The Heavenly Host

One moment, came the reply. A few silent moments passed and then suddenly the small campfire blazed up higher and higher. When the flames became larger than the amount of wood present would permit naturally — taller than Tal Gor — reality split itself down the middle of the flames.

Tal Gor was certain that no matter how many times he saw this, it would still disconcert him. It simply was not natural; one’s mind instinctively recoiled from the sight of the overlaid realities. Lord Tommus stepped through, and Tal Gor and the nearby orcs all stepped back, overcome by the awesome sight of their lord.

Tal Gor could hear a scream or two coming from the wargtown as people started fleeing in terror. He had thought the town to be far enough away, but he must have been wrong. The D’Orcs started chuckling as they looked back to the town to see the wide range of reactions.

Lord Tommus looked at their haul and smiled broadly. “Excellent! Much more than I had hoped for! Hezbarg is going to love you!”

∼

“Aggghhhh!” Fer-Rog bellowed as he exhaled the breath he had been holding.

Rupert grinned. The funny part, aside from the fact that Fer-Rog did not actually need to breathe, was that when the D’Orc let the air out of his lungs, he expanded rather than contracted.

“That is really hard!” Fer-Rog exclaimed.

“You managed to stay orc sized for over a minute!” Rupert exclaimed, clapping. “That’s great progress, given that you did your first shape-change this morning!”

“Whooo, it is so hard to hold that smaller form. I have no idea how I am going to make my wings disappear or change my appearance and keep it all together.” He shook his head in frustration.

“Yeah, but the fact that you could make yourself shrink means you can do it. It will just take time and lots of practice,” Rupert told him.

“Well, watching you do it through that link thing was what did the trick. Once I could sort of ‘feel’ you do your own change, it gave me a place to start,” Fer-Rog said.

“It just feels weird though, like I’m going to explode at any moment when I’m in that smaller form,” Fer-Rog observed.

“Well, just think about my dad. He squeezes down from his normal size to a skinny human for days at a time!” Rupert said. “I myself only have to squeeze down about a foot or so. Can you imagine being in a body about one-third your normal size?”

“Not at all. But then your dad is Lord Tommus; I bet there is very little he can’t do,” Fer-Rog replied.

“Well, I...” Rupert trailed off as he felt the link from Tom. He mentally let Tom know they were out a little ways and needed to return to camp and that he would summon him as soon as they got back. It was rather weird how one communicated over the link like that. It was not so much thought as... he had no idea. “We need to head back to camp,” he said to Fer-Rog. “The orcs are ready to return.”

“That sucks! I’d like to stay here longer!” Fer-Rog complained.

“Yeah, I know. This has been fun!” Rupert said, motioning for them to head back towards the camp.

∼

“I think we’ve got everything we need,” Tal Gor said to Vespa as the last of the supplies they had requested from Murgatroy were brought through the portal: specifically a barrel of glargh, one of beer and a sack of potatoes. “We haven’t unsaddled the D’Wargs yet; we should do that now, I am thinking,” he added.

He and almost half the orcs were on the Astlan side of the gate along with Fer-Rog, Rupert, Virok and Vespa. The rest were in the cooled staging area where the D’Wargs were.

Vespa smiled and shook her head. “That’s okay, we are going to take them back to their cave and unsaddle them there so we don’t have to lug all the tack back to the cave as well.”

“Okay, then.” Tal Gor gestured to the rest of his tribe, who were still in the Abyss. “Say the last of your goodbyes and come back through!”

“Vespa, Virok, it has been our honor to hunt with you!” Tal Gor told the D’Orcs.

“Tal Gor, it has been our honor to hunt with you. May we hunt again soon!” Virok said as Vespa grinned and nodded.

“Ouch!”

“What the...?”

“Move it or I’m going to get trampled!”

“Argh!!!”

There was a lot of yelling coming through the portal as orcs who had been trying to come through were suddenly shoved aside and started falling over. Vespa frowned. “What the Abyss is going on over there?” she yelled.

“It’s that — ” someone yelled before being cut off.

There was a large, splattery, moist, sickening explosion on the other side of the gate. Suddenly the cursing doubled, along with the shouts and yells of orcs and D’Orcs. The immediate area of the gateway completely cleared and out came Schwarzenfürze! She burst through the gateway, still saddled, wings batting away anyone trying to stop her.

She plunged through the orcs on this side of the gate, even as they had begun to scatter as the hideous stench released by the D’Warg’s bowels floated through the gateway. Bor Tal had been next to the gate; he bent over retching, as did several others.