"Shit!" Varin cursed as an arrow pierced his shoulder.

Inaris and I quickly stepped in front of him, allowing him a bit of breathing room as we took the brunt of the attack, Inaris shielding Varin from the arrows with his wallshield. I prevented anything from getting close, slashing arrows out of the air and cutting down any savages that dared to get close.

I shouted, "These fuckers just don't know when to give up, do they?"

Inaris grunted, "They're savages, they don't know any better."

I didn't have time to respond as an irritatingly agile brute continued to dodge my attacks while stabbing at me. Finally, I managed to kill him, splitting his chest open with a horizontal slash. We continued to retreat, the savages picking off more and more of our comrades. The scout division couldn't respond, we didn't have long range combat ability and it didn't help that we were retreating as well. These things were persistent though, managing to kill about two fifths of the five hundred man division that came through here, each one of us hardened veterans of at least five battles.

But with the constant swarm of arrows that came from every nook and cranny in the forest, we just weren't able to defend ourselves properly. Of course, for every one of us they killed, we killed three but these things were endless, a neverending tide of humanoids that growled and screeched. Finally, the Gate was in sight though I didn't dare look, if I looked away now, it would mean death. Varin alerted me that it was there, since he was still recovering from the arrow wound,

"Hey, Torvus! The Gate is in sight!"

"Okay! But hell, I don't know how we are gonna get through without these things securing a hold at the Gate!" I shouted in reply.

"We're going to have to stay behind as sacrifices." grunted Inaris, knocking aside five goblins with a bash from his shield.

None of us were able to speak after, the horde suddenly swelled forth and we were too busy defending ourselves. The Gate began to slowly close but none of us were tempted to dart through, as soldiers of Morsad, we do not hold such useless desires as the need to survive. We will die if it is for our country. So I wasn’t troubled that we would die here, we had allowed our division to escape and report to command and sooner or later, our army would return and conquer this world. That would be more than enough revenge for me.

But when a club thumped on my armor, I jolted back to reality, cutting down the savage that dared to attack me.

I shouted, “For the Emperor!”

The echoing shouts of my comrades also followed, “For the Emperor!”

We began to push back, our morale boosted but we only managed a few steps from the Gate, our flagging strength now only enough to stand and attack. We soon backed up to the Gate so that nothing could attack us from behind and continued our doomed stand. Already, Varin had succumbed to exhaustion and sat against the Gate, breathing hard. Inaris was soon to follow, it must have been taxing for him to continually bash these creatures aside with his great shield. He too sat down, placing his shield in front of him and Varin to protect them both.

I continued to fight, a single strike for a single savage, perhaps two. But soon I too was too exhausted and I fell to my knees, my armor oppressively heavy and my sword might as well have been a tree trunk. But I just drew my dagger, holding it out in front of me. A savage dared to creep up but I stabbed it in the eye, kicking the corpse away. My breathing was ragged, my throat dry and beginning to hurt. I dared to glance to the side and saw the other four just like us, Adaris, Izlir, Aran and Deryl. They too were exhausted, Adaris and Aran were both like Inaris, their shields too big to lift anymore but Deryl and Izlir were similar to me, fatigued and unable to wield our swords.

The creatures simply stood there, watching us. Then they closed in, me managing to kill a few more before I was just too tired to do anything else. I was too tired to even cuss, the next few moments becoming a blur as I struggled to keep myself awake. But eventually I succumbed, so tired was I that I didn’t even dream.

Eventually, I awoke, finding myself stripped of my armor and in a cage of wood. My comrades were in separate cages, Izlir and Adaris already awake. They acknowledged my presence with a nod but gestured that if we speak, we would be beaten. I nodded in understanding and remained silent, studying our surroundings. It was what you would expect from a primitive society, mud huts and more of these humanoids that wandered with loincloths. There were children as well, though they were naked.

