In the chilly desert night, the orcs who successfully raided the caravan were breathing heavily and holding torches high.
They muttered a language slightly similar to the glacier orc language, and walked back and forth in the messy team camp, rummaging around and collecting their trophies.
In the camp of the caravan owner, starting from Dean and Louisa, Old Hammer, Quick Rope, and McGee...the surrendered human captives put their heads in their hands, lined up in a line, and were escorted to the enemy leader's place by the heavily armed orcs.
before.
Thales was among them, right behind Dean. Perhaps because of his age and size, Thales was not escorted by an orc roughly pressing his back like the others. Despite this,
When he walked through the sand and passed a ferocious-looking alien, the looks and weapons of the enemies on both sides still gave him chills.
The murderous intent and appearance of the orcs made people quite uneasy. Almost every warrior had many old and new wounds on his body. At first glance, he looked like a warrior who had experienced hundreds of battles. They looked at the prisoners with disdain and deliberately knocked on their hands.
Amidst the clanking of weapons, Thales couldn't help but think of the scene six years ago when the envoy passed by the Northland Infantry Regiment under Broken Dragon Fortress.
The same tension, the same suffocation.
Just more desperate than then.
Outside of dozens of orc warriors, three unique orcs stood in front of the goods belonging to Tomdin, watching the prisoners approach with cold eyes.
Thales was no stranger to them:
A cold-faced orc with whitened lips and an unusually large black bow hung on his shoulder. This was it. It had just killed the mercenary Pangja with one arrow in a sharpshooter's duel;
A ferocious guy carrying a big sword, with his upper body bare, muscles knotted, and his forehead blackened. He caressed the wound on his chest with a terrifying grin on his face. The death of Northlander Kanze was attributed to his
A horizontal slash;
And the ferocious orc who was stroking the mace and with blue paint on his face had been chasing Thales since the battle. Now, its eyes have never left the boy, and its mouth is full of sharp teeth.
Rubbing up and down in hatred.
It said to the prince from a distance: Flaka.
The blue-faced orc made a fist-clenching gesture, holding the mace tighter and tighter in his hand.
Flaca.
It's Flaca again.
Thales muttered silently, feeling bad.
But these three different guys couldn't hide the style of the leader behind them:
The pure black orc with a severed hand was covered in rare snow-white fur, looking down at the iron fork on his right wrist. He sat casually on a pile of goods, as if integrated with the surrounding silence, waiting for the captives in the light of the torch.
s arrival.
The different postures and heights prove its status.
The prisoners were brought to it one by one and lined up in a horizontal line. The rude escorts pressed or kicked them to force the defeated group to kneel down before their leader.
Thales sighed slightly and knelt down in the sand.
Under the night, the naked orc next to the leader who was carrying a big sword let out a cry and motioned for his men to throw a torch.
It raised the torch, roasted the wound on its chest, and let out a satisfied sigh amidst the inhalation of the merchants and the sizzle of the flames.
After cauterizing the wounds, the orc walked step by step over each kneeling prisoner, illuminating their faces.
Thales narrowed his eyes due to the firelight and temperature.
The leader who was sitting on the cargo and looking at Tiecha slowly raised his head and looked at his trophies.
There were many more people in the caravan who survived than expected: at least ** people were kneeling among the prisoners. They were also holding their hands and shivering under the gaze of the orcs. Probably because the battle started too suddenly and the enemy's sneak attack was too slow.
It was so successful that those who took up arms were basically killed mercilessly in the first round, while the rest who had not yet had time to arm themselves were quickly frightened by the tragic battle situation. Under the ferocious faces of the orcs,
With bloody weapons and thrilling roars, they huddled on the ground without any guidance and raised their hands in surrender.
Thales, who saw their expressions clearly, dared to say: These businessmen have probably never seen so many orcs in their entire lives.
The flames were blown by the cold wind. Facing the ferocious faces of the orcs, the captives were filled with despair.
The frightening silence lasted for a long time, during which the night wind and cold, accompanied by the noise of the searchers in the distance, added a touch of the sadness of the execution ground to the scene.
"Outsiders."
Finally, the pure black leader spoke. Between his twisted and horrifying lips and teeth, his Common Language accent was as full of desert style as ever. It was so fluent and idiomatic that one could not believe that this was spoken by an orc: "You are here..."
"Who's in charge?"
There was a commotion among the prisoners kneeling on the ground, and many of them turned their heads subconsciously.
Thales caught a glimpse of the pot-bellied Tomdin kneeling at a remote side of the team with his head in his hands.
But the arrogant and arrogant caravan boss who had a long history with the virtuous king and talked endlessly about business was no longer there. What was left was a trembling pitiful man: Tomdin seemed to have been manipulated by the orcs.
