I turn around quickly and I saw Melody's ankle getting grabbed by an orc. It licked its lips and gazed at Melody's leg like it was a chicken wing. I grit my teeth and tossed the knife in my hands at the orc. Not noticing the knife flying towards it, it opens its mouth wide and grips Melody's leg hard preventing her from moving it. No matter how much she screamed or kicked with her other foot the orc was not letting her go.
The knife lands handle first on the orc's face, making him look around for the culprit. I dash forward and punch the orc's face as hard as I can, hitting square on the nose. I notice Noah coming to help me too swinging the pickax at the orc's feet. A loud displeased angered yell came from the orc as he lets go of Melody's leg. It glares at us angrily and the other orcs and goblins rush towards us. I had lost my weapon and Melody's knife was nowhere to be seen, it must have dropped when she was attacked by the orc.
Noah fends off the attack by doing large wide swings with his pickax. Unfortunately, the attacks had little effect to damage or even scare the monsters. They rush forward without a care in the world, punching scratching and kicking. Noah gets hit in the stomach by an orc launching him off the ground slightly before getting kicked in the face by a goblin causing him to fall to the ground.
I pick up a rock from the ground and hit the approaching goblin causing it to stagger back a bit before grinning and rushing towards me again. I stood in front of Melody bearing the full force of the goblins attacking me. In the corner of my eye, I could see Noah getting kicked over and over by the orcs, blood splattering from his mouth and bruises forming all over his body and arms.
"IAN CATCH!"
I turn my head slightly to the voice of Howard rushing towards me. He tosses the Hobgoblin Club high into the air while he charges forward trying to come to my aid as fast as he could. Besides him were the golden wolves and David not too far behind them. Howard roars at the orcs and goblins causing them to stagger for a bit giving me time to catch the Hobgoblin's Club. Grasping the handle I feel anger and rage well up inside me. I spit out blood and saliva from my mouth and clench my teeth as I slam the club down on the nearest goblin, crushing the head.
I breathe out slowly before crying out and swinging the club at the remaining goblins. Killing them one by one before standing in front of the dazed orcs. Their faces fill up with anger and hatred and they squeal as loud as they can at me. I feel myself smiling as I look at them. Green blood drips on the ground from the head of the club and I step forward towards Noah confidently. I could see he was only barely awake as his eyes blink slowly. I feel my rage building inside me as I look at his weak body and turn towards the orcs.
I hear the growling of the wolves as they rush past me pouncing on the orcs. The adult wolf tore the orc's face off while the pup helped by bitting and scratching at the legs. Even though it was just a pup it was trying its best to help out. They eliminate the first orc quickly and pounced on the next. Not before long, the adult wolf had eliminated all three orcs with the pup standing proudly next to it as if it had done all the work.
The adult wolf picks up the pup by its neck and slowly moves to the river to wash off the orc's blood. Howard stands next to me resting his hand on my shoulder.
"Looks like the wolves had finished the job before I even got here. Are you ok Ian?"
I look at Howard and the longer I looked at him the more I felt like hitting him. Rage was swelling up inside me and my mind was getting invaded by dark thoughts. I grip the club in my hand tighter and turn towards Howard. Suddenly, the club gets yanked out of my hand by the adult wolf. It grabbed the head of the club with its jaw and tossed it on the ground. I look into its amber eyes speechless. Slowly it turns away and goes back into the river to play with the pup.
"Ian?"
I snap my attention back to Howard. He had a concerned look on his face as he glances between the club and me.
"I'm fine. Thank you for rushing to our aid. Shit, we need to get Noah back to HavenFall. He was hurt very badly during the fight just now."
I quickly go to Noah and kneel down checking his condition. Noah's eyes were closed but I could feel a slow flow of air coming from his nose meaning he was just unconscious. Howard walks over to the other side of Noah and I slowly lift his upper body making sure to not move his head too much.
I hear Noah inhale sharply and his face showed a pained expression.
"His ribs might be cracked we can't just lift him, we need a stretcher."
I tell Howard about Noah's condition but he was unsure of what a stretcher is and instead was about to move Noah again. I stop Howard from making any unnecessary movements and turned around to see David huffing and puffing next to Melody.
"David, take Melody back to HavenFall and find 2 long branches, lots of small sticks and vines. Come back as soon as possible."
David nods and looks at Melody. She hesitates to leave but decides to follow my instructions. After they both left, I collapse on the ground next to Noah. I took deep breaths and close my eyes letting my overworked body rest on the cool reddish-brown dirt.
"Ian, do you want to tell me what happened today?"
Howard sat down next to me, placing his ax down to him.
"Howard, if we follow the river for half a day we reach an encampment. A mix of orcs, goblins and human slaves ruled by a larger orc with a big stone ax. After David and I found it, we stayed around to try and save them. Then they made it back with David while I tried to save Noah with Melody. There are still humans back there, Howard will you help me try to save them?"
After I asked Howard the question there was a small pause. The sound of the river and the crashing waterfall was all I heard for a while until Howard finally answered.
"Ian, what is your goal in creating HavenFall and saving the people in other encampments?"
"My goal? Originally it was to save you, Lucina, Luke and old man Hus. After Oscar's death, I realized that no matter where we settled down we would have faced a monster stronger than us one day. Now, I want to create a place where would be safe and to do that I need more people. HavenFall right now is no more than just two houses and walls. We have about 7 people living there, its not even to the point of calling it a village let alone a town. We have nothing, so we need to make something and with more people, we slowly become stronger. Howard, have you ever heard there is safety in numbers? I think that line is perfect for this place and perfect for HavenFall."
I push myself up from the ground and look at Howard. I place my hand on his shoulder and smile at him.
"Will you help me make HavenFall into a place where its residents feel safe? It does not matter whether it is humans, goblins or animals. I want to make HavenFall a true safe haven."
Howard smiles at me and nods his head.
"Of course I will."
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