Balder opened his eyes to the sight of moonlight, flowing through the many cracks in the broken temple walls. He sat up straight and took a look around: Kolr sat cross-legged on the floor, his sword balanced across his legs, one hand resting on the hilt. His gaze was calm but sharp, half-lidded but ever watchful. Hallr, on the other hand, was sprawled near the now fading campfire, snoring loudly in the otherwise silent night. The fire, though still alive, had started to dwindle and was now near the end of its life.

  The weight of the night pressed down on Balder, his mind still heavy with the events that had unfolded, especially the truth about Ivarr.

  He ran a hand through his matted hair, his thoughts drifting back to the journey ahead. The north. He had to deliver his father’s ashes, but now, more than ever, he wondered whether it was worth it. Kolr and Hallr seemed to have long lost any faith in the north, but Balder wanted to return to it, it was a place he barely remembered but still felt bound to.

  Kolr’s voice broke the silence, calm but firm. “If you’re planning on heading north kid, you should be ready. It won’t be easy and you might see things that you would’ve rather not. I would still advice you to come with us.”

  Balder looked up, meeting Kolr’s gaze.

  Balder ran a hand through his hair, eyes drifting toward his sack where his father’s ashes rested. This wasn’t what he had planned. The thought of turning south felt like turning his back on something important but what choice did he have? He could barely hold his own in a fight, and if it was true what the others said about the north it was unforgiving. After a long pause, he exhaled.

  “I don’t like it, but you’re right,” Balder admitted, his voice low. “I wouldn’t make it alone.”

  “So you two think your brother is still alive?”, Kolr asked.

  “I hope he is”, Balder answered quietly.

  He now pulled out another loaf of bread from his sack and again offered it to Kolr who again refused but this time Balder was persistent and he eventually took it.

  They were now silently sitting opposite of one another around the now extinguished fire, waiting for Hallr to wake up: it was still early in the night.

  “Where did Hallr get all the scares from?”, Balder eventually asked.

  Kolr chuckled while biting in his bread: “He had quite the careless fighting style and with the way he is he isn’t exactly making friends.”

  Balder smiled: “I guess he isn’t.”

  “let’s hope things don’t get so far, that you have to see it”, Kolr said.

  Both of them had finished eating by now. Hallr still hadn’t woken up, so Kolr decided to wake him up by weakly kicking him into the side.

  Hallr opened his eyes, grabbed his axes and jumped onto his feet. When he realised, they weren’t being attacked he put them back on the ground with a disappointed face.

  “What is it?”, Hallr said with an annoyed tone in his voice.

  “You don’t have to sleep the whole night, we have to move”, Kolr lectured.

  “Are you coming with us?”, Hallr said while looking at Balder to which he nodded.

  “Good, would be boring just to travel with the old man”, Hallr then said while smiling at him.

  “Pach your things”, Kolr said, “we have to go as soon as possible.”

  Balder put his father’s ashes back in the sack and attached it to his back once again and took back the drinking pouch which Hallr had slept next to the whole day: it was half empty.

  Hallr took his two axes and tucked them under his belt, Kolr did the same with his sword: they were ready to go.

  They started walking back south, the same way that Balder had taken yesterday. Hallr and Kolr had an easy time walking since they didn’t have any baggage at all and with both the sack and the drinking pouch being emptier than before Balder too had an easier time.

  The road stretched before them, cracked and uneven, as if time itself had forgotten it. The air was heavy, carrying the faint, unpleasant scent of something long dead.

  The two warriors suddenly stopped and when Balder looked at them confused they pointed at the road before them.

  Balder frowned. Now that Kolr pointed it out, the road did look…off. The dirt, once smooth and undisturbed, was now marked by uneven depressions like something had moved through recently. Then he saw it. Footprints. And not just any. Jagged, misshapen. Too large to be human.

  Hallr kneeled down and looked at the footprints: “Orcs, about a dozen.”

  “Why Orcs?”, Balder asked.

  “We can’t tell for sure”, Kolr explained, “but see the footprints? The shoes look crude, even broken you could say. Orcs aren’t exactly the best shoemakers.”

  “Do we follow?”, Balder asked hesitantly.