His face was frightened, and he just kept his head shrinking, not even daring to raise his head.
He was obese and knelt on the ground, shaking himself like a sieve, trying hard to curl up his muscles and bones, as if every inch of his body exposed to the cold wind would cause damage.
Faced with the leader's questioning, he remained silent.
The pure black orc leader looked around at the prisoners and sneered in a powerful voice: "Huh, so..."
"So, outsiders, if you don't have anyone you can talk to, you can negotiate with me. Even if I start to consider, who should I keep and who should I kill?"
These words made many prisoners tremble even more.
This is an orc who is proficient in human language, Thales thought, which is rare.
Moreover, according to Dean, they are not scattered and lonely exiles, but a large tribe?
Thinking of this, Thales noticed that Dean beside him sighed.
The latter moved his knees and prepared to stand up.
But before the bald mercenaries could make any bigger moves, there was a slight commotion on the other side of the captive team.
"We surrendered, and you promised our lives, orcs."
A girl wearing armor put down her hands, stood up on her knees conspicuously among the kneeling people, straightened her back, and looked at the enemy with a calm expression.
"Fuck." Thales heard McGee curse on the other side.
"I am," in the dark night, Louisa's expression was a little dark, but her voice was extremely clear and steady:
"I am the leader of this team, Louisa Dent."
Unarmed, she whispered: "You can negotiate with me."
The commotion broke out again.
But this time, it was the rough-voiced orc warriors who caused the commotion, and they all whispered to each other in roaring voices.
The pure black orc's facial features moved slightly. It changed its sitting position, put its elbows on its knees, and leaned forward. It seemed that it was very interested in this woman who stood out from the crowd at this moment of silence.
"I only promised the life of this person and Solino," the orc pointed at McGee and Thales with the iron cross on his wrist: "Other outsiders are not included, and you..."
The three orcs below the leader looked at each other in pairs, bared their teeth, and let out a rich laugh that sounded like the howling of a cold wind to Thales.
"Look, my holy guards are all smiling," the leader turned to Luisa with a smile on his face:
"Have the people outside the desert fallen so low that they let powerless females lead them?"
Old Hammer and McGee on the other side let out low curses.
Facing the gazes of the orcs, Louisa took a calm breath.
"Then you can give me a weapon and an opponent."
"I can prove to you which one is weaker, your promise or my sword."
The orc holding a torch and naked to the waist took a deep breath, patted the wound on his chest, and said something.
The leader responded to it, causing many orcs to laugh.
It turned around.
"You don't have to prove it, brave warrior Louisa Dante, I know it very well: many females in the world are much scarier than males."
Louisa paused slightly.
"And according to my loyal holy guard, 'Unimpeded Lucanna,'" the pure black orc said slowly, "He recognized your strength, and the blow you gave him was so painful that it penetrated his bones."
Louisa glanced at the orc with the big sword and found that the other person was showing her sharp teeth.
The leader continued with great interest: "He also said that if you were an orc, then he would take you home now as his most cherished wife, protect you with blood and sword, and protect you from having children with him.
A strong cub until his fighting spirit completes the test of the Desert God and returns to the land of his ancestors."
Mikey cursed under his breath.
But Louisa just sneered.
"But I'm human."
The leader nodded.
"But you are human, you can't be one of us," the pure black orc raised his chin towards Lusana:
"So he has no choice but to eat you."
Eat.
Eat?
Thales felt a chill in his heart, and for some reason he thought of the sand scorpion that he had eaten.
And the blood spiny lizard.
Louisa sighed:
"This is racial discrimination."
The leader seemed to be amused. He opened his mouth and let out a burst of horrifying laughter.
"Is this normal?" Thales whispered to Dean beside him: "Every orc who captured humans first made a joke with them, and then heated up a big pot and cooked them?"
"Don't know, after all," Dean said without moving his lips.
"There are not many people who are captured by orcs and can come back alive to tell stories."
Thales shivered slightly.
Louisa raised her head.
"So, is it you?"
The female captain fearlessly faced the eyeing orcs: "Kill those sand pirates."
"A person who hunts all living creatures in the desert on a large scale."
The leader narrowed his eyes.
"So you found out."
Its deep voice sounded.
"Those bodies."
Dean frowned slightly.
Louisa nodded.
"In those camps, there are many individual hard-hitters, even exiles from large tribes, but they have no power to fight back." The female captain looked around at the dozens of orc warriors: "I guess it's you, with numbers
, tactics and formation, use the tribal warriors who are almost an army to kill them alive."
"Just like tonight for this raid, you even took off your heavy armor and came lightly equipped, just to catch them by surprise and attack them unprepared."
