“How many?” Nick questioned Mel. As her eyesight was the best out of the whole group.

“By the pack size I would say about fifty? They are definitely angled toward the village we just came from.” She spat out in hatred “It doesn’t look like they have animals at least. What do we what to do? If we turn back now, and hustle, we can beat them back by at least a half a day.” She looked to her brother. “Otherwise, you know we are leaving them to die.”

Kip looked between her and the dots about a kilometer off the road. “We got the road; they have stony ground until they hit the fields. Honestly, I don’t know Mel. With those numbers and the fact that there are only a handful of villagers who can fight worth a goblin, we’d be doing the heavy lifting. The odds are not great” He replied with a grim look on his face. “Fucking orcs. Breed like the pigs they are. Gods take them all.” he finished with a look to the sky. It was a hot day. No clouds in sight, and now this.

“We’d have to drop our packs and move pretty hard so we could get some rest before the fighting starts. I saw they had barricades for between the houses. Which we could leave a couple of lanes open to funnel them in. At least have them meet us on our terms somewhat. I just hope they don’t have bows.”

The group sat in silence for a few minutes, each caught in their own dark thoughts. Orcs would kill all the men and children, but they’d take the women for sport. If the four went, they risked their lives. If they did not, they signed the village to it’s absolute doom and worse.

With his face glowering Kip finally broke the silence. “I’m not leader for this one. I am going back. But I am not making that call for any of you. You need to make up your own minds on this one.” He said while looking at the other three.

After only a second or two his sister added, “You know I am going too. I can cut more than a few down from the roof tops as they come in. They will pay a price of blood either way.”

Kip nodded to his sister, then waited for the twins to decide.

“Live can’t ever be fuckn easy can it! My blood burns daily, and the gods dangle villagers lives in my face after we saved em from the troll! Well, fuck’em, I’m with ya. Either I get to take my pound of flesh, or my pain will end here!” Nick almost shouted out.

With a small nod and a slightly pale face Mic gave his assent.

“Alright. Let’s burry the packs, take only the essentials for the fight, and let’s move like the grass is burning behind us.”

With nods the four started to move with haste. They buried their packs beside the road and left a small, marker that would be easy to overlook for any but them. Heads low to they started to move back to the village with the most haste they dared without tiring themselves too badly. At least the orcs, being underground dwellers, would not see the group of four. They did not have great distance sight in the day. They were likely timing their arrival for tomorrow night. That left the group a long day and a half run back. If they could make it in one shot, it would only take about thirteen hours. Odds were bad that Nick or even Mic could last that long. If they jogged and walked it would take fifteen or more hours. It was the groups decision to try to make it without stopping. Then they’d have the day to rest.

Almost the whole way back to the village, Nick grumbled about orcs or anything else that he could hate on in the moment. Especially at how no one in the village noticed a blind orc spy scouting their village. He was in a right sour mood.

Kip was of the same mood as he was force marching in heavy gear and weapons. His sister lent him a sad smile as they jogged along.

=========================================

Shae moved through the hot day toward the inn. It stood out well enough, with its badly caved signboard with what could be a bed on it. She grinned wryly with new meaning about what Cathe had meant about the sign. It almost looked like a stick horse if she just glanced at it. ‘Ahh well, I’m no art critic. As long as I can get a bed for the night, and a meal, I will be happy.’

As she walked toward the inn her mind started to wander back to her time before being sent here. Her pace slowed the deeper she went into her mind.

She had been allowed to choose her fantasy setting. Now that she really thought about it, a game like interface would have been a lot easier. Then she could see how she fared compared to the world around here. She had decided on the realism, like back home. Not health bars, no listed skills. Just doing what you were good at. And learned to do what you were not so good at. The other day with the troll would have been a good time to have a health bar. Then again… maybe it would have caused her more panic. She tossed her thoughts around a bit as she neared the door, finally giving up and getting her head back to the reality that was, and not the what if’s.

She pushed open the wood door, it rolled and hitched at the not so perfect hinges. Making a bit of noise to boot. ‘Defiantly not twentieth century goods.’

The inn’s main room was 24 meters by 30 meters. Decently large for these times. At lot of work went into building this place. There were stairs along the right wall, going up to what she assumed was the floor above this one. There were 10 family sized tables evenly spaced out, with stools along the wall of the door she entered, and the left wall. There was a raised table that ran the whole length of both walls for eating or holding your drinks while seated at those stools. The place could comfortably house forty people with elbow room to spare. Now that see looked at the walls, she could see they were solid log cabin style. ‘Maybe this was the safe place for everyone in times of need?’ At the wall across the way, there was a half wall open bar. With a door behind to the kitchen, she was sure. ‘Must have taken a long time to build this inn.’ She mused. The roof/floor above her head was well fit together, as if planed to perfection. ‘That has to have been done with magic, considering those hinges.’ She smiled to herself.