  “If it’s really just a dozen we should be able to take them by surprise, but it’s risky”, Kolr said.

  “we’ve taken on more before”, Hallr intervened happily, “and after all if they're in the way we’ll we have to take ‘em on, we don’t have enough food to search for another way.”

  “I’m not even sure if this way leads us anywhere near of Orcs End”, Kolr intervened, “we originally went along it since we confused it with another road and thought it would lead south after all.”

  “it’s our best clue”, Hallr tried to convince him.

  “I’m also not sure if we should do this because of the kid”, Kolr said after which Hallr looked at him with hopeful eyes.

  “I’m going with you”, Balder said after which Hallr smiled. Balder didn’t want them to think of him as a coward because he wasn’t. It was just, that he wasn’t willing to fight If it didn’t serve any real use and also, he wasn’t sure how the three would win a fight were there would be four times as many enemies.

  “The kid has spoken”, Kolr said and the two warriors immediately started to jog along the way with their weapons drawn. Balder followed shortly behind them.

  They will notice us from miles away, Balder thought to himself since the three of them were making quite some noise with their chainmail. They occasionally stopped sprinting in order to take a sip of wine after which they immediately continued.

  Eventually the way led to the right instead of straight south and they thought of just going straight through the dead land and hope that they would eventually find another way.

  Kolr wasn’t sure if they would find their way back to this way if they left it now and didn’t find anything else and Hallr was still eager for a fight, so they decided to follow the way to the right despite the tracks of the Orcs being this way.

  About ten minutes later they encountered a corpse of a blonde, human man which didn’t look older then 20 on the side of the way which’s upper body had been half eaten. He lay face down in the dirt.

  Kolr turned the body the body around, revealing the unrecognizable face which the beasts hat mostly eaten.

  “look at that bastard, the beasts must’ve been hungry”, Hallr commented.

  “They’re not hungry anymore”, Kolr responded.

  Hallr smiled in excitement: “this body’s not too old, they’re probably resting nearby.

  Kolr gave them a hand sign to follow him which they did. After a short while the tracks lead of the road and towards a nearby hill, which lay a few dozen meters away.

  “We’ll catch ‘em off-guard”, Hallr said and immediately stormed towards the hill before the others could stop him.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  They slowed down shortly before reaching the hills top and took it slower in order to not alarm the beasts on the other side.

  Just as they were able to look over the hill a particularly ugly Orc looked them straight in the eyes: a guard.

  Before the beast could even react Hallr had already rammed one of his axes into the beast's throat. The strike didn’t manage to decapitate the beast fully, but it was enough to kill it.

  He now stormed down the hill, where nine more were sitting on the ground, they surrounded another human that looked similar to the other one they had found, but this one seemed to have just lost his consciousness but still be alive.

  Only one of the Orcs had a shield, the rest was just equipped with their usual crude swords and hastily put together cloth and shoes.

  Hallr had already taken out two more of the scattered beasts before they had fully realised, that they were being attacked and was now fighting three beasts at once, managing to barely deflect their attacks with his axes.

  Kolr had taken on two of them at the same time. With his heavy sword and old age, he was only moving slowly but gracefully. He had flowing movements in which he would deflect both enemies attacks in one strike.

  One of the two beasts, that hadn’t entered combat yet ran towards Balder with its huge, crude sword ready for the strike.

  The strike came at the hight of Balder’s head under which he barely managed to crouch away. He now took his one-handed axe with both hands and horizontally rammed it forward while still being in a crouching position.

  The axe’s blade hit the Orc in the gut and Drang through the thin line of protection, that its clothes offered and deep into the green flesh.

  The beast screamed in pain but was far from being dead and tried to strike Balder from the top. Balder responded by doing a lunge to the left during which he dragged his axe with him, which ripped its belly open.

  Organs fell out and the beast quickly fell over. Although happy about his victory despite his lacking combat skills he almost had to puke though the smell of the Orc’s intestines hitting him. But he had to brace himself for single combat again, since the second one was now approaching.

  Balder took a look over to the other two and now understood what Kolr had meant with Hallr having a careless fighting style: Hallr made quick movements that would benefit him in hurting the enemy instead of protecting himself.