Dean sighed in a low voice in Thales' ear: "She is trying to make herself look stronger... It is said that orcs, especially people from large tribes, respect strong men and warriors and value honor."
The orc leader smiled, raised the iron fork on his broken wrist, and pointed at Louisa: "Very good, do you have anything else to say?"
Louisa took a deep breath, nodded and continued: "Stone Tribe, I know you."
The leader remained motionless.
Facing the leader and his three formidable men, Louisa spoke calmly and fearlessly.
"You are one of the eight major tribes in the desert under the Dragon Skeleton Throne. You suffered heavy losses in the desert war and had to flee into the depths of the desert."
"But why, why did you take the risk of leaving the depths of the desert, coming so close to the Star People's power, and killing them everywhere like crazy?"
"This is not in line with the rules in the desert! Even you!"
The leader laughed again.
Compared with its men, especially its three so-called "holy guards", this orc smiles more and more frequently.
It's also more disturbing.
"Rules in the desert?"
"Very good, you can survive, woman," the orc leader nodded slowly, ignoring the roaring protest of the orc Lusanna who wielded a big sword: "For your good fighting skills and knowledge, as for whether you should follow us back or... let's see again.
look."
"What about the others?"
"Others, others must prove their worth," the orc leader turned his head and scanned the prisoners sharply with his yellow eyes: "And the reason why I attacked and captured you, I only want to know one thing."
The mercenaries all frowned.
"What's the matter?" Louisa asked confused.
In the firelight, the orc leader's eyes narrowed.
"More than ten days ago, I received a report." It stepped down on the sand and straightened up its huge figure as tall as two people: "There are many people, whether they are skeleton men, orcs, sand bandits, or small tribes or groups.
, they fled from the north and the east one after another."
Escape?
Suspicion arose in Thales's heart.
This doubt also spread to the prisoners, but the situation in front of them left them no time to think too much.
The orc slowly walked to the far left side of the captive group, passing each person step by step.
Seeing this ferocious guy approaching, many businessmen shivered in fear. Thales swore that he even smelled the faint smell of urine.
"I'm very confused: What makes these scum dare to ignore the majesty of the Dragon Skeleton Throne, forget the horror of the Desert God's Altar, and desperately escape into the depths of the desert, into the territory of the orcs and desolate bones, and into the eight major tribes
And the private areas of the five major tribes, and escape into the dangerous restricted area in the desert that everyone knows?"
"And according to what these refugees said," the pure black orc walked past Tomdin, who lay on the ground, looking like a trembling caterpillar:
"Not long ago, a group of thousands of elite cavalry entered the desert."
Dean next to Thales held his breath.
"Thousands of people?" he asked in a low voice, confused.
What Dean didn't know was that Thales' heartbeat skipped a beat at that moment.
cavalry.
cavalry?
Cavalry entering the desert.
The pure black orc walked past Louisa, patted her shoulder with his huge left hand, and raised his lips: "In more than ten days, they occupied almost all the oasis strongholds, drove away all the indigenous people, and killed them all.
Those who don’t want to leave.”
The mercenaries kneeling on the ground all showed surprised expressions and looked around.
"Is it them? Not you?"
Louisa exclaimed: "The ones sweeping and hunting in the desert are...that group of cavalry?"
That group of cavalry.
Thales stared at the sand in front of him, his expression stiff.
The orc turned around.
"Like you, we also encountered countless corpses and camps along the way, only a few more than what you found."
The orc walked past Old Hammer and Quick Rope, his voice getting colder and colder:
"not only that."
"They were merciless and regardless of the cost, killing all the bipedal creatures they saw on the road, regardless of whether they were sand bandits, exiles, skeleton men, orcs or ordinary smugglers, cleaning up the entire northern periphery of the desert.
"
“It’s almost turning half of the desert into a no-man’s land.”
Slaughter them all.
Thales felt cold sweat running down his back.
"This is not over."
The orc walked up to Dean.
The pure black orc leader lowered his head and glanced at Dean meaningfully:
"They did not leave, but maintained a costly defense line on the spot, transported supplies day and night, drank horses and restocked grass without restraint, just to stay in the desert for one more day, one more day."
Dean narrowed his eyes: "What?"
"Their rangers go out everywhere, patrolling back and forth, killing people when they see them, drinking water when they see them, and nibbling grass when they see them. The entire northern end of the desert is disturbed by them."
Move around.
Patrolling back and forth.
Thales only felt that his breathing was getting slower and slower.
The orcs continued to move forward, their giant feet on the soft sand creating chilling friction.
"We hunt, herd, and use them as food to satisfy our hunger, but even the stupidest tribesmen know that after getting what they need, they must keep their young and not touch the seedlings."