An older man exited the door behind the bar, she assumed at hearing the front door open. If that was Kyle, He was about a finger width shorter than her, like most men of the village. There were some as tall as she was, as well as much shorter. He was slightly on the heavy-set side, but showed well-muscled forearms, that ended into the sleeves of his loose large top. ‘He would have made a good wrestler on tv.’ she thought. A couple of centimeters worth, layer of fat over what was likely solid muscle. He was wide shouldered and more so because of the loose-fitting shirt. He gave her an ivory toothed smile Missing the front middle left one. Same brown hair as the locals, but brown eyes. ‘Fighter’ she surmised. He moved easy and had confidence. She had taken some mixed martial arts when she turned fourteen. Nothing extensive, but enough to help her keep fit as part of her routine. She could hold her own in the average bar fight. But in this world, there was also weapons allowed and magic. So, she wasn’t all that confident right now. She would need something more of a formal training. ‘Especially in magic! God yes I want to do that!’

That’s when it hit her. She had felt this before. At times it would be stronger than others. But she could feel a pressure or power lightly pressing into her, then passing through. She could at the same time feel the same power flowing back up and out again. She could actually feel the power loop. The magic of the world exchanging between her and the heavens.

The man cocked his head as he watched her hitch to a stop and go blank. Like she was maybe a mage controlling her ersatz and had to drop control for a minute. Though if that was a fake body, they had come a long way from what he remembered them to be. He’d never seen one this close to human likeness before. She was likely a powerful mage on the other end. Maybe she wanted to house it here for a time while she used it to scout about? Although he was no expert, he’d been an adventurer for a decade and knew some things. Maybe he could garner a favor for letting her house it for free. A favor from a strong mage was nothing to sneeze at.

Shae came back to herself after a few seconds of following the feeling of power moving through her in both directions. It was almost weird it did not interfere with its own flow. But instead, just passed through itself in a doubling within her. ‘Weird. I need to maybe take some meditation lessons or whatever mages do to get a grasp on this. I am sure it is the key to magic.’ With that thought she came back to herself, the man looking at her cockeyed. She blushed internally for what must have looked really stupid on her part. With out further delay she approached the man behind the counter.

“Excuse me, I was wondering about a room for the night. I do not have a lot of money with me, but I would repay my debt as soon as I could.” She put on a sweet innocent look, and prayed

‘Bingo!’ Thought Kyle. ‘My hunch was right after all! And she even broached the subject of a favor down the road!’

“Of course, my lady. I am Kyle, part owner with my wife of this inn. I would be happy to help you out this evening without a doubt. And thank you for the willingness for repayment!” He needed to make sure that part didn’t get lost in the discussion.

“Oh, umm,” A bit lost now that it was so easy, and she didn’t even have to try and barter a few of her modern items, like one of her lighters or compass. “Yes, I would absolutely repay my debt to you in full as soon as I am able to return with the proper fee, just let me know what I owe you for a room and a meal. Please call me Shae.”

“A meal?” Kyle asked, that was new to him. He thought ersatz didn’t require food or drink, but just powered by the mages magic from afar.

“Well, as they say, you need fuel for the body.” She smiled lightly

“Oh, of course, of course.” Maybe it was something this model required, as a supplement. After all she did look very human, and it might take a lot of magic to run it. ‘Eh, what do I know in the end, I am after all out of the loop out here.’ He thought. “You can take a seat anywhere you like; I will bring out a bowl of stew for you. Room is number one, first on the left as you go up the stairs.”

“Is there a key?” She asked

“Nah, no key needed here. My wife and I live upstairs too, though she is out right now. This village has no thieves, especially one’s silly enough to rob a mage.” He chuckled “Here, let me go get the stew hot for you. It is not quite evening feast yet, so it was only keeping warm.” He turned and went through the door into the back room.

She was a bit confused about the mage statement. Wondering why he’d say that considering she probably was dressed like more of a… Then again, she had no frame of reference for dress codes. Letting that though slip away, she sat on a stool along the right wall, closest to the half wall server station.

She heard Kyle call out from the back, “Oh and we don’t have hard drink around here. We have water or broth.”

“Broth would be nice.” She called back aloud. This was almost too kind of the man. She started to feel bad and promised herself she would repay him double the cost when she could.

Then she tried to feel that power loop again while she waited. Anything she could do to get a head start for later would be a good thing.