  Each time an Orcish sword was flying towards him he would only protect himself if their was no opening in any of his free opponents, which led to him first taking a strike at the enemy before only than parrying or dodging an incoming attack.

  This time it worked out for him though, since when the most left to him opponent took a swing at him, he immediately blocked and then used the opening, that this enemy now had instead in order to kill him instead of protecting himself from the swing of the enemy to his right.

  He ended up barely dodging it, but the Orcs still cut into his leg. Luckily for him he had moved quick enough for it to barely get into his skin, but still the sword had some blood on it. Hallr then clamped the Orc’s sword under his axe and pulled the beast towards him. The one that had stood in the middle now accidentally took a swing at his comrade, leaving him dead in the dirt.

  Hallr now started a relentless series of strikes against the remaining opponent which the beast managed to deflect for now but wouldn’t be able to forever.

  Kolr had parried his opponents moves the whole time, they had now believed to have discovered his pattern and decided to attack separately, to which Kolr responded by simply taking a step back and slashing one of his opponent's heads of in the same move. The other one looked at him in confusion and Kolr quickly took his chance and stabbed the beast straight through the chest.

  Balder braced himself as the beast walking towards him was less than five meters away now, even with their fights being mostly finished they wouldn’t be able to help him for at least another twenty seconds which was a lot in a swordfight.

  The Beast walking towards Balder was the only of them, that was carrying a shield. It was also a bit taller than the others and had human skulls hanging from its poor-quality belt. It’s grey tung was licking its barely noticeable lips in anticipation of fresh meat.

  Its shield was a simple, wooden structure which looked like it had already taken quite the beating in the past.

  Balder was shorter than the Beast and probably a lot weaker to, but he didn’t want to run: he wanted to slay it.

  The beast took a swing towards him which Balder dodged by taking a step backwards, but the beast was quick to wing again. Balder managed to dodge backwards three more times until he tripped and fell into the dirt.

  The Orcs now tried to give him the final strike but Balder rolled to the left, which was made hard by the sack on his back, so he only barely managed to not get hit. Balder now thought to see an opening so he swung his axe at the beasts left leg.

  The Beast managed to bring its shield in between its leg and the axe in time. The axe penetrated deep into the shield, but it was now stuck.

  The Orc struck towards Balder again who once again dodged to the side while still holding on to his axe. The Beast now pulled the shield upward in the hopes of getting an easier strike on the now defenceless Balder who was pulled up together with the shield since he still held on to the axe.

  Just as the Beast was striking, he punched it in the face, which didn’t hurt it too much but was enough to confuse it and make it let go of the shield.

  Balder quickly swung the shield towards the Orcs head. The Beast managed to raise its sword in time and hit the axes blade, but the shield shattered and most of its pieces hit the Orcs head.

  Balder now swung at the confused beast again. His axe hit deep into its skull, instantly killing it. The beast fell to the ground, but Balder’s axe was once again stuck, so he was swept along.

  Balder only looked up after hitting the ground. Hallr and Kolr were now standing before him and Kolr held his hand towards him. Balder first pulled his axe out and then took the hand.

  Once he had stood up, he could feel the exhaustion coming over his body, it had been a short fight, but a hard one. Kolr was breathing heavily to, only Hallr seemed as good as ever.

  “Well fought brat”, Hallr said with a heartfelt smile on his face.

  “Thanks”, Balder said while still catching his breath.

  He now looked at Kolr who had already moved on and laid his eyes upon the body that had laid in the middle of the Orcs and walked towards it. The other two were quick to follow.

  “An imperial”, Hallr quickly noticed once they stood directly before the body, “we should just slit his throat and move on.”

  “He might know the area and could give us directions”, Balder said, trying to save the man's live.

  Balder didn’t do so out of the goodness of his heart, he two despised imperials but he was interested to see if the man knew anything about his brother Hrym.

  “If he knows the area, it didn’t save ‘em from the Orcs”, Hallr remarked.

  “But the kid is right”, Kolr said, “let's be honest, we have no idea where we’re going so couldn’t hurt and if he doesn’t know we could still get rid of him.”