Some children stopped in front of the cages, poking at Varin and Inaris who were sleeping while keeping their distance from me as when they poked a stick through, I grabbed it viciously and pulled it out of their grasp. Some adults came with spears, directing them at me but I merely spat the stick away and glared at them. The adults just told the kids not to bother me in a strange guttural language and then returned to their huts, the kids beginning to throw rocks. I merely caught them and placed them in a pile, the kids finally leaving me alone.

For the next few days, it was bearable, food came three times a day and though of poor quality, wasn’t worse than the army rations so it was alright. Entertainment came in the form of children trying to poke fun at us though they soon learned that we weren’t like their other prisoners. But we were each moved by a group of four, lifting up our cage on poles and leading us to a large cage where a few other prisoners were kept. Some of them looked human and all seemed to be female. We got in without trouble, mostly glad for the open space. Once inside, we grouped together and began to talk about ways to get out, ignoring the spear jabs from the guards as we were able to easily grab and snap them.

We could get out of the cage now but there was still a horde out there, we couldn’t afford another battle like that. I suppose that we’ll either wait for a chance to arrive or until Varin is healed. All of us were wounded but his was the most serious. But the humanoids were providing us with medicine of sorts, for whatever reason, they want us to be in more or less good shape. The human women tried to speak with us but their language was foreign to us and we spoke in our language to demonstrate that we couldn’t understand them.

So we were were separate, the women and the men, keeping to our sides of the cage. In order to pass the time, we began to exercise, using the top bars of the cage to do pullups and we did pushups with another sitting on top, having competitions on who could do the most pushups or do the most weight. We constantly pushed ourselves day after day, for a monotonous exercise is even more boring than sitting still. After at least two months, Varin’s shoulder had recovered enough for him to use it and he gingerly began to exercise with it, the rest of us helping him.

But a few of my comrades, Aran, Deryl and Adaris and were casting glances at the women and the women were glancing back at them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they would be fucking in the next few days.

I made no effort to stop them other than saying to my comrades, “Remember our duty as soldiers of Morsad, we must give up our humanity. We are soldiers, to succumb to lust is what humans do, not soldiers.”

They nodded but continued to stare at the women, I just snorted and separated myself from them, Varin, Izlir and Inaris doing the same. We all had a competition of who could hold the pushup position the longest, it being close but I and Izlir tied in the end, Inaris was just too big and Varin still had a recuperating shoulder. We all had good fun, Varin assuring me that he would win once his shoulder fully recuperated. Inaris just rumbled in that laughter of his.

Night came and we slept, still keeping our watch system though now between the four of us. The other three had succumbed to their desires and began to fuck the women, though the women seemed to want it too. Their moans and the sound of slapping flesh filled the night air, making it quite hard to sleep. Also, it happened to be a full moon that night so we were able to see everything in a silver light, quite ironic, the light of the maiden goddess shines upon an orgy.

I found this to be hilarious, sharing it with the others who laughed as well. Really, to be amused by such things, I need to kill again. I could tell the others needed it as well, to feel the exhilaration of war, to have the adrenaline pump in your veins, the feeling of your sword cutting through flesh and jarring to a stop at the bones and the warmth of blood, be it yours or the enemy’s. It was addicting, that feeling. It was the one time in one’s life that one feels truly alive. I looked up into the night sky, longing to feel the exhilaration of combat, drifting off. Some time later, I was woken up, it was my turn to keep watch.

I yawned tiredly and sat up, settling down as comfortably as I could get and looked up at the moon, roughly calculating when two hours would pass. The orgy had ended some time ago and I could hear the satisfied breathing of six people. I just snorted and paid them no more heed, watching the sleeping goblin guards, listening to the sounds of sleeping people and looking at anything that moved. I then saw a body stir on the other side of the cage, it was one of the women. This one hadn’t participated in the orgy and I passed it off as moving in one’s sleep.

