The Winter War Ch. 03

"Keep looking, there has to be something." Jamess said. They had come to a fork in the path and were unsure which one to take. He was about ready to split up the party and go down both trails when over the howling wind, he heard a scream. A woman's scream.

Jamess turned to the rest, who had all perked up.

"Let's go!" He shouted, and raced up the trail. By the grace of the Gods they had been shown the way, he only hoped they were not too late.

As he rounded a bend, a large clearing came into view with a cave set in the rock a hundred feet away. He peered around and saw several women chained together being drawn out of the cave by a large group of Orcs. Two dozen of the ugly green bastards were standing around the cave near horses.

A large Ogre suddenly burst from the cave screaming. Jamess could tell from where he was standing the Ogre had been beat brutally.

"No! Those are my beauties!" It screamed. Several Orcs turned and beat the Ogre back with clubs.

The Orc towing the screaming women turned on the Ogre.

"You kill our chieftan's and blame it on women, and you expect us to not take payment for our loss. We'll take your head as well." He spat, signaling several of his warriors to draw arms.

Jamess leapt forward, drawing his large sword and raced towards the Orcs at the moment the other's caught up.

"Goddamnit! Jamess!" Jonas yelled, he went racing out after his leader, Porter right behind him. Jonas turned his head and shouted at Alice and Kitty over his shoulder.

"Keep them pinned down!" He cried.

"We're on it!" They were already drawing their large bows back to fire.

"And for Gods sake, don't shoot me!"

---

Olivia raced through the darkness, following her fellow prisoner through tight, narrow, winding passages. Cold air was blowing on her face, and after what felt like eternity, she saw a pin prick of light at the end of the tunnel. The made their way towards it in silence and squeezed through the small opening. The cold air hit her as soon as they cleared the threshold, the burlap and sack cloth clothing they'd been given by Krug did little to guard against the cold blasts of wind in the mountains. She could only thank the Gods that snow hadn't fallen yet, for their feet were bare as well.

The Rokugan girl tugged on the chain once more, wanting to traverse the landscape now. Olivia was quite tired of this.

"Wait, we don't even know where we are."

She was met by another one of those glares and another tug on the chain. Olivia tugged back, surprising the exotic looking warrior woman.

"I'm not going anywhere yet!" Olivia said, raising her voice.

The girl shouted something in her native tongue and jerked the chain again.

"No!" Olivia shouted, tugging the chain herself. It was her new companions turn to have her wrist yanked on. She didn't like it. Anger swelled across her face and her brown skin flushed red. She began talking rapidly, Olivia couldn't believe that such a beautiful voice came from such a person. The girl was screaming at her now, and suddenly brought her new sword to bear.

Without thinking, Olivia's hands shot forward and she screamed in her own tongue.

A bright flash of light emitted from her palm. The Rokugan girl screamed as she was blinded. She dropped the sword with a clang and held her hands over her eyes as she sank to her knees.

A few minutes later, her sight slowly came back. She looked up at Olivia who held a hand out to her. She slowly took it, and Olivia helped her to her feet, picking the sword back up and handing it to her. The girl took it slowly, as if it might be a trick. Olivia pointed to herself.

"I'm Olivia."

The girl stared at her blankly.

"Olivia." She patted her chest to emphasize the point. The girl pointed a finger at her and said slowly, "Olivia."

"Yes."

Her finger turned towards herself,"Me...I...Miriko."

"Miriko?" Olivia asked. Miriko nodded.

"Alright Miriko. Let's find some shelter, I can keep us safe from the elements for a while, but not forever." She held out her hand and Miriko took it, and hand in hand, they started off across the jagged landscape.