camp. I rammed my shoulder in the hallway wall to help change direction, then raced back forward. Snarling and slathering, the mole chased behind me. It bashed through the corner with ease, spraying stone dust into the hallway. Chunks smashed into my ankles and something clinked off the back of my hauberk.

When I arrived in the hall, I turned, but I couldn’t just let the mole go free. I needed it to take out the ogre. I let it get a little closer, until one of its tentacles whipped toward my leg. It had stinging barbs at the end, and as it whipped through the air, it crackled with electricity.

“Oh shit,” I whispered. I fell forward, and without breaking my pace, I continued crawling along the floor until I was closer to the ogre. As I ran, I wrapped the chunk of wool around the tip of my spear.

But my plan had a massive flaw. The wool came from the roasting mutton—which smelled worse than what I was holding. Surely, it would attract the mole over my little lump.

The creature was a predator, though. It would be more attracted to something that was moving. I waved the spear, drawing the mole’s attention and convincing the beast to run past the roasting mutton.

When I was in range of the ogre, I threw the spear. It sailed through the air and pierced into the beast’s back. It did about as much as the arrows poking into the beast’s front—not much—but it marked the ogre.

I leapt to the side and down to my stomach, trying to stay as quiet as I could, and the mole raced past me. It leapt into the air and tackled the ogre, flinging the beast to the side and wrapping it with electrified tentacles. It cleared the way for us.

“Come on!” I shouted. “Get to the exit!”

Ticks, Shave, Romance, and Elf were all still alive, and they raced after me. About three quarters of the prisoners were still alive, and one of them tossed me an orc spear. I took it and gave it a whirl. It wasn’t as good as the spear I’d been using, but it would work for the time being.

The prisoners raced out of the corner of the room and grouped up with me, and Shave and Romance cut down two orcs as they ran. A few more orcs leapt at the mole, trying to skewer it and knock it off the back of the ogre.

We ran back to the center of the chamber. Despite the chaos the mole had caused, the orcs were still protecting the way out. They lined up shoulder to shoulder, two rows thick. At least ten of them were blocking the way.

“Sarge?” Ticks shouted. “What’re we doing? What’s the plan?”

“I need my squad with me. We make a wedge. Romance, you’re the tip. Levi and I are his flanks, and Ticks and Elf keep up the side. We break through their lines, then we make a run for it.”

I nodded, then took up the position. I hadn’t been drilled on all the formations yet, but that didn’t really matter. Shave described it well enough. The prisoners filled in behind us, their eyes filled with terror. Most of them looked intent on fighting to the end, though.

But I wished I had a shield. I really needed one, especially with those orc spears pointing right toward us.

Before we charged, the mole and the ogre tumbled back across the cavern. The ogre gave one last shudder before falling still, and the mole ripped off the ogre’s face, revealing a hole of nothing but black gore. Then, without waiting, it charged off to the side of the cavern, chasing after another cluster of orcs and tearing through a tent.

“Get the presence!” Shave commanded, rushing forward. “We can’t leave it behind.”

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it’s taken without the author’s consent. Report it.

“We have to get our brothers out of here!” Ticks exclaimed, rushing forward and running up to Shave’s side.

The others and I stayed in formation as we followed Shave, but it didn’t take long. I ripped off the ogre’s skirt of chainmail, then wrapped it around my left arm to use as a shield while Shave siphoned the Presence.

As soon as he finished harvesting an inch-wide sphere of white mist from the ogre’s chest, we continued the push. Romance led the way, slowly picking up speed so we didn’t break out of formation too badly, until we reached the doorway—which the orcs were blocking.

There was no true gate, but the orcs were enough of a barrier. Romance triggered his resonance Skill as we approached, sending a wave of force rushing toward the orcs. It flung one back into the spear of a beast waiting behind, and made the rest of them stumble. When I arrived, I batted a spear away with my armour-wrapped arm, then drove my spear into an orc’s chest. It warbled and fell backward, dead.