text: Continued from: &#x200B; “Was it worth it?” he thought. He had just given away his only means of escape to someone he had just met. “Classic. An attractive girl gives me five minutes of attention, and all reason goes out the window. What was I expecting to get out of this? A date? A kiss? What an idiot.” The dark blotches beyond the lamplight were inching closer. Should he run? He could see the edge of town. No, he would never outrun orcs. Physically, they were far superior to humans. If he called out for help, would anyone hear him? Could they reach him in time? Would that just provoke the orcs to attack sooner? He laughed at the hopelessness of his situation, then unholstered the dagger from his thigh. At least he could take a few with him. About thirty feet ahead, a massive orc stepped into the light of the next road lamp. Redge figured he must have been eight feet tall and built of muscle. He wore nothing but the standard orcish loin cloth. Nearly all of his exposed skin was covered in scars and tattoos. “Must be someone important,” Redge thought to himself. “Where’s da girl? Is no fun witout ‘er,” the orc said as he crossed his huge arms. “Gone. I can’t bring her back. Looks like you’re out of luck.” “Guess yuh’ll jus’ ‘ave ta squirm ‘nuff fur da both of ya, eh?” he said as laughter came from the darkness. A flash of inspiration lit up Redge’s mind. This guy was some kind of leader. Too young to be an elder, but maybe one of their sons. If Redge challenged him to single combat, he would be obliged to accept or lose face in front of his followers. In a one-on-one fight, he at least stood some chance of survival. He just had to last long enough for help to arrive. Surely Rose would have alerted the town guard by now. “How many orcs does it take to kill a human?” Redge taunted, “By the looks of it, I’d say about twenty orcs to one human. Sound right to you?” “Jus’ one,” the big orc said with a grin. He bent down to pick something up. Redge activated his dagger which caused it to emit a dim purple light. What started as a low hum rose to a high-pitch whine. The blade was vibrating with increasing frequency. This drastically increased its cutting power, but the dagger only had enough stored magical energy to maintain this effect for two to three minutes. The orc stood back up so Redge could see what was in his hand. It was a rock, about the size of a human fist. Again, laughter came from the darkness beyond the lamplight. The orc wound his arm back and launched the rock forward with incredible speed. Redge couldn’t consciously perceive the projectile, but his arms reflexively moved to protect his face. The rock smashed into his forearms, breaking bone and knocking him backwards onto the ground. The dagger flew out of his hand and landed several feet behind him. He lay there dazed and semi-conscious, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Looking up at the stars, he could hear footsteps getting louder. They were coming. This was the end, he thought. To his right, an orc howled in pain. The footsteps stopped, and the howling abruptly gave way to gurgling. A scuffle broke out. Redge could hear the chopping of flesh and more howling. He was too weak to lift his head. The orc leader let out an ear-splitting warcy, and Redge heard footsteps charging past him toward the source of disturbance. A loud blast lit up the sky, and he felt a strong, hot gust of wind from his right. Finally he heard multiple footsteps running away and then nothing. Redge closed his eyes. The pain in his arms was getting sharper, almost unbearable. When he opened them up again, he caught a glimpse of a man in a helmet staggering past. Draped over his shoulders were the tattered remnants of a smoldering cloak. What remained of his armor was modern, mostly leather with a few strategically placed steel inserts. But his helmet was an antique, once part of a set of plate armor. Plate armor had been phased out of non-ceremonial use hundreds of years ago. The visor, with its narrow slits, concealed his face. Various metal components of his armor were still faintly glowing with heat. He stopped for a moment, looked down at Redge, and then staggered on. Not long after, Redge fell unconscious.