  Hallr nodded annoyed and turned the body around, revealing the man's face. He looked very handsome, despite having been beaten badly. He had blonde hair.

  Balder didn’t like imperials. It was a hatred that was born onto him and was a result of many generations of constant wars. But it wasn’t just that, all of them looked and dressed like they were something better. Their faces were strangely feminine, and their linen cloths were covered in different patterns which made them look more like artworks than clothes.

  The man laying before them unified all these properties. In the north he could have passed as a woman if he would have worn a dress and the edges of his shirt were covered in mosaic looking patterns.

  The man looked too perfect, like something that could only exist because a god made it that way. Balder didn’t envy the man in any way, he was simply disgusted by him.

  “He probably belongs to the other guy”, Balder remarked.

  “You think they were lovers?”, Hallr asked with a disgusted smile on his face.

  Balder wasn’t sure if Hallr was just asking that as a joke or as a genuine question, since these types of relationships were technically forbidden by the imperial church, but Balder had heard the insult “boy lovers” being used against them one to many times to not at least somewhat believe in these types of rumours.

  Balder decided simply not to answer and instead looked at Kolr who now knelled down and slapped the man in the face in order to wake him up. When he didn’t open his eyes Kolr continued to do it a few more times before giving up on it.

  “They have knocked him out good”, he then said.

  “He was probably meant as proviant”, Balder then added.

  “One of these bastards must’ve already taken a snack”, Hallr remarked while pointing at the man’s left hand: two of his fingers were missing, but the wounds had already started to heal.

  “They probably found them walking along the road and bit his finger of right their”, Kolr corrected.

  “The guy doesn’t look to healthy anyway and we don’t have the time to wait for him to wake up, so let’s just go”, Hallr threw in between.

  “We should at least try to wake him up”, Balder said to which Kolr nodded.

  “The idiot’s probably thirsty,” Hallr muttered, glancing at the unconscious blond man as he tried to get the others to move, “And if you even think about giving him any of the wine, I swear, I’ll hit you.”

  Balder said nothing. Instead, he walked over to a fallen orc, drew his axe, and severed its arm with multiple swings. He crouched by the man, opened his mouth, and let the dark blood flow past his lips. The others stared at him, wide-eyed and silent.

  “It’s not poisonous,” Balder said calmly, wiping his hands on the imperials clothes. He looked at Hallr with a smirk. “And you’re right, an imperial doesn’t deserve northern wine.”

  Kolr gave a slow, understanding nod, while Hallr erupted into laughter. “Well, I can’t say I’ve ever seen that before!” Even as the man drank instinctively in his unconscious state, his face twisted in visible disgust.

  “What now?”, Hallr asked, his amusement still lingering..

  Balder didn’t answer. He began stripping one of the dead orcs of its crude armor and tattered garments. Hallr and Kolr exchanged puzzled glances.

  “Come here and help me,” Balder ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument.

  The two hesitated. Kolr was the first to step forward and Hallr followed reluctantly. Together, they stripped four of the orcs, piling the rough fabric and belts at Balder’s feet.

  Once the work was done, Balder began binding the pieces together into a makeshift sled. Kolr quickly caught on and wordlessly lent a hand, while Hallr stood off to the side, his brow furrowed.

  After they had bound them together they placed the body on it, now Hallr understood what they were doing.

  “who is going to drag this bastard along?”, he then asked once he had finally realised what Balder was doing.

  “You are,” Balder said with a devilish grin.

  “Forget it”, Hallr contradicted.

  “I carry the sack and Kolr is… not at the peak of his strength anymore”, Balder tried to reason, to which Hallr just shook his head.

  Without another word, Balder pulled the wine from his pack and tossed it to Hallr, who caught it midair. He stared at the pouch for a moment, then let out an exaggerated sigh.

  Satisfied, Balder tied the sled more securely with a length of rope he had scavenged from one of the orc corpses. Kolr gave the structure a final inspection before nodding in approval.

  With no reason to linger, the group moved back onto the road. Hallr trudged ahead, dragging the sled with the unconscious man behind him, grumbling all the while.

  The road stretched endlessly before them, cracked and uneven, but for the first time in days, Balder felt a faint sense of progress