Weed spat and returned to watching the fortress.
There was a brief rain last night and mountains were covered by thick mist. Sleepy, but already hungry birds were fluttering between sparse trees. Soon the sun will be shining at full power and the weather will improve. But for now it was still cold.
“A-aachoo! Chwiik!”
Even thick-skinned Orcs started to succumb to weather. Weed at least had a cape, which he tightly wrapped around himself, but other Orcs only had armor.
The temple of Necromancers was standing at the top of the mountain. The cliffs around it looked pretty steep and the only way to reach the gate was to pass through the Dark Elves settlement. But it was surrounded by 7-meter-high wall. Dark Elves were proficient in elemental magic and with its help they were able to quickly erect an impregnable fortress.
Moreover, at the base of the wall some kind of dark-blue smoke was swirling, which was definitely not something good. While watching the fortress, Weed saw a few times how some random birds carelessly flew into the smoke just to drop dead a moment later.
And as a finishing touch the walls were filled with Dark Elves holding their bows. They noticed Orcs a long time ago and were just waiting to see what they were going to do. Were they to come closer, they would be immediately met with a barrage of Elven arrows.
‘To reach the Necromancers’ temple is one heck of a goal... How are we supposed to take this fortress?’
Besides Weed were his 20000 subordinate Orcs. But on the wall were no less than 10000 Dark Elves! Even though Orcs and Dark Elves had similar strength, in case of siege the advantage was clearly on the Dark Elves’ side.
“Karichwi, we believe in you. Chwiik!”
The Elder gave Weed a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
“I know. We will definitely win.”
“I trust you. Chwichwit. But let’s win today!”
“E-e-erm... It must definitely be today? Chwiik!”
“Yes. We have no food. Chwichwichwi.”
“...”
Stupid Orcs! There were more than 20000 of them gathered, and not a single one of them bothered to bring any provisions.
‘We have no food and half the warriors got a cold...’
Weed wanted to just run away, but he couldn’t do it. All the Orcs were faithfully watching their new commander.
‘Damn it... This way I’ll die here.’
Many times during this quest Weed was walking the edge, but this time it looked like he would definitely fall. He didn’t see any way to get out of this situation.
‘If I’m going to die anyway, at least I’ll do it for a reason...’
Weed pulled himself together and looked around. He noticed something strange. Even though there was no wind, the trees behind them were rustling. After taking a closer look, Weed noticed a great number of Orcs coming out of the forest.
“Chwiik! Orcs from Chwibarr tribe arrived.”
The chieftain of Chwibarr brought another 10000 Orcs! And this was just the beginning. Wherever Weed looked, even in the far distance, the trees were shaking.
“Karichwi, I’ve brought 20000 warriors!”
“Holchwi tribe sent 15000!”
Weed was standing and with growing hope looked at the arriving reinforcements. The fortress of Dark Elves was located near the top of the mountain, and from every side more and more Orc troops were approaching. There were great many Orcs gathering in the Yuroki mountains today. Far too many.
“Chwiik! Chwit!”
Weed was involuntary making snorting sounds.
The Orc army looked like a huge tsunami. There were young and old Orcs, but most of them were battle-hardened veterans. And all of them came to fight besides him, leader of an army of 20000 Orcs!