Thales, who was slightly panicked, could feel the orcs' footsteps getting closer and closer.
"That way we'll still have food next year...but this group of people?"
"Whether it's water, pasture, firewood, camps...these killers on horseback take it without mercy and endlessly consume all the resources in the desert. They neither fight nor occupy. They just waste money and food disproportionately."
, the manpower is just to clean up this barren wasteland, leaving behind barren sand, and even the caravan can no longer stay in the cleared camp!"
The orcs walked past Dean, and finally stopped at Thales at the far end, next to the youngest human.
Thales was still holding his head. From the corner of his eye, he saw the orc's strong calves and felt them making a sound above his head.
Oops.
This means...
"Based on my experience, if these cunning humans behave abnormally, they must have something up their sleeve."
"Just like they always do."
"But since they have taken action, we must also take our own action," the orc leader narrowed his eyes and looked at the prisoners: "This is the reason for us to go north."
"That's why I decided to lead a group of tribal warriors to the east and north in the desert."
It gritted its ferocious teeth: "So, outsiders."
"In the past month, you are the only ones who have come from the direction of the Blade Tooth Sand Dunes. You are the only ones who set off in the same direction and from the same place as those crazy cavalry."
"And the only one who might know their intentions."
The prisoners kneeling on the ground had different expressions.
On the sand, rows of orc warriors stood around grimly, looking at each trembling or confused human prisoner.
The expressions of the three holy guards remained unchanged, waiting for their leader's next words.
Finally, the pure black orc slowly stretched out his hand, raised the iron fork on his wrist, and spoke with a chilly tone.
"And you will tell me."
"Why."
It spit out a noun that made everyone frown:
"Kingdom of Stars."
"Why do you do this?"
The mercenaries looked at each other, and even the merchants were surprised.
"Why did they send so many troops deep into the desert?"
"Why do they want to lift every layer of sand out of here?"
"Why don't you hesitate to spend money, food, and human lives?"
Under the influence of the cold, Thales felt a chill on his neck in shock!
A cold iron fork pressed on the prince's neck.
Amid the exclamations of the mercenaries, Thales was forced by the strength of the iron fork to raise his head and look into the bright yellow eyes of the orc leader.
Thales stared blankly at it, looking at the scars and inhuman face on the other person's face. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the armor under his fur. Looking at the faint bloodstains and scratches on it, he felt his body numb.
It was different from other orcs he had fought.
Those eyes were calm and collected.
It seems like there are many secrets hidden.
"There is someone," the orc raised his eyes and looked at the others, but the movement of his hand did not stop, and he still hooked Thales' chin with the iron fork:
"Can you tell me?"
no respond.
Only the cold wind howled in the sand.
And the crackle of flames.
But at this moment, only Thales knows:
The truth that this pure black orc tried so hard to get...
The secret that makes the desert turbulent...
It was trembling slightly under its iron fork.
what to do?
Thales thought hard.
At this moment.
"enough."
"Kandar Nushan, which is famous in the desert, has no need to embarrass a human Solino."
This is a gentle and mature male voice.
Just like the day he rescued Thales.
After the words fell, the orcs began to discuss briefly, seeming to be slightly disturbed by a certain name.
Thales, who was so nervous that he was almost suffocating, felt his neck tremble slightly.
Finally, his neck relaxed: the iron fork left his artery.
Thales breathed a sigh of relief and started breathing again, thinking quickly about what to do about the predicament at hand.
The pure black orc turned around, and its gaze silenced all the orcs.
"Who?" It walked slowly to Thales and the speaker, staring at the bald human: "Who is the person who spoke to me...?"
The speaker raised his head, lowered his arms, stood up, and looked up at it.
"I'm Dean, I'm... Louisa's deputy."
The next second, the orc's iron fork was pressed into Dean's neck.
Louisa exclaimed a little.
But the bald mercenary remained motionless and just allowed the other party to look at him.
The orc leader lowered his head and stared at him for a long time.
"Human, I was deeply impressed by you in the battle just now."
"You have skill and wisdom."
The orc leader narrowed his eyes: "Do you know who I am?"
The prisoner nodded, his expression calm.
"I know."
"I recognize your arms, I recognize your skin color."
Dean stared at the orc:
"You are not a purebred gray bastard... a purebred desert orc. You have the blood of a glacier orc, so your skin color is different from theirs."
Damn ice bastard, Dean said silently.
Thales looked at the other person's skin, looking at the pitch-black color, and became convinced.
Surprise appeared in the eyes of the orc leader.
Dean sighed softly:
"You are Kandar Nushan."
"A 'different-blooded one' who rose up as an exile and roamed the desert for twenty years."