"Just because you do not take an interest in politics, doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you."

  - Pericles

  The following miles were much easier on her feet now that she had proper footwear. She would be eternally grateful to Gregorios and his foresight.

  They passed no more travelers going the other way, and even though they were pretty far from the nearest town, the shear ck of any passersby was surprising. They were truly far from Rome's walls now. No help would come and save them, like Gregorios had said. Aurelia was walking beside Gregorios for the moment, looking over his shoulder as he had a velum map of the surrounding region spread wide. It wasn't terribly detailed, but it had major ndmarks and roads, as well as broad geography. He was trying to select a pce to make a more permanent camp where they would be staying for the next five days.

  She had been asking him questions about their quarry, the Green Razortail. Apparently they were pretty normal birds all in all, the only special quality which elevated them enough to warrant a dedicated expedition, were their feathers. They were as light as normal feathers, but as strong as hardened bronze. Apparently the edges of their feathers could get quite sharp too.

  "So why hasn't some entrepreneurial fel just caught some, then brought them back to Rome and started breeding them?" Aurelia asked him.

  Gregorios paused for a moment, and rubbed his chin. "I think I heard about a guy who tried to do just that. He managed to capture a whole flock, but apparently they don't breed well in captivity, so they died out eventually."

  "Hmm" Aurelia replied. Her pns of getting rich foiled.

  "Now obviously, if we spot anything else of value we're going to jump on it. Just make sure it's something we can reasonably carry back with us. There's plenty of creatures and pnts 'round these parts worth quite a lot to people back in Rome." He expined, before adding. "But it goes without saying that there is plenty of danger too, from orks like we've heard, to regur old monsters."

  With a quick word of thanks, she trotted back to her usual spot beside Thessa. "Sometimes I whish I had a horse to ride like Junia." Aurelia confided in her Tauren lover. Thessa looked up at her with a wry grin "Why don't you actually learn to use those big wings of yours instead? Then you wouldn't even have to ride." Aurelia just grumbled a bit to herself. "I'm working on it!"

  Aurelia looked up at the sun, high in the sky. It was probably around noon, though it was hard to tell. The trees had gotten rge enough to obscure much of the sky above the narrow cobblestone road, and the foliage and underbrush created walls on either side, impenetrable to the eyes.

  Aurelia thought about the work crews who built the road, the endless hours of toil it must have taken to build. The casualties they definitely would have had to contend with. She thought of the people who trimmed back the edges of pnt-growth on existing roads through harsh wilderness such as this. It must be a hard and thankless job. They couldn't have been payed as much as she was as an adventurer. The only memorial the brave workers got were the occasional short stone pilrs which decorated the sides of the road. They were coming up to one now, and Aurelia took a moment to pause and stare at it. There had to be at least thirty names etched onto it's face, though they were warped and disfigured with age, barely legible. She just hoped that they knew how important they were to the rest of the world. Even if they might not have felt it, alone and waiting for death in the middle of the wilds.

  "Hold!"

  The shouted order from Gregorios at the front of the column brought Aurelia back from her reverie. They were on high alert now, hands on the pommels of weapons. Aurelia gripped her spear tighter with her hands. She didn't know what had set Gregorios off, but she trusted his instincts. After a moment it dawned on her. It was quiet, no, silent. Not a peep emanated from the forest which surrounded them. Growing up searching through Ceres's groves, the noise of the forest had surrounded her. From birds chirping, to insects buzzing, to squirrels quarreling, there was always something. Now, there was nothing. For a long moment, nobody moved. The pack animals had come to a halt at the back of the column, and Junia had dismounted her horse. If there was danger, it wouldn't come from the road where they could see, and where it was clear of obstacles. Junia would do better on foot, where she could react to the unexpected faster.

  For long moments, nothing happened, and Aurelia was almost ready to rex again. But Gregorios still had his hand up, and was peering intently into the underbrush which lines the sides of the road. Not that she thought he could see anything. With a flurry of movement, Tullius, their resident archer, drew back an arrow and shot it into the woods. It was followed by a wet thunk! and an animalistic howl filled with fury.

  "ORKS!!!" He called out, already readying another arrow.

  Large, green-skinned figures spewed out from the surrounding undergrowth, howling and charging unerringly toward the column. Weapons were quickly drawn, and Aurelia raised her spear at the nearest onrushing brute. It seemed like Aurelia was going to have to put Gregorios's lessons to use a little earlier than pnned.

  [Interlude]

  Garm wasn't the brightest ork in the raiding party, but that was fine. All he wanted was a proppa stomp! It had been days since their st entertainment, as far as he could reckon. And his hands had started to get twitchy. Da boss had led them through the forest to the edge of one of dem stoney roads that the humies liked to walk on. Silly humies, rocks are for smashing and trowing! Not walking.

  Goblins were racing around their feet, and he kicked one out of boredom. It squealed as it flew through the air and colpsed against a tree, wheezing.