But I was soon aware of a different breathing pattern, someone was awake and it was most likely that woman. But I had no reason to ask why, I didn’t even know how so as long as she didn’t cause trouble, I’ll just leave her alone. I stretched briefly to relieve a cramp and yawned, settling down again and watching. Once two hours passed, I shook Inaris awake and he took up watch with no problem. I settled down once more and went to sleep, my thoughts giving way to the darkness of sleep.

I woke once more, years of waking up at this exact time has taught my body to do it flawlessly without fail, no matter how tired I was. But I wasn’t tired and upon waking, yawned and stretched. Adaris, Aran and Deryl were waking up drowsily, clutching the women they had slept with. They began to avidly explain the details of their night, us four not interested but listening politely. I just said,

“Yeah yeah, you had sex. But that still doesn’t compare with the exhilaration of combat, nothing does. That is when you feel truly alive. That is the only meaning of life to a soldier, to risk his life in battle.”

“I’d like to disagree, sex is awesome, you should try it some time.” Aran tried to convince me.

I just shook my head and looked around the camp once more, eyeing the humanoid that held my sword. I stood up to my full height and gripped the bars of the cage, staring at my sword. The need to kill was bubbling ever stronger and I looked away from the sword, taking a few breaths to calm myself down. I sighed and muttered,

“Who am I kidding?”

So saying, I made a fist and punched the wooden pole, shattering it with ease. I shattered another one and ripping a hole big enough for me, I slipped through, meeting the first savage with a jab to the chin, knocking it out. I took a hold of its spear and quickly stabbed it, facing the the other guards that quickly came. I killed them all with ease and sprinted for the one that had my sword, throwing my spear just before I got there, impaling the creature in the chest. As it gurgled on the ground, I swiftly grabbed my blade and decapitated the thing, facing the other goblins.

I roared a thunderous battlecry and proceeded to slaughter them, not the exhausted retreating soldier I was before. I had time to recuperate and was in tip top shape, each slash form my sword separating torsos from hips. I laughed out loud as the creatures were slaughtered before me, these things are so weak! It’s only their sheer numbers that make them a force to be reckoned with. I had learned by now not to waste strength, I only used a minimal amount of energy to kill, no longer cutting them in half but slicing off their heads and stabbing their skull and chest.

By now, my comrades had joined me, though Aran, Adaris and Deryl remained by the cage, protecting the women. I snorted again, these guys were becoming more and more like heroes instead of soldiers. We set about slaughtering them, killing females, children and males alike, none were spared. Pretty soon, all were running away and we explored the empty village, soon finding our armor and gear. I claimed my set, feeling a whole lot safer now because of the familiar weight. We returned to the cage with the other’s sets of armor and gear, handing it over. They seemed like their older selves now that they’ve shed some blood.

But they were still compassionate as they asked if we could continue to protect the women. I didn’t want to do it but finally caved in, saying,

“If they slow us down in any way, I’ll kill them myself.”

They nodded and began to help the women out of the cage, gesturing that they follow us and we’ll protect them. We began to walk, the women talking with the three that saved them, apparently teaching them their language. This would be important so all of us joined in on the conversation. The women were slightly apprehensive but soon warmed up, though they still preferred Aran, Adaris and Deryl. But today was productive, we were beginning to learn the language and I didn’t mind it if we had to go a bit slower because of it.

The women seemed to want to go in a particular direction and since we had no knowledge of the topography, we just trusted their instincts, we should be able to communicate well enough by the time we reach civilization. A few weeks passed and by then, we had a rough understanding of the language which should suffice for all interactions. With our newfound knowledge, we spoke with the women, discovering that they were women captured from various small hamlets and villages, though one was apparently of regal birth.

She was the one that I noticed awake during the night, perhaps she was lamenting her position. She said that there would be a substantial reward for her return and asked us to escort her, seeing as we were what she called adventurers. Hearing that, I laughed, saying,

“To compare us, the soldiers of Morsad to adventurers! How hilarious! But no matter, we have been separated from our army but we have not received any orders to refuse you help. We will escort you, do not worry.”