Koruk weaved out of the way as the giant’s huge barker erupted, pulverizing the patch of roof he had been standing on into a cloud of dust and brick fragments. Another orc wasn’t so lucky, and was blown into a bloody pulp instantly as the giant levelled out the weapon to spray death across a wide arc.

  “Spread out! Surround him!” Koruk yelled, watching helplessly as another orc was chewed apart while in the process of trying to nock an arrow. The rest did as he commanded, and the giant swung the weapon around trying to get a bead on another target.

  Seeing an opportunity, Koruk leapt, slamming into the back of the giant, and grabbed on for dear life. An orc hacked at its body with his axe, but it shattered into shards of broken stone on impact. The giant swung his barker like a club and sent the poor orc flying over the side of the building with a sickening crunch of bone.

  Koruk found purchase with his feet, and scrambled up its back as it twisted and turned trying to dislodge him. He twisted his body, and narrowly avoided being crushed as the monster backed into the chimney he was sheltering behind moments before, sending it tumbling down in a cascade of broken masonry.

  “Die demon!” A voice yelled, and Aiffi leapt, sword held in a double handed grip. He slammed the point of it into the golden dome of the giant’s helmet, and a crack spiderwebbed across it as the blade bounced off. A monstrous metal hand swatted him to the ground, and a roar of the barker ended the imp’s life.

  “Attack the head! He’s vulnerable!” Koruk yelled, managing to climb up onto the giant’s shoulders. He slammed his axe down onto the cracked golden dome again and again, until the glass shattered and revealed the bloodied, grimacing face of a human. It glared at him with hatred, and reached a hand up to try to dislodge him, but twisted away from its seeking fingers.

  Two orcs grabbed the barker in the giant’s other hand. It spat fire and noise again, and one of them had his leg blown off at the knee, but he still maintained his grip as they tried to wrench the weapon out of the giant’s grip.

  Koruk lost his grip as a metal hand slapped at him, and he fell off the armoured shoulderpad he was clinging to and tumbled to the ground, landing hard on his back. The human grinned inside the broken helmet, and lifted a massive boot to crush him, but then a stone struck him in the face.

  The giant stumbled back, dazed, as Koruk spared a glance behind him. Kiwai was already readying another chunk of broken masonry in his sling.

  Koruk painfully got to his feet, and hurled himself at the giant once again, shoving it with all his might. It proved to be enough, sending the off balance human crashing to the ground with a sound like an avalanche. The remaining orc still clutching onto his barker managed to pull it free from his fingers, the legless unfortunate having expired.

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  The orc tossed the huge weapon to Koruk, who caught it and brought it to bear on the human’s grimacing face. With a pull of the trigger, the battle was over, the remains of the gold visor painted red with blood and viscera.

  Koruk glanced around. His ears were still ringing a bit, and he felt dazed. Four of the ten orcs in their party were dead, as was Aiffi, the imp leader. Shouts of alarm were spreading through the work camp below, and he ducked as a barker shot a hole in the masonry beside him. He fired a couple bursts in retaliation, nearly getting knocked off his feet from the recoil, which went far wide but sent the humans scampering for cover all the same.

  “We can beat them!” He yelled into the crowd. Orcs gazed up at him in confusion and bewilderment. “Rise up and fight!”

  For a long moment the listless orcs just stared at him, uncomprehending. Human guards gradually began to peek out from cover, firing their barkers at Koruk and forcing him to duck below the lip of the roof.

  Then, as if they were of one mind, the crowd of orcs began to move. Slowly at first, they started lumbering towards the humans. A roar started to build, as cracked voices rose from parched throats.

  The humans noticed, and turned their weapons on the mobs of slaves slowly trundling towards them. Barkers spat death, and orcs fell one after another, but they didn’t stop. They only accelerated, the lumber turning to a walk, and into a run. The humans shouted in horror as their weapons ran dry, before they were barrelled over by a tide of green and crushed into the dusty stones.

  After searching for hours, Koruk found Moktark. The big orc was slumped against the crumbling wall of a building, the broken body of a human laying nearby. Koruk was elated to see that his brother’s chest still rose and fell in a steady rhythm, but as he got closer, he was shocked by the sight.

  Moktark looked as though he had aged ten years in a few days. His cheeks were gaunt against the bones of his face, and his eyes were sunken and lifeless. When he saw Koruk, he struggled to get to his feet, but could not.

  “Did we… win?” He gasped. Koruk nodded, and waved to Semthak to come and join him.

  “What the hell did they do to you?”

  “Doesn’t matter…” Moktark said, coughing. “Did we get em?”

  “Yeah. We got them.”

  “Help me carry him inside.” Semthak said. Moktark closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

  “We can’t.” Koruk said, glancing around the plaza. Orcs were variously walking, sitting, or laying around, looking confused. A few of the more cognizant ones had begun picking up human weapons. “If the humans return with greater numbers, we cannot fight them here. Gather anyone who can still walk, and get them to help move anyone who can’t. We need to leave as soon as we can.”

  “Where will you take them?”

  “To the mountains. We’re going to the caves.”