  "Oi!" Da bozz looked over at him. He was a little tal, a little bigga them Garm, so he was da bozz. "Quiet! There could be humies at any moment. I don't wanna hear a peep outta the lot of youze!"

  Garm grumbled to himself a bit, but was still.

  After some time, he didn't feel like countin, the sounds of hooves and feet began to come from the stoney road. All da orks and goblins went still, trusting in their green skin to blend into the surrounding brush. He watched as a small group of humies came into view. He could make out eight humies, wait no, a few were different. There were four regur humies, one really short one, one regur breeder, and then two big weird breeders. The really big one even had wings.

  "Hmm, pretty."

  They let the humies come closer, da boss had an tuff grip on da raiding party. When the humies were right in front of them, and the ambush was nearly sprung, da bozz raised his hand, about to signal their attack. The humies had stopped for some reason, but that was fine. Moving targets were harder to hit anyway.

  But one of the stoopid humies musta seen someting, because as soon as da boss was about to swing his hand down to signal their attack, a pointy arrow sprouted from his chest. Incensed with rage, he let out a mighty bellow, snapped the haft of the arrow off his chest, and yelled: "CHAAARGE!!!"

  [End of Interlude]

  The orks were dressed, if Aurelia could call it that, in patchwork clothing made of what looked like different skins, hides, and cloths. It was a crude attempt to cover their monstrous forms, but the effort was appreciated. The glimpses she got through the holes in their pants were more than enough, thank you very much.

  Aurelia lunged forward, delivering a two handed spear thrust to the closest onrushing ork. For a split second it seemed surprised that she even reacted to it's advance, but the speartip unerringly found it's throat in the next instant, and it colpsed with a spray of red-brown blood. She looked around at the rest of the column. Everyone was beset by greenskins of some kind. She spun around, trying to find Thessa in the melee. She had been right beside her st she knew, so she couldn't have gone far. She heard a feminine cry from behind her. Aurelia whirled around, preparing to leap to the defense of her Tauren lover, but when she turned she saw Junia cutting down an orc with a diagonal ssh of her sword. The ork hadn't been paying attention to her, busy facing down Monin and his hammer. Junia met Aurelia's gaze, before crying out and pointing. Aurelia gnced over to see Thessa being assailed by a pair of much smaller greenskins, these ones goblins. Aurelia began to charge toward her lover, spear lowered and prepared to skewer the wretched little cretins.

  One was grasping at the folds of Thessa's sto, it had a jagged knife in it's hand, but again seemed reluctant to actually use it. Thessa brought her crook down hard on it's head, and Aurelia heard a loud crack! over the riot of battle. Reaching Thessa's side, Aurelia skewered the other, lifting it high above the ground before it sloughed off the end. The three women gave each other a once-over, making sure they weren't injured. Aside from a little scrape on Thessa's arm from being grabbed by the goblin, they were otherwise unharmed.

  The battle was still raging on around them, but no greenskins were actively attacking them. Comak and Monin were cracking skulls with their blunt weapons, matching the ork's ferocity with brute strength. Gaius was fending off two orks at once with his staff, keeping them at a distance, but he couldn't seem to shake them off, or make any progress. Tullius was weaving and dodging away from an ork and a pair of goblins, trying to get some space so he could make use of his bow. Another ork was charging in from behind him, and though Aurelia screamed at him trying to get his attention, her voice seemed to be lost in the frenzy. She could only pray that he had heard her.

  Gregorios was busy dueling the biggest ork Aurelia had ever seen. It was about as tall as she was, but built wide and dense, with arms as big around as her waist and corded with muscles. It already had an arrow protruding from it's chest. Gregorios would lunge in and out of the monsters' reach, sowing havoc and slicing lines across it's huge limbs and torso. Blood seeped out of the wounds, quickly painting the green creature an angry brown. The beast raged at him in response, delivering broad swipes with a crude maul as big around as a tree-trunk, and Gregorios had to duck and roll out of the way, giving the ork time to re-centre.

  The women charged forward into the battle, Junia and Thessa relieved Gaius. Now that the orks were outnumbered, they made quick work of the pair besetting him. Comak and Monin were still engaged, but they seemed to be handling themselves, so Aurelia raced toward Tullius, desperate to reach him in time.

  By the time she was nearly by his side, he had managed to kick one of the goblins away, and had jammed an arrow into the eye of another with his fist. Aurelia tried to cry out to him again, and this time she managed to get his attention.

  "Behind you!"

  He whirled, able to dodge the worst of a vicious downward ssh. But the ork behind him still managed to deliver a long, brutal gash to his side. He cried out in pain, and managed to leap to the side, avoiding a follow-up swing which would have decapitated him. He nded hard on the cobblestones at the edge of the road, drawing his bow from where he y.

