บท 11: Chapter 11

Under Xiao Chen's command, the Arkhan Tribe moved south towards the place that he chose. The orcs, all lined up in a disorganized manner, marched at a steady pace. Sakh'arran and his warg riding companions led the way and along with him was two hundred warriors, in the middle of the long marching formation was Rakh'ash'tha along with Drae'ghanna and Aro'shanna and a hundred warriors at the very rear was Xiao Chen, Gur'kan and Galum'nor with the remaining warriors.

Xiao Chen made such an arrangement in order to protect and react against sudden attacks by any hostile forces.

"Chief, a message from the front. We spotted a group of goblins in the distance," a warg rider approached Xiao Chen.

"Pesky little creatures"

Galum'nor commented by the side, which Xiao Chen just ignored, then consulted with Gur'kan and the warg rider.

"Are the goblins a threat?"

Xiao Chen asked the two, but he was met with silence and stares from them.

"They aren't much of a threat but, they are as Galum'nor said pesky little creatures. They will harass our caravan endlessly, if we leave them be"

Gur'kan finally said after a few moments.

"Relay my command, decimate the goblins and leave no survivors"

Xiao Chen then told the warg rider after considering his options. He could make a detour but that would expose them to the goblins longer and, according to what he heard, goblins would gather in great numbers to cause disaster and by detouring around them would only give them ample time to gather in greater number.

"As you command, my chief"

The warg rider rode forward quickly to relay Xiao Chen's command.

"I want to kill goblins"

Galum'nor said, then sprinted away to the frontline before Xiao Chen could stop him, only leaving behind a trail of dust as he ran.

*****

In the caravan's front, Sakh'arran led the two hundred warriors along with his warg riding companions and charged forward quickly towards the goblins.

'Kiek...Kiek...'

Loud shrieking sounds of the goblins sounded as they also started sprinting towards the orcs. As expected, the goblins weren't a match for the orcs. With just one charge, their numbers were reduced, from around a thousand to only about more or less half their original numbers. The orcs, being bigger and stronger, trampled the goblins mercilessly, pursuing even the ones that retreated. They were commanded to leave no survivors by their chieftain, and they must do so.

The hulking Galum'nor rampaged among the goblins, crushing them with his enormous fists and grabbing them before proceeding to smash them on the ground or against the other goblins.

"Hahaha...pesky little creatures... come... don't run"

Galum'nor grinned excitedly as he grabbed another poor goblin before smashing it to the ground again, and with his strength, he smashed the hapless goblin to unrecognizable piles of flesh and blood.

'Kiek...Kiek...Kiek...'

The goblins shrieked and started backing away from the unstoppable Galum'nor. Their instincts were telling them to run away from this monster.

"Don't run!!! come back!"

Galum'nor yelled at the escaping goblins, but to no avail. The quick-footed little creatures with brown, grey and green-colored skins continued to scurry away as fast as possible and as far away as possible from the excited Galum'nor.

Chasing after them and crushing them under his might, Galum'nor was smiling happily as the poor little creatures made a run for their lives.

*****

A few moments later, the ground was littered with goblin corpses and the happy Galum'nor covered in blood and bits of flesh made his way back to rear of the formation.

Xiao Chen, standing guard at the rear, was smiling ever so slightly as he saw his total points now increased to 3093 and Gur'kan was confused, looking at his chieftain, smiling for no apparent reason. Gur'kan just ignored his chieftain's odd behavior and continued to keep watch of any approaching danger.

*****

For many weeks, the Arkhans and their new chieftain moved south, only resting when necessary. Sakh'arran wanted to arrive at the chieftain's designated place quickly as the more time that they were exposed, the more danger they will be at. They have been attacked over six times already, by hostile orc tribes, ogres, wild animals and the pesky goblins. They had lost over sixty brethren already, of which twenty-two were warriors bravely repelling the enemies.

At the rear, Xiao Chen was staring dumbly at his now reduced total number of subordinates and gave command to hasten the march as much as possible.

*****

After such a long, arduous, and perilous journey, they finally arrived at their destination. An open wide flatland, to one side, was the towering Lag'ranna Mountains and to the south was the vast expanse of brown sand, the Burning Sands.

Xiao Chen and the Arkhans erected their tents and finally had their much-needed long rest. Going around and inspecting the surroundings with Gur'kan and Rakh'ash'tha in tow, Xiao Chen started designing a blueprint of a simple fortification in his mind, along with his planned training grounds.

The design was a simple squarish fort with wooden palisade to deny quick entry from enemies and wild creatures, it would have three entrances, one facing towards the Burning Sands while the other towards the Lag'ranna Mountains and the last would face the vast flatlands.

*****

After four days of rest and familiarizing with their new surroundings, Xiao Chen called Sakh'arran along with his first six subordinates to his tent, informing them of his plans.

Sitting in a circle with a rough map drawing of the surroundings on the ground, Xiao Chen then explained to them of what he wanted to do.

"We will build a village here, we'll surround it with big wooden stakes for defensive measures, like this"

Xiao Chen then explained in more details. Galum'nor just stared dumbly at his actions as he continued explaining, Aro'shanna and Trot'thar had their heads down, not interested in what was going on.

The only ones who were listening attentively were Rakh'ash'tha, Gur'kan, Drae'ghanna and Sakh'arran. To Xiao Chen's surprise, Gur'kan was the one who was paying attention to his explanations the most.

"You mean, we build it like the pinkskins chief?"

Gur'kan questioned as he was confused on why was the chief planning to copy how the pinkskins built their settlements.

"Oh... interesting"

Rakh'ash'tha said as he stroked his chin, probably thinking of something else. After finishing his explanation, Sakh'arran was the first one to go out of the tent to relay Xiao Chen's commands.

They were to gather tree trunks from the Lag'ranna Mountains to build the what the chief called a palisade.

*****

With axes and gigantic swords, the Arkhans entered the Lag'ranna Mountains and with Xiao Chen's guidance; they fell trees he deemed sufficient to meet the required size of the trunks.

Sounds of trees being hacked soon sounded as the orcs started felling down trees and the others carrying them down towards the village. Xiao Chen didn't know who started it but it seems the orcs were competing on who could carry the most trunks and unsurprisingly the muscle head Galum'nor joined them, carrying five tree trunks on his shoulders then grunting loudly as he carried his heavy load back to the tents.

Xiao Chen then showed how the walls should be made, he dug about a meter long, almost three feet wide and roughly six feet deep ditch then told Galum'nor to carry one of the now trimmed tree trunk from its branches and bulging stumps and put it in the ditch vertically. Followed by a few more tree trunks. The palisade was starting to take shape.

Marking the places where the entrances would be placed, Xiao Chen then continued guiding and instructing the orcs on what they should do. After an entire day of work, one side of the palisade was almost completed. A towering 12 feet tall wooden wall, sturdy enough to not fall down even after having Galum'nor ram himself against it.

The hulking Galum'nor was Xiao Chen's way of ensuring that the wall could withstand an orc's charge or other wild creature's attack, since he is probably the strongest among them when it comes to brute force. He also asked Sakh'arran if Blackwind could jump over the wall and was glad that Sakh'arran said that she couldn't. Even the Balfur Queen or the Dargan could only jump about three or five feet in the air.

"I hope this works"

Rakh'ash'tha said as he stared at the height of the rough wooden walls and stared at Xiao Chen, wondering how and where did the chief get the knowledge on how the pinkskins built their settlements.