  Aurelia let out a shrill cry, trying to grab the attention of the two orcs which had been pursuing Tullius as she charged in to the fray. This time there was no confusion in the orks eyes, bloodlust filled their gaze as Aurelia raised her spear to meet the first of them. She had much longer reach with her height and spear, and was able to deliver multiple jabs to the wretched creature before it got fed up and simply lunged at her. Aurelia held her spear out in front of her, tip pointed directly at the onrushing ork's centre of mass, but it continued without heed, impaling itself in it's frenzy to reach her. She groaned with the strain of keeping hold of her weapon as it hauled itself up the haft of the long spear, swinging it's short club at her face. Aurelia had to lean back as it approached the midway point, it's club passing so close to her head that she felt the air swish in front of her face in the wake of it's strike.

  It filed for three more long seconds. It's movements only serving to hasten it's demise. Foul blood was leaking from it's open maw, and with a final snarl, it fell limp at st. Dragging her spear down with it.

  Aurelia quickly looked up as she tried to shove the ork's corpse off of her spear. Comak and Monin had joined Gregorios, and were now circling the huge beast alongside him. Each time the ork turned to face one of them, another would sweep in from behind and deliver a devastating blow. Even still, it was taking a long time to die. It knew it was cornered, and was making ever more desperate pys to try and deal as much damage before it perished.

  Closer to her, Tullius was still on the ground, but he had managed to fire an arrow at st remaining ork. Aurelia could see it's retreating figure sporting an arrow sprouting from it's back as it ran away into the forest. Seemingly not willing to die alongside it's kin. She raced to Tullius's side, Junia, Thessa and Gaius quickly joining her.

  "Yo-you should be more careful." Tullius said with a pained grin straining his face, looking weakly up at Aurelia.

  "You could have been hurt, you know."

  He fell unconscious almost as soon as he had uttered those words. Gaius's knees hit the ground a moment ter as he bent over the archer, beginning to tear off his clothes to get a better view of the wound. Thessa was standing by his side for a moment, before she too knelt and began to offer her assistance.

  Aurelia didn't know anything about healing, and sounds of cshing wood and metal still rang out from behind them, so she turned and saw the st moments of the fight being pyed out.

  The huge ork was down on one knee, it's other leg had had it's tendons severed. It bellowed one final defiant roar and swung out It's maul in a broad arc, but with only one leg under it, it fell off-bance and colpsed. The three men around it wasted no time in finishing it off.

  After so much noise, it was surreal to hear silence again. The only sounds disturbing the quiet were Gaius and Thessa tending to Tullius.

  Adrenaline still pumped through Aurelia's veins, her heart racing after the exertion. But it was over now. The next few minutes? Hours? were a blur. Comak and Monin gathered the pack animals from where they had ran off to, and she and Junia went together to retrieve her horse. Gregorios kept watch, his wary eyes scanning the green of the foliage in case the greenskins returned.

  Tullius was injured, unconscious, but stable, Gaius decred. Other members of the expedition had small scrapes and cuts, and there would certainly be a good spread of bruised the following morning, but after a few moments of attention from Thessa to each of them, they'd be alright.

  They managed to reach Gregorios's designated campsite without any more drama. Thessa was carrying Aurelia's spear, allowing her to hold Tullius's limp form in her broad arms. A somber mood had settled in over the column, and when they had settled in and Gaius had taken a second look at Tullius, he reaffirmed his earlier diagnosis.

  Tullius woke with a groan not long after, having had his wounds cleaned and bandages applied. Gaius ordered him not to move from where he y on his bedroll which prompted compints.

  The evenings dinner stew was much bnder now that Tullius wasn't hunting fresh game. But they made do with dried snacks from their packs.

  That evening Aurelia and Thessa made love quietly, but vigorously. As though reassuring each other that they were still there, that they had survived, that they were okay. Thessa began to love the feeling of her distended belly after Aurelia's affections, she always felt so warm.

  Junia for her part slept restlessly, though she had moved her tent much closer to Aurelia and Thessa's.

  Gregorios took first watch, keeping a hand on the pommel of his sword as he gazed into the darkness. As though daring fate to throw more at him.

  [Interlude]

  Garm ran through the darkness, letting out small grunts of pain as the arrow in his back twinged. He would live, orks were much tougher than humies after all. Now that da boss was surely dead, he could go back to da Big Bozz. He'd have to come up with a story, otherwise he'd be stomped for runnin. But Garm was a fart smel, he'd think of someting.

  He thought back to the stomp he'd just been in, which was hard to do. Someting about it just wasn't quite right. Since when did humie breeders fight back? Most of the time they just went limp is his arms like good little humies, but dis time was different. He puzzled over it as he made his way back to Orktown, which made his head hurt a little. Maybe da Big Bozz would let him have a go with one of the humie breeders they had. His balls were always full after a propa stomp.

  The ork made it's way through the darkness, it's trail swallowed quickly by the depths of the forest.

  SarcasticMisfit